ESPN’s 30 at 30 series of documentaries has been very interesting.  Some have obviously been better than others (that Reggie Miller one was sweet, although the Colts marching band one was a bit boring), but the upcoming Allen Iverson film seems like it will be very entertaining and will touch on something I have always wondered about: AI’s “shady” past.  The film, No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, from Hoop Dreams director Steve James will cover the racially charged incident that Iverson was involved in during high school.

Fortunately for us Chicagoans, there is an early screening here at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6th at Landmark’s Century Centre Cinema, 2828 North Clark.  The screening is part of the popular series “First Tuesdays with the Midwest Independent Film Festival.”  You can find more information about the film, as well as prices and the schedule for the night, at this site.

I will be there, and so will some of the other writers on the staff here at NQTC.  I look forward to seeing you all there, and if not, I assume we will all have a lot to talk about after you watch it on ESPN2 on April 13.

You’d think that being drafted in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft, starting for your team for almost half of the season, and getting selected to play in the Rookies-Sophomores game during All-Star Weekend would ensure that someone at ESPN would have a photo of you. Sorry Taj Gibson, those 20 points you put up and those 13 boards you brought down were not enough for the guys at ESPN to look too hard for a picture of you. So while you and the rest of your team whupped the 76ers last night, we get to look at “the other” A.I.’s mug on the ESPN recap of last night’s game.

Aside from the obvious East Coast bias that ESPN showed in slighting Taj Gibson, Saturday night’s game was extremely encouraging. Vinny Del Negro is such a masterful coach that both Hakim Warrick and Flip Murray already appear completely in sync in the Bulls system. If you twisted my arm I’d give some credit to the players themselves. Murray drove and kicked the ball out to open shooters on a number of occasions and the 3-pointer he buried from the corner near the end of the first half showed what the Bulls have been missing from the SG position. And Hakim Warrick will quickly become a fan favorite if he keeps this up. Stuffing a few of the lanky 76ers, throwing down that sick spinning dunk on Thaddeus Young, and crashing the offensive glass, he ensured there was no let down with the second team.

The Bulls seemingly have a reliable quartet of Power Forwards and Centers to work with now that Joakim is slowly coming back (let’s hope he gets into game shape soon, sucking on an inhaler is not what you want to see from your future All-Star Center).  More importantly, the entire team is realizing that they can win games in the paint and at the free throw line. During the second quarter the Bulls began to settle for a few 15 to 18 foot jump shots early in the clock and it allowed the 76ers to regain the lead. In the first half of the season, the Bulls would have continued to force shots and we would’ve awoken to Sunday morning articles bemoaning the Bulls’ inefficient jump shooting letting the team down again. Instead, coming out of a TV timeout, Rose and Deng began driving and slashing to the rim and either finishing or dishing off to our big men, and if the drive wasn’t there the Bulls ran their offense opting for the jump shot with less than 5 seconds on the shot clock. Conversely, the young athletic 76ers seemed gassed by the amount of work they were putting in on the defensive end and quickly resorted to isolated, step back jumpers and easy rebounds for the Bulls.

Last night was a great example of what kind of team the Bulls can be. Taj Gibson is a huge part of that, as his development allowed the Bulls to make the moves they made for this season and the next. Is it too much to ask for ESPN to dig a little harder for his picture on nights when he outplays guys like Elton Brand?

We give a lot of crap to Philly fans; getting after them for their willingness to boo McNabb, likely their own children, and Santa, or their affinity for battery tossing and other general assbaggery.  Most All of that is well deserved and it’s even good form to make fun of their 10,000 losses.  On Wednesday night, however, Philly fans came through with a resounding victory the way they know best: booing the hell out of something. 

Obviously, as a member of the Ernie Johnson fan club I wouldn’t applaud a berating of the best on air talent in the business.  This was aimed directly at TBS.  Despite the network being owned by Mr. Turner of Atlanta Braves allegiance, I’m going to go with the idea that the people of Philly were booing the atrocious coverage TBS has provided throughout the playoffs and for the NLCS. 

The MLB playoffs have drawn terrible ratings this year and while the product may not be what it once was, you can’t convince me that TBS didn’t hurt MLB’s cause.  No one is thinking of TBS when they’re looking for a game.  TBS is the home of countless My Name is Earl reruns once the Friends and Seinfeld (God bless em) marathons are over.

For all their shortcomings, I’ve really come around to the idea that every major sporting event should be covered by ESPN.  Sure, the hype train blows its whistle twice as loud when something is on ESPN/ABC–look at all the athletes on Dancing With the Stars!…next on SC, Brett Favre takes out garbage–but they put together the best broadcast by far. 

