A Long Summer's Wait

Photo taken by Justin Zipser.

I have the worst sense of timing it seems.

During much of the regular season for the Blackhawks, I would up tuning into games where they'd lose in overtime. I had just gotten in my car to turn on ESPN-1000 to hear the end of the Bulls game tonight. Unfortunately it just so happened I tuned in to hear Iguodala's free throws that sealed the series. My stomach sank.

This was a painful series for us Bulls fans, as I'm sure Geoffy can attest to. It was a painful series for the Bulls, who became the Walking Wounded by series' end. And for a team that came into the postseason thinking championship or bust, it was a punch in the stomach, following by a kick in the groin.

You have to give the Bulls credit; they were not going to go out without a fight tonight. And they gave Philly a great fight pretty much the whole series. But the Sixers executed in the fourth quarter consistently; the Bulls coughed up leads late. It's what we hounded LeBron about last year in the Finals, so the Bulls deserve that same scrutiny. Based on the fact that they had 4th quarter leads they couldn't protect, the Bulls should have won this series. But they gave it away.

I have to tip my hat to the Sixers for sticking by what Evan Turner said before the playoffs started. They backed up his talk. That being said, I am rooting for Boston in the next round. Not just because I think they have the best shot in the East of taking out Miami, but also because of the callous actions of some of the Sixers fans. I know, every city has its scumbag fans. I'm a Cubs fan; I know many of my fellow Cubs fans can sink pretty low. But so many of the stories of bad fans come from Philadelphia, and I feel bad for the good fans there whose reputations are tarnished by these goons.

That little rant aside, what can we expect from the Bulls next season? Obviously I think they'll be back in the picture next year, but at least for starters as a fringe contender. We don't know how long Rose will be out while his knee heals, and Deng will need wrist surgery. I certainly think the rest of the core can tread water until the key guys return. As for reinforcements, don't expect anything. I doubt the Bulls will use their amnesty on Boozer just yet as he improved overall during the season, but disappeared tonight. Without that, there's minimal cap space to add pieces other than through the draft, and I don't know what the Bulls can get yet.

The title window is nowhere near closed yet though, Bulls fans. Try and enjoy the summer watching our baseball teams overachieve a little bit, prepare for football to start up again, and know that this team will be back. It may take a while, but they will.

We'll Raise Our Voices High

For most of the fall the attention on college football is focused on the schools with several thousand students, not always remembering that there is legitimate talent at the lower levels... even NFL-caliber talent. For someone like me who has spent 5 years paying attention to a North Central team run the gauntlet of the CCIW, I've seen some very talented teams with some exceptional athletes. I remember a 2010 game where I saw scouts from a couple teams (the Jets and I don't remember who else) come to see us in action.

Last year I was hopeful that defensive beast Matt Wenger would get a call to join an NFL roster, dreams that sadly went unfulfilled. But I remember seeing a tweet in the fall from Mel Kiper of all people touting some underrated players, including NCC's Kyle Fiedorowicz.

I did some digging today to look into North Central's history regarding the NFL, and it's not very extensive. In all, there have been 4 players that spent at least part of their college careers in Naperville, and most of their NFL careers were short. Historically:

• Ron Selesky (1987): Center. Played 2 NFL games.
• Levert Carr (1969-73): OL/DL. Played 55 NFL games, starting all 14 games for Buffalo in 1971.
• Jim Avery (1966, also attended Northern Illinois): Tight end. Played 1 NFL game.
• Bus Mertes (1945-48?, also attended Iowa): Multiple positions. Ran for 1277 yards and 6 touchdowns, caught 19 passes for 182 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Not an illustrious list by any means, but there's some history there. And for Kyle Fiedorowicz, he may have a chance to contribute to an NFL team, being invited to the New Orleans Saints' rookie minicamp.

Looking at the unofficial depth chart for the Saints, there are only 2 tight ends, and David Thomas is a decent #2 guy behind this Jimmy Graham fellow. If there's an open roster spot, I don't think it's beyond reason to think the Kyle could make the squad. The Saints play 5 preseason games including the Hall of Fame game, so there's certainly opportunities for Kyle to showcase what he can do. I know the Saints mainly spread it out with Drew Brees, but they may have to consider splitting guys out, especially if you put Kyle and Jimmy Graham out there at the same time. Graham by himself is a matchup nightmare, but at 6'6", Kyle himself is hard to miss either. He could slip through some cracks in the defense, and he has decent speed (can run a sub-5 second 40, officially his best time was a 4.88). I remember a game in 2010 against Millikin where he slipped behind the defense, caught a pass, and was gone, prompting an excited "Kyle Fiedorowicz to the house!" call from me on WONC (go to the 1:03:30 mark for the call). In that pass-happy attack, he could potentially thrive.

