Now that the Bulls have officially drafted Derrick Rose (Bulls! Rose! Woo!), not to mention Sonny Weems (woo?) let's take a look at how YOUR USED TO BE WORLD CHAMPION CHICAGO BULLS! will get back to the playoffs.

First, a roster breakdown...



CURRENT BULLS BACKCOURT


SG Shannon Brown, 6-4, 211
2008 stats: 21 G, 11.4 mpg, 5.4/1.0/.8, .349/.300/.586
2008 stats (NBDL): 6 G, 35.0 mpg, 25.7/6.5/3.3, .436/.405/.921

Most Successful Team Role: Energy, defense, and a touch of scoring off the bench. With Rose, almost certainly the odd man out.



SG JamesOn Curry, 6-3, 190
2008 stats (NBDL): 13 G, 39.7 mpg, 20.2/3.2/5.6, .463/.377//719

Most Successful Team Role: Energy and scoring off the bench, a la Jannero Pargo. Likely looking at another season just on the cusp of the active roster, but a valuable scoring guard to have in the arsenal in case of injury.



PG Chris Duhon, 6-1, 185
2008 stats: 66 G, 22.6 mpg, 5.8/1.8/4.0, .387/.348/.813

Most Successful Team Role: Pure point guard, leader of second unit, veteran calm, spot-up three point shooting, can score when needed. HIGH TEAM VALUE



SG Ben Gordon, 6-3, 200
2008 stats: 72 G, 31.8 mpg, 18.6/3.1/3.0, .434/.410/.908

Most Successful Team Role: The Juice-25 minutes of pure scoring off the bench. When Ben Gordon is on the floor, his only responsibility is to put the ball in the bucket. Also the man with the best shot at hitting a game-winner. A better version of the Toni Kukoc role. Should easily bag 20 points a night. That is where his NBA value lies. HIGH TEAM VALUE



G Kirk Hinrich, 6-3, 190
2008 stats: 75 G, 31.7 mpg, 11.5/3.3/6.0, .414/.350/.831

Most Successful Team Role with Rose: Starting off guard, defender of opponent’s best perimeter player. Should be scoring at least 14 a night on high percentages. Solid three point shooting, great leadership, can play both guard spots. DEFINITE STARTER



SG Larry Hughes, 6-5, 185
2008 stats: 68 G, 29.7 mpg, 12.2/3.4/2.7, .381/.345/.798

Most Successful Team Role: 15 to 20 minutes of rabid-dog perimeter defense. Don’t really need his scoring, and probably don’t have too many shots for him. His NBA value lies in his perimeter defense, which is top-of-the-line.



PG Derrick Rose, 6-3, 205
2008 stats (college): 40 G, 29.2 mpg, 14.9/4.5/4.7, .477/.337/.712

Most Successful Team Role: Starting point guard. Floor leader and organizer, team leader, main ball-handler and points-distributor. Not sure what kind of scoring we can expect from him at the start of the season, but certainly 14-16 points seems like an achievable starting goal. MAIN TEAM SCORING comes from Deng and Gordon (min. 20 each), with Rose, Hinrich, Noah, and Nocioni all chipping in with double figures. DEFINITE STARTER



SG Thabo Sefolosha, 6-7, 215
2008 stats: 69 G, 20.8 mpg, 6.7/3.7/1.9, .428/.330/.721

Most Successful Team Role: A defensive hound dog, a rebounder from the guard position, the number one man to give Hinrich a defensive breather. Can develop a knack for guarding key division perimeter threats James, Hamilton, Redd, and Granger, as well as other East perimeter players Wade, Arenas, Joe Johnson, Pierce, Igoudala, and Jefferson. HIGH TEAM VALUE


SG Sonny Weems, 6-6, 203
2008 stats (college): 34 G, 31.4 mpg, 15.0/4.5/2.6, .464/.370/.803

Most Successful Team Role: Scoring, defense, and energy...if there was a question as to Shannon Brown or JamesOn Curry making the active roster, Weems pretty much knocks them out.


