Bears go Long

And the 20th pick in the first round of the 2013 NFL draft the Bears selected…

Kyle Long, an offensive guard from Oregon. 

Bears Phil Emery was unable to trade down and told the media that Long was the player the team had targeted. Many draft experts had Long going later in the draft as late as the third round.

He is 6’7,” 313lbs and the Bears believe he has the capability to also play at tackle. If the last name rings a bell. it should. He is the brother of Rams defensive end Chris Long and the son of Hall of Famer Howie Long.

There is some baggage for the new Bears player. He had some off the field issues at Florida State where he played baseball, went to a community college to play football and wound up at Oregon.

Long played in 11 games last year and started in five, so he has a limited resume on the Division I level.

You can look at it two ways:

1. He doesn’t have the wear and tear players have coming into the league.
2. But, he is a player with limited experience and will have to digest the game fast.

Emery expects Kyle Long to make an impact sooner than later. And if the football thing doesn’t work out, he probably could try baseball. No joke.

Long was drafted by the White Sox out of high school in the 23^rd round.

The NFL draft continues today with the second and third round. The final rounds 4-7 are tomorrow.

Bulls hang on to win at the UC

It sure wasn’t pretty last night, but the Bulls will take the 79-76 win over the Brooklyn Nets.

It started really ugly for the Bulls when they allowed Deron Williams to get his team going and built a 17-5 lead, and that was all Tom Thibodeau needed to get mad.

He regrouped his team and they came back with a sense of purpose and used their defense like a vice around the throat of the Nets. Forcing turnovers and getting easy baskets is the staple of this Bulls team. The Nets missed 25 of 26 shots during a stretch from the second through the third quarter.

It was a similar blueprint as the second game on Monday. Carlos Boozer had 22 points and 16 rebounds and Luol Deng had 21 points and ten boards. The Nets did make a run at the end of the game and had a chance to tie it but CJ Watson missed a three pointer. Brook Lopez was the Nets high point man with 22 points and Williams contributed 18 in the losing effort.

Although it was a huge win and the Bulls are up 2 games to 1, they realize the task at hand is to win two more and they expect Brooklyn will not roll over.  There is little time to rest since the game four will be tomorrow at 1 p.m. at the United Center.

Yes, baseball is in full swing

Guess it was a triple header of Chicago wins last night. Besides the Bulls, the White Sox beat Tampa 5-2 and the Cubs were able to a “W” in Miami 4-3 — in case you were interested.

The Blackhawks nearing the finish line

The last unimportant home game for the Blackhawks is tonight when they host the Calgary Flames and it will be the first chance for the fans to applaud the winners of the President’s Trophy. The honor goes to the hockey team with the most points for the regular season.

The Hawks have proven they have been the best team in the league with their torrid opening streak.

The team now has the luxury the final two games to back off some minutes on players. It looks like they will have to wait until the final game to figure out who they will be hosting in the first round beginning early next week.

Of course, the Blackhawks want a little bit more than the President’s Trophy. It’s the Stanley Cup that they have been striving for the year. Odds are that they have a terrific chance to be dancing with that Cup sometime on June.

Okay, maybe that is too cocky – but this team is very impressive.

—Follow Cheryl on Twitter @CRayeStout and Facebook Cheryl Raye Stout #AtTheGame