It's like deja vu all over again

This is incredible. Another fantastic sports website found by the good folks over at Deadspin.com....this one is called cracked.com I nearly went Miles Davis in my pants with laughter checking out their spoof on ESPN.com's coverage of Jerome Bettis of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who, if you haven't heard, is from Detroit, site of this years Super Bowl. I think my favorite part is actually a rip on one of my favorite writers, Bill Simmons. There is a fake link that reads, "An ape could have picked the playoffs with more accuracy than me." Brilliant.

The best part of this site is an article from a couple of weeks back entitled The Wrong Advices: AT LEAST YOU'RE NOT FROM CLEVELAND. If you've ever spent five minutes talking with me about the Cleveland professional sports scene, you'll surely have heard this argument almost verbatim. And if you haven't, well, you must not know me very well. Go ahead and check this out either way because they seem to form coherent thoughts much better than I do.

And yes, this is a picture of the greatest quarterback that ever lived, Bernie Kosar.

Random update...

Training for the triathlon is officially on hold. I have yet to get any other information as to the procedure for replacing my recalled trainer and frankly, I just haven't had time lately. Things could get worse if I get the job I'm interviewing for tomorrow and next Monday in Bridgeview. Without a car, that's going to be a nice 90 minute train commute every morning and evening. Not fun.

I had a nice relaxing weekend though. I tried to post a comment to Hot Heather's blog on MySpace, but they wouldn't let me without registering, so I spent some time updating that site and getting in touch with old friends, including my Deadhead ex-girlfriend from high school, Dizzy Lizzy. You can check out that page here, or in the Miscellaneous Links on the right. Don't worry, all blogging will be done right here at Caps on Tap, so no need to change any links.

I also spent most of the day with Iowa on Sunday...first getting lunch at the Athenian Room in Lincoln Park. We heard they had pretty decent and reasonably priced greek food, but after watching Bad Boys I was in the mood for a big burger so I got that instead of a gyro. (I like the opening scene when Martin Lawrence is eating the big burger and fries in Will Smith's Porsche and they get car jacked.)

After that we went into a few stores on Halsted, breaking my goal of not spending any more money this month. She was wearing her University of Iowa hat, so, not to be outdone, we went into Campus Gear and I bought an Ohio State hat. (I don't usually wear hats, so I never had one.) Then I saw the Indians hat I've been looking for since Nash's sister bought him a Red Sox hat just like it this summer. I tried the Sox hat on once and, let me just say, no hat has ever fit me more perfectly. Now I'm out 50 clams. Dammit.

This week I'll have my Super Bowl preview, likely on Thursday, but it'll be a busy week so that may be the only post coming your way.

Quick sports report for everyone out there wondering how my teams are doing (since some of your root for the same teams...)

The Indians' trades with both Boston and Philly went through over the weekend; I will bitch a little more about this in next week's regular column.

Nash and I seem to have sparked the Miami hockey team a little bit as they have reeled off five straight and will remain no lower than #3 in the NCAA following #4 Minnesota's sweep of #2 Wisconsin.

The Chicago Bulls have won four in a row, but I haven't watched them at all since the game we went to earlier this month.

Miami basketball beat the Green Weenies from Ohio University over the weekend in Athens. This will give me more thing to rip on my soccer teammates about before our game on Wednesday night. Thanks boys. We dropped to 0-2 in our co-ed league with a 5-4 loss after battling back from down 2-0, 3-1 and 4-2 to tie it at 4 with just a few minutes to play.

The St. Louis Blues continue to suck badly, in butt-naked last place in the entire league. Terrible. In other hockey news, Mario Lemieux finally retired for good. Is it just me, or is Super Mario to hockey retirement as MJ was to basketball? Seriously. Enough.

Time for some Jimmy John's....Rack me. I'm out.

ABC Sports

No matter how you feel about my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes, or the fact that Laura Quinn is actually Methodist, you have to admit that this is hysterical.

Unfortunately I didn't find this until just a minute ago on deadspin, but they posted it sometime yesterday. For those of you who blinked every 6.7 seconds during the Fiesta Bowl between Ohio State and Notre Dame, Buckeye linebacker A.J. Hawk is dating the sister of Irish quarterback Brady Quinn.

On second thought...

The full deal ACTUALLY looked like this:

Boston gets:
OF Coco Crisp - AVG .300 (starter)
RP David Riske - ERA 3.10 (set-up man)
C Josh Bard - AVG .193 (backup)

Cleveland gets:
RP Guillermo Moto ERA 4.70 (middle relief)
3B Andy Marte (prospect)
C Kelly Shoppach (prospect)

Further, if this goes through, this trade is likely to happen:

Philadelphia gets:
RP Arthur Rhodes - ERA 2.08 in 43.1 innings (lefty)

Cleveland gets:
CF Jason Michaels - AVG .304

Michaels was also recently placed on six months probation and ordered to complete 100 hours of community service for fighting a Philadelphia police officer last year.

According to ESPN this morning, Guillermo Moto failed his physical in Cleveland and now the deal is on hold or could possibly be off completely. The more I think about, the more my first instinct was correct. This is not a good deal for the Tribe. Let's keep the players we have and pay Coco his money next winter. He's earned it.

Please don't make a deal just for the sake of making a deal. I was surprisingly okay with us not making any big moves this off season. I would have liked Trevor Hoffman, but Nomar and whoever else were not necessary. We won 90-something games and just missed the playoffs last year with a horrendous start and a very young team. I think we can improve just by keeping the status quo.

