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42... and counting

Once again it is Jackie Robinson Day. This year it corresponds with the week of the 150^th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. I’m sure the slaves didn’t think that African Americans would still be breaking the race barrier in 1947, over 85 years later. It wasn’t just that Robinson was a difference maker on the field, but also off the field.

massachusetts says no to yankee fans

A recent copycat of Arizona’s immigration law, the State of Massachusetts has enacted a new immigration law of its own.  The bill, the first bill to ever be unanimously voted for by both democrats and republicans will go into effect next week.  The new law gives the right for any police office to ask any Joe (or Jane) Baseball if they are a Yankees fan.  If they are, the police officer is permitted to burn all of their Yankees gear and they are given thirty days to leave the state.  The bill has already created buzz in other New England states.  Possibly by the end of the year New England states will no longer have to deal with “resident” Yankee fans.  On the negative side of the recent bill, the New York governor has informed New York residents - and all Yankees fans - that they are at liberty to boycott Massachusetts and any other state thinking of enacting this law.  In response the Massachusetts governor retorted, “This is a ‘Red Sox Nation.’ Good luck.”

42

Today, if you didn’t know, is Jackie Robinson Day.  In 1947, Jackie Robinson re-broke the color line into major league baseball.  That’s right, re-broke.  After the Civil War, during the reconstruction period, African Americans and whites played on the same field.  But as more and more teams began to exclude black players from their teams, the league became exclusively a white sport.  By 1890 the league was completely white.  The baseball field reflected what was going on in towns all across America.  Not only were baseball fields becoming exclusively white, but stores, jobs, housing, and even whole towns were as well.  Jackie Robinson - in 1947 - shows a glimpse of the progression towards equality after decades of regression in the United States.

wolverines travel schedule

The Wolverines won’t be traveling much this fall when they take the football field. Four away games in all including: Michigan State, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. It looks like everyone will be coming to the Big House.

those 2003 tigers

This is for all of those baseball fans out there. Do you remember the 2003 season? Probably not, unless you are a Detroit Tigers fan. That year the Tigers went 43-119 almost becoming the worst team in baseball history. Luckily for the Tigers they won their last two games of the season to become merely the second worst team ever. Inspired by the site http://www.flipflopflyin.com/ (weird name cool site) and its chart on the 1986 Mets World Championship, I’ve created a little chart showing the team that was assembled for the 2003 season to never become great.

(click to enlarge)

cubs in april

Baseball seems a bit cold in April doesn’t it? I can contest that it does. Jess was able to score some cheap tickets to a Cubs/Reds game. So we walked to the El and got to see a great game at Wrigley. We were two out of 38,000+ people at the cold rainy ball park on a random Tuesday night game. The Reds who are usually a powder-puff team are actually doing well this season. Although the rain did seem to hold off for most of the game it did get considerably chilly. The Cubbies ended up winning the game 7-2 with some great pitching by Rich Harden (8 strikeouts) and some great hitting by Micah Hoffpauir and Aramis Ramirez. The funniest part of the evening was when a cat got loose on the field and ran about the outfield.

cubs: team of the century

Cubs rewarded Team of the Century by ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and Major League Baseball.

Despite having the longest drought of any team ever for a World Series championship, the Cubs are awarded the highest, more prestigious award in baseball – Team of the Century. The Cubs who have won their division and made the playoffs for the past two years, and have gone 0-4 in the playoffs. The Cubs avoid winning like penguins avoid flying. In 2003 one win away from the World Series a drop ball causes chaos in Wrigleyville that eventually becomes the demise of the Cubs and lifts the Florida Marlins to the World Series. What was the last time the Cubs were in the World Series?

1945 lost to the Tigers 3-4 games
1938 lost to the Yankees 0-4
1932 lost to the Tigers 2-4
1929 lost to the Athletics 1-4
1918 lost to the Red Sox 1-4
1910 lost to the Athletics 1-4

One hundred years of losing and despite all of that, despite the Yankees winning 26 World Series in the past hundred years, despite having less World Series championships even in their own town, they are voted Team of the Century.



Happy April everyone!

