Chicago Sun-Times

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 …

Gritty is good enough for Bulls in Game 3

Thu, 02 May 2013 20:27:30 -0500

RICK MORRISSEY: This is crazy, you know. The Bulls are made up of bloody bandages, average depth and a coach who welded the pedal to the metal at birth. Does that say “playoff success’’ or “please put us out of our misery?’’

Draft Manti Te’o? Bears should take him or leave him: Morrissey

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:40:32 -0500

I have a very good feeling and a very bad feeling about the Bears’ draft on Thursday. The very good feeling is that they’ll use their first-round pick on Manti Te’o. That’s the very bad feeling, too. The columnist in me absolutely loves the idea of the Bears choosing the Notre Dame linebacker whose story no one could make up but did. Can you imagine the media circus that would follow him? I’d be the one with the clown horn and the squirting flower on my lapel. The football observer in me thinks the Bears would be making a huge …

MORRISSEY: Bulls have heart, guts in abundance

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:55:47 -0500

We’re going to talk about the Bulls’ toughness, but we’re not going to comparison-shop. We won’t celebrate Joakim Noah’s heart as a way of condemning Derrick Rose’s. If you want to read or hear about how wimpy, selfish and misguided Rose is, go to Facebook, Twitter or your favorite radio talk show. But you won’t find that kind of nonsense here. If you know someone who has gone through major knee surgery, as Rose has, you know all about hell. So let’s talk about Noah and plantar fasciitis, a foot condition that, for many people, feels like an endless encounter …

MORRISSEY: We’ve heard Jay Cutler, coordinator trade praise before

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 02:58:17 -0500

Several weeks ago, a reader sent me a complimentary email. I can’t remember the subject matter, but I do remember to whom it was addressed: Mr. Mortuary. This is odd, I thought. A shot across the bow in the salutation, followed by glowing praise. Then it dawned on me. I emailed the gentleman, and it was just as I had suspected: His computer’s spell check had changed my name from ‘‘Mr. Morrissey’’ to ‘‘Mr. Mortuary.’’ The man was, fittingly, mortified. No, I wrote him, this is the greatest thing ever. Spell check apparently can correct errors and see inside the …