Did you forget ’93 Bulls?
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Rick Morrissey’s case that Phil Jackson hasn’t proved he can win “without a Hall of Famer or two on the roster” has a glaring omission (Tribune, Oct. 24). Jackson’s 1993-94 Bulls team, the season after Michael Jordan’s first retirement, came within a questionable call of making a trip to the NBA Finals.
The team did have Scottie Pippen, at the time a reluctant leader who had a phenomenal season. Pippen will be a Hall of Famer, but he was not a franchise player. The rest of the team was made up of solid, dependable players like Toni Kukoc, Horace Grant and Bill Cartwright along with role players formerly known as Jordan’s supporting cast.
For three straight NBA championships, the rap on Jackson was that any coach could win with Jordan on the team. For that reason, Jackson hadn’t received a Coach of the Year award. Then Jackson takes the same team without Jordan, but with the key addition of Kukoc, and molds it into a Finals-caliber team. That Jackson still didn’t receive a Coach of the Year award for that season confounds me.
At this stage of his career, Jackson won’t be taking on any rebuilding projects, as Morrissey suggests he should to validate his career. Jackson has overachieved with the post-Shaq Lakers roster. Jackson will always have the reputation as a coach for the stars. The reputation was established when he got Jordan to buy into his vision that for MJ to win championships, he would have to adopt a style that raised the level of his teammates’ play rather than trying to do it all himself.
I doubt Jackson would do well with a group of young, inexperienced players. I haven’t seen Larry Brown or Pat Riley chasing down those types of opportunities during their coaching careers either.
— Phil Sullivan
Here come Hawks — and fans
CHICAGO — I’d like to commend the Blackhawks front office for doing a great job of collecting a group of young prospects who have shown real potential. As a season ticket-holder, I am thrilled that the time has finally arrived where the Hawks are a team to recognize in the NHL.
In Ed Sherman’s column “TV Power Will Revive Hawks Fans” (Tribune, Oct. 23), he wrote, “Hockey fans haven’t disappeared in Chicago. We’ve just gone into a hole under the ice, waiting for a reason to come out again.”
As this new era of hockey begins in Chicago, the Hawks are sure to bring back an interest in hockey that has gone missing in what was once was a great “hockey town.” However, I’d have to disagree with Sherman and say that most of these hockey fans he talks about did disappear and completely abandoned the franchise, something that is completely understandable. Some may call myself and any other season ticket-holder idiots for having hung on this long, but all the years of disappointment make what is happening now all the more worthwhile.
Now as you “hockey fans” return to the United Center to see Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Tuomo Ruutu and others, please do not talk about how disappointing the last 10 or 15 years have been for the Hawks. Were you there when the future was the A-B-C line? Did it make your year when Bill Wirtz finally got rid of Mike Smith? If not, you have no reason to complain.
— Joe Pinter
Bring back Foley
OAK LAWN — In the few weeks that Rocky Wirtz has been in charge of the Blackhawks, he has shown a keen understanding of his badly alienated fan base. That’s no small achievement for a franchise that had been stuck living in the ’50s — the 1850s.
Putting home games on TV isn’t going to magically fill the 10,000 empty seats at the United Center, but it’s a good start. Rehiring Pat Foley for next year’s TV broadcasts would correct one more glaring mistake from the Hawks’ past. Foley is the best in the business, and his return would truly show that Rocky Wirtz is willing to run a first-class organization on and off the ice.
— Michael Ross
A big Rex backer
CHICAGO — Rex Grossman is the future T Rex for the team that picks up his contract.
Grossman has had little NFL experience — not enough to write him off. Jerry Angelo will cry buckets of tears in his beers after Grossman comes back to haunt him as a super quarterback for an opposing team — if Angelo is still employed by that time.
Sure, Brian Griese makes a good relief QB, but he has a lot of limitations despite some of the flash-in-the-pan plays he’s capable of. Age and experience do not necessarily make a person more viable as a QB. He’s vulnerable to aches, pains, and injury, depending on the protection he gets. Brett Favre is an exception.
Overall, the Bears provided poor protection for their young quarterback. Rex Grossman will be some team’s next playoff hero. Too bad it’s not the Bears.
— Frank Wilhelm
Grossman like Favre
WHEATON — When Rex Grossman’s contract expires at the end of the season, he should sign with Green Bay. Grossman is a strong-armed quarterback who likes to throw it up for grabs when the game is on the line. He can step in when Brett Favre retires and Packers fans won’t notice the difference.
— Dwight Johnson
You must be kidding
FRANKFORT — I got a chuckle out of David Haugh’s article telling us that the Bears have over 1,000 plays in their playbook and they reduce it to 200 for any given game (Tribune, Oct. 25). As a Bears season ticket-holder since 1949, I don’t think they’ve run over 100 different plays in my lifetime. After all these years they still don’t know how to run a screen pass.
Next time you watch a football game, remember my rule. If a team throws an incomplete pass on first down, 95 percent of the time it will run a draw play on second down. I didn’t have to watch film 14 hours a day, seven days a week to figure that out.
— Lino Canalia
A sweeping thought
CHICAGO — I am one of the many vainglorious White Sox fans standing by for the Cubs to have been swept by the guys who got swept by the guys who got swept. The White Sox did not get swept by the Red Sox in 2007 (won 1, lost 7).
— Ed Donnellan
Cubs, expand on this
WEST FRANKFORT — With the Rockies reaching the World Series, I did some research. Since the baseball expansion era started in 1961, 11 different “expansion” teams have now made the World Series. How are you feeling now, Cubs fans?
— Mike Klempin Jr.
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