Don't Worry, Everyone Checked The Final Score On Their Way Home To Winnetka

The Harden Index

8: Number of starts Rich Harden has made for the Chicago Cubs
8: Combined number of earned runs Harden has given up in those starts
5: Number of those starts in which Harden has thrown 10+ Ks
1: Number of those starts in which Harden has thrown less than 8 Ks
8.75: Average number of Ks Harden has thrown in each of those starts
2.6 to 1: Harden's K to hit ratio in those starts
5 to 1: Harden's K to BB ratio in those starts
1.47: Harden's Cub ERA
0.47 Harden's ERA in his last three starts
6.55: Sean Gallagher's ERA as a member of the Oakland As
.176: Batting average of Eric Patterson as a member of the Oakland As
.100: Batting average of Matt Murton as a member of the Oakland As

And as a bonus:

8: Number of consecutive series won by the Chicago Cubs
71: Number of years since that feat was last accomplished in the franchise's history
33: Days since the Cubs last lost a series
29: Days since the Cubs last lost back-to-back games

Hello, (Cubbie) Blue Monday!

Oh I'd Better Learn How To Face It

This could be it.

In a new development, Bulls guard Ben Gordon said he wouldn't sign the Bulls' one-year qualifying offer of $6.4 million, setting the stage for a possible stalemate.

"I'm definitely not taking it," Gordon said Friday night at a charity function in New York. "I've already expressed that to them. I mean, that's not an option."

Cue the Hall and Oates, gendered pronouns be damned.

Scotty and the Wranglers

Remember that line on Blog-a-Bull about a month back: "Skiles is getting the band back together"?

Well, he just picked up his old sound guy.

No word yet if lead singer Antonio Davis can be coaxed out of retirement.

Yup...I'm Still Pretty Happy About That Trade

I don't naturally tend toward optimism, but the following, from Yglesias, made me smile, and not only because it's pretty funny:

Jason Kidd basically isn’t shooting at all. Against Angola he scored zero points on zero shots and took no free throws. Under a certain (wrong) conception of a “pure point guard,” Kidd is now approaching a Platonic ideal of brilliant play. But realistically, playing offense against a tough defense is hard when one of your players doesn’t shoot at all.

With the full acknowledgment that Larry Hughes brings his own set of problems, aren't you glad Ben Wallace is gone?

My Worst Fear...

...is that Kelly Dwyer is exactly, 100 percent correct.

UPDATE: OTOH, This guy says it's a good sign that Reinsdorf is doing the negotiations with Ben. And K.C. is now saying that, in fact, it might be Andres Nocioni "who will be traded."