Say what you will about the Saints following the bounty scandal. I'm a Packers fan, so I fear and respect the Saints as a rival NFC contender. But I will try to pay attention to their games this season and pull for a talented kid from a D-III school to put Naperville on the map again. Good luck Kyle!

Was This Over Before... Before It Ever Began?

Back in 2004 when I was a sophomore in high school, I started to going to my school's football games. It began as a "Let's get points for the Homecoming competition", but I enjoyed myself so much I made it to every home game (and playoff game home or away) after that. Aurora Christian was just discovering its entry into the world of competitive IHSA football, and in the first year under Don Beebe, we were ready for a title run. We'd won our first 2 playoff games, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Everything seemed to be going right until a couple days before the game. One of our star wide receivers in his first year with the team woke up one morning with chest pain and went to the hospital. It turned out that a preexisting heart condition flared up requiring surgery and he missed that game. Our hearts and prayers went out to him. We would up losing that game, but said star would make a full recovery and finally get to play for the basketball team. His debut at home was inspiring and his first basket nearly blew the roof off the old "801" gym on the west side of Aurora.

This is the kind of inspiring story Chicago Bulls fans are hoping for in these playoffs, seeing a similar unexpected turn. I found some reminders of my sophomore year of high school in the hours since Derrick Rose tore his ACL against the 76ers. I wasn't watching the game, but was following along on Twitter. When I heard the news, my heart sank. Obviously tearing a ligament in your knee isn't anywhere near as serious as a heart problem, but both events see a final result of a star missing out on big playoff games. I along with all of Chicago am praying that Derrick will have a speedy, but more importantly full recovery to come back and have the impact he has had his first 3 1/2 years in the NBA.

What does this mean for the Bulls? The obvious initial reaction that everyone (myself and Geoffy included) comes to is that the Bulls are no longer title contenders. It's hard to say for certain, but thinking about it, that's the most likely scenario. The best case, of course, would be that the Bulls come together again as a team and resolve to win for Derrick as it's what he wants them to do. Worst case, we see a second round exit to Boston or another elimination at Miami's hands. Unfortunately the second scenario seems more likely.

In order for this best case scenario to come to fruition, so many things have to go right. Some teams may have to lose for the Bulls to get a better matchup (I'm looking at you, Miami.) If there does end up being a Bulls-Heat East Finals, Bosh needs to be invisible while Boozer shines, Noah keeps bringing the energy, Korver keeps shooting lights out, John Lucas becomes this year's Jason Terry (Irrational Confidence guy), and so on and so forth. Realistically, I don't think it's going to happen. But I will support this team on their run however deep they go.

For those of you who want to blame Coach Thibodeau... just stop it. No one on the Bulls is blaming him; heck, everyone came to his defense. Rose missed 27 games this season. He needed to get back in rhythm with his teammates. The only way to do that is to play. He needed to get back into some key situations. His knee injury could have happened at any time. It's a double standard to blame a non-contact injury, something that could have happened at any time during the game, on the coach when said injury could have happened in the 2nd quarter yesterday, or in the opening minutes on Tuesday. There was no way to predict this could have happened. Yes, it follows Murphy's Law, but that's more of a reactive thing than a proactive one. And Derrick certainly isn't blaming his coach. Why should we?

Bulls fans, enjoy the ride as long as we have it this season. Even if the Bulls get knocked out, this group will develop a tough mentality and use this experience for next season. ACL injuries take a while to come back from, plus if Deng decides to have wrist surgery, we're down our top 2 guys. But this is a deep team, and they won't make any excuses. They will do what they can to stay near the top of the East again while their heroes recover. And be ready next spring, because this team isn't going away. Godspeed, Chicago Bulls.

A Step in the Right Direction

You would think this would normally be about the NFL Draft tonight. I caught good chunks of it, was surprised by the sheer number of trades, but there were a lot of good picks. Some picks were question marks, but overall it was a good round. As 32 guys have left college to go join the pros, something else is leaving college football as well.