Gotta love those lovable losers!
This will be the year!

give cinderella a chance

It’s almost that time of year again – college football bowl season. This year Florida will play Oklahoma for the national championship. The game has caused some controversy. The controversy is because during the regular season Texas beat Oklahoma, Texas Tech then beat Texas, and Oklahoma beat Texas Tech. Oklahoma finished number two in the polls while Texas who beat Oklahoma finished number three. We can thank the BCS standings for this. Texas will never know if they are good enough to be the national champion.

As usual though, ESPN and the like are talking like crazy for a football tournament. Ironically, the lower football divisions all have tournaments for the championship in their division. In high school, football teams play in tournaments to see which team is the state champion. And of course the NFL plays a tournament. So, why do the top college students have to play in bowl games that are based on conference bias, television ratings, and money revenue? College basketball holds a tournament to see which team is the basketball nation champion. It is also the most popular tournament of all sports. It brings about great matchups among great teams. It also allows for Cinderella teams to have a chance to compete. After the tournament there are always great games, along with knowing who truly is the best in the end. There is no argument after the game.

Again like last year I have created my own college football tournament. There are two tournaments. The two tournaments cover 64 teams, the same amount of teams as the bowls. The first tournament would crown the national champion, the second would crown a minor national champion, much like the NIT does in college basketball. The great thing about the tournament is that is creates great matchups including a possible Oklahoma verse Texas matchup. Even if the bowl games had better matchup, which is also listed below, they don’t compare to the possible games from the tournament. In all, the tournament creates better games for the athletes and fans a like.

august round up

I realized in the middle of September that I never wrote an August round up. The month began and ended with me out of the state of Illinois. This lately has been a good thing, because the 2.8 million people here have been getting a little annoying. At the beginning of the month I was in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. At the end of the month I was in Michigan.

View of the city from the ball field

Tigers and Sox


I also got to see the Tigers play the Sox. The Tigers lost, but it was still fun. In the middle of the month, my life changed yet again in a very exciting way!

Camping in Lake Geneva, WI

In Michigan catching turtles

A closer view

An early morning fog on the lake

and they call disneyworld the most magical place on earth?

Over the weekend I went up to Michigan to watch a University of Michigan football game with my awesome fiance. The game started at noon EST so it was an early start from my Chicago apartment. On our way through Indiana I had another Illinois driver pass me. I looked at the back of their car and saw a Michigan Football decal. I couldn?t help but think they were probably going to the game, too.

Not too long after passing into Michigan did I begin to see Michigan decals, car flags, and people in cars with Michigan gear everywhere. I began to point them out one by one. They were all headed in one direction - Ann Arbor.

Big Ten football has been overshadowed over the past few years by the dominance of the SEC and Big 12 in college football. On this Saturday morning, I couldn't tell why. After parking the car and walking to the stadium it was as if everyone in town was going to the game. That's almost possible, too. Ann Arbor's population is about 115,000. Michigan Stadium holds around 107,000. As we got closer to the stadium it was pointed out to me that it looked like a fair. It did kind of look like a fair. There were hundreds of tents set up in blue and maize colors, flags hanging high in the air, and people cheering and throwing footballs around.

The game was awesome and everything I imagined it would be. Michigan beat Miami, OH, 16-6. It is quite possibly the last game I get to see there. It will leave me with lasting memories forever.

sharks and cheetahs

It’s like going from watching a bunch of sharks to watching a bunch of cheetahs. There are some thirty-two sports in the Olympics. NBC has shown roughly about two so far. Yes, swimming during the Olympics is one of the coolest things to watch. And yes, Phelps is pretty much the man. But, I also can’t help but blame NBC for going way overboard on Phelps’ “quest” for eight golds and how much they have missed by showing too much coverage of him. Granted, he will go down in history as one of the greatest Olympians of all time so it is great to be able to see and experience that as it happens. However, in the midst of it, NBC has overlooked the rest of the swimmers. This is a shame, because they are some of the greatest athletes in the world as well. The other sport that has been concentrated on – gymnastics.

What about the other sports? If we are speaking about the U.S.A. in general what about the sweep in women’s individual saber? If we look at the Olympics as a whole, why haven’t we seen great coverage of kayaking or equestrian? If we can become so interested in obscure sports such as gymnastics and swimming why not kayaking or other sports?

It doesn’t really matter. Swimming is just about over. The sharks are about done and the cheetahs begin their hunt. Track and field sets the tone for the second half of the Olympics. Some of the fastest and most gifted people will compete this week. I find special interest in track and field because I’ve competed in many of the events and have at least tried many of the others. Well, maybe except javelin. They never would let a high schooler within a hundred feet of one of those.