Hotstove Report: better than it looked on the bottom line

For all those fellow friends of the feather out there, you may have come across the pending trade between the Boston Red Sox and our beloved Cleveland Indians Sunday night during the NFL playoff wrap-up on ESPN. If you are at all like me, you were probably shocked and offended at the idea of the Tribe moving our star outfielder Coco Crisp for a prospect and a not-so-stellar relief pitcher. Then I looked at it a little closer, and I think I can be okay with this. Here's why:

First of all, they agreed in principal, but it's not final. The trade will be completed on the condition that the Indians are able to sign another outfielder, likely either the Phillies' Jason Michaels or free-agent Jeff DaVanon. I would prefer Michaels, who hit .304 with a .399 OBP in just 105 games last season.

As for Coco Crisp, he is a very, very good defensive player. He can play all three outfield positions and can hit 2, 8, or 9 in the batting order. He's a switch hitter that hits for a .300 average and added 16 homers, 42 doubles, 69 RBI and 86 runs scored. On closer examination, he's only a .345 OBP guy, which means he drew just 44 walks on the season against 81 strikeouts. Going further, he hit just .252 against lefties, which is not good for a switch hitter and potential lead-off man.

The first player we would receive back from Boston is Andy Marte, who just happens to be one of the top hitting prospects in the game. "While being among the youngest players in each league he has appeared, Marte has averaged .280, 32 doubles and 20 homers over four full seasons in the minors. The 22-year-old hit .275 with 20 homers and 74 RBI in 109 games at Triple-A Richmond of the International League last season." Not bad.

We would also get Guillermo Moto, a reliable power pitcher that has a career 3.61 ERA in seven seasons at the major league level.

The Indians seem to, once again, be searching for a cheaper solution as Coco Crisp is in the final year of his contract with the team. He'll make under $400,000 this year, but will likely command much more on the free agent market after a couple of very productive years in Cleveland. Rather than lose him when his contract is up, they seem to be taking the precaution that they didn't take when losing the likes of Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome. Not that Crisp is even in their leagues as far as hitting and productivity goes, but you'd rather get something for him than the big fat nothing they got with those players, right?

Thought so.

Overblown hazing story

Click on this link to read about a hazing story from the University of Memphis Women's Cross-country team. Apparently they made their freshman dress like idiots and do some stupid things. Nobody got hurt and everyone appeared to have a good time. The school newspaper is actually getting ripped mercilessly for poor journalism and trying to create something out of nothing by posting the pictures and writing an article. The University itself investigated and found exactly ZERO hazing violations, specifically noting tradition and that everyone was having a good time.

Look closely though! In the second picture you'll see a beer chugging contest with, you guessed it, my fraternity! Good stuff gentlemen. I hope you won.

I love this game!

I was planning on posting this last Friday, but I felt my fourth post in as many days might be a little much for one week and then I just never got around to finishing it. I was also tagged by my sister last week and never got around to writing that piece up either. Maybe tonight, though I doubt it with the fifth hour of 24 coming up. I know it's a little late, but I feel as though I have to chime in on the Antonio Davis going into the stands thing. If you know me, you'll be thinking to yourself, duh, he has to chime in on EVERYTHING. But, being a former employee of the Chicago Bulls and having met the majority of the parties involved in this fiasco, I feel like I should give everyone a summation and my humble opinion.

For those that have been in a coma for the past week, or simply don't pay enough attention to sports, the Chicago Bulls-New York Knicks game got a little ugly during overtime last Wednesday night. I have seen the video, read some first hand accounts by those that witnessed the events and even spoken to a couple of former co-workers about the incident. Here's what happened:

Section 121 is located directly behind the visitor's bench. Generally there are some seats reserved in that section for the visiting team's friends and family. Mostly, it's filled with long-time season ticket holders who don't get rowdy. It was here that Kendra Davis, Chicago native and wife of former Bulls' forward Antonio Davis, sat with her son and some friends for the game. Enter Michael Axelrod, who, despite an appropriate name, is not a male-stripper. Axelrod is a 22-year old (though he looks almost 40) son of a prominent Chicago political businessman and he was sitting directly behind the Davis family.

Here is where there are conflicting stories. The initial report was that of a drunk and obnoxious Axelrod shouting obscenities in the direction of the referees and the Knicks. When Kendra got up to confront the man he was in her face and grabbed her. However, video evidence suggests otherwise. It appears that he was sitting in his seat at the time of the confrontation and she was the aggressor. He calmly turns his head and gestures for security to intervene while Kendra continues to stick her hands in his face and yell. He claims she told him to "shut his [expletive] mouth" and then poked him in the face. Any way you look at it, he must have said something that got under her skin. Given her history though, I imagine her skin is not very thick. In the past she has had excessive verbal confrontations with Jerry Krause (former Bulls GM), Latrell Spreewell (former Knicks player) and the Toronto Media. It's also being reported that she had some reckless/drunk driving charges in Naperville just a few months ago.

It was at this point that Antonio Davis jumped over the scorer's table and came running up into the stands to "defend his wife." Allegedly he had been watching the confrontation unfold while running up and down the court. During the next timeout he determined his wife was in some sort of danger and decided that the situation warranted his immediate attention. But, couldn't he have turned to any of about a dozen security guards and asked them to intervene, or to help? I know from my experience in the United Center that there are a number of off duty police officers patrolling the lower level near the court. Not only that, but any danger she was in appeared to be self-inflicted from the video.

