Joey Bissing suffered his second ACL injury in football as a freshman at Libertyville.

It proved fortuitous.

“My dad said he would buy me a Ranger bass boat if I quit football,” Bissing said.

That 2007 Ranger became a life-changer.

As a sophomore in 2018, he and Jackson Paden took Libertyville to its first sectional title in high school bass fishing with the big bass (4.37 pounds) anchoring their winning bag of 14.24.

Then came the learning experiences of Bissing’s junior year not going well at sectionals and Covid knocking out his senior year.

“If you’re not learning, you not going to get any better, that is biggest thing I learned in high school,” Bissing said.

Learning showed when I asked how he liked to fish.

“I’m good at throwing ChatterBaits and a jig,” Bissing said.

That’s an odd combo for a young angler.

“One I learned on the Chain, the other on Geneva,” he said, then explained. “Brad Marshall took me under his wing, taught me how to fish on Chain O’Lakes. Scott Schmidt taught me how to fish Lake Geneva and taught me how to fish deep.

“The Chain is really shallow, Geneva is super deep. It’s two different worlds, that’s kind of bass fishing. I am very fortunate to learn from those two guys.”

As to the college bass fishing life at the University of Tennessee, Bissing said, “We travel all over the country. What a crazy life I lead. . . . I’m here for a week, gone for a week, it’s hard to keep up with classes.”

This semester he has classes in Excel, communications, statistics and economics, while also taking an online class Spanish class from College of Lake County.

“I owe so much to my parents [Joel and Kim],” Bissing said. “I can’t afford to go [college fishing] without them. I owe everything to them.”

Bass fishing at Tennessee does not rank with the Vols having a storied women’s basketball (eight national titles, Pat Summitt) and football (six national titles, Peyton Manning) programs.

But they have Bill Dance, who made an orange and white Tennessee cap de rigueur bass-fishing attire. For the bass-fishing club, alum Harrison Smiddy, founder of Enduro Power Lithium Batteries, is the most important supporter. That explains the wrap on Bissing’s boat, a 2020 Ranger, which was finished a couple weeks ago.

Yes, Bissing uses his major in marketing and minor in communications.

Libertyville bass-fishing coach Bob Uliks appreciates how Bissing juggles life.

“This is something that I saw Joey really learn and understand as he started his college fishing career,” Uliks said “Being on the water 10-12 hours a day in practice and during competition takes a lot of preparation both mentally and physically, from the travel, being in the elements to staying hydrated, preparing your gear to nutrition and sleep, if you want to excel and succeed as Joey has you need to understand these concepts and adapt them to your daily life. That in conjunction with attending classes and keeping grades up makes Joey a complete athlete in my opinion.”

Bissing and Paden finished fifth March 4 at MLF’s Abu Garcia College Fishing Open at Lake Guntersville in Alabama to qualify for the national championship.

When I asked his advice for high school anglers, who have sectionals Thursday, he said, “Surround yourself with good fisherman who love fishing and learn from them. You have to take in everything they say.”

Bissing and Paden pass it on with JJ Fishing summer camps. Bissing said he has some openings this summer.

Reach Bissing, also a licensed Wisconsin guide, on Facebook.

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I know what I don’t want for the Bulls more than what I do want for them. That might not seem particularly helpful heading into the offseason and beyond, but bear with me here. Sometimes a negative can inform a positive.

I liked the 2021-22 Bulls, a team that showed heart and effort and all those things you want in an NBA club but don’t always get. Its weakness was an unfortunate habit of shrinking in the presence of more talented opponents, which, if you’re ranking weaknesses, is a bad weakness to have. It showed up again in Milwaukee’s five-game dismissal of the Bulls in the postseason. They fell by 30 points in Game 3, and that wasn’t a fluke, wasn’t an anomaly, wasn’t a lone-wolf bad night. It was typical.

Some will argue that the Bulls didn’t have a killer instinct this season, but that would imply they were ever in position to kill anybody in any of those lopsided losses. They weren’t. Moving forward, the temptation is to say they need to acquire an assassin, or at least someone who sticks out his chin and begs to take on the other team by himself.

Yes and no.

Yes to “sticks out his chin” and no to “by himself.”

