Illini open the season today as well. It sounds like they have a plethora of forwards but lack in guards the exact opposite of what it used to be. Here's an article about the team. I guess we will see a lot of Jeff Jordan in tonight's game

Another gem from chicagopedia

I guess Deng is the piece of the puzzle missing in the Kobe trade. Without him no trade according to a Sun-Times article

Bulls Opener

We've been training here for the past two weeks so I haven't had as much time as I usually do. But I am excited for tomorrows Bulls season opener against the Nets. If you remember last year it was the Nets who beat the Bulls in the season finale. The loss forced them to drop a spot down in the playoffs. Instead of playing who the Cavs did (Wizards and Nets), the Bulls had to make its way against the Heat and the Pistons, a far greater task, before getting to the conference finals. The Bulls had trouble against the Nets last year and both teams are relatively the same. It was also last year that the Bulls started a game 18-0 (I think) against the Nets and ended up losing it. They also let an 18 point lead disappear against them in the second half of another game. So it should be an interesting opener.

Looking at the Bulls team there remain a few issues unresolved.

To get Kobe or not that is the question.
Would anyone not want Kobe? Of course, Kobe Bryant is the best all around player in today's game. The question is cost. How much is his contract going to cost and how much will it cost a franchise to get him. Now I don't know much about the financial side but with large contracts about to be rewarded to Deng and Gordon, it seems apparent that the Bulls will not be able to hold onto their core forever.

Additionally, the Bulls have one of the deepest benches in the league. The only problem is that you can only play five of them at a time. So I think its time for a trade. The main components would be Deng or Gordon (preferably Gordon), Thomas, and a future first round pick for Kobe. That would give them (with Gordon) a legitimate scorer, a future prospect which scouts are high on in Thomas and multiple 1st round picks in the future. If they were looking for a point guard Duhon could be added as well with something else added on the Lakers side as well. There also remains the possibility of a three or four way trade as well.

The starting line up for the Bulls would be Hinrich, Kobe, Deng, Joe Smith, Wallace. Not too bad. They would have Sefolosha, Nocioni, Noah, and Grey who looked good in preseason coming off the bench.

Also, remains the possiblity of bringing someone in like Juwan Howard who just left Minnesota.

The question remains that even if this team has regular season success due to its deep reserves, will the be able to compete with superstars in the playoffs or will we see another early exit.

Who's at forward?
Another question is who will be at power forward. Noah? Thomas? Smith? Odds say that it will begin with Thomas and then go to Smith as his knee heals. But as any Bulls fan knows Skiles likes to tinker with the lineup until it finally settles around midseason. Is it possible that we could see Nocioni in there or maybe Duhon for Gordon with Gordon coming off the bench again?

Get Healthy
The Bulls seem to be coming into the season with a few bumps and bruises, but nothing too serious. However, it seems like everyone has had an injury. Wallace (ankle), Noah (ankle), Thomas (foot), Gordon (ankle), Griffin (back), Deng (Wrist), Nocioni (calf). I don't know if its such a good sign going into the season hobbling a bit. I said that the Bulls have been pretty lucky the past few seasons with injuries we'll see if that continues this season.

Wrigley gets a make over. The field at Wrigley is getting redone chicagosports.com has some pics. It says that they found the cement blocks supporting the old Chicago Bear goal posts as well.

One of my track coaches is being sued at BG for the moment of silence

Stories from yesterday i forgot to post

On Friday, J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore is gay. This is right after I saw the movie Friday too. Puts a whole new perspective on the books/movies.



Another green idea. Plus a pretty interesting nature article in the Daily Herald that includes Why leaves are not changing color, a moving yellow-orange blob in gardens and cicada killer wasps that can be eaten from the inside by ants and all of this is in the suburbs.



I think Wally will like this story. Other aviation news that maybe he won't like.


End of the world section. Good reasons to live in constant fear.
Is are water safe? Deadly diseases looking to kill. Sex in our schools.

Some corned beef a made a few weeks ago.

Friday Facts

A few facts I learned recently from SI...

• Sean Payton, the Saints head coach, was a Bears quarterback during the player lockout


• The sport with the highest graduation rate among women in NCAA is Skiing at 95%. Apparently, skiing is a NCAA sport. For men, it is lacrosse at 88%


• A man recently in his will that his friend use his remains as fishing bait.

