Ya know...I can understand Franta's *frustration* (for lack of a better term) with the whole Jordan thing. Not living in Chicago, it's hard for people to understand how annoying Jordan-mania can get. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge basketball fan (that's where Franta and I differ) and a huge fan of Da Bulls, with and without Jordan. I have all kinds of Bulls and Jordan memorabelia laying around the house. I even watch some the old games on ESPN:Classic Sports whenever I get a chance. But, Jesus. The guy left town five years ago. Get over it. I got sick of every single new show dedicating 10 minutes or more to him every night for a week leading up to the game last week. It really got sickening. Outside Chicago, it might have gotten a few seconds on the sports segment of the local news broadcast, but here, it's all people have been talking about since the Wizards came through about three weeks ago. "How long an ovation will he get?" "Will his presence intimidate the Baby Bulls?" "Should they do anything special for him?" Jeezus...It's been made pretty obvious over the last five years or so, that M Jeff didn't want to play for The Bulls anymore. It's was made even more obvious that The Bulls organ-I-zation didn't really want him involved anymore either. Several years ago, we said our Thank You's. We said our Goodbye's. We retired his number (twice!) They even unofficially retired his other number (45). Christ, they build a fucking statue to the man. He said his goodbyes and said he was done with us. Time for Chicago, the local media, and the Jordan Ass-licking society to move on. But they won't. Before Jordan came along, nobody in Chicago cared about The Bulls. After he left, nobody cares about them now. All they gave a shit about was Jordan. Cell phone fans sit in their $250 seats at the UC and don't care what's going on (cell phone fans being those idiots who sit in the first couple of rows at basketball and baseball games talking on the phone to their friends asking "did you see me on teevee during the last time-out? They were right in front of me!!! Look, I can wave my arms like an idiot!!!")
I just want to see good basketball. I look forward to the future (I can't help it, I'm a Cubs fan...) I think that when Tyson Chandler learns how to rebound, he'll be a perenial all-star. I think that if Jay Williams can keep his turnovers down, he can be a future stud also. I think that if Eddie Curry can turn about twenty pounds of flab into muscle, and start throw bodies around in the paint, he can be one of the premier centers in the east (not really too hard considering the competition...) And if they can trade off Fizer and Jamal Crawford for an established leader, I think they'll be playoff bound next year. I have hopes for the future of this team, I just wish the rest of the so-called "fans" would...
