Does Obama's Win Give Chicago An Edge In Olympic Bid?

(Pic taken at the Adler Planetarium looking West)

That would make for a pretty busy time in Chicago with the election at that time too. If the term "Second City" actually stood for what people think it does, then I would say, Chicago is no second city anymore.

In case some, with the new attention on Chicago, wonder where the term Second City comes from, let's just say it has nothing to do with NY. I know for New Yorkers, it is hard to handle something not involving you, but you will get by.

After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed a third of the city, including the entire central business district, Chicago experienced rapid rebuilding and growth.[11] Ever since the city was rebuilt, it became known as the Second City, since the first city was largely destroyed in the Fire.

National Anthem @ 1991 NHL ASG

If you have never been to a Chicago Blackhawks hockey game, you have never witnessed the National Anthem done the way it should be done at sporting events. None of that, "please remove your hats" or "stand and be quiet" crap. While this is the all-star game during the Gulf War, this is how it was every night at the Hawks games. I assume it is the same today, but the Chicago Stadium was as loud as they came. It wasn't called the Madhouse on Madison for nothing!

Just Stirring The Kool-Aid

My Cubs have the best record in the majors and Obamamania is back! Nothing would be sweeter than a Cubs World Series win and an Obama victory in the fall. Yes We Can!

17 Painful Years Come To An End!

Painful of course is a relative statement. If you were a Bears fan over the last 17 years, there was no one who broke your heart and beat the Bears like Bret Favre. Whether it was the 99 yd TD pass on slant to break open a close game, or the numerous Monday and Sunday night beatings Bret gave the Bears on National TV. So today when I see that Bret Favre has announced his retirement, I was thrilled, and a little sad too.

A player of Favre's ability is rare in any sport today. While a lot of people were probably thrilled that Jorday retired, some of those same people knew that they would never see someone of his ability, regardless of what Kobe and LeBron can do. Likewise, no one will ever be able to recreate Favre's joy, reckless abandon and complete disregard for what a QB is supposed to do. It was win or go home everytime Favre took the field. So while it will be very odd to not see #4 for the Pack on the field, as a Bears fan, it was a long time coming.

100 Year Anniversary of Last Championship

Spring Is Eternal......Once Again!

Ah yes. The smell of freshly cut grass, greener than any crayon from Crayola. The recently laid foul lines and the bright white baseballs. The crack of virgin bats untainted by pine tar and rosin, and in Sammy Sosa's case, cork. Players with numbers like 94 and 73 on the back of the Cubbie Blue practice jerseys. And smiles all around Cub Nation. Yes, Spring Training is here!

This year marks the 100th year since the Chicago Cubs have won a World Series Championship. Which means there might not be a person alive in the world who really can say they remember what it is like to watch the Cubs win a World Series. And not to be pessimistic, but I am a Cub fan, this season doesn't appear to be the year that streak stops. But I will go into the 2008 season fully behind what Lou Piniella is trying to do. After all, he won the division last year with a team that I didn't think had much of a chance. Go Cubs!

PLAY BALL!!

Congress Grills Clemens And McNamee

It's a shame that Congress doesn't show this much enthusiasm and curiosity when investigating the war in Iraq.

Third Tynes The Charm!

If there was one thing that could make all the political bullshit go away, it would be the Packers losing. Thank you Eli and the New York Football Giants!!! It was a great week after all!

There You Go Again Senator

It appears once again that Congress, more specifically the Senate, is taking on the tough issues of the day. The war in Iraq? Naahh. The housing crisis? Naahh. The fading Dollar? Yeah right. I know, it must be the border? One more guess.............nope, it's not China either. It's Thursday night football on the NFL Network.

I already got on my soapbox about this topic already, so I won't rehash. But it appears today that Sen. Leahy and Sen. Spector are sending a letter to the NFL to warn them about anti-trust laws. So I sent Sen. Leahy, or some poorly paid aide, an email.

