Damn that didn't take long

On Sunday I asked the rhetorical question of who would go first Skiles or Pax. I guess we found out today with the dismissal of Skiles. I think the finger should be pointed at Pax he assembled this shit stick Skiles did the best with what he was handed. Pax went out and overpaid for Wallace, drafted poorly, didn't address any of the holes on this team and fell in love with his draft picks and refused to part with any of them to improve this team. I don't see how any of that was Skiles fault.

An Old School Merry Christmas from TD

The Bulls

As much as I love the Bulls I am disappointed beyond words with their performance this year. While I was watching the game last night I began thinking about the assembly of this team it is basically a bunch of lottery picks and role players. Hinrich 7th, Gordon 3rd, Deng 7th, Thomas 4th, Noah 9th. Hinrich is an average NBA player, Thomas and Noah do the same thing as Wallace however I think that Thomas has a huge upside, Deng is a sidekick on a good team and Gordon is the only one who demands a double team. This being said we still lack a post presence. I am proposing a trade for Pau Gasol, we send Noce, Noah and if we need another body to make salaries match Duhon or Thabo. Our starting five would be Gasol, Wallace, Deng, Gordon and Hinrich when we go to the post and Gasol gets double teamed he can dish to an open Gordon or a slashing Deng. This would leave Smith, Thomas and Gray off the bench.

I've heard that Sam Smith at the Chicago Tribune is proposing a trade for Tracy McGrady and I say no. He is only twenty eight but has a ton of miles and a bad back and we would probably overpay to get him. I think that Houston is going in a different direction and would love to unload him. I do think it will be interesting to see what happens as we near the trade wire. And finally Bulls fans who should go Pax or Skiles? Let me know what you think

Merry Christmas

I found this on the internet and I thought as someone who grew up playing Pac Man I thought that this was cool. Merry Christmas

Lynne Spears is the last person I need advice from

I read yesterday that on top of her younger daughter being pregnant her parenting book has been put on indefinite hold. Seeing Britney go from pop queen to gutter tramp to rehab to where ever she is now was evidence enough I didn't need her help. But now that her sixteen year old daughter is pregnant just reinforces my inkling. In Jamie Lynn's statement she said it was with her longtime boyfriend so it is okay. WTF? You're sixteen how longtime is your longtime boyfriend? I have had one longtime girlfriend and I am married to her! I hope that they pull her crappy show off of Nick not because she is pregnant but because it is horribly bad. My younger daughter watches it and whenever it starts my eyes begin to bleed but I digress. The report on the book is that it was going to have strong elements of faith in it. I can only guess she is praying to a different God than I am unless her prayer was something like "Dear God give me one daughter who will deliver me from my trailer park existence and a second who will follow my footsteps into teen pregnancy, Amen"

IT rant of the week

I've not had one of these in a while so here it goes. The past week we've had e-mail problems at our HQ. The problem is with the bridgehead server. What is a bridgehead server you ask? This server basically transfer mail from our agency to the outside world. We have no redundancy built into the system. This is what we call in my country stupid! Well when the server shits the bed what do they do to notify us? Drum roll please! Send us an e-mail! Survey says stupid! I believe it was 1876 when Alexander Graham Bell invented something called the telephone which is still in use today. Why not call us! Because it makes too much sense to keep us in the loop! All we hear from our upper management is service your customers at your site. How can we do this if we have no idea what is going on? I think that we have seagull management. What is that you ask? Someone who swoops in shits all over the place then flies away. These are the same people who frustrate anyone who has any technical expertice and when they leave hire people who have no clue what they are doing to replace them and work to death the people who chose to stay with their unrealistic expectations.

For some reason I attract these people

I originally was going to title this post "We grow them stupid here in Iowa" however when I reflected on this I remembered when I lived in Illinois and Indiana I had nut job neighbors who believed this crap as well. So I am wondering if this is a Midwestern problem? What is this crap you ask? Let me take you back to Tuesday night. I went to the mailbox and I noticed an envelope with a return address that I did not recognize and I decided to open it, in retrospect I should have tossed it. I pull out the papers and It is a photocopy of an article about why the media is ignoring Ron Paul. The reason according to them is that he opposes the "New World Order" and one world government and supports evicting the UN from US soil. I am not a huge fan of the UN but I don't buy into any of these conspiracy theories. The next page is an introductory letter from a guy from a town North of me. He tells me he was born on the "day the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki". It must have been a long labor because Hiroshima was bombed on August 6th and Nagasaki three days later on the 9th. He then goes on to enlighten me about how the American Civil War was fought because of the Pope's hatred of our Constitution. No mention of states rights or slavery Pius IX hated our freedom of religion and our ability to choose something other than Roman Catholicism. Interesting. The Papacy is currently waging war against Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians. I thought Catholics are Christians? After this diatribe he goes on to try to sell me a fireplace! Why do I seem to attract these people? Everywhere I have lived these people find me I wish the would loose me.

