News & Notes: 5/2/07, Grown Up Bulls, St. Louis Trip Nixed, Moss, Keyshawn

Sorry for my lack of timeliness on some of these subjects, but I got pretty burned out after my live-blog. Nevertheless, I'm back, baby!

First off, the Grown Up Bulls sweep the Miami Heat in Round 1. It all happened so fast. I had a meeting for the newspaper, so I actually missed the last eight minutes or so of game time, but when I found out the Bulls actually closed it out, I was partly surprised. I mean, yeah, I thought the Heat would quit on the series, but they're the defending champions, right? Playing at home? Man, the Bulls have come a long way.

Second, I know I ended my last post talking about my trip to St. Louis. Well, that couldn't have ended (or, started?) worse. Minutes before we hit the highway, we got news of Josh Hancock's death, and needless to say, we never made it to St. Louis because the game was postponed. Sad story, and made more angering due to the fact that the whole thing is likely DUI related. Ugh.

In better news, Randy Moss is headed to the Patriots!

First, the only negative I see: it puts a helluva lot of pressure on the Patriots. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is crowning the Pats as the Super Bowl 42 Champs, and the whole thing is giving me an eerie Carolina Panthers vibe. I don't like it one bit.

I won't list the positives, because they're obvious, but I will give a few reasons why I think the situation won't be catastrophic.

1. It's clear that Moss is awfully motivated. In all of his interviews around draft day, he kept talking about how all of the uncertainty about what team he'd be playing for led to him working out and training harder than he'd ever trained before. Maybe he's lying, but I don't think he is, and when he's delivering quotes like "You're going to see things from me that you've never seen before," you better believe I'm fired up.
2. He took a pay cut to play for the Pats. It's clear winning is his No. 1 priority, now.
3. The Patriots gave up a 4th round pick on him. That's it. No matter what happens, it's clear they got a bargain deal for a player with a high ceiling of potential.
4. Even if -- going against everything I believe -- Moss becomes a problem, the Patriots have enough depth at wide receiver now to cut all ties immediately. Moss' one-year deal gives the Pats a lot of flexibility. But again, I really don't see any negatives spawning from this. The only reason people will be worried is because the sports media will give them reasons so to worry. You just have to look at the situation; Moss has clearly matured, and I think he's willing to put his past behind him and finally come into his own on a winning team.

And last, but not least, how could I not mention Keyshawn Johnson getting cut from the Carolina Panthers. I noted the irony on Draft Day of the Panthers drafting USC wide-out Dwayne Jarrett because Keyshawn said Jarrett wasn't ready for the NFL. Now? Jarrett's on Keyshawn's old team. Sports are amazing, sometimes.

Either way, best of luck to Keyshawn in the future. I always liked him.