wow. what a saturday. my 10th year reunion @ northwestern and the alma mater was facing the 17th ranked purdue boilermakers. the game was a story of futility as both sides battled wind gusts of 30 mph and tough run defenses. in the fourth quarter after a great defensive stand the wildcats drove 84 yards in the last two minutes to score a touchdown and win. go cats! we're heading out tonight to costume party to celebrate.

well the "vegas recovery" excuse can only hold up for so long. face it i've been lazy about updating the ol' blog. let's see where was i? oh yes vegas. good times. stayed in four suites at ballys. gambled and ogled the eye candy at the hard rock. saw a great comedy show @ the house of blues, and actually held my own playing texas hold 'em. that's about all i can legally say. the rest will have to file under "what happens in vegas, stays in vegas". needless to say we showed the groom a good time and this coming weekend the happy nuptials commence.

whoa. still recovering from my vegas trip this weekend. in the words of the one the guys there, "we hit it hard." yes indeed. stories (those that aren't staying in vegas) to follow later, still gotta catch up on my sleep. . .

one of the perks of having a blog is the freedom to self-edit. spout off @ the mouth and regret it? you can re-write history with a couple of clicks. but i'm not going to do that, i fully deserve the big dish of humble pie served fresh to me last night by the resilient bo'sox. what else can i say? they made baseball -- no, sports history and shook a gigantic gorilla off their back. mad props and respect you long suffering sox fans for your optimism. its warmed the cockles of this cynical cubs fan's heart -- and made me very jealous.

some final points.

1. this series defines why we love sports. the unexpectedness is more dramatic than anything a hollywood screen writer could conceive. one of the greatest movie openings of all time is in raiders of the lost ark, as exciting as it is even as a 12-year-old kid i knew indiana jones was not about to get run over by a rock 10 minutes into a two hour movie. in sports anything can happen; and that's why we watch it's drama at its purest.

2. david ortiz was chosen as the series mvp. and he deserves it but i think its a great testament to the red sox TEAM that it just as easily could have been curt schilling, or johnny damon. this is a TEAM in every sense of the word.

3. "When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn." - Harriet Beecher Stowe said it -- over these last few days the red sox have embodied it. again mad props.

red sox = charlie brown | lucy = the yankees

an open letter to all my bo'sox friends out there. stop the madness! i love you guys, i really do,i'm a cubs fan i understand your pain and your longing or a world series. but come on do you really think you're going to come back and beat the yankees in seven?!

you people are masochists. why do you keep setting yourselves up for such heartbreak. the yankees would have done you a favor, that's right a favor, by sweeping the series in four.

now your hopes are up and you're excited, and the yankees are just going to beat you in in front of their home crowd. i know you don't want to hear it but i'm telling you, you've been set up. i say you've been mislead. you've been taken.

in the next two days some lucky yankee is going to add his name to yankees/redsox lore and be this year's bucky dent/aaron boone. the yankees in seven was my call when this thing started, and you can still bet on it.

there are two important sites [besides mine] i'd like to encourage you to visit.

the first is site i made for my mother-in-law to promote her new book. the no-cash allowance from walnut row publishing will help to teach your children financial responsibility. the book would make an excellent holiday gift and i urge you all to visit the site or amazon.com to buy one.

another site, not made by yours truly, but one that fully endorse is citizensforwillburns.com. will burns is one of the finest men i've had the pleasure to meet through my big brother, bobby. he is currently running to fill the state senate seat, of barack obama. he needs your $$ support, please click on his site and donate whatever you can to help his campaign.

yeah, still got to get the political blog up and going, but can't resist this little nugget in the news. republicans love to rail on the liberal bias of the news media. can you believe the incredulity of this position when your party is in control of congress, the white house, and the supreme court? i mean if there is a liberal media they're doing a pretty piss poor job getting liberals elected wouldn't you say? last time i checked most radio and cable talk shows had conservative hosts. last time i checked the number one rated cable news channel was the right wing faux -- i mean fox news channel "we distort, you comply". anyway the next time some conservative starts whining about the bias of the liberal media. just mention sinclair broadcasting. who are they? take a read. another good article here.

yes. this is how we choose our leaders. . .hobbits for president!

superman, christopher reeve dead at the age of 52.
some thoughts. first the memorial section of the academy awards this year is going to be particularly moving. i remember being younger always kinda tuning out this part thinking, "yeah, yeah so some old guys from b&w movie days have died, let's get on to show." well being older now i have more of an appreciation for those old guys and those old b& w films; but more importantly some of the actors are people i grew up watching.

it's almost impossible to convey the impact of the first two superman movies growing up as a gen-x kid. if any guy from that era was to rank "the-character-i-most-wish-to-be-when-i-grow-up" aka your idols on that list: (and this is probably in order)

1. luke skywalker - (the land speeder, a light saber, flying the x-wing, your own robot called r-2) yeah you look at the movies now and you're like he's kinda a whinny bitch isn't he? but c'mon you know he was your favorite kenner figure.

2. han solo - (a blaster, a fast ship and a bad attitude. what more can a kid want?) finally when empire came out you knew he was the cooler than luke. leia -"i love you." han - "i know."

3. superman - (you can fly!, you're faster than a bullet, you can make time go backwards so you can finish your homework! bring on the bullies! but maybe most exciting even than flying -- you can see through things!! at 10 years old to see through margot kidder's dress wow!!)

4. indiana jones - (its han solo again, but he's smarter and now he has a bullwhip and a kick-ass fedora. in 5th grade i truly thought i wanted to be an archeologist -- with the understanding your job was riding horses, motorcycles, kicking nazi ass, and oh yeah, finding old stuff.)

well there you have it. the alpha male identity as defined by hollywood for the generation born in the late 70's-80's. give or take a few years you might add burt reynolds in smokey in the bandit (oh, to drive that black trans-am, sigh.) but i stand by my list. and now one of its principle icons is gone. rest in peace superman you'll be missed.

with and much respect. . . Rodney Dangerfield dies at 82
he'll always be remembered from one of the most quotable movies of all time: caddyshack.

the typical mixed bag of sports this weekend. cubs lost and are out of the playoffs, the redskins and packers lost, but in miracle or miracles the ol' alma mater pulls off an improbable upset of #6 ranked ohio state -- i mean the ohio state university. this is our first win over the buckeyes since 1971 and our first win over them in evanston since 1958. next week without the cubs to divert my karma i can begin to focus all my energy on football.