What the hell is Sam Zell doing!? Why the hell is he trying to sell the name of Wrigley Field?

I’ll tell you why. Zell doesn’t give a dam about the Cubs. After all, he is a minority owner in the White Sox, which if Bud Selig realized and decided to do things legally, would make Zell sell his shares in them. But he doesn’t care. His butt buddy Jerry Reinsdorf happens to own the White Sox and said he didn’t care. Very interesting. Isn’t this a conflict of interest?

Zell is just looking to make a buck while MLB sorts out the complications of blocking out Mark Cuban and installing John Canning, a crony who will just be another extension of the Trib.

The writing is on the wall: Zell is a minority owner in the White Sox. Jerry Reinsdorf said he doesn’t care that Zell has stake in both, saying the Cubs is temporary. He happens to be the right-hand man of Bud Selig, so Selig signs off on the waiver. They like John Canning and want to install him as the owner. They are going to do whatever they can to keep Cuban out, while they install this crony who is just an extension of the Trib. So they figure, in addition to screwing over the Cubs, why not piss them off as well, and let Zell make a buck. Unless they plan on adding another 20M a year contract, this money is going into Zell’s pocket. If JR is a man of high integrity as he claims to be, then why is he sticking his nose into the whole ownership situation with the Cubs? Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

While I think what Hitler did was a horrible thing, I wouldn’t mind it had Selig, Reinsdorf and Zell died.

To attend or not to attend? That is the critical question regarding a party at Jose Canseco’s Miami house in June of 1998. Clemens said he wasn’t there, but McNamee says he was, saying he clearly recalls Clemens, his wife, nanny and children at Canseco’s party, and said he remembers the nanny wearing a peach bikini and board shorts. Reports have surfaced that a man has a photo that shows Clemens was at the party, which would contradict Clemens’ statement that he wasn’t there.

Looks like the Rocket is going to be grounded for a while. In the words of Nelson Muntz: HA! HA!

In the middle of a 13-game winning streak, the Houston Rockets have been hit with horrible news

Center Yao Ming is going to miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his foot. With the West as loaded as it is, despite this current win streak of the Rockets, they find themselves in 7th place in the Western Conference. This injury is a major blow to the Rockets playoff hopes.

Additionally, this injury puts Yao’s status for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in jeopardy. It would be a great disaster if he is unable to play, since the games are in his home nation. Furthermore, Team China is expected to contend for gold, and if he is unable to play, it would be a major blow to their hopes. Here’s to hoping Yao recovers soon.

With baseball season a month away, Dusty Baker gets another chance to redeem himself after the miserable failure that was his time on the North Side.

”People say, ‘He doesn’t like young players,’ ” Baker said, shaking his head. ”Hey, man, I know what I’m doing. I know what a ballplayer looks like. I know what a ballplayer walks like, what they talk like, what they act like. And at the end there, I had a discussion with Jim, he asked me if I would play the kids so he could determine who to keep in the future.

You know what you’re doing?? Then why did you continually play Todd Hollandsworth, Neifi Perez, Glendon Rusch, Jose Macias and many other unproductive veterans when you had young kids you could have developed?? Don’t tell me that it was to maintain the integrity of the playoff races. That won’t stick. And then:

”I was asked if I thought [Marmol] would be a good reliever. And I said, ‘Yes, but I need him to start because we don’t have any starters.”’

So because you don’t have anyone who can start for you in a season that is already lost, you’re going to mess with this guy? BRILLIANT!!

Reds fans, you’re going to be in for a long, sad, miserable 2008. Jay Bruce and Joey Votto won’t be seeing the field much with Dusty, and you better hope he doesn’t destroy Homer Bailey’s arm, the way he has ruined Mark Prior for life.

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have had discussions about signing the one and only Barry Lamar Bonds

My, my, my. Is this how far Bonds has really fallen, that the only team interested in him is Tampa!? What’s worse than Tampa? Well, according to MLB Trade Rumors, Bonds’ agent says that Japan is a possibility as well. I’m speechless, I have nothing to say. I can’t believe he’s looking at Japan.

Bonds really is just doing this to get his 3,000 hits. After 2006, he came back in 2007 to get the HR record, now he wants 3,000 hits. Barry, just retire. You’re an asshole, you’re old, you suck, and the government is after you.

LaMarcus Aldridge. Tyson Chandler. J.R. Smith. Ben Wallace. Kevin Garnett. Pau Gasol. Shawn Marion. What do these 7 players have in common? They are either players Bulls GM John Paxson either traded away for nobodies, overpaid for in free agency, or wouldn’t make a trade for. Players who would have helped this team contend for a title, players who wouldn’t be holding back the team with their massive contracts and poor performance. It’s time to get rid of John Paxson.

