•    The Bulls put together a great fourth quarter to steal a solid road win in Charlotte last night. If only they could play the Bobcats every game, things may not look so bleak. On the plus side, Deng has been playing better since returning from injury, and Noah is looking good as well. But you know a basketball team isn’t very good when things like “this team is a lot better with Chris Duhon on the floor” are said.

•    Scott Skiles isn’t getting a lot of love in North Blogmerica right now. Kelly Dwyer (One of my favorite NBA writers, and an unabashed Bulls fan. A five-star recruit for Yahoo!, for sure) says Skiles is crazy for playing Ben Wallace nearly 50 minutes against the Mavericks recently, and Matt from Blog-a-Bull throws this haymaker: “Paxson needs to fire Skiles or trade (Tyrus) Thomas".

•    Let me be the first to say that I am not a fan of Thursday night Bears games. I feel like this is going to mess up my entire weekend. It also doesn’t seem fair that the Skins are playing this game so shortly after Taylor’s funeral. Anyways, the Bears win every other week, so take them against Washington. Here’s hoping Garrett Wolfe gets more touches now that the playoffs are (almost certainly) out of the picture.

•    Lets talk some college hoops. To me, it looks like Memphis is going to be unstoppable once everyone learns their roles. That’s always a problem for teams as deep as this years Tigers, but they should have it figured out by tournament time. Tuesday’s big OJ Mayo-Derrick Rose matchup was a bit of a let down, but the pure talent of the two freshmen stood out. Rose may be the fastest basketball player I’ve ever seen. Every time he touches the ball, you can feel something special might happen. In a related story, nbadraft.net says Rose is mixture of Dwayne Wade and Jason Kidd. Even though he was averaging 17 points per game coming into the USC game, he really isn’t a scorer, rather, a true point guard. I just wish he would have taken the final shot of regulation instead of kicking it out. Also, I decided I like Mayo a lot as well. He takes such a beating nationally, but the more I read about him, the better I like him. This SI article on him and Kevin Love is a must read. I’m a little depressed to learn that Mayo got a 29 on his ACT, however. I just can’t live in a world where O.J. Mayo is smarter then my friends and I.

•    The offers for Johan Santana are just getting stupid at this point. The Yanks were serious about trying to get him without giving up either Joba or Phil Hughes, and the Red Sox won’t throw in both Ellsbury and Lester. For offers as weak as these, I’m surprised the Cubbies don’t throw their hat in the ring with a Rich Hill/Pie/Marmol/Murton offer. That’s right there with what the Sawx and Yanks offered, maybe better. If a Hughes/Melky/Kennedy offer definitely would have got it done, then the Yanks should have taken it. If the Red Sox get Santana without giving up Buchholz or Ellsbury, that would officially be terrible for the rest of the American League.

•    The Dodgers grabbed Andruw Jones for 2 years, $36 million. Tough for Jones, but a great deal for Los Angeles. Too bad the Sox couldn’t get in on that. I would have loved that deal.

•    Caron Butler is cool.

•    The best local football story all year has been Illinois, and it’s going to be great to see them in the Rose Bowl.  Rashard Mendenhall has established himself as one of the countries best tail backs, and if he goes pro after this year, he could be a top 20 selection. USC has had trouble with fast quarterbacks in the past (see: Dennis the Menace Dixon), so maybe U of I has a punchers chance. Unfortunately, I think USC would probably wipe the floor with LSU or Ohio State right now, so the Illini may get wrecked. I’ll take the Trojans by at least three touchdowns.

•    The rest of my BCS picks are as followed: Georgia big over Hawaii, Va Tech big over Kansas, Oklahoma by one or two scores over West Virginia, and Ohio State over LSU for the title.

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Also on the Network: √ Can You Fill Four Holes In The Rotation Through Waivers? [Depressed Fan] √ Shea Stadium From Loge13: August 6, 2008 [Loge 13] √ FreddieLoo [El Lefty Malo] √ How Much Is Iguodala Worth? [Depressed Fan] √ Jets Season Begins in Cleveland [Green Pinstripes] √ Phil Is On His Way [Depressed Fan] √ The Clash At Shea Stadium [Loge 13] √ As the Bullpen Turns [C70 At The Bat]

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