I'm trying really hard...

I decided this summer to give Soccer (or fútbol) another shot in lieu of the massive amount of World Cup coverage in the press and as a direct and proximate result of the massive amount of suckage from my baseball teams. Also, The Chi. Blackawks' Stanley Cup win was pretty damn cool and soccer is really just hockey without the ice and the sticks, right? Am I right? You know what I'm sayin' eh?

I even threw World Cup Fest 2010 at the abode, Saturday. The assembled had Mexican food (why, when Mexico played Friday, I dunno, but it seemed right), Mexican Beer, and we gathered for three soccer--I believe they are called matches--in a row.

And while there was the occasional moment of great excitement--particularly Mr. English Fumble hands, above, there were still long, long periods of people running back and forth in tiny shorts not doing a whole hell of a lot.

I'm trying to bring a little "international flavor" to my sports viewing but I just don't know. I'm putting my best foot forward (see what I did there) but not sure I'm gonna make it.

Also, I realize there is some South African cultural thing going on, BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE THE STADIUMS ARE UNDER ATTACK BY GIANT BEES. PLEASE, PLEASE, MAKE IT STOP....


Anyhoooo, I'm as patriotic as the next mope--so as I'm trying to learn more about Soccer I can only say: go USA! Bring that Cup home!! I realize it's never been here, so it's not really home, but you get the point...

Holy Crap This call is unbelievable

Get to the end of the vid and watch HOW BADLY HE MISSED THE CALL.

I'm not one to usually think the league should step in--I mean missed calls are part of the game--but this is soooo egregious, and Perfect Games are so rare (despite Roy's last week), I say step in Bud, so something worthwhile with your life.

Thus far in my years....

I have seen six Chicago Bulls Titles.... Six.
The Chicago White Sox won a World Series...
(The Boston Red Sox won two)...
The Chicago Bears have been to two Super Bowls, and won one with one of the best teams of all time.

And now...

Looks pretty good for the Chicago Blackhawks to finally win a Stanley Cup. I am the definition of a bandwagon hockey guy (well, I went to a couple games because it was fun live, but still, I cop to this)...nevertheless, the Blackhawks...Stanley Cup

Even the Chicago Sting won a soccer title when I was a kid. That's right, the Chicago freaking Sting... and let's not forget the Arena League Champion Rush...or the Chicago Wolves...

Anyone see where I'm going with this....






DAMN YOU JIM HENDRY GET ON THE BALL OR GET OUT OF TOWN!!!!

Welcome to Town!!!

Good Readin...

NYT's Frank Rich on Arizona's "reform" Great Cinco De Mayo Readin'

"DON’T blame it all on Arizona. The Grand Canyon State simply happened to be in the right place at the right time to tilt over to the dark side. Its hysteria is but another symptom of a political virus that can’t be quarantined and whose cure is as yet unknown." Read the rest Here.

Scarlett is a perfect Black Widow

New Iron Man 2 Posters are out and if you weren't looking forward to it before...









Yes, I'm aware you can see these at a million places, but I wanted an excuse to look some more...

A big $&#(*$&#(*$&# deal

And there it is...your Health Care Reform Act of 2010.

Republicans are certainly doing a fantastic job of screaming that the sky is falling...while simultaneously flying above dropping bags of shit from a (probably private, chartered) plane. Taxes on people making $250,000 a year!!!! Insurance Companies can't cancel plans on actual sick people!!! Increased competition in the insurance industry!! Oh, the humanity!!!!

I've been on record that I'm not a big fan of the Senate Bill. Some of the House changes, including the removal of the "Nebraska waiver," are improvements. Primarily, my beef is that the bill doesn't go far enough. We couldn't have a truly public health care option, we were told, because Republicans and Conservative Democrats would block it. Well, surprise, surprise, Republicans and Conservative Democrats didn't vote for the watered down version, either.

The bottom line here is something needed to be done. Small businesses were dropping health care insurance as a benefit all over the nation as prices skyrocketed. The ranks of the uninsured are increasing, not decreasing, daily.

How about those Republicans though! How proud they should be. Sen. McCan't of Arizona and his crews latest vow to say no to everything from the administration from now on notwithstanding, I didn't see a single option presented by the other half of the aisle that would have done anything other than continue the Bush tax cuts that got us partially into this mess. People have a short memory, but the entire economic system of the nation collapsed under the previous, and REPUBLICAN, administration. Why? LACK of government oversight. And now, of course, the McCan'ts are spouting their same old less government nonsense about this bill. Why? Because it's an easy message. It's cheap. The slack jawed yokels who throw racial epithets at Congressmen and call them "baby killers" for trying to provide health care coverage to the uninsured can understand hate speech far easier than a package of insurance reforms.

As I said, I'm not sure this bill has what it takes to truly take care of the issue. But certainly, it has provisions that are a step in the right direction. Also certainly, the cost of doing nothing was greater than the cost of trying something. The Pres. stood on his principles in this regardless of dropping public opinion and for that he should be commended. It is, after all, much easier to espouse hate than it is hope.

March Madness Moments!

Well, my team didn't make it in this year--primarily because they sucked. Still, as the Doc works on his brackets, he's thinking about some of my his fav. March Madness moments....

Favorite Game Ever...



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Followed closely by




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Not a big Kansas fan, but great game...




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Hated the guy, but great ending anyway...



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The first time I remember winning money with an upset call!!




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How about a game with Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and James Worthy in it?



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And finally, just a buncha cool buzzer beaters

Just felt like listening to this today

Do I love me some hockey--maybe...

I will fully cop to being a puckhead come lately.

I never got into hockey. It's still a hard sport to watch on TV (although I find it much better in HD, love that technology). I always appreciated the skills of these guys to even be able to stand up on ice in all that gear let alone crush the boards (that's a thing, right?). Still, I'm not great on the rules (icing anyone? What the hell is icing?) and I had a lot of time invested in, you know, baseball, football, basketball, full contact nude female karate. The big games.

This year, with the Blackhawks about the only team in my area worth a damn I've hit a game live and watched a few. It still didn't really catch my attention much as I tried. I listen to a fair amount of sports radio and before the Olympics all I heard about was what a waste it was to take two weeks off and pull the players out of the NHL season and someone could get hurt and blah, blah, blah... I kinda agreed.

Then I watched yesterday's USA v. Canada overtime skate to the death. I don't know how much impact that's going to have on hockey as a sport in the U.S. in general, but as far as I'm concerned, I'm a little hooked. I want to find out more about these guys (millionaires all) who fought so damn hard for a little circle of Gold. That goal in the final minute to tie the match up may have been one of the most exciting things I've ever seen in sports... So, NHL peeps, maybe this Olympics wasn't such a bad idea. There may be one more fan, at least, as a result, and I have to think there's probably a few more of us bandwagon jumpers out there.

Congrats to Team Canada, and to Team USA. Fantastic job.

Peace.