Chicago - My Kind of Town!

OK, it's been a couple of days now and I have had a chance to come down off the emotional high that was Chicago. Thought I should update the blog. I can't believe it's come and gone. It was awesome. Everything about the city that we saw and did was amazing. The sporting events, the city, the people, the meals, the classic hotel...all amazing.

So, let me summarize...

• Thursday morning we left at 6am from Port Moody. It was me, Trevor, and another friend of mine Shaun. We got down to SeaTac in good time and (9am ish) and decided it was time for some bevvies. We of course decided that screwdrivers would be the best option. Breakfast also sounded like an idea so I ordered up an omelet with some crab and shrimp. Normally, this might sound tasty, but I had forgotten that I was in a restaurant in the AIRPORT! So, the combo of eggs, shrimp, vodka, orange juice, and coffee had my stomach doing circles! With about 25 minutes before we boarded the plane I spent some time in the local shitter trying to make myself puke. The other end was working just fine - I was able to purge my bowels of a soupy like substance that would have made the soup-nazi proud. I was still green as a Celts jersey when I boarded the plane. I immediately located the nearest bathroom on the plane and prepared all 3 barf bags in my row for the inevitable puke fest at 32,000 feet. I was able to catch some Z's on the plane and ultimately my stomach issues subsided. That had the potential to be the worst start to a roadie ever.

• We arrived at our hotel, the Ambassador East to find this 1938 gem of a hotel. The rooms were tiny and hadn't been upgraded in a long time. We had some masking tape on the drywall in our room and the grout in the shower looked like my handy work. Ben and Trev's room was -32 upon arrival and they quickly cranked the heater to 80 degrees in hopes of warming up the ice box. My room was so small that the 2nd bed was actually butted up against the door opening. Crazy and classic at the same time.
  

• Our first night we went to Hugo's Frog Bar down the street. We geared up with long johns, gloves, coats, etc and walked the 3 blocks in -20 degree weather. Awesome. We ate and drank our faces off. Our appetizers were frog legs, escargot, oysters, etc...followed by monster steaks. We washed all of this down with Sam Adams. With a $400+ bill on the 1st night we had started the trip off with a bang. It should also be noted that Benny almost forgot his gloves at the restaurant. Thankfully, Trev remembered to grab them. Remember this for later...
  


• Upon arriving back at the hotel in the wee hours of the morning Trev and Ben noticed their room has only warmed up slightly. Oh well, I guess it takes awhile to heat up a hotel room.
  


• When Friday morning came around I went over to see the boys and find out our schedule. When they opened the door I found Trev and Benny fully clothed like they were going on an adventure to the north pole. Both had their coats and hats on. Why? Because their room was still -20. I guess the heater wasn't working after all. A quick call to the front desk and a visit from the local maintenance guy revealed the filter was shot and they had been blowing cold air around for the last 10 hours. Nice. Anyways, the boys had the better of the 2 rooms as it was bigger and had a cool peak of Lake Michigan from one of the windows.
  


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• We headed out for the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave). This is the main street of downtown Chicago that has hundreds of shops/stores/malls/restaurants. Amazing area. Filled with people. It was still quite cold and we walked a lot so we were a bit frosty after awhile.

• We shopped and I spent hundreds of dollars adding to Ryan's ever-expanding jersey collection. For Christmas, he will be getting a Garnett, Nash, and Chris Paul under the tree. Later, I would also add a Derrick Rose to the pile to go with the Kobe jersey we had already bought for him


• For lunch on Friday we went to a local Italian place called Giordano's. They advertise that they have the best deep dish pizza in Chicago. We took them up on the offer. We also saw CJ Watson eating in this place. We had to wait 30 minutes for a table (at 1pm) but it was worth the wait. While we were waiting for our lunch in came Anthony Morrow but the wait was too long for him so he want across the street to some other Italian place. Obviously Morrow and Watson aren't that close because they never acknowledged each other (or maybe they didn't see each other). Anyways, our deep dish pizza was big and outstanding.

• Our first game of the trip was Warriors vs. Bulls. Just walking into the United Centre was amazing. The history in that building. Awesome. The banners hanging from the rafters. Wow. Plus, we had 8th row seats behind the Warriors bench at the free throw line.

• Unreal. How impressive and cool the whole experience was finally hit me when they Bulls introductions came on...the music, the intro, the announcer and the crowd made the experience surreal. Hard to put into words really. Maybe I'll add the video of the intro's later...yeah, good idea. Anyways, the game was good. It went to OT with the Bulls eventually pulling it out 96-91. What did I take from the game? Many observations...


