FAREWELL TO CRUMBS: Jerry "Crumbs" Krause is finally calling it quits, and I'm not sure why I care. But I do.

I've never been a Bulls fan. My basketball allegiance is with the Pistons, owing to my Detroit high school career (that coincided nicely with their championships). Still, I was born in Chicago, and I've lived here for about fourteen years in a row now, making it my place of longest residence. So I've certainly absorbed my fair amount of Bulls lore, and I've cultivated some small interest in their organizational woes.

Poor Krause. Those words always went together in my mind. He was never loved, only occasionally feared, and seldom respected. He seemed to wear his mental unease on his body. He often looked to be a sick man with another man on his back. You could almost see him literally carrying the pain and pressure as he stammered through press conferences and interviews. Now he gets a rest. I don't know whether he jumped or was pushed, but good for him. Nothing would make me happier to see a picture of the guy a few years down the road, looking and sounding far more healthy, and basking in the revisionist admiration that's sure to come.