When It's Not About The Game

Last night my dad and I went to the Bulls game.  It happened to be a great game, and a 17-2 Chicago run capped a Bulls five point win over hated rival Detroit.  But the game wasn't what I'll remember from last night.  It was this:

Granted this is just part of the ceremonies.  There was more, including speeches by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and President Barack Obama on the jumbo-tron.  

Bulls TV voice Neil Funk led the ceremonies, and did an admirable job.  They brought in a bunch of ex-players, former Johnny "Red" Kerr teammates, and ex-broadcast partners of his.

When Michael Jordan stood up to speak, the United Center shook.  It was so loud that you could barely hear the beginning of Michael's tribute to Red Kerr.  The showman that he is, MJ walked up to Kerr and clapped some talcom powder in his face, just like he used to do every game.  That was the original talcom powder ritual in pregame, before LeBron James copied Michael by throwing it into the air.

The speeches were great.  The spectacle was great.  Red Kerr should be in the hall of fame, and this tribute to him was quite fitting.  Kudos to the Bulls organization for doing such a good job with the ceremony.

It was a memorable night, and not because of the game.

Hump Day Headlines

In this week's Hump Day Headlines, we discuss the 44th President, the joke that is the Pro Bowl, more from the never ending Roger Clemens saga, and why Cardinals fans should take it easy...

• In case you were in a hole yesterday, you should know by now that Barack Obama is officially the 44th United States' President after his inauguration yesterday. Certainly, as Scott mentioned in his post yesterday, it was a historic day. He's the first African-American president in the history of this country, and it was certainly a day to celebrate. In the sports world, however, it was the best bail out topic for media trying to cover their various sports teams for the last few days. I think I heard ten TV journalists Tuesday ask an athlete, "What are your thoughts about Barack Obama as our next president today?" Chalk this question into the 'cliche questions that the media asks athletes' category. Now, I'm not saying that some of the athletes asked this question didn't have interesting answers, but do we need literally every single athlete and analyst weighing in on this? If I'm tuning into sports, I want to hear about sports. If I want news, I'll watch CNN, or the networks (which I did for about six hours yesterday.)
• Scott and I mentioned this a bit in the most recent BERNing on Sports Podcast, but this weekend next year (that is, the weekend between the NFC and AFC Championships and the Super Bowl), the NFL will play the Pro Bowl, it's miserable joke of an all-star game in an effort to increase interest in it. Adding to its reputation for being a miserable joke is the fact that this year's game, which will still be played in Honolulu after the season, will be missing two of the biggest stars selected play. Brett Favre and Phillip Rivers will no longer be suiting up for the AFC due to various injuries, and Kerry Collins will be taking over in their stead. As if it couldn't get any worse. Instead of watching the future hall of famer Brett Favre light it up at Aloha Stadium, we'll be subjected to watching the much less exciting Kerry Collins. Now, whether Collins deserves to be there over Favre in the first place is a different argument. I'd agree with those that would want to argue that point. But in terms of the game, which already has zero intrigue on a national stage, the fact that the NFL's prima donna and Rivers won't be in the game figure to make this one of the least watched programs on television the weekend after football season ends.
• Known steroid deal Kirk Radomski revealed this earth-shattering fact in his tell-all interview with ESPN's Jeremy Schaap on the network's investigative program "Outside The Lines": he believes his friend Brian McNamee's story and not the one being told by Roger Clemens. Well that's just fine and dandy, isn't it? This is the story Radomski told a federal grand jury recently as Clemens is being tried for perjury. Clemens vehemently denied under oath all the accounts found by former Senator George Mitchell in the famous "Mitchell Report" examining the steroid problem in our national past time. Radomski's story seems to check out with what the court of public opinion already believes: that Clemens is guilty. He claims his old 'roid-dealing pal McNamee initially only told Mitchell part of the story to protect Clemens from further investigation. Apparently when McNamee realized this would put himself in the proverbial legal hot water, he let the rest of the truth come out. It's interesting stuff and I encourage all of you to read some of Radomski's quotes. And, if I were Clemens, I'd look up at the sky to see what little public dignity I have left rocketing down to the ground.
• Cardinals fans should be thrilled at their team's recent success. After all, the perennially  pitiful Arizona squad is representing the NFC in the Super Bowl for the first time in team history. But this kind of action is absolutely moronic. Cardinals fans had been taunting Eagles QB Donovan McNabb all week at his home in Chandler, AZ, leaving a Cardinals flag in his tree and a cardboard box in his driveway that read "Go Cards" and "Beat Philly" on two of the sides. McNabb laughed it off for the week, but not when he found this: fans after Sunday's victory over McNabb's eagles burned Cardinal cheers in diesel fuel into the QB's lawn, costing him $2,000 in damages. Granted, that's chump change for the star quarterback, but what the heck are these 'Zona fans thinking? Maybe more stupid than the fact that these fans could have burned down McNabb's house with the childish prank, was that the cardboard box left in the lawn had the address and name of the man that committed them. Chandler resident Rex Perkins, a 37-going on 15-year-old dope, was charged with misdemeanor criminal damage. His co-dope, Ryan Hanlon also admitted to the pranks. "When they decided to get diesel fuel out and start damaging the yard, they crossed the line," Chandler Police Sergeant Joe Favazzo said yesterday about the incident. Think so, Joe?