By George Ofman
Are you really excited about those Bulls? Are you thinking maybe first round of the playoffs and beyond?
Are you sleeping with Mark McGwire?
It’s certainly been interesting to see the Bulls win three straight road games (quite a feat) and win them against decent Western Conference foes. And it’s clearly encouraging to watch the growth of Derrick Rose, who is being given more latitude to close games, and he is.
But do me a favor: Don’t see this as anything more than what it really is. It’s all about next July, not now.

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Posted on January 27, 2010

By Jim Coffman
Besides the fact that I was ready to kill someone when the Bulls did exactly what the Spurs wanted and inbounded the ball to Joakim Noah with 13 seconds remaining last night, I enjoyed the hell out of the win that gave them the most improbable three-game win streak in team history. Okay, so that’s probably overstating the case a smidge, but the fact that the Bullies have won these last three games absolutely defies belief.
More about that later, but first we’ll be breaking down the sequence that led to my murderous urge. With a tenuous two-point lead, the visitors managed a crucial defensive stop (capped off by Luol Deng’s extra-large blocked shot) and then hustled the ball into the frontcourt as the clock ticked under 20 seconds remaining. The Bulls ran the high pick-and-roll that they’ll be running just about exclusively for the next dozen years or so (because it is the best way to give ever-better point guard Derrick Rose both time and space). And after the Spurts doubled the dribbler, Rose passed to Noah and the Spurs couldn’t foul him quickly enough, given Noah’s slightly less than fundamentally sound shooting style. Clearly the Spurs wanted Noah taking the free throws that would determine what San Antonio would need to do the next time it had the ball.

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Posted on January 26, 2010

By Steve Rhodes
I was a huge Bernie Lincicome fan when he was employed by the Tribune, but his latest ravings about the Internet era of journalism are typically ignorant – and I have to say Reader media critic Michael Miner didn’t seem to have the facility to challenge his nonsense in this interview. Let’s take a look.
*
“Bernie Lincicome is back in town, hoping to write something for somebody,” Miner writes. “I suggest he write for his generation. One voice is missing from new media – the voice of the old sage who thinks new media is ridiculous.”
Don’t we get enough of that from old media?
“After 16 years as a sports columnist in Chicago, Lincicome and the Tribune parted ways in 2000 and he took his talents to Denver. Lincicome wrote a column for the Rocky Mountain News until that paper folded last February. Then he blogged.
“‘When I started doing it,’ he says, ‘everybody said Oh, great, we can still find you. I asked them, Are you going to pay me? I could never figure out a way to get them to pay for it.”
Okay, let’s get one thing straight: Newspaper readers never paid Lincicome or any other columnist or reporter. The newspaper paid them. And the newspaper collected money from advertisers by selling them the (theoretical) attention of readers and from subscribers who paid (back then) a quarter for an entire package of reading options. Lincicome worked for a vast enterprise. Expecting readers to pay him for his individual columns is not only an example of old-school arrogance, but a fundamental misunderstanding of the business he was/is in.

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Posted on January 25, 2010

By Thomas Chambers
The gauntlet has been thrown down, in the very subtle way wealthy people do when they have all the money imaginable and own the best horses in the world.
There was no shouting or arm wrestling or even a punch, but Jerry Moss did all he could to stare a laser beam through Jess Jackson as Jackson’s Rachel Alexandra was named Horse of the Year for 2009. Zenyatta’s supporters, and there were millions, had to have felt the dagger twist a bit when it was revealed that Rachel won by a vote of 130-99. Closer than in recent years, but not really close.

Ofman: SoxFest Fodder

Zenyatta’s fans thought she would win, deserved to win. But it seemed based as much on her perfect 14-0 career record and the great performance in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic as anything else.
“Zenyatta has never lost. She’s perfect,” Moss said. “Nobody beat her on the racetrack. They beat her by proxy.”
Not even a video greeting by Sting, the artist more responsible for the pop music mogul’s riches than any other, could turn the tide. The big mare was named for the Zenyatta Mondatta album, and Moss’s Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo was named after Sting’s son. Something about buttered bread there, which Moss admitted.

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Posted on January 22, 2010

By George Ofman
While a wave of blue invaded a downtown hotel last weekend, a sea of black and silver is taking over another well-fabled guest house starting today. White Sox fans will jam the Palmer House for SoxFest, the South Side nine’s answer to the Cubs convention. They actually do have one thing in common: The color red, as in red-faced. Fanatic fans of both teams can look back to 2009 and blush with embarrassment. Neither team was very good.
Try downright disappointing.

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Posted on January 22, 2010

By Dan O’Shea
There is nothing more annoying in the world of head-to-head fantasy sports than when you forget to set your roster. It’s even more annoying than when you see another manager in your league pick up one of your waiver wire rejects just when that player happens to go on a hot streak. You have only yourself to blame.
I’m usually pretty good about making my daily changes and perusing match-ups to make sure I lock in the best choices. I even managed to stay current a couple Fridays ago when an afternoon bender and a run to pick up the pooch at doggie daycare severely squeezed the time I usually take to double-check my fantasy hoops roster in advance of nightly tip-offs.
But I have twice over the last week failed to lock in my starters before their games began. Unforgivable.

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Posted on January 20, 2010

By Jim Coffman
Did anyone see the first five minutes of the Hawks game yesterday? I knew the listings said the game in Detroit was starting at 11:30 a.m. CST on NBC, but I just couldn’t quite believe they would begin a hockey game at that hour. I was sure there would be at least 15 minutes of pre-game palaver, but instead, when I turned it on at 11:40-something, five minutes were already gone. Fortunately the scoring didn’t begin until a few minutes later. And the fighting didn’t start until shortly before the first intermission.

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Posted on January 18, 2010

By Thomas Chambers

The stars of Thoroughbred horse racing will glitter brightly Monday night as the horsey set descends upon the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills for the 39th Annual Eclipse Awards, the game’s own Academy Awards.
More than just the annual self-congrats, this year’s quest for the small, heavy statue of the legendary 18th century racehorse and stallion, Eclipse, has reached epic proportions as voters must choose their Horse of the Year from two females (!), both with amazing achievements and historic deeds. Rachel Alexandra. Zenyatta.
The equines will be sending their Sasheen Littlefeathers to accept the awards on their behalf, but don’t think it’s a Brando protest sort of thing. They’re horses. They don’t care.

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Posted on January 15, 2010

By Dan O’Shea

Trade chatter continues to surround Tracy McGrady, SG/SF. As of Tuesday, it was still unclear where he might be going, and who might be destined for Houston, but any trade that happens is likely to involve meaningful names. One of the great things about fantasy basketball is that there are often more trades than you are likely to see in the NFL in a given season, and though fewer than you might see in an MLB season, they almost always affect the everyday lineups, unlike to the minor shuffles and player-to-be-named deals you see in baseball.
It’s Week 12, and we are not yet at the spiritual or actual halfway point of the fantasy basketball season. A potential McGrady deal may be only one of many to come.

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Posted on January 13, 2010

By George Ofman
Greg Maddux becomes a special assistant to Cubs GM Jim Hendry.
Mark McGwire admits to using steroids.
Guess who got the short end of the straw on this one?
I think we can be pretty certain about this: Maddux did not use performance-enhancing drugs to fashion what will one day be his Hall of Fame career.
Mark McGwire should never be a Half of Famer.
McGwire’s revelation splashed across the Internet and on TV as a bombshell. It wasn’t. We all knew.

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Posted on January 12, 2010