It seems like we have nice feud brewing between the Bulls and Jeff Van Gundy.

On Saturday, I did a post in the Chicago Tribune about Van Gundy’s comments during Friday’s Bulls-Dallas game.

Jeff Van Gundy came down on the media Friday, claiming some members “are in the hip pocket” with Bulls management. He alleges the Bulls are leaking stories to “undermine” Tom Thibodeau.

Van Gundy’s comments came in a strongly-worded defense of the Bulls coach during ESPN’s telecast of the Bulls-Dallas game. Thibodeau was a former assistant coach for Van Gundy and they are close friends.

“I read every Chicago story,” Van Gundy said. “There is no doubt the Bulls organization has the media, with a few exceptions, in their hip pocket. For whatever reasons, they have set their sights on Thibodeau when all he’s done is deliver greatness in his five years (as the Bulls head coach).”

Bulls exec John Paxson fired back Sunday. K.C. Johnson reports in the Chicago Tribune:

“Tom Thibodeau isn’t being undermined at all,” said John Paxson, executive vice president of basketball operations. “What’s being undermined is the entire Bulls organization by Van Gundy, who has an agenda against our organization for whatever reason and has for years. I guess he thinks he’s trying to protect his friend, but he’s doing just the opposite. It’s pretty pathetic when you think about it, and truth be told he owes Jerry Reinsdorf an apology for his disparaging remarks.”

It will be interesting to watch Van Gundy’s next Bulls game.

My latest column for the Chicago Tribune is on a new film by Chicago-area native Gabe Polsky, who tells the complete story of the great Soviet hockey team.

The film, which opens in theaters this week, is terrific. Highly recommended.

From the column:

*******

Naturally, Gabe Polsky remembers all three goals he scored during his college hockey days at Yale. He also has vivid memories of what happened after he bagged two goals in the opener of his sophomore season.

“I wasn’t in the lineup for the next game,” Polsky said. “Welcome to college hockey.”

While the Glencoe native’s aspirations of a pro hockey career soon vanished, his sense of unfinished business with the game never dissipated. Polsky, 35, believes he finally has filled the void with the famed Soviet Union hockey team.

Polsky’s new documentary, “Red Army,” tells the sports, political and cultural tale of hockey’s greatest team. The film has received much critical acclaim and even earned a showing at the Cannes Film Festival, a rarity for a sports documentary, Polsky said.

“I never could contribute to hockey the way I knew I could,” Polsky said. “It always stuck with me. (This film) is my contribution to the game.”

It is a story worth telling, as the Soviets dominated international hockey for decades until the fall of the USSR in 1991. They did it with a mesmerizing game that featured players weaving around confused opponents, intricate passing and unparalleled teamwork. The film details the artistry conceived by legendary coach Anatoly Tarasov, who choreographed a hockey ballet on ice.

“When I saw a tape of the Soviets for the first time (at 15), it was like a religious experience,” Polsky said. “It was like living in a world where all you saw were Honda Civics. Then all of a sudden, a Ferrari drives down the road and you go, ‘Oh, my God.’ This was a creative revolution not just for hockey, but for sports.”

*******

The teams were the byproduct of a Soviet system that sought to use sports to show the superiority of its society. The players were pushed to extremes under dictatorial regimes. They could see their families only one month of the year, as they were subjected to brutal training programs during the remaining 11 months.

Somehow, though, the players managed to thrive. Polsky calls the end result “a deep paradox.”

“It says something that under the most brutally oppressive conditions came the freest hockey ever produced,” Polsky said. “They didn’t experience freedom off the ice, so they had to experience it on the ice.”

Nice touch today by my sports section. He truly went beyond the Cubs. Even die-hard White Sox fans like myself loved Ernie.

In 1997, I covered my first tournament as the Tribune’s new golf writer. It just happened to be the Masters when Tiger Woods made history.

While walking the course during the final round, who do I happen to see? Ernie Banks.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I just had to be here to see this,” Banks replied.

Of course, the man who was mentored by Jackie Robinson as the first African-American player for the Cubs had to be a witness to an epic moment in golf. Watching on TV wasn’t going to cut it.

Naturally, I included Banks’ comments in my story on the historical significance of Woods’ victory. In a subsequent interview, he recalled:

“I played with Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Calvin Peete, Jim Thorpe, Jim Dent, all of them. When Tiger won, I thought about those guys. I heard Charlie Sifford say this many years ago, when he was struggling with everything. He said, `Ernie, one day we’re going to have a young, good-looking black kid come into golf and beat everybody.’ Charlie was right. That’s what happened.”

It wasn’t the last time Ernie and I talked about golf. He loved the game and practically lived at Cog Hill, Chicago’s top public course, during the summer.

If his motto for baseball was “Let’s play two,” I’m sure it was “Let’s play 36” for golf.

Ernie hardly was a casual fan of the pro game. Whenever we would meet, usually at Cog Hill, he wanted to talk about the majors. He always knew all the venues for that year and enjoyed handicapping the field.

Of course, Ernie always wanted to get the latest on Woods. It is hard to believe Woods had a bigger fan. He definitely didn’t have one who hit 512 homers.

