Hawks off for winter Olympics; Bulls complete trades before deadline

The Chicago Blackhawks have already completed all five of the games that were schedualed for Febuary. They finished the month with a 5-2 record. They only played five games in this month becuase of the fact that the 2010 Winter Olympics are currently going down in Vancuver. The blackhawks have plenty to loose in the winter olympic games becuase they have six players who are participating. Tomas Kopecky and Marian Hossa are Playing for team Solvakia. Patrick Kane is one of the young stars for team USA. Finally, Jonathon Toews, Brent Seabrook, and Duncan Kieth are playing for Team Canada. The Hawks can only hope that all of these players come back to the team healthy and are not too fatigued.
The Bulls made two big deals before the NBA trade deadline. The Bulls started off by trading John Salamons to the Miluwaki Bucks for Joe Alexander and Hakim Warrick. Along with John Salamons the Bulls also gave up their second round draft pick. Also, the Bulls made a last second deal that sent forward, Tyrus Thomas, to the Charlotte Bobcats for Acie Law,and Flip Murray. In this deal the Bulls also recieved a furture first round draft pick. Although none of these players are starters or consistently good players, this trade is great for the Bulls becuase with this trade they have picked up 3 expiring contracts and gave up Tyrus Thomas who has a very large contract. With these moves the Bulls have given themselves 16-20 million in salary cap which is going to be very important becuase of the 2010 free agent class. After next season, their is a possibility that big names like Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, Dirk Nowitzki, Carlos Boozer, Paul Pierce, Manu Ginobli, and David Lee. These moves put Bulls into great position to get one of the top five players of this free agent class. The Bulls now have the money, but also might have the most to offer one of these players becuase of the fact they are a playoff team filled with young talanted players.

Bulls and Hawks playoff chances

The Blackhawks have had a great season thus far and are currently 38-11 with 81 points in the NHL's Western Conferance. They have played great all season and are currently in second place. They have a great shot to move into first place if they can finish the season strong as they are only 4 points behind the San Jose Sharks. The Hawks have been in and out of first place the entire season and have played great against their major divisional rival in the Detroit Redwings. The young stars for the Hawks have played great and the team has been overachieving the entire season.

The Bulls on the other hand have had a record under .500 for a majority of the season and have not nearly played as good as they potentially could. They are currently 24-25. Although the record is not that impressive if the season were to end today this would put the Bulls as the 6th Seed out of the eight teams in the NBA's Eastern Conferance that make the playoffs. The Bulls have meet expectations of NBA pre-season projections.

Chicago Bulls impressive play in January

The Chicago Bulls ended the month of January on a very impressive five game winning streak against five seperate western conferance playoff contenders: highly talented teams such as the Phoniex Suns, Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, and the New Orleans Hornets. This five game winning streak helped to cap off a great month in which they went 10-5. The final game of the Month against the Hornets was a very exciting battle. The game included a thrilling fourth quarter comeback by the Hornets which lead to a Loul Deng lay up at the buzzer to send the game to overtime. Loul, had a stellar game in which he put up 26 points and lead the Bulls to the 108-106 victory in Overtime.

This month was very important to the Bulls playoff push becuase they only played five games at home. Critics in the Chicago media thought that this month would hurt the Bulls becuase they have a 9-15 record on the season when they play on the road. The Bulls are currently 23-22 on the year and if the season were to end today that record would put them as the 7th seed in the Eastern conferance. Their record is above .500 for the first time since November.

They hope to increase their five game winning streak on Febuary 2nd when they play the struggling LA Clippers at home. The Bulls have played very well at the "Mad House on Madison."(United Center)Their record at Home this season is 14-7. The Month of Febuary should favor the Bulls as they have seven games at home and seven games on the road. Although home and road games are split for this month, the Bulls play less talented teams and should be able to win a majority of the games in Febuary and move up in the Eastern conferance rankings.

After a very disapointing season for the Chicago Bears, there is only one team that gives chicago sports fans hope for a playoff run. That team is the chicago Blackhawks who are currently the 1rst place team in the NHL's Western conferance. Chicago has not been this excited about their hockey team in many years.
I believe that many Chicago sports fans are converting to hockey for two reasons. The first is that the Blackhawks have a very young and exciting team that includes young stars like Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane, and a great goalie who has come out of nowhere to arguably be one of the best in the league,Antti Niemi.
The second reason that the Hawks have come to be a Chicago sports fans favorite team is becuase of the failures of every other Chicago team. The year started off with both of Chicagos baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, having high hopes for their teams to make the playoffs. Unfortinutly both teams underachieved and did not even come close to the playoffs. Then their was the most disapointing team in the area, the Bears. After an offseason where the Bears traded two 1rst round draft picks to the Denver Broncos for a "franchise quarterback" in Jay Cutler. This trade did not work out for the Bears as Jay Cutler lead the league in interceptions and lead the team to a dreadful 7-9 record in the NFC North division. The Bears star linebacker Brian Urlacher broke his wrist on the first game and put him out of play for the rest of the season. This was also a major contributer to the Bears disapointing season. Now after the terrible season that started with high hopes, the Bears fans have nothing to look forward to for next year. They don't have a 1rst round pick and need help on the offense line with pro bowl center Olin Kruts retiring. Also, they are lacking a star wide reciever, offensive coordinator, and help in the secondary.
It will be a stressful but interesting offseason for the Cubs, White Sox, and the Bears. Although all three had terrible seasons,Chicago fans will still come back and have high hopes for next year, but with the Hawks, Chicago fans have hope for this year.