Remember I wrote about the miracle of “Chuck & Buck’s” being produced by the same people who brought us “American Pie”? Well, I guess the Weitz brothers (who star in and produced “Chuck & Buck”) are not such losers, after all.

They are behind Hugh Grant’s latest vehicle, “About a Boy,” which apparently has some heart and is better than the average Hugh Grant movie. It should be, as its based on the Nick Hornby novel. Ebert gave it three and a half stars.

And here’s an interesting interview with the Weitz brothers from The Onion. For example, Chris Weitz says:

In a sense, we’re taking the studio route, so we’ve made a deal with what could be the devil. But I think we’ve managed to do pretty much what we’ve wanted to do within the system. Of course, there’s huge financial pressure. Studios are basically banks, and they want their money back, so that’s where all the pressure is coming from. They think they know how to make money: according to formulas. Given that, I think we’ve managed to make things relatively non-formulaic, but part of that is keeping our budgets really low.

We actually had a lower budget this time than the last time we made a movie. I saw [director Kinka Usher] at the première of Mystery Men, and he came in front and gave a speech, in which he said, “Thanks to the studio for giving me the extra 20 million bucks to really make the movie I wanted to.” And I thought, “Man, you poor sap. You’ve gotten yourself 20 million bucks deeper in the shit.”

Many other inside Hollywood insights to be found in the interview. Check it out. Still not going to see “About a Boy,” though.

The Celtics played more than a lick of defense on Tuesday night to even up the series — they played outstanding defense. And you knew that would happen, or else Coach Jim O’Brien would have quit on the spot.

Now, the Celtics will be cranking out the Guns N’ Roses as they welcome the Nets to “The Jungle,” which is what they call the Fleet Center. No playoff opponent has shot 40 percent or higher at the Fleet Center yet.

The Red Sox wanted to prove they could beat winning teams. Well, after smashing the White Sox 9-0on Monday, they lost the next two. And now? A four-game series against the evil, evil Yankees and only a one-game lead in the AL East.

Oh, yeah. Manny Ramirez’ thumb may require surgery, after all. ESPN’s Peter Gammons writes that the American League is now a three-team race. And the Red Sox are one of those teams.

Mark Prior is the real deal. I didn’t get to see him pitch because I was in class, but the numbers tell the story. Here’s what the scouts had to say about Prior’s performance Wednesday night.

Most surprising of all, the Cubs gave Prior some run support. Was that just a favor to the rookie, or will it be a sign of things to come? So obviously Prior has earned a spot in the starting rotation, though with Baylor you never can tell. The Tribune’s Teddy Greenstein reports that Jason Bere has an edge over Juan Cruz for the last spot because Cruz has complained of soreness in his arm.

If Cruz is healthy, I think it would be a shame if he were sent to the bullpen instead of Bere. Bere, as Greenstein points out, has given up more runs this year than any other starter with the exception of Mike Hampton, the ace for a team whose home stadium is so homer happy they’re allowed to store the balls in a humidor hours before game time.

Indeed, the Tuesday doubleheader said all that needed to be said about who deserves a spot in the rotation. Bere started the first game and gave up six runs in five innings, losing the game and upping his ERA to 6.80. Cruz, meanwhile, gave up only two earned runs in six innings.

The thing that may keep Bere in the starting lineup is that he will resist the bullpen fiercely. This Cruz’ first full year and he doesn’t have much say. Bere is getting paid $3.4 million this season and has only pitched eight games in relief his entire career. He is much less likely to even be effective coming out of the bullpen. Cruz deserves his starting spot, but probably won’t get it.

Hopefully, Bere will be dealt to some team desperate for pitching before the trading deadline, and Cruz can take back his spot as a key component of a rotation made up of fellow youngsters Wood and Prior. Here’s Phil Rogers on the Cubs’ youth movement.

Showing that they can do more than just beat the Tampa Bays of the world, the Sox took two out of three from the Mariners at home after losing two out of three last weekend in Seattle. The Mariners were on fire, but no longer.

The Red Sox are now 23-7 against teams with losing records and 6-4 against winning teams. They now begin a three-game series against the evil, evil, 24-20 White Sox here in Chicago. This is another test for them. The Yankees, having won 10 of their last 12, are hot on their trails, only two games back. I don’t know how long Boston can hold them off. Giambi isn’t even getting booed anymore.

The Rockets won the NBA draft lottery, giving them the No. 1 pick for the first time since 1984 when they drafted a talented center from a distant country. Sound familiar?

Whether the Rockets will try to repeat their luck with Hakeem Olajuwon by drafting Chinese 7-foot-5-incher Yao Ming is an open question, of course. Either way, it’s a nice dilemma to have. Right, Karen?

The Cubs ended their losing streak by not only winning today, but by coming from behind to win. And not only that. Fred McGriff, of all people, hit a two-run home run to tie it. And the Cubs even overcame a blown save by Antonio Alfonseca. It was not exactly an impressive victory, but a nice one nonetheless.

