Chicago Sun-Times

Captain Jonathan Toews needs to lead Blackhawks by example

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:26:01 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: There was something a tad much about what Jonathan Toews said Thursday morning. Something overboard, something overdone. Something too too, if you know what I mean. “When you put it all together and we play the right way, we’re an amazing, amazing bunch of guys,” he told reporters. It didn’t sound like the understated captain we know.

Brian Urlacher retires as he should — a Bear

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:25:56 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: It could have ended better. Of course, it could have. Brian Urlacher could have retired after the final game of last season and received the send-off he deserved. No awkwardness. No hard feelings.

Blackhawks’ easy season has turned tough

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:33:43 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: Let’s face it, the Blackhawks have literally and figuratively skated through this season. Almost everything has come easy for them. They’ve not experienced even the vaguest feelings of impending doom.

MORRISSEY: Jordan is better than Kobe, but LeBron is another matter

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:44:40 -0500

To most of us in Chicago, there’s no hesitancy when it comes to choosing between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Bryant is a great player and does a nice impression of MJ, but equals? No. We’re talking Dr. Evil and Mini- Me here. Anything Bryant has done for the Lakers, Jordan did it better for the Bulls — and, more important, first. There are pioneers, then there’s the second guy to climb Mount Everest. What’s His Name. I don’t know what the rest of the country thinks about the Michael-Kobe ‘‘debate,’’ but the only reason the topic has come up again …

MORRISSEY: Red Wings won’t just roll over

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:43:00 -0500

You know, the Detroit Red Wings are pretty good. That fact apparently had escaped a segment of the local population, most of them in fan gear but some of them wearing skates, helmets and toothless smiles. The Red Wings outhustled and outmuscled the Blackhawks on Saturday, and if there had been a fight, it probably would have out-tussled them too. The result was a 4-1 debacle for the Hawks in Game 2 of this Western Conference semifinal. That the Red Wings would come back from a Game 1 loss with fire in their eyes was predictable. That the Hawks would …

Blackhawks back up fans’ ‘Dee-troit ...’ chant

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:24:28 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: If you believe things happen for a reason, then the Blackhawks’ Western Conference semifinal against the Red Wings was meant to be. If you sit on the other side and believe life is a series of coincidences, then this series is simple chance.

It’s not over ... but it’s over for Bulls as injuries finally take toll

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:12:24 -0500

Nine points. The Bulls scored nine points in the third quarter Monday night. If you want to know what hitting the wall looks like, it looks like nine points in a quarter. Hitting the wall looks like an 88-65 loss to the Heat. It looks like 17 turnovers. It looks like a 25.7 shooting percentage. It looks like … it’s over.

MORRISSEY: Calls for Derrick Rose trade leave me dismayed

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:30:18 -0500

I don’t think I’ve seen more anger directed at a member of the Chicago sports community than I have at Derrick Rose. Not at Tank Johnson, Jay Cutler, Carlos Marmol or Adam Dunn. Not at LaTroy Hawkins, Milton Bradley, Bill Wirtz or Jerry Reinsdorf. And in the non-sports category, not even at Cubs fan Rod Blagojevich. If you want to pick a topic that will elicit outrage in people, choose Rose over the daily slaughter on our streets. Silly, isn’t it? All this hatred toward a basketball player for the sin of doing the wise thing. All this for doing …

Technically speaking, Bulls acted like petulant children

Thu, 09 May 2013 15:35:30 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: There’s a difference between being aggressive and being stupid. The Bulls were aggressive early in the game when Miami was intent on setting a physical tone. They stepped into stupid territory late in the game when they let their emotions get the better of them.

Tom Thibodeau has worked miracles with depleted Bulls

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:16:19 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: ‘‘Is Tom Thibodeau fun to play for?’’ Joakim Noah said, repeating my question. Yeah, fun. You know, F-U-N. ‘‘I wouldn’t . . . eh . . . no,’’ he said. ‘‘Let’s not get carried away.’’