Dear Mr. Senator

Good evening. I was just watching ESPNEWS and they mentioned that you and Sen. Spector were sending a letter to the NFL regarding games not being shown on free TV. Obviously my first thoughts were, I thought they were busier than this in Congress? Then I figured some website or group funneled angry and uninformed people your way. But that is when I realized that the cable companies, who apparently not only have a great working relationship with the White House and the NSA, also have a working relationship with you.

Before you point the finger at anyone, ask yourself why the cable companies charge their customers for the NFL Network while DirecTv offers it for free? Then ask yourself, does the contract with DirecTv and the NFL for Sunday Ticket have anything to do with the cable companies making the NFL Network a pay channel? And maybe, just maybe, if that many people were blocked by "their cable companies", the anti-trust letter should be sent to the cable companies instead.

I hope Congress, if they are really going to waste the taxpayers' time and money on this now, will also look at the cable companies role in this happening to millions of NFL fans.


Thank You.

For the record Senator, during the time it took me to write the email, send it and write this ridiculous post, American Taxpayers spent $4,000,000 in Iraq. But by all means, make sure Thursday night football is on TV.

Blame Your Cable Company, Not the NFL!

For the last week now, I keep hearing people whining about how the Packers/Cowboys game won't be seen by millions of people. They follow that up with, nice job NFL Network. But is it really the NFL Network's problem?

One article I read said,

"The game wasn't on free TV, or even the basic cable tier. That's because the nations' cable companies are trying to slay the giant by saying enough is enough!
...
So, the stalemate will continue because the NFL Network is only offering tangible programming for eight weeks out of the year, yet they want you to pay for 52. The cable companies won't take the bait. This is not like ESPN or the Fox Sports Network. There's a reason we don't mind, or even notice paying fees for those.

Steve Schorr continued, "Because they give new things all the time."

Yes Steve, ESPN is bringing you top notch sports programming, but they also bring you competitive scrabble and spelling contests. Or maybe it's because ESPN has four channels for free(ESPN, ESPN 2 and ESPNNEWS and ESPN Classic) on cable/satellite, so maybe you just think they are bringing you new programs. But to say the NFL Network only brings you eight weeks of programming is obscene.

The NFL season is 17 weeks long. Plus when you add the playoffs, Super Bowl, pre-season and draft preparation, you can easily add another 10-12 weeks of programming. So now, we are closing in on 30 weeks. Do the networks offer 30 weeks of new television shows each year? Being a DirecTv subscriber, I get the NFL Network for free, and I watch it a lot more than 8 weeks a year. So, if it isn't programming, then what is it? A battle that has been going on for the last few years between the cable companies and DirecTv and the NFL may be what is really behind this.

One of the packages I have for DirecTv is called the NFL Sunday Ticket. It allows me to watch all Sunday NFL games, either on regular channels or package channels. It runs about $200 a year and if you go HD, it will cost you an extra $100 a year. If you get the HD part, you are also able to watch the games on your computer should you not be in front of a TV. The cable companies want some of this money, but the NFL and DirecTv have an exclusive contract. So what do the cable companies do? You guessed it hopefully. They blackball the NFL Network from being included in the basic cable package. And when players or people involved in the NFL speak out against the cable companies, what do the cable companies do?

"I am frustrated that we've got literally several million fans that won't get to see that game because Time Warner won't be carrying it," [Jerry]Jones said in the locker room after the Cowboys' 34-3 victory over the New York Jets. "I'm hot about that. I hope those fans will go to AT&T satellite or go over to a competing cable company."

Time Warner is the primary cable provider in the Dallas area.

Jones is the outspoken chairman of the league's NFL Network committee. His comments came just three days after Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, sent a cease-and-desist letter to the NFL Network demanding the channel's representatives stop encouraging fans to leave the cable provider.

