North: Time for Bulls, Sky to get their acts together
So now everyone wants to leave Chicago!
Well, not everyone, just two of the city's basketball stars: Dwyane Wade from the Bulls and Elena Delle Donne from the WNBA's Chicago Sky.
They both are displeased with the direction of their respective teams.
I've never really wanted to leave my hometown even for a job, and it's just not a good look for any franchise.
And why are Wade and Jimmy Butler doing the talking about their Bulls teammates? Where's coach Fred Hoiberg?
The song, “Freddie's Dead,” sung by the late great Curtis Mayfield for the classic movie “Super Fly,” seems to fit perfectly for the Bulls. The problem is we can hardly tell if “Fred” was even born.
Recent teams owned by Jerry Reinsdorf seem to have cornered the market on young, somewhat disinterested powerless coaches and managers. We saw that with Robin Ventura and the White Sox and now with Hoiberg and the Bulls.
I believe new Sox manager Rick Renteria, however, has much more personality than Ventura, who put the U in underwhelming.
As for the Sky's troubles, I don't have much space in my head to think about them, but if I had a hand in this situation I would fix the front office and make Delle Donne a priority. She IS the franchise and the first thing to do is get rid of the folks that don't think so, because they just don't get it!
Brent is still The Man:
Sports broadcasting legend Brent Musburger is the man!
I always admired him for being unafraid to state an opinion, sometimes a controversial one, even when he would be doing a football game. He never shied away from a minefield, something that probably drove his bosses nuts every so often.
Musberger began his career in the 1960s writing for the Chicago American, a now defunct newspaper, and I started reading his column back then when I was just a kid. I was a huge fan of certain columnists, and Musberger was edgy, smart and biting.
In 1968, he moved on to CBS radio and TV, and the rest is history.
I now do handicapping for a Las Vegas service and I still remember really enjoying “The NFL Today” show with Musberger and a guy named Jimmy “The Greek” Synder, who brought the gambling element to mainstream America. The back-and-forth banter Musburger had with Irv Cross, Phyllis George and “The Greek” made the show a ratings winner and all of them household names.
Today's rehearsed shows with their cardboard cutouts don't even come close. That's what made Musburger “The Man” — he was always well-prepared but never sounded rehearsed.
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