HE GONE!!!!!

ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting that Michael Barrett has been traded to the San Diego Fathers.

I see this as good news and proof positive the Cubs are committed to winning this season. Taking it a step further, it shows the Cubs are even willing to take DRASTIC mid-season measures to try and turn this team around.

The pulse is faint, but it's a pulse nonetheless. Nice.

I'm not sure what is better, knowing I'm done watching Mikey single handedly lose games or knowing that the Cubs are actively trying to win their division. Either way I think today is a good day at Clark and Addison. I just hope Sammy doesn't ruin it with a home run tonight.

HIATUS!!!

We realize that blogging is a 24/7/365 gig, but unfortunately our lack of posts will continue for one more week. We apologize for the inconvenience but we promise when we do come back this page will be better than ever.

Congratulations The Tedster!!!

We often dwell on the negative here at Shooter and Gracey, but today we have great news.

R.P. Tague (aka The Tedster) has been named Vice-Chairman of Mass Transportation by the Sycamore Speedway Board of Directors.

This is a huge day for both the Speedway and the Tedster.

Red Ships of Spain

Last week most d-bags were writing about how the Bulls' season was over down 3-love to the Detroit Pistons.

With last night's astonishing game, the Bulls have now won two in a row and have a chance to force Game 7 if they can somehow win tomorrow in Chicago. For Ben's and the boys the road ahead is still extremely tough, but at least it seems they might have some momentum to help carry them on their way.

Bulls playoff mania aside there is a world outside of the NBA right now and, taken in extremely small doses, it is actually worth discussing.

• CNNSI.COM's Daily List takes a look at the T0p 5 Nintendo sports games of all time. I love Nintendo sports games because they are the only games at which I was ever decent. Their list is fine except leaving California Games off is either a tragedy or a travesty.
• Jason Marquis has been promoted to Cubs pitching coach. This should give Larry Rothschild plenty of time for his favorite hobby.
• Bill Syken at SI.com writes about the fall of the mighty baseball card industry. My favorite card collecting moment is when I stole a M Jeff card from my 7 year old brother. Second favorite moment is the entire summer of '89 when we kept buying packs of Fleer baseball cards in hopes of getting the Billy Ripken "fuck face" card.
• Studs Terkel turns 95... go crazy!
• 24 will be back for at least 2 more seasons. Thank god Milo Pressman won't be around to see it.

Why I Hate Jim Hendry, Part 1

Let's call this Part 1 because there's too many aspects of his sucktitude to fit into one post. Let's start with this from today's Tribune:

Upon returning to New York on Monday, former Met Cliff Floyd said he was surprised at his relative lack of playing time with the Cubs.

"A lot of things we talked about earlier in contract negotiations hasn't worked out," he said. "I thought I'd be playing more."

So not only did Jim sign Cliff to what could end up being a multiyear deal, he actually promised the old bag of bones some playing time. The Floyd signing fits in with a few of Jim's great strategies:

- Give a multiyear deal to some old/bad player for no reason. This inflates your payroll so that a $100 million team is in reality an overpaid $80 million team. Check this out: Hank, Derosa, Eyre, Floyd, Howry, CesEar, and Jacque are getting paid over $25 mildo this year. And most of them will be around next year. That is an awful allocation of resources.

- Overvalue somebody based on one good year. Mark DeRosa? Most people would see a 32 year old with a career OPS of .738. This is bad. Jim puts on his marinara colored glasses and sees the guy who hit .332 before the All Star break last year. CesEar? Coherent baseball execs see a guy with a .633 career OPS - this is actually worse than Neifi. Jim instead sees the guy that had a good couple months to somehow make the All Star team in 2005.

- Tell these bums that they're going to start. So it's pretty obvious that Hendry told Floyd (and probably Derosa) that he would start this year. This really screws over your manager. If Lou goes along with Hendry's moronic "promise" to these guys, he's robbing Murton and Theriot of the chance to prove they can play every day. If he does the right thing and plays the young guys, you get a bunch of bitter old men giving grumpy quotes in the paper like Cliff did.

That's just the tip of the Jim Hendry sucks iceberg. Hopefully the new owner gets rid of this turd sandwich, until then at least we have this and this to look forward to.

Playoff Bulls, We Hardly Knew Ye

Things do not look good for our beloved Chicago Bulls.

After a decisive first round ass stomping of the defending champs, the Bulls were primed for another upset of the top seeded Detroit Pistons.

And then the series started...

While the Bulls have scrambled for "energy" and "points", the Pistons have consistently dictated the pace and flow of the games with consistent guard play, good defense and veteran savy. In other words, the Pistons are a lot better than the Bulls.

Even in yesterday's Game 3 when the Bulls were up big in the first half, Detroit made a small run in the last minute that accomplished two things: cut into the Bulls lead and set the tone for Bulls pee-pantsing in the second half.

Here are a few observations/questions from yesterday's contest that are still bothering me:

• Why do the Bulls constantly dribble around the Piston's zone?


• Tayshaun Prince is really good. He can get his shot whenever he wants. What is stopping him from being great?


• I know guarding Rasheed Wallace is extremely difficult, however, he keeps doing the same three moves over and over again. High screen/role for a 3, baseline one dribble turn around, and the one when he trails the play and hits a wide open 3. Please, I beg you, just make him beat you another way.


• Nobody on the Bulls wants to shoot down the stretch, except for Nocioni.

Obviously the series isn't over yet, but let's face it the series is over.

I Can't Quit You Mark Grace

Apparently we are not the only ones who suffer from some sort of Mark Grace adoration disorder.

Check out this guy.

Note the other collectible pursuits at the bottom of the page.