Cubbies building a Dynasty one trade at a time

As you probably already heard, the Chicago Cubs finally got rid of their loose-cannon pitcher Carlos Zambrano, which of course is a victory in and of itself.  You may have also heard that we got a young, promising starter in his place, one that could be an important part of the Cubs rotation for many years to come.  However Theo and company didn't stop there.  They made another bigtime trade today, this time trading relliever Cashner for power hitting 1st baseman Rizzo of the Padres.  This is a shocking victory for the Cubs, as there had been rumors that they would have to give up Garza to obtain a package including Rizzo.  To only give up a reliever (the Cubs also gave up, and received, one lower level prospect in the deal) for a potential Superstar like Rizzo is nothing short of highway robbery, Theo Epstein and his group are proving themselves to be brilliant trade negotiators.  They managed to trade reliever Marshall for a left handed Starter and two promising minor leaguers (one of whom will likely make the team at the start of this season), and they traded for power hitting third baseman Stewart of Colorado, both trades done last year, before the most recent two awesome trades.  The Cubs are already so much better this year than last, you'd have to consider them one of the early favorites in the NL Central, and there's still well over two months before the season even begins! 

Clearly there is plenty of room for Theo to work out even more trades, involving Garza, Byrd, and of course Soriano, in addition to possibly signing a free agent or two, such as Cespedes.  The future is looking so bright for the Cubbies, that Cubs fans may indeed have to wear shades!

Sadly, as you all probably know, the future is looking less bright for Presidential Candidate Ron Paul.  A surprise third place finish in Iowa, despite being in first or second place in litearlly every poll, was without question disappointing, but he did score an impressive 22 percent of the vote, which is about where he's at right now in New Hampshire.  Rick Santorum, who came up from nowhere at the end to almost score the victory in Iowa, is only at about 10 percent in New Hampshire and doesn't figure to do much better than that by the time the voting takes place four days from now.  It truly is a 2 man race in New Hampshire between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.  The bad news is that Ron is currently down about 20 points, but the good news is that this is New Hampshire, and front runners rarely win, and when they do its usually not by all that much, so there's a good chance that Ron will at least get close by election day, and a victory is, despite how the polls look right now, definitely not out of the question.

Stay tuned to the Gladiator Blog for more news and information from the Presidential race, as well as more information on the Cubbies progress toward a Dynasty!     

NBA Draft Results Full of Surprises

In what what a truly exciting, even thrilling, 2011 NBA Draft, what began as routine and expected quickly became anything but.  It started out quietly enough, with Cleveland choosing Kyrie Irving, enabling Minnesota to draft Derrick Williams, again as expected.  Things began to get a bit surprising when Enes Kanter was picked at #3, although it wasn't really a surprise to those who were following the leadup to the draft very closely.  If you were following very closely, you knew that Kanter was a real possibility at 3, but until recently it was widely assumed that Brandon Knight would be picked 3rd.  But since this was indeed in line with the most recent predictions, all signs still poitned to a predictable draft.  So now Cleveland will use their second pick on Jonas Valanciunas and we can move on....only they didn't.  Cleveland landed the first true surprise of the night, passing on Jonas and instead going with Tristan Thompson!  Props to the SI Mock Draft for getting that one right, they actually did see that coming.  However even they didn't see what happened next coming.  With everyone now expecting the Raptors to pick Knight at #5, Toronto instead picks.... Valanciunas! 

Chaos and Pandamoneum!  As a Bobcats fan, I am TOTALLY loving this here!  After the Bobcats made their EPIC trade a couple hours or so before the draft began, in which they gave up Jackson, Livingston, and the #19 pick for Corey Magette and the #7 pick, there was talk they had moved up to get Thompson, a player I did NOT want us to draft, not because he isn't a good player, but because I wanted us to draft the superior big man Bismack Biyombo.  Now here we are, five picks in, and not only are there TONS of bigtime players still left, including Knight, Vesley, Walker, Leonard, and Biyombo, but Thompson isn't a possibility anymore!  I'm super excited at this point, but since I don't know what's going through management's mind, I know that I can still be super let down :) . 