• Brad Miller gained a new nickname from our crew...the appetizer. He was the Bulls offense in the 1st quarter getting 12 pts and 7 rebounds. His stats for the game, 12 pts, 13 rebs. So, he set the stage for the rest of the night with his big start. Nice call Benny, the appetizer.


• Radmanovic's jump shot could bring rain.


• Deng is not a focal point of the Bulls offense...which is strange considering he's their leading scorer. Watching the game I didn't think he was anything special until I realized he had just put up 21-6-6. He just gets his points here and there, on broken plays, offensive rebounds, or wherever. Quiet player but really effective.


• Rose is not a natural leader at all. He doesn't say a thing on the court or in the huddle. That being said, none of the Bulls exhibited much confidence in their games. They constantly passed up open shots once Rose had passed to them. No wonder his assists are down.


• Monta Ellis is fast. Very fast. No wonder he turns the ball over so much...his mind cannot keep up with his body.


• Mikki Moore has the skinniest legs of any man alive and they are probably even skinnier than Calista Flockhart's.


• Hinrich is a whiner. Every call he complains or walks away in disgust.


• Del Negro should be fired. The offense has no flow to it at all. The guys really have no idea what they are running...they need a leader.
• After the game we went to the Chicago Chop House for steak. It should be called something other than steak because what we ate was like no other steak I had ever tasted. Amazing. 60 day aged Kobe prime rib he said. I asked for a steak knife and the waiter laughed at me. His look screamed of "son, you are a fool". He was right, I didn't need a steak knife to cut through this buttery velvet medium rare piece of heaven. Oh my. I guess it should be good for $89 dollars. Awesome food, awesome atmosphere. Afterwards, we waddled outside, found a cab and headed back to the hotel. As we exited the cab, again, Benny dropped one of his gloves. He was doing his best to lose them. We kept saving the day.
  

Well, that's a little bit of what happened the first 2 days in the Windy City...I'll do more about Saturday and Sunday tomorrow night...ciao for now.

Gibson's Steakhouse...

The 18oz bone-in ribeye steak....so big I ate it by hand...and couldn't finish it.





This was the key lime pie ordered for the table...it was tiny.



9:30am - Chicago
-15 degrees outside...
off for breakfast and to hit the Maginificent Mile...let's see what the shops of Chicago have to offer.

Meat Sweats....

Well, it's 11:30pm Chicago time and I am at the Ambassador East hotel in downtown Chicago watching the Orlando vs. Utah game from my 1938 hotel room. What are you doing? We just got back from Gibson's Steakhouse and I am suffering from the meat sweats. We had frog legs, escargot, mussels, goat cheese, oysters rockefeller, 18oz rib-eyes, asparagus, salad, and crawfish macaroni and cheese...oh and Sam Adams. What a meal. What a night. We walked the 4 blocks down to the restaurant in -20 degree temperatures...man it was cold. But so far, it's been a truly amazing experience...

More tomorrow...I'm tired after getting up at 5am so I'm gonna hit the sack...tomorrow we're gonna hit the Magnificent Mile and take in the Warriors and Bulls...oh man, what a day.

Chicago Here We Come...

Well, at 6am tomorrow morning we set off for the Seattle airport. At just after noon we'll be on our way to the Windy City...well, it could now be officially called the Chilly City with the temperatures hitting close to -20 at times this week. But good news, the forecast is for anywhere from 0 to -10 during our 4 day stay...So, here's the itinerary...

Thursday - Travel day. Arrive in Chicago at 6:25pm
Dinner is planned for http://www.hugosfrogbar.com/

Friday - Warriors vs. Bulls
Lunch at http://www.smoquebbq.com/

Saturday - Celtics vs. Bulls

Sunday - Packers vs Bears at 12:00
Sunday - Lightning vs. Blackhawks at 7:00pm

Monday - travel day - arrive in Seattle at noon and drive home...should be home for dinner.

I will do my best to post our adventures on here...
I think this could be one of the greatest boys roadies ever created...
How will it ever be topped?
Will Boston, Golden, and Chilliwack be able to hook up on any trades?
How much weight will I gain?
Who will have the nastiest gas?
Keep checking in to the blog for updates...

Down Goes Oden...