Thankfully the altercation didn't escalate like the fiasco in Detroit during the 2004-2005 season. However, it could have very easily, especially given the history of fans at Chicago sporting events. I'm not suggesting that Chicago fans are worse than other cities, namely those in Philadelphia, but there have been several instances over the past few years that have made national headlines. The problem in this case is that the media, including Jay Mariotti of the Sun Times and ESPN's Around the Horn, used it's collective Jump to Conclusions Mat and decided that the "drunk" fan must have been at fault. So did Antonio Davis, Larry Brown and a number of other New York Knicks who were interviewed. As it turns out, Axelrod hadn't had anything to drink since a glass of wine at dinner about four hours earlier and is now suing AD for slander and defamation. He says he would drop the charges if Kendra and AD made public apologies. Over the weekend, they scoffed at the suggestion that they were at fault and refused.

My biggest problem with this situation is the suspension laid down by David Stern and the NBA. Davis was immediately ejected and later suspended for only five games. Just a year ago we heard Stern say that we would never see an NBA player enter the stands again. Clearly he was wrong on that account. He defends his slap on the wrist suspension by saying that Davis was merely protecting his family, which is understandable. Yes, that would be understandable, but there didn't appear to be any immediate danger. If Davis actually saw the events taking place while he was on the court, as he claims, he had to have seen that she was turned around, yelling and gesturing at a gentleman who was calmly seated.

Further, Davis is the head of the NBA Player's Association. He is in a very prominent and respectable position with the league and has always been regarded as a role model to the younger players in the league. What message does it send to them that he can go up into the stands and only get a five game suspension? If anything, I think he should have received a stiffer penalty (maybe in the neighborhood of 20-30 games) because, of all people, he should have known better. A lengthy, meaningful suspension in this, the first instance since the Ron Artest melee, would have sent a clear message that even if you don't throw a punch, you still have no business being in the stands.

The more I think about it, the more infuriated I am that the league refused to act appropriately simply because of AD's character. Had this been Artest again, Stern would have reopened Alcatraz. If this was a player like Allen Iverson there would have been a suspension of more than 20 games. I'm convinced of this. And then, in the aftermath of this whole thing, Davis and his wife have shown their true character in how they have handled the situation. Kendra appears to be nothing more than a selfish, arrogant, self-entitled bitch. Because she is the wife of an NBA player, she appears to believe she is better than other people and can get away with anything.

Reports from the United Center are that Kendra and her family left following the incident and that Axelrod, after giving his statement to UC security, was allowed to return to his seat to watch the conclusion of the Bulls' win. Quite frankly, after all of this and given her history, I think AD might be best advised to leave the wife at home when he has to travel for work.

Special Update - World Baseball Craptastic

Hutch brought up a point yesterday that the World Baseball Classic's rules for player eligibility were modeled after the FIFA World Cup, so I had to check it out. It's not that I didn't believe him, it's that, well, okay...I really didn't believe that for one second.

According to Major League Baseball, and I'm paraphrasing here, you can play for a country if your great-great-great grandmother f*cked an Italian once.

Now...with a little help from my friend Nancyb over at bigsoccer.com, I found two links that define eligibility for FIFA here and here.

According to both of these sites, in order to be eligible to compete internationally in soccer, you "shall be citizens of (its) country and subject to it's jurisdiction."

Going further, they state that "If a Player has more than one nationality (1), or if a Player acquires a new nationality (2), or if the Player is eligible to play for several Association teams due to his nationality (3), the following exceptions apply:

(a) Up to his 21st birthday, a player may only once request changing the Association for which he is eligible to play international matches.
A player may exercise this right to change Associations only if he has not played at "A" international level for his current Association and if at the time of his first full or partial appearance in an international match in an official competition of any other category, he already had such nationalities. ..."

In other words, A-Job and Piazza would not be permitted to play for the Dominican Republic and Italy because they aren't citizens of those respective nationalities.

However, at least in A-Job's case, were he to attain citizenship due to his parents being born in the Dominican Republic, he could only play for them provided he never represented the United States at a full international event (youth teams don't count.) He also can't have represented the U.S. in any other competition (basketball, rugby, whatever.)

As for Piazza, I don't know if his parent's were born in Italy or not. I know his dad, Vince, was childhood friends with Tommy Lasorda, who was born in Pennsylvannia in the 1920s. Piazza was born here as well, in 1968, which would mean that even if Piazza's parents were born in Italy, they were probably here for at least 30 years before Mike was born.

Did all that make sense?

Here is a soccer example: David Regis was a French-born soccer player who married an American whom he met while they were neighbors in Germany. He wasn't even an American citizen until a couple of months before the 1998 World Cup (which was played in France,) but was allowed to play for the U.S.A. in that tournament because he had attained citizenship and had never played a match for France at the "A'" level. Had he played on the French National Rugby team before he got married and became a U.S. citizen, he would still have been allowed to play for us. If he played for France after he became an American Citizen, he would not have been eligible.

Footnotes:
(1) parents who are citizens of two separate countries
(2) by marriage
(3) such as the case with South Africa offering dual-citizenship with England, or like Andruw Jones' home island of Curacao being part of the self-governing Netherlands Antilles, which are owned by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, aka Holland.

The Sixth Cents VII

I apologize for the tardiness of this post, I know it's Wednesday, I blame it on the long weekend and this nagging cold. As I mentioned last time, these posts will be limited to the first and third Tuesdays of the month due to a lack of messed up things in sports lately and the fact that January and February, on the whole, are two of the most boring sports months. Seriously, aside from the football playoffs and college bowl games, what is there? I'm not quite ready to dive into college basketball yet, although we're getting close. I'm still turned off by the NHL after the lock-out and subsequent collapse of the St. Louis Blues. And the NBA has always been my least favorite league among the big four, even when I worked for the Bulls. So without further ado, here are my six cents...
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1. Colts and Patriots and Bears...oh my.