Look no further than the Bucks, the defending NBA champions, for a template. Now, you’ll argue that Milwaukee has everything it needs in Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is 6-11 with a wingspan of 7-4, which means that jumping while dunking is optional for him. He’s almost painfully gifted. You’ll laugh at me if I say that one of the big reasons for his success is that he cares about winning and cares about his teammates. I’m even rolling my eyes after writing that. But it’s true. Call up any of his TV interviews and listen to him. He cares. If he’s acting, then he’s Denzel Washington good. He could have left the Bucks to play somewhere else in 2020, somewhere with brighter lights and more “brand” exposure, but he chose to stay in pleasant Milwaukee and chase a championship.

The Bulls aren’t going to get a Greek Freak this offseason, unless he’ll be hiding at the 18th pick of the first round of the June draft. But Giannis serves a purpose for me. He’s a reminder of what I don’t want for the Bulls. I don’t want a James Harden or a Russell Westbrook. Not those two players specifically because I don’t know any winning team in its right mind that would want either. I don’t want anybody with a me-first, I-second approach to the game. There’s a reason Harden and Westbrook have had incredible individual statistics and haven’t won an NBA title: The way they play the game is antithetical to winning championships.

Their supporters will point to the huge number of assists that both players have amassed in their careers as proof of their desire to involve teammates. But by all appearances, the goal for Harden and Westbrook has been triple-doubles, a statistical pursuit in which assists are things to be collected for one’s private collection, like artwork or sports memorabilia. Teammates are vehicles to help them get from Point A to Assist B. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be making the same judgments on Luka Doncic and Trae Young someday.

Back to the Bucks. It’s not just Antetokounmpo who wants to win. The Bulls could really use someone like his teammate, Jrue Holiday, another talented player who doesn’t know the meaning of “can’t.” They need more players whom opposing players hate to face. And as detested as Grayson Allen is in Chicago and anywhere where cheap shots are frowned upon, the Bucks seem to appreciate his drive to succeed. He matters.

There’s no doubt the Bulls have to raise their talent level, but how they do it is important. Plenty of gifted players are out there, but plenty of them wouldn’t know how to spell “team” if you spotted them all four letters in the correct order. It’s not just Harden and Westbrook. It’s all the players who aspire to be Harden and Westbrook. What I’m arguing for here is team “culture,” and I think I’m going to be ill. It’s a sports buzzword that drives me to the brink of insanity. But the Bulls are at a pivotal point. How they proceed could decide whether they turn into winners or remain a team that wilts against quality opponents.

It would help if they stayed healthy next season, but injuries to Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso were not the main reason they struggled at times this season. They need more talent, but the right kind of talent. Fair or not, I still look at LaVine as impressionable. Having DeMar DeRozan, an excellent player who cares about winning, as a teammate was a good thing for the 27-year-old. But if someone without DeRozan’s terrific attitude came along, I wonder which way LaVine would go. In the direction of Harden and Westbrook?

If the Bulls don’t offer LaVine a max contract in the offseason, it would be hard to blame him for going elsewhere for the money. But it’s worth noting that Antetokounmpo chose to sign a new contract with the Bucks in 2020 in hopes of bringing a title to Milwaukee. He did.

Doesn’t LaVine have some unfinished business in Chicago?

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The first round of the 2022 NFL Draft has come and gone, but not without some chaotic movement as 9 trades were made over the course of Thursday night. As the draft enters Day 2 on Friday, the Chicago Bears will finally make their first picks of the draft with selections 39 and 48 in the second round and selection 71 in the third round.

Several names connected to the Bears in mock drafts, including Tulsa’s Tyler Smith and Chattanooga’s Cole Strange, went in the first round. These picks may have shaken up GM Ryan Poles’ draft board along with the whopping six wide receivers selected on Thursday, but there’s still plenty of talent to be had. Here’s a look at five names the Bears should consider on Day 2 to fill out their roster.

Nakobe Dean, LB, Georgia

Five defensive players from Georgia were selected in Thursday’s first round and Dean was shockingly not one of them. Arguably the best remaining prospect on the board, it wouldn’t come as a shock for a team to trade up to grab the reigning Butkus Award winner. If Dean remains on the board at pick 39, pairing him with Roquan Smith could make for the next great Chicago linebacker duo in the team’s storied history. With the switch back to a 4-3 defense, there’s plenty of uncertainty who will be lining up next to Smith this season.

Christian Watson, WR, North Dakota State

As the draft entered the last few first round picks Thursday night, it was looking iffy on whether Watson would see the second round after a heavy run of wide receiver selections. Connected to the Bears by several analysts, Watson is the best remaining wide receiver on the board. His tall frame and athleticism would bring a much needed edge to the Bears, and fit perfectly into Poles’ plans for building around quarterback Justin Fields.

