Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago cannot embrace being called a football city and bristle at meeting the conditions to stage the 2015 NFL draft,” Tribune sports columnist David Haugh writes in response to his paper’s revelation of said conditions.
To which I say: Why not?
Are no conditions too demanding, too absurd, too expensive to bristle at and embrace being called a football city at the same time?
Posted on February 10, 2015
By Jim Coffman
There was nothing wrong with the Bulls that a little luck couldn’t cure. If they get a little more, they might just go into the All-Star break feeling slightly better about themselves than they have in over a month.
Okay, so it took a lot of luck for the Bulls to sweep their weekend trip to the Southeast with victories over the New Orleans Pelicans and the Orlando Magic. But the Bulls have had plenty of the other kind of fortune so far this season so they were clearly due for some breaks. And they benefited from about a half-dozen of them in the last 36 seconds early Sunday evening as they rallied from an ultra-late six-point deficit to eke out a one-point win.
Going forward, it is natural for everyone to set their sights on the Cleveland contest at home on Thursday, the team’s last game before the break. The Cavaliers have been red-hot, winning 13 of their last 14.
But Tuesday’s game against Sacramento will be more telling. Will the Bulls, led by inconsistent point guard Derrick Rose, fail to rise to the occasion again against a team they perceive as inferior? So far this season the Bulls have been extraordinary in only one way: their ability to play down to the level of competition in game after game after game. And many of the worst of those games have been played at the United Center.
Posted on February 9, 2015
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
The Post-Super Bowl, pre-baseball depression. Plus: The Gloomy Bulls; The Sunny Blackhawks; Bears Draft Mockery; Mocking The NFL Draft; and Joe Maddon vs. Kris Bryant.
Posted on February 8, 2015
By Jim Coffman
Non-football fans ask, “Given all of these scandals and with so many participants at risk of suffering serious consequences to their short- and long-term health, how is this game still so popular?”
The latest, bestest answer: “Did you watch Super Bowl XLIX?”
In fact, the whole of the 2015 NFL playoffs featured one amazing game per week, with Detroit suffering a drama-packed loss to Dallas to start things off, Dallas then falling to the Packers in similar fashion and then the Packers absolutely blowing it against the Seahawks in the NFC championship.
The game is still the thing.
Posted on February 2, 2015
