Let's Get This Started Already

The Bulls will start their season tonight in New Jersey against the Nets and Chicago needs them right now. Baseball's done, and the Bears suck, so a couple of Bulls victories would be fantastic right about now.

There are a couple of problems with that though. Anybody who's paid attention to this team the last few years knows they're notoriously slow starters. To make matters worse, they're starting the season tonight in New Jersey, where they haven't won since 2001. That's eleven straight losses. You know who the Bulls leading scorer was that night?

A.J. Guyton.

Who?

Exactly.

To be completely honest with you though, tonight's game isn't about the result. It's only the first game of the season, and though a repeat performance of the Bulls annihilation of the Heat last year on opening night would be nice, I'm more interested in just seeing the team play.

Joakim Noah won't be playing thanks to his sprained ankle, and there's a chance Ben Wallace might have to sit out as well. Still I'll be looking for other signs. How is Luol Deng improved this season? Has Ben Gordon decided to play defense? Will Tyrus Thomas evolve from freakish athlete to basketball player? Is Chris Duhon really still on the team?

Obviously these questions won't all be answered in one night, but we'll at least have a better idea of what to expect.

I'm still not sure that this team is good enough to win the Eastern Conference. Not with an improved Boston team, along with old stalwarts like the Pistons and Heat. They still need a big man that can score, and I'm pretty sure Joe Smith isn't the answer. He's just a younger version of P.J. Brown.

If the Bulls are going to get to the NBA Finals this season without a big man, it's going to have to be up to Luol Deng. Deng will have to take that next step towards superstardom if this team is going to have a legitimate shot. Ben Gordon is a nice spark plug once in a while, but he cannot be counted on to lead the team every night.

Now whether or not he's going to be able to do it as rumors of a Kobe Bryant trade swirl around the United Center, I'm not sure. It's not the first time Lu is going to have to play while dealing with trade rumors though, because I'm pretty sure he's been traded in the media 596 times in his short career.

Now we all know how I feel on the subject of the Kobe trade, so I won't get that deep into it again. I'll just maintain my position that if the Bulls can complete the deal without giving up Luol Deng, they'd be stupid as hell not to do it.

I know all the Kobe rumors are probably starting to get annoying, but the simple fact is that until the Lakers come out and say they're not trading him, or that he's been traded, this talk is going to follow the Bulls all season. They're one of the few teams that can trade for him, and they're one of the few teams Kobe wants to play for.

That's the other reason I can't wait for tonight's game. Once the Bulls start playing games I'll actually have something to write about involving the Bulls that has nothing to do with Kobe. It may not seem like it with all the times I bring him up, but I'm tired of writing about Kobe too. I need this season to start.

Foul Balls

White Sox Make Moves - The Darin Erstad Era has come to an end on the south side, as the White Sox have declined to pick up the option on his contract. It was either buy him out for $250,000 or pay him $3.5 million to play next season.

I think they made the right choice.

I liked the signing of Erstad last season because it was a low risk high reward type of signing. He was relatively cheap, and if he could have managed to stay healthy, he would have been a valuable member of the team. Unfortunately, he couldn't stay healthy. Erstad only played in 87 games last season and hit .247.

The Sox also declined their option on veteran lefty Mike Myers. Mike Myers being cut on Halloween. Oh the irony!

Mike Cameron Suspended - Continuing with the White Sox for a second, most of the talk involving the Sox and centerfield has the team going after Torii Hunter or Aaron Rowand. A darkhorse though was current Padres centerfielder, and former Sox, Mike Cameron. Well, I don't think the Sox will be going after him now.

He's been suspended 25 games for testing positive for stimulants.

"The one thing I wanted to make sure was explained is, no steroids," Cameron told AM 1090, the Padres' flagship radio station. "I never took nothing like that before in my life. That would be 50 games, and that would affect me a whole lot more."

So just to be clear, Mike's not on the roids, he's just snorting Adderall in the clubhouse.

Curt Schilling To The Cubs? - Curt Schilling basically released a list of 13 teams he'd be willing to pitch for next season, and the Cubs were one of those teams. The White Sox were not.

I actually think the Cubs should make a run at Schilling. They could definetely use another starter, and I think a trip to the National League would only help Schilling. Not to mention his postseason numbers speak for themselves, and that could come in handy for the Cubs next season. They might win a playoff game before getting eliminated!

Choose Your Own Rodventure - Many times over at the MLB FanHouse, some of our best ideas come from stupid conversations we have with each other through our Google Group.

This is the greatest thing we've ever accomplished from one of our stupid conversations. One day PostmanE said something about those "Choose Your Own Adventure Books" from grade school, and it's morphed into Choose Your Own Rodventure.

That's right, YOU get to be Alex Rodriguez and decide where you're going to play this season. There are endless options, so if you've got time to kill at work today, I highly recommend playing along.