CURRENT BULLS FRONTCOURT


SF Luol Deng, 6-9, 220
2008 stats: 63 G, 33.8 mpg, 17.0/6.3/2.5, .479/.364/.770

Most Successful Team Role with Rose: Starting small forward. Main scoring threat along with Gordon. High percentage shooting matched with fantastic rebounding ability and skills around the rim leads to more efficient possessions, which leads to more shots for everyone on the team, which leads to more points and more pressure placed upon opponent to match pace. DEFINITE STARTER



PF Drew Gooden, 6-10, 250
2008 stats: 69 G, 30.8 mpg, 12.0/8.6/.8 bpg, .449/.000/.753

Most Successful Team Role: With Rose, Gooden is the starting power forward. Can be this team’s Horace Grant: physical strength from the power forward position, ability to score in low double figures on high percentage shots, near ten boards a game while providing strong interior defense. Plays well next to Noah, Deng, and Beasley. Hustle player, very valuable big. HIGH TEAM VALUE



C Aaron Gray, 7-0, 270
2008 stats: 61 G, 10.0 mpg, 4.3/2.8/.3 bpg, .505/.000/.566

Most Successful Team Role: Backup center. While giving Noah a breather, can be counted on for efficient low-post scoring. Provides six more fouls on Dwight Howard. GOOD TEAM VALUE


F Demetris Nichols, 6-8, 216
2008 stats: 14 G, 3.1 mpg, 1.1/.4/.2 bpg, .261/.231/.000
2008 stats (NBDL): 14 G, 37.4 mpg, 19.3/4.2/2.9, .419/.333/.778

Most Successful Team Role: Big body off the bench, providing quick breathers for frontcourt mates. Defense, hustle, scoring.



C Joakim Noah, 6-11, 232
2008 stats: 74 G, 20.7 mpg, 6.6/5.6/.9 bpg, .482/.000/.691

Most Successful Team Role: Starting center. Rebounding, interior defense, shot-blocking threat that grants perimeter defenders the freedom to play tight without worrying about having no help near the rim should they get beat. Should easily chip in 10 points a night on dunks, tip-ins, and put-backs. DEFINITE STARTER



F Andres Nocioni, 6-7, 225
2008 stats: 82 G, 24.6 mpg, 13.2/4.2/1.2, .432/.364/.807

Most Successful Team Role: The Nocioni provider. Key, key bench igniter. 15 ppg with a threat for 25 on the right night. Rebounding, hustle, team and one-on-one defense, good foul shooting, can stretch defenses with three point abilities, and can play either forward position depending on desired lineup approach. Effectiveness does not depend on minutes; in baseball, he would be a long reliever who can start if needed while also being trusted in tight, late-inning situations. HIGH TEAM VALUE



PF Cedric Simmons, 6-9, 235
2008 stats: 14 G, 6.2 mpg, .6/1.3/.4 bpg, .286/.000/.000
2008 stats (NBDL): 6 G, 29.5 mpg, 15.3/6.8/2.2 bpg, .549/.000/.538

Most Successful Team Role: Another big body off the bench, also providing quick breathers for frontcourt mates. Better rebounder than Nichols, with better size. Defense, hustle, rebounding.



PF Tyrus Thomas, 6-8, 215
2008 stats: 74 G, 18.0 mpg, 6.8/4.6/1.0 bpg, .423/.167/.741

Most Successful Team Role: The Hawk. Defensive missile, shot-blocker, rebounder, with skills to finish around the basket. Can defend the rim or the perimeter, making him a largely valuable big man. Provides energy, athleticism, and excitement off the bench, and shouldn’t need much time to make a contribution. A Cliff Levingston for the next generation, and could develop into a guy who plays D the way Dominique played O. HIGH TEAM VALUE



AND NOW...

What needs to be:

Let's take one more look at the roster breakdown:

GUARDS: Rose, Hinrich, Duhon, Gordon, Sefolosha, Weems, Hughes, Curry, Brown
FORWARDS: Deng, Gooden, Nocioni, Thomas, Nichols, Simmons
CENTERS: Noah, Gray

Let's assume right off the bat that Curry, Brown, Nichols, and Simmons in no way figure into the final roster. That leaves seven guys in the backcourt and eight in the frontcourt, bringing us to step one...

1. Get rid of Larry Hughes in any way possible. If that means an Eddie Robinson-style buyout, fine. But unless Del Negro and Pax can convince Hughes that his best team role is 15 minutes of madman defense with nearly no dribbling nor shooting allowed, he needs to go.

2. Solve the never-ending Duhon-Gordon problem. The Bulls have had an identity crisis ever since the 2nd round pick Duhon beat out the 3rd overall pick Gordon for the other starting guard spot. Assuming the Bulls keep Captain Kirk (and let's hope they do), both Du and Ben are now on the bench. Now we have to figure out how to use each of them. And so...

