Oh, the rumors are flying here in Chicago. Now, in addition to signing LeBron James and construing some sort of sign and trade to land Chris Bosh, we are going to attract Phil Jackson and his temperature-sensitive hip from the gorgeous “winter” weather of Los Angeles to the brutal bitter cold winter of the city by the lake.
As a Chicago sports fan I am completely aware of the ridiculous expectations I have every year for my myriad of sports teams. I am not alone in this meta-awareness of my sports fandom though. This is an inherent awareness in all true Chicago sports fans and we must all realize that even we cannot trick ourselves into believing this rumor produced by unnamed sources planted along a the NBA back channels, as reported by ESPN’s Chris Broussard on May 25, 2010.
Yes, I am sure Jackson love to have another superstar under his coaching belt. However, he is in the midst of a potential repeat NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. Even if the Lakers somehow blow this 2-1 lead in the Western Conference Finals and then are unable to beat the Boston Celtics in an NBA Finals laden with the chance to reap revenge.
There is more to this than championships and weather though. The argument Jackson has a momentous opportunity to coach his fourth probable Top Ten player in NBA history is the basically the same argument fans from New York are using to rationalize James heading to the Knicks. The chance to do something deemed historic.
James would be saving a franchise that has never truly lived up to the hype of New York basketball. Jackson would be writing himself into history one more time as the coach of champions and Hall of Fame players. To accept one argument would be to accept the other in my opinion and accepting James mission to become the ultimate face of the Knicks franchise negates any hope of Jackson returning to the Bulls.
Since I have said my piece about the Jackson non-situation here are a few other rumors I wish were true as a Chicago sports fan:
Dwayne Wade would consider leaving Miami for Chicago
Yes Wade idolizes the Bulls franchise and Michael Jordan (especially Michael Jordan), but he is a divorced man living in Miami. Sure he is dating super-hot Gabriel Union, but in the case of a break up would he not want to have a bevy of string bikini clad wannabe models to rebound with? He is not getting that in Chicago (not everyone is morbidly obese in Chicago, but the hotness levels in the youthful neighborhoods in Chi-Town are not the quantitatively the same as the population of women living on the beach hoping to make a living for simply being incredible physical specimens.
Derrick Rose will develop a three-point shot and become a better passer.
For the record I absolutely love watching Rose play. He is unstoppably quick and ridiculously strong for a point guard. While I believe he will eventually learn to develop a post game to take advantage of physical superiority, I do not believe he will develop a true outside shot or suddenly open his eyes to passing angles hidden from the vision of us mere mortals.
He finds passing lanes because of his ability to drive to the basket on anyone. I can accept this as fact and still believe he can have a Hall of Fame career without the innate gift for finding passing lanes ala Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Jason Kidd, or Magic Johnson. He will also not develop a consistent three point shot until late in his career ala Jason Kidd simply because he can make a living hitting the occasional big three while consistently driving to the basket and getting the foul and the bucket.
The Bears have a promising group of receivers.
Has anyone every noticed once a style of play has become ingrained in the history of an NFL team it is difficult for the team to change no matter how they alter the front office or the coaching staff? As a Chicago Bears fan I most definitely do recognize this.
The Bears have never had a decent collection of wide receivers. The closest thing we have ever had to a dangerous duo was Curtis Conway and Bobby Engram in 1995, and neither of those players is going to be inducted into Canton. So, when Scouts Inc. concludes the trio Devin Aromashodu, Johnny Knox, and Devin Hester are going to be the Greatest Show on Turf II, I have to laugh it off and prepare for a season of runs up the middle on Third and 7. (And yes, I know Mike Martz is the OC now)
If you have any other ridiculous sports Chicago sports rumors, bring them on in the comment thread and let’s have fun returning to reality.