An interview with Isiah

TDizzle: Good morning coach thank you for taking your time this morning.
Isiah: My pleasure T Dizzle.
TD: Let’s start off with the positive. You have a great eye for talent and finding some hidden gems. Can you walk me through your process?
IT: Well TDizzle we all have certain things we like, blondes, brunets, red heads
TD: Are we still talking about basketball?
IT: I am sorry I digressed. I look for a high basketball IQ and raw talent. In Toronto I drafted Marcus Camby and Tracy McGrady both of which I think you will agree are above average players. And here in New York I think I have drafted well Channing Frye, David Lee, Renaldo Balkman and
TD: Let’s not get too crazy here! I’ll give you Frye and Lee I think the jury is out on Balkman for another year or two. Now I want to move on to the construction of the current Knicks roster. What was your thinking? You trade for two shoot first guards, Marbury and Francis then sign Crawford, give away two lottery picks for an underachieving cardiac case in Curry and then your draft day trade for overweight malcontent Zach Randolph.. Why not construct a team like your Detroit teams Dumars, Rodman, and Laimbeer. You guys were nasty.
IT: That is a good question one that I have no answer to. But I will walk you through the process. When we acquired Marbury and Francis I thought no one has ever tried this before and quite honestly I had hoped they would drive each other to play at a higher level. However that didn’t happen. Then I added Crawford to push them. Still nothing, the only way this team could win is if we played with more than one ball on the court.
TD: You have failed in Indiana, drove the CBA into the ground and now the sexual harassment lawsuit has been settled, I guess the obvious question is there anything you can do to get fired?
IT: Believe me I ask myself that same question. When I got here I thought to myself what did I get myself into? I thought of quitting but I am a competitor and have never quit anything, failed yes; quit no. So I started with the wild contracts still nothing. Drive up the trade value for Curry when no one else was bidding, still nothing. Naturally I had to kick it into overdrive. Sexual harassment was the next logical step.
TD: I don’t see that but I’ll take your word on thanks again.
IT: My pleasure TDizzle.

Welcome back Ben

Ben was sick last night! He came out on fire and didn't let up. He finished with 27 points shooting 12-19 and 3-6 from three point range. He looked like the Gordon of last year when he would launch a shot and you knew it was good. When he plays like this the Bulls are tough to beat and I want him extended. I think ultimately he will be and at a little more that $10 million per. He is the only true offensive threat the Bulls have and I think that other teams know that and game plan against him. This will mean other players will need to step up especially Deng. Tyrus Thomas had a good performance last night as well he played with energy and hit the boards aggressively. I am hoping to see these two continue this tonight against Indiana and Friday against the Knicks. We need to redeem ourselves from that loss to the Knicks at the Garden and hopefully drive another nail into Zeke's coffin, as it is there are probably more nails than coffin. On top of that our schedule gets a little tougher in the next two weeks with games against San Antonio, Houston, Orlando and the Lakers so we need to fatten up now.

You better not shout, you better not cry

Because K Fuk is coming to town! The Cubs landed Kosuke Fukudome yesterday. He signed a four year $50 million dollar deal. And did I mention that he is coming off of elbow surgery and spent the final two months of his Japanese teams season on the disabled list? Thank God he is not a pitcher I can't wait for the signs next season extolling K-Fuk springing up in the bleachers. I think they are hoping that he turns out to be another Ichiro or Hideki Matsui, time will tell. I guess you will have an outfield of Soriano, Pie and Fukudome. The Cubs seem unwilling to pronounce Pie a bust and move on but I am sure that will be obvious again this season. I can't wait for the Fukudome press conference I hope he shows up dressed like Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles and talks about Grandpa Baker's hyena not getting irritated. I can dream can't I?

The Bulls

Friday night I watched the Bulls vs the Pistons on ESPN and I could not be more pleased. It was the gritty game I expected from them. Whenever they play the Pistons it is like someone flipped a switch and their game is on. Saturday night too little too late KG was just too much. It really pissed me off that they did not pull off the trade for him. I would have gladly given up Deng for KG probably Hinrich too. Gordon has been off but he and KG would be deadly. This led me to think who are five players I would rather have on the Bulls than most of the players on this roster.

1. Tim Duncan-I believe he is the best power forward to ever play the game and he has the hardware to prove it.
2. Kevin Garnett-He is in the Pantheon of greats will eventually get some hardware of his own.
3. Dwight Howard-This kid is a monster and will have some rings and MVP's too.
4. Shawn Marion-He could be fun to watch with Tyrus Thomas if he ever gets off the bench.
5. Chris Bosh-He is young like Howard and will be a force for a long time.

