Smelling the Roses

Tuesday night the Bulls take on the LA Clippers at the United Center. It is their first home game since January 15th. The Bulls played the Clippers in LA on the 20th, where they lost 97-104, but they were a seemingly different team back then. It's been eleven days and since that loss in the Staples' Center and the Bulls have gone undefeated. Pivotal wins against the Suns, Spurs, Rockets, Thunder and Hornets highlight a long road trip which seemed destined for disappointment at first. No other team in NBA history has won 5 consecutive games against teams with winning records. The Bulls have won 9 out of their last 11 and made an important trade, sending sluggish seven-foot bench hog Aaron Gray to the Hornets for productive journey-man guard Devin Brown. The addition of Brown brings a legitimate perimeter scorer to the Bulls, of which they have none right now.

Also significant during the road trip was the continuation of Derrick Rose's scoring explosion. He has truly shifted his game and taken it to another level, which was evidenced by his addition to the All-Star game roster. In his second year he's accomplished more than any Bull since Michael Jordan. I have to admit this team is exciting right now, hopefully they are able to get healthy, put the losses to the Clippers and Golden State behind them. They need to take the momentum of the All-Star, the winning streak and the return home into Tuesday's game.

POWER BROUWER

Troy Brouwer netted the over time goal against the San Jose Sharks, on their last road trip, bringing the Hawks to their third victory (second over time victory) against the Sharks this year. His heroic biscuit in the basket was his second of the game.

As we know the Hawks are full of big names: Toews, Kane and Keith..but let's add Troy Brouwer to the list.

No, he's no all star... yet. But 17 goals (29 points) on the year is not bad for this sophomore. In fact Brouwer scored the team's high, 5 goals, of the road trip.

Brouwer was named MVP of the Hawk's road trip by Chicago Tribune.com and I'm not surprised.

Brouwer is doing what the team needs him to do: make hits, score goals and play hard and he deserves some recognition for it.

We have yet to see just what can come from the Power Brouwer.

Hawks Caught With Their Pants Down and Shirts Off

Many of you are aware of the Blackhawks scandal that has occured all over the internet today. Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg, and their grandpa aka center John Madden were photographed in a limo partying with some young party girls in Vancouver. Here is the link to the orginal blog where it was found.

http://communities.canada.com/theprovince/blogs/kurtenblog/archive/2010/01/26/chicago-blackhawks-shirtless-partying-pictures.aspx

My personal favorite is the picture of John Madden flexing. Let us remind you, Mr. Madden, you are 36... and married. Aren't you a little too old to be flexing shirtless and drunk especially with 20 something young girls.

Other than Madden, Kaner and Versteeg are youngans. We understand they're humans, who have party lives. But if we remember anything from Patrick Kane's partying days this summer in Buffalo, we know it brings controversy. Has he not learned anything? Please party smart.

It's a very bad idea to give young twenty year olds millions of dollars and not give them any guidance. Too bad Patrick Kane is just a tad too old to still be claimed by his parents. Maybe then the Blackhawks won't be constantly embaressed by his controversies.

I did enjoy the first picture of Kris Versteeg where he is fashionably fabulous wearing a pair of ladies sunglasses. He's definetly living up to one of his nicknames.. Verstud.. but definetly not his other... Verjesus..

The morals of this story are listed below:

1.) Hawks.. trust no one in Vancouver, this city is constantly publicly humiliating all of you.

2.) If you are 36 and married do not take your shirt off in a limo with a bunch of chicks and take pictures of it... especially do not flex...

3.) When you are a public figure and have thousands of fans, be smart and do not document your stupid decisions.

4.) When you are going to be photographed parting, make sure you shave your chest and all body hair (the onlProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

thing we learned from them).

5.) When photographed shirtless make sure you wear some form of religious jewelry so incase we start to judge you, will say "oh at least Patrick Kane is wearing a cross, he'll still go to heaven".

6.) When your wife finds out try to say the pictures were photoshopped from when the players made a shirtless calender for charity.

The Hawks have yet to put out a statement. I can only wonder what Quennville's thinking right now.

Hopefully now the Hawks know to stay away from everything related to Vancouver so they don't get caught with their pants down. I just wish there was some way we could avoid the Olympics...