A lot of people give Paxson a free pass because he cleaned up the mess left by Jerry Reinsdorf’s partner in destruction, Jerry Krause. But once he cleaned up the mess, Paxson has been on the clock.

Since cleaning up Krause’s mess, Paxson has done nothing to improve this team to contend for a title. In the 2006 draft, after drafting Aldridge, he traded him for Tyrus Thomas and Victor Khryapa. Khryapa has since been bought out and left the team, and Thomas has been inconsistent, while Aldridge has been a dominant inside force that the Bulls could use.

Following the draft, Paxson traded Chandler to the New Orleans Hornets for P.J. Brown and J.R. Smith. Smith is now an integral part on the Nuggets, and Chandler has blossomed with the Hornets, helping lead them to the best record in the Western Conference (at press time), while Brown is gone.

Paxson’s stupidity did not stop there. He had chances to get Gasol and Garnett during the 2006-07 season and he balked, saying he didn’t want to give up Luol Deng. Garnett and Gasol were later traded to the Celtics and the Lakers, respectively.

However, Paxson’s worst move was the four year, $60 million contract he gave Ben Wallace. Wallace was supposed to help lift the team over the top. Instead, he was a miserable failure, not playing with any desire, breaking team rules (i.e. “headband-gate”) and lacking the passion he had with the Pistons.

Even though there are legitimate questions about whether or not cheapskate owner Reinsdorf would approve of such deals that would dent his wallet another 30-40 million in salary and luxury taxes, that does not absolve Paxson of failing to improve the team.

And even though Paxson finally dumped Wallace for Drew Gooden and Larry Hughes, he might have made the team even worse off. Gooden is nothing but a slight upgrade over Joe Smith, who was also traded away in the deal, and his six-million dollar contract will come off the books after the ‘08-09 season. Larry Hughes is just as bad as Wallace, as he performs poorly, and plays with no desire. Furthermore, his contract will expire following the ‘09-10 season, but it’s only 12 million, as opposed to 15 million with Wallace, which will hurt them that off-season, as they will have less money to spend under the cap.

Marion would have been a better solution. When Marion wanted out of Phoenix, Paxson should have gone to Steve Kerr and offered him Wallace for Marion, as this would have been a better deal for the Suns than Shaq, as Wallace can stay healthy unlike Shaq. He’s also younger, and would cost them less and would probably help them out better as Shaq’s offensive skills continue to diminish. The Bulls would have gotten someone who actually cares and would help the team, and would get big money off the books sooner.

Paxson has shown that he can’t make that final step. It’s time to fire him and bring in someone who can.

With the recent news of Fidel Castro stepping down, I was doing some thinking about what the first attempt at Operation Abajo Raul should be, and with the news of Rex Grossman being brought back by the Bears, I figured it out. The U.S. government should use Grossman. It’s sure to work, unlike Operation Abajo Fidel which failed miserably 638 times despite Dick Chaney being a weapon of ass destruction. Since Grossman is an expert at committing overthrows, he is sure to succeed in his attempts to overthrow the Cuban government. No word yet if he’ll be able to avoid a sack while doing this.

With 2 months left until the NBA playoffs begin, the playoff races are in full go mode. Out West, 9 teams are bunched within 5 games of each other, while in the East, teams 10+ games below .500 are fighting for a playoff spot. It’s time to sit down and re-work the NBA’s playoff system. Everyone plays everyone in the NBA, and this situtation is showing that the West is dominating the East.

Furthermore, with the West being so bunched, a team that wins 50+ games could be sitting at home, while a team in the East could make the playoffs with a record 10+ games below .500 and possibly with over 50 losses, playing for a title that they should have no claim to. The NBA needs to change the playoff system so that the best 16 records in the league get in, regardless of conference. It would make the playoffs more fun too, as the truly best 16 teams contend for the title, and the games are more evenly matched.

With the Celtics having started a road trip 0-3, they now have 12 losses. After the mid-season talk of them challenging the 95-96 Bulls for the best ever regular season record, you can throw that out the window. 72-10 lives on. And good riddance. The Celtics with Thug James are the last team I want to see break the record. Now for one more loss to keep the Bulls as the only 70 win team, and for the Celtics to get thrown out when they make the playoffs.

So I was reading ESPN and I came across this

An 0-29 season. How is that possible?? That’s harder than going undefeated. And how does this happen: The Highlanders were also the only Division I team this season with more turnovers (577) than field goals (550). Wow!! Just wow!!