Crapped Out

Another summer, another college football scandal, and I couldn't be happier. I was looking for something to take my mind off of eating crow for the Chicago Bulls not even making it to the NBA Finals, let alone winning the NBA Championship. Jim Tressel's resignation yesterday, and the wonderful job Sports Illustrated did with their own Special Investigation of the Ohio State Football Program, provided the very solution I was looking for.

In many ways, this represents a degree of closure for me, and others like me that never liked/trusted Ohio State. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Ohio State is guilty of egregious criminal acts, or is comporting themselves as immoral charlatans who are poisoning the landscape for the rest of college football. Far from it actually.

The acts themselves (free cars, tattoos, money, weed, and the coach/university doing nothing to stop it), are not even close to the worst things I've heard of going on within a major college football program. This is hardly similar to the rapes and domestic abuse that went on during the 90's Nebraska Cornhuskers back to back championship runs, for example. This has much more to do with Tressel finally being exposed for the creep that he is and always has been.

If you've read my blog before, you know I've pointed out that Tressel is as dirty a head coach as you will find in college athletics. I've always known he's been dirty since his days at Youngstown State. Now thanks to Sports Illustrated, we now know he's been dirty going all the way back to his days as an assistant with the Buckeyes in the mid-80's, where he was known to commit NCAA Violations at Football Camps. He's had various forms of trouble snowball for him during his 10 year run in Columbus, often manifesting itself in the form of Maurice Clarett, Troy Smith, and Terelle Pryor among others. Yet despite all the turmoil, he's always been held in high esteem by the Buckeye Faithful.

Why has he always maintained this level of idolatry among Buckeye Nation? The simplest answer would be because he beats Michigan every year, annually has his team in the National Championship hunt, and has won a Championship under his watch, but I don't believe it's that simple. I think there is something deeper and uglier that would be the main reason why. That reason is his self-cloaking of divinity.

Jim Tressel has literally flaunted his supposed Christianity on his sweater-vest the entire time he's been in Columbus. He's written two books during this time:

1. The Winners Manual: For The Game Of Life
2. Life Promises For Success: Promises from God on Achieving Your Best

I can't make that up! I can't claim I've read either book, but I would bet there's not a chapter either one that covers lying at every possible chance to get out of trouble?

Lying, after all, was Tressel's undoing. He lied at every possible chance there was to lie about this. First he lied to the NCAA by saying he didn't know about the tats-for-gear scandal until November. Then he lied to the Ohio State Athletic Director and The Ohio State University President by not immediately reporting these potential violations to his superiors when notified - (he's required to report them as per NCAA rules). He also lied when he said he didn't know who to report this to, because he notified Terelle Pryor's "mentor" (read agent) as soon as Pryor's name was mentioned to Tressel. For a man who literally preaches honesty and integrity, these are hardly actions that could be considered "Christian".

The question on most people's minds now is whether or not this was a Tressel Problem, or an Ohio State Lack Of Institutional Control problem? The fact that Ohio State allowed Tressel to resign, rather than outright fire him, is smoking-gun proof that this is an Ohio State Problem. The Car Dealership's "friendly" relationship with the Ohio State football program goes all the way back to Woody Hayes. Ohio State also has the biggest Athletic Department Budget of any school in the country with numbers approaching $60 million annually. Considering those facts, it's a pretty safe bet that whomever Ohio State ends up hiring to be Tressel's full time replacement, will not be a man hired to clean up the program.

None of that matters though, as the chickens have finally come home to roost for Tressel. Ole Jim is yet another example of it being pretty easy to be a Jesus-Freak when you're winning, but it's a bit harder to turn the other cheek when you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Personally, I take a lot of pride in watching Tressel burn, simply because he's another one of these reprehensible assholes that exploits peoples religious beliefs for his own personal and financial gain.

Somehow I don't think his book covers that life lesson however...

Das Okaaaay....

The Chicago Bulls haven't failed many tests this season. By now you've no doubt heard that the Bulls haven't lost two games in a row since the beginning of February, and they haven't lost three in a row all season. That's all fine and good, but that's the regular season. This is the playoffs, where the game is way more intense, and the pressure is on in every possession of every game. Game 3 was certainly a microcosm of that line of thinking.