In no way should this be an endorsement of Joe Morgan calling baseball games, or talking.  Seriously though, die TBS and well done Philadelphia. 

h/t: Awful Announcing

• This is the place to go for NFL Week 1 previews.  It has all the spreads and information you need for each game this coming weekend. [Midwest Sports Fans]
• Luol Deng will be ready for the preseason.  Oh and he likes rap and eats Egyptian food.  It’s all in his interview with CNN. [By The Horns]
• Oh Shaq, when will you just chill out?  Hopefully never if this hilarity continues. [NESW Sports]
• This week’s random retro Cub?  Scott Sanderson.  Usually the guys in this feature were lovable but not all that talented.  Sanderson is an exception, posting a career 3.84 ERA. [The Friendly Blogfines]
• So now it looks like Cubs fans are just booing everyone for everything without any good reason.  Here’s one: they have underperformed all season.  [I94 Sports]
• Michael Jordan wanted a guy named Joe Wolf in the 1987 draft.  Good thing Krause took Scott Pippen.  Whoever that is. [Pippen Ain't Easy]
• Friends of the site Docksquad Sports was featured on ESPN.  Does this mean they are part of the MSM now?  Just kidding, congratulations! [Docksquad Sports]
• Last night’s Florida State-Miami game was a great one, but should FSU have had one more play? Controversy…  [Detroit4lyfe]
• Here are 15 minutes of young MJ highlights if you have the time. [BDL]
• Soriano is being shut down, for now.  I’m trying really hard to care.  Here’s what it makes me think about: Had he been shut down months ago and Fox got his at-bats, maybe we would have won a few more.  Just speculation, but still. [Bleacher Nation]

It’s no secret that Stormin’ Norman and myself hold ESPN in the lowest regard. Gone are the days when I would watch Sportscenter four times per day, use anchor catchphrases in everyday life, and tolerate Chris Berman. Junior High was great though.

I also believe I’m past the days of picking apart everything the WWL does and blasting them for it. Instead of being pissed that the Red Sox and Yankees led off the show even though they may have played the Orioles and Rangers, I’ll need a full 15 to 20 minutes of Sawks-Yanks to start the show in order to fume. Now with the emergence and swarm of the blog world, this has turned into more of a blogs vs. msm issue.

For all the slamming of blogs done by the mainstream media, they were quick to use us in regard to some stories this week. Not “us” as in NQTC–we’re trying to keep the Andrews thing on the DL until Stormin’ Norman can destroy evidence–but blogs in general. Where was the Erin Andrews story in the mainstream media early this week? Even if you picked up one of those archaic newspapers you wouldn’t have seen it mentioned.

Was it really news though? I honestly wasn’t sure, because as much as the sports blog types and their readers are infatuated with Andrews, she’s probably not that big of a deal. So msm got a pass for staying mum on the story. Then it hit CNN, it hit Fox News; I even saw a story in the Tribune. The story is almost a week old! Some of these “reputable” media outlets even played the video or showed stills from it. With the Andrews story, it is clear to see what new function blogs are performing: testing.

All these news outlets allowed the story to make its way around the Internet for a few days and sat back to gauge reaction. Not only that, but they let the shock factor wear off. By the time these stories hit, just about every male sports fan had either seen the video or picked up a nasty computer virus, allowing the networks to show the video while falling just short of being completely appalling, which I guess is what they strive for.

ESPN gets a pass on the sideline princess saga, because…you know…awkward! However, shame on them for the Ben Roethlisberger incident. Their official comment was something about how they don’t report on civil cases? Really? Deadspin pointed out that most civil cases they have reported on are at least tied to criminal matters, but this sounds more like an excuse on the level you use to get out of going to someones wedding. In fact, one civil case involving Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia comes to mind as an example to the contrary.

The WWL’s Blog Buzz has also been suspiciously absent from the program.  I guess they only use it when they like what blogs are talking about. 

So do what you like, mainstream media, but we’re not going anywhere and now that you’ve figured that out you’re changing the way you do things.  We’re in your brain-case!

• ESPN’s Chris McKendry can’t stop laughing about marijuana.  Maybe it’s because the guy’s name is Blount.  Or maybe Kenny Mayne finally shared whatever he’s been on all this time.  [Awful Announcing]
• The Cubs won a rain (tornado?) shortened game last night against the Padres 6-4.  Theriot had two more homers.  Oh, so many puns to choose from with the power surge…how about Theroids? [Sun-Times]
• Sox lost to the Indians 4-0 yesterday, but at least Dye and Guillen got thrown out, so that’s fun.  [ESPN]
• Will this be Albert Pujols’ biggest season yet?  Pfft, with Sean Marshall pitching in his division? Unlikely. [Sharapova's Thigh]
• Oh, remember when McKendry was cracking up a few links ago?  This may have had a lot to do with that.  [HHR]
• Want to do some scouting for the Hawks WCF opponent?  Ducks-Wings Game 7 is tonight at 6:00 CT.  Here’s a preview. [Yahoo]

