102nd Edition - 2/21/07

• The Weekly Bull (30-25)

The Bulls held the Atlanta Hawks to ZERO FG in the 3rd quarter. The Hawks managed just eight points off of free throws. Needless to say, the Bulls went on to win 106-81 in their first game back after the All-Star break.

Speaking of the Las Vegas excursion - click here - to read about Bill Simmon's impressions.

The Bulls next three games are going to prove what the team is made of, with an away game at Cleveland, home vs. the Washington Wizards and then at Detroit. Finishing those three games 2-1 would be a great step toward climbing up the division rankings.

Chris Duhon came off the bench and led the Bulls with 17 points, he was one of six to have double digits, three of which were Malik Allen, P.J. Brown, Adrian Griffin.

• Cubs: Zambrano gets paid ... for now.

Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs agreed on a one-year, $12.4 million deal. This avoided arbitration and Zambrano has also declined to refer to himself in the third person, instead opting to call himself "me." J is sure disappointed that J doesn't get to listen to Carlos Zambrano call himself Carlos Zambrano.

• Big Ten Basketball: We're #1 ... for one day

The Michigan St. Spartans, coming off a blowout victory versus my Iowa Hawkeyes, took that momentum and went ahead and beat the Wisconsin Badgers as well. Final Score, 64-55. The Badgers shot just 36 percent from the field. Now Ohio State is in the driver seat for the Big Ten title, and will likely be the new #1 in both polls.

• Stuff

I love the muppets. Here are five reasons brought to you by "10 Zen Monkeys" that you too, should love the muppets. click here

How to win an Oscar - by Cracked. click here

Want to see the 10 Oscar-nominated shorts in a theater near you? - here's a list of locations

101st Edition - 2/20/07

• Bears: Mr. Rivera, don't let the door hit ya

Ron Rivera left the Bears, but not the way we thought. The Bears chose not to rehire the defensive coordinator. Upon hearing this, Rivera took a position with San Diego, as the linebackers coach. Norv Turner was named the San Diego Chargers' head coach.

Lovie Smith didn't feel the need to retain a coach who would much rather be a head coach somewhere. For the Bears, who are always insanely cheap with coaching, this move fits.

Bob Babich, the Bears linebacker coach, is likely to take the defensive coordinator position.

The only way this whole situation is a problem, is if players on the Bears start speaking out. Otherwise, no worries.

• NBA: All-Star game, one last thing

Shaq can dance. Suddenly, I am incredibly happy idiot fans voted him into the All-Star game, otherwise this moment would not have happened. Plus, we get to see LeBron James run away because he's laughing so much. click to watch

• Stuff

Next: A New Music Show is the brain child of Chris Bro. If you want to find the next great song, tune in and sign up to the mailing list.

Chris Bro is also the one that introduced me to this video from No More Kings, if you like "Karate Kid" it's a must - one of the key moments comes at 5:58. John Elliott especially needs to watch. click to watch

I still love Legos. So this video of Spider-Man fighting Doc Ock made me pretty damn happy. click to watch

100th Edition - 2/19/07

• Blatant Self-Promotion

Look, I can talk about things besides sports and movies, here is proof. I even interviewed professors ... to talk about Simon Cowell. click here to read

• Blatant Self-Promotion: Part 2

Don't forget, I mainly write about sports and movies, which is why I created Beep's Scorecard Movie Awards. Voting ends this Friday. Look for final results on Monday the 26th, one day after the Academy Awards. click here to vote

• Blatant Self-Promotion: Part 3

I will be reviewing movies on a more regular basis, so expect to see one to two full-length movie reviews on Fridays, starting with "The Astronaut Farmer" and "The Number 23." Also by the end of the week, my Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen interviews will be up.

• Now on with the show: The NBA show

Kobe Bryant is your All-Star MVP. The West won 153-132.

Jason Kapono hit 24 3's in the final round to win the 3-Pt Contest easily.

Dwayne Wade once again hustled to victory in the Skills Challenge. He is the only elite guard in the league that always want to show up and play hard.

Gerald Green won the dunk competition, jumping literally AND figuratively over Nate Robinson.

Of all my predictions, only one came true, kind of - The Chicago team with Scottie Pippen won the Shooting Stars competition, but Ben Gordon went out of order, disqualifying them and giving Bill Lambier and Detriot the trophy.

• Stuff

* I can't believe Willard Scott didn't call to wish me a happy 100. That is just ridiculous.

* If you follow any music blogs at all, PEEL is a must-have program, and it looks very similar to iTunes. click here

* Here is a full Arcade Fire concert - and a reason why NPR should always exist. click here to listen

99th Edition - 2/16/07

I can't decide if I should party like it is the year 1999, in honor of my 99th post, or instead blow up 99 red balloons. After all, those balloons auf ihrem weg zum horizont, would be beautiful.

• Cubs: Getting my Cubbie sigh on ...

Lou Pinella has talked about a "Cubbie swagger" that he hopes to impart on the team. Pinella, meet the drama known as Kerry Wood. Wood is out four to six days because he slipped getting out of the hot tub and bruised his ribs. THIS is the reason letting Wood go in the offseason would have been a good idea. He is a distraction. Now, I like the contract, and I like that we don't expect anything out of him, but it is hard hearing anything about "Wood" and "injury." The man should be in bubble wrap 24/7.

• Bulls: Well, he used to be ...

