Take it EZ, PV

March Madness is more like March Parity. Had I not filled out a bracket in a lunch-wager with my boss, I'd have absolutely no interest in the tournament (unless you're from the East Coast, it's pronounced turn-a-ment phonetically not tour-na-ment.) All guilty parties must stop immediately. The only other thing I care less about right now than Men's College Basketball is WOMEN's College Basketball. But I digress.

Earlier this week White Sox (supposed, if actually healthy, ace) pitcher Jake Peavy did indeed suffer the  foreseen setback when he was diagnosed with rotator-cuff tendinitis. "Start after start, a little more uncomfortable as I keep going," Peavy said who was shut down for two days and is now on anti-inflammatories. He played catch from 40 feet and he's feeling better. There was an uproar concerning Peavy's setback, even though the doctors TOLD him and the White Sox organization there was going to be one. More than a handful of fans who have the brains of a handful of roks (I'm being facetious, of course...or am I...) denounced their commitment to Peavy fandome because of his recent attrition. The fact is, Peavy has been immensly ahead of schedule. The first reports after the detachment of his latissimus dorsi muscle had is comback date around June. Now, I agree that he shouldn't have been pushing it soo hard soo soon, but I'm sure they had a plan for Peavy this whole time. Is it possible the Sox were letting him loose in order to reach the setback quicker and get over that hump sooner rather than later? It's unlikely. GM Kenny Williams said he may even still break camp with the White Sox. Again, unlikely. But if he makes his first start in May, it'll be a victory. I'm happy the White Sox have a guy who wants to earn his paycheck every second of every day.

Matt Thornton won the closer job, duh. Brent Morel won the third-base job, double duh. Ozzie is going to break camp with 12 pitchers and Jeff Marquez will be that 12th man. There's one spot left to be won between Brent Lilibridge and Lastings Milledge Slant rhyme aside, I think this one is Milledge's. Though Lilibridge can play both IF and OF, he plays OF poorly and the Sox already have Omar Vizquel to play IF off the bench as well as Mark Teahen. Milledge won't give you great defense in the OF, but it will be enough especially over the Lilibridge option. He also has a better stick with much more pop.

Tune in to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show tonight and every Friday with Josh Catlow and me Rob Zielinski from 6 to 8pm on chicagolandsportsradio.com Call in with your thoughts to 312.884.8205 or email us at chicagosportsfix@gmail.com

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Aroun' Town II

I can't believe there's so much to write and discuss in the middle of March before the Madness has even started. And when I say discuss, I mean listen to the Chicago Sports Fix radio show streaming live today from 2 to 4pm only on chicagolandsportsradio.com

The Chicago Bulls dominated the Atlanta Hawks in the second half last night en route to a 94-76 blowout for their 10th consecutive home win and their 5th victory overall. The Bulls held the Hawks to a mere 26 points in the 2nd half. Rose had 24 himself in the 2nd half, 18 came in the 3rd Q alone. The Bulls stand only a half game behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference. You can thank Coach Thibs for the great defensive play this season. Thibs is in line to win the Coach of the Year Award in his first year as a head coach after two decades of being an assistant coach around the league. That would only be the first leg in the organizations run for the NBA Triple Crown with Rose being the current front-runner for MVP, and Paxson or team Gar-Pax a possibility for Executive of the Year. The Bulls are celebrating the 20th year anniversary of their first Championship this weekend. What time is it? Game Time! WHOO!

The Blackhawks have been victimized by great goal-tending the past two games. They fell to the Florida Panthers and then the Tampa Bay Lightening in a shoot-out where net-minder Roloson went 3 for 3 and this coming after making a sweet save in overtime on a Bickell breakaway to even send it to a shoot-out. Bolland is being evaluated after being elbowed in the head during the 1st period. Culprit Pavel Kubina has been suspended three games for the crime. The Hawks are 5th in the Western Conference with 81 points, but the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th place teams ALL have 81 points. I told you not to exhale yet! The rest of the regular season will be fun, try not to blink.

