Right Section obviously. Ill post his articles as I see fit.

Selig's New Blunder: November Baseball

NEW YORK -- The lords of baseball don't realize it, probably because they're old and stubborn and semi-senile. But their showcase event, the World Series, never has seemed more irrelevant in American life. I say it even as the New York Yankees, a world-famous brand name with gaudy stars and Hollywood girlfriends, return for the first time in six years to play the defending champion Philadelphia Phillies in what should be a compelling matchup of monstrous talent and East Coast psychosis.

The problem? Look at the calendar, stupid. The Series is starting later than ever, on Oct. 28, and potentially could finish with a Game 7 in what very possibly would be a frigid, blustery Yankee Stadium on November the friggin' fi-fi-fi-fifth. That means the Boys of Summer are perilously close to becoming the Icecubes of Winter, which is not the smart way to determine a champion in a game of intellectual nuance and patient, incremental drama. Though so many of these postseason contests have been cool to watch, I've also found myself thinking at times, "Can we please finish all this?" instead of sitting back and enjoying the action.

I can hear my body clock ticking, knowing Game 3 of the Series will be played on Halloween night -- what if Pedro Martinez dressed up as Don Zimmer during his start? -- and that Thanksgiving and Christmas aren't too far away. Pitchers and catchers reported to spring training almost nine months ago. The regular season launched seven months ago, with teams playing just about every day. Then, when the postseason arrived, the games suddenly stopped and started, with awkward and unnecessary off days dropped in because the FOX and TBS networks demanded the first two rounds be placed in advantageous evening time slots.

Consequently, whatever theater they've been trying to develop lost its momentum and ability to maintain a captive audience. It's a pathetic strategy by any measure but particularly when baseball is competing against King Football, whose pace is more conducive to a world that is getting faster in the 21st century. In the process, Major League Baseball is allowing financial greed to interrupt the integrity of its entire season, beginning to end. Such harsh thoughts are not only mine. They're shared by one of the game's most respected managers, Mike Scioscia of the Angels, who fired some much-needed shots at the commissioner's office before his team was eliminated from the American League Championship Series Sunday night by the Yankees. Exhibit A of what's wrong with the scheduling format: The Angels needed 22 days to play nine playoff games.

"We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset."
-- Angels manager Mike Scioscia "Ridiculous. I don't know, can I say it any clearer than that?" Scioscia said. "We should have never had a day off last Wednesday. We should never have three days off after the season. You shouldn't even have two days off after the season. It just takes an advantage away for a deep team, which everybody feels very strongly is an asset. It takes that advantage away, and I think that's something that Major League Baseball hopefully will consider looking at."

When asked to elaborate, Scioscia looked over at one of commissioner Bud Selig's longtime trusted aides, Phyllis Merhige, who was running the news conference. "Do you think I can answer this, Phyllis?" he said, knowing the territory was delicate. And off he went again, saying, "I stand by that comment 100 percent. I think that [the first] eight games in 21 days -- you lose a lot of the integrity of what the season means when you have three days off at the end of the season to let other teams maybe reset their starting rotation, which is an advantage of clinching early. That's negated when any team can do it just by getting to the playoffs.

"Some of it could be trimmed up. I think that it's something that eventually is going to have to be addressed. I think you can't control the weather to a certain extent, but the earlier you can schedule these to get them in, the better chance you have of finishing this in weather that is, I think, conducive to the outstanding level of play that is going to be on any playoff baseball field. And I think that it does have an impact. I don't know if it has an impact so much on who wins or loses, but it has an impact on the quality of play. And I think that's very, very important to the integrity of our game. It's just something that seems like it's gotten away a little. I can't say it any clearer: Eight games in 21 days is something you never expect in a season. I think that's the wrong template for baseball."

By extending the postseason, Selig and his peeps not only have turned off the masses beyond New York and Philly but increased the likelihood of inclement weather wreaking havoc. Remember earlier this month in the Bronx, when the Yankees and Angels played in a heavy rainstorm in the wee hours of Sunday? The early forecast for Game 1 Wednesday predicts showers and temperatures in the low 50s, with the possibility of lighter rain for Game 2 Thursday. They're expecting pleasant temperatures in Philly for the weekend games, yet showers are forecast for Saturday. Rain causes delays, which chases viewers to other channels and bogs down the competition. Few can recall how the Phillies beat Tampa Bay in last year's Series because the weather was the predominant story, including Selig's make-up-rules-as-you-go declaration that a team couldn't clinch a Series in a weather-shortened game.

