Man Crush of February 2010: Sam Smith (Chicago Bulls Columnist)

Runners-up: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron-Man 2), Alec Baldwin (30 Rock), Michael Shanks (Smallville), Eric Dane and Patrick Dempsey (Valentine’s Day)
In a month where love is in the air, an entertainment depression hits you because there’s almost nothing new on television due to the Winter Olympics and box office has stopped catering to my demographic until the summer months come around. But even though the month is both slow and short, there were plenty of diamonds in the ruff to keep my interest peaked and in fact, made for a lot of runners-up.

With Sherlock Holmes checked off on my list of Robert Downey Jr. films I want to see, my attentions were now focused on the summer flick of Iron-Man 2, which looks like it’s going to be a really fun movie to watch. Alec Baldwin has been stellar on 30 Rock and thanks to the magic of DVR, I’ve been able to watch every episode through Anna Howard Shaw Day. Plus, I watched It’s Complicated and he was hilarious in that film. Michael Shanks played Hawkman in the Smallville TV-movie Absolute Justice, but he also gains man-crush-worthiness from his roles in Stargate SG-1 and my fave show Burn Notice. Lastly, Eric Dane and Patrick Dempsey get a nod for the fact that I enjoyed the Valentine’s Day movie and Grey’s Anatomy hasn’t been disappointing this month.

I’m a Chicago Bulls fan, no secret there, so I had to throw in a celebratory high-five to Sam Smith, the Bulls reporter who does game-by-game blog recaps, has a weekly “column” on the bulls.com website, does an around-the-league video report, and has the daunting task of answering mail, because the Bulls are on a hot streak and have take a strong foothold into being able to get into the playoffs this year. So why Sam Smith instead of someone like star point guard Derrick Rose or fan-favorite Joakim Noah? It’s because I haven’t watched an entire game live on television at all this season and the only writer that’s been able to hit all of the notes I care about in a game is Sam Smith.

In all honesty, I’ve never heard of him until sometime late last year. Sorry, Sam. But that was because I was stuck in a rut of getting my sports news fix from ESPN and CNN. Well, my work decided to ding me for using the external Internet too much because ESPN went pop-up crazy on me a couple times so that cut ESPN. CNN’s SI was okay, like a crutch is okay if I break my leg, but I don’t want to be stuck using it for the rest of my life. CNN has some great b-ball writers, like Chris Mannix and Ian Thompsen, but there are only so many times I can read a column about Lebron James or Kobe Bryant. I’m a Bulls fan. I wanted Bulls material. Thankfully, CNN had a section specific to news by team, so I clicked on Bulls and, not surprisingly, there was a lot of stuff from the Chicago Sun Times or the Chicago Herald, but then I saw it: blogabull.com. I had no idea that there were official blog sites dedicated to a specific team. Well, I knew there was, but I didn’t realize they were so well done. Well from there, I saw some fan posts and fan shots referencing a writer named Sam Smith and through a link on blogabull.com, I found bulls.com and Sam Smith.

At first, I only read his blog entries for the game-to-game recaps of the Bulls games. Then I got sucked into his weekly column about the NBA and any Bulls related news. Then I started reading his weekly mailbag and loved his comical/sensible replies to not just Bulls fans, but basketball fans. Now I’m watching his weekly streamed videos and check the website about 4-5 times a day at work just to see if there’s anything new in his blog (he also does some blogs about whatever strikes his interest with the team or in the NBA in general). Heck, thanks to Sam Smith, I’m also watching the website’s quick game video recap done by Chuck Swirsky.

There’s also the bonus factor of him having and loving a career that almost all men wish they could have: sports writer. What guy wouldn’t love to be able to get paid to watch a game and then have other people read their opinions on the game? Sure, he’s focused on the Bulls and stretches out into the entire NBA, but if you love a team, you wouldn’t mind focusing on reporting on them.

It’s also been an unusually tough month for the Deuce professionally (work sucks) and personally (car got towed along with other things that kept the blood pumping with fear or rage). I have two people I can credit for keeping me going through this month. First, the Doc, who always provided a shoulder I can lean on. Second, Sam Smith, for giving me a couple minutes every now and then where I can escape from the hectic hullabaloo around me. You, sir, are a godsend. Oh, and “Go Bulls!”