One of those idiots is Rick Morrissey.  Now you might be sitting there thinking that I’m the one starting this battle, that us bloggers are the ones that initially waged war on the mainstream media.  With Morrissey you would be wrong.

Anyways, he made one of his more ridiculous statements a few years ago, and now it has come back to bite him in the ass.  According to Mike McGraw of the Daily Herald:

Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey showed up at practice carrying an old copy of his sports section and a jar of salsa. Apparently on draft night 2007, he wrote that if Joakim Noah becomes a useful player within three years, he’ll eat his column with salsa.

Well, Noah had 21 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks in Saturday’s win over Charlotte, so Morrissey actually showed up to eat the column. I didn’t see it happen, but the stunt was videotaped and I’m sure the two-year old newsprint was delicious.

Come on Rick!  You thought there was no possibility at all that Noah would even be “useful” within 3 years?  We all thought he would be useful.  At 5 pts and 5 rebs a game he would be useful.  99% of Chicago were way ahead of your idiotic prediction about him being completely worthless on draft day.  We knew he would be a decent rebounder and perhaps a solid role player off the bench (which definitely would have counted as useful).  Most of the reasonable-minded Chicagoans following the Bulls were more concerned that he would take the next step to double-double guy.

(Sidenote: Noah is an all-star so far this year.  Only Dwight Howard is playing better than him at the center position in the East.  You could argue Brook Lopez deserves it, although he plays for a losing team, but even then many all-star teams carry three centers.)

And what’s with the salsa stunt?  I know business is bad, but really?  I don’t see how that’s necessary.  Just admit that another stupid column of yours was completely moronic and wrong and move on.

How much should we read into Chicago’s classic seven-game series against Boston? Was the Bulls’ gutsy performance a harbinger of things to come, or was it lightning in a bottle? Did they graduate into a team that knows how to scramble defenses with a legitimate pick-and-roll game, or were they just lucky to encounter a crippled Celtics team ill-suited to deal with their quickness and athleticism?

Those aren’t the only imperative questions for Chicago. Even if we conclude that they came of age in April, is it fair to expect them to continue their progress without their top scorer, Ben Gordon, whom they lost to Detroit?

Short answer: Yes.

The story then goes on to discuss how and why they will progress, however while they claim the Bulls will move forward, the story does not explain what to expect.  Another 1st round exit? 2nd round? Eastern Conference Finals?  It’s hard to tell.  Theoretically, the departure of Ben Gordon will allow Derrick Rose, John Salmons, and Luol Deng to replace his scoring and develop even farther (at least in the case of Rose).  With Noah emerging as a legitimate 10 and 10 threat on the block (and a surprising ability to get up and down the court in transition), the only real question mark on this team is TT.  With Brad Miller coming off the bench, the Bulls should be able to account for any inconsistencies on the part of Thomas.

So?  So what do I think the Bulls are capable of?  They should be able to put themselves in a 4th-6th seed in the East and be in a better position to advance to the 2nd round than they were this past season.  A number of things could happen to change this, like the Hinrich-Salmons-Rose backcourt not gelling, or the Bulls making some kind of gigantic deadline deal (perhaps for Boozer, Amare, or even Bosh).  Either way, expect to be blown away by Rose’s athleticism.  Oh, and the Vinny Del Negro discussion is for another day.

Booing is not necessarily a bad thing, however.  Everyone’s gut reaction to it is that its insensitive and/or just plain rude.  The argument that always appeals to me is when someone says, “How would you like it if you were doing shitty at your job and 10s of 1000s of people gathered around your little cubicle and booed you?”  The problem with that is, at least at my job, I’m not being paid $30 million dollars to be accountable to the entire City.

Booing can be a reflection of an intelligent fan base.  Cubs fans get so much shit for being “too loyal” to the team, even when the team trots out miserable squads year after year.  Well just because we love baseball and are willing to watch a 65 win team all summer doesn’t mean we are idiots.  If someone deserves to be booed, then Cubs fans will boo them.

Which brings me back to Milton Bradley.  He knows what he signed up for.  He signed a gigantic multi-year deal and with those kinds of things come expectations.  As he even put it himself after last night’s home run:

”I didn’t come here to suck. I know I’ve sucked so far, but give me some love, you know what I’m saying? I am a Cub.”

I mean we love you as a Cub, but you’re going to need to start hitting and earn that contract.

So why was it not okay to boo Jacque Jones and okay to boo Milton?  Expectations.  Jacque Jones signed a 3-year $16 million dollar deal.  He had been the kind of guy that hit about .285 with 20 home runs a year before he signed that contract.  Not to say that isn’t a huge contract, but when he struggled in April by hitting around .230 Cubs fans mercilessly booed him.  It was 1 month and he wasn’t supposed to be an all-star.  Bradley’s contract is twice that and he has been even worse, hitting well below .200.

I guess my point is it’s ok to boo Bradley, but booing Jones wasn’t cool.  Unless I’m completely wrong and Cubs fans are just racist.