I know the NFL is pissed off because they think their TV ratings will slip without these teams, but is anyone else REALLY upset that these three teams went down this past weekend? Seriously, besides their own fan bases of course. Frankly, I have grown sick and tired of hearing how invincible the Colts are, and how the Patriots are a dynasty and Bill Crapacheck is the greatest coach ever, and how the Bears defense is better than their 1985 Super Bowl shuffle version. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

The Colts aren't invincible because, once again, Peyton Manning has failed to win when it matters. MVPs, passing records, 14-2 season...big f-ing deal. Win in January and then we can anoint you the greatest thing since Kraft's Easy Mac & Cheese. And then he goes and shows his true colors by throwing his teammates under a bus (THE Bus?) and shoulders exactly ZERO blame for the debacle against the Steelers. Kudos of our Miami boy Ben Roethlisberger for one-upping the not so cheesiest quarterback around and even making a game saving tackle after the Bus fumbled at the Indy two-yard line. And a special F.U. to the referees for making it entirely too obvious that they wanted the Horse to win. Come on boys, this isn't the Gee Dee NBA here.

Then there's the Bears, my new hometown team, who I CAN'T STAND. I don't know if it's the Bears so much as their fans that drive me crazy. Let me tell you from experience friends, Bears fans are NOT like the Round Table of Bill Swerski, Carl Wollarski, Pat Arnold, and Todd O'Conner. They actually get annoying with how over-confident they are, not amusing like the old SNL skit. There was NO WAY that Carolina could beat them, not in Soldier Field, not with sexy Rexy back, not with this defense, certainly not since they already beat the Panthers here during the regular season. I'm positive that even the players bought into the hype. I'm sorry, but if your defense can't adjust and shut down their ONLY offensive threat, well, forget it. There is a difference between confidence and cockiness, and the Patriots of the past 4-5 years could help explain that to Chicagoans. No matter how confident the Pats have been, they were never boastful and arrogant, they just shut their mouths and played football. Then again, New England just got smacked too...

Speaking of which, the Patriots, as the Sports Guy mentioned yesterday, are not a dynasty. They are a damn good football team that has been extremely fortunate to always be healthy and rolling at the right time of year. This year, they just weren't good enough to win in Denver. As a Browns fan, I know exactly what that feels like. Nuf said.
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2. World Baseball Craptastic

I don't really give two shits about this baseball tournament. Honestly, how many nations actually play baseball? My guess is sixteen, since that's how many are in the tourney. However, Australia? South Africa? Italy? The Netherlands? Panama? How many players do these countries actually have that we've even heard of?

Something else bothers me about this...you can choose who you play for! So if I were a major leaguer, I could potentially choose between the United States and Italy since I'm of Italian decent. WTF? Forgive me if I'm mistaken, but don't you have to be a citizen to represent a country in the Olympics or the World Cup? That's the way it should be. I wouldn't be surprised if Mike Piazza has never even been to Italy. Really, I wouldn't. Granted, nothing in baseball surprises me anymore. Next thing you know, we're going to find out that Greg Maddux and Omar Vizquel are the brain's behind the steroid scandal.

And is it just me, or does A-Rod flip flop more than John Kerry? Unbelievable. Now he wants to play for the U.S. after going back and forth for months between playing for us, playing for the Dominican, not playing at all because he can't decide. I say screw him. No team has won a title with him anyways, so let him go play for Iran for all I care. Oh, and nice purse.
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3. The Sports Guy VS. Isiah Thomas

This is absurdity at it's best. And today, Simmons wrote a follow up article here. Isiah Thomas, who is clearly the worst GM in all of sports, has called out one of my favorite writer's, Bills Simmons, on an ESPN radio show hosted by the most annoying personality in sports, Stephen A. Smith. What's worse, Smith, had never even heard of Simmons. Are you kidding? He's only one of the 17 NBA fans left, a sport which you cover. And he works for ESPN. What a moron. It's a wonder why the ratings for his TV show are through the floor and it's being moved to a late night slot. As for Simmons, after continuously questioning move after move that Thomas makes as the GM of the New York Knicks, and rightfully so, Isiah went on air saying that if he ever saw Simmons on the street that there would be a problem.

I know I've already said this once today, but WTF!? Seriously, get a life Isiah. I've never seen an athlete, or former athlete in this case, get so infuriated by a sports writer. That's his job numbnuts, to write about sports and give his opinion. You don't like it? QUIT RUINING EVERYTHING YOU'VE TOUCHED SINCE YOU RETIRED FROM PLAYING. Isiah single-handedly brought down an entire league (CBA), caused a great team to underachieve and miss their only real shot at a title (Pacers) and now continually acquires untradable contracts and selfish, me-first players who give no effort and have little discernible skill outside of the "And1 Tour."
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4. Bouncing Souls, no one can beat us, we drink beer and wear adidas

The U.S. Men's National Soccer team moved up to #7 in the FIFA World Rankings this past week, now in a tie with Mexico. The top ten looks like this:

1. Brazil
2. Czech Republic
3. Netherlands
4. Argentina
5. (tie) France, Spain
7. (tie) United States, Mexico
9. England
10. Portugal

The Nats get back in action with a couple of friendlies to end the month after a training camp with mostly domestic based players in Carson, California. Sunday the 22nd they will take on Canada in San Diego and then on Sunday the 29th they will play Norway in Carson.
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5. NFL Conference Championship Picks

Here they are, since I haven't yet put them right out there for everyone to see this playoff season. Home teams are in CAPS.