While there will certainly be many media members that will use the word "pivotal" to describe the Miami Heat winning game 3, but I will not be one of them. That's not to suggest that Game 3 wasn't important in this series. It was important, but not for the reasons many people will think.

Many people will say that Carlos Boozer's awful defense was to blame for tonight's loss, and overlook his 26 points and 17 boards. Others will point out the awful game Joakim Noah had (1 point, 5 rebounds) as a main factor. Many Heat fans will point out that Chris Bosh was on a mission tonight during his 34 point orgasm, in addition to the Heat playing terrific physical team defense. And where would I be without mentioning that the conspiracy theorists will no doubt point to the inconsistent and, at times, awful officiating as the biggest culprit for the Bulls loss.

They will all have a point to some degree, but that's not the way I see it. The one with the biggest responsibility for this loss, wears #1. Derrick Rose, in short, was not "Derrick Rose, league MVP" tonight, and he is the reason the Bulls did not emerge victorious this evening.

You've seen me write it for quite some time, dear readers. The Bulls formula for success this season, (more or less), has been to wear out their opponents for three quarters, and then Derrick Rose takes over and puts teams away in the fourth quarter. Rose had two fourth quarter points tonight. The Heat continue to double team Rose as they have all series, but made several adjustments which confused Rose and didn't allow him to distribute as he normally has been able to. Statistically, it added up to 21 points, with 8 assists in 41 plus minutes.

When Rose is on his game, he has around 30 points and double digit assists. You can look at his last 7 playoff games numbers to see he's been around these numbers until recently. You can also see in those numbers that shooting 30% from the field is a rare occurrence for Rose as well.

Rose himself said after the game, "I guess I have to be more aggressive. They're closing down the paint. They're a good defensive team and loading up on one side. We have to find a way to get easier baskets." I agree with him.

With all that said however, this series is far from over. Give credit to the Heat and the oft-maligned coach Erik Spoelstra. They adjusted. They had a plan for the Bulls, and it worked. It's now the Bulls, specifically Tom Thibodeau's move. Thibs will need to come up with a new plan, and I have no doubt he will. He has all season when faced with similar situations. The fact that he needed to do that before tonight's game, doesn't bother me.

If the Heat are going to count on Chris Bosh doing this every night, and Derrick Rose being a non-factor from here on out, then that's good news for the Bulls. I have complete confidence in Thibs, Rose, Noah, Deng, and Boozer to rise to the occasion and even this series with a win in game 4.

Now if we can somehow get Noah to stop using gay slurs on camera....

Good Start

Hello fellow readers. I've been away longer than I care to be, and for that I apologize. In between yelling at Chicago Sun-Times hack columnist Joe Cowley via Twitter, and taking extended golf trips with family to New Mexico, some exciting things are happening with the Chicago Bulls.

The aforementioned Bulls have advanced to their first Eastern Conference Finals since 1998. Even though it's not a surprise to me that they've gotten this far, it's still very significant, exciting, and remarkable in terms of appreciating how fascinating this team is.

That being said, this is not the time to wax poetic about them, because the Eastern Conference Finals is not the end of this 2011 Chicago Bulls movie. As I eluded to earlier, this team's goal is to win the NBA Championship. Their victory tonight over the Miami Heat has gotten the Bulls one step closer to reaching that goal.

Tonight's win, was textbook 2011 Bulls. The Bulls won't dominate teams from the opening tip. The won't muscle teams around with big bruising frontcourt play. They won't run up and down the floor or try to finesse teams in any way. The Bulls M.O., is to out-work teams in every facet of the game (offensive rebounding and second chance points in particular) for three quarters, and then league MVP Derrick Rose puts teams away in the 4th quarter.

