Oh, I Think So

This week, the Chosen Ones from the AFC and NFC are off doing gridiron battle in Honolulu, Hawaii.  I smile when I think about it because it's so monumentally ridiculous. The Pro Bowl players are chosen by the votes of the fans, the coaches, and all players.  In other words, if you are a fan of professional football a la USA (not soccer, known worldwide as football) and have access to a computer and the worldwide web, then you can have a say in who goes to the Pro Bowl.  It is the heights of democracy! For the third year in a row, the Pro Bowl is played on the Sunday between the end of regular-and-post season play and the championship game, also know as the Super Bowl.  How colossally dumb is that?  Of course, not a single player that will be going to the Super Bowl can play.  Were they to be injured, that could harm their own team's advantage.  So it's a bunch of guys who are fine players getting a trip to Hawaii -- an excellent place no matter th...

The Chicago landscape has grown cold and white from snowfalls that linger, melt, return afresh in a loop of winter energy that is at once disgusting in its intensity and stark in its beauty.  Mostly it makes it difficult to walk (my neighbors must be strangers to the miracle of salt on cement), especially to walk briskly.  We can search the area for birds of any sort along with the local dick measurers, I mean Men Who Watch Birds and the Other Men Who Also Watch Bird Because They're Mostly Retired and What Else Can They Do Since Their Wives Told Them To Either Go Back To Work Or Get A Damn Hobby, Enough Already.  These dudes troll the lakefront and certain parks that are known only to each of them ("If I told you, the park would just be overrun."  "But I won't tell anyone.  My friends don't care."  "Still...") so they can gloat about what they saw and touch themselves earnestly, I mean polish their binoculars.  If there's a photo of a Snowy...

In the Golden Age of my job, we used to get invited for regular overnight visits in hotels, to concerts, to parties, to baseball games, and soirees at hotels with fabulous prizes.  Unlike most golden ages, we knew we had it good and that things were wonderful.  We liked and appreciated these times with their selections of bacon-infused vodka, vodka-infused caviar, martinis served cold through the mouth of an ice sculpture dragon, and a selection of cheese that would make the head of the most knowledgeable cheese aficionado explode.  There were celebrations of champagne, festivals of destinations, simple get-togethers to experience a stunning view in a Chicago rooftop bar that ended with parting gifts. These days are mostly long gone, until last night. Last night, our entire department was invited to a luxury suite at the United Center to see a Bulls game.   I feared it might be way up high under the rafters but it was on the lower level and it was magnificen...

Readers of this blog (and you know who you are) know that I like professional football, especially the Chicago Bears, and that I donate blood regularly.  Yesterday I was presented with a stellar opportunity to donate blood at Soldier Field and not have to pay for parking.  There would be members of the 1985 Bears present, signing autographs and posing for pictures.  Yes, of course I went. Because I am not a perfect human, I'd made an appointment to donate blood at 8 a.m. at my local donation location, then made breakfast plans with my friend at 8:30, having forgotten about the donation.  I was planning to go to the donation center and apologize for the mistake when I saw a news item about the Soldier Field event.  Even if I'd not messed up the appointment time, I would've blown off the local center and gone downtown.  Yes, I did go to the center.  Yes, I did apologize.  Yes, the very nice person she didn't blame me for wanting to go to the remot...

The Bears ended the 2011-12 season in Minnesota and for the first time since Jay Cutler was injured, they WON!  Of course neither team had a snowball's chance in H-E-double-hockeysticks of getting into the playoffs, so it was the most even of playing fields.  There were player issues on both sides, especially QB issues.  There was playing and grunting and Brian Urlacher getting injured (please get well for the Pro Bowl).  Josh McCowan was sacked six times but he got the job done which is pretty good for a man who'd not started an NFL games once since 2007.  Now we have to think about the 2012 season, just a few months down the line. The new year is here and it's just a few months to the NFL draft, pre-season hi-jinx, exhibition season frollicking, and the 2011-12 season.  Jay will be back, ready to give that ball a mighty toss and I will, of course, be all grumpy and negative about him, super-frowny-faced at every turn.  I think Jay has learned a thi...