So much sports to digest on one very busy day
Tuesday was another day chocked full of Chicago professional sports, from the Bulls to the White Sox to the Bears to the Blackhawks to even the Cubs.
BULLS: The encouraging news out of the season opener at Miami was that nobody was hurt.
The discouraging news was everything else, at least for most of the night.
Take what you want out of this one: That the Heat effortlessly built a 25-point lead at one point or that the Bulls frantically cut it under 10 late in the fourth quarter.
The most profound impression was that the Heat received championship rings from last season and proceeded to play rings around the Bulls on the way to a 107-95 victory.
At least the Bulls witnessed just about everything they have to work on to close the gap on the Heat before the playoffs begin six months and 81 games from now.
For starters, apparently 1½ years wasn’t long enough for Rose to improve his shooting while rehabbing a bum knee. All those 3-pointers he shot before games last season resulted in a 4-for-15 night in his first regular-season game since April 28, 2012.
OK, what else?
Well, Joakim Noah has to get into game condition after rarely playing during the preseason. Rookie Tony Snell has to grow into an NBA player if Luol Deng and Jimmy Butler are going to keep getting into foul trouble. Carlos Boozer led the Bulls with 27 points, but general manager Gar Forman still might want to consider manufacturing that other scorer the Bulls have needed since way back when Rose arrived.
The Bulls’ work in progress resumes Wednesday in practice and Thursday night in the home opener against the Knicks.
WHITE SOX: Cuban slugger Jose Abreu officially was introduced to Chicago in a morning news conference.
Most interesting is that Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf doesn’t spend money the club doesn’t have, so it must mean something that the cash was available to give Abreau $68 million over the next six years?
“Obviously,” Sox general manager Rick Hahn said, “the cash is a significant commitment.”
What it means is that the Sox cleared some money off the books by trading Jake Peavy, Alex Rios and a couple of others late this season. But it also means that Major League Baseball is doing very well financially thanks to all sorts of new revenues generated from both new and old technology.
No wonder clubs struggling at the gate are spending more on payroll than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. The Indians signed a couple of free agents last off-season; the Royals traded a low-priced minor-leaguer for a couple of higher-priced veteran pitchers; the Pirates spent a few extra million dollars on veteran help for the stretch run; finally, the Sox did what they did.
Give owners credit. As soon as the economics allowed, they opened their checkbooks in an effort to win.
That includes Jerry Reinsdorf.
BEARS: The news here is that there wasn’t any at the trade deadline, but there was considerable chatter that Jay Cutler might return sooner than later from his groin injury.
“That’s the goal,” Cutler said. Head coach Marc Trestman added the notion of his starting quarterback perhaps even playing Monday night at Green Bay, “You never want to say never.”
The really positive will be when Cutler is healthy enough for the towel drill ... wait, that used to be a Cubs pitchers’ thing, and we know how that usually worked out.
BLACKHAWKS: Two victories in two nights — the second a 6-5 victory over Ottawa in the United Center — ended a mini-slump.
Turn the panic lights off.
CUBS: They did nothing, a good sign considering it’s what they do best.