Still Gotta Come Through Chicago

Are the Bears Back? The Bulls are!

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Good morning Chicago! Thanks for reading, subscribing, and sharing, as always. But I especially want to thank you for indulging me last week as I spoke about my dear friend who had passed away. Your messages were incredibly heartfelt, and meant the world to me.

Thanks for allowing me use this platform for a personal matter, and being so cool about it. It’s just another reason why I’m incredibly grateful that this community exits. I really appreciate you all.

Now.

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We are so incredibly fucked. I have had at least six people in the last week both sort of seriously and very seriously say to me that the Bears are making the playoffs. All it took was one game for us dummies to get roped back in, against one of the three or four worst defenses in the league.

Six losses in a row and one win has up popping our heads out of the fox holes again. None of us — or at least very little of us — would last a minute in World War 2. The Germans would cease bombing for 10 goddamn seconds and we’d be jumping out of our shelters running around like morons, and guess what, now we’re going to get our legs blown off.

We should all be like that Japanese dude who hid in a cave during the war until someone found him in 1972, almost 30 years after the war had ended. Stay the hell in self-isolation, avoid the urge to look at “in the hunt” graphics, and wait it out. Keep your heart intact.

But no, instead, we just watched all of our friends die and we’re still running with revolutionary-era guns at a bunch of German tanks.

We’re sitting in the tank like Brad Pitt, Shia LeBeouf, Jon Bernthal and Michael Pena waiting for the SS soldiers to come find us. But it ain’t a noble cause we’re waiting on. It’s an inevitable ass whooping and an 8-8 record.

And I’m not innocent. The other day I found myself searching the NFL schedule, seeing how the Bears could sneak into that 7th playoff spot, which just started existing this year.

It’s tough, but we have to keep in mind what Matt Nagy has put us through for the past seven weeks. Come on over and watch the Lions game (which, had we won, we’d be in control of our own destiny right now — S/O PC and BigJ), I’ve got it recorded.

Perhaps that’s why I’m more measured right now, and less elated by last week’s win. I watched the Lions game late last week, and let me tell you something, that was maybe the most embarrassing loss I’ve ever witnessed.

-What the absolute hell was Allen Robinson doing on that 3rd and 5?

-Lining up for an onside kick?

-Throwing twice while pressed against our own goal line, up with less than two minutes to go?

-Abandoning the run game completely in the second half?

So, no, I’m not exactly leading a parade to Soldier Field as I foolishly was last year after that intoxicating Cowboys win. (That was a beautiful one, wasn’t it?)

I haven’t forgotten that Ryan Pace is 13 games below .500 during his tenure, that he’s missed on Matt Glennon (edit: yeah, yeah — Mike — who cares?), Mitch Trubisky, and Nick Foles, and has only drafted one QB during his time here. That he did nothing to shore up the O-Line this offseason. That he hired Matt Nagy and John Fox. That he’s had one — one! — winning season in what is now a six-year stop. And that he has zero playoff wins to show for.

“I don’t know,” Matt Nagy said, when asked what had gone wrong with the Bears on their SIX-game losing streak.

We knew the Bears were cheap son of a bitches and that they wouldn’t fire anyone during the season. But they started to hear us at Halas Hall. There were murmurs of Ted Phillips retiring this offseason and head coaching candidates were starting to be floated.

Then they win won game and Nagy takes a victory lap in his press conference like he won something and we all start screaming playoffs? Come on. We’re better than that.

Even if the Packers aren’t trying, do we really think we’re beating them in Week 17?And even if we somehow do, what does that mean for us long-term?

I’ve said it a million times — I’ll always cheer for the Bears. So I’ll be going as crazy as anyone if they sneak in and beat the Packers in a cheap Week 17 matchup. But, in reality, what are we rooting for here?

Do we want a couple of mouse traps set up around the house, or do we want an exterminator to come in and end the infestation for good?

Your significant other has cheated on you multiple times. Now you’re trying to get back with them. I get it, but I want you to be happy. Don’t do it — it’s for the better.

Now, if the Bears win two games and need a win at Soldier against Green Bay to finish it off… we better get every vaccinated front-line worker in Chicago in that goddamn stadium and do whatever we can to get into the playoffs.

But if we do get to that point, we’ll just have to know that we did ourselves in, and it will have probably been for the worse. Every guy we wanted gone during the six-game losing streak will be back, we won’t have a top choice at a new QB, and we’ll be right back where we started.

I want you to stay in the cave, the fox hole. But if you want to get out and fight, god dammit, I have no choice but to go down fighting with you.

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The Betting of the Bulls

I called my shot on draft night. The receipts are there — you can check them if you’d like.

And if you hated the Pat Williams draft choice, chances are you don’t watch much basketball in the first place, so you haven’t watched him in his first three preseason games. You just wanted to complain about the Bulls picking someone you don’t know.

That’s alright — and I’m not going to hold that against you. You had the right to stop taking an interest in Chicago basketball the last few years.

But now that Pat Williams, the fourth overall pick in the draft, is looking like a good pro already, at age 19, in the NBA preseason, you can stop spewing nonsense about Obi Toppin.

You can stop worrying about him not starting in college, considering the fact that he started last night — you know, in the NBA.

And ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, you’re going to love this kid.

He’s a great defender. He works hard. He says all the right things. He’s already hitting threes. He’s aggressive, but stoic. It’s always important to temper expectations but his demeanor does remind me of Kawhi’s.

Just three games into the preseason, you can’t tell much. But what I can tell you is that there’s no chance this kid is going to be a bust.

In fact, he’s looked so polished already, I wouldn’t be surprised if he started a lot of games for the Bulls this year.

But back to the Bulls, generally. If you’ve been gone, welcome back.