That one was a farce, with one game starting past 10 PM in the East. This one could be, too, complete with Dri-Fit tights, hand warmers, thermal hats with earflaps and space heaters. The waiting, as Tom Petty noted, is the hardest part. "The worst part of it is just the wait. This was the longest day ever," Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte said Saturday, when his start was delayed until the next night by rain. "And I was just about to start getting in my routine and they come walking in there and tell me it got canceled. You realize it's a rainout. Get ready to do it tomorrow. But it's just frustrating from the standpoint it's just such a long day, when you're so ready and so anxious to get the game going."

Baseball very dearly needs a memorable World Series. The last five have lasted five or fewer games, including sweeps by the White Sox in 2005 and the Red Sox in 2004 and 2007. Did the Tigers even show up in 2006, hitting .199 with eight errors as the Cardinals won in five? This one certainly has firepower -- according to STATS LLC, it's the first time since 1926 that the two best power-hitting teams played in the Series. For the largest cities on the East Coast, it's classic stuff. The Phillies even took an Amtrak train to Manhattan's Penn Station Monday afternoon, representing the underdog, Rocky Balboa town playing the behemoth with the $210-million payroll.

"People want to talk about the money they give out," Phillies manager/character Charlie Manuel said. "But the Yankees have 26 banners flying over their stadium and they got those for a reason -- because they want to win. When you beat them, there's a lot of satisfaction there."

Yet beyond the I-95 corridor, you wonder how many fans will watch. It's football season, pro and college, and when baseball stretches into mid-fall, it's vulnerable to becoming a national nuisance. As it is, Selig faces the problem of bad umpiring continuing to muddle games, as it has throughout the postseason. But he can control the calls with expanded instant replay, assuming he ever gets it through his thick skull.

When the World Series is starting closer to New Year's Eve than the July trade deadline, in two cold-weather cities, there's nothing an inept commissioner can do but hope he isn't embarrassed again. Chances are, he will be.

I'm on pins and needles.

If you were not obsessed with Mariotti when he was here. You are in the minority regarding white sox fans.

I bet you read it.

I rarely read Mariotti's articles. I read the headline, noticed a similarity to the previous days topic or a complete reversal from the previous day and moved on.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I don't agree with a lot of what he has to say, but he really is a gifted writer.

And I can't say I disagree with this

_________________

Myself and AWSFB are also long time guys.

As Phils Give Chase, Lee Strategy Hurts
Posted Nov 03, 2009 1:37AM By Jay Mariotti (RSS feed)

Filed Under: MLB
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PHILADELPHIA -- They have nothing in common but history. Chase Utley is a southern California dude with gel in his hair who speaks in cliches and has all the pizzazz of a resin bag. Reggie Jackson was the portrait of flamboyance, the straw that stirred the drink, the problem child who jarred the equilibrium. But today, they are joined in baseball lore by the five home runs each hit in a single World Series, with Utley's latest two shots propelling the Phillies to an 8-6 victory in Game 5 and renewed life for a repeat title.

"It's pretty cool. It's pretty surreal," Utley said with typical nonchalance. "I'm glad we got the win. It was a do-or-die game."

And how about being linked with Reggie, the original Mr. October, as the all-time solo Series slugger? Does that qualify Utley, given the late date, as Mr. November? "Obviously, it's great company. At some point, not right now, maybe I'll look back on it and see what kind of special moment it is," he said. "But right now our goal is to win two more games."

His manager, Charlie Manuel, was left to shrug. "Sometimes, I don't even like to talk about him because he don't want me to," he said. "Actually, he don't like for you [the media] to say a whole lot of things about him. But he's one of the most prepared and dedicated players I've ever been around. He has the most desire and passion to play the game that I've ever been around."

If only Manuel's pitching rotation was as locked in as Utley.