A Familiar Sound

As Chicago sports fans we are accustomed to a lot of great things: US Cellular Field's hot dogs with onions are better than anything on the planet, the Jesse White Tumblers may appear at any Bulls halftime show, everybody will cheer as loud as they can during the "Star-Spangled Banner" before Hawks games, there will always be a smoking hot girl participant in "Shoot the Puck" during the 2nd intermission of Blackhawks games and she won't know what she's doing, and there will always be giant rats running around the field at Cubs games, oh they also have a rodent problem. It is these things that we love, they are the character of Chicago sports outside of the sports themselves. They are things we can discuss in social circles, we can reminisce about them to people at bars and use them to challenge the traditions of other sports markets.

There is another example of these traditions that many people probably don't even realize, but once you know it you will cherish it. Except it's not really an "it" it's a "who" and he is Gene Honda. Many of you probably don't know who Gene Honda is, others may know him for only one of his roles.

Gene Honda is the PA announcer for the White Sox, the Blackhawks, DePaul Basketball, the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament Final Four. Once you read that list and think about it, it all makes sense, you put that voice in the background of so many great games that you've been to. He's a true Chicago icon, though you may never have thought about it before. Isn't it weird to put a face to a voice that you've heard so many times? I think so, especially in this case. Ladies and Gentlemen the voice of Chicago sports: Gene Honda.

Sox Announce One Year Contracts

The White Sox announced on Saturday that they will be giving both Bobby Jenks, 28 and Carlos Quentin, 27 one year contracts.

They Sox, like all of us, see potential in both of these players because we have seem them perform.

But both their years last year probably kept the White Sox from giving them longer contracts.

Jenks, deal is worth $7.5 million and Quentin's is $3.2 million. The Sox were able to avoid arbitration with both players.

Jenks went 3-4 with 29 saves and a 3.71 ERA last season. Sadly, he fell one save short of his four straight 30- save seasons.

Quentin had a rough season in 2009, hitting .236 with 21 homers. His slump towards the end of the season can be blamed on his month and a half sit on the disable list from May 29 to July 19 due to a foot injury.

Let's hope Carlos can dig himself out of his slump.

Let's pray that Jenks takes care of himself so his ERA and blown saves don't rise this year.

Road Warriors...not

How do we evaluate this latest Bulls implosion? Kicking off their seven-game road trip in disappointing fashion, the Bulls were out-dueled by the Golden State Warriors 114-97 yesterday.

This was considered one of the Bulls more winnable games on this long road trip, because the Warriors were dealing with a three-game losing streak, and a depleted roster with some key bench players out injured. Contrasted to the Bulls, who were on a four-game winning streak and had just come off a 2OT win at home against the no-quit Wizards. This game was particularly irritating because the Warriors seemed at times to be so physically exhausted. However, they rode Corey Maggette's 32 pts and Andres Biedrins' 8 blocks to victory outscoring the Bulls 31-18 in the 4th quarter. They also got nice play from the exciting rookie Stephan Curry, who couldn't keep himself out of foul trouble long enough to score too many points. Speaking of foul trouble, Tyrus Thomas fouled out in the 4th quarter. It seemed like the Bulls could have taken a stranglehold on this game with a few defensive stops and some clutch baskets anytime until there were 5 mins left in the 4th.

The Bulls progress now to play another "winnable" game against the LA Clippers, before things get more challenging as they play the Suns and then the Rockets, who keep blasting off despite their superstar-less squad.

So are we worried about the Warriors loss? It robbed the Bulls of their momentum starting out a tough road trip....but the Bulls were never going to win a shootout. This team was built to play defense and stay in the game not beat teams with their offense. I'll see how they do against the Cursed Clips before I start calling for Vinny Del Negro's head again.

One Positive from this game: Derrick Rose is continuing his offensive EXPLOSION, his assists are way down but his points are way up...I'm not going to complain about this. One Negative about this game: apparently there's a Bull Flu, H1N2.0, taking out one player a night every night. Hinrich was out against the Warriors, now he's back and Salmons will be out against the Clips with it. We still have yet to see any sighting of the following "bench" players: Aaron Gray, Jerome James, and Lindsey Hunter. Either they're injured, overweight or hanging out at Karma everynight. I hope it's the latter.

