What Happened All Week? Or: The Bulls Take Rose and the Sox Bitch-Slap the Cubs

So, as I hoped and expected, the Bulls took Derrick Rose with the top overall pick in this year's NBA draft. A huge move for the team, who needed a dynamic guard. Granted they also need an inside scoring presence, but they're closer to getting that from Drew Gooden than they are to getting guard play from Hinrich/Gordon/Duhon/pu-pu platter. Rose can come in and be an impact player immediately a la Chris Paul.

In the baseball world, the Cubs followed their sweep of the White Sox by losing 2 of 3 to the Orioles at home, then getting swept by the same Sox to plummet to 49-33. Still good, but since the wildly overachieving Cardinals refuse to remember that they suck, it's only good for a 2.5 game lead. The Sox, meanwhile, maintain their 1.5 game lead on the red-hot Twins.

Not much else going on, but with me starting a new and less inconsistently scheduled job tomorrow, we'll see if I can't get better about consistent posting.

Gone For a Week???

Sorry about being MIA all week - especially in one of the biggest Chicago sports weeks in recent memory. I was rip-roaring drunk for Sunday Night Baseball, worked 12 hours on Monday, then found out I had another job, and on top of that traveled to Chicago from Tuesday to Thursday to watch the Cubs and O's. I worked again yesterday, work again today, and bought a new computer. Basically the busiest week of my life. I promise a full post tonight.

What Happened Today? 6/21/08 Or: One Way or the Other...

In case you hadn't noticed, I have decided for the time being to make this a Chicago sports-only blog. Figure I might as well give this baby a focus.

So today, the Cubs found a new way to win at home: fall behind early, then bury the opponent with a one-inning explosion. The lovable winners scored 9 runs in the 4th inning today against the White Sox, including 2 homers by that guy, Jim Edmonds, to score an 11-7 win and clinch the first round of the Crosstown Showdown. The win improved the Cubs to an unfathomable 31-8 at home, including 13 straight wins. The Wrigley magic lives.

Tomorrow, it's Sunday Night Baseball. Jon Miller overpronouncing Aramis Ramirez's name and Joe Morgan preaching how Ryan Theriot "plays the game the right way". Are you ready?

Let's go get the brooms.

(Also of note: We are very close to the Bulls' No. 1 pick selection. All indications are that it will be Derrick Rose. And I could not be happier.)

What Happened Today? 6/20/08 Or: Of Course They Did It Again

Ironically, this morning when I woke up, a friend of mine who is a Sox fan IM'ed me about this series. A battle of first-place teams is always intriguing, and despite my feelings about it (see below), an intracity series adds a little spice to things. He cracked that he was circulating a petition to keep the Cubs from playing the bottom of the 7th inning today due to their penchant for coming back in that inning, especially at home.

Sure enough, that afternoon, Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez went back to back in the bottom of the 7th, erasing a 2-run deficit and leading to Ramirez continuing his legend as one of the great big-situation hitters in Cubs history with a walk-off to center field to lead off the 9th. It was a win the Cubs absolutely had to have after the demoralizing 3-game sweep to the Rays, and in retrospect seems even bigger after Jason LaRue, Skip Schumaker and an on-the-take Red Sox defense led the Cardinals to yet another ridiculous win over a superior opponent tonight.

The Cubbies have won 12 straight home games, are a nearly unfathomable 30-8 at Wrigley and send Jason Marquis to the mound tomorrow for Game 2 of a series that all of a sudden seems sweepable.

In perhaps even better news, Carlos Zambrano's MRI revealed only a minor shoulder strain. It is likely that Z will miss two starts, then be back in the saddle. It is rumored that Z agreed to miss the 2nd start largely because it would be at U.S. Cellular Field, meaning he wouldn't be able to hit for himself. He's just too hilarious.

In other Chicago sports news (well, kinda), NBC has agreed to extend their exclusive contract with Notre Dame football for five more years, through 2015. Mike Wilbon smartly pointed out on PTI today that NBC has pretty much boxed themselves into a corner with the Irish - since all the major conferences now have deals with other networks, NBC is left with ND. Fine by me.

It's worth noting also that Jay Mariotti, the windbag of windbags, has had about enough of Ozzie Guillen. Mariotti ripped his colleagues at the Chicago Sun-Times for being what he called "brainwashed" to believe that Guillen's periodic rants is just Ozzie being Ozzie. Mariotti is not a fan of that, calling Guillen "one of the great crackpots in the history of professional sports". Welllll...this could be interesting.

What Happened Today? 6/19/08 Or: The Least Secure Best Team In Baseball Ever

So, Cubs fans, not only have we lost Carlos Zambrano for at least one start, but for the first time in 2008, the Cubs will be entering a series coming off a sweep. The Cubbies choked away a 3-1 lead in the 7th inning in Tampa tonight, as Carlos Marmol walked 2 and hit 2 in the only 4 batters he faced, followed by Scott Eyre immediately giving up a grand slam to Carl Crawford followed by about 17 more line shots - I lost count after a while because I was washing the gushing blood from my eyes.

