Do Bulls' 3 count as a famous 3?

The mind searches for famous threes and fumbles through Amigos, Musketeers and Tenors, a long trek before landing upon DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic, not so much famous as locally handy, a way to give the Bulls a distinction, there being no other reason to think of them at all.

It is widely agreed that "The Big Three" are the Bulls and that the Bulls are "The Big Three" whereas the number is not disputed here but rather the size, back again for one last chance at NBA glory before splintering off into separate shards.

NBA basketball is about two things, winning and celebrity, which makes the Bulls 0-2 going in, unless you count Zach LaVine, overpaid like the celebrity he will never be but what passes for value. There is the dependable midrange senior tine of the fork, DeMar DeRozan, a relic in game and tenure, and, of course, the obligatory European big man, Nikola Vucevic, a couple of diacriticals short of a legend.

The rest of the Bulls are whoever they are, the guy with the headband, the guy with the big hair, the guy with the constant scowl and the coach, one Billy Donovan by name and by appearance, probably as vulnerable as any leader of a play-in bunch.

So, life goes on in the lower middle, or is it the middle lower? Wherever it is, the Bulls are still there as snug as a pit in a prune.

These are the Bulls, much as we left them, about which little is expected nor demanded other than to "See Red," a marketing euphemism for getting angry, I suppose, but not likely to help much from the 3-point line.

Embarrassment and frustration may be no way to build a season, but I am rooting for the Bulls to pull off their notion that seeing red is the way to win, whereas an earnest full-game effort may be the most that can be expected.

So unhappy were the Bulls after their season opening loss to Oklahoma City that they huddled among themselves (never good news for the coaches) and agreed they should and could do better.

Work hard, play hard, help each other, you know, like a team.

Togetherness is a common area of human measurement, not always obvious among the Big Three, not to mention practical commerce, folks forking over good money to see earnest inadequacy, like applauding the low bidder. I think, in fact, it already does exist. It is called government work.

This does put some burden on the Bulls faithful, not so much loyal as suckers, all in, all red. For while fans of other teams have no more to do than to look at the final score, with the Bulls that is completely beside the point what with all that red to see.

In fact, I think the Bulls should have no scoreboard at all, or at least have their end of it masked over, so that we and they never will be distracted by tangible and misleading numbers.

What a delightful surprise it would be if, at game's end, the Bulls' half of the score could be unveiled and, should they win, free tacos all around.

The Bulls are a team without real muscle or great speed, with too much experience and too little promise, other than the promise that even if they will See Red the Big Three will see it all at the same time.

Research is a patchy process, so in hunting down famous threes I had to include Jordan, Pippen and Rodman, though to be honest, Jordan and Pippen did just fine before Rodman. The Bird and McHale and Parrish trio is easily a match for James and Wade and Bosh, who sort of started all this Big Three business as a concoction.

There is, of course the legendary Cubs trio of Tinkers to Evers to Chance, ruthlessly pricking gonfalon bubbles, but in my time, I'll take Guillen to Cora to Thomas, who did not have a gonfalon to prick.

And not to forget that three is just a number, well regarded in comedy as well as among folk singers, while we cannot overlook Blind Mice, Little Pigs and Stooges, options open to the Bulls as well.