Also, here's an interview with David Chase about the ending of the Sopranos

Daily Herald's Barry Rozner thinks that Reinsdorf could bring in A-Rod and Kobe this season. Think it could happen?

Another sign of the times. The US establishes a coast guard base in the Arctic Ocean. And also here's the retreating ice.

Chicagopedia

The Sun-Times has a great feature called Chicagopedia. It defines many terms used by Chicagoans check it out. There are a few pretty funny ones.

Some samples...

Italian beef
Italian beef / uh TALE yun beef / n. 1. Thinly sliced beef seasoned with garlic, oregano and other spices and served on Italian bread. A Chicago creation, it is slowly spreading nationwide thanks to transplants who can't do without it. The slow-cooked, top-butt meat can be eaten "dipped" (in beef broth), "sweet" (with sweet peppers), "hot" (with giardiniera), "cheesey" (with cheese) or as a combo (with an Italian sausage tucked beneath the beef). In Chicago, it's a source of pride, competition and dirty shirts. 2. A sandwich not known to be served anywhere in Italy.

Downstate
Downstate / doun steyt/ n. Any place in Illinois outside of Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, Kane or McHenry counties, even if it is actually farther north than Chicago, such as Rockford. "I don't know where that town is. It's probably Downstate."

This is one that I heard from Weglarz that I didn't know about

Couple two tree
couple two tree / (cup el too tree) / n. / The Chicago way to refer to two or three of something. Maybe even four. Usage: "Hey, let me get a couple two tree Old Style."

Soldiers Field
Soldiers Field /sol jers fee uhld/ n. What Soldier Field, home to the Chicago Bears since 1971, is called everywhere but in Chicago. The lakefront stadium originally opened in 1924 and was called Grant Park Stadium before being renamed -- in the singular -- in honor of soldiers -- plural -- killed in World War I.

Obama and Cheney are 8th cousins believe it or not


A Bedouin farmer seeks to marry his 9th wife. Not only that he has 67 children and claims to remember all of their names.



Frango mints are coming back to Chicago. Cupid Candies will once again make Frango mints in Chicago.


Parking meters are getting high tech in Chicago, but it means you won't get anytime for free. It supposedly works just like a I-Pass

CTA woes. A good overview of CTA troubles.

US House campaigns report cash from around the state.

Pirate attacks are up 14% worldwide. That's right I mean like sea going pirate attacks are up 14%.

Part of being a Cub fan is having a sense of humor about the team.

This article made me both hungry and thirsty. Does anyone else want to make a quick trip to Milwaukee? We might even go there when we are trying to go to Chicago.

An interesting look at an odd football season at all levels, high school, college, and NFL. Mostly about college football. I didn't know that Navy's QB's name is Kaipo-Noa Hiwahiwa Akahi Kaheaku-Enhada.



Daily Herald's Mike McGraw did a nice summary of roster changes in the NBA East this season. It should be fairly competative. They also did a good summary of where the Bears rank so far compared to other seasons and its not pretty.

There were also a number of overreactions to the Bears poor start: Marotti and Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom even calls Lovie Smith an interim coach.

The Illini pick up another committment. This time from a CPS kid. The first since Calvin Brock. He is said to be the 2nd best post player in the city.

Well that Bears games was disappointing. When does the Bulls season start?

Who do you like better Leno or Conan? It looks like there could be a little trouble at NBC in 2009. Leno doesn't seem to want to leave when Conan is supposed to come in.

Other things to checkout on TV including a Frontline episode about Cheney

An older article about a Seinfeld guess spot on 30 Rock, which is a show everyone should see at least once.

A little Springfield news and more news about state politics

Also, the first A380 was delivered after many problems.

Ron Zook is getting an extension that could pay him up to $1.5 Million. guess all it takes is a couple of Big Ten wins to get an extension

I always like it when Kelvin Sampson gets in trouble especially after Eric Gordon. Maybe thats how he got him in the first place.

A couple environmental stories

I've Updated a few things on the post below so check it out.

Indiana is at it again trying to dump more chemicals into Lake Michigan.

Also, Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Don't swim in Illinois waterways half of them are unsafe for swimming and fishing. Also, about half of industrial and municipal facilities in Illinois discharged more pollution into waterways in 2005 than permits allowed.

Updated!

