Easily Beat-a-Bull

For a good part of the nineties, the Chicago Bulls held one of the great dynasties in professional sports.

The Bulls were the most dominant team in the National Basketball Association during the decade, winning six titles in a span of eight years.

But, after the 1997-98 season, after Michael Jordan left the game for the second time, the Bulls went on a downward spiral and haven't been close to being good since.

That downward spiral hit bottom after last Thursday night, when the Bulls lost by 53 points to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a game that didn't see them reach fifty points until two-thirds of the way through the fourth quarter. It looked like Michigan State squashing a Division II opponent.

You want to feel sorry for this once-proud franchise, once built on a tradition of winning and smart decisions. After 1998, the bottom fell out. When Jordan left, GM Jerry Krause and owner Jerry Reinsdorf felt it was just as well to dismantle the entire franchise with Jordan gone. As long as it took to build the Bulls dynasty, it took such a short time to take it apart.

That's when the sympathy turns into questioning, such as -- how could they possibly do this to this franchise? God save the good people of Chicago!

It first started when Krause let Phil Jackson, one of the many cogs in the Bulls' machine, walk right out the door after 1998. Then he traded away Scottie Pippen, one of the best supporting players of all time. And then went Luc Longley... then Ron Harper... and finally, Toni Kukoc.

Who did he replace with those key components? In Jackson's place came Tim Floyd, one of the best college basketball coaches in the nation when he was at Iowa State.

Figured he would be a great coach in the NBA? Not exactly.

Instead of building Floyd a winner, Krause has repeatedly sabotaged the franchise. Since the conclusion of Jordan's final season in Chicago, the Bulls have lost 169 games, an average of 56 losses per season. It's a blemish that Floyd, unless he miraculously winds up coaching the Los Angeles Lakers, will never be able to rid himself of as a coach in the professional ranks.

And who is that replacing Jordan, Pippen, and Kukoc on the court of the United Center? Marcus Fizer, Tyson Chandler, and Eddy Curry, the final two who were just drafted last season right out of high school.

Krause seemed to have made a smart move when he drafted Elton Brand and Ron Artest in the 1999 NBA draft. There he could build the franchise around the both of them, just as he had done when Jordan and Pippen were in town. Except when one piece of the puzzle in Brand was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Chandler.

Krause threw away the future, all to save cap room. With that cap room, the Bulls signed Charles Oakley to give the young players a veteran to follow in the locker room. Oakley established the quintessential locker room cancer after Thursday's washout when he criticized Floyd. His influence has the younger ones talking, as Chandler has already been documented for complaining about the amount of minutes he is -- or isn't -- playing.

As for the fans? Let's leave it at this: a court-level seat, which was once impossible for any fan to buy during the Jordan Era, is now attainable. Yikes.

In essence, Krause has shoddily built a team over the last three seasons that an NAIA team could beat. This season is already turning into another long, cold, hard winter for Bulls fans. At least the Bears and Blackhawks are finally starting to turn for the better.

No matter who is to blame, the Bulls are a franchise in shambles. You can blame the two Jerrys, you can blame Tim Floyd, you can even blame -- as cute and fuzzy, as he is -- Benny the Bull.

Eventually, there will be repercussions, and one of these men (with the exception of Benny) will pay dearly.