Rounders and Free Agency

In the movie Rounders, Edward Norton and Matt Damon play life long friends who are gifted poker players and hustlers. Damon plays a law student recovering after a massive loss to mysterious Oreo twisting Teddy KGB, played by John Malkovich. Norton plays Worm, a recently released prisoner, who immediately goes back to poker houses trying to cheat and using Damon's good name as credit. After running up a bill on Damon's name, Damon's character sits down for one last show down with Teddy. Only when Damon figures out Teddy's tell, he starts to win and saves his life. This situation mirrors the Bulls this week.

Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) is Gar Forman. Gar is a good guy who inherited a situation from his friend Worm, who is John Paxson. Paxson created this idea of joining the Knicks for big time free agents last year by trading for Brad Miller and John Salmons, which freed up cap space. Paxson acts out like Norton's worm by fighting with Vinny Del Negro, the coach he hired to fire for Lebron (why else would he hire a guy for nothing with no experience for two years? Vinny was fired the day he was hired.) Paxson, like Norton, is now in the shadows leaving his friend to salvage the situation. If Gar fails, he is dead. The Chicago mob will kill him. He must figure out if Teddy, played by Lebron James/World Wide Wes, if bluffing. In recent days, World Wide Wes (best sports name ever) told Yahoo! Sports that Lebron is going to the Bulls with Bosh. Jalen Rose tweeted that Lebron was leaving (1. Is Twitter a credible source now for research papers like Wikipedia? 2. Would you trust someone who wore that on the biggest day of their life?). Today, the New York Times reported the same thing from a NBA executive from a Lebron suitor. The executive claims Lebron will sit with all the teams and thank them for making an effort.

Gar has a lot at stake. If he reads the situation correctly, he can assemble a team that is NBA 2K worthy. History tells us that all champions have two Hall of Famers, except the Pistons of 2003-2004 (the worst championship team ever). Lebron and Bosh could be the next Kobe and Gasol (I said "could be"). History also tells us the Bulls are not very good with big moves and free agency. They tried this in 2000 with Tracy McGrady and ended up with Eddie Robinson (right) and Ron Mercer along with the worst record in the NBA. Side note, the Google search of Eddie Robinson just got me high, wow man (I'm so hungry, I could eat myself out of the NBA). They tried to trade for Kobe and couldn't get that done. Returning to the present, Wade is staying in Miami, and that I am 100% sure of. If Lebron stays with the Cavs, then Bosh will join him on South Beach and Gar will be scrambling. If he fails with the Lebron/Bosh signings, then he will resort to these options:

Joe Johnson: The oldest of the free agents at 29. His scoring dipped in the playoffs from 21 ppg to 12.8 in the second round against Orlando. Not exactly a "clutch" player since every highlight this year was of Jamal Crawford, a Bulls cast off, taking the last second shots. Also, he enjoys the iso offense, so not a big team guy.

Carlos Boozer: A gifted traditional post player. Great pick and roll guy in Utah. Health is not his strong suit. Out of six seasons in Utah, he only made it over 70 games played twice and one was in a contract year. Some will say that means nothing, but this is the same guy who at the last second backed out of a deal to stay with the Lebrons to bolt to the Jazz for more money, so his loyalty is about as good as his health (not saying I wouldn't have done the same, but he is shaddy).

Amar'e Stoudemire: After claiming he owns Pau and Lamar, he got beat so bad his team had to play zone the entire series. This Youtube video will test Tom Thibodeau's defensive teaching skills.





Rudy Gay: Rick Majerus summarizes it well (check out Lavin laughing). He is a good player who could help a team, just not the Bulls. I like him for the Clippers because they just need dunks, not wins. He has the potential to be the next Andre Iguodala aka Franchise Murderer.



Gar needs to figure out if Lebron is creating the news for fun or because he is serious. The franchise is on the table and we are all in (insert more poker cliches here). Up until today, I thought Lebron was staying in Cleveland, but now there seems to be so much momentum behind Chicago that I can't ignore it. We could end up winning the pot (I did it!!!) and star in The Dynasty Returns: Lebron Strikes Back and Return of the Jordans. Or we sign these other guys and finish in the second half of the conference getting our asses handed to us year after year. One day, Gar would recover and rejoin the table to play this very same game with Derrick Rose...if he makes it that long. May God be with us on July 1st and thank any Wizards fans you know.

World Cup:

The World Cup is a great break from boring ass baseball, but I hate how ESPN keeps trying to say how the win to get us into the knock out stage is going to change USA soccer. Soccer will never be big in America. Period. First, any sport that has this said every four years clearly has not made that jump and there is no evidence it will. How many times does it take to make that jump? The sport that has made that jump is MMA because Americans are sick perverts looking for death on pay-per-view. MMA is the sport that caught the mainstream by combining the snobbish pay-per-view/closet case wrestling fans and the red neck Americans. Second, the NBA, NFL, and MLB get the top athletes in our country. City kids are not buying soccer balls. MLB can't even get inner city kids to play baseball so they started the RBI program. Suburban kids all play soccer as children, yet most gravitate towards other sports with age. ESPN, have you noticed Americans suck at tennis lately? Maybe it is because our best athletes don't play tennis professionally. Drew Brees and Gordon Hayword were both excellent tennis players who chose other sports. The money and fame are all state side with the NBA and so forth. Europeans love soccer because they can be famous at home. South Americans and Africans get to leave their poverty stricken countries for the bright lights of the Western World. U.S. athletes are not going to switch over to soccer. Bringing over washed up stars like David Beckham is not going to make people care except horny women. ESPN, go apologize to Brett Favre for ignoring him during the month of June and stop pushing soccer down our youth's throats. I want my kids to be rich and play for the Lakers, not the Columbus Crew.