2A. Re-sign Duhon and use him as Rose's backup and the leader of the second unit. It can't be a coincidence that Duke went to the next level when the freshman Duhon took Nate James' spot in the starting lineup and began running the point for Jason Williams, Dunleavy, Battier, and Boozer, nor can it be a coincidence that the Bulls broke their 0-9 streak in 2005 and moved towards the playoffs when the rookie Duhon was given the other starting guard spot over Gordon/Piatkowski. (To be fair, Deng was also moved in at the same time.) This team needs Chris Duhon. I mean, he's their Chris Duhon. And that's all I'll say on that. As for Gordon...

2B. Ben Gordon's problem has not been his game, but rather how the Bulls have used him. We all know his deficiencies: too small to guard most 2-guards, not a good defender regardless of size, poor point guard skills, can't run the floor, not a good rebounder, very streaky scorer. However, he still has a great deal of NBA value because he is a 20 point scorer who can go for 40. While his value to this team is significantly greater than that of Hughes, their situations are similar: each guy needs to be corralled in order to be of value to the Bulls. In Gordon's case, he needs to come off the bench for 20-25 minutes a night and have no other responsibilities than coming off screens, catching and shooting, driving and getting fouled. SCORE! SCORE! SCORE! That's it. If he can't deal with that, then he has to go...if he can deal with that, he will be a better version of Toni Kukoc. It's fitting that Gordon took Toni's #7. Change the height, color, and nationality, and you've got the same player.

3. Acquire a veteran forward/center. Joe Smith was doing a fantastic job for this team before they shipped him in the Wallace deal. This team needs one more big anyway...bringing back Smith or someone of the like seems like a must.

4. We took a lot of heat for choosing Wallace over Tyson, especially since Wallace bombed and Chandler has turned into a double-double near-Olympian with New Orleans. And while I am thrilled to see him playing well, I won't say that things are as black-and-white as to say "Pax F'd up by letting him go." Chandler has found a way to cut his fouls way down on the Hornets...he has been given more minutes...and, HELLO!, he has arguably the best PG in the League setting him up and an all-star 4 playing next to him down low. Which brings us to Rose...

...and the fact that he immediately makes everyone else on the roster more effective. He gets Tyrus and Noah (and Gooden) a ton of easy dunks. He creates open shots for Kirk, Ben, Luol, and Noce. He eliminates the possibility of Gordon ever being asked to run the point. He eases the pressure on Tyrus to be a big-time scorer. And he gives the Bulls one more defensive option at guard, along with Kirk for the 1s and Thabo for the big 2s.

Basically, Rose creates order. The Hinrich/Duhon/Gordon guard question is gone, Thomas is no longer a problem as either a player or an attitude because he will absolutely LOVE playing with Rose, and he eases the leadership problem which will allow Deng, Gordon, and Hinrich just focus in on the strongest aspects of their games.




LINEUP OPTIONS with ROSE


Best Starting Lineup

PG Rose
SG Hinrich
SF Deng
PF Gooden
C Noah


Best Second Unit

PG Duhon
SG Gordon
SF Nocioni
PF Sefolosha
C Thomas


Best Small Lineup

PG Duhon
SG Rose
SF Nocioni
PF Deng
C Thomas


Best Big Lineup

PG Hinrich
SG Sefolosha/Deng
SF Thomas
PF Noah
C Gray


Best Shooting Lineup

PG Rose
SG Gordon
SF Deng
PF Nocioni
C Noah


Best Defensive Lineup

PG Hinrich
SG Sefolosha/Hughes (again, hopefully he'll be gone)
SF Nocioni
PF Thomas
C Noah


Best Crunch Time Lineup

PG Rose
SG Gordon/Hinrich (depending on need)
SF Deng
PF Gooden
C Noah

Greetings sports fans!

Some friends and I were throwing around a question, so I figured I would flip it on here and see what people think:

Could the Bulls get a 1st round draft pick in this year's draft for Ben Gordon in a straight up trade?

