The Bulls' latest struggles can simply be summed up by Bulls forward Luo Deng : ''We're not gonna win games unless we play better 'D. "The offense is fine, we're scoring enough points, but we have to get some stops if we want to win.''

make no mistake,losing Joakim Noah for amonth makes a huge difference. Having Deng and rookie power forward Taj Gibson also banged up isn't helping either. But thats still no excuse for bad defense. In the past 2 games alone the Bulls have given up a total of 254 NBA points...which is astounding. That's Denver Nuggets 1991 bad. That's Golden State no defense-no bigmen bad. And while giving up 34 points to mysterious Dallas forward Rodrigue Beaubois may get a pass ( who knew he'd  score 34 points!) getting rolled by the entire Utah Jazz squad is not acceptable. They had one kid (C.J.Miles) score 24 points in only 19 minutes. If I can see they need to get a hand out on the jump shooter from my seat high in the pressbox (where it's me, the United Center ceiling, and a Benny the Bull float) then you'd think the Bulls coaching staff would notice it from their seats on the floor. I guess I should never assume such things.

''I think we're giving up too much penetration,'' Bulls head coach Vinnie Del Negro said. ''We have to get everybody on the same page, keep the ball out of the middle as best we can. Really, a lot of it has been second-chance opportunities, getting beat on the glass. The teams we're playing are high-quality teams, and we're giving them second opportunities to run their offense and put pressure on us defensively. That's been hurting us a lot, too.''

And now comes the rub: the Bulls have now fallen into 9th place behind a solid Charlotte Bobcats ballclub (and new owner Michael Jordan) and a super-hot Milwaukee Bucks team with former Bulls coach Scott Skiles being a leading candidate for coach of the year. The Bulls have 2 more games with Charlotte, while only one meeting left with the Bucks, who have rookie point guard Brandon Jennings playing like a 10 year veteran, and center Andrew Bogut, who just may be the NBA's best player since the All-Star break.

And if you're expecting this losing streak to end soon, don't hold your breath. The Bulls are headed to Florida to face Orlando, who they do not match-up well with without Noah in the line-up. Dwight Howard creates enormous match-up problems. Next comes Miami, who the Bulls could sneak a win from, as the same with Memphis. Its their trip to Dallas (the league's best team since the All-Star break) and their return home game against Cleveland (the NBA's best team) which may cause some concern.

With injuries and losses piling up, the Bulls are going to need more than just defense to get back into the play-offs, they just my need a miracle.


Mike Kincaide

Oh Paige Weiser, why do you choose to judge things you clearly know nothing about? Leave late nite tv viewing to the professionals, darlin.

While I won't throw you into the douchebag judgers category (hello Red Eye!), Paige's opinion of what you should be watching after the news is just that, her opinion, and unfortunately her opinion is skewered in the realm of "I love everything the rest of the world loves". Granted, I do enjoy the works of Paige and read her when she writes actual interesting stuff in the Sun Times, however this subject....ugh. Leave the late nite crap to the big boys...

So Jay Leno is back...admist the Conan drama, is backwhere he belongs. Understand this:just because you like Conan doesn't make Jay not funny. He kicked Letterman's ass for years in the ratings and is a celeb favorite because he is a genuine person. There's nothing Hollywood about Jay, which I can appreciate. You're mad at Jay because Conan couldn't do the number Jay did? Not fair.

Craig Fergueson follows Letterman. And while it seems like I may be hating on Dave, I do appreciate what he's done and the acknowledgement of past mistakes. He's funny...occassionally blunt funny, occassionally awkward funny, but funny. And Craig is the under-appreciated underdog who is actually pretty good at what he does. Jimmy Fallon, never been a fan..ever. So he has the Roots as his band, and he has random spots of interests (an appearance by Zach Morris was pretty cool, even if it was a rip-off of Conan's search for Grady of "Sanford and son") but Craig is still better.

Ironically Carson Daly's show had gotten substantially better before going away due to the Olympics and all this Conan mess.