Oh the irony of cable companies, who offered up all the your private info that the government wanted, now putting out cease-and-deist letters. So you can blame the NFL Network or DirecTv, but it is the cable companies that kept millions of viewers from missing last nights game. The cable companies already offer the NFL Network, they just want you to pay for it because the big bad NFL won't give them the Sunday Ticket. Grow up cable companies!

Crazy, But Extrememly Cool!

Kind of changes the definition of BASE jumping.

Dog Fighting Is Not The Same As Hunting!

There has been plenty said about Michael Vick, so I won't waste my time with him, but recently another athlete has come out and compared dog fighting to hunting. Terrell Owens said

(Dallasnews.com)"When I mentioned cultural thing, [it's] just like when people go out and they hunt deer," he said. "They hunt deer and they cut their heads off and they go to mount them on the wall. And they are animals as well. I don't see a big difference in the situation.

He went on to say that he doesn't think dog fighting should be accepted, but his comparison is flawed and here is why.

First of all, are there people who hunt for trophies? Of course, and maybe there is an argument against those people. However, a lot of hunters will eat what they kill or donate it to shelters or missions for the homeless. And frankly speaking, until I give up red meat, I really have no place to criticize them.

Another aspect of dog fighting that proves that it is different from hunting is the term "rape stand". I have never heard the term "rape stand" used when talking with people who hunt. For those who haven't heard the term "rape stand", it refers to a device that allows aggressive dogs to mate without resulting in the the death of one of the dogs.

Ignorance, rather than culture, is what leads to this type of activity.

Le Tour Hit With ANOTHER Scandal

Hopefully the summer is going well for everyone. I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with work. Hopefully then I will be able to get back to blogging more often. But right now I don't have a lot of nice things to say about Republicans and Democrats. And my Mom told me if I don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. So I will turn sports.

Talk about not going well. Well it certainly isn't for the Tour de France. Since Lance Armstrong started winning the Tour, I really got into the Tour. I start my mornings with the Tour during it's three week journey. But it is getting more difficult to enjoy what I am seeing. The latest scandal, and possibly the biggest yet, Tour leader Michael Rasmussen has been sent home by his team. The reason?

(CBS/AP) "Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team's) internal rules," Rabobank spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone.

The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team's sponsor, was linked to "incorrect" information that Rasmussen gave to the team's sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests on May 8 and June 28.

This on the heels of his stage win on Wednesday which essentially locked up the Tour for him. Rasmussen's exit is just a day after fan favorite Alexandre "Vino" Vinokourov and his team were sent home after Vino apparently had an illegal blood transfusion prior to winning the time trial. The real shame of this is that this Tour has been one of the most exciting I have seen yet.

If there is a silver lining here, it is that Team Discovery Channel(formerly Team U.S. Postal) now has 1st(Alberto Contador) and 3rd place(Levi Leipheimer) in the GC standings. And they have pretty much locked up the team competition. In the way of Team Discovery Channel's eighth GC win in nine years is Team Predictor-Lotto's Cadel Evans. With the mountains now gone, the last time trial, which is a strong suit for Evans, could be the last fight for the Maillot jaune.

Hopefully this will be the last negative to come out of the Tour this year. With the questions still out there about Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis, and the happenings of the last two days, this sport is hanging on by a thread.

The Man Who Made NASCAR Has Died

Maybe he didn't make NASCAR, but Bill France Jr. took it from the dirt tracks and the beaches to your living room. And in the process created one of the biggest, and most loyal fan bases in America. Today he passed at his home in Daytona Beach.

Some Baseball Milestones Approaching

Last night, Barry Bonds hit his 745th home run. He is now 11 home runs away from breaking Hank Aaron's all time record. Despite 745, the SF Giants lost the the NY Mets. The pitcher for the Mets was Tom Glavine who won his 294th game, six away from 300. So which milestone means more? Especially with the allegations of Barry Bonds, and most of the other power hitters over the last 15 years(Say it ain't so Sammy), using performance enhancing drugs.