Now the conversation in offices across America -- those not run by Steve Carell, that is -- involves pitchers and rest. It's not a riveting topic, not that baseball is a sexy sport, but this is the new fulcrum upon which the World Series pivots. It's an old school vs. new school debate, and what's curious is, young-guy Joe Girardi represents the old way for the Yankees while old-dude Manuel embraces the new way for the Phillies.

Three days or four days between starts?

That is the question.

Monday night, Cliff Lee didn't dominate the Yankees as much as he survived them, allowing five runs in seven innings and gutting out a win. Not as deceptive with his breaking stuff as he was in the Series opener, he had enough to withstand a white-knuckle bullpen stint by a scuffling Ryan Madson -- no Brad Lidge, wisely -- and put the Phillies in Rocky Balboa mode as they head to New York down 3-2. Lee, of course, was held out of Game 4 because Manuel didn't trust his lack of experience on three days' rest. The Phillies opted for the inferior Joe Blanton, and they lost to the Yankees, who used CC Sabathia successfully on three days' rest. Advantage, Girardi, who is having no problem summoning the $161-million Sabathia twice, the $82.5-million A.J. Burnett and 15-year veteran Andy Pettitte each on three days' rest over the final four games of baseball's championship event.

"Well, I mean, this is the World Series," Girardi rationalized. "There is no baseball after the World Series for four or five months, so there will be plenty of time to rest."

I very much agree with the man, even if Burnett, operating on short rest, was ripped apart by the Phillies in a two-inning massacre. Utley, keeping his team alive, hit his fourth homer of the Series, a three-run shot in the first that propelled a potent lineup to a five-run lead over Burnett, who allowed six runs, four hits and four walks. Utley added another in the seventh, a solo shot off Phil Coke. The option for Burnett would have been journeyman Chad Gaudin, and anyone asking "Who's he?" is answering the question of why Girardi made the right call with three-day-rest urgency. If the Yankees can't squeeze one victory out of Burnett, Pettitte and Sabathia in the final three games, they don't deserve to win the Series. My guess is, this will end in Game 6 at Yankee Stadium when Alex Rodriguez follows fate's script, hits a monster home run off Pedro Martinez and gives Pettitte enough juice -- oops, considering he's a former 'roider, let's say support -- to build the bridge to Mariano Rivera.

"No, I don't think there was any correlation," Girardi said of Burnett on short rest. "He just lacked command to night similar to what he did in Anaheim. But he was able to recover better there. Tonight he just wasn't able to get it going."

Nor will Burnett's rough start affect Girardi's decision on Pettitte. "We're going to check with Andy [Tuesday] when we work out at 4 p.m., and then I'll announce it then," he said. "Physically I've got to see how he is. He threw a side [session on Monday] and felt good."

Besides, hasn't Manuel already played the wrong hand in this poker game? Despite Burnett's issues, and the possibility of a fatigued Pettitte encountering his own troubles Wednesday against a rested Martinez, the sense remains strong that Manuel may have blown the Series by refusing to start Lee in Game 4. If for no other reason, the Phillies' ace would have been available to start, with one extra day of rest, in a Game 7. Now, Lee only can be part of a relief free-for-all Thursday night with only two days' rest after his 112-pitch stint, forcing Manuel to likely start a soft, mentally wrecked Cole Hamels if there is a deciding game in the Bronx.

Gulp.

And to think the Philadelphia Inquirer had to apologize for running a Macy's ad that congratulated the Phillies for winning back-to-back titles. Obviously, Macy's hasn't watched Hamels. A lethal force last autumn as MVP of the World Series and National League Championship Series, the 25-year-old lefty has turned into the newest snack food in the Tastykake bakery empire. Take your pick, Kandy Kakes or Krimpets. Hamels is mushier than anything on the convenience-store shelves. It's disconcerting enough that he is 1-2 with a 7.58 ERA in his four postseason starts, a total reversal from his 4-1, 1.80 ERA brilliance of 2008. What's worse is his attitude, which falls somewhere between a moper and a quitter. There isn't much in the way of toughness, such as in Game 3, when he retired 10 of the first 11 batters, then melted down when he didn't get a call on 3-2 pitch to Mark Teixeira. Next thing you knew, Rodriguez was blasting his double-ruled-homer off the Fox camera in right field, and Hamels would depart quickly after another failed start. Afterward, he alarmed his Phillies bosses by uttering words that no major-leaguer should say after Game 3 of a World Series -- or, really, ever.

