I don't normally read Jay Mariotti's Sun-Times columns, but I do like reading nice things about the Bulls. So I got to read his piece on how the Bulls are back and blah blah blah. It's mostly garbage, standard fare from a guy who seems to have a little too much on his plate, even after getting canned from his radio show. I've pointed out this phenomenon before, but the guy can't write anything about the Bulls without mentioning Michael Jordan. This paragraph comes out of nowhere:
As sure as the Reinsdorf administration is jacking up season-ticket prices -- some b.s. about needing money to keep the young players, as if Michael Jordan didn't make the franchise enough megamillions -- the Bulls are headed to their first postseason since the dynasty years. We can safely assume this when only 13 games remain and they are closer to second place than ninth place in the Eastern Conference. The first instinct is to shout, "It's about damned time!'' and ponder the whereabouts of Jerry Krause, who curiously has never been hired by another NBA team and is holding radar guns for the New York Mets. Yet why dwell in the miserable past when, for the first time since Karl Malone was misfiring in the Utah air, we actually can talk about spring ball on the West Side and how the Bulls match up against, oh, the Washington Wizards. We'll even call it the Jordan Unemployment Series, noting that neither organization has MJ anymore and yet both will make the playoffs while he looks for a team to buy and runs his motorcycle racing team. Vroom!
huh???
Mariotti does eventually go into some peripheral analysis of this year's team, but this guy cannot let go of 1998. Or he hasn't been following the Bulls enough to fill a column on something new.
Another lift from this column is a joke that leads the column. Now either this is simply bad, or really really dirty (and therefore hilarious):
Sorry, but I'm still peeking around every corner of the United Center, expecting to find a grinning Ashton Kutcher. He's a fan of Chicago sports teams, remember, having grown up an Iowa farmboy before finding a bigger field to plow in Demi Moore.
Wowza.
Other internet findings:
- Happy 1-year blogiversary to Celticsblog. They're one of the best around, so hopefully many more years.
- Via NBAFanblog, you need to check out the NBA all-ugly team. As a strikingly handsome young man, this amuses me greatly.
- Another blog that has made my daily rotation is The Cavalier Act on MVN. As a way to preview the Bulls' opponent before the two square off on national tv matchup between the Cavs and Bulls, check out this site to find out how the Cavs have been slipping lately.
As far as the game tomorrow, I will hold back on any preview myself since I have no idea who will be playing. Luol Deng was back for tonight's game against the Bobcats, but Kirk Hinrich wasn't. And Eddy Curry sat out the game with flu-like symptoms, so now his availability will be in question. I would really like to see a full-strength Bulls team showing off their stuff on TNT, so fingers will be crossed.