Supposedly a shard of Alabama's BCS trophy. Just like their "championship".

If you are a regular reader of Confessions of a Sportscaster, you know I have a heavy anti-BCS bias. So when I heard early during the college football offseason that there was talk of change to the postseason format, I was a little leery, but hopeful. As we've gone into this week, I've gotten really optimistic. The conference commissioners... plus the ever outdated AD of Notre Dame are all brainstorming and discussing ideas for a fairer and brighter end to the season.


Unfortunately for football fans, the conference commissioners think that an 8-16 team playoff "diminishes the regular season" while completely forgetting that they gave a team that lost to the #1 team in the nation last year a second chance to beat them. They don't seem to understand the idea that not only would a larger playoff make money, it's a much fairer system for deciding a national champion.

As of right now, it seems like the committee wants to go with a "plus-one". Having 4 teams play for a title is certainly much better than having only 2, but it's still heavily flawed. Even if we only go with conference champions for the new postseason, there's still too heavy a reliance on coaches polls (biased due to politicking and best-interest voting rather than honest thoughts on the best teams in the nation) and computer formulas that don't even take margin of victory into consideration.

Don't get me wrong; a plus-one is an improvement over the current BCS system. But it's not enough. I'm still advocating the 16 team playoff (the 11 conference winners plus 5 at-large teams, usually 1 or 2 loss teams). By bringing in the conference winners, you still have importance of the regular season, while having a loss or 2 doesn't necessarily kick you out. And we get an exciting conclusion to the season.

The biggest questions that remain revolve around host sites and the big bowl games. Personally I'm still of the opinion that they either become part of the playoffs in the final round (3rd place game on down the line for the BCS ones) or keep them separate but wait for the title game pairing to be announced so games like the Rose Bowl can keep their traditional matchups as best as possible.

As for playoff sites, I'm okay with the neutral site idea if it comes down to that, but I still believe having a higher seed host would make things so much more interesting. For example, having a playoff game at the Horseshoe in Columbus to mix tradition with a great system? Love the concept. There may be some logistical things to work out, but I can't imagine it being unrealistic. The biggest problem with hometown is making sure out of town visitors have hotels to stay at (which, given how big game days are as it is, I can't see it being that much of an adjustment).

The biggest obstacle I continue to see from fans who want to keep the status quo (seems to be largely SEC people, but I'm sure there's more beyond just that conference) is how some schools don't deserve to go to the title game. It either stems from a bad loss (see Oklahoma State's loss this year to Iowa State) or a "weaker" schedule (see every Boise State season it seems like). These are the people that should be most in favor of a playoff. Think a team lost a game they should have won, or didn't play a tough enough schedule to play for a title? You shouldn't be scared of them. After all, they're an inferior team and you'd beat them en route to a title, right? What are you afraid of?

I'll admit; no system is perfect. Not even the 16 team playoff is perfect. I think it's the maximum number of teams we can include before it becomes diluted, but probably the best possible way to really decide a national champion, something the current system does not do. A plus one is a step in the right direction, but not a total victory. So, my fellow revolutionaries, the fight must go on. But we are making strides and making a real change for the good of college football.

Going Home Early

I remember reading something back in the 2009-10 NHL season saying that the Hawks had potential to be a dynasty, but due to the salary cap it would be a challenge and thus their best shot at the Cup was that magical 2010 playoff run.

The years since have been tough, with this year seeing a painful exit. During this series with Phoenix, I felt just about every emotion a sports fan can feel. Excitement. Disappointment. Joy. Fear. Anger. Depression. And resignation last night when the third puck got by Corey Crawford. I had come to terms with the fact that this incarnation wouldn't be playing again.

As far as playoff series go, this was not a good one... And not because of the outcome. As has been harped on early and often this April, the officiating throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs has been atrocious. You can point to Philly-Pittsburgh as the top example, but this series was equally bad. Early on it seemed like the Hawks couldn't buy a call. We had Flopgate. And even last night there were bad penalties. The one that ticked me off the most was the misconduct on Jimmy Hayes. Not the smartest hit, definitely a 5 minute major for boarding, but it was not a malicious hit. It just looked like it with an injured Coyote. It was reactive officiating again, not proactive.