"I can't wait for it to end," Hamels said of his 2009, which included a 10-11 record and 4.32 ERA in the regular season. "It's been mentally draining. At year's end, you just can't wait for a fresh start."

Said Manuel: "I was totally surprised with what he said. I don't know exactly what he meant by that. But at the same time, I understand his frustration. When I look at him sometimes, he was the MVP of the World Series last year. If you stop and look at it, he's been a top-rated pitcher ever since he's come up. This year has been tough on him. He's kind of had a weird year. What he's going through right now, it's going to be an experience, because he's going through the part where he's failed.

"I would never question his mental toughness. I think at times he gets a little upset with himself, but as far as his mental toughness, this guy, he's mentally tough. I still think all that [quality stuff] is there, and he'll get back there [to being a top-notch pitcher]. And I think this is something new to him. Every guy goes through it."

After the game, Hamels sought to clarify his remarks. In the NL playoffs, he had to do a similar about-face after shooting a dirty look at Utley, who had committed a throwing error. "Sometimes I might not say the best things or the smartest things, but I've learned and am learning," Hamels said. "I wasn't able to sleep the past couple of nights because of it."

Can he retrieve his lost grit in two days? "I really do hope I have that opportunity," Hamels said of Game 7. "It's one of those games where you can redeem yourself."

"I wouldn't be hesitant to start him, but we'll see how the series goes," Manuel said. "He showed you for three innings that he can pitch. I look at that. If he can do it for three innings, why can't he keep going? That's kind of how I look at it."

What happened to Hamels? He hasn't developed a effective curveball to augment his fastball and changeup, a weakness the hitters have figured out. He also had a sore elbow in spring training that probably has bothered him since, at least more than he has let on. Still, the Phillies expected more from his heart. "I think he had a short winter. I think he was very active last winter as far as going around and receiving awards, going and doing things," Manuel said. "And then all of a sudden this year, he struggles. It's been a big change for him in how people look at him or his status and things like that and people's demands of him. This winter, he needs to get a clear head and come back with the ideal of thinking more about baseball and really concentrate and stay focused on his pitching. This guy was one of the most focused guys that I've seen in a long time, and he's still got that same ability. There's no reason why he can't be the same pitcher that we project, and I'm sure he will be."

But for now, he is a head case. It's something Manuel should have weighed heavily when he made the call to save Lee and leave Game 4 for Blanton, who allowed four runs in six innings and put pressure on uptight teammates who made fundamental blunders and struggled to score off Sabathia. Manuel was hesitant because Lee never has started on three days' rest, has arm woes two years ago and, at 6-3 and 190 pounds, doesn't have the body strength of the 6-7, 300-pound Sabathia. "We're going to experiment with Cliff Lee in the World Series?" Manuel said. "Also, his workload and everything and his routine. I'll throw a pitcher out there during the season, and if I don't have him in his role or something like that, like you guys ask me about that all the time -- what about if I start messing with Cliff Lee and take him out of his routine and his days' rest and everything?

"I've seen it both ways. I've seen it work, and I've seen it not work. If we would have pitched Lee [on Sunday] and he would have won, we'd still need to win [Monday]. And who's to say who's to say he might not pitch again."

But only an inning or two -- as opposed to multiple innings. Girardi would have Sabathia and ride him into the sixth or seventh. This doesn't necessarily mean Girardi is outmanaging the country fellow; it means he is taking advantage of the best pitching rotation money can buy. What Manuel has done is blow a wonderful opportunity to match Girardi's rotation the best he can, with a pitcher delivering an all-time performance.

"What's that old saying, 'Spahn and Sain, pray for rain?' Got an off-day tomorrow, maybe it'll rain the next day," Manuel said, wryly. "I can get Lee in on three days, like you guys are talking about. No, I look at it as the seventh game would be on his day to throw in the bullpen, and I'll see what goes on from there. I'll talk to him about what he thinks about if he can pitch at all or something."