I’m sure NBC will be showing a little more of different sports. As the “less interesting” preliminaries finish and we move on to finals they will begin to show more of soccer, tennis, and basketball. It’s just a shame that we had to miss some pretty cool sports and will miss some more.

olympics: find the fever

The Olympics start on Friday. Well, at least officially. A few events will start early, including women’s soccer today. On the schedule for tomorrow – men’s soccer. It is fun to see different countries compete for an event. Like others I know, I find some of the events boring - such as badminton or boxing. And like many others, events that I find exciting include track & field and swimming. Other events such as rowing and canoe/kayaking are not as exciting to others, but very exciting to me. Whatever the sport may be it’s hard to know when it is going on, especially with work and our busy lives. Well, until now. The NY Times added an Olympic Tracker with a customizable schedule to find out when every event is going on. Check it out!

Swimming and diving should be fun to watch whether the U.S. wins or not.

Opens and closing events don't need fireworks to make a big impression.

Olympics fever:

NBC Olympics

ESPN

NY Times

friday (at work)

It’s been kind of a lame week for the blog. A totally of three blogs, but really about 1 ½ if you take out the smc on Sunday. I had a couple of works in progress that ended up being a bust. I am working on two others right now. My editor had a short week too. Yes, that’s right an editor. I can’t pull off good grammar on my own. I promise more for next week including a reflection on Matthew 6 and a song-lyric parody by the end of the week.

On another note: sports. The Chicago Cubs are still in first place and it is June. They have a record of 39-22. They are even in a good division with St. Louis (36-26) and Milwaukee (32-28). I would really like to go up to Milwaukee and see a Brewers game. The Tigers on the other hand cannot seem to put anything together and may be doomed for the season with a dismal 24-35 record. On the bright side, the Red Wings beat the Pittsburgh Penguins to win the Stanley Cup. I once used to be a huge Red Wings fan. Now living in a place that does not televise Detroit sporting events it has been harder to keep up with the teams I love.

In any event, I think June should be a good month. The weather has already been 100% better than anything in May minus the continual wave of tornado watches and thunderstorms. Plus, all the festivals in Chicago are starting up.

may roundup

June has begun and summer is starting to come around after a cold May. Although May was cold it was a great month. I went up to Wisconsin (I wrote about this on May 28) over Memorial Day weekend. I also went to see the musical Wicked, along with a Cubs game at the end of the month against the Rockies. Wicked was great and I would recommend it to anyone. It leaves Chicago in January of 2009. The Cubs game was great too! It was the first warm sunny day of the year. It was great to be at such a historical ball park for a great game.

In the blog on May 12 I set some goals for May. Some I accomplished. Others I did not. I didn’t manage to finish the book I was on. (Although I have read 200+ pages since then.) I also did not go out for a meal with a friend I don’t usually eat with. I did get to go out to a Cuban restaurant (blogged on May 19) which was great. I also had a great conversation with my brother on the phone.

Over the past couple of months I have been trying to be more ‘present’ with God. In a world that cannot stop moving (i.e. work, hobbies, music, tv, etc) it is no wonder that I find it hard to converse with God. It’s been a challenge but a good challenge for me and I will continue to be more present with God each day.

Lastly, in the month of May I have really appreciated the few friends in my life and the generous, gracious, and loving manner that they each bestow. In a world that is not always welcoming, it is gratifying to have good friends that stand by me through thick and thin.

go cubs go!

I don’t usually write about the same topic one day after the other. I also don’t get many hits or requests for anything either.

