Is the Hot Dog Guy positng again? Yep

Man, its been a long time since I wrote for the blog. So much has gone on, I don’t know where to start. Here are five random thoughts on just a mish-mosh of subjects, from the local teams to bunch of nice links.

1- The Cubs signed Jim Edmonds earlier this week, and I have mixed emotions. You see, Edmonds was for the longest time one of my least favorite players (or at least tied with Astros first baseman Lance ‘Denzel’ Berkman, who once famously pretended to get hit by a pitch in a big game against the Cubs.) When Edmonds played for St. Louis the past few seasons, he did all sorts of things that pissed me off. He stares at his hits, even if they aren’t home runs. He plays too shallow in centerfield so that he can attempt to make these ridiculous diving catches. He gets injured about once every three weeks. And now he’s wearing Cubby blue. What do I do?

Well for now, I’m going to do nothing. When Edmonds singled in his first at-bat as a Cub, I didn’t cheer. And when he grounded into a double play his next time up, I didn’t boo. I think that Reed Johnson is the best center fielder on the roster, both hitting and in the field. And even though he wasn’t playing particularly well, I still think Felix Pie has a future in the blue pinstripes. My buddy Brian thinks that it will be a short-term experiment with Edmonds, and considering the contract is only for $284,000, if he struggles, he could be back on the free agent market soon (Edmonds, not Brian).

2- Bears running back Cedric Benson was arrested a few weekend ago, apparently operating a boat while intoxicated on a lake in Texas. Another charge was for resisting arrest, leading to all sorts of jokes around town of ‘How come Benson runs away from the cops faster than he runs away from linebackers.’ But now the question is: Do the Bears keep the big bust running back or let him follow Ricky Williams (who apparently was invited to go on the boat) into former UT Longhorns running back obscurity?

I say let the man go. Benson has gotten an unfair rap these past few weeks from the Chicago media, as he is saying that he wasn’t doing anything wrong and was arrested because of celebrity status in Texas, while the writers seem to be ignoring this. And I believe that he should have his day in court, plead his case, and let a judge declare if he is guilty or not. Because really, is operating a boat on a nice spring day with a few adult beverages such a bad thing? But the reason I think he should be cut like the grass is because he’s a horrible running back. Last season I watched every single snap of Bears football. And I can only think of one run, I want to say early in the Seattle game he eventually got injured in, that Benson ran with passion. The majority of time, he would get hit and go straight down after a yard or two. The running back trio of rookie Matt Forte, tiny Garrett Wolfe and the other Adrian Pederson may not remind folks of the days of Walter Payton and Neal Anderson, but the Bears are a better team without #32.

3- I wrote a long, nearly 2,000 word column earlier in the week about the Bulls and the ten years since the last championship. (I suggest everybody read and comment on the piece, but hey, what do I know) What I failed to cover in the column was about the current coaching search to replace Jim Boylan. The biggest, and most expensive, name on the coaching market was former Suns coach Mike D’Antoni. Let go by Phoenix because of his inability to coach defense and beat San Antonio, D’Antoni chose to coach the Knicks, who have maybe two good players on their entire roster, instead of the more talent-heavy Bulls.

That leaves GM John Paxson a long list of candidates, all of whom have as many negatives as positives on their resumes. The obvious choice is former Dallas head man Avery Johnson, who was let go from the Mavs after getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season. AJ is a good defensive coach- hey, he got Dirk Nowitki to play some D during their 2006 Finals run- but tends to out-think himself. That’s why he changed his starting lineup for the playoffs last year, even though his team won 63 games during the regular season (they ended up losing badly to the 8th seeded Warriors) and called plays this year for Jason Kidd, the best point guard of the past 20 years. I’m not saying Johnson would be bad for the Bulls, but be careful what you wish for. The other choices, from former T-Wolves coach Dwayne Casey to Celtics defensive guru Tom Thibodeau, all range in the decent to below average group. I honestly think if they are going to take a chance on someone, why not try out a former Bull like BJ Armstrong or Scottie Pippen.

4- Even though the Bulls aren’t involved, I’ve still spent a lot of time watching the NBA Playoffs. Why? Because it’s the playoffs. And even thought its been a big story, I will not rant about how teams playing at home have dominated thus far. Instead, I’d like to analyze the question ‘Who is the best all-around player in the NBA?’

I specifically put the words all-around in there because I believe its very important. Talent wise, most people (myself included) would say that Kobe Bryant and LeBron James are the best. But do they really stack up if you look answer five important questions:
-Can the player get an important score?
-Can the player make the important pass?
-Can the player grab the important rebound?
-Can the player make the important defenseive play?
-With the game on the line, does the player want the ball?

I rated five guys still in the playoffs- Kobe, LBJ, Chris Paul, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett- one through five in each of these questions (Lowest score is good, like golf). And here’s how it came out.

Can the player get an important score? 1) Kobe 2) Duncan 3) LeBron 4) KG 5) CP-3

Can the player make the important pass? 1) CP-3 2) LeBron 3) Duncan 4) KG 5) Kobe

Can the player grab the important rebound? 1) KG 2) Duncan 3) Kobe 4) LeBron 5) CP-3

Can the player make the important defensive play? 1) KG 2) Kobe 3) Duncan 4) LeBron 5) CP-3

With the game on the line, does the player want the ball? 1) Kobe 2) Duncan 3) CP-3 4) LeBron 5) KG


So how did it turn out? Bryant and Duncan tied in first with 12, which is no surprise. They were the only two who have won titles and both have no glaring weaknesses (I felt bad about giving Kobe a 5 in passing, because he has greatly improved this year). Garnett was next with 15. He most likely would have won if he was more selfish. What I mean by that is at the end of a game, if he played up to his talent level and dominated, he’d be #1 in the game, no questions asked. LeBron finished surprisingly fourth with 17. Like KG, he’s missing that drive. Watching James, you never know if he feels like taking over or not. If he always had the switch ‘on’ like Michael Jordan did, he could have been #1 in every single category; he’s that talented. Paul was fifth with 19, but he’s also the youngest, the smallest and has the least playoff experience of the five guy.

5- And if I haven’t given you enough to think about, here are a few nice videos or articles to check out…

- ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski takes a fun ride with the owner of the Utah Jazz.
- Fellow Worldwide Leader columnist Jemele Hill details another reason to hate Karl Malone
- This one has nothing to do with the Jazz, I promise. Instead the Tribune’s Phil Rogers discusses the great Greg Maddux.
- Finally, some great videos. Awful Announcing has the best ’Manny being Manny’ clips while this YouTube video shows the best player in the NFL doing his thing.

I promise to write more now that school is done.