I know this list is big man intensive but I feel like this is what they are missing most. I almost put Kobe and Melo on this list or even DWade. Kobe like most of them are pipe dreams, there is something about Melo that I don't like but he can ball and Wade is just and upgrade over any guard on the roster.

Current events

Thought on mall security

I am not trying to poke fun at the tragedy in Omaha. But on my way back from the library I saw an article at the news stand that bothered me. It read “Tragedy in Omaha opens old debate about arming mall security guards”. What? Did I miss something? I support the second amendment and I am a firearm owner but I never have heard of this argument. I am not sure I want some of the people I’ve seen as mall guards picking out their own clothes let alone having the option of deadly force. I mean have you seen some of these mouth breathers? Some of the ads I’ve seen practically scream felons and the mentally unstable encouraged to apply! I am willing to bet fifty percent of them are people who cannot pass the psychological exam for their local police departments and spent their time trolling the food court searching for a girl who loves a man in uniform. I am sure the girls are dreaming of riding in the mall golf cart and getting their hands on your minimum wage level paycheck. The next twenty five percent are the local Rambo’s walking around like Jack Bauer waiting for some crisis to arise so they can pull their concealed boot knife and save the day. They have attempted to join the military and either been rejected or are in the National Guard and want the danger to extend from one weekend a month to their everyday lives. The final twenty five percent are off duty police officers who are trained on the proper use of deadly force. I am fine with these people guarding the malls but the other two stick to Call of Duty and role playing games.

Dumbest question ever

Last night my daughter and I went to the Iowa/Iowa State women's basketball game. Before the game began we were talking to the people who were sitting around us when the inevitable question was asked "where are you from originally"? I told them I was from Chicago, next question was "how do you like Iowa"? I told them I like it but I miss Chicago. Then it happened "What does Chicago have that Des Moines does not"? I politely sipped my diet Coke and smiled afterwards my daughter said it was the stupidest thing she ever heard. So TDizzle has come up with a list now this is not exhaustive just what came to mind and in no particular order

Things Chicago has that Des Moines does not

1. 3 million people
2. Better pizza and hot dogs
3. World class museums and theatre
4. Michigan Avenue shopping
5. Marshall Fields on State Street (it is now Macy's but it will always be Fields to me)
6. State Street
7. The Beloved White Sox, Bulls and Bears (DSM has the I-Cubs who at times have been better than the Chicago Cubs)
8. Hot women
9. Beautiful parks and beaches
10. A majestic skyline, I love to drive up Lake Shore Drive and get that first glimpse of the skyline
11. Architecture
12. Diversity

I will admit I am a little biased but I loved every minute of working downtown just being able to walk around absorb the energy. There are things I love about being in Iowa and my quality of life here but I will always be a Chicagoan at heart.

My Sox, My Sox! Why have you forsaken me!

Jesus uttered words very similar to this before he died on the cross. Not that I am raising the Sox to the level of deity because I am not but I feel this way. Kenny Williams has blown it again. First we needed a shortstop we loose out on Edgar Renteria to the Tigers. But no fear we resign Juan Uribe! Uribe blows. Then we try to land Torii Hunter and out of nowhere come the Angels and sign him. The Angels! Then we trade for Orlando Cabrera who is not bad but he is thirty-three! In shortstop years that is old. We give up Garland to get him. Garland is twenty-eight and has been a workhorse. Williams didn't want to pay him is what it boiled down to. Hasn't Kenny heard of diminished skills? That is usually the age when players in his position start to decline. Andruw Jones is not coming to the South Side so are we going to overpay for Aaron Rowand? Then the death blow. The Tigers trade for Miguel Cabrera AND Dontrelle Willis. Ozzie and Kenny made it sound like Miguel was already here just like they did with Torii Hunter. Willis will strengthen an already strong rotation. So we begin the season with a shaky rotation, no answers at third or center field and everyone left over from the glorious 2005 season one year older. I am afraid the picture above from 2005 will be the only World Series celebration I live to see. Yes I am on the ledge

Weekend sports action

First off

Man they were awesome Saturday night. Gordon was on fire; when he plays like this I want to keep him. He was just in the zone Deng was playing like he is supposed to and someone must have spiked Big Ben's punch because he was awesome as well. He definately played like the $15 million dollar man. When he plays with that tyoe of energy they are hard to beat. Granted they played the Bobcats but nonetheless they play Dallas tonight and the Bobcats again this week. Hopefully they will bring their A+ game tonight if they leave their intensity at home it will be ugly.

And now onto The Bears

I thought that this game was theirs. Grossman looked good and the defense created turnovers that should have led to more points. However Hester's dropped touchdown pass, the offensive lines numerous penalties hurt us and then their inability to protect Grossman led to field goals instead of touchdowns. This game should have been won by two touchdowns, I mean Eli Manning practically gave the game to us. Oh well.