It does mean, however, that Cubs fell 14 consecutive losses short of the Phillies’ all-time record for most losses in a row. D’oh! I have a feeling that they’ll get started on another losing streak right away, though.

By the way, Bobby Hill scored the Cubs’ last two runs. Why wasn’t DeShields playing? Come on, Baylor. Moves like that might actually keep you employed.

The Cubs now have the second worst record in the National League. Who has the worst record? The Brewers. Five of the Brewers’ 14 wins (35 percent) so far this year have come against the Cubs.

Paul Pierce was on the money when he explained why the Celtics lost game one of the Eastern
Conference Finals to the Nets.

“We didn’t even play a lick of defense all night,” he said.

It would also help if Pierce could keep himself out of foul trouble. The fourth foul that took him out of the game during a game-deciding stretch in the third quarter was a charging call. Pierce needs to be more careful, especially with a guy like Kidd, who knows how to take a charge.

This is what the Celtics were like last year, when they were a lottery team. Pierce and Walker scored 27 but the Celtics never, looked lost on defense, and got killed on the boards and in the paint. The Celtics are capable of performing better than this. Let’s see if they do.

According to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, a masochist is a person who “takes pleasure in being abused or dominated,” and has “a taste for suffering.” Here’s a simpler definition: Cubs fan.

It’s nine losses in a row, now, but MacPhail says he “has no intention of making a change any time in the near future.” Of course not. Maybe he wants to have a new manager lined up to replace Baylor when he finally gets the ax.

At this point, I’m interested to see how many games in a row the Cubs can lose. The 1961 Phillies hold the record with 23 losses in a row. That’s a record I think even this team will have trouble beating. But they can try. At least today they made it interesting by putting the tyings runs on base in the ninth. What’s even worse than the Cubs’ winning record is the fact that very few games have even been interesting or exciting.

Even ace Jon Lieber couldn’t bring them victory today. Of course he couldn’t. He allowed more three runs. How’s the offense supposed to win with that kind of effort? Jeez, Liebs. Won’t you ever learn? Make sure to let Mark Prior in on the secret before he pitches on Wednesday. That should help him bear down for his major-league debut.

So says Cubs chief muckety-muck Andy MacPhail in his interview with MLB.com. Of course, he’s right that the big problem is the Cubs’ offense. And, luckily, he doesn’t resort to using the injuries as an excuse:

Everybody has injuries. You just have to overcome them. We haven’t done a very good job of that. And we haven’t hit. Injuries are a factor but they are by no means the main reason or the reason itself.

But a couple of his answers are certainly suspect. In response to Kerry Wood’s comments about the Cubs’ lack of energy, MacPhail said, “I was in Des Moines [watching the Triple-A team] and got all of that second- and third-hand. I’ve never doubted the competitive spirit in Kerry and I think that’s a good thing. No one wants to lie down.”

OK, I guess they don’t have Internet connections in Des Moines. It would have just been too much for him to keep up with the press coverage of his team. That’s a cop out. And so is his remark that nobody wants to lie down. Maybe nobody wants to, but plenty of Cubs are doing it. But he doesn’t have the guts to call out his players the way Baylor and Wood have done. That’s probably a smart move in the end, but still a cop out.

And what about Mark Prior? Will he be starting next week? “You can speculate that way. Things would have to fall in place for that to happen. It’s not out of the realm of possibilty.” Not out of the realm of possibility?!
How’s this for reality, not just possibility: one starter (Jason Bere) is 1-6 with a 6.31 ERA and another (Juan Cruz) is 0-7 with a decent 3.86 ERA but hasn’t made it past the fourth inning in his last two starts.

Come on, Andy. Wake up.

… another idiotic move by Bulls‘ management. I guess it just wasn’t enough to chase away Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and trade away the rest of the championship-era players. The Bulls just had to go and fire public address announcer Ray Clay, known for his stirring introductions of Michael Jordan during the Bulls renowned pre-game ceremonies.

Rumors abound that Clay is being fired for wanting to give Jordan his traditional intro when he returned as a Wizard to play the Bulls last season. The intro he wound up giving him was rather subdued and drowned out by a standing ovation. Talk is that the Bulls were upset with Clay for not announcing the next player right away, a typically clasless move on their part.

This is a perfect coda to the Jerrys’ dismantling of the championship team. I guess that if “organizations win championships,” as Jerry Krause famously said, Clay was one part that was expendable. But I disagree. As miserable as it is to attend a Bulls game nowadays, one of the few bright spots was the pre-game ceremony. Even though Clay didn’t have any Pippens or Jordans to introduce, he still did a magnificent job. His voice was an ineffable part of the Bulls experience. There are many great memories from the Jordan championship years. And Clay’s call, “From North Carolina! …” is one of them.

The subconscious reason for Clay’s firing may be the fact that whenever he opened his mouth, Jerry Krause and Jerry Reinsdorf were painfully reminded of what once was and no longer is. They didn’t want him around reminding them of what they destroyed. Here’s to hoping he lands on his feet someplace else fast, and at double the salary. I wonder if the Wizards have an opening for a public address announcer?