Bulls May Be Close to Issuing Mayday Alert

April 22, 2013 @ admin → No Comments

Monday meanderings: The Chicago Bulls are one day closer to the end of their season. Of course, that would be true even if they had won their first-round game Saturday at Brooklyn. Well, as far as the calendar is concerned. With Game 2 Monday (April 22), the Nets can take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Bulls center Joakim Noah — many in the media said he wouldn’t play in Game 1 because of injury but did — is expected to play in Game 2. Unless he and forward Luol Deng can play like all-stars (hey, they were in the all-star game), the Bulls’ season likely will be over before May 1.

The Bulls can look forward to returning to Chicago for Game 3.

* Make no mistake about it. The Cubs are the second-worst fielding team in baseball with a .974 fielding percentage and 17 errors in 17 games. Only the Washington Nationals are worse (.973 with 18 errors in 18 games). The mathematical calculation department at elliottharris.com still is calculating, but early estimates says those numbers project to 162 errors for the season. The Cubs do hold the distinction of committing the most errors in a season (199) since 1970. They accomplished that in 1974.

Adam Dunn has struck out 26 times in 65 at-bats this season. He has three walks. He still is not the Sox with the worst walk-to-strikeout ratio. And he won’t be any time soon. Dayan Viciedo, who is on the disabled list, has struck out 16 times in 48 at-bats with zeno walks. Any hopes that the Sox would cut Dunn from the team seem about as likely as Dunn raising his batting average from its current .108 to challenge for the league lead. Too much money owed him. Too few prospects who could replace him as a potential power source.

* As bad as Dunn’s numbers are, Houston’s Rick Ankiel has struck out 23 times in 35 at-bats and has no walks. Guessing that’s of little consolation to Sox manager Robin Ventura and/or Sox fans.

* First baseman Paul Konerko leads the White Sox with 11 RBI. The team has scored 61 runs, tied with Seattle for the fewest in the American League. On the bright side for the Sox, the Mariners have played two more games.

* First baseman Anthony Rizzo leads the Cubs with 14 RBI. The team has scored 57 runs in 17 games. Only Miami (43 runs in 19) and the Los Angeles Dodgers (54 in 18) have scored fewer in the National League. Any talk that the Cubs might send Rizzo and his .210 batting average seems highly unlikely when he is driving in about 25 percent of the team’s runs.

* Cubs manager Dale Sveum did mention the possibility of players such as Rizzo and shortstop Starlin Castro being sent to Class AAA Iowa. Which likely would boost attendance for the Iowa Cubs and lead to Comcast SportsNet Chicago establishing a Des Moines bureau.

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Ashante Williams and ChrisDell Harris after the Chicago Bliss game April 19.

As those who follow the NFL are well aware, the league’s draft starts Thursday (April 25). Which means hundreds of college prospects are waiting for their name to be called. And if their name isn’t called, then they are waiting for their phone to be called so they can catch on as a free agent to come to training camp.

One such player is Ashante Williams from the University of Illinois, where he was a linebacker last season. The Ohio native projects to play defensive back in the pros. He was at the Chicago Bliss game on Friday (April 19), where he watched his significant other — running back ChrisDell Harris — score the team’s first touchdown of the Legends Football League (formerly the Lingerie Football League) season in what became a 31-18 loss to the Los Angeles Temptation.

After the game, Ashante an ChrisDell were gracious enough to take some time to chat. Here we go with the video: