Lou Canellis, raised in Chicago and currently co-host of The Huge Show, which airs on ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago weekdays at 4 p.m. CT, used to cover the Bulls when they were good. As he tells you, they're not good anymore. Here's Lou's take on what's happening in the Windy City.

	Lou Cannelis (left), co-host of The Huge Show in Chicago, doesn't like what he's seeing.

Back during the championship years covering the Bulls was like traveling with Ringling Brothers. It was the greatest show on earth. Coast to coast, Vancouver or D.C., L.A. or New York, we would land and there would be kids, fathers and grandfathers waiting at hotels, people on tarmacs when the flight would land, you name it. It was overwhelming for a guy like myself. These guys got used to it and fed off it. To me what was even more amazing was to have not only the greatest show on earth, but also sideshows. Jordan and his people, Rodman and his sideshow. While they were two separate shows in themselves, when it came to playing the game they were truly the greatest team in my opinion.

When it was all being torn apart it hurt, but management kept saying and making people think that we didn't want to be like the Celtics after Bird, McHale and Parish. We've won six championships, we'll reload before things get real bad, that's what people figured. And things have gotten worse than anyone could have imagined. To think that it wasn't long ago that this was the hardest ticket in town, to the point people were giving up newborns to go to the games ... now you can't give tickets away. I tell you, no one asks me for Bulls tickets anymore. They were so valuable that it was part of my contract! Back then it was the show, and not only in Chicago.

I'm a Chicago kid, too. The other thing that really hurts is with someone like Jordan, you do whatever it takes to make sure the guy plays as long as he wants for you. Unfortunately management in this town didn't feel the same way.

People don't wear bags on their heads here because they have too much pride. They still go to the games because of what MJ and Phil and Scottie built. It was the place to be. People couldn't get in to a Bulls game for so long. The only people that had tickets were scalpers and they wanted ridiculous prices. Now those people that couldn't get in have the opportunity to get in, but why would they? Now they can get in to the place they could only have watched on TV. The city used to stop when Michael played. People worked their lives around when he played. Now I could walk up and down the street and ask 10 people when the next Bulls game is. They don't know.

Right now people are talking White Sox, and spring training hasn't even begun yet! Nobody talks about the Bears, Black hawks or Bulls. All people talk about is Mike Sirotka and David Wells and college basketball because of Illinois. People used to be talking Bulls because we were going to rebuild. We wouldn't be a championship team necessarily, but with Elton Brand we would be back in the playoffs, right? I don't think anyone, nobody, thought it would be this bad. Nobody thought they would be the worst team in the NBA today or maybe the worst ever.

Now fans on the air are just bitter. Now they are critical of coach Tim Floyd. Everyone knows that (GM) Jerry Krause is at fault, but everyone is so disgusted that they don't only bring him down, they take Floyd, too. They say they don't care if he has no tools to work with, other teams do and they win more than seven times. Maybe it's time for Floyd to move on.

Back in the day I did the pregame, halftime and postgame shows for Bulls games, along with sideline reporting on TV and a live locker room show on radio and TV. Now we don't even do all this. Nobody cares.

	People in Chicago have heard of Elton Brand, but he's all alone.

Most people in Chicago don't even know who Marcus Fizer is. Jordan created fans that weren't sports fans. Fans who were mothers and fathers that wanted kids to have role models. I've heard from callers that they were able to pull their families together to watch the Bulls. People would say, Lou, we used to watch you all the time. Michael would screw around with me on TV. I would get the first interview with Michael after each game and he was a personable guy. Maybe he'd put me in a headlock, whip me with a towel, whatever. It showed people he was a regular guy. That came over the TV. People loved him.

Now they don't even watch. Everyone knows Elton Brand, but nobody else on the team. It's unfortunate because Elton's the greatest guy in the world and I hate to hear him say on the radio that he doesn't belong on the All-Star team because his team has only won six or so games. He's one of only four guys with 20 points and 10 rebounds! Of course he deserves it. But he's a good soldier.

I don't see any end in sight. As a talk show host who covers the team I think I have a good handle on the NBA, and there is no end. This hurts me. I can only say so much on the radio because we carry the games. I know Tim Floyd is not a quitter, but he should get the hell out. They have nobody to trade. It's not going to get better.

It's sad, but the sports scene in this town has gone from champions to a town of embarrassment when it comes to sports.

Now it's back to Mike Sirotka.