After a long break, I'm back...baby

So since I last posted, there has evidently been some kind of conversion with blogger and google. So be it, I don't have any attachments to the old way and I'm sure this wasy is easier. I'll have to tinker with the new features later.

Let's see...I'll ramble about what I know best...sports.

I am absolutely thrilled about this weekend. I requested the whole weekend off from work, so since I do not have class on Friday, I'm sitting around, playing video games, sitting online, and doing other activities that I can do when I have nothing better to do. Considering I have a book that I need to be reading, I do have better things that I need to do, but that's beside the point.

Tomorrow the Illini take on Minnesota. Chester Frazier will not be playing due to injury, though I would not be surprised to see him on the court now that it appears Jamar Smith will be sitting out with the flu. The injuries just keep coming and coming for the Illini and it's too bad. I don't think they're really as bad as their record shows this season (and how lucky are we for this to be a 'bad' season) due to so many games and practices lost due to injury. This team is just not good on offense and when playing in a complicated system like the motion, you need all the practice time you can get. Since guys have sat out, they are not getting as much practice as they should and are not able to try and mesh in with the rest of the team. If neither Frazier nor Smith play, that leaves the Illini with Rich McBride, Trent Meacham, and Calvin Brock in the backcourt. McBride is a good overall player when his shot is falling (it will have to tomorrow), Meacham is a step slow for most high-major division one programs, and Brock is an athletic wing who is still developing his skill set. Against Minnesota, McBride should be able to get open, Meacham's lack of speed shouldn't be too detrimental, and Brock will have a chance to get a lot of minutes. He plays better when he knows he's going to get a lot of minutes.

Saturday evening should be fun as usual...but most of it will be spent anxiously awaiting...

DA BEARS in the SUPER BOWL!

I've been priviledged enough in my 22 years on this planet to see a lot of championships from the teams I pull for. In football, I did unfortunately grow up cheering for the Packers. I'm sorry, all those long-time, dedicated Bears fans. It's a part of my past that I have to deal with every single day...and don't underestimate how hard it is. I feel like I slept with my mother. That said, I did see Brett Favre lead them to two Super Bowls in the mid-90s, the first of which they won. That was the first Super Bowl victory my team had won and it should have been a glorious day. Unfortunately, my grandfather passed away on that particular Super Bowl Sunday. There are literally plenty of signs from God that I was denounced for cheering for the Packers.

I let the Packers go when the Rams came to St. Louis. Being from that general area, I grew up watching St. Louis sports. They did not have a NBA team (which is a big reason why I don't follow the NBA today) and didn't have a NFL team until the Rams left LA in the mid-90s. While I admit being a bit of a fair-weather fan when it comes to the Rams...I blame it on me not having a long-standing emotional attachment to the team, having other alliances, and then moving away for college. Now, DA BEARS are the team that is on the tv screen each weekend and there is no longer a Greatest Show on Turf playing in the Edward Jones (TWA) Dome. I've been a Bears fan since my freshman year of college, so I didn't exactly just jump on when they became good. Da Bears will be the only NFL I ever cheer for from here on out.

Back to the point about championships, I did get to see the Rams win the Super Bowl. Even if you weren't a Rams fan, that team was a lot of fun to watch. For all the love for the Colts, those Rams would have kicked their ass.

The Illinois men's tennis team brought home a perfect season in 2002, which was awesome. Undefeated national indoor and outdoor championship to go along with titles in the individual and doubles tournament afterwards. Fuck the '76 Hoosiers, that perfection is unequaled.

To date, the championship that has meant the most to me was this past year's St. Louis Cardinals World Series victory. I know the majority of people who will come across this are Cubs fans, so you might as well skip this next paragraph.

The Cardinals are the team that I've been cheering for the longest. Outside of the Illini, they are my team. I went to games as toddler, was in attendance for the first time that 'roided slugger Mark McGwire sent a ball to Big Mac Land in the left field upper deck section at the Old Busch Stadium. I was too young to remember the Don Denkinger 'incident,' but I've seen the replays and it will always piss me off to know that I had to wait 21 more years for a World Series victory when in reality, the Cards won the 1985 series. I could have gone through life at least saying my team has won a championship in my lifetime...even if I was barely a year old at the time. This is an obvious time when the people who run a sport should step in and reverse the final result of a game. When there is evidence that conclusive to the outcome of the game changing (that out would have been the last out and given the Cards the championship...nothing else should have mattered). Too bad no sports organization will ever have the balls to do such a thing. Anyway, after watching the Cards be at the top of the National League for the better part of this decade, yet always come down with an injury or two that killed their postseason chances, I think it was very fitting that they finally were rewarded with the World Series this season. Any of their previous three season's teams were better, but this team just found the magic that teams need during October. With Adam Wainwright's strikeout to end game 5, I've never had such a rush go through me in a sporting event.

It's that same rush that I hope to feel on Sunday. I feel like I'm going back to 2005 when the Illini were in the Final Four...the week leading up to it was like what this week has been back. All over campus, Da Bears are the topic of conversation. Girl TAs that probably don't even know what a football is made from try to start conversations to their silent classes about who is pulling for the Bears this weekend. While an Illini football national championship would be my ultimate rush, Da Bears winning would be awesome and probably check in at #4 overall in my sport fanatic dream list.

1. Illini football
2. Illini basketball
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Chicago Bears
5. Texas football (6 would be basketball)

You'll notice that I didn't talk about the Longhorn's national championship in football last season. While Texas is my 'other school,' they are still nowhere near the same level as Illinois in my heart. Besides, what else would go at number 5? The St. Louis Blues? Please. I guess the next sports team would be Da Bulls, but I don't care enough about the NBA to really have a favorite team. I just pull for the former Illini basketball players to do well.

Anyway, I'll cut the reading short here. I'll get back to the personal life later on, but for now you can procrastinate better things to do by reading through all of this.

See you all next week...as we celebrate DA BEARS Super Bowl Championship.

fin

P.S. - If you have yet to download "Lazy Eye" by the Silversun Pickups...then get on that. Great song.