• The Blackhawks beat the Flames 4-1 to advance to the second round for the first time since 1996.  They’ll face the Vancouver Canucks.  [ESPN]
• ESPN collects draft grades from across the interwebs and gives each team a GPA.  ESPN’s GPA=Fail. [Awful Announcing]
• Four things to like and four things not to like about the Bears draft.  This column is entitled Eight Things to Hate About the Lions Draft in Detroit papers.  [Tribune]
• Something queer was going on with ESPN’s homepage yesterday afternoon.  [Deadspin]
• Ben Gordon is day-to-day with a hamstring injury, but is looking like he’ll play in Game 5. [Sun-Times]
• Apparently some Boston columnists are doing a little complaining about the officials in the Bulls-Celts series, citing two of the refs from Game 4 and their Chicago roots.  One of the two is actually from Phoenix and there weren’t any notable bad calls.  Awesome. [FanHouse]
• This is from Game 5 of the Blackhawks-Flames series, but a couple of ladies were visibly grossed out by Matt Walker’s mangled fingers.  [Zoner]
• Wilbon interviewed Derrick Rose for ESPN’s Sunday Conversation.  Check it out.  [Docksquad]

So I finally checked out ESPN’s new Chicago centered site (site? blog? page?  whatever it’s called) expecting to be shocked, appalled and generally saddened about life the way I am with anything new ESPN does outside of their Sportscenter commercials.  Really though, I’m not sure how much this affects us Chicago folk and if anything, it could be a good thing.

The new site seems to be just like their main site (ESPN East Coast) with all Chicago stories.  I haven’t been doing this blogging thing for very long, but from what I’ve seen it’s natural for bloggers to react with some fear anytime mainstream media do something that seems to tread on our territory.  Especially with a company with the power of ESPN, the idea that it can provide the same thing we do for readers with the advantage of all their financial backing and unparalleled access is scary.

I can’t say for sure what ESPN Chicago will be all about, but from spending just a short time on it today, I get the feeling it provides the same thing as ESPN.com does.  It’s your straight up sports news with some commentary from people that not everyone cares to hear from.  All due respect to the writers over there, but if something is going on with Lou and Ozzie, I’m going to Bleacher Nation and South Side Sox before I even think about heading to ESPN Chicago.

Blogs provide something deeper than the general interest that ESPN is based on.  When they try to get in depth or personal on a story all you get is another manufactured story from their hype machine.  When I say deeper, I don’t mean in an intellectual sense (blogs still have the market on poop jokes and pictures of drunken athletes), but in a personal and passionate sense.

ESPN Chicago will likely be nothing more than a great resource for some Chicago sports news.  It will be a good place to stop by once in a while to skim the headlines and look for an interesting story we can go check on elsewhere.  But when Orton and Cutler square off in a game of flip-cup, we still know where to go.  So I guess I missed an opportunity to hate on something ESPN has done, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, and will hopefully produce more good than bad.

• The Bulls won a great game at Houston, but Deng may be lost for the year.  It looks like a fracture, which doesn’t sound good. [Tribune] ***UPDATE: X-rays on Deng were negative, he is now day-to-day.
• Paul Harvey, another Chicago broadcasting legend, passed away this weekend.  Why do they always go in bunches?  So sad. [Chicago Breaking News]
• Cubs sign Corey Koskie to a minor-league contract.  This must be a bigger deal than I think, since everyone is reporting it like it’s exciting news. [Bleacher Nation]
• Should the Bulls honor Norm Van Lier like they did for Red?  And what about retiring Stormin’ Norman’s number?  [Tribune]
• Obama snuck out to the Department of the Interior to play ball.  I wonder how many teams were waiting to get on when he got there. [The Swamp]
• There is a behind the scenes book being written about ESPN.  It doesn’t sound like it’s going to exactly be hard-hitting, but hopefully we find out some juicy stuff. [Deadspin]
• Illinois fought hard the whole game, but couldn’t get over that hump down the stretch.  This would have been a big win, but we still have a shot at a 4 or 5 seed if we play well in the Big 10 tourney. [Sun-Times]
• I don’t want him, but apparently he wants us.  Curt Schilling has expressed interest in playing for the Cubs this year.  I couldn’t care less, that guy is a douche. [Wrigleyville23]

• ESPN will launch a new site specifically for Chicago sports.  There goes the neighborhood! [Tribune]
• What are the fantasy implications of the Kings-Bulls trade?  Here’s some expert analysis from me: if you had Gooden, your team sucks! [Give Me The Rock]
• A source close to Chad Ford says that Chicago would be Chris Bosh’s first choice as a free agent in 2010.  The Bulls hope his sources are different than Mortensen’s.  Thanks to Bino for the tip. [ESPN Deadline Round-up]
• NQTC amigo Sharapova’s Thigh has joined us in ditching Blogger.  Viva la Revolucion! Check out their site. [Sharapova's Thigh]
• Wisconsin plans on making Brewers license plates.  Get one on your car and it will run great from April to mid-July! [Sun-Times]
• Huge fight at a high school basketball game in Alabama.  “Dale Jr. is way more betterer than Tony Stewart!!!”  Okay, maybe that’s not what started it.  [Sports Crackle Pop]
• D-Wade sues his estranged wife for talking shit defamation.  NBA refs have never heard of such a lawsuit and are considering a class action against Sheed. Maybe. [Sports By Brooks]
• Northwestern finally won a close game last night.  Freshman John Shurna hit the game winning three with three seconds to go.  Ha, Buckeyes! [ESPN]
• Tyson Chandler is heading back to the Hornets after he was not medically cleared by Oklahoma City.  Awkward! [ESPN]