It has been a long time...

I haven't posted in almost 6 months. Jesus. I guess I was waiting for the Blackhawks to win the cup first. So, now that has happened, I can end the great embargo, shave my playoff stubble, cut my Kaner mullet, and return to normal. Chicago sports is once again on top for the moment until tomorrow when baseball and the great free agency flop of the Bulls dominates the stage. With both teams in the cellar and dividing the city and the rest of us infected with Lebron Fever, it is nice to have something good happen in reality.

For me, this seems like the first championship. I didn't grow up caring about baseball or even football. For me, it was the Bulls and the Hawks. Everyone grew up idolizing Jordan, Pippen, and the rest of the Bulls as they dominated the 1990's. But, I was so young. I didn't understand what it meant to play 82 games and battle the salary cap in order to be a champion. Those felt given, not earned. As a child, I'd listen to my alarm clock radio for the Hawks home games. I idolized the Hawks greats like Roenick, Chelios, Belfour, and Amonte. I loved fighting with them in NHL 94, the greatest video game ever created. I loved the sport and was too young to understand why the Hawks didn't show home games on TV or why they traded the players I loved so much one by one. I didn't understand why the owners locked out the players for an entire season. When it ended, I didn't care.

The lockout ended in 2005. I realized the Hawks were a shit product with shitty owners
hip. Old Man Wirtz ruled over the team like Golem over the ring. Cheaply, they continued to sign bad players, draft bad players, and not show games. The old fans didn't return and many new ones were dead on arrival like aborted fetuses. I was one of the many who called for the Old Man to cede control for the benefit of the team. God answered and ironically, the team improved. Toews and Kane were on the way. I had gone to a game for $7 dollars because I was a student and walked to the front row, something that wouldn't happen this season. Sophomore year, Mariner Tom and I predicted the team would be a cup contended very quickly in the next 5 years. They arrived ahead of schedule finishing a point out that season, Western Conference finalists the next, and Stanley Cup Champs tonight.

The post game coverage was excellent. I watch the big, loud ex-Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick cry. Dan Patrick asks why. You see it on Roenick's face. He never won any cup and lost in the finals with the Hawks to a great veteran Pittsburgh team. That was supposed to be him, not Toews. He was supposed to end the curse, but instead got into a nasty divorce that sent him to the Phoenix Coyotes. For me, this one was special. I understand what professional sports are now. I'm two teams away from dying a happy sports fan. Still waiting on the Illini basketball team and the Bears. I understand today that neither is a given, and that the players might not care as much as I did when I was 10.

Finally, I welcome the new Hawk fans to band wagon. I am not one of the old guard, but I remember my clock radio. Together, lets enjoy the moment because as Roenick found out, it is not a guarantee that one will see or raise Lord Stanley's cup again and unfortunately, tomorrow is the start of another shitty baseball summer.

Big Ten Welcome Guide

As of today, Nebraska is making the move to the Big Ten conference. This is the beginning of potentially a few moves including Missouri, Norte Dame, Pitt, and Rutgers. With so many newcomers potentially coming over, I thought, as a recent Big Ten graduate, I'd create a guide for an easy transition.

Academics - The Big Ten has a strong tradition of academics. Clearly, if you got an invite or are being considered, then you must have good academics. Only about half the league resides in the category "Safety School" aka Retard Academy. Also, we have been recognized several times by publications such as the Princeton Review. They rank us highly for partying and Greek life. Playboy also recognized two Big Ten school in their top ten. Not bad for a snowy climate.

Athletics- The conference has a great tradition on the grid iron. We have in the past decade gotten automatic bids to get our ass kicked in bowls. Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler created a legacy of hard hitting and pound it out on the ground football. They were replaced with slow, pussy spread offenses like that of Rich Rod and the Zooker. Kids today grow up and move south. On the hardwood, we feature some of the best guards in the game. Unfortunately, the game tends to be dominated by big men of the ACC and Big East. Our legendary coaches choked...people and games. Nebraska adds to our stellar basement of teams that includes Penn State, Iowa, and Northwestern.

Health- Big Ten campuses are known for the beautiful people. Illinois opened up the multi-million dollar ARC to keep the co-eds in shape. Unfortunately, this is the Midwest, home to Milwaukee and Chicago aka Fat Ass Metropolis. With a brat and a beer, we tend to sit around and eat greasy food. Hell, we founded McDonald's. To those eastern schools, we are at least nice, just not in good shape you Jersey Shore meat heads.

Welcome to the Big Ten/Eleven/Twelve/25.

Welcome back me, I missed you. Congrats Hawks and Kane, please don't die this weekend and use a condom.