Ernie was captivated by Woods’ talent. Despite having knees you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, he often walked the course during tournaments just so he could see him up close. Ernie joked that he was “stalking him.”

“Wherever you see Tiger, you’ll see me,” Ernie said.

He went as far as to seek out Woods’ father, Earl, for a lunch date. Ernie just had to meet him.

Prior to the 2006 PGA Championship at Medinah, I asked Ernie for his thoughts about Woods for a Tribune story. It is interesting how a superstar in one sport views a superstar in another sport:

The attraction to Tiger: “One thing, his charisma. Once, I was in the background at Cog Hill, just watching him hit shots. I was like, `Wow.’ When he’s on the course, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

“One thing I always look for in athletes is how much do they love what they’re doing? He really loves it.

“I’ve been to a lot of his clinics. Tiger around kids, he’s in his glory. He loves working with kids, talking with kids. I’ve visited his learning center [in Anaheim].

“I don’t want to sound like a nut, like I’m stalking him. This kid is like a magnet. He just draws me wherever he is. The way he dresses, his smile, his love of what he is doing.

“I’m like a little kid following him.”

The athletic connection: “Unfortunately, I never got into a World Series. I always wanted to see people who could rise above under pressure. I watched Michael Jordan play basketball. Stan Musial, Hank Aaron … guys who play under pressure.

“When Tiger came on, that was the main thing I wanted to see from him. How he would respond under pressure? Then I began to see he was a little bit like me.

“I played the game in Wrigley Field as if there was nobody there but me. I didn’t have any idea about the cheering of the crowd. It was just me and the ball. That’s like Tiger.

“When he plays, he plays as if nobody is out there but him and the ball. I went, `Wow, this kid is amazing.'”

The emotion: “I like that when he hits a bad shot, he expresses his disgust. You’ve got to do that. When I played and struck out, I didn’t do that. I didn’t show any emotion. You’ve got to show your emotion.”

Walking with Tiger: “When I retired, all my kids, former teammates, they all said, `Man, you’ve got to get your knees done. You’re walking like an old man.’

“So one day I was thinking, `I should do it.’ I was motivated to walk nine holes with Tiger Woods. When I came to the Masters [in 1997], I wasn’t able to walk then. I sat up at the 18th hole.

“I did it and I walked with him at last year’s PGA. It was hot, but I wanted to do it. This is why I had my knees done. To walk with this young man on the golf course in a major tournament. It was like, `Wow.’

“People following him thought I was his daddy. They said, `How are you, Earl?’ I’d walk a few more holes, and they said, `That isn’t Earl, that’s Ernie Banks.’ Talk about a high honor. People thought I was Tiger’s daddy.”

Meeting with Woods’ father: “I called up Earl a few years ago. He says, `What? Oh, yeah, I remember you. You played with the Kansas City Monarchs.’ Yes, I did.

“I told him I wanted to come down for lunch. I wanted to see and meet the man who trained Tiger Woods.

“It was such a wonderful experience. We talked about baseball. I knew he played baseball. He was the first black player in the Big Eight. I wanted to know about that.

“I saw where Tiger got his determination. Earl was a very determined man.”

*****

It’s been a while since I last saw Ernie. I never got a chance to talk to him about Woods’ personal problems that derailed his career. Knowing Ernie, I’m sure he remained optimistic that Woods would figure a way out of it. In fact, I’d bet my house he was predicting Woods would win this year’s Masters.

In my 2006 piece, Ernie expressed this wish:

“My next mission before I leave this Earth is to play three holes with Tiger Woods. I’m going to be working on that at the PGA. I’m going to try to catch him between something. I’m going to say, `Tiger, my lifelong goal is to play three holes with you.'”

I don’t know if it ever happened. It would be Woods’ loss if it didn’t.

Stuart Scott left us a great gift.

Scott, who died Jan. 4 at the age of 49, details his battle with cancer in a new book “Every Day I Fight.” The official publication date is March 10.

ESPN.com ran an excerpt this week. He talks about his zealous determination to not let cancer take him down.

From the excerpt:

“I can’t tell you how important it felt to go from the chemo infusion center to the gym. There were patients at the infusion center who were gaunt and too weak to walk. I wanted to hug them. I wanted to work out for them. It took about fifteen minutes to get to the gym from the infusion center, but I felt like I was traveling a great distance: from the land of the sick to the land of the recovering. I’d work out three or four times a week, but the most important workout was the one right after chemo. It was like I was proving a point: While you kick my butt, cancer, I’m gonna kick yours.

“That first day is when, getting on the elliptical, I noticed the name on the chemo drip. The medical name of the medicine is fluorouracil, but they call it 5-FU. That’s what it said, right there: 5-FU. All right, I thought. A sign. FU, cancer.”

What, are you guys like 12 or something?

Today’s New York Daily News.

And there was this gem yesterday in the New York Post. Ha, ha.

If you really want to get to the heart of Deflate-gate, go find the New England Patriots ball boy who had to be in on the scam. Here’s a clue: Look for a ball boy who is driving a new Mercedes.