Pittsburgh Steelers (+3.5) over DENVER BRONCOS
This is beginning to seem like a team of destiny. After going 15-1 last season, led by an undefeated rookie quarterback, they were beaten in the AFC title game by the defending champs. This year, they struggled to get rolling as Big Ben missed a few games with injury and they had to adjust to the loss of Plaxico Buress and the lesser roles of Jerome Bettis and Duce Staley (the true stars from 2004.) However, Ben got healthy and the Steelers started rolling again. They came into the playoffs as the lowest seed, but with strong momentum, having won four straight. The streak is now six after the Steelers won their first two road playoff games EVER under Bill Cowher. Roethlisberger will also become the first quarterback to lead his team to consecutive conference title games in his first two seasons. The Super Bowl just happens to be in Detroit, Bettis' hometown, and it would be a fitting end to the Bus' career to give him his first ring in his final season. I see the Steelers defense slowing down the Broncos running game and forcing Jake Plummer to beat them, which he won't do. Cowher will once again do his best Jim Tressell impersonation, getting a lead early and trying to blow it by getting too conservative. Ben and Bussie will hold on. Final, 23-17.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (-3.5) over Carolina Panthers
Neither team has ever won the big one, and even though Carolina was here just a couple short seasons ago, this one is going to the Seahawks. Seattle is one of the toughest places to play with all the crowd noise, the cross-country trip and the weather. Let's not forget that it was the best team in the NFC this season and is stellar both offensively and defensively. Shaun Alexander will play after his concussion last week and Carolina's DeShaun Foster and Julius Peppers will not. Advantage: Seabirds. I don't think this will be too low in scoring despite two solid defenses present, and in the end, Seattle will be too much for Carolina to handle. Final, 27-20.
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6. Obligatory reference to The Miami of Ohio State University

Miami Hoops: 8-5 Overall, but 5-0 in the MAC and tied for first with Kent State. Five losses are all to quality programs in Alabama, Xavier, Wichita State, Michigan and Cincinnati. The Redhawks are at home against Toledo (8-5, 1-4 MAC) tonight and will be at Western Michigan (4-11, 1-4 MAC) on Saturday.

Miami Hockey: As I mentioned yesterday, Miami lost to Ohio State on Tuesday, tied Notre Dame on Friday and beat Notre Dame on Saturday. They currently remain #3 in the NCAA behind Wisconsin and Boston College with Minnesota and Vermont rounding out the top five. The Redhawks will be in action this weekend at the Goggin against Western Michigan on Friday and Saturday night. Western is just 5-14-3 overall, 5-9-2 in the CCHA and 1-8-3 on the road this season.

tOSU Hoops: The Buckeyes are ranked #19 in the NCAA in both polls at 12-2 (2-2 Big Ten.) Their losses were both tough, going down at #11 Indiana 81-79 and at home against #12 Michigan State in two overtimes, 62-59. They take on #13 Wisconsin (14-2, 4-0 Big Ten) tonight at home and will be at Penn State (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten) on Saturday.

Redhawks and Buckeyes in action this weekend:
Pittsburgh Steelers - Ben Roethlisberger, Miami, QB #7, 2nd Season
Carolina Panthers - Drew Carter, Ohio State, WR #18, 2nd Season
Carolina Panthers - Chris Gamble, Ohio State, CB #20, 2nd Season
Seattle Seahawks - Rodney Bailey, Ohio State, DE #95, 5th Season - did not play vs. Washington

Fighting Drunks of Notre Dame and the weekend recap

As most of you know, Nash and I headed out to South Bend on Saturday evening to check out our alma mater in a hockey game against Notre Dame. We left Chicago a little after 3:00 after I finished my afternoon shift over at J. Crew. I slept for about half the ride in the car because Friday was a long night. The nurse's birthday was last week, so a bunch of us went out to celebrate. We started off at a Spanish lounge called Sangria over on Weed Street for some tapas and, obviously, sangria. I didn't know some of the nurse's friends, but I had Nash and Iowa to entertain me during dinner. Then we rolled over to some crappy late night bar in Wicker Park. Estella's? Let's just say that I'm never going to Wicker Park again. It was a $10 cab ride from Lincoln Park, the people out there were trashy and sketchy and the bar was so bad that Nash and the nurse seemed to be ready to duke it out. He started pounding Jack on the rocks, so Iowa and I bolted before things got ugly.

Then there was the game. Ya'll should've come with us, that's all I know. We decided to be real men and feel our way to the Joyce Center, not looking up or asking for directions. Somehow we still managed to get there about 45 minutes before game time and found a fairly empty parking lot that seemed to be for visitors. Getting our tickets was like going to a HS basketball game. The will call window was basically one line with one lady that looked like a parent, complete with a button of a player's picture on her jersey, sitting on a folding chair behind a card table.

The arena itself was pretty weak. It was actually more of a large multi-purpose gym with a rink and some bleachers at one end behind a curtain. I was kinda shocked to find that a school like Notre Dame didn't have a better set-up for hockey. It wasn't awful, but I'd much rather have been at the Goggin. There were only two bathrooms and one concession stand for about 2,800 people. The food left a little to be desired as the nachos were stale and the cheese was cold. They also only had Coke, Diet Coke, and Sprite...not much of a selection.