I was the lone dissenter...no one else thought that we could get a 1st rounder for him, and under your standard "Any-Guy-I-Draft-In-The-First-Round-Will-Be-A-Supe
rstar" pre-draft GM mindset, no one wants to be the club that drafted a short, streaky 2 guard who has only one NBA skill and gets paid lots. But under a realistic mindset, given the scenario that Ben Gordon--a guy who can be expected to score 20 with the occasional 40 (and the occasional 10)--can be drafted in the 2008 draft, wouldn't someone in the late teens/early 20's draft Gordon? Cleveland at 19 couldn't use another scorer who, with LeBron around, would never be asked to run the point? Orlando at 22? San Antonio or New Orleans or Memphis?

Excerpt from "Bear Down and Get Some Runs"
Like what you read? Check out more at: http://readjack.com/Partsindex.html






FEBRUARY 16, 2005



My phone rings.

“Hey man!” I say. I am greeted with a huff.

It’s Dan Lichtenstein, previous owner/wearer of my North Stars hat, and as soon as he huffs, I know what’s coming. Not the content, but the act: the Dan rant. Dan is one of the nicest, most thoughtful, most considerate people you’ll ever meet, and generally he’s pretty calm. But when something takes hold of him, it really takes hold, and that’s when you know a Dan rant is coming. The Cubs do it to him worst; Dan is one third of my Holy Trinity of Cubs fans, the other two being Ari and Jonny C. When Dan gets going on the Cubs, it’s chaos. “Let me tell you,” is his normal starter, and he says it in a stern and serious manner, and then he’s off, riding a Big Opinion to a seemingly overdone conclusion.

He’s silent for a beat after his huff, and then he begins.

“Let me tell you what…” And we’re off. I’m almost laughing already, giddy in anticipation. “If the Cubs get Barry Bonds, I’m done. I’m done. That’s it.”

I laugh. Dan’s awesome. “First off, why would the Cubs get Bonds? Is there talk? And second, what do you mean you’re ‘done?’”

“No, there’s no specific talk, but they were talking about him on the Score, and how would you feel if your team signed Bonds, and most people were cool with it, and it was just sickening. Have some class! The guy’s a cheater! If the Cubs signed him, that’d be it.”

“What would you do?”

“I’d become a Twins fan. I like the Twins.”

“You’d really give up the Cubs?”

“Oh absolutely. For Bonds? Absolutely.”

While finding a favorite player is like falling in love, finding a favorite team is different. There’s love with a team, but it’s a familial love rather than a romantic one. You’re born into your favorite team like you’re born into your family, which, of course, is exactly the case, because most people get their teams from their family. Your team is just like your family, in that you stay with each through good and bad…or, to be cynical: you’re stuck with it, so you’d better learn to like it.

Of course, there’s an element of romantic love as well, but that tends to be more on a year by year basis. I love the Cubs like family, but I fell in love with the 2001 Cubs in a more intimate way. They hooked me, and surprised me, and as that was the last summer I spent home before returning to camp, and as they made a serious run at the division title despite being a mish-mosh team that seemed to be held together by clothespins, and as I watched and listened to nearly every game that season…well, I fell in love. Plain and simple. I loved the 2001 Cubs. I love the Cubs. That’s as simple as I can put it.

Still, it always gets back to family, and because we are by nature a loyal breed, we stand by our family through all difficulties. When you’re a kid, your team protects you. You don’t know much about wins and losses and playoffs and championships. You just know these heroic players who live on television and in baseball cards and in yourself every time you pick up your glove or your ball. For a little while, at least, everything is great.

But then it happens. Something goes wrong. McMahon is sent to the Chargers, and the Cubs lose to San Fran, and for some reason the Bulls just can’t beat Detroit. That was the worst for me. When we lost Game 7 in 1990, I cried. It was May, I was eight and a half, and my team had just lost to Detroit in the playoffs for the third straight season. And I just started crying.

Why didn’t I pack it in right then and there, I wonder? Why didn’t I stalk out of Donny Burba’s TV room, head out the door, down the street, and never watch another Bulls game again? After all, when you’re eight and a half and something makes you cry, that’s it. You don’t ever want to deal with that thing ever again, be it a creepy carnival booth or a clown or the climactic scene of Lady and the Tramp or an orange Jolly Rancher. Crying as a kid is a tremendously lonely feeling, and when you’re eight and a half it’s even worse because you’re old enough to feel strongly that “crying is for babies.” And yet there I was, crying in clear view of my closest friends. I could have very easily decided to be done with it all, but looking back, I don’t even remember that as being anywhere near to a realistic possibility. I never even considered it. It wasn’t an “I’m-stuck-with-them” realization, as I was still far too young to be that bitter…I must have just had a sense somehow that this was my team for good or ill. I was given my teams by my family and by my region, and that was that.