Bulls’ Game 1 upset of Heat just what coach Tom Thibodeau scripted

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:44:36 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: Oh, my, Tom Thibodeau must have loved this. So homely was the game galumphing before his eyes that there were reports of the left corner of his mouth quivering slightly upward. But the birth of a near-smile couldn’t be independently confirmed.

Derrick Rose has no one to blame but the Bulls

Mon, 06 May 2013 10:59:00 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: Let’s go back to early March. Let’s go back to a slightly less cynical time, when Rose was still a beloved figure in this town, when he was still the epitome of toughness, when he was still a shining example of what can come out of the mean streets of Chicago through talent and hard work.

MORRISSEY: Coming to Hawk Harrelson’s defense

Sun, 05 May 2013 02:42:56 -0500

Something has been bothering me for a while, and I hope you’ll indulge me while I try to make sense of it. It has something to do with sabermetrics and the abuse White Sox play-by-play man Hawk Harrelson has been getting lately, but those are only symptoms of a larger problem. Buffalo (N.Y.) News columnist Jerry Sullivan recently wrote a lovely tribute to longtime colleague Larry Felser, who had just passed away. This clause stood out: ‘‘At a time when people tweet their thoughts without filters and everyone wants to be the smartest guy in the room . . . ’’ I …

MORRISSEY: Bulls were short on men but long on heart in loss

Fri, 03 May 2013 16:51:55 -0500

Kirk Hinrich didn’t play because of a calf injury. Luol Deng didn’t play because of flu-like symptoms or, as Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau called it, “a viral something something.’’ A test for viral meningitis came back negative, according to CSNChicago.com. Nate Robinson and Taj Gibson apparently had their own viral something something but played. If it’s the kind of flu I’m thinking of, we can call them the Bucket Boys. Joakim Noah played with plantar fasciitis, a foot condition that makes your arch your archenemy. Carlos Boozer, Jimmy Butler and Marco Belinelli didn’t have health issues, though given how things …

Blackhawks looking to hoist more meaningful trophy

Wed, 01 May 2013 11:45:50 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: The regular season means a lot when you win the Presidents’ Trophy for racking up the most points in the league. It means that anything less than a Stanley Cup being hoisted will be a disappointment. It means that not making the Stanley Cup Finals will be a colossal failure. Is that unfair?

MORRISSEY: Openly-gay NBA player Jason Collins is the right man at the right time

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:26:22 -0500

Jason Collins has become the first openly gay male professional athlete in the four major American team sports. That’s a lot of modifiers, and it speaks both to the progress made in women’s sports and to the irrational fear that has always been part of men’s sports: You can’t have homosexuals in the locker room! But a new day dawned Monday, and the world didn’t end. No biblical plague arrived. Most people seemed … fine. ESPN’s Chris Broussard did say that homosexuality is an “open rebellion to God.’’ No, an open rebellion to God is failing to love your neighbor. …

MORRISSEY: Heredity made Long easy choice for Bears

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:19:08 -0500

I don’t want to minimize the work that Bears general manager Phil Emery and his staff did in preparation for the draft, the hours they put in and their lack of anything resembling a personal life the last year or so. But there’s no way in the world the Bears would have used their first-round pick on a guy with four college starts if his name had been Kyle Doe, Kyle Smith or Kyle Short. Or, to put it another way, if an inexperienced but hugely talented athlete named Kyle Elway were draft-eligible, they would have given him a long …

MORRISSEY: Nate Robinson came to play on Saturday

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:15:30 -0500

I don’t know where Nate Robinson is from. I know it says Seattle in all his biographical information, but that’s fiction and quite possibly a government cover-up. He’s from some other planet where everything is unstable and combustible, where people are up and down in the extreme, where the overworked fire department rushes from one explosion to the next. If you’ve watched Robinson at all, you know that the show he put on Saturday in the Bulls’ 142-134, three-overtime victory could have gone the opposite way — could have, in fact, ended up resembling a smoking crater. The guy fluctuates …