As much as I harp on the officials sometimes, I'm a firm believer in the concept that referees don't decide games, the players do. And that was absolutely the case here, as most Hawks fans understand. Hawks defenders made some bad turnovers or were caught out of position to lead to big goals. Crawford let in 2 soft goals in overtime in the Madhouse. The offense often tried to do too much. So many times guys like Kane tried to maneuver through traffic rather than pass the puck.

At the same time, Phoenix deserved to win this series. They played phenomenal defense all series, and took advantage of Chicago miscues. But the biggest reason they won was because Mike Smith played out of his mind, especially yesterday. The philosophy is that you need a good goaltender to win a Cup. Mike Smith is a good, even great goaltender. That being said, I don't respect him. As good a net minder he is, trying to win an Oscar is unnecessary. He's a great player, but also a scumbag.

So what about a 2013 run? The Hawks need help on the back end. They're pretty good at forward (aside from needing a 2nd line center), but more physicality at the blue line is a must, and unfortunately Crawford is not the long term answer in goal. Good backup, but that's about it.

This group will be back in the playoffs again next spring. And hopefully then they will have the grit as well as the skill needed to bring Lord Stanley back where he belongs.

South Side Perfection

I surmised at the beginning of this month that it was going to be a long summer for Chicago baseball. For my Cubs, I was right. The starting pitching has been good, but the bullpen and offense have struggled in typical Cub fashion. The Sox meanwhile have been off to a decent start and are competing in a tough AL Central. But I never saw what happened today coming. No one could have.

Major League Baseball has been around for almost 150 years. Many things have changed since the 19th century within the game since then, but even with all the differences, retiring all 27 men you face in a single game has only happened 21 times in hundreds of thousands of games. I've been blessed to be alive for 9 of them, though I was really only aware of 5 of them (all since 2000).

I had no idea Humber was going for it today. I had called my dad this afternoon to figure out stuff with dinner when he told me Humber was 3 outs away. He talked me through the pitches of out number 25 before I was able to get the TV on at my girlfriend's house. She knows I'm a Cubs fan, so needless to say she was shocked that I flipped on a Sox game. But when you have a chance, even on TV, to witness history, you don't pass it up.

The closest I've ever been in person was 2009 also involving the Sox... and the last South Sider to do it in Mark Buehrle. The start right after his perfecto was in Minnesota. He retired the first 17 or so batters as I recall before giving up that first hit... then the floodgates opened. I was happy he didn't record another perfect game, but 5 innings was awfully early to really feel it.

I'm not a Sox fan. I never will be. But I'm a baseball fan, and I appreciate these rare moments when they happen. I was rooting for Humber to get those last 2 outs when I flipped on the game. And I'm really glad the Mariners fans in Seattle were on their feet in the 9th. A classy move by them to appreciate the moment.

So from this humbled Cubs fan, congratulations to Phil Humber. You may not feel like your name belongs in the annals of history with the likes of Randy Johnson, Roy Halladay, and Sandy Koufax, but you earned it today. And you are forever immortal in the lore of baseball.

An Open Letter to Brendan Shanahan

Mr. Shanahan,

Thank you for once again screwing over the National Hockey League.

You can read my last post on here to see my thoughts about the hit Andrew Shaw put on Mike Smith. By the letter of the law, you can't touch the goalie. I get that. I also get that you want to protect players. But you are going about this the wrong way.

Anyone with unbiased eyes can tell that Mike Smith embellished the hit. He was hit, but he blew it out of proportion. That you can't or won't see the obvious manipulation here would be beyond me if I didn't already know you were terrible at issuing punishments.

Shea Weber WWE-style slams Zetterberg's head into the boards repeatedly... A non hockey play... And he gets the minimum fine. In a non- Red Wing game, Andrew Shaw tries to make a hockey play, and gets 3 games. Unbelievable.

You claim the hit was "A forceful blow" and Shaw "Does not make a reasonable effort to avoid such contact." He was up against the wall. What does he have to do? And what normal human being goes flying that badly on a hit from someone smaller than him?

I hope for your sake you don't go near Chicago any time soon. Or any city with an NHL team other than Detroit, because people will be out to get you. You clearly are not qualified to hold your office. Go be a TV analyst where your experience will be of use to you.

Sincerely,

Confessions of a Sportscaster