Last night's collapse was like a swift kick in the nuts. more ›

The Bulls picked a fine time for their first three-game losing streak of the season, and it's put them on the brink of elimination. more ›

Once again, the Heat's defense made the Bulls fight for every shot. more ›

You didn't really think these Eastern Conference finals were going to be a cakewalk for the Bulls did you? After a commanding Bulls victory in the series' opener, the Miami Heat bounced back and played much like Chicago did in game one. While the Bulls hung in there for most of the game, in the end Miami's defense was too much and the Bulls fell to the Heat 85-75 on Wednesday night. more ›

It did not matter that the Bulls had the NBA's best record or the top seed in the playoffs, most believed that the Miami Heat were the favorites in the Eastern Conference finals. They believed that their two superstars could dominate a game better than a complete team could work together to beat them. Last night the Bulls proved the power of teamwork as they destroyed the Heat 103-82 to take a 1-0 series lead. more ›

The Bulls played two sub-par quarters last night, bookended by two excellent quarters. Playing a good half of basketball was apparently enough, as the Bulls beat the Atlanta Hawks 95-83 at the United Center. more ›

We're used to seeing the Bulls come from behind to overpower another team in the final quarter and walk off the court victorious. It's strange to see another team do that that to Derrick Rose and company. But the Atlanta Hawks used a monster fourth quarter to beat the Bulls 100-88 and even the series at two games apiece. more ›

We just knew the NBA's newly crowned MVP wasn't going to allow his team to lose again at home to a lower seed. The Hawks hung tough, but the Bulls maintained a lead for most of the game on the way to an 86-73 victory to even the Eastern Conference Semifinals at a game apiece. more ›

While sources were confirming that he'll be named MVP today, Derrick Rose didn't play like one in the first half of Monday's game against the Atlanta Hawks. Despite the absence of Kirk Hinrich, Atlanta shut Rose down early while Joe Johnson's career night helped the Hawks down the Bulls 103-95 in game one of the Eastern Conference semifinals. more ›

The Bears lost Jay Cutler to injury and, while a bit of magic from their third string quarterback provided a bit of excitement late in the game, the Bears came up short. more ›

This morning, WBEZ introduced us to the "hot wings index," gauging the economic index of the playoff game by the number of wings restaurants in Green Bay and Chicago were stocking up. One restaurant, in Evanston, was planning to go through 6000 pounds of hot wings - that's 3000 chickens! Anyway, if you are looking for deals of your own, you have come to the right place. Bears fans (and Packers fans, and indifferent football agnostics) can enjoy some great food and drink specials this weekend, as bars and restaurants try to squeeze one more hot weekend of business out of football fever. more ›

In a little more than 48 hours, the Bears will play what many are calling their biggest game ever... except for Super Bowl XLVI or that one game in New Orleans 25 years ago we still talk about. The Monsters of the Midway take the field at Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon against their archrival Green Bay Packers, with the winner earning a trip to Super Bowl XLV. more ›

Bring on the Packers! more ›

Are Bears fans so confident that their team will roll an opponent with a losing record that they're already thinking about the NFC Conference Championship? Have they gotten soft in this January weather? Saving their money for a Verizon iPhone? Whatever the reason, demand is lagging for tickets for the Sunday's Bears-Seahawks playoff game at Soldier Field. more ›

Here come the 'Hawks, but we don't mean the mighty Blackhawks. The Bears will play host to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC divisional round playoffs Sunday, as the Bears' lucky season continues to shower them with good fortune. more ›

Holiday gifts are still coming the Bears way, courtesy of their division rivals in Minnesota. The Vikings upset Philadelphia 24-14 last night, guaranteeing the Bears the second seed in the NFC and a first-round playoff bye. The Bears still have a chance at the top seed in the conference, but they're going to have to rely on losses Sunday to Atlanta and New Orleans. The defensing champion Saints face a tough challenge against Tampa Bay, but the Falcons match up against doormat Carolina. more ›

You didn't think we'd go through the day without mentioning this, did you? Seven years ago today the second biggest meltdown we ever witnessed in a baseball playoff series (the biggest being the 2004 AL Championship series) occurred. This game, Wrigley Field Premium Ticket Services and the 2004 Cubs season set in motion our switching of baseball allegiances from North to South sides. Steve Bartman's name may now live in infamy, but so should Moises Alou's overreaction, which led to Mark Prior's overreaction and wild pitch walk and the key to the breakdown, Alex Gonzalez's fumbling of a double play ball that opened the floodgates. more ›

For the first time in 49 years, the Chicago Blackhawks are Stanley Cup Champions, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a dramatic Game Six, using aggressive offense, a locked-down defense, and stellar goal-tending to clinch victory in an overtime thriller and hoist the Cup. more ›

• "I said when we left (Chicago), I thought we could have won both games. I like our game. I like what we're doing." - Flyers coach Peter Laviolette [Blackhawks.com]
• "We didn't do a lot of little things, especially defensively in the first. We got behind the 8-ball (and) they're a good team, so it's tough to battle back." - Andrew Lad [Tribune]
• "I thought we were very generous in the first period on what we gave them as far as goals went." - Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville [Blackhawks.com]