Logan Hall, DL, Houston

The towering 6-foot-6, 283 pound Hall would immediately slot into a starting role at defensive tackle for the Bears. Noted for his violent burst off the line, his size would plug the gaps in stopping the run while getting after the quarterback with more success than normally seen in interior defensive lineman with his aggressive style of play. The question that remains on Hall is whether teams view him more as an 4-3 defensive tackle or a 3-4 defensive end, a debate that has been going on for a couple months now.

Bernhard Raimann, OT, Central Michigan

It’s been an odd football journey for Bernhard Raimann, a native of Steinbrunn, Austria who didn’t begin playing football until he was 14. His journey to the USA saw him play tight end before landing on offensive tackle at Central Michigan. Still considered a raw talent, Raimann’s draft stock has been volatile in recent weeks following reports that there have been red flags around his physical. While the same report also listed Alabama’s Evan Neal, the New York Giants had no issue selecting him 7th overall on Thursday. If the Bears are high on Raimann, they may be prepared to take him with one of their second round picks.

Jalen Pitre, S, Baylor

Finding a young, promising safety to pair with Eddie Jackson should be at the top of the priority list for Poles and the Bears. Pitre’s profile can slot in as a do-it-all safety in both pass coverage and run defense coming up on the line. Despite strong performances in his final year at Baylor, the Senior Bowl and the NFL Combine, the hype hasn’t carried over on Pitre which makes him an intriguing target for the Bears on Friday. The 2021 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and first-team AP All-American would be another surefire best player available selection for Poles.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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The most dangerous way to approach the wildly unpredictable NFL Draft is to believe that you somehow have an uncanny ability to predict it.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles is unproven, but he’s a pragmatist. He knows his best chance at succeeding in his first draft is to take as many shots in the first three rounds as he can, which is why he resisted any impulse to catapult himself into the first round Thursday with an ill-advised trade.

It’s rarely fun to wait, but it’s often smart.

As the first round wound down, the Bears still had their second-rounders (Nos. 39 and 48) and a pick in the third (No. 71), and the goal is to find three significant pieces of their future with those selections Friday. Those are their valuable picks, and they need every one of them.

The odds of finding meaningful talent decreases with each round, but there’s still a strong enough chance in the second and third to make those picks worthwhile. On the Pro Bowl rosters last season, 34% of the offensive and defensive players were second- or third-round picks.

From the 2019 draft class, nearly two-thirds of the second-round picks and half the third-rounders have had at least one season as a full-time starter. And the Bears badly need starters across the board, but especially at cornerback, wide receiver and on the offensive line.

So Poles maintained the “discipline” he talked about in reference to holding firm in his long-term plans for the roster and watched patiently as the supposedly elite talent of this draft went elsewhere.

The Jaguars opened by taking Georgia defensive end Travon Walker, leaving Michigan’s Aiden Hutchinson for the Lions at No. 2 as the first five picks were defensive players for the first time since 1991.

The Bears never had any dreams of trading into that zone, but one of the early picks had to be painful. Using the selection the Bears traded them to move up and get Justin Fields last year, the Giants drafted Alabama offensive tackle Evan Neal at No. 7. They would’ve had their choice of any wide receiver at that point, too.

That’s one of the toughest parts of this rebuild for Poles, who must deal with the mess Ryan Pace left him while going for broke and mortgaging the future only to finish 6-11 last season and get fired. It would’ve been awfully helpful to have a full arsenal of draft picks in his first year, but Poles had to trade Khalil Mack for that extra second-rounder just to give himself a chance at producing a decent class.

“It’s definitely a challenge, but at the same time that’s why I was hired,” Poles said this week when asked about navigating the draft with a depleted set of picks. “That’s just what we’ve been handed and we’re going to maximize that.”

Poles’ restraint Thursday offered yet more hope that the Bears are headed in the right direction. He has no delusion of being able to outfox counterparts like Bill Belichick, John Lynch and Jason Licht.

Given the state of the Bears, would it have been better to package two of those picks to move into the first round at, say, No. 20?Probably not.

Pace never shook that smartest-guy-in-the-room syndrome. The Bears’ 48-65 record under his direction — seventh-worst in the NFL over that span — suggests that he did not, in fact, know something that the rest of the league didn’t.

What Poles seems to know is that he doesn’t know everything. He doesn’t think he has the answers to a test that no general manager aces. He’s playing the actual odds, not the ones he imagines being inexplicably in his favor when there are 31 other teams going through the same draft preparation. It’s practical and prudent.

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