"As for my availability, I'm available," said Lee, who has said all along that he's up for any situation. "I think I'll be fine. You're going to have to talk to Charlie. I don't know what his plans are. I'll be ready to pitch whenever they want me to."

Point is, Lee feels fine. As Girardi said, "I think the important thing on short rest is you have to know how your pitcher physically is feeling." Girardi went with the three-day hunch. Manuel did not.

Remember that if -- and when -- than Yankees are celebrating another World Series championship. And when the Phillies are relinquishing theirs.

A semi gifted wordsmith, but hardly a gifted writer.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Can you expound on this?

What about his writing dont you like? Subject matter.

And what constitutes a gifted writer?

A good writer not only crafts a sentence well, the content of the sentence has relevance beyond its borders. Great writers craft sentences whose relevance is boundless and eternal.

Mariotti is like a romance novelist. He writes purely to render an emotion. The content is consumed, the reader reacts and the experience is finished all within a matter of minutes with absolutely no residual. In my limited reading of him I have never once been forced to sit back and think more deeply about what he is attempting to convey (and I am completely ignoring the fact he often espouses conflicting sides on an issue within a short period of time) .

As an example, many of Shakespeare's plays are stories that are unoriginal to him. The story lines are frequently convenient and wrap up neatly. So why is he considered to be in the Pantheon of writers in the history of this language? Well he crafts a sentence beautifully. However, there is more to it than placing words in a pleasing order. He is really writing about themes with the story merely being the frame for the themes. He treats these themes in a deeply thoughtful/philisophical manner....in short the themes are eternal and the thoughts on the themes reach well beyond the border of the story.

So, I think Mariotti can nicely arrange a sentence. He certainly does not do it well enough for me to consider it excellence, just good...and he really does not write. He is the medical equivalent of a lab technician instead of a doctor.

In many ways, Telander is the superior writer. Unfortunately he fails much more often than he succeeds, but at least he attempts to be something more than a cheap side show.

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

+1. I'd add that one of J-Mat's favorite devices is to eulogize a bygone era of sportsmanship and decency (which, on closer inspection, never really existed) and use it to castigate anything untoward that happens today. It makes for pretty speechifying, but his lamentations don't always apply to the corpse.

_________________
I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

You guys are deep..............

You lost me there. Because he attempts he's better?

Disgraces to Chicago: Bears and Bulls

CHICAGO -- The bar is called Bull & Bear. It's a sports hangout on Wells Street, hard by the rumbling and annoyingly archaic 'L' tracks, and the name pays a double tribute to traders in the financial district and what once were the city's two proudest sports teams. It would be a natural place for a Bears communal on a Sunday afternoon and a Bulls party on any winter's night.

If only the locals cared to watch, that is.

In a town that has depended on football and basketball to unite the fans after two blood-dueling baseball teams divide them every summer, the Bears and Bulls have become sources of embarrassment and pain. They are woefully removed from glory days in which both franchises produced teams ranked among the most prestigious and entertaining in the history of sports. Remember the Jordan Era? It was wrecking-balled prematurely 11 years ago by Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who longed to create his own dynasty but only gagged away all momentum created by the greatest resource known to the NBA -- Michael Jeffrey Jordan and his six championship trophies -- while winning exactly one postseason series since. And remember the 1985 Bears? They devoured, shuffled and drank their way to one of the most dominant NFL seasons ever, a slaughter accompanied by their passion for partying, mischief and self-promotion. Chicago was blessed to have both reigns of terror and fun.

But no one knew that the city would have to pay afterward with so many wicked seasons, few worse than the ongoing double-whammy during this dastardly December. The question is which coach will be fired first -- Lovie Smith or Vinny Del Negro -- and seeing how two of the last three Bulls' coaches have been axed on Christmas Eve by an owner with no heart or couth, expect Del Negro to get the ziggy in the hours before the holiday.