Jake Peavy is still a modern medical marvel. In his second Spring start he went 3 2/3 and threw 49 pitches with 31 of those being strikes. He threw three perfect innings before giving up a homer to Aubrey Huff and a walk to Buster Posey of the World Series winning SF Giants before being yanked from the hill. Pitching coach Don "Coop" Cooper said Peavy looks as good as the rest of the starting staff, if not better. PV is the key to the White Sox's World Series contention.

The Cubs are having more major issues than they would like before the season has even started. Carlos Silva needs to be traded or just cut. He won't be a factor in their run to a NL Central title. He can only be detrimental to the team with his bad 'tude. The time is now to make a move with Adam Wainwright of the Cards out for the year with Tommy John and Zack Grienke of the Brew Crew missing a few starts to begin the season due to a basketball injury. Nice going Zack. The Cubs can jump out early and try to hold on to the NL Central.

The NFL owners have officially locked-out the players. It now has become a Federal case as the players' union decertified Friday and can sue the league on antitrust grounds. This doesn't mean that there won't be a season yet, but there's a good chance that there won't be any OTAs or mini-camps this summer.

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Viciedo out 3-4 weeks with fractured thumb after getting plugged by Bush. That should answer the questions about him breaking camp in the majors.

Aroun' Town

Congratulations Mike Quade, you're officially a Cub. We're not even out of the first week of March and you've already been emasculated by a few of your own players. You sounded sharp when interviewed on The Danny Mac Show on 670AM, but boy is it hard to seem smart while polishing a turd.

After the dugout spat between Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Siva, Quade said that he doesn't mind seeing a little civil war or a little revolt. While that might be nice to see from a team that is out of the postseason race in August, it's a bunch of nonsense that doesn't have a place between league veterans in Spring Training. And you're stupid, and I'm hoping dishonest comments have no place either. It wouldn't have been much of a story had you just said Carlos is a passionate competitor whom made a mistake and I hope that he learns from it going forward. That's one of the main reasons I love Ozzie Guillen. He would've said something to that no B.S. extent and it would've been over.

Cliche segway alert! Speaking of Ozzie, he has to be happy with the results thus far from potential White Sox ace Jake Peavy. He's basically a walking modern medical miracle. He took the mound yesterday in a quasi-competitive game for the first time since detaching his latisimus dorsi muscle from the bone. It only took him 26 pitches to get through two scoreless innings against the Angels. 16 of those pitches were strikes as he racked up two K's along with one walk, two fly-outs, and one double-play. Peavy seems to think that the timeline can be renegotiated and possibly set up to throw every fifth day like he would during the regular season. While this all seems promising and I feel good about it thus far, I hope that there isn't any major setback looming what with the speed in which Peavy is letting it rip out there already.

The Blackhawks have moved into fourth place in the Western Conference after ripping off a seven game winning streak, but don't exhale just yet fans of the Indian-head sweaters. There are still eight teams separated by a mere four points. Crazy, I know, but the Hawks aren't out of the woods yet. On the other hand, winning the number one seed is techniqually feasible too especially if they keep up this style of play. While it's not impossible, I think it's improbable. I think they can beat any team in a seven game series, so as long as they reach the postseason I'll be happy to watch them defend the Stanley Cup.

The Bulls may be the Blackhawks of 2011. After defeating a tough Orlando Magic team on their own court, a court which has not bode well for the Bulls in the recent past, the Bulls have crept into second in the Eastern Conference behind only the Boston Celtics (though they're tied for second with the Miami Heat). Yes, they have stumbled a few times like against the dreadful Raptors team and giving up a 24-point lead to the Atlanta Hawks this past week, but I can't help this feeling of building excitement that this is the Bulls' year. Rose is the superstar. Boozer is the all-star. Noah is the energy. Deng is the glue. The three or four headed 2-guard monster and the rest of the bench is the depth. Thibs is the master-mind. The ingredients are all there. Let's go win a championship boys.

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