You would have to think there is a Patriots ball boy who knows exactly what went down last Sunday. You also would have to think the Patriots are paying him well to keep quiet. Who knows, he might be relaxing on his new private island in the Caribbean, courtesy of Tom Brady.

Then again, maybe the payoff is yet to come. How much would this story be worth to TMZ?

Also, just wondering if the ball is deflated in this classic Patriots logo.

Oh man, it is going to be a feeding frenzy at the Super Bowl next week.

Get ready people because the TV revolution truly is just around the corner.

The notion of watching the NFL via Google isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds.

In an interview with Peter King of MMQB, Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s executive vice-president for media, acknowledged the platforms likely will be much different in the next decade.

“(People ask) ‘when is Google going to carry a game package?’” Rolapp said. “I think the answer is once an Internet player can sustain 30 million users at the level and the quality that they expect to get on television. Five years ago, we were like, We don’t see that. Now? That might be possible as we sit with the Google guys.”

Rolapp explained how the set-up might work.

“Our broadcast contracts go through 2022,” he said. “We’ve made our bed. And in 2023? I don’t know. I don’t know the answer to that. I’m also not convinced that it has to be exclusive … When you have close to 70 percent of your fans having a second screen open while they’re watching the game on television, they’re doing all sorts of things. So it’s not necessarily about the internet or technology replacing the game on television, it’s about supplementing it and adding to it and making it better. So I think those are all avenues open to us.”

Worth your attention on the four photographers and three writers who have covered every Super Bowl.

Friday at 7 p.m. ET, ESPN will air “Keepers of the Streak.” The film (link to trailer) is directed by sports photographer Neil Leifer and chronicles the decades-long journey of veteran shooters John Biever, Walter Iooss, Mickey Palmer and Tony Tomsic. It features a great ending about Sports Illustrated’s cover for last year’s Super Bowl.

Also, you get the inside story of how Iooss landed the famous Joe Namath picture from Super Bowl III.

Meanwhile, Richard Deitsch at SI.com wrote a terrific piece on three writers who have covered every Super Bowl: Jerry Green, Jerry Izenberg, and Dave Klein.

How was back then:

Their memories of the first game — Green Bay’s 35-10 romp over Kansas City — remain sharp. Izenberg recalled how he and his close friend Jack Murphy, the famous sports writer out of San Diego, drove to Santa Barbara to interview Green Bay players at their hotel. At the front of the hotel stood a man on guard. His name was Vince Lombardi.

“I knew Lombardi was steaming about being in Santa Barbara,” Izenberg says. “We pulled up to the place, the ocean on the right side, and Lombardi is standing in front of the hotel. He says to us, ‘What are you guys doing here?’ I said, ‘Well, we came to talk to your football team.’ He said, ‘We should not even be here.’ I always knew how to push his buttons so I said, ‘This is a beautiful place, isn’t it?’ He said, ‘What you mean this is a beautiful place? This is hell. Look how pretty it is.’ Then he realizes that there are 10 players listening and looking down. He says to them. ‘And none of you guys better be in the pool today either.’ And then walks away.”

Green said he traveled to Los Angeles mid-week for the first game because the Lions were changing coaches from Harry Gilmer for Jerry Schmidt. He remembers going into the hotel room of Chiefs defensive back Fred Williamson with a small group for a 30-minute interview. “We had that kind of access,” Green said.

And how it is now:

Klein said he also thought things started changing in the late 1970s.

“It’s a circus now,” he says. “I try not to attend Media Day. It’s like being in the middle of a teaming crowd in New Delhi. But the NFL loves it because it attracts people and fans.”

Izenberg said one of the moments where he felt the Super Bowl had crossed the Rubicon was when MTV VJ Julie Brown was credentialed for Super Bowl Media Day in 1992. Wearing a tuxedo, she sat on lap of Redskins defensive lineman Dexter Manley for an interview.

“She comes bouncing in, jumps into his lap, strokes his thigh and says, ‘Can I talk to you, Dexter?'” Izenberg says. “I said, ‘Well, f— this.’ And I walked away and I wrote about it. I’ve written about it off and on to show you how the league has made a circus with Media Day.”

For those who toil in there, the press box feels like a fraternity. Sports reporters often spend more time with other sports reporters than they do with their families.

Mike Spellman lived in that world. That’s why the Chicago sports fraternity was devastated today in learning the news that he died unexpectedly yesterday. Today would have been his 51st birthday.

Spellman recently took over the Blackhawks beat for the Daily Herald. He succeeded Tim Sassone who died last year.

Spellman’s greatest asset was his versatility. He covered everything for the Daily Herald. I got to know him from his work as a golf writer.

Beyond that, Spellman was one of those guys you looked forward to seeing when you walked in the press room. He always was friendly and had an upbeat attitude. Believe me, upbeat isn’t a description that applies to many reporters.

Daily Herald sports editor Tom Quinlan summed up how we all felt about him: “He was such a good and kindhearted person that you were even more impressed by his outgoing spirit and positive nature. We lost a true friend and a colleague we greatly admired.”

Spellman was a true pro. He will be missed in Chicago.