The Bears are the league's biggest underachievers and paycheck-stealers this season. They've lost six of their last seven games and are playing so listlessly and carelessly that a radio station changed the "Bear Down, Chicago Bears" song lyrics to "Lay Down, Chicago Bears." The supposed franchise quarterback, Jay Cutler, continues to be a pouting train wreck who still hangs out in bars even though he has thrown 25 interceptions and has people clamoring for the return of -- I'm not lying -- Rex Grossman. Smith is a Dead Coach Walking, showing no emotion or leadership on the sideline and too often flashing a baffled look as to what's going on. The defense, which three years ago carried the Bears to a Super Bowl that I'm not sure really happened, has collapsed and grown old amid realities that Smith's "Cover 2" defense is obsolete and has been figured out.

This has the potential to be a bad team for a long time. Dramatic reform must take place. Ideally, ownership would sweep out Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo, who hasn't helped matters with recent personnel blunders and a Cutler trade that relinqushed two first-round draft picks and a third-round pick -- making it harder to achieve quick improvement. But the problem with a total overhaul is that the principal owner, Virgina McCaskey, is two weeks from her 87th birthday and doesn't know Jay Cutler from Jay Feely. Her sons also are clueless -- including the one who sang a goofy piano ode to linebacker Brian Urlacher at a team function -- and have left the power to Ted Phillips, a money guy who thinks he knows football but doesn't. Phillips is the one who handed Angelo a contract extension through 2013, even though the Bears have missed the playoffs three straight years. Not one to eat the contracts of Angelo and Smith, who has two years remaining at $11 million, Phillips will ask Angelo to make a coaching change. We know this because Angelo shot down a local broadcast report Sunday that said Smith would return next season. He also said the $11 million owed to Smith wouldn't be a factor, which smacks of progress for a front office long known for its "Misers of the Midway" cheapness.

"At the end of the year, we sit down, we talk," Angelo said. "It's not about money, it's about doing what we feel we need to do to be a better football team."

And what if Smith wants to blame a season-ending injury suffered by Urlacher, the Pro Bowl middle linebacker, in Week 1? "I'm not going to blame injuries on our season," Angelo said. "For the most part we stayed pretty healthy. Losing Urlacher right at the beginning [was signficant], but we were able to overcome that. Injuries are a part of the game. If you have a rash of injuries, that's one thing. We never really had a rash of injuries."

With the pool of available big-name coaches starting to dwindle -- Jon Gruden is staying at ESPN; Mike Holmgren signed as football "czar" of the Cleveland Browns -- the Bears must act quickly. Mike Shanahan, a Chicago native, makes the most sense as the coach who maximized and harnessed Cutler's considerable ability in Denver. Yet the Redskins already have first dibs on him and, now that a credible GM has been hired in Bruce Allen, Shanahan more likely is headed to Washington. That leaves Bill Cowher, a popular choice among Bears fans who love his famous jutting chin and championship legacy in blue-collar Pittsburgh. They're always looking for a "tough guy" coach in Chicago, even if the city is more sleazy than tough, and Cowher's hiring at least would placate the angry folks who pay outrageously high ticket prices at Soldier Field. But is Phillips ready to pay top dollar for Cowher? When he also desperately needs to sign free agents who can help Cutler, such as San Diego's explosive wide receiver, Vincent Jackson?

Whatever the case, Smith is done in a matter of days. When he expected a vote of confidence, he instead received the polar opposite. "I'm not really interested in a whole lot of that," said Smith, who has turned out to be a glorified defensive coordinator "We're 5-9 right now. I've said it about three or four times." He actually mentioned 5-9 at total of 12 times during his 10-minute press conference, which sounds like he's trying to get fired.

"What's a vote of confidence at this time? You don't talk about things like that during the year," Smith said. "We're disappointed in our play, disappointed in our record. I'm the head football coach, so I'm sure a lot of people aren't knocking down the door wanting to pat me on the back."

Some have said Cutler is responsible for Smith's demise. In truth, the offensive issues are collective: Cutler's reckless immaturity, a lack of quality playmakers around him and the ineptness of offensive coordinator Ron Turner. The Bears committed a long-term deal for him, so they are stuck with each other. Any solutions, savior? "Hit the reset button or something?" Cutler said. "It would be nice, but we can't. We're in the position that we are, and we're responsible for that. I'm responsible for that, but there's not much we can do but keep fighting and try to salvage something out of it, try to get ready for next year."

