Stepping out of MJ's shadow

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The Bald Truth

Although I've had only a few conversations of any length with Jeff Jordan, I can tell he's a good kid.

Intelligent, humble, likable, respectful, proud to be Michael's son but anxious to make his own way in the world. 

Many are surprised by Jeff's decision to walk away from his backup role at Illinois to concentrate on his studies, but it makes perfect sense. 

He proved he could make it as a jock - going from walk-on to scholarship athlete by playing good defense, working hard in practice and growing into a leadership role - but, as he said in his statement: 

"I have come to the point where I’m ready to focus on life after basketball.”

Playing college sports is a huge time commitment. My daughter played two years of Division III ball and she had little life outside the team. And the commitment is even more all-consuming at the major-college level.

Jeff only was going to play a few minutes a game for the Illini and he wanted to get on with making his mark outside of athletics. So he opted to step out of his dad's long basketball shadow to focus on real life.

It was an admirable, mature decision.

Nice job, kid, and good luck.

The Balder Truth

NBA teams are in love with the potential of Spanish teen Ricky Rubio, who is expected to be either the second or third player drafted Thursday.

Well, he might be the goods. Or he might not be. Nobody really knows.

Give me Stephen Curry. He can handle the ball, he's an excellent passer and he'll be a big-time 3-point shooter.

A stiff breeze could carry Curry into the next county, true, but we know he has a lot of game.

Can anybody really say as much about Ricky Rubio?

THE BALDEST TRUTH

The fine folks of Albuquerque are going ga-ga for Manny Ramirez, and you know he'll receive much the same treatment when he returns to Tinseltown.

Yep, baseball fans sure are outraged by these juicing cheaters!

Bulls don't need no stinkin' Dwyane Wade

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The Bald Truth

Thank goodness John Paxson held onto Donyell Marshall instead of including that all-time superstar in a 2003 draft-day trade that would have brought Dwyane Wade to the Bulls.

I mean, if Pax had made that deal, the Bulls never would have drafted Kirk Hinrich ... and then where would they be?

The Quote

"When I got the steal, what was going through my head is coach said, 'We got a time-out left.' So I was about to call it ... but then I said, 'Nah.'" - Wade

The Balder Truth

Wade's most recent amazing performance came in the Heat's double-overtime win over the Bulls on Monday night, when he capped a 48-point, 12-assist game by stealing the ball from John Salmons and then hitting a running 3-pointer at the buzzer.

He had sent the game into OT with a trey but had missed a difficult reverse layup at the first-overtime buzzer.

Two out of three? Not bad for a Chicago kid whom Illinois and DePaul barely recruited.

As a fellow Marquette Golden Warrior Eagle, all I can say is: Thanks, Illini and Demons!

THE BALDEST TRUTH

It's pretty tough to make a case for anybody other than LeBron James as NBA MVP, but one could make a pretty good argument that Wade should be co-MVP.

Would the Heat win even 15 games without the league's leading scorer?

OK, the Cavs would be in pretty serious trouble without James, too. 

Kobe Bryant? Hardly. Great, great player. And I'd probably choose him over either Dwyane or LeBron to take the final shot of a game. But the Lakers would be playoff contenders even if Kobe got charged with rape again and had to spend a mess of time in a Denver courtroom.

One thing for sure: Of the three, only Dwyane has an NBA title since he entered the league.

Another thing for sure: Only the Bulls have Captain Kirk.

Of Oscar errors, stupid rules and Joe the Twin

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The List

Ten random observations from the weekend that was:

1. Not rooting for the Twins to beat the White Sox (or for the White Sox to beat the Twins, for that matter), but I hope good guy Joe Crede has a healthy, productive season for his new ballclub. 

2. To the press-conference inquisitor who got Jim Calhoun all hot and bothered: Successful major-sport college coaches deserve every penny they are paid. Nobody at any university - and that includes the school president - works harder or faces more scrutiny than the head basketball or football coach.

3.  Interviewing is easy if one can do it in the setting in which Baba Wawa always gets to ask questions - one-on-one with the subject, with the camera rolling and with millions of viewers watching (or about to watch). She'd impress me a lot more if she got anything substantive out of an angry jock in the corner of a crowded locker room.

4. Late in Sunday's Bulls-Pacers game, Stacey King identified 17 games the Bulls "should" win before season's end (including Sunday's contest). His team promptly lost. Hey Stacey: The Lakers or Celtics are good enough to say they should win a game; the Bulls aren't. Fact is, opposing teams - including the Pacers - think they should beat the Bulls every time.

5. As outstanding as Sean Penn was in Milk, even he gave a shout-out to deserving Best Actor winner Mickey Rourke. I'd like to thank the Academy ... for missing the obvious.

6. Rutgers receiver Kevin Britt told reporters at the NFL Combine that he wants to be drafted by the Bears so Devin Hester can be his "mentor." That's a good one. Were Britt at receiver for the Bears, he'd have to tell Hester where to line up on half the plays.

7. Wow ... 70 points for the Illini. Just like a big-boy team!

8. Not a single day will go by in 2009 without one of the New York papers coming up with some dirt on A-Roid.

9. Smart of Phil Mickelson to squeeze in a victory before Tiger returns to the tour.

10. The Bulls have told all recent acquisitions that they're still enforcing their no-headband mandate. Brilliant rule! Very important to a team's success! Thank goodness they won't let a headband-wearing loser like LeBron join the team when he becomes a free agent next year.