The biggest reason I was excited about this Bulls season getting started was that there would finally be something to say about the Bulls that didn't have something to do with Kobe Bryant. After watching this team play it's first three games, I think I'd rather talk about Kobe again.
I know the Bulls are notoriously slow starters under Scott Skiles, but losing to Philly at home? Losing to Milwaukee on the road? It's not just the fact that this team is losing either, it's how horrible they've looked while doing it. It's one thing to play well, and come up short in the end, but when you've been playing horribly for three games, that's worrisome.
Something's not right here.
I don't know whether it's the fact that the Kobe talks have become a distraction for this team, or if Luol and Ben Gordon have their contracts on their minds, but this team just looks lazy right now.
Through the first three games, the Bulls are shooting 38% from the field. Joe Smith is the only player on the team making half of his shots, but he's only taken 14. Ben Gordon is shooting at a 39% clip, Luol comes in at 43%, and Kirk Hinrich is at 34%. I think Hinrich has as many fouls as he does assists right now: 15. As a team, they're scoring only 86.7 points a game, which isn't going to lead to many wins in this league.
So what's to blame? Is it just rust? Distractions? Does this team really need Kobe?
It's none of those.
It's the Cubs.
They've cursed this entire city! Their "success" this season has killed everybody else. The White Sox were supposed to be good again this season, and they blew. The Bears were supposed to get back to the Super Bowl, and they're in last place.
Nothing's going right in Chicago!
Okay, so it's probably not the Cubs fault, but while the city of Boston is having a fantastic sports season, Chicago's falling flat on it's face everywhere you look. Sure the Cubs got to the playoffs, but they couldn't even manage to win a game before bowing out quickly.
So really, I have no idea what's wrong with the Bulls right now. Do I think that we'd have a better record if Kobe were here? Yeah, but I don't think his absence is what's causing the problems either. I'm hoping that this will all prove to be just another slow start for this team, and they'll get rolling sooner rather than later, but these slow starts are still killers.
Look at last season for example. In the Bulls first twelve games they managed to go 3-9 before going on a seven-game win streak to get over .500. But had the Bulls just managed to go 6-6 in those twelve games last season, they'd have finished the season 52-30 with the #2 seed in the East. That means they'd have had the same easy route to the Eastern Conference Finals that the Cavs took.
Had they gone 7-5 they'd have had home-court advantage in the playoffs.
So while an 0-3 start in an 82 game season isn't going to kill a team, it could end up hurting them quite a bit at the end of the season.
Foul Balls
In The Navy - I had said during Spread Em last week that I didn't think the Irish could cover a 3.5 point spread against Navy, and that I had no confidence in this team. Still, I don't think I ever really thought they'd lose the game.
I've never been more embarrassed to be a Notre Dame fan than I was on Saturday afternoon. That was just.....I don't even know. It was bad. I can understand why the Irish lose to teams like Michigan, Penn State, Boston College, USC, and Georgia Tech because they're all better teams with more talented players. Navy does not have more talent than Notre Dame.
Though that didn't seem to matter on Saturday, did it?
I've tortured myself all season by watching every Irish game, but after this weekend, I think I'm going to have to take the rest of the season off. If for no other reason than my sanity.
Purple Jesus - I probably shouldn't be enjoying the exploits of a Minnesota Viking as much as I am right now, but I don't care. I love Adrian Peterson. I don't care if he's a Viking and that he'll be torturing the Bears twice a season for the foreseeable future. He's on my fantasy team!! And since it's a keeper league, I have him for two more season after this one.
So I look forward to more performances like the one he had on Sunday against the Chargers. The Messiah broke the NFL's single game rushing mark with 296 yards yesterday. No, you didn't read that wrong, he actually rushed for 296 yards in one game. That included three touchdown runs, a one-yarder, a 46-yarder, and a 64-yarder. That's 35 points for my fantasy team right there.
The Vikings are only halfway through their season, but Peterson has already eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark, which puts him on pace to finish the season with over 2,000 yards. And to think, the Vikings didn't draft him until the 7th spot. I wonder what the Raiders think about taking JaMarcus Russell with the first pick now.
What's even crazier is that in two games against the Bears and Chargers-two teams that are supposed to have strong run defenses-Peterson has rushed for 520 yards and seven touchdowns. In eight games this season, Cedric Benson has rushed for 466 yards and two touchdowns. Just in case you didn't realize how bad Cedric Benson sucks.
That Patriots/Colts Game - I was at work on Thursday and a co-worker of mine told me that "Take the over this Sunday, man. Easiest money you'll ever make." My response? "Actually, I think it's going to be a 24-20 type game. I'm taking the under." "You're an idiot, man."
Who's the idiot now, man?
It was a very good game, and though it would have been impossible to live up to it's hype without aliens landing at the RCA Dome in the third quarter, the game didn't disappoint. The Colts had plenty of chances to win this game, but their failures in the red zone early came back to haunt them.
The question is, now that they've gotten the Colts out of the way, what's to stop the Patriots from going undefeated? They've got a bye next week, but after that, there isn't much to stand in their way. At Buffalo, Philadelphia, at Baltimore, Pittsburgh, the Jets, Miami, and finally on the road against the Giants.
The Steelers and Giants are the only threats, and I don't think they pose much of one.
Blogpoll Ballot Week 10 -
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|
| 1 | Ohio State | -- |
| 2 | LSU |  1 |
| 3 | Oregon | 2 |
| 4 | Kansas | 3 |
| 5 | Oklahoma | 1 |
| 6 | Missouri | 2 |
| 7 | Boston College |  5 |
| 8 | Arizona State | 4 |
| 9 | West Virginia | -- |
| 10 | Connecticut | 5 |
| 11 | Michigan | 1 |
| 12 | Hawaii | 1 |
| 13 | Virginia Tech | 3 |
| 14 | Texas | 2 |
| 15 | Georgia | 2 |
| 16 | Boise State | 1 |
| 17 | Auburn | 2 |
| 18 | Southern Cal | 3 |
| 19 | Kentucky | 1 |
| 20 | Florida | 3 |
| 21 | Clemson | 5 |
| 22 | Virginia | 4 |
| 23 | Tennessee | 3 |
| 24 | Illinois | 2 |
| 25 | Cincinnati | 1 |
Dropped Out: South Florida (#14), Alabama (#18), Vanderbilt (#22), Wake Forest (#24), South Carolina (#25).
Posts