The surprises weren't done, as Washington at #6, who you would assume here would automaticly take Knight, instead takes Jan Veseley!  This guy is a fantastic player, no doubt about it, but it was certainly a surprise they took him instead of Knight, even though I actually agree with the pick, he may very well be the better player of the two.  So here we go, the Bobcats are at last on the clock, and the moment of truth was about to arrive.  Biyombo, Knight, Walker, Leonard, all still on the board, and with only one team picking in between our two picks, we're GUARANTEED to be able to get two of them, should we choose to do so.  But would we?  Certainly the Bobcats have had some awful drafts in the past, terrible decisions have been made.  Would this be another?  Or would this be the year it all turns around, and we start building toward that Championship Dynasty that Michael Jordan wants again, a Dynasty like the one he brought to Chicago?  David Stern stepped to the podium, and began the announcement.  The announcement of the #7 pick in the draft.....Bismack Biyombo!!!!  I admit I yelled out in celebration, this was the moment!  We had done it at last!  The Superstar, the man who may one day become the greatest big man in NBA history, and lead the Bobcats to multiple NBA Championships, Bismack Biyombo!  What an incredible draft, a draft that I would be happy with no matter who we picked at #9, just because we got Bismack!  Was it too much to hope for, that Detroit would pick somebody, ANYBODY, other than Brandon Knight?  Sadly yes it was :) .  I was hoping that Knight would keep dropping and we could pick him, but they picked him with their #8 selection.  However, upon further review and comparison, there is indeed very good reason to believe that Mr. Kemba Walker, who was still on the board at #9, would actually be a superior player anyway!  So would we get him at #9?  Would that be too much to hope for?  No it would not be!  We GOT Kemba!!!  Yes!  The DREAM Draft, quite possibly the GREATEST Draft of All Time, and certainly the Bobcats greatest draft of all time!  Bismack Biyombo and Kemba Walker! 

Will they become the next Shaq and Kobe?  Or is that thinking too small?  These two are future All Stars, and very much potential Hall of Famers.  And they're both Bobcats now!  They both are clearly quite happy to be playing for Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Bobcats, and we the Bobcats fans are happy to have them!  This is indeed a big, big start toward that Dynasty that MJ wants to bring to Charlotte.  He couldn't bring a Dynasty, or even a Championship, to Chicago without some help, but once he got some help in the form of Scottie Pippen, that's when the Dynasty began to take shape.  Earlier this month, Michael found his new Scottie, in the form of new General Manager Rich Cho.  This is a man who turned around the Oklahoma City Thunder, turning them from one big joke into one round from the NBA Finals.  A team that helped Portland to the Playoffs earlier this year, before Portland unexpectedly let him go.  Their loss was Charlotte's gain, in a big BIG way.  It has been said that Cho was high on Bismack, perhaps it was his suggestion to bring him in for that workout the day before the draft, where he got to work out in front of, and impress, Coach Paul Silas as well as the Owner himself, MJ.  It was said that MJ was impressed by Biyombo, and rightly so.  The man is just phenominally talented, he's got Future Superstar written all over him.  Charlotte bringing him in the day before the draft helped make his pick a reality, but obviously the trade that brought Charlotte the #7 pick did as well.  Cho engineered a true Masterpiece of a trade, giving up Livingston and Jackson for Magette, and swapping the #19 pick for the #7 pick, which was ultimately used on Bismack.  Because he used the #19 pick instead of the #9 pick, we were then able to grab Kemba Walker at #9, enabling us to definitively claim the title of 'Best Draft of any team'.  You might even say that Rich CHOwned the draft!  This draft was definitely a case of Rich Cho setting MJ up with nice passes, and MJ scoring two bigtime Slam Dunks!  Today, Charlotte can say with certainty that MJ the Superstar is back, he's got his new Scottie, his new bigtime General Manager, and now a Dynasty is well on its way!  Congratulations to Michael Jordan, Rich Cho, and the Charlotte Bobcats, on one of the greateast drafts of all time, maybe THE greatest!