Monday, May 14, 2012

A Little Thissa', A Lotta' Thatta'

This is dedicated to everyone who still can't believe the Bulls lost to the 76ers. Someone in academia, please, do a study of the Chicago sports fan and tell us why we're better than Philadelphia fans. Or are we?


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CUBS' fans, someone griped to the Tribune, wondering if the Washington Nationals would become the next expansion team to win a pennant since the Cubs last did ('45). He says there are 16 that have done so (is he counting division crowns too?). Does it matter though?

The Cubs were supposed to win it when they hired Dallas Green. When they hired Jim Frey. When they hired Lou Piniella. When they hired Andy McFail (uh, MacPhail, whose Orioles are thriving now without him. Hmmm...).

Good luck, Theo. Long live the curse.

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YO, Patrick Kane, you're doing commercials now.

Grow up!

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HAS Major League Baseball expanded too much, too fast? Have all sports?

All I know is I look over pitching lines for upcoming games and through box score for games just played and recognize few if any of the pitchers' names listed.

Stults? Paulino? Duffy? Who are these guys? And in basketball, who are these guys playing for Charlotte, let alone coming off the bench for the Clippers? That's Vinny Del Negro's Clippers!

Contraction in several sports looks good right now. That way we can have real "major-league level" competition for once instead AA and AAA teams in the majors and better than D-Leaguers in the NBA.

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SO I'm reading where a Chicago Tribune columnist is calling upon Bulls' all-star Luol Deng to skip the Olympics for his adopted England and get his ailing wrist repaired now so he's ready for the 2012-2013 season. And that's especially with former MVP Derrick Rose out for the beginning of the season following major knee surgery.

If Rose wasn't hurt, he'd be on the U.S. Olympic team too. That notwithstanding though, would the writer (David Haugh) urge Rose not to play in the Olympics if he was healthy or if the nature of his injury was such that he would've healed in time to play? Better yet, would Haugh cover the Olympics at the cost of never covering the Bulls again, even in a game 7 of the NBA Finals? Which is exactly how Deng feels about playing in the Olympics. 

Sometimes, it's not always the money.

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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED published a reader poll in which it asked whether Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils was the best goaltender ever.

Apparently, they never heard of Vladislav Tretiak, the Russian great who never got to show his wares in the NHL because he was pre-Communist collapse. He coached some NHL greats, including Eddie Belfour.


And nothing wrong with Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy either. Or Terry Sawchuk. However, cat-quick Roger Crozier was the best I ever saw during a career and a lifetime restricted only by his health, not his ability.


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SPORTS ILLUSTRATED highlighted Yannick Hanfmann, a 21-year-old German freshman at USC, for his championship-level play in helping the Trojans win 45 straight matches.

Yes, we said 21 and a freshman. Which means he's been playing tennis longer than U.S. prep stars competing for the same scholarship he got.

Thank you, NCAA, for allowing 20-something foreigners to participate in and perhaps dominate in this sport against less-experienced (by default) American competitors. And thank you S.I. for not noting that in your summary about him.

No wonder I stuck to intramurals in college.

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JUNIOR SEAU is gone and it's a pity how and likely why it happened.

It's getting to the point where you could almost perceive that football is killing people. Literally.

Right now, we're still all fans of the king of sports, with its regular sellouts and mountainous media rights' fees. But how much longer will you be a fan when someone close to you dies, a relative perhaps, a close friend?

Your son? Hello media, whatever you've already done on this, you need to do more. We need the truth, whatever it is.

Now.

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Howard Schlossberg is editor of the Journal of Sports Media, with his first edition out this year. He's an associate professor of journalism at Columbia College Chicago, where creativity and learning are embraced hand-in-hand. And he still writes sports for the Daily Herald in Chicago's northwest suburbs. http://journalsportsmedia.blogspot.com; www.colum.eduhttp://www.facebook.com/pages/CCC-Journalism-Columbia-College-Chicago/115604591875424   Journal of Sports Media, University of Nebraska PressColumbia College Chicago, Department of JournalismHoward Schlossberg, Sports Correspondent, Daily Herald (www.dailyherald.com)