Later, we recognize the feeling as responsibility. That’s what this is all really about. Being a fan of a team is a responsibility. If this were a movie, the sports fan would be Dustin Hoffman, and the sports team would be his son. All of a sudden Meryl Streep is gone, and now he’s got to raise this kid all on his own, obstacles be damned. I have to do this. That’s what it feels like to be a diehard. I have to root for this team. As a kid though, it’s different. It’s about the privilege. As a kid you get to root for your team. I started that way with the Bulls. But then things go bad as they eventually do, and you begin to feel responsible for them. That’s what happened with me; when we hit Detroit, I started aging like mad. In 1987, I was a kid and the Bulls were my team. They were big and fun and mine, a big red toy. Three years later, in 1990, I felt like a teenager forced into the burden of raising his younger brothers on his own because his father is dead and his mother is drunk. Everything had shifted. It was up to me. After all, if I don’t root for this team, who will? Sports teams only matter because people care about them. If nobody cares for the Bulls, then they don’t exist. I have to care for them. Somehow I felt like it was my responsibility to get them past Detroit, like it was up to me specifically…and yet, of course, I had no actual control over them, which makes responsibility rather difficult. How can you be responsible for something you do not control? Well, we don’t know. We just know that it’s what we have to do.

But maybe it’s less about responsibility and more about loyalty. Leaving the Bulls after Game 7 would have been like abandoning a friend upon hearing that he has cancer. It’s cruel. But then again, loyalty is about choice, and there was no choice. This was about a feeling of deep connection, as if the Team and I were physically connected, a feeling that I was tied to my Team in such a strong way that to purposefully break those bonds would be to destroy something that could not be rebuilt. Something within myself. If the Bulls are losing to Detroit, then I am losing to Detroit. There is no leaving, no escaping, becaue it’s you. You are that team, so even if you were to pack it in out of frustration, all you’d really be doing is hiding from yourself. The team still exists, and it’s still a part of you. You’re just ignoring it. You give yourself to your team for good or ill, and that’s that. It’s family. It’s like when your parents got really mad at you for doing something wrong, yet they tempered their anger by reassuring you that “even though I’m really mad at you now, I still love you very much. Even when we’re mad at each other, we’re still family, and we still love each other.” That’s what it was like after Game 7…like sensing that even though the Bulls had hurt me, they were still my team and I still love them.

It’s not that I didn’t have a choice. It’s that the feeling itself, the feeling of connection that draws me to the team, was and is stronger than the freedom to choose. I’m drawn to them, and I am connected to them. Even at eight and a half I realized this was true…

So to give up on your sports team, particularly after supporting them for 30 years, particularly when you’ve already found ways to get over Leon Durham, San Fran, Maddux going to Atlanta, giving up on Rafael Palmeiro and Luis Gonzalez, the Braves’ sweep in ’98, Woody not developing, Corey not developing, Grace going to Arizona, Stoney getting canned, Games 6 and 7 against Florida, Bartman, the ’04 collapse, and now this extended Sosa thing ending with him leaving on awful terms…well, to get through all that, and then be moved to abandon them, that’s meaningful. Will Dan do it? No, because the Cubs will never sign Bonds. I just can’t see how it would happen. But if it did happen, then would he? I think so. Most definitely. And we’d never get him back.

It’s a horrible thing to cut your sports team loose as an adult. To actually reach a point at which you can no longer stand the pain of your team, a point at which your team has betrayed you so many times that you feel it best to leave them completely…simply awful. The bonds have been broken, the team is guilty, and the fan is the helpless victim.

That’s the thing about the fan-team relationship: no matter what, the Team always holds the upper hand. Many fans give up on the specifics of their teams without much fight. There is no short term loyalty, and certainly no patience. Fans give up on and turn against players and coaches much too quickly and much too harshly. But they never give up on the Team, the actual franchise. For them, there is no shortage of loyalty or patience. That replenishes itself. But a little bit should go a long way, and when Teams begin abusing the never ending flow of loyalty and patience, that’s when fans turn. Maybe they internalize it, feeling that it is somehow their fault that things got so bad. Or maybe not: maybe it’s all betrayal and nothing more. But most things in life are judged based on performance. Your car stops working, you buy a new one. It’s raining with thunder and lightening and high winds, you cancel your golf game. Sports teams are no different: built on performance. Your quarterback can’t stop throwing interceptions, you cut him and find someone else. It’s not about loyalty. It’s about performance. That’s how you operate with your team.