Next up for the free-falling but still best-in-baseball Cubs is a home set against the White Sox. There will be literally thousands of articles published about how the teams are "archrivals" in the next few days, but the fact is, they are just not. Apart from the minor annoyance of Sox fans paying far too much attention to a team that has literally zero effect on their playoff hopes, I could give a rat's ass about this weekend's series. Sure, the Sox annoy me, but no more so than any other team on the schedule does once the game starts. Tomorrow's pitching matchup, John Danks vs. Ted Lilly, could be an even one if the Cubs get the Lilly of the last few starts or could be wildly mismatched. Who knows. All I know is the Cubs need wins, no matter who they're against. Luckily, they're headed back to Wrigley, where the team is nearly invincible. (By the way, if you want Len and Bob rather than the completely unwatchable Hawk and DJ to call the game, watch Comcast Sportsnet Chicago tomorrow and WGN on Saturday - and NOT the reverse.)

Elsewhere in sports:

He's out! The latest manager to join the unemployment lines is Mariners skipper John McLaren. This makes far more sense than the Randolph axing, as Seattle is the worst team in baseball and McLaren had already gone through his prerequisite meltdown press conference a couple of weeks ago. Taking the reins will be former Cubs manager and ex-Mariners bench coach Jim Riggleman. That should go well. Rumors are swirling that the M's aren't done with their reshaping, even after dumping their G.M. and their manager.

Shocking - Chicago native wants to play in Chicago. Derrick Rose, he who has already said he believes Michael Beasley is the best option at the top of the draft, is now publicly asking the Bulls to take him. I'm on record as wanting this since I found out about the Bulls' being handed the #1 pick by a desperate David Stern...err....I mean, catching a lucky break with the lottery balls. Rose is a franchise PG. As has been proven over and over again, a franchise PG means everything, provided you aren't stocked with stars at other positions. And the Bulls are not. What they do have, however, is two pretty good players - Luol Deng and Drew Gooden - in the spots Beasley would be playing in. Not quite as good a fit.

Last Word: But seriously, to quote one of my friend's Facebook statuses, in what universe do Sox fans care if the "Cubs are swept by the Rays", let alone "walking on air" about it?? If anything, they should be unhappy - the Rays would be the White Sox's chief competition for the wild card should they fail to win the AL Central division. Ah, the mind of a Sox fan.

What Happened Today? 6/18/08 Or: Here We Go Again, Cubs Fans

Yep. Things were just going too well. A couple of days ago, the Cubs were 45-25, the best team in baseball and pulling away from the Cardinals. Sure, Soriano was on the DL for a few weeks, but the Cubs could absolutely get through without him.

Now, the Cubs are 45-27. Still the best team in baseball. However, the injury train is coming, Carlos Zambrano got hurt tonight - and he may well have been hurt for a while, There's no telling where he's headed. Half the Cubs' outfielders have gotten hurt in the last 24 hours.

Granted, St. Louis is still down to us 3.5 games, and after spending most of the season defying any statistical reason why they should be good, they've lost two in a row at home to the Royals. But bad things seem afoot...

Also of note, Tiger's done for the year. This vaults his U.S. Open to a whole new level of brilliance - the MJ Flu Game times about 150. He was playing four weeks before he should have even been MOVING. Incredible.

Image Credit: AP

What Happened Today? 6/17/08 Or: We Have New Champions But From the Same Old City

I will confess to having watched nearly none of tonight's deciding 131-92 Game 6 blowout to give the Boston Celtics their record 17th NBA title. I was addicted to a rather exciting Cubs game (and baseball always takes precedence over hoops to me), and by the time it was over, so was the NBA Finals game. The Lakers didn't even bother showing up to try and take the NBA crown. Boston laid the smack down, so much so that Kevin Garnett, who I swear put up the most unimpressive double-double average in a Finals ever, piled up a 26/14 in his winning moment.

The person I'm happiest for is Finals MVP Paul Pierce, who toiled on a terrible team for much of his career, and in an amazing twist of fate, found himself with two worthy sidekicks in one off-season. Maybe we were aiming the praise a little too heavily in KG's direction this year, maybe not. But Paul Pierce is a legitimate badass.

Either way, it's nice to see Boston win one. That city's had a really rough sports year.

Not a whole lot else happened today, except that Willie Randolph got canned. Probably not justified, but as I said the other day, it was probably time to make a change and these things just seem to happen a lot these days in sports. Of course, the Mets lost the debut of interim manager Jerry Manuel - the ex-White Sox manager.

More tomorrow. Congrats, Celtics.

Image Credit: Getty Images