Some of the most telling stats for me tonight included the following : The score being tied at 48 at the half, and then Heat only putting up 34 second half points, compared to the Bulls 55 second half points speaks volumes to the coaching of NBA Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau. Three point field goal percentage tells part of the story of this one, as the Bulls shot 10-21 beyond the arch, while the Heat were 3-8. Oh and those rebounding totals? That would be the Bulls with 45, to the Heat's 33.

Defensively, the Bulls seem content with allowing Bosh to get his points and rebounds, while focusing on Dwayne Wade and LeBron James. The strategy worked as Wade and James combined for 33 points scored total, while Bosh himself scored 30. They've utilized this approach during all three regular season victories over the Heat, and so far so good.

With all that said however, I don't think the Bulls run away with this series by any means. As a matter of fact I believe the Bulls will drop game 2 on Wednesday, simply because Miami is too good of a team to not adjust to what they saw tonight. Still, that's another blog post, for another time.

Overall, I predict the Bulls win this series in 6 games, and will most likely play Dallas in the NBA Finals. As for right now, this series will be a back and forth affair early on, but I still maintain the Bulls will emerge victorious.

Here We Go Again?

I'm having a real hard time suppressing my Inner White Sox Meatball so far this season. My Meatball is so frustrated by what he has seen, that he's calling for Jerry Reinsdorf aka "Uncle Jerry" to blow this entire organization up from Kenny Williams on down. I try to reason with him that the season is only a month old, and the team can't be this bad. Coming fresh of the heels of Francisco Liriano throwing one of the worst no-hitters in the history of baseball (in terms of strike percentage) against the Sox tonight, it's really tough for me to mount an argument.
The real irony of course is that nearly a year to the day, I was calling for the White Sox to be blown up as well. Looking back at that post, there's very little content that would need to be altered to fit the problems the White Sox have in 2011. They still can't hit, they have tremendous bullpen problems, and they have a lot of long money committed to aging/bad players. The only major difference is that the payroll is $127 million this year as opposed to $103 in 2010.

It also got me thinking about just how bad of a start has this team had, versus other White Sox teams of the recent past? The 2011 White Sox were 10-18 in April and already have had a 7 game losing streak. The 2010 White Sox had a 9-14 April, and put together an 8 game losing streak late in the season.

Looking at the previous 20 April Records in White Sox franchise history, there have been a few that mirror the 2011 team. In 1997, they were 8-17. In 1998 they were 9-15. In 2001 they were 8-15. What do those teams have in common? You guessed it.....no postseason hopes for the entire season. Incidentally in case you were wondering, the best April they've had since 1990, was in 2005 when they started 17-7 in the month of April.

So barring another historic 25-5 run like the 2010 White Sox put together, I think it's safe to say that my Meatball may be correct in his desire to blow this whole thing up. The only problem is, we're stuck with this bunch for a long time because nobody is going to pick up the contracts of Alex Rios, Adam Dunn, or even Paul Konerko at this point in their careers.

All we can do is hope this team rebounds in a major way very soon. Assuming they don't, the question then becomes who is the most responsible and expendable, and my quick answer would be Kenny Williams. Kenny was given the freedom to spend a sizable amount of money to improve this club, and it appears he has made them worse than they were before.

Someone has to swing for this. Maybe it's Kenny, maybe it's Ozzie, or better yet maybe it's both? Either way, this cannot continue anymore.

Bears/NFL Thoughts

Is anybody else tired, confused, and/or frustrated with the current state of the NFL? I know I certainly am. Even with the recent developments of the NFL Lockout being lifted by Judge Susan Nelson in U.S. District Court, this situation still sucks in my opinion.

Of course I understand that in light of the ruling, the NFL has announced that players will now be able to enter their respective team's facilities for workouts, OTA's/mini-camps, coaches meetings, and offseason rehab programs. The NFL has yet to announce when Free Agency will begin, but that announcement will be coming shortly. I understand and comprehend, that it's looking like the players may actually win this labor dispute at this point, but none of that really means anything to me.

The reason why it means very little to me is a simple one : both sides still don't have a labor deal in place. Both sides are STILL unable to figure out a way to divide a $9.5 BILLION DOLLAR pie. Both sides have wasted a tremendous amount of time engaging in meaningless and ego-fueled pissing contests. Both sides have actually tried to convince the public they're "the good guys" in this dispute, even though most forward-thinking fans see right through it...and that leads me to my own personal bottom line in this: no matter who "wins" this dispute, the fans end up losing.