Scottie Pippen will be at the All-Star game with one thing on his mind ... Call it a comeback, he's been gone for three years ... He used to be rocking his peers and putting suckas in fears.

Pippen, at the age of 41, says he is in great health and wants to be a point forward for some playoff team. I hope he makes a squad. You see, I loved Pippen. Him guarding Magic Johnson for the first Bulls championship, and the year he should have been MVP of the league (Michael Jordan's first retired year) were highlights of NBA watching life. Yes, I know he has had his moments, and is supposed to be the worst tipper in the world, but on the court he was something to marvel at.

• NBA: Hardaway, Gay

Tim Hardaway actually said, "I hate gay people."

ESPN has the full story on why this is a story. click here to read

I am always amazed by the stupidity of individuals. Hardaway, on a radio show, didn't think his comments would be a problem.

It is good that this happens, because even though the majority of discussion will be pointless media blather, but there is a chance some quality dialogue will be had because of it. I feel sorry for Hardaway and his ignorance, and every person that had to listen to his comments.

• NBA: All-Star: Vegas and VD have never been so close before.

While thousands of ladies go to Las Vegas to find a baby's daddy, the NBA All-Star game will also be happening...

*The Rookie Challenge: Look for the Rookies to upset the Sophomores. And as always, take the over.

*Celebrity Game: Carrot Top is on one of the teams, so this is a no-brainer. Not Carrot Top's team, so I have to go with Jamie Foxx and Jonathan Silverman (the West).

*Dunk Competition: Nate Robinson will win. Tyrus Thomas will have the best single dunk.

*3-Point Shoot-out: Dirk Nowitzki will successfully repeat as the champ. If only Steve Kerr would come out of retirement ... and Craig Hodges.

*Skills Challenge: The only one who thinks he has something to prove is Chris Paul. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Kobe Bryant will barely show up.

*Shooting Stars: Now that Pippen is looking to unretire, he's going to take this game WAY too seriously. Team Chicago wins.

*All-Star Game: Since the West is clearly better, I will use reverse logic and go with the East.

• Stuff

*Rotten Tomatoes has a "Best of All-Time List" -- I have a problem with most of the top ten choices. click here to review

*The Arcade Fire will be joining Rainn Wilson on SNL ... Feb 24. Best SNL ever? Perhaps, but more likely is me actually breaking social plans to sit home and watch it "live" instead of on tivo, and then being insanely disappointed.

*Here's a little kid singing Akon's "Lonely" - It really gets good around the 2:10 mark. click here

*"The Dark Knight" - the sequel to "Batman Begins" is going to be top-notch. Aaron Eckhart is now set to play Two Face. Heath Ledger is already playing The Joker.

*Mr. Belding gets on stage and sings. His beer gut is along for the ride. click here

98th Edition - 2/14/07

• The Weekly Bull: All we need is love (29-24, 5 games behind Detroit)

The Bulls wore their red uniforms as a Valentine's Day tribute. It didn't work ... or maybe it did. They gave the Toronto Raptors a one-point victory last night, 112-111. Luol Deng led the Bulls with 30, but Chris Bosh had 25 points, 14 rebounds and hit two free-throws with two seconds left. The Bulls had gone on a 13-0 run to take the lead 111-110, but perhaps being in the loving spirit decided to hand the game back.

Tyson Chandler is having a better season than Ben Wallace. This is not a sentence I would have believed during the off season.
Chandler: 4.1 offensive rebounds per game, 12.1 total, 8.0 ppg
Wallace: 3.9 offensive, 10.3 total, 6.2 ppg

• Cubs: Zambrano loves Zambrano

Carlos Zambrano said Carlos Zambrano wants a new deal. My only problem with this is the use of third person. Zambrano will be a free agent at the end of this year, and he has now said if he doesn't have a new contract before the season starts, he's walking. It's a bluff people. If the Cubs offer more money or more years than any other club at any time before/during/after the season, Zambrano will stay a Cub. Headcases are great. I wish there was someone keeping track of who uses third person, it's always amusing to listen to ... amusing in the kind of way that makes you want to shake the person uncontrollably.

• Quick Hits

*Ron Rivera will interview for the San Diego Chargers head coach position. I don't care. As long as the Bears replace him with coordinator that is one of those mean, yelling types, to help offset Lovie Smith.

*My intermural basketball team has now hit two game-winning three-pointers at the buzzer the last two games. The best part? Because of the insane snow storm in Chicago, we played with only 4 people versus a full squad ... and they were the other undefeated team in the league.

*Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Carlos Boozer, Jason Kidd and Allen Iverson are out of the All-star game with injuries. Now the world with finally get to know Mehmet Okur. Ray Allen's also been added ... shouldn't he be embarassed and decline?

*I can't explain it exactly, but I like following Bobby Knight's Texas Tech team. I don't like Knight, but I always seem to root for him to win. Loved them beating #6 Texas A&M at the buzzer last night.

*If you have the time, Gregg Easterbrook is probably the most intelligent football writer out there, here's his latest Tuesday Morning Quarterback column.

• Stuff

*Make your own candy Valentine - click here

*J.J. Abrams ("Lost," "Alias") might be getting ready to direct the Dark Towers adaptation by Stephen King.

*This weeks' "The Office" is directed by Joss Whedon.

*Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller look to be doing a movie about the grown up Hardy Boys.

*Rainn Wilson (Dwight from "The Office") will host SNL on February 24.