But your Team, well, that’s different. Your Team is also judged by performance, but it’s not an athletic performance. It’s an emotional and ethical one.

After all, you stick by your Team through everything, riding all the highs and lows, and sometimes the highs are six titles in eight years, and sometimes the lows are no championships for almost 100. You roll with it all. You have no choice, and you don’t even want one, because the highs and lows are about the team, but the Team provides only Highs…that’s the idea, anyway. The payoff is the experience, the lifetime of rooting. That’s the gift. That’s the High. You judge your team based on performance, but you judge your Team based on love. So to actually cut ties with a Team…it’s awful. It’s giving up on someone you love in order to protect yourself, and it happens when the pain that comes with the responsibility of fandom is greater than the joys of living the Team. And that is something I hope to never experience.

Jack M Silverstein’s brief thoughts following Super Bowl XLII
check this story out at profootballnet.com: http://www.profootballnet.com/content/view/2134/61
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WARNING!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Now that the New York Giants’ gripping Super Bowl XLII victory is in the books, you may find yourself involved in a Sports Debate over the coming weeks. Some questions and issues to consider during your debating that you A. should be ready for… B. may use in order to prevent stagnation:

1. Will the Patriots’ loss trigger another decline of Boston-area sports (a la 1986), a particularly cruel twist considering their nearly unprecedented high over the past six years, as well as their nearly unprecedented peak to that high since last September?
2. What does this do to Brady’s standing on The List? Is he above…
a. Aikman? (Jack sez: tie)
b. Bradshaw? (yes)
c. Elway? (yes)
d. Favre? (yes)
e. Manning? (yes)
f. Montana? (no)
g. Young? (yes)
3. What if this is the beginning of Brady as “Super Bowl choker?” What if he ends up having Elway’s career, except in reverse? Wouldn’t that be a trip?
4. How good will Simmons’ column be? I mean, how good? Pretty damn excellent, I say.
5. When you take into account athletic brilliance, game-significance, and play-importance, is it safe to say that David Tyree’s helmet-sticking back-bend catch has joined the top tier of the greatest catches in postseason history? Dwight Clark had “The Catch,” and now Tyree has “The Grab.”
6. Where does XLII rank in Super Bowl history in terms of…
a. impressive upsets?
b. overall game excitement?
7. Forget about the legacy of the 2007 Patriots. What is now the legacy of the Brady/Belichick Patriots?
8. How much will all of the camera/spying poo-cocky be discussed in light of New England’s loss?
9. Here at profootballnet.com, there’s nothing we enjoy more than a good old NFL bull session. And one subject that comes up quite often is QUARTERBACKS THAT HAVE WON ME OVER. We swap stories about Aaron Brooks against the Rams, Jake Plummer in ’98, Jake Delhomme in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and others of the like. Eli Manning has been a certain kind of quarterback for much of his career…if he ends up being that quarterback for the remainder of his career, has this run alone been enough to win you over?
10. Who’s Super Bowl performance was more impressive—Peyton’s or Eli’s?
11. When listing quarterbacks by just their last name from here on, do you think that you will begin qualifying Peyton as “P. Manning?” If not, what more would Eli have to accomplish to seal that for you?
12. Do you realize that since winning Super Bowl XXXIX, Tom Brady has twice failed to win a playoff game in which he had the ball for a game-winning drive? Do you realize?
13. Isn’t it weird that the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl, a possession receiver with the number 83 tied a Super Bowl record with 11 receptions, and then the next time they were in the Super Bowl a different possession receiver with the number 83 tied that record?
14. Do you think that Randy Moss choked on the final drive of the game? Did his performance during that final game change your opinion of his 2007 season?