I guess I'll be posting every so often until I'm a little less busy, but I was able to catch some of the Bulls preseason game against the Bucks. I missed a to be a spectacular play by Thomas Gardner, one of the rookies. I have to say that Noah looked pretty good. I know many people are not Noah fans, myself included, but he looks like he can at least bring some more rebounding. I thought Aaron Gray looked decent at times too. This is just the first game though.

Also, here is a picture of the living room of my new apartment in Springfield. More pictures to come. It actually looks pretty empty from this view. Well I guess it is pretty empty still.

Here's an interesting article about websearches.

This is definitely a place I will be checking out when I get back to MP. Anyone else in?

Could the Sears Tower expand? A new proposal calls for a green renovation along with a new building next door.

A good Rex cartoon

Also it looks like the Bruce Weber finally is getting some recruits. But are they going to stay and not go to Indiana? And another one today. Thats three with 24 hours

Here's a good review and video of the Simpsons Movie which I definitely recommend if you haven't seen in. It makes me want to see the movie again.

Some Good News after a Week of Bad

Hey I haven't posted in a while cause I've been busy but it was a little to depressing to post anything sports as my Cubs were completely swept from the playoffs. I'm almost glad I wasn't able to see the last game. That plus the Bears losing badly to the Lions didn't help. But after that a ray of sunshine: the Illini beat #5 Wisconsin after being Penn State the week before. Then the Bears actually pull one out and maybe things are coming together. And now the Bulls preseason opener is tonight. It should be interesting to watch the rookies but Ben Gordon and Sefolosha aren't supposed to play. So I'll put baseball in the back window and hopefully not think about it any for a while. The number 11 is still on my cube wall. (11 being the number to each team need to win the World Series.) Unfortunately, I never got to tear down a number. But is it ever too early to think about next year?

Anyway, now my new favorite college football team is playing Iowa this weekend. Will I get bragging rights Nikki?

Here's a pretty interesting article about the Bears this week. It takes about fans arrested at Lambeau, the most valuable member of the Bears secondary, Griese.

While the Chicago Marathon was a disaster, it hopefully won't affect the Olympic bid that is already in 4th place.

A little on politics... IL is going to be a battleground state in the 08 elections as there are 6 potentially close races. 5 Republican and 1 Democratic. Hastert, Weller, and LaHood are leaving. Bean, Roskam, and Kirk all had close races last time.
Maybe I'll have a little more time this week to keep up. Hopefully everyone doing alright.

An interesting story about Israeli jets firing on a US boat in 1967.

Here's another addictive game from back in the day.

The story of how Sputnik came to be.

Chicago top Ten scientific feats

So today is the first day of veto session and sure to come up sometime is the Capital bill. It was already passed in the Senate and awaits action in House. Here is a good idea of whats included

Ways to eat healthy

Hey look no sports stories today

The NBA season is here. Bulls reported to training camp Monday. Any early predictions? Call me pessimistic but I think that at least one major player will be injured for an extensive part of the season. The Bulls haven't had to deal with too many injuries in the past few years. I mean just look at the Bears now. I guess Big Ben can wear the headband now too.

Speaking of early predictions. I feel pretty good about the playoffs with the Mets gone. I think Arizona will be tough though. Everyone seems to underestimate them. Speaking of underestimated I guess Fontenot's nickname is Chicken for some reason.

Cubs rally downtown was short and the video was nice. Also, Blagojevich didn't get booed, unlike when he came to U of I after the Illini lost the national championship

Former MP couple owes $80,571 in toll fees. http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/581060,CST-NWS-tollscoff30.article.

Chip Caray could be announcing the Cubs if they win the first series with Bob Brenly. That seems like an odd combination of the past and present.

Here's an interesting case about sentencing in drug cases. The Supreme Court will review whether judges can Federal sentencing guidelines.

Yahoo has made upgrades on their search engine but I'll still probably use google to find the story on it.

It seems the rebellion in Myanmar (is that the place where J. Peterman went?) is losing steam.

If you haven't seen cup stacking it is actually pretty amazing. You can look up videos on YouTube

There's no crying in baseball and apparently no hugging in an Oak Park school, which has banned hugging.



Apparently setting goals that being more self-disciplined makes you less like likely to get Alzheimer's. My first goal not getting Alzheimer's. For some reason that seemed like a Norm MacDonald joke when he did the news on SNL.

Illini almost in the top 25 and rank higher in computer rankings? The Bears can't beat the Lions? The Cubs in the playoffs? Mayor Daley wearing a Cubs hat. Something seems off.