It's time for Blake Griffin to save the dunk contest

I know I may be the only person who still cares about the dunk contest so I will keep this short, but Blake Griffin is about to kill it Saturday night and make me wish I was still 12 years old with a 7 foot basketball hoop outside to try to copy all his moves on.  Ok, maybe I would do the same thing right now if I had a 9 foot hoop, or actually an 8 foot hoop or screw it, just bring back the 7 foot hoop.


Have a great weekend and may it be as awesome as all of Blake's dunks.

ChicagBro of the Week: Derrick Rose

It is only fitting that the first ChicagBro Sports ChicagBro of the Week is Derrick Rose.  It was really easy for the panel of one (aka me) to come to this decision.  Hometown boy playing for the hometown team is the leading candidate for the NBA MVP award going into the all-star break.  Last night he was just out of control posting 42 points (a career-high), 8 assists and 5 boards while leading the Bulls to a 109-99 win against the league leading San Antonio Spurs, with the whole league watching. DRose is for real and Bulls are for real and that game last night proved it to any of the few people who weren't believers.  So Derrick have fun over the all-star weekend and get some rest because you have work to do in the second half and a ring to win.

PS - Everybody laughed when Derrick asked why he couldn't be MVP this year, but nobody is laughing now. 

This man deserves a raise!?

Chicago Tribune - Illinois head football coach Ron Zook will get a $250,000-a-year raise after his team's 7-6 season.

Illini Athletic Director Ron Guenther said Wednesday that Zook's annual salary will be increased from $1.5 million to $1.75 million once approved by university trustees.
Guenther said Zook's staff will get raises, too. That includes offensive coordinator Paul Petrino and defensive coordinator Vic Koenning. Petrino will get a $50,000 raise to $525,000 a year and Koenning will be paid $342,000, a $17,000 bump. 

Petrino and Koenning were hired after most of Zook's staff was fired over the three-win 2009 season. 

Guenther said Tuesday that Illinois' Texas Bowl win is the first step toward regular bowl appearances. He noted few Illinois coaches have been that successful but said there's no reason it can't happen. 

Um...Ron Zook sucks.  Ron Guenther knows that, right?  I guess not. This just goes to prove what every underachieving cubicle monkey thinks.  If you set the bar really low, people will be impressed if you just don't fuck up.

Its true the team did better this year, but its not like they had a great year.  They went 6-6 in the regular season and beat a crappy Baylor team in the Texas Bowl.  The problem with that is  Zook actually coached less this year.  In order to keep his job last year they made him hire new assistants and defer some of the control of the team over to them.  But I guess shit like this happens all the time in the world.  If anything just give the raises to Petrino and Koenning, because those are the guys that turned the team around and you don't want them running off to take a head coaching job at Western Illinois or something.

PS - You know who is jumping up and down after reading this?  Bruuuuuuuuuuuuuce.  Nothing spells a raise in the Illini athletic department like a second straight NIT appearance.

Hey JJ, you might want to sit out for a minute

Oh Kirk, don't do him like that.  That is some straight up white on white crime.  I don't remember the last time a white guy broke some ankles with a crossover dribble like that.  I guess there does need to be an asterisk next to it to though because JJ Redick probably one of the worst defenders in the league.  Either way it would be nice to still have Hinrich on the Bulls, he is exactly the type of role player the team could use right now.  He's a backup point guard who can play the two, hit open jumpers and play tough defense. Plus now he wears that sweet face mask, and everybody knows face mask guys pick it up a level in the playoffs.

Also, how long before his Redick's teammates stop making fun of him for this?  They aren't stopping this year for sure.  Like you know Dwight Howard and him are going to be walking towards each other in the hallway and Dwight is just gonna stumble backwards and fall and grab JJ's ankle.

PS - I'm sorry for the terrible music at the very end of the video.  I don't know who thought that was a good idea.