So, is it official? Is Greg Oden the modern day Sam Bowie? I mean it's bad luck and all but the comparisons have to be there. Portland could have had Kevin Durant. Could you imagine? For many fantasy teams, losing their starting center could be a big problem...lucky for French he already has Camby. Plus, he had Chandler on the bench and now just spent $43 bucks on Joel Pryzbilla. He has 3 guys who can play. Was $43 too much on Godzilla? Yes, yes it was. But not because Joel can't produce...he should be a 6 and 10 guy with lots of blocks over the rest of the season - but because in January Joel and Chandler will be on the bench and Blake Griffin will be the 6th forward in French's starting line-up. As good as a season as Oden was having (12ppg, 9reb, 48 blocks) this injury really doesn't affect the French team too much (in my opinion). Having Blake Griffin coming back in 3-4 weeks should more than make up for Oden's loss. French, you'll be OK.

Anthony Randolph went for 28 and 13 tonight with 5 assists (zero TO's), 1 STL, and 1BLK. So, is this the breakout night that gets him consistent minutes moving forward?? Probably not.

CJ Watson gets 17 points tonight. Maybe me signing him won't turn out as bad as I thought.

Dahntay Jones is gone from Golden. He's averaged 16ppg so far this season in 20 games and I am dropping him. Hmm. Wise move? I don't know. He's just so inconsistent. He will get picked up next week (waiver wire restrictions will have him getting signed on Wednesday night). Teams lacking scoring punch should be all over this guy. I know he's not the sexy pick but he still starts and can have value. Look for Idaho, Boston, Yuma, and Seoul to be all over him.

How many more games go by before Mickael Pietrus finds a JBL home? 22pts tonight with 4/8 from downtown.

I signed the youngster DeMar DeRozan tonight. Why? Well, my son Ryan loves the guy. We watch a lot of Raptors games together and he loves that DD tries to dunk everything. The fact that he he's freakishly athletic and seems to be getting better each game is encouraging. Plus, he starts and plays 4 games next week. So, is it Double-D for 4 games or Eric Gordon for 2 games??? Hmmm, tough call.

With my trip to Chicago coming up Ryan has asked for numerous jerseys to add to his already large collection. Whose jerseys does he have so far???? How about this collection for a 6 year old...he has Brandon Roy, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez, Iverson, Lebron, Nash, Bosh, Lewis, Earl Watson (classic white Sonics bought at the last Sonics game ever for $10 bucks), Dwyane Wade and I think I'm forgetting someone....Anyways, guess whose jersey Ryan wants me to buy when I'm in Chicago....Marco Bellinelli. I don't get it but somehow Ryan has a man-crush on Bellinelli. Go figure. I told him it might be difficult for me to find a Raptor jersey in Chicago, let alone a Marco Bellinelli Raptor jersey. Tops on Ryan's Christmas list is Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Dirty Dirk, and Derrick Rose. I think I can locate those in Chi-town.

Oh, guess who woke up tonight....Boris Diaw. 28 pts on 10/12 shooting with 5/6 from downtown. At least he can still play. I was about ready to give him up for dead. I know he was on my bench tonight - but this has at least given him a 2nd chance now for next week. Heck, even Erick Dampier was OK tonight with 12 rebs and 4 blocks. Not sure I can squeeze him into my lineup next week though.

I think the Pancakes and Thurmans are ready to move a bit over the next few weeks. Trevor's team is getting healthy and depending on what Iverson brings to the table they could start to move. He'll have Wade, Dirk, Iverson, Turkoglu, Mayo, Okur, Artest and others ready to contribute and should have Tayshaun Prince in a couple weeks as well. He's a long way behind in certain categories but there are still 17-18 weeks still to go. Chubby recently brought in Mo Williams, Manu Ginobili, and Mike Dunleavy in hopes of jump starting his struggling squad. They should help and maybe if Michael Redd can get healthy they could move up too. Kevin Love's return to Minny has helped Big Al and he could be ready for an increase in stats too. We'll see.

So, both these teams have made some major moves over the last 7-10 days...and that leaves Idaho sitting there in neutral. What moves will Tuna make in attempt to get things moving? Tuna's 16 guys deep - it's just that they are all role players. He's got Josh Howard and Kevin Marting waiting in the wings - but how long can he wait? Another 3-4 weeks before they are back and he could be in a really big hole. Rumours are that Portland will look to trade Andre Miller once December 15th rolls around (earliest he can be traded). Would that help his stock??? I guess it depends on where he lands. Maybe the Blazers look to trade him for another big man to help out in the middle?