George Lopez thinks he's hippier and cooler than he really is. He's trying so hard, which is fine...when you finally get your moment in the sun you should give it your everything. He's got this "my show is the coolest party on tv" thing going on....and I appreciate the fun of it, but sometimes it seems he's trying too hard.

Chelsea Handler doesnt really count as an actual talkshow....she clearly is the star of her own show, unlike most talkshows where the focus should be on the guests. I know she's a hometown hooch makes good, but I feel like I saw this act circa 1997 via Jenny McCarthy. Besides, every interview question should not be basedon ending win a punchline. Zing!

Jimmy Kimmel also an underrated underdog in late night. He doesn't always get the top tier guests, yet he has developed trust and chemistry with some people who don't generally like doing talk shows, like Clooney and Eminem. Plus he's funnier than anyone else on late nite.

The Mo'Nique show is my favorite for the sheer enjoyment that its on BET. And for this reason Mo'Nique doesn't just throw fastballs, she throws curves and sliders that only her audience (or a BET audience) appreciate. You will not see Anita Baker on Jay or Dave's show unless she puts out another album and it sells 8 million copies. You will not see the SWV reunion or the cast of The Game on Jimmy Fallon's show.... nor will Kid'n'Play show up and do their famous kickstep for you. She apealsto the play core audience, which in terms means she can be a little loud and stereotypical, but always interesting. Mo'Nique is so loud, always yelling at something or someone, extremely honest, and stereotypically entertaining.

Wanda Sykes is mean...funny yet mean. She's also onlyon once a week, which is a crime. Chris Rock's former go to girl needs a bigger and brighter spot.

And if none of those appeal toyoudon't fret, your precious Co Co is already having small talk with Fox network, so you'll get your O'Brien fix soon enough...for me to poop on.

So the kids at the school I coach at get more days off than George W. took while in office. At one point they had a snow day, a half day,and got Friday off. Plus they get Monday and Tuesday off,which is grand considering the 8th grade and high schoolers are headed off to various places throughout the world for special service projects. Instead of playing in our game this upcoming Wednesday our team's best player and other teammates will be in Costa Rica. Apparently they are going to to  some research on African-American 8th graders and how well they tan while on the beach while their coach and the rest of Chicago suffers in winter. Sweet.

So I've spent a few of my snow days NOT working the other job and being a bum lik emy students. Video games get boring after a while...especially when you're playing so much you fall asleep and wake up in the same position on the couch with a controller in your hand and enough drool on your shirt to bath yourself. So I did some experimenting of my own, and spent the days watching some of the best high scool movies out there.

I tried to avoid the obvious choices like "Dazed and Confused" and "Breakfast Club", and I hope every kid worth their weight has seen Ferris Bueller at least twice by now, so here's my pick of the litter:

Weird Science - I'm just drawn to this movie...know the words by heart, and it seems to get shorter and shorter everytime I see it. Its so out there yet so 80's cool you can't help but love it.

Adventures in Babysitting - I have no idea how this made the list...they are never once in a school. No matter, its fun and features Chicago. It also makes you aware of chicago's crazy "L" train gang wars...when's the last time you saw a gang fight with a knife? Probably the "Beat It" video is my guess.

Morgan Stewart's Coming Home - I never saw 16 candles, but apparently Jon Cryer was in it and was pretty good. This movie was made before that and is completely underrated. It actually makes Jon Cryer seem cool...emo cool, but cool nonetheless.

America Pie - Of course. No need to go into detail...don't waste your time after Pie 2. Superbad...same thing, good shizn*t. "10 things I hate about you", that crappy movie starring melissa Joan Hart, "Can't Hardly Wait"....too much pop culture for me, but hey, I can never see enough of Jennifer Love Hewitt. Sad but true. Same goes for "She's All That". I despise everything about Freddie Prinze jr., but its worth sucking it up to see the future ex-Mrs. Kincaide, the gorgeous Rachael Leigh Cook.

