What a nut (or two) Bulls' Gordon is

^

The Bald Truth

Sunday's Bulls-Celtics game was so much fun, it's almost not worth mentioning that Ben Gordon grabbed his crotch on national TV to celebrate his 3-pointer that sent the game into a second OT.

Almost.

C'mon, man. There are kids watching! I mean, who do you think you are? Roseanne?

The Quote

"Do that four times and it's an intentional walk." - Cubs TV analyst Bob Brenly after the umpire called a ball on Cardinals reliever Blaine Boyer for licking his fingers while standing on the mound.

Brenly was just musing, but think about it: No more risking wild pitches while issuing an intentional walk - something that happened just the other day to help the Astros beat the Dodgers.

The Balder Truth

One of the best free-throw shooters in NBA history, Ray Allen, missed an important foul shot down the stretch in Boston's Game 4 loss to the Bulls. All-Star Paul Pierce, whose missed free throw gave the Bulls a Game 1 win, also bricked one late in Game 4. 

And it wasn't only a Celtics problem. Gordon and Kirk Hinrich, both excellent free-throw shooters, misfired from the line, too.

Oh well ... you can't really expect four guys whose combined salaries are about 86 Zillion Dollars to actually make clutch free throws, right?

Remember, It's Still April

Hey kids, look who the Cubs' best player has been all season: Kosuke Fukudome.

Were I a Cubbie fan, I'd be waiting to see how the $48 Million Japanese Import does in a month not named April before I'd get too excited.

Then again, were I a Cubbie fan, I'd have committed hara-kiri back when Harry Caray was still Holy Cow!-ing for the Cardinals.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Well, I just couldn't do it.

Determined to save money, I let my Chicago Tribune subscription expire a couple of weeks ago. But when they called to offer me a great deal on Sunday-Friday-Wednesday delivery, I relented and signed back up. 

Then the cash-strapped Tribune canned several of my sportswriting friends and I almost canceling again in protest. But I realized that would hurt my many good friends who still are writing for the paper.

Plus, I like reading the paper - not sitting at a computer - while I eat breakfast, especially on Sundays.

Frankly, I can't believe how many people don't ever read a newspaper, even on Sundays. And I worry not only for the industry but for the nation as a whole.

Last I looked, Craigslist, Twitter and Google weren't investigating corrupt politicians.

Can't spell Kosuke Fukudome without lots of K's

^

The Bald Truth

Japan's manager benched Kosuke Fukudome for the WBC championship game after the flailing $48 Million Cubbie had batted .200 with no extra-base hits and seven strikeouts in seven games. Japan won the title without him.

Great to see that spending the winter back home and most of spring training with his compatriots has straightened K-Fu out just in time for the season.

THE BALDEST TRUTH

Congratulations to Chris Roberts, whose last-second, 75-foot fling lifted Bradley into the semifinals of the EverybodyGetsATrophy.com tournament.

The coach of the losing team, Oakland's Greg Kampe, has filed a formal protest, claiming that Roberts couldn't possibly have gotten the inbounds pass, taken two or three steps and released the basketball within the 9/10ths of a second that was on the clock after Oakland had scored the go-ahead hoop.

"The video will show," Kampe said, "our kids won the game."

Though there's no way his protest will prevent Bradley from advancing, our sources say college hoops honchos will create yet another tournament just for Oakland: The One Team One Title Tourney.