The place was allegedly sold out, although there were a few empty seats that I could see. The Irish aren't very good, but it was Scout's Night and it didn't hurt having our Miami Redhawks ranked #3 in the nation coming in. The student body was on a 3-day weekend because of MLK Day on Monday and apparently nobody sticks around. I can't see many of them going to hockey games anyways with the fairly lame family atmosphere and poor record (7-11-3.) but I digress. A weak little band took up the best seats in the house behind the penalty box and there was nowhere to stand against the glass like at the Goggin. We were in the section directly behind the goal Miami would be defending in the first and third periods.

There was a pretty decent contingent of Miami fans right behind the Miami bench and I even heard the guy that always yells, "Let's go Skins!" right before the opening face-off. There were random Miamians scattered elsewhere including a family right behind us with a son that graduated the same year as me. They seemed amused by Nash and I most of the night. In fact, I think most of our section was pretty amused most of the night, save for one idiot, who I'll get to in a bit. I was pretty quiet for a period while I got my bearings and felt out the mood of our section, but then it was time to start jawing at the officials and just running my mouth in general.
Miami scored first, but the goal was disallowed because of a skate in the crease. The first period ended scoreless, but Miami finally broke through about halfway through the second period on a breakaway goal by Matt Christie, who went 5-hole on the Irish goalie. Notre Dame tied it quickly on their second 5-on-3 power play of the night, but Miami freshman defender Raymond Eichenlaub untied it even more quickly, making it 2-1 at the end of two.

The third period got interesting as Miami kept taking stupid penalties that gave the Irish a toal of 11 power-plays on the night and kept our freshman netminder Jeff Zatkoff on his toes. He typically came up big, but about halfway through the third the Irish tied it up again on a power play goal after a scramble in front of the Miami net. Once again Miami answered quickly, retaking the lead at 3-2 when Eichenlaub scored just his third goal of the season, but second on the night. Not long after that Notre Dame was hit with their second charging the goalie penalty, which instigated a little fight right in front of us. Five different players, but just two Redhawks, were sent to the sin bin, but Miami remained scoreless on the man-advantage for the weekend. They would go 0-17 when it was all said and done.

This fight was even more amusing because of the dumb hick sitting five rows in front of us who was wearing a baggy denim shirt. Um, 1992 called, they want their shirt back. He kept screaming, "You suck Miami" and other ridiculous things until I started a little "scoreboard" banter. At that point it must have hit him that Notre Dame was the one who actually sucked this season and that we were #3 in the country, so he piped down. But another idiot started talking trash with me right after that, saying that I should shut my mouth because there are 2,000 of them and one of me. He said this with his 6-year old daughter sitting on his lap, which I find quite cowardly of him. It's not like I was going to get into with him in front of his kid, and I'm sure he knew that, so I just laughed and the rest of our section remained good spirited.

You see, I'm not a mean fan at all. All of my jokes and comments are meant amuse people, even if I'm sitting with opposing fans. I'm smiling and laughing the whole time and I never cuss in these situations. Most people get a kick out of me singing three blind mice when the referees come out and yelling that "the German judge gives a 9.3 because there was too much splash on the entry" after an opposing player takes an obvious dive that the referee called a penalty on. But, there is always one jerk who takes his life too seriously and gets offended at me ripping on his team. Oh well.

Miami held on for a 3-2 win and has stayed put at #3 in the nation despite losing to Ohio State on Tuesday and tieing with the Irish on Friday night. Nash I then made the treck back to Chicago where I got a call from my cousin Bryan saying he and his fiance were in town from Dayton and going out. Iowa stopped by and I took them all to Tai's for the first time. We had a pretty good time and stayed sober, getting out of there before it got too late. The rest of my weekend was pretty quiet, mostly laying around the house and catching the 4-hour season premiere of the best show on television, 24. Unfortunately, my future wife Elisha Cuthbert has yet to make her entrance, but I feel it coming soon.

We also did some rearranging in the house yesterday as I took apart the old desk that I had gotten from Mrs. Miami, the college girlfriend, three years ago when it didn't fit in her new apartment. We chucked that along with our huge stacks of magazines that had been piling up over the past two years. Then we moved Nash's desk to where mine used to be, this way the internet cable isn't taped across the middle of the room with duct tape. We still have a little cleaning up to do, but I think the new set-up will be much more spacious, even more so when I get rid of my computer completely which is currently sitting on an end table outside my bedroom door.

As for this week, I have my first indoor soccer game on Wednesday night and I will be doing more national sports coverage this week including my predictions for this weekend's football games. I really have to start posting these predictions as I had all four wild-card games and three of four divisional games right, missing only on the Steelers-Colts game so far.

Weekend update

I got the weekend started off right with a good Thursday. You can read about that over on the Triathlon blog. It consisted of a good ride on the trainer and then my sister's birthday party at Tai's where I didn't drink at all. Interesting, I know. She even made herself a cake with a big Chief Wahoo on it, which of course infuriated Gene, the PA announcer for the White Sox.

Today has been busy at work, but I continue to learn new things about the industry and my boss is hoping to create a new position for me here in the near future. Tonight I plan on riding some more and then I'll be going out on the town with Nash, the nurse, Iowa, and some other friends for a couple of drinks to celebrate the nurse's birthday earlier this week.

Saturday I'll be working at J. Crew on North Avenue from 10-3, so stop on by and say hello! At that point Nash and I will be heading over to South Bend, Indiana to see the #3 Miami Redhawks take on the Fighting Drunks of Notre Dame in a college hockey game.

Then on Sunday I'll be checking out some fitness clubs, after which it's back on the bike, maybe even going for a run to see what that's like following a ride. There will be good TV watching with the Steelers-Colts and Bears-Panthers games as well as the 2-hour season premiere of the best show on television "24".

