Monday news and notes

The majority of my blogging time yesterday was allocated to creating a White Sox top ten list that'll run on Wednesday. It was a rather rewarding experience, since I've been bottling up my Sox thoughts here for some reason. Plus, after receiving the Fred Church (that link is almost certainly NSFW, FYI) treatment last week, I felt the need to try again.

In other Top Ten news, Phil chose a pretty sweet topic for today: the ten best baseball players in the city. You can find his list here, but I wanted to show the world what my ballot looked like:

10. Mark Buehrle - Never spectacular but always dependable and super durable.

9. Alexei - A fantastic pure hitter, but has zero plate discipline and the metrics rated him as one of the worst defensive second basemen in the majors last year.

8. Bobby Jenks - You know how comforting it is having a great field goal kicker in Robbie Gould? Having a great closer is like that times 1,000.

7. Geo Soto - Mashes, good defensively, and is only going to get better.

6. JD - In his four seasons with the Sox he's logged two incredible years and won a World
Series MVP.

5. John Danks - Best pitcher on the Sox and he's only going to get better.

4. Aramis Ramirez - Unbelievable regular season in 2008.

3. Q! - Needs to do it again. I have no doubt he will.

2. Carlos Zambrano - Begrudgingly.

1. Alfonso Soriano - Only problem last year was durability. The numbers he put up in 109 games were sort of jaw dropping. I didn't realize he on-based .344, either. Not bad for a leadoff man, though he should be hitting third or fifth anyways (duh).

Six Sox, four Cubs, but I thought I was very objective considering Carlos Quentin is one of my fifteen favorite humans in the entire world and I fucking hate C-Zam. I'm pretty sure my top four are the four best players in the city, though the order can be debated.

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What an eff'n Bulls game on Saturday. I downright pissed off after Friday's debacle in Washington, and was nearly ready to give up all hope. The win against the Rockets sort of seems like a season-saver to me.

Even though they entered the fourth down 17, I thought the Bulls were playing ok. Artest was just hitting everything (six treys!?), even when the Bulls were contesting his shots. Of course the Bulls don't contest many shots: this is maybe one of the worst defensive teams I've ever seen, though it's possible the Skiles' Era skewed my perception. Seriously, Rose and Gordon are nearly as pathetic on D as they are amazing on offense, Hinrich can't check a starting two-guard not named Dwyane Wade (strangely), and Tyrus and Noah still have obvious defensive shortcomings. More than anything, Vinny's refusal to make the team play defense is the number one reason he should be canned after this season. NBA players simply aren't going to play D unless you force them, which is why I sort of give Rose a pass for being awful all season. Get a real coach (which has to come at latest by midway through next season, right?), and this team will take off.

Excuse that rant, back to the Rockets game...that fourth quarter was straight up awesome. Anytime you ever question your commitment to Chicago sports, a quarter like the one the Bulls closed Saturday's game out with reels you back in. Thank God my ride was ride on Saturday because I was able to catch the whole thing. Rose was sensational, and that was huge because a) he has been slowing down a tad lately, and b) there is no way in hell the Bulls make that type of comeback without a true franchise player. Rose is truly a franchise player, in every sense. It was the type of performance that makes you run out of adjectives. I think I love Derrick Rose more than should be humanly aloud. If he's not the second best player in the history of the franchise by the time he retires, I'd be seriously surprised.

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In other Bulls news, see ya later Luol Deng, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Deng is one of the those guys I love when he's going good, but I cannot stand when he sucks. What does Luol Deng do if he isn't hitting 17-foot jumpers? He's a very average defensive player, he can't create his own shot, he can't stretch the floor by shooting threes, he plays smaller than 6'9 ALL THE TIME, and he really isn't all that athletic. Luol Deng, and all the love he gets, really bothers me sometimes. Of course he's a great dude, and a homegrown one at that, so I pull for him and love him when he's doing well, but Deng just pisses me off.

Hopefully the reason for Deng's crummy play is because he was trying to play through pain, but I'm skeptical of that. I'm glad we'll get a chance to see John Salmons gets some extended action, since he'll be the starting two-guard next year, too. And as great as Gordon has been this year...he still sucks. The Bulls will be a better team without him next year, assuming Salmons is ok, which he looks like so far.

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It was great to hear the soothing baritones of one Hawk Harrelson yesterday. Absence truly makes the heart grow fonder. Oh yeah, Steve Stone isn't bad either.

I was flipping back and forth between the Sox game and the MSU-U of I game yesterday, though that was made exponentially more difficult by the fact that our channel changer doesn't work in the family room. I mostly stuck with the basketball game, but I was super pissed I missed Beckham's homer. I missed Viciedo too, so overall it was a wasted effort on my part. Still good to have the White Sox back in my life, though.

Back to the basketball game...I go to a weird art school and I've never really had huge rooting interests in college sports. I guess I always pulled for the Illini (especially in basketball) before college, though I know anyone who grows up in Chicagoland and doesn't go to U of I is supposed to hate them. I get that, but I've never really bought into it. Since most of my tightest bros either go to U of I or MSU, there basketball games are by far my favorite college sports event. Hopefully we'll get matchup No. 3 in the Big Ten tourney.

I was very impressed by MSU's D (though I probably shouldn't be at this point considering it has been consistently stellar as long as I can remember). Illinois had a hard time just moving the ball inside of the three-point line for a while in crunch time. And isn't Alex Legion supposed to be good? That kid seems like a clown to me.Kalin Lucas was the best player on the floor by far (with Jeff Jordan coming in second, naturally).

Sparty is ok, but I never pick them to go too far in the tourney and I probably won't again this year. Raymar Morgan seems like he should be waaaay better at this point in his career, and though Suton is pretty good, it's laughable to think that he's the best big man in the Big Ten (eat it, BJ Mullens). I don't know, maybe this is the year I take MSU to make a late run. Depends on the matchups, as always. But with D-James (who seriously feels like he's been in college for seven years) out for Marquette, there goes one of my Final Four picks. I gotta catch at least one more MSU game, Sparty may fill that void.

I also think Illinois is pretty good, and certainly capable of a Sweet 16 run. I wouldn't even be shocked with an Elite Eight appearance. Weber is just a fantasic game coach, and now that the recruiting is starting to come around (just wait for Jereme Richmond in two years), Illinois' future is very bright.

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I wouldn't say this unless I meant it, but I really feel like SouthSideSox has been producing some must read content lately. Naming larry an editor seems to have energized Cheat, which makes sense because I always feel motivated to do my best when Stompy posts something great or when TTCS is clicking on all cylinders. It makes sense. Cheat latest on the Sox' pitching depth is a must read, as are posts on the leadoff slot (I love me some Chris Getz), the bullpen, and backup catcher situation. Really, great work by those guys all around lately. It has me all jazzed up for baseball season. Well, that and Vinny Del Negro.

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I just realized how obscenely long this post is, I'm loaded with work to do tonight so I'm not going to re-read it. Forgive any and all typos. I'm sure there are lots. I'll set the over/under at 5.5.

UPDATE

Whoa boy: 1,495 words. Had to add this update to push it over the 1,500 word plateau.