So Long Big Ben

I’m honestly embarrassed with myself. Only six posts in all of 2008, only one in February. I know I have been busy, but that’s really un-excusable. To make it up to you all, here are five nice random thoughts and a couple of interesting links.

1- Finally. That’s all I have to say. On Thursday Ben Wallace was finally traded from the Bulls, along with Joe Smith and Adrian Griffin in a monster three-team, eleven-player deal that went down with Cleveland and Seattle. In return, the Bulls got back forward Drew Gooden, guards Larry Hughes and Shannon Brown and some guy named Cedric Simmons. Overall, I think it’s a great deal. First off, we got rid of Wallace, who as I have been saying for a year and a half, was a huge mistake. Second, he is sent to a division rival, which in theory will make them worse. And third, I like the guys we got back, though Hughes is overpaid. I’m not exactly sure how Jim Boylan’s rotation will look like, since Duhon, Hinrich, Gordon, Sefelosha, Hughes, Deng, and Noccioni are all competing for the same three spots on the floor. (I’m assuming former Proviso East star Brown’s not gonna get many minutes.) And up front, I’m excited to see how the young guys- Thomas, Noah, Grey- handle being the go-to players at the end of the games along with Gooden.

2- Obviously, this wasn’t the only trade making news in the Association the past few weeks. Shaq’s now in Phoenix, Pau Gasol is a Laker and J-Kidd is back were it all started in Big D. (Dallas, not Detroit) This makes the Western Conference as tough as it has ever been. Right now there are as many as nine teams (Lakers, Suns, Warriors, Hornets, Spurs, Rockets, Mavs, Jazz, Nuggets) that I could see taking down the best of the East in a best-of-seven. And of course one of them won’t even make the playoffs.

As for the trades, obviously the Lakers came out the best, because they didn’t really give up anything to get an All-Star center. The Suns are really interesting, because it remain unclear if the Big Cactus (O’Neal’s new nickname) will fit in with the run-and-gun style Phoenix plays. If it works out though, then Steve Kerr- the Suns GM and one of my all-time favorite players- looks like a genius. And the Mavs are still an unknown, because they were oh-so close to winning it all two years ago. The question is now, will adding the games best point guard put them over the top?

3-Dr. J, The Human Highlight Film, Air Jordan, and Vince-sanity, please meet the newest member of the club. His name is Dwight ‘Superman’ Howard, and his performance in last Saturday’s Slam Dunk Contest was one for the ages. Many say that Howard’s best jam was the ‘Superman’, where he took off near the free-throw line, jumped about 12 feet in the air and then threw the ball through the hoop (wearing a Clark Kent cape). That was nice, but I strongly disagree that it was his best. In fact, his best was one of the very best dunks I have ever seen. It was his third slam, when he lobbed the ball of the court, jumped, tipped the ball of the back-board with his left hand, hung in the air, then grabbed the ball with his right and jammed it home. Simply astounding amount of hang time. Gerald Green’s ‘Birthday cake’ was nice as well, but nothing was touching Howard.

4-Switching to the Bears, the release of wide receiver Mushin Muhammad was a surprise to me. I knew they wanted to get younger, especially at the skill positions, but I didn’t expect Moose to be cut. But in all honesty, I like the move. If they re-sign Bernard Berrian- which is vital- they will have all speed at WR and tight end, which I really think will help. Signing Moose was a good idea- he was coming off a career year with the Panthers and Berrian wasn’t ready to be a number one in 2005- but it just never worked out with the Bears. He seems like a nice guy and a hard worked, but it just never clicked with our offense. Maybe it was the quarterbacks fault, maybe Ron Turner or Lovie Smith’s, or maybe it was Muhammad. Whatever it was, the Moose era in Chicago is now over.

5- Last off, this has nothing to do with Chicago sports, but it was just something I had to share. The RedEye, a daily free paper here in the Windy City, came out with a bracket for “The Best SNL Cast Member Tourney”. Now usually I love these things. Combining SNL with a March Madness-style bracket…genius. I was loving checking out all the matchups. And everything was good until I got to the Alec Baldwin Region. There was number one seed Will Ferrell, which is well deserved: Janet Reno, Alex Trebek, Harry Caray, the cowbell skit. Priceless comedy. But then I look down at the rest of the region and I see the number two seed is Mr. Eddie Murphy. Buckwheat, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Mr. Robinson’s Neighberhood. In my opinion, the best cast member ever. But Ferrell is right behind him. Having those two facing off before the title matchup is like having Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Fraizer as an under-card before a fight between high school kids. No offense to Bill Murray, one of my all-time favorite actors, but there’s no way he should be a number one seed if Murphy is a two. It’s just not right.