We're the ones who are receiving the most damage from this. We are the ones that the owners will continue to price gouge once this is over. We are the ones the millionaire players will still complain to about being shortchanged by their contracts. We are the ones who will still be subjected to the blackout rule, one of the most antiquated and unrealistic rules the NFL still has in place. But hey, why should that matter to the NFL right?

Even tonight's draft, an event that is symbolic of the annual NFL Rebirth due to the influx of talent that emerges, has become an afterthought for me. I say this despite the Chicago Bears having a first round selection, and drafting an offensive lineman with that pick. An offensive lineman in Gabe Carimi, that might actually be able to play tackle unlike previous first round draft pick Chris Williams. The Bears still showed that they're the Bears however, by completely botching a proposed trade with the Ravens.

As for the First Round itself,  I think all of the QB's taken in the first round suck to high heaven, and I'm shocked they were taken this high. I'm also shocked at what Atlanta did trading all those picks for Julio Jones. Julio is really not worth all those picks, and good for the Cleveland Browns for making a smart deal. The Niners still proved they have no clue what the draft is about, by taking a 20 year old project at the 7th pick. I'm also convinced that Patrick Peterson will be looked at as the best player to come out of this draft when it's reviewed 3 years from now. 

Until then, I'll continue to barely pay attention to the NFL until they work out a labor deal....even with their attempts to convince us that it's business as usual.

An Open Letter To The University Of Notre Dame

Dear University of Notre Dame, her alumni, students, fans/defenders,

I am writing this letter to offer a mocking and sarcastic "congratulations" to you, for you have sunk to a new low today. Over your entire existence, you have made no secret of your self-proclaimed divinity. You also have tirelessly self-promoted, and selectively applied your alleged "higher standard" of which you claim to operate under. People with half a brain knew it was nothing but pure B.S., but unfortunately many people bought into it. One of those people was the late Declan Sullivan.

You remember Declan right? He worked for your "prestigious" at best, "loathsome" at most honest, football program. He was one of the videographers you had on staff, until you killed him by putting him directly in harm's way. Declan was doing his job on a scissor-lift, filming football practice in the middle of a windstorm that gripped the entire Midwest on October 27. He managed to send a couple of tweets during his last moments of life which were obviously filled with concern and terror-you can look at them pictured above if you need proof.

An ordinary university, (let alone a catholic university) most likely would have been absolutely mortified at what happened and would have done everything possible to punish those responsible for Declan's death, but then you quickly remembered, "Hey.....we're Notre Dame! We do whatever we want and answer to nobody!" Christ-like indeed...

Apparently "nobody" included the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA), who despite your efforts to sabotage their investigation, still managed to give you a record fine of $77,500 for ignoring industry standards that could have prevented Declan's death. Still selectively applying your "higher standard", you are appealing the fine, even though you were already caught lying to IOSHA. That appeal alone would be worthy of outrage, but you didn't stop there.

Today you revealed the results of your own toothless and spineless "investigation", in which you concluded:

"We did not find any individual who disregarded safety or was indifferent to safety. Consequently, there was not any individual discipline...Our conclusion is that it's a collective responsibility."

That quote is from your University President Rev. John Jenkins. Jenkins says this even though it's a known fact ND practiced indoors for two consecutive days before October 27 due to high winds. Jenkins says this despite the fact that Videographer Director Tim Collins kept a female staffer off the scissor-lift that same day because he feared for her safety. Jenkins says this despite Tim Collins saying that ND is practicing outside "contrary to his judgment" that day. Jenkins says this despite the South Bend Regional Airport diverting planes because of extremely high winds. Jenkins says this despite AD Jack Swarbrick dismissing any reports of dangerous winds by saying the conditions were "...nothing out of the ordinary" that day. Do I really need to go on? 