Sox '05 Stars... Where are they now??

As Sox fans we are constantly defending our religion, White Soxism, to attacking cubs fans. 2005 gave us a few years of defense to our attackers. But five years later, the defense is up.

Last year we all know Jermaine Dye struggled and Bobby Jenks blew numerous saves and Paul Konerko is STILL on the team. Why are we so connected to these players like a newborn to their mother? Because of their success in 2005 and bringing us to the first White Sox World Series Championship of our generation.

Let's take a look at our studs then and now.

In 2005 Dye hit .274 with a slugging percentage of .512. He also had 145 hits and 31 Homers. Last season he hit .250 and slugged .453 with 126 hits and 27 homers. We know Dye can hit for power since his homer run number is the only stat that didn't decrease by 20, but one thing is for sure; the man can not run anymore. In 2005 he had 11 stolen bases; last year he had zero. So why keep a man who's been on a decrease since '05 (minus his great 2006 season)? We can as fans feel guilty turning our back on the man who helped get us that World Series Championship and who was the MVP of it.

Bobby Jenks gave us a ride for our money in '05, starting his rookie season off hot. Let's see what happens, when a fastball pitcher doesn't take care of himself. While his wins increased and his strike outs remained the same (about 50), it is only because his innings pitched has increased. In fact the only stats that have increased are the ones that should be decreasing. In 2005 his ERA was 2.75, in 2009, 3.71. In 2005 he only had 2 blown saves and in 2009 he had six. While these starts are not a huge difference, they are quickly changing. Jenks has a beer drinking, chin sweater wearing reputation and if he doesn't start taking care of himself soon, his ERA and blown saves will sky rocket.

Paul Konerko's stats are decreasing, as anyone's would after ten seasons with the same team. Paulie hit .283 in 05 and .277 in 09. He had 163 hits in 05 and 151 in 09. His RBIs also decreased from 100 to 88 and homers 40 to 28. The only thing that did increase from 05 to 09 were his doubles. Could it possibly be because he's loosing his power? What is Paulie without his power? We all know he can't steal bases. Could this be why we traded for both Kotsay and Viscal?

Buerhle has been the only one to give us some excitement since 2005. But we do know he's far from our Mr. Perfect. He's either turning our stomach when he's lost his control or covering every newspaper in town with a no hitter or perfect game.

Lots has changed since our 2005 season and I didn't even get to Pierzynski, Garcia, Contreres, and Scotty Pods. One thing that's for sure, the Sox have some house cleaning to do.

Canada's Cormier Still Playing Dirty

Canadian world junior team captain Patrice Cormier has continued a pattern of playing dirty. The New Jersey Devil's draft pick gave Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's defenceman Mikael Tam one hell of a cheap shot in the face on Sunday.

One Cormier's average attacks happened against Canada's rival Sweden in December. Cormier elbowed Sweden's Anton Rodin into the kisser. Rodin has just come off the bench.

Cormier flew his shoulder/elbow into the head of Teemu Harikainen (Oiler's draft pick) in another pre-tournament game.

Many were outraged by his dirty playing, but they have no had enough after his hit on Tam on Sunday. Tam went into convulsions on the ice moments after his head smacked. He was hustled off on a stretcher and it was announced Monday that he has brain trauma.

Cormier is suspended until the disciplinary process is completed. Many feel that suspension is not enough and that he should be banned for life.

Let's hope his punishment is more than just a slap on the wrist. An intense hit into the boards by Willie Mitchell could work.

Watch his hit against Tem on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aplfhPu4iiU

Hawks On Top of Detroit This Time

Not only have the Blackhawks continued to play great hockey (minus a "two game losing streak") they have continued to put on one hell of a show. The Hawks continued their eight game road trip with a shoot out overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings yesterday.

Patrick Sharp scored the winning goal in the fourth round of the shoot out and he had much to say about the hawks victory. “It had a little bit of everything,” Sharp said in the dressing room after the game. “It had a nice fight with [Kris Versteeg], back-and-forth chances [and] some highlight reel goals in the shootout there. I’m sure it was a lot of fun for the fans.” (ESPN.com).

