By Jim Coffman

It makes a Bulls fan gravely ill of course, and heck, it makes most sports fans sick – the thought of Miami’s preening peacocks pushing through and winning the Eastern Conference. It is too infuriating to contemplate for too long.
But it wasn’t the Heat who engaged in the most objectionable behavior in Game 3, a furious battle in which Miami never, ever faltered on its way to a 96-85 triumph.
In fact, a fan had to be impressed with the way the Heat responded when the Bulls tried voicing a little trash in both halves.

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Posted on May 23, 2011

By Roger Wallenstein

Step right up, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls. See ringmaster Ozzie Guillen and drum major Don Cooper present the Greatest Show on the South Side. Oz and Coop have six – you heard me right, not five, but six! – starting pitchers, and this is no freak show. It may be the real thing!
Jake Peavy’s spectacular return has forced Ozzie’s hand. Simply spelling latissimus dorsi is a challenge. Coming back less than a year after detaching the big L.D. is off the charts. Yet there was Jake in total command last Wednesday with a complete-game shutout against the hard-hitting Indians.
The other five – Danks, Buehrle, Floyd, Jackson, and newcomer Phil Humber – all have looked sharp at times this season, so our ringmaster didn’t pull the trigger and send Humber to Charlotte or designate anyone for a relief role.
Assuming this arrangement will be with us for a while, what are the ramifications?

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Posted on May 23, 2011

Can’t Even Do Curse Right

“Say it ain’t so. The Chicago White Sox players who tanked the 1919 World Series for money got the idea from the Chicago Cubs, who threw the Series a year earlier and got away with it,” the Tribune opines.
“‘The ball players were talking about somebody trying to fix the National League ball players or something like that in the World Series of 1918,’ said pitcher Eddie Cicotte, the first of the infamous Black Sox to confess, in a 1920 deposition recently posted on the Chicago History Museum’s website. ‘There was talk that somebody offered this player $10,000 or anyway the bunch of players were offered $10,000 to throw this series.’
“That sounded pretty good to the Sox players, who eventually struck a deal for themselves – and ended up banned from baseball. But the Cubs apparently got a pass. Nobody really dug into that business about somebody offering something to somebody until Sean Deveney’s 2009 book, The Original Curse.
“Deveney and others offer plenty of reasons the Cubs players might have been motivated to throw the Series to the Boston Red Sox and scant evidence that they actually did, but, hey, all the witnesses are dead. Play along here.”

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Posted on May 20, 2011

Lesson Relearned

Well that sucked.
“By late Wednesday evening, the Heat had reclaimed its identity and claimed a huge victory, rolling over the Chicago Bulls, 85-75, at the United Center to steal home-court advantage,” Howard Beck writes for the New York Times.
“The night was defined by defense, mostly Miami’s, which throttled Derrick Rose, flustered Luol Deng and turned Carlos Boozer into a footnote. The Heat held the Bulls to 34 percent shooting and secured the win in a plodding, grinding, grisly fourth quarter, which Miami won, 14-10.”

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Posted on May 19, 2011

By Carl Mohrbacher

What . . . the . . . hell . . . was . . . that?
-Esteban, Peotone IL
I see you watched Tuesday’s game against the Reds.
Yes, all seven runs were unearned. Hoo-ray Beer!
In an effort to cheer you up, allow me to recount some other notable baseball occurrences that were harder to stomach than the 7-5 loss in Cincinnati.

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Posted on May 19, 2011

By Don Best TV

For entertainment purposes only, including gambling.
1. Just look at the numbers.

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Posted on May 18, 2011

By Dmitry Samarov

Just when I was about to give up on the season and tell Steve there was no point in my continuing to write this column (aside from causing myself stomach ulcers), the Sox go out West and win three series in a row. Go figure.
*
Monday night a middle-aged couple hailed me for a ride in Lincoln Park, going downtown. Hearing the ballgame on the radio, the gent inquired, “What game is it?” Sox-Mariners, I answered. “So you’re a Sox fan?” he asked, sounding relieved. Him and the wife were in from St. Louis for the Cubs-Cards series. It was a pleasant conversation the rest of the way. I pointed out that their team had the Sox former manager, which made the man chuckle. He told me he’d met LaRussa several times and liked the man. His wife piped up with a joke too: “What does the World Series and a sterile bear have in common? No Cubs!”

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Posted on May 17, 2011

By Jim Coffman

There’s still a long way to go for the Bulls, but what must – or should – frighten the Heat and whoever would come next, the Mavericks or the Thunder, is that this is a team getting better before our eyes. Talk about peaking at the right time.
And make no mistake about it, this is a team. Sure, without Derrick Rose these guys might not have even made the playoffs; that’s why he’s the MVP. But without the role players around him and the defense-first coaching philosophy of Tom Thibodeau, Rose wouldn’t be in the playoffs either.
After all, the headlines announcing the Bulls rout of the Heat in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night name Luol Deng as often – if not more – as the MVP. Or don’t name names at all.

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Posted on May 16, 2011

By Marty Gangler

Sure it was just five games this week, but it was a complete and utter mess. Little clutch hitting and hardly any extra-base hits is no way to win baseball games. Throw in some physical and mental errors and here you are.
With all of this in mind, we here at The Cub Factor think that the one big thing the Cubs need is that legit 3rd-place hitter. It just does not exist on the roster, but what if we were able to make one from the talents on the team they currently have? Like a player named Frank Enstein.
We here at The Cub Factor have given this a little thought. This is what we would like to see in our 3rd-place hitter:

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Posted on May 16, 2011

By Roger Wallenstein

Let’s be clear that the White Sox have more pressing concerns than wondering where to put Paul Konerko’s likeness and his retired No. 14 once his playing days have ended.
Nevertheless, a guy’s mind wanders a bit while sitting through a lackluster performance at The Cell early in this puzzling season.
You look across the faces on the left centerfield fence, and it’s apparent that the two newest honorees – Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas – share a space, while Fox, Baines, Appling, Miñoso, Aparicio, Lyons and Pierce have larger tracts. But, hey, they got there first.
Space will be designated for Paulie when the time comes, but who knows where it will be?

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Posted on May 16, 2011