Court Sport now on Chicago Now

Courtney will be blogging on Chicago Now from now on!

She is their newest Sport's Voice

Here is her page

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/courtsport/

The Dance

In the spirit of March Madness this blog uses this year's tournament to reflect on the NBA and a question which many NBA people might find interesting. This years Elite 8 consists of: 1 Big10 team, 1 Big East team, 2 SEC teams, 1 Horizon League team, 2 Big 12 teams, and 1 ACC team. Clearly a field dominated by the six BCS conferences, with the one exception being the Pac-10. I thought I would take this idea of major conference domination one step further. Linking the idea of NBA players (who went to college) and their conferences in a six-team tournament of their own. First, I will determine a 5 man starting line-up of current NBA players, with today's stats representing each of the six BCS conferences. Then we can decide which conference's NBA talent dominates.

Without further delay, your NBA starting five from each conference, in order from worst to best:

6. Pac-10: Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, Brandon Roy, Aaron Brooks and Gilbert Arenas

5. Big Ten: Carl Landry, Deron Williams, Zach Randolph, Jason Richardson and Eric Gordon

4. Big 12: Kevin Durant, Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups, LaMarcus Aldridge and Kirk Hinrich

3. SEC: Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Joe Johnson, Rajon Rondo and David Lee

2. Big East: Rudy Gay, Caron Butler, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Troy Murphy

1. ACC: Chris Paul, Tim Duncan, Chris Bosh, Anthony Morrow and Luol Deng

There you have it, this can't be much of a surprise to anyone. I will take any comments and disagreements. I have a feeling some of those conferences would have liked to have Kobe or Lebron on their side. -Schatz Man, jonathankschatz@gmail.com

Hawks Can Learn From The Bachelor

The Blackhawks are hitting a rough spot, losing 5 out of the last 7 games. As we all know our defense if falling apart due to injuries causing them to completely rearrange lines and positions.

Behind our shaking defense is our goalie debate which has been going on the entire season.

Being a female obsessed with sports, I feel that I need to watch girly shows to even it out.

While watching the Bachelor a couple weeks ago, everything clicked.

Joel Quennville needs to conduct a rose ceremony.

On the Bachleor, he has a rose ceremony at the end of every episode where he gives the remaining girls roses. Those who do not get roses get elimited.

Before the ceremony the Bachwlor will sit and reflect on the girls he has left. He will stare at their pictures and reflect on their good and bad qualities so that he can make the best choice for himself.

While watching the last episode, I pictured Quennville doing this with Huet and Niemi.

I imagined Q holding both their pictures and reflecting on their good games and bad games. For example, he would have flashbacks Niemi's 3 shut outs this season and Huet's battling. He needs to make the best choice for the team and conduct his own rose ceremony. Well more of a mask ceremony.

The last episode of the Bachelor there is only one rose, for one girl. And Q needs to give one mask to one goalie and stick with it.

He'll do it just like the Bachelor finale. They'll be standing on the beach dressed in suits, Q will be nervous and will have to apologize to the loser and say "You have a friend for life". They will cry, then move on and a winner will be named.

Easier said then done, but this put him out until the out team rallies and switch method is not working. How many times have we heard that "Niemi is the guy!" then a week later "Huet is our guy".

This flip flopping is not working and as we come closer and closer to the Stanley Cup playoffs we need to pick the right man for the job. Q needs to reflect, pick them apart, and decide who's his man and who he's giving the mask to.

Chicago White Sox... The new Jersey Shore

The latest drama concering the Chicago White Sox has been all over our Chicago sports radio stations.

Oney Guillen came on both ESPN 1000's Waddle and Silvy AND The Score's Muley and Hanley to further discuss it.

I would have turned it off had it not been my intern duty to listen to both.

I don't know about my fellow White Sox fans out there, but I am sick of the Kenny Williams-Ozzie Guillen Soap Opera that has continuously been going on since the announcement of Ozzie's Twitter.

I want to hear about the team and how they're looking, not about this ongoing drama.

Are the details of what's going on in the club house important? Absolutely.

But as a fan, I am getting sick of it. I have the next season of Jersey Shore to look forward to for drama and trash talking. It's time to get it out of the White Sox organization.