The Blackhawks are now the pride and joy of Chicago, being their only winning team this year and Chicago sports fans are quickly jumping the bandwagon.

It's funny how last year Detroit was our biggest rival and we struggled to win a game against them. But this year the Hawks are untouchable, even to Detroit.

Detroit, whose record is 24-16-8 lay 16 points behind the Blackhawks and are third in the Central Division.

The Hawks, 34-11-4, have been able to steadily coast in first place in the division.

So this year at the United Center, when we hear the 300 level (and drunk fans) chant "Detroit Sucks", we don't have to feel embarrassed because, this season it's sort of true.

This is Purple Nation

The must-see team in Chicago right now is the Blackhawks. But for those of us looking for another thing to cheer about, especially as the Blackhawks just started their 8-game Disney-On-Ice road trip and won't be in town until Feb. 3rd, I offer an alternative. There are five (not including University of Chicago) major college programs around Chicago, and if you stretch it a little you can talk about: NIU, Illinois State, Purdue, Notre Dame, Valpo, Bradley, Marquette, UW-Milwaukee...etc. In short, there's no shortage of plurality amongst nearby college hoops, but there is only one team which has the potential to take the city by storm this week. Northwestern University has been whispered about by college basketball experts since their 10-1 start to the season. They even cracked the AP top 25 for the first time since 1969 going into the Big 10 season. NU is the only major conference team to never have made the NCAA Tournament and that was evidenced as the 'monkey on the back' of the Wildcats when they stumbled into the Big 10 season and lost two straight (Illinois and Michigan State) and have gone 3-2 overall in conference. However, the two wins were significant (Michigan in Ann Arbor and #6 Purdue in Evanston) and most of the faithful believe they should have pulled out a win against #16 Wisconsin in Evanston. Coming off the big win against Purdue last Saturday they now play Ohio State away and Illinois @ home this week before the schedule gets a little easier. As I watched the Cats scratch out a win against Purdue I noticed something I've never seen before in Welsh-Ryan Arena, pride. So watch this team, watch them because no other college team mentioned in this article is worth watching. Watch them because they can and want to make history. Watch them because they are exciting. Let them know this city is Purple Nation.

Ozzie Wants Rotating DH

Chuck Garfien from Comcast SportsNet Chicago sat down with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf in Arizona this week. Reinsdorf gave his two cents about the recent trades and his thoughts on the approaching season.

One thought I found quite interest was Ozzie's plan for a rotating DH. With Jim Thome gone the spot is now open. Instead of filling it with one specific person. Ozzie wants to change it up. I couldn't agree more. One man that I can guarantee will see the spot is White Sox first basemen, Paul Konerko.

One man who probably won't see that spot is Jermaine Dye. Rumor has it he could possibly get picked up by the San Diego padres.

Why the Bulls can't afford to pass up T-Mac

This blog is about numbers. My argument is that Tracy McGrady is beneficial to the Bulls now and in the future. The great T-Mac has been working out in Chicago (presumably meaning he has a residency or temporary residence here already) in order to return to form from a micro-fracture of his knee. McGrady brings to the Bulls a potentially good scorer (maybe 15-19 pts/gm average, his career average is 21 pts) and someone who can take clutch shots. He can still play 30-35 mins/gm and he's someone who can end games and who can help some of the young talent on this team mature. T-Mac is an ex-superstar and still carries with him the ability to lead (which the Bulls desperately need as they seem likely to be an 7 or 8 seed in the East) Now to the numbers, T-Mac's current contract with the Houston Rockets has him slated to make $24 million in the 09-10 season and then it's over. The Bulls 09-10 salary is $69 million and there are five players coming off the books at the end of the season (with the possible exception of Aaron Gray because he signed a qualifying offer). Once that happens, the Bulls 2010-2011 salary looks like it will be around $41 million. This would seem promising for cap space, except that the NBA has come to grips with reality and in anticipation of the impact that the world recession will inevitably have on it they have lowered the 2010-2011 cap threshold. It will be around $50-53 million without a luxury tax. Which means the Bulls will only have around $10 million in cap space to pursue the Wade, Bosh, Joe Johnson, Lebron free agent spree. John Salmons has a player option for the $6.7 million he makes next year. So, if he opts out of the option or gets traded than the Bulls cap goes up almost $7 mil. If GarPax, the General Monster of the Chicago Bulls can make the right moves (Salmons + whoever Houston wants with the exception of Rose and Noah) for Tracy McGrady and deal with the $24 million contract, than the cap space explodes for the Bulls and they can offer maximum contracts for 1st choice free agent (Wade or Bosh) as well as competitive contract offer for their 2nd choice. There you have, the numbers are there, the logic is there, the i's are dotted. Oh, and by the way, Tracy McGrady wants to play, don't forget, he would be playing for a new contract after this season. (Thank you hoopsworld.com and nbaroundtable.com)