Teen Wolf - Michael J. Fox was a huge movie star too, you know! He had to be to make this horrid movie a hit, and trust me, its horrid. But it's so bad that its great, great to the point they made a sequal starring Jason Bateman that no one has ever watched even to this day! So MJF turns into a wolf, surfs on top of vans, and is the coolest wolf/dude in school. Great. But its the character of Stiles that carries this movie. And let's face it, it really is just the greatest basketball movie ever!

Charlie Bartlett -  I dont know how I fell into this movie...one random morning it was on...but I like it. Its quirky, I get the theme of it. True story: in college I once had a chair in the closet of my room called the "thinking chair", where young co-eds or such could come in during parties or whenever and pour their hearts out. I like to think of myself as an African-American version of Frasier...if Frasier was a creepy black kid in college using the big chair in the closet in his room for "thinking" aka making out.

Three O'Clock High - I believe no one in this movie ever became anything big, I could be wrong, but this is also an underrated classic. If you have some time, and clearly I did, I definitely recommend finding this gem about a nerd finally have to "man up".


Mike Kincaide

We have reached the midway point of the season for the Chicago Bulls, ah, who doesn't love the NBA's All-Star weekend? You especially have to love the fact that the Bulls are above .500 and actually have an All-Star in the actual game this year!

Like most places when they reach the mid-way point, its time to give out some grades:

Head coach Vinnie Del negro gets a B+ for the job he's done so far. You see, Vinnie was/is a fired coach. You know it, he knows it, the players know it, the entire league knows it. He's lucky it didnt happen at Christmas, but rest assured it will happen...sooner than later. And despite all this Vinnie has his team playing good basketball. He's not the best coach..infact I have more coaching experience than Vinnie, and that's not a good thing. Nevertheless Vinnie has learned the true art of coaching NBA basketball, and thats "Keep It Simple, Stupid". Less is more,sometimes. Sometimes you just have to let the players on the court do what they do best..and you can draw up play after play and set up whatever but if you don't let the guys just do what they do best, in the hands of the best player, then you're screwed. At some point Vinnie figured that out. But again, his goose is cooked. All Vinnie can do to stick it to the GarPax GM monster is get this team to a better record than last season AND a 2nd round play-off match-up. Then let's see them fire him (they still will).

Honor students include Derrick Rose, Johkim Hoah, and Kirk Hinrich, with Luo Deng making the B list. Derrick is an all-star and is playing like the star he is going to be. The same with Noah. he got into shape and finally got into that warrior mindset that you need to succeed in the NBA. Noah has the potential to join Rose at future all-star events. The Bulls want/need to make a trade, however every trade they get offerred includes the name Kirk Hinrich. Not happening. Hinrich has proven to be the MVP of this team, as they have won twice as many games with him starting at the 2 guard. He hustles, plays defense, and can hit the open shot...things you think would be pretty average in the NBA, but aren't. Plus he doesn't muddle up Rose's game, just compliments it. The fact that he can play the 1 and 2 without any issue is a huge plus. Luo Deng has had more on nights than off, but he still has yet to live up to his star potential. He's getting there, however, and he's had enough "on" nites to prove his time may be soon. Taj Gibson the rookie, has outplayed his higher drafted contemporary, James Johnson, and his higher drafted position mate, Tyrus Thomas, and worked his way in the starting line-up despite barely being able to walk. That's impressive.

Our 'C" students include Brad Miller and John Salmons. Now both have had their ups and downs this year...Miller has been more of a plus than Salmons, however. Salmons at one point started and was suppose to help pick up the scoring slack left by Ben Gordon. Unfortunately his shot didn't fall, he threw up a bunch of bad shots, and he plays defense like a drunk slutty girl at a frat party.