It all started with talk of Ozzie's twitter. As soon as it was announced, it was EVERYWHERE... Chicago sports radio, Comcast Sportsnet, and even ESPN's SportsCenter...

When I first heard the news, I thought, "Cool, I'll follow him". But then I got over it and moved on to hear news about real sports and real baseball stories and couldn't find any. I got frustrated.

Who really cares that much about someone's twitter?

Well, The White Sox do.

The RUMOR is that Oney Guillen got the boot from the Sox because he was tweeting controversial things about the team that the club house did not want to hear (read).

Oney said on both Chicago Sports Radio stations this morning that he was never warned or talked to seriously about his tweets or actions and that he would have appreciated respect from the Sox had they approached him about it.

Oney, are you serious? If you are going to tweet controversial things about the organization you work for it's common sense they are going to be upset with you.

I wouldn't dare tweet bad things about my work place for fear of termination or being yelled at and sent to get an even larger amount of coffee than I thought possible.

One thing that I find funny is that all this drama is coming out AFTER the announcement of a reality show staring Ozzie Guillen, and other members of the White Sox organization.

As we know from everyone's favorite reality show, Jersey Shore, a reality show isn't a success with out constant drama.

What the fans are seeing right now is a previewing of the juicy drama they will see on the show. Infact, it's like the drama is an ad campaign for it.

Funny how it all comes together.... Could it be staged drama for viewership? That's more the Hills style, and we all know we got a situation here.

Cheap Shot

I took no greater pleasure during Sunday morning's Blackhawks game versus the Washington Capitals than booing Alex Ovechkin as he skated towards the penalty box. His first period boarding penalty was a prime example of the type of occurrence that needs to be eradicated from hockey altogether.

Without fail, every season there are outcries from the fans who witness vicious hits on the ice to make it more of an offense, or to find some other way to stop these unnecessary "glamor hits". As one of the superstars of the NHL, as well as the captain of his franchise Ovechkin should understand his status as a role model and a representative for the league. His hit on Brian Campbell Sunday morning was evidence of nothing more than Ovechkin's incompetent decision-making abilities and vicious instincts.

Campbell had just released the puck around, behind the Hawks net when Ovechkin, who was "glamor hit" hunting the entire way shouldered Campbell into the boards going full speed. Campbell was already leaning over when Ovechkin hit him, and as a result his momentum took him shoulder/chest first into the boards. He sprawled out on the ice in agony for several minutes before being carried to the locker room. Ovechkin lingered around Campbell, before being directed to the penalty box and then off to the visiting locker room after his game misconduct had been credited.

Campbell is likely out for the rest of the season according to sources, he has broken several ribs as well as his clavicle. Ovechkin will be fined and the incident will be up for review with the NHL commissioner about possible suspensions. However, this is not nearly enough, his actions not just today but throughout the season condemn him as a cheap and malicious head-hunter. He has already served a suspension this season for similar conduct and has three prior game misconducts THIS SEASON.

Ovechkin deserves a punishment far worse than he will receive, because the NHL will choose to protect its assets (in other words: Ovechkin sells tickets, and makes people watch games). His league-leading 96 points will draw in the crowds, like they did at the United Center, but what we saw was an example of something the NHL must seriously resolve. This type of behavior does not strike the other three major leagues, because Albert Haynesworth took his licks for a similar-in-nature incident and the NFL properly dealt with the situation. And the NBA dealt with its issues but the NHL continues to tolerate a fine line of policy towards fighting and illegal hits. The other three leagues have always taken a no tolerance policy towards the same type of behavior exhibited by Ovechkin on Sunday. I am outraged, the athletes are too big, too strong and too fast these days for this to continue.

By the way, Ovechkin stated in the locker after the game "I didn't hit him hard. He fell bad. But you can see, every shift this happens -- little pushes, little battles." You don't break ribs or your collar bone without being hit hard, and once more in a completely unnecessary fashion, the puck was well out of Campbell's possession when he was hit. Ovechkin clearly doesn't understand what he did wrong, and that's probably the worst part.