Mark McGwire Admits Steroid Use... Surprised?

Mark McGwire finally admitted to using steroids today. Can't really say that I'm surprised. It appears to be the perfect time for McGwire to give his confession and take his penance so that he can still get inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Cardinal fans say that they are willing to forgive their former player and new hitting coach. But should he be forgiven?

No one could forget the season where he broke Roger Maris' *61 home run record. But think about how many home runs Maris would have had if he had taken steroids or how many "the Babe" would have had? So does McGwire's record even count?

McGwire was quoted saying that he had both bad seasons and good seasons when he was taking steroids and also when he wasn't. He went on to say that he's deeply sorry for ever using the drug. Blah Blah Blah Mighty Mark, it's too late now.

We'll hold your spot for you in the Hall of Fame after you complete your ten Hail Mary's and five Our Father's.


~Court

Rid the Demons

DePaul University Athletic Department has decided to part ways with Jerry Wainwright. Leaked Sunday night, this decision will be announced Monday morning at a press conference. The Blue Demons are 7-8 this season and 0-3 in the Big East. They have some bad losses such as American University at AllState Arena and Florida Gulf Coast. The Blue Demons basketball team boasts a national record setting 22 consecutive conference losses, I don't think even Lovie Smith could have survived with that looming statistic. DePaul basketball needs a new direction, it hasn't made the NCAA tournament since 2004 and since having joined a much tougher Big East conference it hasn't shown any hints of improvement. Hopefully this is the start of shift in direction for an ugly looking program.

Hawks Nauseating Loss

Who is to blame for the hawks god awful 3-1 loss to the Ducks tonight?

Was it the defense? Who only allowed 12 shots on goal?

Perhaps.. you could blame Niemi, who allowed 2 goals in only 11 shots on goal? But we do know a goalie can not carry the the team so we could possibly blame the offense who had 43 shots on goal with only one goal.

Hiller, a 15-12-2 goalie, is a slightly winning goalie, but in my opinion shouldn't be able to knock 42 biscuits out of the basket... So what the heak was going on???

The hawks haven't lost two games in a row since their circus trip in the beginning of december...

So my theory is simple. A team that is 31-11-4, the NHL's best, simply can not win them all and it is better than they lose one now then in the playoffs when we need them most.

New Jack City

Tonight's Blackhawks game vs. the Anaheim Ducks will feature a newly recalled Jack Skille. The promising young forward has played five games with the Blackhawks this season so far and has been fantastic, with a goal and an assist. He brings a lot of energy and speed to the Hawks forward platoon. The downside is that he is replacing someone on the Hawks roster which has gone 5-0-1 in the last six games, rumors are Kris Versteeg may have been injured in last night's shootout loss to Minneasota. While you're flipping back and forth between the Hawks game and the 20th Anniversary Simpson's special tonight keep an eye out for 'Skilleful' Jack Skille and prepare to be impressed.

Welcome to the Sports Lounge Blog

Courtney and I want to offer a chance for listeners and fans of the Sports Lounge on DePaul Radio to get more exposure to one of the most dynamic duos in sports radio. Now you can get insight into Chicago sports and other significant or insignificant topics all the time. Send us your thoughts on our Facebook (Sports Lounge with Schatz and King) and listen every Thursday from 3-5 at radio.depaul.edu.