Don’t miss out on this season — I’m telling you. I’ve already made it clear that you should throw your life savings on the Bulls winning more than 30 games (I got it at 41.5% of their games, which is equivalent to 29.5ish wins, but is contingent on if they play all their games).

But I think this team can do more than that. Ironically, I think the Bulls can be this year’s version of the 2019-2020 Thunder. A team everyone figured would be a bottom-of-the-pack team, but one that was fun as hell to watch and ended up competing.

Now, I don’t think the Bulls will be a top-5 seed in the playoffs — they’re too young. I do think, however, they will have a chance to be in the play-in tournament, which is new. All they need to do to get there is be around the top 10 teams in the East.

And yes, after watching just three preseason games, I’m confident in that take.

The Bulls already look lightyears ahead of where they were last year. There’s a newfound energy in this team, and mind you, this is just the preseason. If they’re playing this hard for Billy Donovan in the preseason, the regular season is going to look an awful lot better than it did last year.

Guys are challenged this year.

Otto Porter, who has been an utter disappointment, but makes nearly $30 million, was diving for loose balls last night. He played better than I’ve seen him play in a long time, and you know why that is? Because a rookie — Pat Williams — started in place of him.

When you get a new coach, a new GM, and a new president in, and everyone is getting better than you — shit starts to get embarrassing. That’s good — it means that players won’t drag ass this year knowing that no one else is holding them accountable with their play.

Zach LaVine was playing defense last night! He was getting over screens and making chase-down blocks. What is going on here? I’m still not in on Zach, and he’ll still be highly valuable in the trade market this year (and I think the Bulls should trade him), but my God it’s refreshing to see him play as well as he can offensively and match it with some effort on the other end.

Coby White is a stud. The most important year for an NBA player is their sophomore season. That’s when the players that are going to be good usually take a leap. White and LaVine have been lights out offensively, and Coby has even looked competent as a facilitator.

He had 17 points in the 3rd quarter alone last night. I can’t overstate how optimistic I am about him and Williams moving forward.

Wendell Carter Jr., who was my no. 1 Bulls player heading into this year, showed bright spots early on in the preseason. But after missing his first eight threes, he’s started hesitating. He needs to get over that, but I’m less worried about him than anyone else.

I’m almost all the way out on Lauri Markkanen, who took the reins as the Bulls most promising player a year and a half ago and ran with it. Since then, he hasn’t gotten better at all, and increasingly looks like a guy out of place on the floor.

Hopefully, he’ll stop taking his place on the team for granted now that there’s an actual organizational structure in place. But my God, has he looked bad.

He looks awkward driving to the basket. He loses the ball or tries to dunk from 10 feet out like he’s Giannis, which is getting increasingly pathetic. At this point, he’s a below average three-point shooter who people are excited about because he’s a tall, white European who had a couple good games in 2018.

He needs to step up. If I were the Bulls, and his agents kept calling about a second contract, I’d tell them I need to see a lot more before we even got to a real conversation.

Everyone else looks so much better. Chandler Hutchinson, for crying out loud, looks better than Lauri.

The qualifier here is obvious: It’s the preseason, and the Bulls have played two pretty bad teams three times. But if you’ve watched too many Bulls games over the last few years like I have, the difference is evident.

Don’t miss out. This team is going to be fun. And when they knock off a few good teams mid-year and are all of a sudden .500, I don’t want to see you coming around.

Get your ticket now, at pandemic pricing, and ride this with me.

BULLS OVER 30 WINS…. Bulls +300 to make the playoffs? We’ll see.

Get your ticket in. Send it over. And let’s all have that party I promised before the world went to hell. What bar we thinking? Drink deals? Or should I buy out the bar? Hell, I’ll be able to once my ticket cashes.

Let’s. Go. KANYE, HIT IT!

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Chicago Sports Notebook:

• Here’s Kyle Schwarber’s message to Chicago that he left after inexplicably being non-tendered last week. Never forget this man’s homer off of Gerrit Cole in 2015, nor his .417 average in the World Series off an ACL tear.

• The Sox, in sort of an under-the-radar move, non-tendered Carlos Rodon. Rodon always seemed like a great guy, and it’s a shame things didn’t work out for him on the South Side. He showed flashes, but a Tommy John surgery and lack of control ultimately led to his demise.

• The Bulls have changed their defensive scheme. They’re no longer blitzing on every pick like a 6th grade basketball team. That means, they’re no longer double teaming out of a pick and leaving men wide open on an NBA floor. I’m personally a bit old school — I like the blitz. But they didn’t pick their spots under Boylen. They… defended like a 6th grade basketball team… against NBA teams.

• Every time Billy Donovan speaks about a Bulls player, it speaks to my soul. He knows exactly who they are, and it’s going to go such a long way. He’s clearly done his research, and now I believe him when he said he’s watched this team from afar and has high hopes for them moving forward.

• Other than a few COVID mishaps early on (get used to that), the Bulls are nearly completely healthy. They haven’t been healthy at the start of a season in what seems like 10 years.

• Willie Harris, the speedster who played for the White Sox, among other teams, is now the Cubs third base coach. I loved Willie Harris on the Sox, though looking back, he wasn’t very good. Still love him. Who said the Cubs aren’t spending?

• RIP to Dick Allen, an all-time player and a former White Sox MVP in 1972.

Thank you for reading, as always. Thank you for telling others to subscribe, as always. Next time I speak with you (barring an impromptu newsletter tomorrow), the Bears will be either out of the playoffs or sucking us back in. The merch will be in the works. and the Bulls will be about to get their first of OVER 30 wins this year.

Let’s GO!

Don’t forget to leave a comment — Are you in or out on the Bears? Bulls? Cubs and Sox thoughts? Bring it all here!