bukie

William Wesley...that's the guy that Lebron was chummy with for a while right? The one that was trying to get him to Chicago? I can't keep track of Lebron's posse. Wesley is actually Thib's agent.

Are they talking about Carmelo Anthony or Joel Anthony? The only way the Bulls can even make a deal is by including Deng (at least somewhere). Not sure Denver has much in the way of leverage left aside from them liking the Knicks' package better, or just stonewalling and making Anthony stay.

The whole area was still on a collective high from 85/86 to care as much about 88. I think you are completely overlooking the have never been there, haven't been there in a generation aspect that made those games huge. People think of the January 86 playoff games as formalities now, but that is not how they were at the time. After the loss in Miami, people were thrown for a loop. Doubt definitely crept in. And again, it was the first one ever in a depressingly title starved city. There were no Bulls rings to fall back on, there was no Stanley Cup. There were a couple of miserable failures by the White Sox and Cubs in the early 80's, and nothing. And nobody assumed anything with the Rex Grossman Bears. They were the most talented team, but the outcome was very much in doubt. Regardless, the level of confidence doesn't change the fact that we just did this a couple years ago, but in 85/86 and 06/07, Chicago was coming off very large droughts of football glory - and in the case of 85/86 any glory at all. It's tough, but what I remember about 85/86 was more intense than what I'm seeing now. And I think that's saying something, given that there wasn't the flood of media that there is today. The thing about 85/86 that made things so much more intense than they are now is that nobody in Chicago had won anything in sports since 1963 (Bears won NFL in pre-SB era), or even 1961 in a playoff that meant much of anything (Blackhawks). The Bulls were terrible, the Cubs had just choked away their only decent chance in 50 years, the White Sox did pretty much the exact same thing a year earlier, and the Blackhawks couldn't buy a Stanley Cup in an era where 80% of the league made the playoffs. Couple that with the team making a music video about winning the Super Bowl well before the playoffs started (hell, Hampton wanted nothing to do with it because he thought it was cocky and unnecessary), and the terrible Miami loss (Miami was the most likely Super Bowl opponent) there were plenty of reasons to think the Bears wouldn't be able to hold up in the playoffs.

Don't think I agree with that one, either. Granted, the NHL is well behind the NFL in overall interest, but game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals was just 7 months ago, and that was a pretty big game. The White Sox had two World Series games in town 5 years back, and the Cubs played some pretty important NLCS games back in '03, too. On the NFL level, the 2006 NFC Championship 4 years ago was a pretty big deal, as well.

Nobody I've seen, and it's completely wrong, anyway. It's not even the biggest game in Bears sports history. Probably not even the biggest game for the Bears in the last 10 years (Super Bowl v. Indy). Now Green Bay, on the other hand...

Eh, they'll give it to Pop if San Antonio runs away with the West, as it looks like they are.

Because I feel like it, here are the Super Bowl seed matchups since the NFL expanded the playoffs to 6 teams per conference in 1990: 1990: Buffalo (1) v. NY Giants (2) 1991: Buffalo (1) v. Washington (1) 1992: Buffalo (4) v. Dallas (2) 1993: Buffalo (1) v. Dallas (1) 1994: San Diego (2) v. San Francisco (1) 1995: Pittsburgh (2) v. Dallas (1) 1996: New England (2) v. Green Bay (1) 1997: Denver (4) v. Green Bay (2) 1998: Denver (1) v. Atlanta (2) 1999: Tennessee (4) v. St. Louis (1) 2000: Baltimore (4) v. NY Giants (1) 2001: New England (2) v. St. Louis (1) 2002: Oakland (2) v. Tampa Bay (1) 2003: New England (1) v. Carolina (3) 2004: New England (2) v. Philadelphia (1) 2005: Pittsburgh (6) v. Seattle (1) 2006: Indianapolis (3) v. Chicago (1) 2007: New England (1) v. NY Giants (5) 2008: Pittsburgh (2) v. Arizona (4) 2009: Indianapolis (1) v. New Orleans (1) So, no matter what happens this weekend, there will be a new seed matchup, since there has never been a 2 v 2, a 2 v 6, or a 6 v 6 matchup in any Super Bowl since the playoff expansion.

