A certain ring to it
Remember the night of the Bulls’ home opener and how Scottie Pippen took the microphone and addressed the fans? How he let loose with such surprising emotion? How he noted that the ring ceremony might be the last time he would have a chance to speak to the fans?
Well, what do you think about that now that he says he wants to be traded and won’t play for the Bulls ever again, despite having an existing contract that says he has to?
Does that speech seem a little oily now? Like he knew what was coming down?
“I can’t speculate on that,” Bulls coach Phil Jackson said, “although I knew there were some problems before then.
“There were flags up there. There were warning signs. I can’t speculate on what he said, but it was weird.”
Try premeditated.
Big man on campus
After the Bulls’ practice at the Berto Center, the Utah Utes took the floor for a workout before their appearance in the Great Eight tournament at the United Center starting Tuesday.
The bus carrying the players and assistant coaches was late, while Rick Majerus, the girthsome and fun-loving Utes coach, drove up with former DePaul coach Joey Meyer.
“We passed a rib place,” Meyer said, “and he said, `Man, I could go for some ribs.’ He had had lunch 15 minutes earlier.”
More big man
It’s a dangerous thing to be around Majerus, apparently.
“I went to visit him out there for a couple days,” Meyer said, “and I gained five pounds.”
From Dave Knorowski (“Last Bear Fan”): “The only way Bryan Cox becomes a Pro Bowler is if someone gives him a 16-pound ball and he spends as much time at the Marina City lanes as he does complaining.”
Hands up
Former Buffalo quarterback Jim Kelly, who had that set-to with Indianapolis quarterback Jim Harbaugh that resulted in Harbaugh’s busted hand, was scheduled to work a Detroit Lions game.
So quarterback Scott Mitchell went to the production meeting wearing boxing gloves.
Shot on goal
Behind the Blackhawks bench, Darryl Sutter always looked like a guy with a fist for a face. No fun, all seriousness, win or die.
Turns out, he was doing standup comedy.
“I remember one night Eddie Belfour let in two goals on two shots and Darryl pulls him,” said Steve Smith, a former Hawks defenseman who’s an assistant in Calgary now. “Eddie goes haywire when he gets to the bench, cursing and throwing his gear around.
“So Darryl calls out, just loud enough for Eddie to hear, `Hey, Eddie, since you’re not doing anything important for the rest of tonight anyway, why don’t you go out and make sure the beer’s cold and the pizzas are hot for the bus.’ Well, Eddie just went ballistic! The rest of us were just killing ourselves laughing.”
Quotable
Six-year-old McKenzie MacLean, upon hearing that her dad, Doug MacLean, had been dismissed as coach of the Florida Panthers: “We’d feel a lot better if you took us to Toys R Us.”