Ah, yes. Wait 'til next year. It's a refrain heard often in Chicago, where the Cubs haven't won a championship in 101 years, the White Sox have won once and thrown a World Series since 1917, the Bears have won once in 45 years and the Blackhawks haven't won since 1961. But at least the Hawks, from whom the other teams can take lessons, have revived their franchise with a remarkable marketing effort and aggressive changes in personnel and coaching. Inspired by owner Rocky Wirtz -- who is proactive in every way when his father and predecessor, the late Bill Wirtz, ran the franchise into the ice -- the Hawks will win a Stanley Cup in the next year or two. With young stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews signed for the long term, they might win a bunch of Cups.

That will give the city something to do in the wintertime. The Bulls sure aren't worth anyone's time or energy, having been booed off the United Center court Monday night after imploding and recording the NBA's biggest choke job in 13 years. With just under 21 minutes left, the Bulls held a 35-point lead over the Sacramento Kings. They would be outscored by 39 points the rest of the game, a performance so wretched that the Jordan statue outside could have played better defense and made more shots.

How horrible? The Bulls scored their final field goal with 10:15 left, giving them a 92-74 lead. How pathetic? They shot 2-for-10 and committed nine turnovers in the fourth quarter, including six in a stretch of seven possessions. How miserable? In the Kings' run of 20 minutes and 50 seconds, they made 21 field goals to the Bulls' five. Wasn't it only a few months ago when the Bulls played brilliantly in a memorable first-round playoff series against Boston?



It was just an aberration, apparently. Without the offense of Ben Gordon, who signed in the offseason with the rival Detroit Pistons, the Bulls have no go-to scorer and are 10-17. But more alarming than Gordon's absence is the way they continually quit. The lack of effort is an indictment of Del Negro, the second-year coach who was hired cheaply by Reinsdorf -- a disaster as a basketball owner, as the post-Jordan years have proven -- when he didn't want to pay Mike D'Antoni what the New York Knicks are paying him.

"We're not good enough to take a minute off, let alone a half," Del Negro said. "Players win games. We got complacent. Everyone takes the blame. It's me, it's the players."

"It's a nonchalant attitude," said Derrick Rose, who will be a great player but can't carry a team by himself. "You saw it out there. We didn't complete the plays."

With no game until Saturday, the timing is right for the Bulls to fire Del Negro during the holidays. How cold, huh? Scott Skiles, who lost control of his team much as Del Negro has, was let go on Christmas Eve two years ago. Then there was Tim Floyd, who was canned in a Christmas Eve snowstorm. I arrived late to find only a handful of people in the practice facility, including Floyd's wife and daughter, who were sitting on the floor. Blown away by the small turnout, I brushed the snow off my coat, only to be screamed at by the small, round man behind the podium.

"And you, Mr. Mariotti. You can wipe that smirk off your face right now!" harrumphed Jerry Krause, then the general manager.

I had no smirk on my face, of course. Actually, I was disgusted I had to attend such a farcical event on Christmas Eve. But I did have a reply for Krause.

"Merry Christmas, Jerry!" I said.

Merry Christmas to you, too, Chicago. Down at the Bull & Bear, at least you have a hockey team and a lot of beer to last the winter

theres no way Telander is better. Not even close.

_________________
"You can kill the revolutionary, but you can't kill the revolution."

Why the shock at Chicagoans with the "more sleazy than tough" comment.

I think you mean shot

And yeah, thats a little weird

Ever read his work for Sports Illustrated?

_________________
O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

+1. And IMO, the lab tech analogy was right on point. I would have suggested producer of the Jerry Springer (or any of the other shows on daytime tv), but that's just me.

Mariotti has to be the most miserable "writer" in sports & it routinely shows through in his six columns. (One for each major Chicago team & one contrarian column on the national event of the week)

_________________
There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Pins and needles, needles and pins, a happy man is a man that grins...

Keyser, he posts every thing that pops into his head. So, expect a whole lotta nothing.

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We all have private ails. The troublemakers are they who need public cures for their private ails.- Eric Hoffer

It's nothing short of a miracle that he has over 8000 posts.