And finally…

15. Where does New York’s final drive rank among potential game-winning Super Bowl drives?

THE BEST POTENTIAL GAME-CHANGING, LATE-GAME DRIVES IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY, IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Team, game Score Time/Yardage Final play
Colts, V 13-13 tie under 2 min, own 48 32-yard FG, O’Brien, :05 remaining
49ers, XXIII 16-13 Bengals 3:10, own 8 10 yards Montana to Taylor, :34
Bills, XXV 20-19 Giants 2:16, own 10 MISSED 47-yard FG, Norwood, :08
Broncos, XXXII 24-24 tie 3:27, opp 49 1-yard TD run, T. Davis, 1:45
Titans, XXXIV 23-16 Rams 1:54, own 10 9 yards to Dyson, stopped at the 1, 0:00
Rams, XXXVI 17-10 Patriots 1:51, own 45 26 yards Warner to Proehl, 1:30
Patriots, XXXVI 17-17 tie 1:21, own 17 48-yard FG, Vinatieri, 0:00
Panthers, XXXVIII 29-22 Patriots 2:43, own 20 12-yards Delhomme to Proehl, 1:08
Patriots, XXXVIII 29-29 tie 1:08, own 40 41-yard FG, Vinatieri, :04
Giants, XLII 14-10 Patriots 2:39, own 17 13 yards Manning to Burress, :35


I hope that is useful. Happy debating.

PEACE
Sincerely, Jack M Silverstein, The Faulty Predictor

On the John
ONE YEAR LATER…a look back at Super Bowl XLI
Completed February 3, 2008
check it out at readjack.com: http://readjack.com/08-02-03XLIlookback.html



One year later, here’s what I remember.

I remember…

…waking up and showering. Both were swift.

…putting on my Soldier Field game day best: Marcus Robinson jersey, blue warm up pants, blue Pumas with orange laces (bought specifically), and Bears hat, the baseball cap rather than the winter wool one. In addition to this dress, I remember being very excited as I put my homemade GROSSMAN handband on. I felt this was important for two reasons: support of our quarterback, a nationally-battered player, and as an homage.

…going to the Wilmette Bike Shop on that very morning to pick up the t-shirt I’d ordered the day before, blue with bright orange text. On the front:

SUPER BOWL
CHAMPS

And on the back:

AND DON’T
IT FEEL
GOOD?

…taking that t-shirt home and placing it at the bottom of my t-shirt drawer, telling no one. And when the great Urlacher gave his postgame interview in his SUPER BOWL XLI CHAMPIONS t-shirt, I would join him in my own. Awesome.

…not being able to stop barking “SU-PER BOWL! SU-PER BOWL!” as I marched around my parents’s place, as well as not being able to stop barking.

…being certain that we would absolutely deconstruct the Colts. I saw it so plainly. Hester hasn’t hit in the playoffs yet, and you know he’s going to break one. And Thomas Jones? That first score he had against Seattle, when crossing the goal line literally transformed him from a tailback to a woofing, ball-shaking maniac—remember that? He’s going to be that times fifty. Rex’ll be steady, and the play-pass is gonna be outstanding with Jones and Benson, and defensively we’ll be able to get at Manning with enough pressure to keep him off. We have the secondary to hang with their receivers, and wait’ll you see Alex Brown. He’s going to be a madman. I’m picking him for three and a half sacks, two forced fumbles, two batted balls, and the MVP. You’ll see.

…talking to my friends in Miami, including my buddy Ric, who was wearing the shirt I’d made following the overtime win against Seattle: ROBBY FREAKIN’ GOULD!!! Another friend of mine was wearing a shirt that read I CAME IN FROM AMSTERDAM TO GO TO THIS GAME, and without knowing of their mutual acquaintance, my two clever shirt-wearing friends greeted each other with an excited Bears-fan shake.

…feeling a thrill from the thought that, right now, at this very moment, 90 million people are thinking about MY football team, my Chicago Bears.

…being unshockingly calm during Hester’s touchdown runback. While the rest of the living room flock was on hopping foot, behaving wildly, cheering their lips off, I stayed seated, placing only my pumping fist in the air.

…shaking my head as Nate Vasher dropped a sure interception. “Peyton’s not gonna get many breaks like that.”

…being, again, unshockingly calm as Chris Harris picked off Manning, giving the Bears the ball, a 7-0 lead already in their hands.

…the first big “aww nuts!” of the night, when Manning, nearly sacked, slipped away from Tank Johnson and heaved a ball deep to Reggie Wayne, who entered our TV screen with no blue shirts to be found. The Bears’ young safeties had botched the coverage. Wayne strolled in untouched. A TD return, an interception, some near picks and near sacks…everything wiped out by one blown coverage. But then, a missed point after. Maybe? Maybe?

