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Check out these photos of Sammy Sosa. Does he look a bit pastier to you than he did a few years ago? A friend of Sammy's claims the baseball star had a "skin rejuvenation" procedure. Um...whatever.

Things are quiet here at the lovely O’Hare Hilton, as the GMs are safely ensconced in one room for meetings until about 12:30 Chicago time. After that, they’ll have some time for trade talk before meeting with us media types later in the afternoon.

We have a few Cubs and Sox leftovers from yesterday and some new takes on things:

Guess who won’t be seeing 1 cent of his $2.5 million roster bonus on June 1, 2010?

If you guessed Tommie Harris, you are correct. Harris has about as much chance of getting another big payday from the Bears as Lovie Smith does of winning coach of the year for 2009.

A quick look at Harris’ four-year, $40 million extension shows that he’s already been paid way more money than he’s worth. In the first year of the deal, Harris received a $6.5 million signing bonus and a $3.5 million roster bonus plus a $620,000 base salary.

Harris had the same base salary this year, but he also got a whopping – and undeserved -- $6.67 million roster bonus on Feb. 27.

Spending the day and evening at the lovely O'Hare Hilton for the GM meetings. Spent many an hour here back in the 1990s covering baseball labor disputes. Anyway, Cubs GM Jim Hendry and Sox GM Kenny Williams arrived and did impromptu sessions.

Also ran into Barry Praver, the agent for Carlos Zambrano and now for Carlos Marmol, who is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time. And just so the speculation doesn't start, Praver said the Cubs and Big Z have not discussed Big Z waiving his no-trade clause. "It's a non-story," Praver said. In other words, the Cubs are not trading Zambrano this winter.

We'll have the long of it online later and in the paper tomorrow. The short of it to get you going and then I'll be back out here in the morning:

Monday was one of the Bulls’ occasional autograph days. When practice ends, the players line up in a row of chairs in the weight room and sign a litany of objects, from basketballs to jerseys to photos to a giant Bulls logo that will probably be auctioned at a charity event someday.

I guess it’s nice to know the Bulls’ autographed items are authentic. After leaving college, I did an internship for a pro team that had a salesperson who would spend his last hour every day faking autographs. With that team, unless you actually saw the player sign something in front of your face, the signature probably wasn’t real. This was 20-plus years ago, so I have no idea if that sort of thing still goes on.

U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington has faced intense pressure on the health care vote, including near-weekly protests from both activists who oppose and those who support the measure.
In the days leading up to the vote, national Republicans flooded her 8th District in the northwest suburbs with phone calls telling voters to call Bean's office to stop her from supporting a "dangerous, out of control" health care measure that would cost jobs.
As a Democrat who aligns with so-called moderate coalitions, her vote was key for party leaders. In the end, House Democrats had to carry the measure Saturday, coming up with only two votes more than the needed 218.
Bean, along with every other Illinois Democrat in the House, supported it.

It's Land of Lincoln Trophy week. Northwestern at Illinois. 11 a.m. Saturday. ESPN Classic.

The state is abuzz. Well, at least they're buzzing in the greater Evanston area as the Wildcats are trying to clinch a bowl berth and defeat Illinois for the sixth time in the last seven years. However, there should be additional excitement amongst the Illinois clan with the Illini on a two-game roll.

Here's the latest on Northwestern quarterbacks Dan Persa and Mike Kafka out of Trienens Hall:

Bears backup running back and special teams standout Garrett Wolfe suffered a lacerated kidney in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals and could miss up to a month before he returns. Wolfe was in Northwestern Memorial Hospital Monday morning.

Cornerback Charles Tillman’s injured shoulder knocked him out of Sunday’s game in the second quarter, but he is expected to play Thursday night vs. the 49ers in San Francisco.

The Bears have yet to make a determination on rookie strong safety Al Afalava, who suffered what appears to be a shoulder stinger in the second quarter Sunday and did not return.

No real news from Monday's morning skate...
Toews and Eager are playing, as expected.
Hendry is out.
Huet starts in goal.
Bolland didn't skate.
In fact, coach Joel Quenneville said Bolland's back hasn't gotten better in the last few days as the Hawks move closer to having to make a decision on what to do with their second line center - shut him down indefinitely or have the surgery that could have him back playing in a few months.
"We're going to go day-by-day and where he is right now, he hasn't made any progress today so we'll see how his health is going," Quenneville said. "It's just more rest right now."

Expected forward line vs. the Kings:

Sharp - Toews - Byfuglien
Ladd - Versteeg - Kane
Kopecky - Madden - Brouwer
Eager - Fraser - Ebbett

Nearly two weeks into the NBA season, things are shaping up pretty much as expected – with one exception.

I’m not sure anyone thought the Phoenix Suns would be off to such a fast start. The Suns improved to 6-1 by beating Washington on Sunday afternoon and during their current road trip have knocked off Boston and Miami.

This is basically the same roster that failed to reach the playoffs last season except for Channing Frye taking the place of Shaquille O’Neal. What a trade that turned out to be, since Frye, who never saw the court in Portland, is averaging 13.5 points and leading a crew of lights-out 3-point shooters by making 16 of 33.