Summer school is in the future of James Johnson. He's a rookie, so he gets a bit of a pass...but just for this year. He better tear that Summer league apart! Jannero Pargo, aren't you glad you signed back with the Bulls this year? Pargo has had to have his car specially made for him as he goes home with part of the Bulls bench attached to his ass every night. Its not his fault, Vinnie plays a short rotation, and Pargo can't crack it. Plus Pargo is a chucker, and occassionally allergic to defense, not to mention he plays Derrick Rose's position. It sucks, I bet he wishes someone would have told him that before the season started. Then again some guys enjoy the NBA life of cheering and sitting...but I'm betting Pargo isn't one of them.

The GarPax monster is going to have to repeat the class all over again, unfortunately, as they have sucked. Starting the season with a short roster which included Lindsey Hunter as a roleplayer. There are blindmen in wheelchairs and one arm that can get up and down the court better than Hunter. Not to mention how GarPax has handled the whole Del Negro  is he or is he not fired situation. There is no going back...the only redemption left for this front office is making a trade that gets you a top tier draft choice (top 5 or top 10 pick), or when free agency starts and they pull a winner. Rumor has it the Bulls are shooting for the fence, with Dwayne Wade being target number one, and the combo of Chris Bosh/Joe Johnson being the much better optionnumber two. Getting the often injured Amare Stoudamire or continuously injured and grumpy Carlos Boozer will not suffice. And when draft day comes the name Jon Scheyer had better not even come near your lips unless its at the end of the 2nd round.

Tyrus Thomas has been expelled from this class until further notice. No summer school, no suspension, just find another team. Thanks.

Mike Kincaide
 

This won't be a shock to you, but you should know it's really frickin' cold in Wrigley Field these days. Sure, alot of it has to do with the weather. It is winter you know. But alot of that bitter cold feeling has to do with the team's off-season moves. Nothing too earth-shattering, except the trading away of Milton Bradley, and for that reason Cubs fans aren't exactly high on the upcoming season. Expectations are low in Cubdom, the Cubbie kool aid has too much sugar, my dear, Ronnie Woo Woo needs a cleaner uniform. St.Louis seemingly kept the same horses it had last year, (they did lose Mark DeRosa to San Fran, where he will ironically be a teammate of White Sox fan favorite Arron Rowand) and those horses took them to a divison title. Plus it doesn't help hearing how Dusty Baker's Cincinatti Reds have improved big time. If you ask the average Cubs fan they'll tell you that the Cubs did nothing this off-season. Boo to that theory.

Truth is while the Cubs seemingly did nothing, they didnt have to. Just like in all great relationships, its the little things that you do that make things work. The Cubs, thanks to new owners the Ricketts family, has done just that. While the spending has been limited, there really isn't anyone you'd want to throw your entire checkbook at. And in turn the moves that have been made have been to plug up potential and past potholes in pervious roads to the title.

The Ricketts have/are in the process of making Wrigley great again...which apparently starts at the bathrooms. Other upgrades are to come, but for now that's the most pressing need, much like trading away Bradley was during the winter. They could have gotten a bag of balls and 3 sheep for him, and in pitcher Carlos Silva, they may have gotten just that. Anything...anything at all Silva gives you is a bonus. But hey, let's ave all my Silva jokes for the Cubs pitching article, shall we?

The corners are covered by Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez. Just in case there's an injury, which seems to happen every year, they have quality replacements in Micah Hoffpauir and new signee Chad Tracy. Both are versatile players who canplay several positions if need be, yet the team needs a big season by both of their starting cornermen if they plan on going anywhere come October.  As for the middle of the infield, expect familiar faces in Ryan Theriot, Mike "chicken" Fontenot, and Jeff Baker, who came via trade last season and produced well. So why didn't the Cubs go out and try to trade for a quality 2nd baseman, you ask? Well the long and short answer of it all lies with Starlin Casstro. Castro is currently a shortstop with the Double AA Tennessee Smokies, and is considered the top prospect in the Cubs farm system. There is hope that if Fontenot and Baker falter, much like his counterpart on the southside, Gordon Beckham, Castro will be major league ready when his time comes, posiibly by mid-season.