Anyone else wondering why Arctic signed Eddy Curry? Maybe the bigger question is why Arctic still has Eddy Curry on his roster?? Curry is hurt yet the Circle Jerks are keeping him. Why? Crikker knows Eddy's a big fat tub of goo right? Good to see the Eddy Curry line is still intact with this guy (you know the one, where you take Eddy's Assists + steals + blocks and add them up and see if they equal his total turnovers - it's called the "Eddy line"). Eddy's line this year for him = 0 assists/steals/blocks compared to 11 turnovers. Well done Eddy.

Monta Ellis played all 48 minutes tonight and started at Forward. Could you imagine if Ellis got Forward eligibility??? Crazy. And look, Moped Ellis had only 7 turnovers tonight. Good for him. That's 44 turnovers in his last 7 games.

Prior to tonight's games I offered Seoul Boris Diaw and Dahntay Jones for Shawn Marion. It was obviously rejected.

Going to throw this out there....not sure Vinny Del Negro is the coach of the Bulls when we get there next Thursday. They looked horrible vs. the Raptors tonight. I think Vinny's in trouble.

Who's in the lead for Rookie of the Year now? Tyreke or Jennings? I think Tyreke may have passed the youngster. Another 21-7-6 for the Sac King tonight. He's very impressive. I think the Kings should trade Kevin Martin and get another young talent (a #1 pick) to build around. Then, if Sacramento fails to get a new arena, Seattle jumps up and steals this team and moves them north. Suh-weet.

That's all for now...have a good night.

The Barbosa Blitz...

With Belgrade dropping Leo Barbosa last night we could have a free agent bidding frenzy for his services...

Why?? Because of the value he brings as a 4th or 5th guard every week.
I will say that he's off to a slow start but he's still averaging 11ppg, 48% and 40%, and 28/16ATO. And he should get a bunch of steals once healthy. He also plays for the Phoenix Suns...yes, those are the Suns who are 2nd in the league in scoring (behind the Nuggets). I see a whole bunch of JBL teams that should be fighting to win his services...

Golden - Barbosa would be a great 5th guard as he can shoot 3's and provides good ATO.
Juan de Fuca - desperate for ATO and 3PT%
Idaho - needs some quality back court help
Seoul - another guard for a forward-heavy team
Boston - another option from a high scoring team is always a good idea.

I am still wondering why Belgrade made this move....
With Barbosa injured he could have stashed him away on IR for a few weeks. Instead, he has opted to sign Bellinelli (who appears to be getting less minutes these days). Maybe Belgrade is hoping Triano is going to move DeRozan out of the starting lineup and move Bellinelli into it. However, Belgrade now has 4 bench guys and no one is injured on his team...so someone will have to be dropped in the next 24 hours. Who will it be??? Maybe the best thing he could do is buy back Barbosa???

So what will the winning bid be for Barbosa. Considering guys like Krstic went for $61 dollars and Martell Webster went for $40 bucks - could be see a big bid right here?? Yuma has the most Free Agent money remaining but Golden, Seoul, and Juan de Fuca all have good amounts of cash left to bid as well. I see a very big bid winning his services.

My previous post this morning was about how I really need 3 categories....3PT%, STLs, and ATO....well guess what, Barbosa fits all those categories...

Let the bidding war begin....

Saturday Morning...

Well, it's been another rough week for the Golden Showers squad. 2 more injuries to deal with this week as Gordon and Aldridge have missed games. Add in the fact that Jennings now shoots 6/20 every night (just like I initially expected) and it's tough to make any ground. Oh well, there isn't much I can do at this point because a lot of other teams aren't willing to part with any guys right now. What could solve some of my woes??? Well, considering my 3 weakest categories are 3PT%, ATO, and steals - I could use a good 3PT shooting PG - but those don't grow on trees. Maybe I have to wait for the return of guys like Gordon and Jameer Nelson.

I signed CJ Watson last night. I know, I know, why?? Well, it's simple, if I'm going to be in Chicago to watch the Warriors next Friday - I need to cheer for someone on that team. Enter CJ Watson. He's actually played 4 good games in a row so it might not be a totally wasted week. Of course, by next Friday he could be the 12th man based on how the Warriors operate.

French continues his strong play and has opened up an almost 100 point lead. Well done. That team is very strong. And the Wack continues to get better and he's still missing guys (Biedrins) so that doesn't bode well for other contending teams.

We need a good JBL article...or a good podcast...or a trade involving Seoul...
sorry, not much time this morning...
That's all for now...