Beckham, the next Mr. Franchise

As we all know the White Sox love to hold on to their big names for at least a decade. They then like to take that big name and make him the face of the club house, even when five years later his numbers are fading.

Our first Mr. Franchise was Frank "Big Hurt" Thomas. I remember idolizing him as a four year old, never leaving my seat when he was up to bat. I also remember being at the Cell ten years later when he homered for the 500th time.

However, after 14 seasons with the White Sox and in the bit of a slump (for about four years) the Sox finally decided to trade their Mr. Franchise away to the A's.

This year I almost cried when he got the Lifetime Achievement Award from Comcast SportsNet's March of the Dimes awards. But I didn't when I realized that somewhere between The Big Hurt's key years, a second Mr. Franchise was born, Mr. Paul Konerko.

Pauly came to us in 1999, when he gave us a great season hitting .294. Pauly continued to give us great seasons from 1999 to 2006 (with the exception of '03) and officially adopted the Mr. Franchise job when Frank the Tank was given the boot after the 2004 season.

If you look at Pauly's last 3 seasons, it's anything but impressive for someone who's the face of a franchise. Pauly went .259 in 2007, .240 in 2008, and a decent .277 last season.

The 6-4-3 double play has been Nick-named the Konerko special, due to his ability to ground into more double plays than any two players.

Pauly has also only stolen 8 bases in thirteen seasons...

Given these last few points one would wonder if there is still room for Pauly on a re-developing young team like the White Sox, but then we remember the rule of Mr. Franchise. Once a player has given us 10 seasons, we can't let go.

I have also learned through my minor connections to the sports broadcasting world in Chicago that the media loves Paul Konerko because he will always talk to them and that he's the leader in the club house.

Which brings me to my next point. Is Mark Buerhle co-Mr. Franchise with Paul Konerko? Some would argue yes, he's been here for 9 seasons and lead us to a World Series victory, started an All-Star Game, and gave us both a perfect game and a no hitter.

But there's one problem with Buerhle. He's not a clubhouse guy. He doesn't like media attention and we all know he wishes he were pitching for the Cards.

So is he or is he not a Mr. Franchise? You be the judge.

My prediction is that Gordan Beckham is the next Mr. Franchise.

Many trade rumors of Beckham being traded for Adrian Gonzalez have been floating around us. Some say do it. The Sox need left handed hitting, but is it worth the trade?

I say no. I see great potential in Beckham. He came close to winning Rookie of the Year and he has quickly become a fan favorite. You couldn't go an inning without seeing a sign stating "Marry me Beckham".

Most importantly, he works hard and he comes ready to play every day.

Look at the solid effort he gave the Sox last season. He was taken out of his normal position of short stop, where he played his entire college career, and moved to third base. He was no golden-glove nominee, but he gave us a solid performance there and we could count on him every game.

He may not be a club house leader, yet, because of his young age of 23. Give him a few more years and he will be the face of the White Sox.

Finishing Finland

Could it be a "Miracle on Ice" all over again? Team USA is on its way to play for the gold medal. USA hasn't won a gold medal since the miracle against Russia in 1980. After making it to the goal medal game in 2002 but ending up with silver and only finishing 8th in 2006, USA wants it more than ever.

USA dominated against Finland in the semi-finals 6-1 to play for the gold. However, most of that action was in the first quarter, where USA scored all 6 goals.

Patrick Kane netted back to back goals to make it 6-0 in the first. The funny thing is, Finland had only let in 4 goals during the entire tournament, but somehow USA was able to break them down and secure their win early in the game.

USA will take on Canada for the gold medal. USA already beat Canada 5-3 but that doesn't mean we have it in the bag. USA depended on the outstanding goaltending of Ryan Miller to win it.

USA was able to tear down the frightening Canadian line of San Jose Sharks but can they do it all again?

Canada's size and talent is fascinating with guys like Sidney Crosby, Jerome Iginla and Joe Thorton.

But... putting the best of the best together doesn't necessarily make them THE best. You have to have chemistry and it's quite obvious that USA does.

Canada wants that gold medal win on home ice and USA wants to take it from them. We'll see who takes it home on Sunday.