THEN, Monday I'll be off work (I love working for the government) so who knows what I'll be up to. Some training for sure, another 2-hour episode of "24", but really most of the day will be free. With the exception of tonight, it'll be an alcohol free weekend, so Monday could turn out to be a pretty good day instead of my usual full day recovery session before going back to work.

I hope everyone enjoys their weekends as well.

"I'll catch you on the flip side." - Rocco, the funny man

feliz cumpleaños Amber

But since we aren't Latino, I'll go with a few Happy Birthday's from our nationalities courtesy of Babelfish, Sztaki and Poltran:

German: alles Gute zum Geburtstag
Polish: Szczęśliwy Dzień urodzenia
Italian: buon compleanno
Hungarian: boldog születésnapot

Either way, my sister's birthday is today so I thought I'd holler at her. And yes, it's hollER. I'm white chocolate. No limit baby. And here is another picture of us from the family reunion during the summer of 2004.

A new blog for your amusement

For those who missed it, Hutch decided to start talking some trash on his blog this morning.

During lunch today I worked to create a new blog where Hutch and I will detail our training schedules and engage in some good-natured trash talking for the next nine months up until race day. I would also love to invite any of our close friends that will be either watching and/or helping us train to become members and ridicule us along the way. If you are seriously interested, let me know in the comments section and I'll get an invite out to you.

For those of you who may be curious, I accomplished my opening day goals while Hutch was busy meerly setting up his trainer.

In the first 40:05 minutes last night I averaged 19.8 mph and cranked out 13.19 miles. I completed the 25.01 miles in 1:18:02 and averaged 19.2 for the entire trip. Off tonight to work at j crew, but I'll be back on the bike and dropping another half minute or so on Wednesday.

I'll be back with my usual sports rants soon...but for now, I hope everyone is doing well and that you enjoy the new site!

You call down the thunder, you're gonna get it!

Hutch called it down. I have to give him credit for the big balls he must have. I will just have to respond by pounding his scrawny ass into the ground.

New poll to the right. I think Hutch voted for himself already. Looks like the Pacers won the last poll. I don't know how I feel about that. I'll chime on that another time.

For those who do not know us, this is a recent picture of Hutch drinking.

Here is a picture of me last week throwing a football. Just kidding. This is me from Fergie's bachelor party in 2004. I couldn't find a more ridiculous recent picture.

There will soon be a joint blog up where we will document our training up until the race and you all can make fun of us.

Until then, we'll be awaiting the odds from Vegas...

Time to put the women and children to bed and go looking for dinner

It's official. I've decided to do the Lake Geneva Triathlon this year. It will be September 9, 2006 in beautiful Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The roommate and the nurse have a little bet going on for an Olympic length tri, but all bets aside, I just want to beat everyone I know in the damn thing.

Here's the thing. I've never competed in an endurance event in my life. Yes, I am a soccer player and you would think I would be good at endurance sports. You would be wrong. In the words of Yogi Berra, "it's 90% mental. The other half is physical."

Not that I don't have the physical ability to be an endurance athlete. My coaches always said that physically I was built for the 800 and the mile. I have just never had the mental ability to focus and pace myself. The longest race of my life was 800 meters, half a mile. I only did that probably 10 times too, and it was hell. The 400 was my bread and butter...a long all-out sprint.

The swim is what worries me, but I won't start training for that for another couple of months so I have time to get back to the level of fitness I'm going to need first. Plus I want to get my weight back down. I dropped 20 pounds this past summer riding the bike and playing soccer, but I've put 10 back on. I'd like to get down around 150 or just under by August so that I'm not carrying that extra 10-15 pounds on the bike and the run. I'll need the extra energy because I'll surely be behind after the swim.

So tonight, it's back on the trainer. The goal for today is to keep the cadence up around 80-90 rpms and the mph above 19 for 40 minutes or so and then finish out the 25 miles however I can. I figure I'm going to need to crank around 20 mph+ for 75 minutes or so and there is no telling what the hills will be like since none of us have ever done this tri.

Cap's Reasons, Why Not (the Longhorns?) -UPDATED

Reason #1...Vince Young.

If you didn't see last night's Rose Bowl Game between the Texas Longhorns and USC Trojans, I suggest you read Bill Simmon's running diary of how things transpired here. In fact, if you did see it, read it anyways. Hilarious, as always.

And if you didn't see my column from yesterday, yes, I called this one too. That makes me 2-0 when it comes to predictions that I put in writing on this site. Maybe I won't attempt to do a Steelers-Bengals preview tomorrow, wouldn't want to tarnish that perfect record.

That was truly one of the most incredible football games that I've ever seen. As far as non-Buckeye games go, that ranks #1 in my mind in terms of rewatchability. I can't wait to get home tonight and watch it as an ESPN Instant Classic.

I've decided to list some of my thoughts from the game, since I have many. This was one of the few games that I've watched from the comfort of my home, by myself, so I was able to catch alot of the comments by sideline reporters and whatnot that normally I'd be too drunk to pay attention to.

Here goes...

1. Vince Young should declare for the NFL draft right now. Seriously, could his stock get any higher after a game like that? Not only do I not want to play against him in week two when the Buckeyes and Longhorns play their rematch in Austin, but I honestly think he might be the number one pick. Don't forget, it's the Houston Texans that have the first choice. Plus, Young just seems like a better version of Michael Vick. This guy is built like a tailback, with wide receiver speed, and he can actually throw the ball very efficiently. Not great, but efficient. Young keeps saying he's coming back, but for once I don't agree with the decision to stay in school, if that is his decision.

