That Feeling When You Almost Throw Up and it Kind of Just Stays in Your Mouth "Don't worry, Don't....worry. I'm not gonna do, what everyone thinks I'm gonna do, and just flip out" That game last night will be remembered by me for a while. Its just the culmination of such offseason and preseason optomism, the return of Scottie Pippen, an opener at home against a real bad team....and just goin out there and laying a huge crap-filled egg. Played poorly on both ends of the court, the Bulls not only gave a losing effort but a boring one at that. I lied when I said I was gonna take notes during the game, besides I had little chance to write since my hands were primarily used for burying my face in them. Chandler sat out the entire game to rest the back, and he would've undoubtedly made a difference. Its no secret that the Bulls' biggest weakness is interior defense, and Chandler could've helped out there. But that alone wouldn't have turned around such a dismal overall performance. The one 'note' I kept saying to myself all night was "Where's Eddy Curry!". who was a complete non-factor. It was my impression that he would be the first option on offense, yet by the end of the third quarter I was begging him to be taken out (although once I saw Corie Blount come in I regretted it). I did miss the first 10 minutes of the game, so I'm wondering what were the first few possessions like. did Eddy get the ball? Did he get muscled from the basket, or put up poor shots, or simply got into foul trouble. Cause something must've made him dissappear the rest of the night. But enough talking about that game. To be honest, I'm not predicting gloom and doom by any means. It's hard when you're throwing away these schedule gimmies early in the season, but at the heart of it you're only talking about one game. They have another such game at home Friday against Atlanta, and I'll definately be watching Curry because last season Theo Ratliff put him in the hurt box. I still think they'll be just fine, but naturally that's not the opinion of the chicago 'columnists', especially Mike Downey, who may just be the worst sports columnist I've ever read in Chicago. And yes I am including Skip "draft Desagna Diop" Bayless.

Otherwise, S.O.B. Same old Bulls. They were horrible. Terrible. Miserable. Indefensible. It doesn't matter that they had to do without 7-foot-1-inch Tyson Chandler (injured) and 2003 top draft pick Kirk Hinrich (ill) and 2002 top draft pick Jay Williams (out for the season after a motorcycle accident). No excuses. It was a game that every loyal season ticket-holder in the building expected the Bulls to win anyway, which shows you just how wrong a fan can be. It was a game that Cartwright thought the Bulls were prepared to play, which shows you just how wrong a man can be.

My god, "Same old Bulls?" That attitude sickens me, one game into the season and it's already "well they can't be very good, because after all, its the Bulls". I just thought I'd step up on my soapbox and attack that culture of fan before it gets out of hand. The Bulls shouldn't be held in the same regard as the Cubs (its ok i'm a huge Cubs fan, and no I don't believe in curses), the Phillies, the Clippers, the Washington Generals, The Brooklyn Brawler, France, and other chronic losers. The last 5 years have not been pleasant, but if you stand back and look at it all from a distance, the Bulls are one of the most successful franchises in major pro sports. They should be associated as a winning franchise, and try and tell the fans of a couple dozen other NBA teams how sad you are you havent seen a title banner raised in a whopping 6 years. (hmm...there's already something I've read about just that idea). I'm not saying that losing all these games over the past few years is acceptable, in fact I'm pledging the opposite: don't make it establish a culture of losing already. Expect and demand victory, and this year, expect and demand the playoffs. And DEFINATELY don't infer anything about the season based on this giant suck-bomb the Bulls put up last night. Just another bump in the road back to respectability.