…the beginning of an ugly turnover night: the Bears fumbling the kickoff to the Colts, followed by Manning fumbling the ball right back.

…my first true “get up and holler” of the night, TJ heading over left tackle at our own 43, cutting back to the right, and breaking through for a 52-yard scamper setting up a first and goal. Brick on first down, brick on second, sweating on third as Rex dropped back to throw, sweating more as his pass zoomed behind Moose, but then: bam! Moose with the pluck! 14-6 Bears, as the rain began to fall.

…hoping for a field goal and a 17-6 lead, knowing that the biggest deficit a winning team had ever turned was ten points.

…Bob Sanders laying serious stick on Cedric Benson, the second year tailback coughing up the football like a kid with a cold coughing up phlegm. Benson limping away, a meager end to his second pro season.

…Indy’s ten straight points in the second quarter, a field goal from Vinatieri and a TD from Dom Rhodes. 16-14 Colts in the slushiest Super Bowl ever.

…Peanut Tillman playing like a man, pulling a triple play on the Colts’ Bryan Fletcher: holding him upright on the wrap-up, punching the ball free, recovering the fumble. Alright! Here we go! You wanna win a Super Bowl? You need statement plays from guys who are willing victory. Jones’ 52-yard run was one; Peanut’s strip and scoop was another. That is the way to do it.

…shaking my head as Rex gave the ball right back on the very next play. Aww nuts.

…watching Vinatieri miss a field goal at the end of the half, my team running to the locker room, their jerseys damp with rain, trailing by two. After a racing start, what?

…not eating during halftime, while the rest of our party stocked up on dinner.

…the Colts grinding us out in the third quarter, bagging another field goal. 19-14 Colts. No one is running away with this one, I thought, which meant that a loss would be due to a chip job, not a beat down.

…gripping my GROSSMAN headband at a Rex sack and another Rex fumble, the rain slamming down. Were we really going to lose the first Super Bowl played in Bears weather, and to a puff-ball indoor club like the Colts? Were those carpet-treading weenies really going to beat us by grinding out the clock and making big hit upon big hit? I want to vomit.

…watching another Colts field goal. 22-14 now, down by eight. Chip, chip, chip, closer and closer to that death-count of 10.

…watching the Bears begin their next drive inside Colts’ territory (courtesy of a roughness call on Indy), and mustering only a Robbie Gould field goal. Still in it at 22-17, but our points were all on three somewhat fluky plays: Hester’s TD return, Jones’ 52-yard run, and the roughing penalty. Into the fourth quarter, clutching tightly to life…

…the final choke-out from the Colts, or perhaps from Rex, or perhaps from that unholy #### Ron Turner. Down five, a blanket of rain, no one able to handle the ball, a leader at tailback, and a first and 10 after a 22 yard pass. And what do we do? Go right back to the air, Rex to Moose, and an easy pick by Kelvin Hayden. And he’s running, and I’m watching as I squat in front of the couch, and he’s still running, come on, someone get him, and down the sideline and into the endzone, and that is that. 29-17 Colts, up by 12, my head in my knees as I remain on the floor, and I hold ten fingers above my head as the booth announces to the viewing public that “no team has ever erased a deficit of more than ten points and won.” Over 11 minutes remaining, and my team seems cooked.

…keeping the faith. What else would I do? “Come on guys! Be the first! Make history!” And now I believe, and for a moment I think it will happen, and then Rex throws another pick. Back to the floor.

…trading possessions, watching the clock die. 29-17, 29-17. That’s how we’re going out.

…the clock continuing to roll. The realization that our story was complete, and it was of a team that no one outside of Chicago much feared or respected. In the end, as far as they were concerned, they were proven right. The Bears, anyhow, had done nothing to disprove them.

…looking at the ill-fated t-shirt, deep in my drawer, never to be unveiled.

…the feeling of loss. True loss.

…dealing with the L by gathering my thoughts, composing myself, and writing a column. Feeling better about everything. Feeling at peace. And feeling stone-certain that the Bears would be back in a year. We would be champions; the shirt would one day be worn, even a year late…

And now, one year later, I’m watching pregame coverage for Super Bowl XLII, New England set to face the NFC champion Giants, while my team sits at home, a sad 7-9, with nearly as much to do with this game as me.

Aww nuts.






Copyright 2oo8, jm silverstein