Questions about the outfield were answered in the signing of former Yankee Xavier Nady. Sure, as of right now he can't throw a ball 100 feet, but again, its winter. Coming off Tommy John surgery, Nady always seems to have some sort of health issues during the season, which makes him a perfect Cub. I see a Mark Prior towel drill in his near future. His numbers show potential however, and a great season by him could make things alot easier for the rest of the line-up. Marlon Byrd and Sam Fuld will have to make up for the hard work and hustle of Reed Johnson, who may have over-priced himself this off-season making his return a no go.The Cubs also pursued former White Sox Jermaine Dye, but he didnt want to be a part-time player on a team full of part-time outfielders. Success lies within the potential break-out seasons from both Fukudome and Soriano...and make no mistake, the Cubs need Soriano to have a huge comeback season!

Mike Kincaide

``But I’ve got to learn. I’m 21 years old and it’s time to grow up a bit,’’ said 21 year-old Chicago Blackhawks player Patrick Kane. Kane was one of three Hawks players - Kris Versteeg and John Madden included - caught in the latest online photo mess. The three were seen in pictures shirtless (and pantless for some) with some alcoholic beverages and lady friends after a game. The three players, along with coach Joel Quenneville and captain Jonathan Toews don’t believe the incident will create a distraction...except for right this second.

Kane is right in one sense that he does need to grow up....this behavior is completely unacceptable - have you seen the pics? Does this kid not know what a tan looks  like? And unlesss you're playing strip poker being the only person pantless in a limo is not a good look for anyone.

And that's where it should end.

Our society loves to judge...and we seem to hold athletes to some un-recognizable status where mistakes are treated as life-altering events....much like LOST. If you're an athlete and you make any kind of mistake, well you obviously won't everchange and should be punished to the limit of the law, or whatever the consequence may be. You're just a bad, bad human being, really...and our society doesn't need that. We definitely don' tneed single 21 year olds drinking in a limo after a game...with girls...shirtless...wait, what exactly did he do wrong again?

Kane is 21 and legally can drink anywhere he wants, from old Mexico to New Mexico. He's single...no Tiger Woods story here. This little shindig is happening after a game, not before. He's not driving the limo, or driving his own car...so besides being pale, tanless, and pantless he's guilty of what, being a normal 21 year old?

Kane doesnt get to do what normal boys his age do...which is go to college parties, wear togas, and makeout with silly drunken coeds while preparing to wear the cleaninest  possible pair of pj pants and hoodie outfityou can find to brunch in the morning. He has to be bigger than life, hell, he's on the cover of the same video game he plays, and moments like  these....which happen on a regular basis almost all over the world, they get judged harshly. If this is as bad as Kane gets at the age of 21 then god bless him, cause lord knows what some of us were doing at age 21. Hell, I work at Wrigley, I know what some of you have been doing at age 21...you should be ashamed of yourselves!

Kaner, don't change a thing...well, you may want to wear pants next time, and pick better beer, and please tell your friends to keep their cellphone cameras to themselves.

As for you, Greg Oden...we need to talk.

Oden, another 21 year old, currently on injured reserve for the Portland Trailblazers  was suppose to be the next big thing in the NBA. Insert your own joke here.

See, its different when other people take pictures of you being a silly 21 year old and doing something embarassing, thus putting it out on the internet. But when you decide that taking pictures of yourself naked via cameraphone and sending it to your latest fling is a good idea, well you're bound to end up at a press conference apologizing for your giant lifesaber being all over the internet.

Again...young, crazy, naive kids. But you should know better. But he's still a kid...and kids, even 21 year old man-children, make mistakes. Oh to be 21 and stupid again.

I can recall being 21 years old, holding my new best friend, a plastic swan lawn ornament, and wandering a closed mall with random locals at 2am on my 21st bday....or the day after, I think. Thank god there's no cellphone pics of that.

These kids didnt kill anyone.....so you know what, let's just let kids be kids and let them die of embarassment once their kids find these pics 20years from now.

Mike Kincaide