Sup Breaux,

This is easily one of my favorite times of every year: the NBA playoffs are here,biatches! Da Bulls are on a roll, having finished slightly ahead of most peoples' (including my) predictions at exactly .500, and they received their gift in the form of an out-for-the-playoffs announcement by The Big Ticket. This gives them a chance, albeit a small one, to upset the defending champs (though obviously they're not going anywhere deep this year). I'm pulling for them, the Hornets, Atlanta, and Portland. I love the styles of those 3 teams, and they all should be in close and well-played series, imo; let's get it on! Oh yeah, and I'd love to see the Jazz make some noise, but they drew the fricken terminator in the first round, so gg D-Will et al (sorry Bobbo).

You can't sleep on the Bulls; something very good has happened to their big men since the trade that brought Salmons and Brad Miller in. It's not just those two good players' presences that have improved the team; Tyrus Thomas inexplicably began to "get it," ; he is clearly focusing on rebounding and defense now, and it fills my heart with joy to see him snapping up every defensive board in his vicinity, which is typically 1 foot above the rim. Joakim Noah is playing very good D as well; he's blocked or changed a lot of shots recently, and he's also finishing a bit better around the basket. It's hard to believe I'm preaching the praises of these guys, but if you've watched the Bulls closely (as I have) over the last few weeks, you can't help it; they are playing well and it makes the Bulls formidable. Also, Kirk Hinrich has apparently broken out of the shooting slump that has lasted approximately 2 goddamn years, and he always was a huge asset in every other area. Oh the downside, they acquired Tim Thomas, who could not be phoning it in more right now; his presence on the floor means shot attempts are gobbled up by forced 3s and half-assed drives that end about 4 feet out, as well as a matadoresque defensive showing. Retire, dude.

Things with poker are good: I'm piling up satellite money pretty fast, and doing well at 20/40 8-game. I'm also looking forward to doing a small amount of coaching, which I haven't felt like doing in months, and I'll hopefully even be getting some help with my tournament game from a couple of experts I've had the fortune of meeting.

Peace