We were playing Charlotte, not the Spurs or Celtics. Which just happened to be the 4th game in 5 nights, and second without over half the offensive production.

Pretty much. Deng has the occassional good game every now and then, such as Monday's game. Besides that, the rest of the team isn't very good. Deng has the second most minutes of any player in the NBA, and is usually gassed by the second half of a back-to-back. No idea why Korver and Asik couldn't get more minutes yesterday. And if Boozer is unavailable, you either have to use Scalabrine or bring in someone you can use as a 4th big.

For me, the hardest thing to watch about that first Bears-Packers game was the 8 times the Bears had the ball at the Packer 1 yard line and managing to get 0 points out of it. I'm sure that will happen again too, though.

There isn't a single team in the Big Ten that you can beat on the road without playing well. The Big Ten is that good this year.

Northwestern. if we can beat ohio state, we'll have a decent shot at 8-2 going into the minny game and would look good for 12 conference wins. Wish we would have got that Penn State game. I refuse to believe that these seniors won't give away one we have no business losing though. When was the last time Illinois looked good in a game against PSU, regardless of where? I wasn't expecting to win the Wisky game in the slightest, and every PSU game is like watching a train wreck set off by an atom bomb.

Bulls losing right now because of a lack of defensive intensity, just slow to rotate and get back on D, giving up too many easy shots. Rebounding is good, offense is struggling a bit tonight.

Great defensive effort when the shots stopped falling in the 2nd half. Really wish this team's weaknesses weren't turnovers and free throws, because it makes every close game a complete nightmare.

So the NHL All-star game team captains are...Niklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal? http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=549751

More oddities...NFC Champions since 2000: 2001: St. Louis Rams 2002: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2003: Carolina Panthers 2004: Philadelphia Eagles 2005: Seattle Seahawks 2006: Chicago Bears 2007: New York Giants 2008: Arizona Cardinals 2009: New Orleans Saints So, if the Packers do somehow manage to win, that will make 10 of 16 NFC teams making the Super Bowl in 10 years. Rest of the NFC: Falcons (1998), Packers (1997), Cowboys (1995), 49ers (1994), Redskins (1991), Vikings (1976) and Lions (maybe next year).

Due mostly to the recent flurry of games, after tomorrow's game, only the Lakers and Heat will have played more games than the Bulls. So, the second-half schedule will be a little more relaxed, especially on the back-to-backs (well, until the end of February...only 2 until then, then 8 in March/April).

It's weird, Cutler has great numbers against 3-4 man rushes, and great numbers against 6+ man rushes. Terrible against 5-man rushes, though. With decent sample size?

It's weird, Cutler has great numbers against 3-4 man rushes, and great numbers against 6+ man rushes. Terrible against 5-man rushes, though.

The Seahawks game yesterday was probably the easiest game the Bears have played all year. They were never in the game, and the offense and defense were able to do pretty much whatever they wanted to the whole time. They were better than Carolina, but aside from that I think every other Bears opponent was a higher quality team.

Good news: Bulls lead 26-17 after one. Bad news: Thomas and Asik each have 2 fouls already, and that is the entirety of the front court depth today.

that pisses me off but whatever, let them think that. I'm to the point where I don't think the Bears will get respect unless they win the Super Bowl. Or even then, I'm not sure how much respect we will get, especially if we play the Jets or something. There will always be people that say how lucky we got to even get in the playoffs, then we only had to play 1-2 good teams (the Packers and maybe the Jets) to win the Super Bowl. We lucked into playing the Seahawks, and then we lucked into not having to play the team that beat us by 30 points on our home field in the Super Bowl. But at that point I won't care because we're Super Bowl champs. If the Bears do beat the Packers and Jets to win the Super Bowl, that will be the lowest seed combination path for any Super Bowl winner.

Looking over weekend recaps today, I can't believe there is actually a sentiment that thinks the Seahawks actually got back into the game yesterday. That game was over by halftime, and well over by the second Cutler rushing TD.

Wow, game already started, forgot about the early start.

i don't think you blitz rodgers at all. Yeah, he was destroying Atlanta all day on blitzes. The key will be getting defensive pressure and/or holding calls with the front four.