The Philadelphia Flyers got off to a big early lead and held off a late Blackhawks rally to beat Chicago 5-3 in Game Four of the Stanley Cup Finals. The series now stands tied at 2-2. The Flyers opened scoring less than five minutes in when Mike Richards scored on a power play. It was a little over 10 minutes later that the Flyers added to that, taking a 2-0 lead. Patrick Sharp scored with less than 90 seconds left in the period to cut the lead in half, but the Flyers answered right back, netting their third goal of the period less than a minute later, taking a 3-1 lead to the first intermission. After the four-goal first period, the second period went scoreless as the Flyers maintained the same lead into the second intermission. Less than seven minutes into the third period, the Flyers extended the lead when Ville Leino deflected a shot off of Kris Vertseeg's skate past Anttie Niemi to put the Flyers up 4-1. But the Blackhawks didn't give up, energizing and upping the pressure in the third period. They capitalized on a two-man advantage as Dave Bolland scored with 7:59 left in the game to cut the lead to 4-2. Then, with 4:10 left, a Brian Campbell pass went off of Kimmo Timonen's stick for a goal credited to Jonathan Toews, cutting the lead to 4-3. A frantic finish followed, shots flying from the Blackhawks in the closing minutes, creating opportunities and shots that escaped them earlier in the game. But with an empty net, the Blackhawks lost control of the puck and the Flyers put away an insurance goal in the waning seconds to clinch the victory. more ›

All aboard the Blackhawks bandwagon! The surging Blackhawks finished off the sweep of the top-seeded San Jose Sharks on Sunday, coming from behind to win 4-2 at the United Center to win the Western Conference Finals and head to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time in almost two decades. While the 'Hawks took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series with their victory Friday night, it looked like the series was headed back to San Jose for a while Sunday afternoon as the Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Logan Couture put the Sharks on the board with a goal eleven minutes into the first period. Patrick Marleau added a power play score in the second. An official's review was needed before Brent Seabrook's 4-on-4 shot past Evgeni Nabokov was called a goal, cutting the deficit to a goal with 6:45 left in the second period. Five minutes later, Dave Bolland knotted the game at 2-2. more ›

The NHL continues to play peek-a-boo with the conference finals schedule for some reason, refusing to release the full schedule until both series are set even though we've known for days now of the Blackhawks-Sharks match-up. And while we won't know the full schedule of the conference finals round until later today, we at least know when the series will start. The puck will drop on Game One of the Western Conference Finals Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Chicago time with the game being televised nationally on NBC. The Eastern Conference Finals, between the Montreal Canadiens and the winner of tonight's Boston-Philly Game Seven, will start Sunday evening at 6 p.m. on Versus. more ›

For Bulls' coach Vinny del Negro, it seems his firing is not so much "if" but rather "when" more ›

Blackhawks Even Up With Predators more ›

While their stadium mates at the United Center, the Blackhawks, are expected to make a deep run in the NHL playoffs the Bulls just squeaked into the NBA playoffs this year as the eighth seed. As such, the Bulls presence in the postseason is expected to be short lived. In the opening round, they're facing off against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The series began on Saturday and went pretty much as expected. The Cavs jumped out to a big lead before cruising to a 96-83 win over the Bulls. Game two is tonight at 7:00 p.m. more ›

Last year, a young Blackhawks team surprised some by making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals as the fourth seed before being bounced by the Detroit Red Wings in five games. This time around, the Hawks are among the favorites to bring home the Stanley Cup come June. Slumping throughout March, the Blackhawks finished strong by winning six of their last seven games but a loss in the regular season finale prevented the Hawks from claiming the top seed in the West. As the second seed, the Blackhawks will open the playoffs this Friday against the seventh seeded Nashville Predators at the United Center. more ›

There are no box scores to link to today as none of Chicago's teams were in action last night. However, there's plenty of sports news to go around. more ›

When Steve "Mongo" McMichael won a Super Bowl with the Chicago Bears, they couldn't go undefeated. But the Chicago Slaughter, the team he coaches in the Continental Indoor Football League, did just that on the way to winning the CIFL Championship on Saturday. more ›

Well, it was a great run for the NHL's youngest squad but the Blackhawks' season came to an end Wednesday night. The 'Hawks didn't go down without a fight, but ultimately the Red Wings were too much for them in Game Five, beating the 'Hawks 2-1 in overtime and winning the series 4-1. Chicago, playing without Martin Havlat and Nikolai Khabibulin, gave Detriot a spirited fight for over 60 minutes with the two teams drawing to a 1-1 at the end of regulation. Neither team got on the board until the third period, when Detroit struck first when Dan Cleary knocked the puck into the net. A sweet backhand by Patrick Kane tied the game a few minutes later. more ›

Following the Blackhawks' 6-1 pasting by the Detroit Red Wings, coach Joel Quenneville had some strong words to say about the officiating in the game, particularly a roughing penalty on Matt Walker at the end of first period Sunday. The penalty's ensuing power play led to a Detroit goal and put the defending champs up 3-0 in the crucial Game Four. “I think we witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sports today," said the Blackhawks coach. The NHL didn't much care for Coach Q's critique of the officiating and fined the 'Hawks coach $10,000 for his outburst. more ›