Patience and Patients: Baseball, Bulls’ Dunleavy

February 4, 2015 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: Piles of snow, stranded automobiles and other inconveniences of winter would be more tolerable for some of us today if pitchers and catchers were reporting to spring training tomorrow. If it’s any consolation to the baseball fans our there in cyberspace (and possibly elsewhere), it’s getting closer. Give it a little time. Soon. Very soon.

Video below of Playboy amateur Sara Kristina.

* Speaking of time, the Chicago Bulls have been without injured small forward Mike Dunleavy for 16 games. A bum ankle (although the medical staff around here is fairly certain that’s not the official diagnosis). He will miss his 17th consecutive contest Wednesday at Houston. In Dunleavy’s absence, the Bulls have gone 7-9. Meaning the Bulls are 23-10 with him. Feel free to infer from those numbers whatever you want.

* Speaking of Dunleavy’s injury, on the bright (?) side, he said after Tuesday’s practice (in which he did not participate): “I don’t really see it as something I could do more damage to. I just can’t play on it. So that’s what it comes down to. I can do a lot of stuff, but I can’t run. When I ultimately have to start running, that’s a problem. You have to be able to run in this game, and that’s kind of the point I’m at right now. Who knows? Maybe I can get over that hump in the next few days and we’re in business. Right now, we’re kind of going as the ankle goes.” And it seems the ankle is going nowhere — slowly.

* Still speaking of the Bulls, all they really need to do is reach the postseason. Well, that and avoid facing the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the playoffs. The Cavs have won 11 in a row and are one-half game behind the Bulls (30-19) for the No. 4 seed. So the question becomes whether the Bulls or Cavs can capture the No. 3 seed (a spot occupied at the moment by the Washington Wizards at 31-18) or the No. 2 seed (a spot occupied at the moment by the Toronto Raptors at 33-16). The challenge for Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau is not so much compiling the best regular-season record as it is having his team healthy and functioning cohesively — two areas of concern to this point in the season. And the likelihood of either or both becoming a reality by the playoffs? Unknown. So now you know. Or don’t.

Playboy February Playmate Kayslee Collins. Credit: Josh Ryan

* If this is Wednesday (which — despite still being a bit under the weather — seems fairly good because yesterday was Tuesday (it was, wasn’t it?), then we all must be eagerly awaiting another edition of “Sports & Torts” co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris at noon Central time on Talkzone.com. The Feb. 5, 2015, episode features interviews with former White Sox star Harold Baines and former Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Roger Brown. Podcast of the show will become later Thursday on the Talkzone.com site. For those of you who may have missed last week’s show (or who would like to enjoy an encore with Playboy’s Miss February Kayslee Collins and former Minnesota Vikings standout Jim Marshall, you can access that program by clicking here. Some of you out there think that mentioning Kayslee is merely another way to run a photo of her; some of you out there think that it the furthest thing from the creative forces that strive to provide quality entertainment. All I can say is some of you just might be right. Not that it matters. After all, I still get to call the shots around here. Ah, the joys of being your own boss (or whatever this is).

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Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the escapist efforts of the editorial and video departments at ElliottHarris.com):