The first place Cubs. Holy Cow! I wasn’t sure how the Cubs were going to do this year. After last season’s sweep in the playoffs I wasn’t so sure they were going to amount to anything this season. So far, they have proved me wrong. The Cubs are out to a 15-6 start and are 9-1 in their last 10 games. They have also scored the most runs in the majors with 133. So, what’s the difference?
The Cubs pitching is doing well behind Zambrano and new starter Ryan Dempster. Ted Lilly, Rich Hill, and Jason Marquis are also pitching better after slower starts. Kerry Wood (Who hopefully can stay healthy. Knock on Wood.) and Carlos Marmol are teaming up to make a killer one-two punch as relievers.
The batters all seem to be doing well. The team has seven batters with a .311 batting average or better. Although most of the batting averages will go down thoughout the season, it is a good sign. Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez are having great seasons so far, after having mediocre seasons last year. Kosuke Fukudome, the newcomer from Japan, has added great speed on the bases and the field along with batting .351 with 9 RBIs.
For all of us in Chicago and Cubs fans around the world we hope that the bats keep swinging and the pitchers keep throwing through October.

the last place tigers

The last place Tigers. Six years ago the Tigers were 3-15 on April 22, 2002. The Tigers are still in last place but with a record of 7-13. The Tigers who were supposed to be a scoring machine are closer to the bottom in runs scored and are second to last in runs allowed behind a dismal Pirates team.
The team was rumored to be a World Series contender. Now in late April they are roughly the second worse team in baseball. I haven’t given up hope, though. They are in a weak division so anything can happen.
The Tigers play an equally as bad team - the Rangers - in a series the next three days. Justin Verlander is pitching tonight. Although he was seen as the Tigers best pitcher coming into the season, he is an awful 0-3 with a 7.03 ERA. Carlos Guillen and Edgar Renteria have been playing well, but players like Gary Sheffield, Jacque Jones, and Miguel Cabrera are really going to have to step up in this next series and throughout the season.
Detroit’s pitching is also going to have to improve both in the starters and the bullpen. A healthy Zumaya would also help.

let the madness begin

It’s that time of year when a dance is not a dance, men are cheering for (a) cinderella, and the sweet 16 is not a birthday party for an over excited teenager girl. It’s NCAA basketball. The NCAA tournament begins today (officially started Tuesday when Mt. Saint Mary beat Coppin State). Sixty-four teams get a chance at winning it all. Even the little teams like Mississippi Valley or UT-Arlington. Even though the little teams don’t have much of a chance it is always exciting to see a little team bust into the sweet sixteen or even the elite eight.
Of course there are always the big, the bad, and ugly teams. The teams that have been so dominating and win so much that they are hated. Fan favorites always seem to be the smaller teams like Gonzaga, George Mason, or Butler. They are good teams that don’t have the history to be hated.
There are some looming questions. Will the 17-16 Georgia Bulldogs be able to win a game after winning the SEC tournament? Which freshman phenom will win in a duo of USC and Kansas State? Can Arizona have a good tournament after an up and down season? Will Kentucky do anything? Can Memphis go to the final four? And many more.
My picks. I think UCLA and Kansas are going to the final four. Duke or Xavier could be a problem for UCLA. I think Kansas is a lock, unless a Clemson or Vanderbilt can take charge. Georgetown could also stand a chance. In the East and West regions I think North Carolina and Texas. If Tennessee plays well I can see them going far as well. In the South I can see numerous teams going to the final four including: Texas, Memphis, Marquette, or Pitt. It should be another good year to the final four.

in ann arbor... spring is here

Spring practice starts today for Michigan. Go Blue!

the last stadium

It’s been rumored for a while now that the Cubs owner, Sam “I’ll sell Wrigley” Zell is interested in selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. In an article today on ESPN.com the article states Zell is willing to sell the name of the field with the stadium.
In an ever growing trend stadiums have been selling the rights to their fields. It happens all over. Cardinals Stadium, where the Arizona Cardinals play is now University of Phoenix Stadium. In basketball the Houston Rockets play at the Compaq Center. In hockey the Nashville Predators play at Gaylord Entertainment Center. The Oakland A’s play Network Associates Coliseum. There is a whole list of stadiums that don’t even have stadium names just another advertisement on a wall. Places like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and Lambeau Field are becoming a rarity.
It’s quite a debate about naming a field too. Some people think it dishonors the game, the stadium, the team, the fans, and the tradition. Others think that it is okay because it keeps the prices of tickets down. I am one that thinks that it ruins tradition. If the naming of a field did actually keep ticket prices down maybe I wouldn’t care. The Cubs this spring will raise ticket prices again to more outrageous prices. In other sports it may cost $30 - $100 just to enter the stadium. That doesn’t include parking and food.
LaSalle Bank, a Chicago based bank, has recently been bought out by Bank of America. The picture for the day is a ‘tribute’ to what has become of sports stadiums.