Blogs

Is LeBron James setting the stage for a jump to the Bulls as a free agent next summer?
During a postgame interview with TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager on Thursday, James announced that he’ll give up wearing the No. 23 next season in honor of Michael Jordan.

“I think no guy in the NBA should ever wear 23,” James said after a win at Miami. "He can't get the NBA logo, much respect to Jerry West. So I think his number shouldn't be worn by any player in the NBA.

“What he did for this game ... he laid down the stepping stones for everybody to come up through the ranks. I'm going to change my number next year because that's how much respect I've got for a guy like that.”

Powerful labor unions have started running suburban TV ads in support of the Democrats' health care reform push.
Two separate ads by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are now running that support U.S. representatives Bill Foster of Batavia and Debbie Halvorson of Crete, both Democrats who voted for the House measure last week.
Meanwhile, an organization tied to the Service Employees International Union is running an ad against U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, a Highland Park Republican, for his opposition to the proposal. Kirk is running for Senate in a crowded GOP primary.

Before we launch into this, I have a Kevin Coble update. Northwestern's senior forward plans to visit another specialist on Monday, which doesn't sound like good news with regards to his injured left foot. If you hear an opinion you like the first time, do you go to another specialist? I'm guessing the Coble family -- and understandably so -- is trying to find a way to rehabilitate his foot without surgery.

Actually, Coble's injury makes for a fitting start to this blog. As everyone knows and understands, the players inside the uniforms change with dizzying swiftness...but the game endures.

If Andrew Ebbett can’t cut it at center on a consistent basis in the absence of the injured Dave Bolland, there’s always Marian Hossa, right?
Well, sort of.
Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has tinkered with the idea using Hossa at center, although the plan right now it so play Hossa at his customary right wing when he returns from shoulder surgery within the next two weeks.
“We want him playing first and let him get comfortable with his game,” Quenneville said Friday morning. “We’ll see if that’s even an option. On a need basis, maybe that’s something you entertain later on, but that’s not in the foreseeable suture.”
Quenneville has a lot of options before using Hossa at center in Ebbett, Kris Versteeg, Patrick Sharp and Tomas Kopecky.

On Thursday there was a bit of shock in the political world as former state Attorney General Jim Ryan for the first time expressed sorrow for cases he oversaw as a prosecutor that put two innocent men on death row.

In the email from his longtime spokesman, Ryan also staked out his new position on the death penalty, stances that in at least one key area contrast those from his previous run for governor in 2002.

Here’s what Ryan said yesterday about the death penalty moratorium still in place more than a decade after then-Gov. George Ryan declared it.

“If I am elected governor, I will not lift the moratorium on capital punishment until we have created a more limited and accurate system of capital punishment.”

Former Bulls coach Tim Floyd is back in the NBA, as an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets.

Last seen on the Internet breaking up a fight between several women at a California casino, Floyd will assist Jeff Bower, who moved from general manager to head coach after Byron Scott was fired early Wednesday.

Bower was an assistant during Floyd’s one season as Hornets head coach in 2003-04.
When he worked in Chicago, Floyd was often the subject of derision. Word leaked of general manager Jerry Krause’s interest in Floyd while Phil Jackson was still winning championships.

With the top two strong safeties inactive because of injuries tonight – starter Al Afalava (shoulder) and Kevin Payne (back) -- five-year veteran Josh Bullocks will get his first Bears start.

Bullocks was inactive the past two games, but he started 49 games the previous four seasons with the Saints.

Tonight’s other inactives are wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias, running back Garrett Wolfe (back/kidney), linebacker Pisa Tinoisamoa (knee), guard Lance Louis and defensive tackles Matt Toeaina and Jarron Gilbert.

Rookie cornerback D.J. Moore is active for the first time this season.

Rolando Cruz, who sat on death row for a murder he didn't commit after being prosecuted by Jim Ryan, tells the Daily Herald he is "shocked" the former attorney general has issued an apology as he runs for governor.
"He manned up," Cruz tells the Daily Herald's Christy Gutowski.
Cruz also now wants a sit-down with Ryan, who is running the Republican primary.

Most of the games are ancient history, but it’s pretty depressing looking back at the Bears’ last six games against the 49ers in San Francisco.

The Niners have outscored the Bears 229-36 in those games, an average whipping of 38-6, but only two of those games have been played in the past 15 years.

Just for the record, here are the results: 49ers 49, Bears 7 (2003), 49ers 17, Bears 0 (2000), 49ers 44, Bears 15 (second-round playoff game 1994), 49ers 52, Bears 14 (1991 Monday night), 49ers 26, Bears 0 (1989), 49ers 41, Bears 0 (1987 Monday night).

On a more positive note, the Bears have won each of the past three meetings, all at Soldier Field. The Bears won 41-0 in 2006, 17-9 in ’05 and 23-13 in ’04.

Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan released a statement today saying he is "sorry" for the wrongful conviction of Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez for the rape and murder of Jeanine Nicarico, a young suburban girl, in the early 1980s.
Brian Dugan, who confessed to authorities shortly after Cruz and Hernandez were put on death row, was given a death sentence for the murder by a jury Wednesday. Ryan prosecuted both as DuPage County state's attorney and pursued follow-up prosecutions of Cruz after the Supreme Court repeatedly tossed out the convictions.
It is the first time Ryan - now running for governor in the GOP primary - has apologized for sending two innocent men to death row.