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Midweek musings: A college basketball doubleheader Tuesday night at the United Center featured Michigan State defeating Kentucky and Kansas beating Duke. It also featured future NBA players such as Duke freshman Jabari Parker, who returned home to Chicago and impressed (27 points, nine rebounds). And the evening’s entertainment featured something other than rare talent: rare crowd enthusiasm. Well, rare for the UC this season when the Bulls have played. At some point, Derrick Rose and Co. will give the crowd something to get excited about. Best guess is that will occur Saturday when the Indiana Pacers visit.
April Rose on the cover of Kandy magazine is a sweet treat indeed.
* If that doubleheader foursome makes this season’s NCAA tournament Final Four, it wouldn’t be surprising.
* Speaking of Duke, just guessing the Blue Devils, who lost 94-83, will be practicing free throws during its next practice, if not sooner. The Blue Devils were 16-of-28 against Kansas. Can’t imagine Coach K being OK with those numbers.
* Speaking of Kansas and NBA talent, freshman Andrew Wiggins had 16 of his 22 points in the second half. Chances are good he will return to the United Center next season and not put up numbers that good — mainly because he will be on an NBA roster.
* Speaking of Rose (trust me, we were a few paragraphs ago), he is listed day-to-day with a hamstring injury. As opposed to the rest of us who are day-to-day not because of a hamstring injury but because that’s the way life is.
* Speaking of injuries, OK, so the Chicago Bears have placed cornerback Charles Tillman on injured reserve (but with the option of bring him back this season). Meaning he will miss the rest of the regular season. At least he should be good to go for Super Bowl. Meaning go somewhere to watch the game, not actually play in it.
* Speaking of Tillman, his opting to have an injury heal rather than undergo surgery to fix it just might mean he will be gone next season — to retirement, not actually playing for another team.
* Speaking of careers ending, former Cubs player Mark DeRosa retired Tuesday. Meaning there’s another possibility for the Cubs radio analyst job alongside Pat Hughes. Some of the names being thrown out (such as former Cubs infielder Ryan Theriot) may seem a bit odd. The real strange thing is Tribune Co., which owns WGN and appears to be in a cost-cutting mode, actually would replace Keith Moreland rather than have Hughes to a Vin Scully-like one-man broadcast.
* Speaking of baseball, the Atlanta Braves have announced they will be moving to the suburbs. Heck, after all with a 17-year-old stadium, who can blame them? WTF? What Turner Field? If the taxpayers in Cobb County end up paying for any of that new stadium, they might want to reflect how much so many around there are opposed to government handouts. Talk about an entitlement program.
* The theme song for NBA teams waiting to draft Parker and Wiggins should be titled like this:
Time is of the essence (whatever that phrase means) to vote for “Sports & Torts” in the Podcastawards.com contest. “Sports & Torts” is among 10 finalists for best sports podcast. The weekly interview show – co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris — airs on Thursdays at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. Voting ends Nov. 15. On the bright side, voting is reasonably quick and painless.
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Thank you in advance for your vote or votes. As with any election involving anything Chicago-related, you are encouraged to vote early and often. The main difference between this and an actual Chicago election is multiple votes from a person (presumably still living) is permitted for the Podcast Awards. You are allowed to vote once a day. To vote, click here. Among our competition are sites from ESPN and CBS, so we need to battle the behemoths. We feel good about doing so — especially with your assistance. Stay tuned. And thank you once again.
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