Thursday, January 20, 2005

Chicago Bulls

It's time to get on the Bulls bandwagon. I declare a moratorium on condemning fair-weather fans so that everyone now has the chance to support a great Chicago professional basketball organization. Their current record is 17-19, and they just came off of a loss in which they shot below 25% in the crucial fourth quarter, so, while jumping on now is a little-underhanded, with their propensity to turn the ball over and get in offensive slumps, I feel that they are still unproven enough to an emotional risk, a quality that must accompany any team worth rooting for. Yankees and Duke fans need not apply. In fact, Yankee and Duke fans may email me for a deserved berating.

All of the misinformed that believe college basketball is better than professional basketball will take solace in the fact that we have Chris Duhon, Ben Gordon, Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich. (If you don't know who these men are, you aren't a college basketball fan.) These great players play with the best hustle the college game has to offer, so jump on the wagon college fans.

It's an opportune time to be a basketball lover in Illinois with the Illini and the Bulls reppin correctly.

14 comments:

AJ said...

>>I feel that they are still unproven enough to an emotional risk, a quality that must accompany any team worth rooting for.<<

Right on. This is what I tell MU fans. I assume, of course, that you're familiar with Kirk Hinrich's roots? Uh huh.Nice to come over here from my blog and find another hoops conversation in progress.

Anonymous said...

I'll join the bandwagon as long as i don't have to walk around the United Center at night. There's scary people there and they make me dribble (and not on the BBall court)

GO BULLS!

-phil

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately I hate the NBA.

However, I can never resist the opportunity to say the following: GO ILLINI!

Bleeding orange and blue,
Teresa

Oneway the Herald said...

yessir, Captain Kirk graced the halls of KU for 4 years and had a great college career, only to be denied the crown by 'Melo and company. I remember being impressed by the Jayhawks blowing out Marquette with my guy, Dwyane Wade. Now, he's steering the Chicago Bulls to playoff hopes while that loser Frank Williams watches from the bench.

The NBA provides the pinnacle of organized basketball for our viewing pleasure. I used to hate Big Ten basketball for a long time. It is quite boring. The other day, I saw the Indiana/Purdue game, I believe, to be at twenty-who-cares to twenty-no-one-is-watching at halftime. The ACC is a much better conference. But since I let U of I give me a degree, I'll pull for them.

I will do a post on why the NBA is better than the NCAA.

Anonymous said...

Nobody lets the U of I give them a degree...they make you work your ass off for it. You've been out of school for too long if you've forgotten that fact.

As for KU, in Sophia Petrillo style: Picure it. 2002. T-Rae's senior year of college. It was the first time in my college years that I would vacation over spring break instead of work in one form or another. I was enjoying the Illinois/Kansas game at a bar just off the beach in Negril, Jamaica. The Kansas fans were NASTY. CRUDE. RUDE. DISGUSTING. Need I say more?

Post as you may, NCAA March Madness power-bombs anything that has ever happened in the NBA.

Once again, GO ILLINI! It's just about time for tip-off. I'm still at work, so thank God for TiVo.

~Teresa

The General said...

Jump on the wagon? I'm a frickin' wagon hitch-hiker.
I'd like to take this time to announce that I will no longer pretend I am a fan of anyone. I am by far the greatest fair-weather fan of all time. I now and will always only care about sports if a team that I have some connection to is winning. Winning? Go Bulls! Breaking records? Go Illini! Losing? You suck!
Take the Fighting Illini football team. They suck. I don't watch their games and I don't care if they lose. If they make it to a bowl game, I'll root for them, and if they lose I will instantly return to not caring about them and telling everyone how much they suck and I don't care about them because they suck.
"Matt, you're not a real sports fan!" Really? How'd you guess? I don't care.
The blood in my veins is red... not red like the Bulls black and red, and not red like the Timothy Trojans red and white... red like blood... good old-fashioned blood-red blood.
Go Bulls!
Go Illini!
Go Home Team!

Oneway the Herald said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Oneway the Herald said...

Plenty of people let THE U of I give them degrees. I did work hard periodically to finish in engineering, but in reality, there was no consistent effort to excel in class. I believe most people got through like I did: Mostly ignoring class work, pursuing more meaningful goals, then periods of intense studying to make it. Work my ass off? Hardly.

The University of Illinois is not a place to receive an excellent education. It is a progressive cesspool. There are far better institutions like Grove City and Hillsdale College.

As for your tragic tale of amoral Kansas fans, I got news for you, T-bone, all those Orange Krush fans that are screaming during games at Assembly aren't quoting Bible verses. And next time you want to tell a sob story you may want to choose one that is not set in Jamaica. The farthest south I went over Spring Break was Memphis. I didn't even know if I spelled Jamaica correctly just now, I had to check.

March Madness is a good time, but the NBA playoffs separate the men from the boys unequivocally. A good team can get lucky and squeak by better teams to win the tournament; no team that has won the Finals got there on luck. Those that are interested in the greatest exhibition of organized basketball will love the NBA.

AJ said...

>>I will do a post on why the NBA is better than the NCAA.<<

Aw, man. Just as hifi was starting to kick the roof off my esteem, just as I was starting to really respect your journalistic voice...you had to go and write that.

I'm horrified to hear about the agregious misbehavior of my KU brethern in Jamak-uh-Jammaci-er-Jamaica. Next time I see those boys I'll tell them what for.

Anonymous said...

I admit that the U of I is a cesspool of commies, but so is every other university in the United States, and it’s still a good place to get an education (especially the College of Ag, which is full of conservative Christians, many of them Professors who are authorities in their fields and that I still keep in touch with and consult regularly to help me with my job). I’m sorry that you didn’t have to work your ass off, but I certainly did. Maybe organic chem, biochem, genetics, and physiology just come easy for you though Abe.

T-Bone

Anonymous said...

Furthermore (well not really furthermore, but I forgot to mention this before), the Illini fans I encountered in Jamaica were all pleasant…they displayed none of the nastiness that I saw among the Kansas folks. And quite strangely, while watching the game, I happened to meet another Illinois student who grew up in southern Illinois with the step-brother of one of my best friends from back home. Very small world.

Oh, then those damn Jayhawks stole our coach. Mean, coach-stealing bastards, though Ariel seems like he might be a nice fellow.

T-Bone

AJ said...

>>Oh, then those damn Jayhawks stole our coach. Mean, coach-stealing bastards...<<

Hey, you shouldn't fault us... just because Self seized the opportunity to move up in the world. The last few times I've visited this blog, I been smelling this strange aroma...a little like grape juice, but slightly fermented?

;) All in good fun.

Oneway the Herald said...

You won't catch me whining, but I like the friendly rejoinders. I don't fault Self for leaving, just like you can't fault Roy for bouncing to UNC. There is a hierarchy, and Illinois is not at the top. Hopefully, Weber is part of changing this.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Kansas was blown out by an unranked Villanova. The Illini exposed the weakest part of their game, their front court, in an overtime win against Iowa and Westmont, IL's own, Pierre Pierce.

The most important news, however, is that your Chicago Bulls defeated the surging World Champion Detroit Pistons at Detroit. Hop on it.

Anonymous said...

Ariel, that aroma you hinted at? That’s the smell of defeat. Kansas defeat to be exact. You want to talk about moving up in the world? I don't know what kind of "fuzzy math" you use in Jayhawk country, but in Illinois #1 is better than #2 (and that doesn't take into account KU's loss to unranked Villanova). Self would have to come back to Illinois if he wanted to move up in the world :)

T-Rae