It's rather obvious that there is one person, and one person only, that is responsible for practice being outdoors that day, and its head football coach Brian Kelly. When you consider that every college football coach in the country will tell you that as a head coach you are directly responsible for everything that happens on that practice field, 100%. That definitely includes whether or not practice will be filmed, and where it will be filmed from.

Rather than hold Kelly accountable for his irresponsibility and show any sense of decency, let alone display any of that supposed integrity of which you claim to possess, you have chosen to lay "collective blame" which holds NOBODY responsible. That simply is inexcusable, let alone unforgivable.

By taking these actions, you have exposed yourselves as frauds, hypocrites, and duplicitous phonies of the lowest form. Your failure to deal with this matter appropriately and respectfully is a violation of common sense and intelligence. In short, HOW DARE YOU!? How dare you continue to make a mockery of yourselves, of us, and most importantly Declan's family?! You are nothing more than Talking Monkey's who don't deserve the title of "Human Beings", in addition to having Declan's blood on your hands.

Divinity, piety, and catholic character are two way streets. They are not reserved strictly for those times when positive things happen for you. They must also be applied during times of crisis and tragedy, even if you are directly responsible for those tragic events. It is only then, when your apologies will be taken seriously. Until then remember these wise words:

"Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me". You remember who said that right? He's the one you put "Touchdown" in front of when you speak of him.

Sincerely,

Angelo Pesce aka "Luzinski's Beard"

Start The Buses...

I promised myself that I would wait until the playoffs started before I would write about the Bulls this season. Since the regular season will end this week, I might as well post now. One of the reasons I wanted to wait was because I just wasn't sure what the Bulls were as a team. Obviously they were going to be an improved basketball team from the Vinny Del Negro Era, but I wasn't sure how much improvement would be made in one offseason.

We're all aware of the slew of the moves that were made in said offseason, but the one move that didn't get made was signing LeBron James. After "The Decision" fallout and the dust finally settled, the early indications appeared that the Bulls were little more than "Utah Jazz East". A solid regular season team, that would be just good enough to get eliminated in the second or third round of the playoffs, in other words. My, oh my, were we wrong...

The Chicago Bulls are going to win the NBA Championship in two months, there I said it. I know it's almost become fashionable to say, write, or express it among many media constituents, but it's safe to take this one to the bank. This Bulls team might not be the flashiest, experienced, or the most "star powered" team in the league, but none of that will matter in the end. The Bulls will win the championship because they are the best team in the NBA, point blank.

Look, we all know about Derrick Rose this season. The fact that Rose has improved tremendously as an outside shooter, at the foul line, and defensively is not a secret to anyone except Dan LeBatard. It's a foregone conclusion that Derrick Rose will be named MVP this season (deservedly so). Derrick has ascended from promising young player to bona fide superstar in just three NBA seasons, but Derrick alone is not the reason the Bulls will win.

The Bulls will win mainly because they are the best overall defensive team in the NBA. Tom Thibodeau's team defense is one of the most stifling defensive units I've ever seen. The Bulls play such tremendous help defense, in which all 5 players on the floor show the ability to recognize where the play is going, and where each other's responsibilities are, night in and night out. From Joakim Noah becoming arguably the best low post defender in the league, to Luol Deng finally being able to defend small forwards, to Keith Bogan's ability to be physical with opposing shooting guards, the Bulls can match up against any opponent and shut them down.

The statistics reflect it too. The Bulls are second in the league in points allowed per game at 91.2 (only .4 off the Boston Celtics average). They are fourth the league in steals. They are first in three point field goal percentage, and first in three pointers allowed in the league. They are also first in opponent field goal percentage in the league. The best part is however, that despite leading the league as a team in these categories, you won't find any single Bulls player in the top 5 of any defensive category. Truly reflecting the team concept of help defense the Bulls appear to be mastering as the season moves on.

In the end, the Bulls will net the Larry O'Brien Trophy, the MVP (Rose), Coach Of The Year (Thibs), and Executive Of The Year (Gar-Pax), all of which are deserved. They've already locked up the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and they are one game out from the number 1 seed overall.

LeBron who?