Wednesday night, the Chicago Bulls beat the Milwaukee Bucks 99-90, a victory that can be attributed in part to the performance of Tyrus Thomas. During his energy-filled 18 minutes on the floor, the rookie scored eight hard-earned points, grabbed five timely rebounds, snatched four steals and threw down two monster blocks. He demonstrated why the Bulls were so darn excited to grab him in last summer’s draft.

And ever since game one as The Heckler’s Bulls beat writer, I’ve done nothing but make fun of the guy.

For example, in an article dated Dec., I suggested Thomas enjoys pleasuring himself during halftime. On Jan. 13, I said he should be given the nickname “I Should So Be On Ritalin.”  On December 10, I had him sending 100 text messages to fellow rookie Thabo Sefolosha on the bench during a game.

I could go on. But I won’t. Not anymore.

You see, it’s apparent that Thomas has some skills, and if he continues to improve at this rate, he could play a huge role in the Chicago Bulls playoff run. Sure, I’ll continue to tease him-after all, it’s my job-but I’ll stop singling him out for abuse. From this point on, Tyrus won’t get ragged on any more or less than Andres “Stinky ‘Pits” Nocioni, or Ben “Droopy Drawers” Gordon, or Kirk “Skid Mark” Hinrich, or Adrian “Lucky I’m Not In The NBDL” Griffin.

Mike “Pudgy McChunkington” Sweetney, on the other hand, will be singled out until the damn doughnut-munching machine gets under 350.

heckler editorial staff