An Irish Blessing

Now I know after nearly two decades in the NBA, the Bulls new coach Tom Thibodeau was a smart man. But after Wednesday and the signing of former Celtic Brian Scalabrine, I'm willing to nominate him for the Fields Medal. As thousands of Irish Catholic Bostonians mourned the streets with sadness and spilled Guiness after the loss of a 'true Celtic', Bulls fans from Huntley to Cicero rejoiced in unison. Now, you may be asking yourself, how does a guy who averages 3.3 PPG for his career carry precious weight? The answer is very simple. Scalabrine has been to the NBA finals three times in his tenure with the Nets and Celtics, and Tom Thibodeau knows the role Scalabrine will play on the 2010 Bulls. Remember at those Shaq-n-Kobe Laker team parades when Mark 'Mad Dog' Madsen got up in front of about 4 million and jovially did the cabbage patch dance? That my friends, is what Brian Scalabrine delivers to the new look Bulls. Maybe the Bulls somehow land Melo, maybe they don't. As far as I'm concerned, we put all of our eggs in a basket (no pun intended) filled with emotion, togetherness, and one thick, white headband.

Every now and then, a player of Scalabrine's type finds himself in the NBA. You know who I'm talking about--hustle guys in college who do all the intangibles you need to be successful at the college level (i.e. Lucas Johnson-Illinois, Brian Cardinal-Purdue, Brian Zoubek-Duke). These guys have taken more charges than Mark Cubans credit card over the course of their careers, and give your team that needed edge come early summer during the NBA playoffs. Brian Scalabrine is 'the guy' who created 'that guy'. Ironically hailing from the same city in California as hip-hops own Snoop Dog in Long Beach, California, Scalabrine somehow dodged the lead role in Malibu's Most Wanted and put together a college career worthy of an NBA roster spot. In that time, Brian has done nothing but bring an unmatched intensity to the teams he has been a part of at the professional level, ultimately culminating in a championship season with the Boston Celtics.

The secret behind Thibodeau's new acquisition is that he may be the most versatile player in the NBA. For instance, say Scal goes down with a pulled hammy in week 1, he can summon The War at Home's Michael Rappaport to sit in on the Bulls bench for a few weeks and no one will have a clue. If Scalabrine feels the wear and tear of a grueling NBA season at the All-Star Break, Thibodeau can reinvent Scalabrine's youth with Cole Hauser's character from Good Will Hunting. He's got it all figured out. Barring a Rudy Gay number switch to 69, the Bulls are now in possession of the NBA's most innuendo-laden jersey in BOOZER, perhaps the league's ugliest player in Joakim Noah, and the most impassioned bench cheerer in the NBA in the one and only, Brian Scalabrine.

As for pick of the day, the Rays/Yanks game is still in the 5th inning during the writing of this blog, so we'll post the result in tomorrow's piece. For tomorrow night, the Pulse Man likes the over in the meaningless Pirates/Cardinals game in Pittsburgh. After all, Jeff Suppan is pitching, he's chalk for the 9 runs himself.

Pick of the Day: Cardinals @ Pirates- total runs-9-OVER

Record:(21-13-0)