Let's be clear, even without the performance enhancing drugs, Bonds was already going to be one of the all-time greats, at least in my generation. He was a gold glove outfielder, a 30/30 and 40/40 member and a career .300 hitter. And let's make no mistake, the 500 home run club is as elusive as the 300 win club. Or it was before HGH.

Tom Glavine is closing in the magic 300 win number, which usually guarantees you a spot in Cooperstown. There are only two current active pitchers with 300 wins, Greg Maddux and the newly signed Roger Clemens. And the prospects of other 300 win pitchers is getting slimmer by the year. Pitching has become too specialized, and the longevity of pitchers seems to be less than it once was. After Glavine, the closet active player to 300 is Randy Johnson with 280 wins. For a little perspective, Pedro Martinez has only 206 wins. I'm sure there will be other pitching phenoms, but unlike a home run hitter, a pitcher can't do it on his own.

But in the era of the long ball and small ballparks, I will have to go with the 300 win pitcher.

Cubs For Sale

With the sale of The Tribune Co., the Chicago Cubs are up for sale. FINALLY!!!! Maybe now they can actually be a winner. For years, the Cubs were part of a business. And like all businesses, profit is always important. And the Cubs were a profit maker. Unfortunately, that doesn't equal success on the field.

The early rumors on new owners include Mark Cuban, Jerry Colangelo, Don Levin. Even Bill Murray's name has come up. This should be interesting. Now, if we could just get the McCaskey's to sell majority control of the Bears.

Pete Rose Finally Comes Clean

Charlie Hustle, while being interviewed by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann on ESPN Radio today, came clean about how often he bet on the Reds while he was manager.

(ESPN) "I bet on my team every night."

I think most people already thought this, but it was good that he finally came clean. Maybe he now has a chance to get in the Hall. Because as a player, he was one of the greats.

Do Your Picks With McCain

Sen John McCain's website is running their own NCAA tourney bracket contest. The winner will win a John McCain fleece.

Rush Has Lost His Mind Again

So now Rex Grossman is getting bashed because he is white? No Rush, he is getting bashed because he turns the ball over too much. His four turnovers in the Super Bowl were not a race problem. His "Not prepared" comment for Green Bay was not a race problem. The problem with Rex Grossman is his lack of experience and unprofessional actions. Again, this is something that can change with age.

Rush, stick to making fun of people with diseases, and stay out of sports. Or should I say, stop trying to bring race and your ignorance into sports like you do with your politics. Just because your sorry listeners can rationalize your hate, doesn't mean we all can or want to.

Coping With The Loss

We here in Chicago are, if nothing else, passionate about our sports teams. The City and it's fans are in mourning today. The six rings the Bulls won, a White Sox championship or even the possibility of a Cubs championship can't compare with a Bears Super Bowl championship. Chicago is, and always will be, a football town. In this spirit, CBS 2 Chicago has an article on coping with the loss.

(CBS 2) Psychologists say when our teams are on a roll, real fans feel real pride.

“In fact testosterone levels in males watching teams win rise. And so, it even has biological effects,” said Northwestern University psychologist Mark Reinecke.

But all the anticipation, the hype, makes disappointment so much harder to take.

Hopefully tomorrow is a new day.

Wait Til F'n Next Year, Again!

Was last night a dream? Even though he played like crap, Rex is still young. Essentially he is a second year starter, so to make it to the Super Bowl is quite an achievement. Look how long it took Manning. With that said, he better get some accuracy over the off-season. If he thought this year was tough, it will be nothing compared to what next year will hold. Especially if he turns the ball over four times in a game. To the rest of the Bears, congrats on a near great season. Unfortunately, I, along with the rest of Chicago sports fans, have to "Wait til next year".

So congrats to the Colts, and to two of the games classiest players, Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. It was also nice to see Tony Dungy win, and win the right way. If there was any team that deserves it, it was the Colts.

The Cubs pitchers and catchers report in nine days. Talk about the ultimate wait til next year! team