2. Matt Leinart is a pompus asshole. Did you see that post-game interview with Holly Rowe? First he said, "It was a great win...a tough loss." Guess it hadn't quite sunk in yet. Either that of he is the second coming of the waffle that is John Kerry.

Then he said, "I think we're a better football team..." Are you serious bro? You just LOST. I guess we just shouldn't have played the game since you're the better team. Didn't your Hollywood butt-buddy Nick Lachey teach you how to be gracious and humble in front of the cameras? Oh crap...yeah, Nick Lachey, silly me.

And then in the post-game press conference he basically said that the offense did everything they needed to win, but called out his defense saying that "we just didn't enough stops."

3. Speaking of Holly Rowe, she had a great interview and then an "oof" moment just two short hours apart. I loved her halftime interview with Texas coach Mack Brown.

Holly: What happened to turn the momentum in the first half?

Mack: blah blah blah rubber stamp answer blah blah blah....We really stunk in the first part of the half...

(at this point he tried to get away, but she quickly shot back with...)

Holly: What stunk?

Is that so hard people? It was a direct response that seemed like the next appropriate question, but I didn't think she was going to go there. Most sideline reporters wouldn't. She got the in depth response she was looking for and that's all it took, nice job Holly.

But then...after the aforementioned Leinart post-game interview, she said, "Thanks Vince." Ouch.

4. I seriously think that I could be a college football coach. How many decisions will be second-guessed over the past week in crucial moments of bowl games? Let's leave out all of the other games (including Weiss' mistakes against the Bucks) and list a few from last night:

-Pete Carroll going for it on 4th and 2 from the Texas 40 with two minutes to play. Yes, if you get the first down, it's probably over. But if you punt and pin them back, they'll likely have to go an extra 20-30 yards for that final score than they did. 19 seconds. At worst it comes down to the final play, but they may have come up short.

-Once you make the decision to go for it, why wasn't Reggie Bush involved, even as a decoy? He won the damn Heisman Trophy!

-Furthermore, how come he wasn't in on either of the two previous plays? They had a dropped screen pass to the full-back and then LenDale White getting stopped short on third down. Maybe it's just me, but if I have the best player in the country, I want him involved in critical moments. And if I'm Reggie Bush, I'm saying, "give me the damn ball!"

-How come we didn't see Bush and White in the same backfield like we kept hearing about in the pre-game? They made it pretty easy on Texas, in my humble opinion. The 'Horns knew that when Bush was in, it was either a pass or a run to the outside. When White was in, it was a run up the middle. Not rocket science. Are the Trojan coaches that dumb, or that arrogant?

-Pete Carroll then called timeout on the 2-point conversion. Poor defensive alignment or not, give up the 2 and save the timeout for the final 19 seconds in case your golden boy gets you in position for a field goal, which he almost did.

5. I love Keith Jackson. I believe that he should work every big college football game. He's much much much better at his job than Brent Musberger. But seriously, is he turning into Harry Carey? He's losing his mind. I can't even count how many times he screwed up names, couldn't see what was happening, or mumbled a long incoherent rant that left me scratching my head. I wonder if this is what Howard Cossell would have sounded like at the age of 107.

6. The more I think about it, the more Dan Fouts' role in "Waterboy" is just a dead on spoof of himself. This is Mr. Cliche. All game long, I was dumbfounded at the amount of times I said "thank you, oh master of the obvious." I just kept waiting for him to chime in on that final Texas drive with, "Last game of the season, can't hold anything back now!"

7. Going back to the Reggie Bush thing...all season I was convinced that this kid was the real deal. The creme de la creme. I have to be honest when I saw this, I'm not so convinced anymore. Yes he's still great, still explosive, still a game-changer. But if I'm the best player in the country, don't you think I would demand the football when the game is on the line? Isn't that what the best of the best do?

Reggie only touched the ball 19 times last night and apparently that's all he ever touches it. Someone on deadspin said that when USC played Oregon earlier in the year Reggie had 25 carries and then had to sit out practice all week because he was beat up. If that's true, how will he hold up against the NFL? Seriously, the worst defense in the NFL hits infinitely harder than the best Pac-10 defense. I'm not saying he's going to be a bust, but while I think he's a great college game-breaker, he won't be quite the same when he gets into "the league." I'm reminded of guys like Peter Warrick and Desmond Howard a little bit. And I think Ted Ginn over in Columbus might end up the same way.

Something tells me that LenDale White is going to be the better NFL back. It wasn't just last night's performance either. There is a reason that White, and not Bush, broke the USC touchdown record.

8. The Phantom Touchdown. Yes, Vince Young's knee was clearly on the ground. This should not have been a touchdown for the Longhorns. However, it would have been first down inside the 15 yard line and Texas had just gone something like 60 yards in 4-5 plays. I think they were going to score there regardless. Unfortunately, the Trojans couldn't do anything except waste a timeout to give the replay officials time to look at it. You can't ask for a review like you can in the pros. This is one Pete Carroll got right, he made the right decision in letting it go. Texas' special teams came sprinting out there to kick the PAT quickly, knowing full well that it would be overturned if it came to a review, and subsequently missed the kick.


That's it from me for today. Feel free to post any of your thoughts from last night's game in the comments section.

Hook 'em 'Horns!

Many people have asked me what my thoughts are on the National Championship game tonight between the Texas Longhorns and the USC Trojans. I don't know enough about either team to give a detailed pre-game analysis like I did for the Fiesta Bowl, but I will tell everyone to cheer loud and proud for Texas.

Didn't the 'Horns beat my Buckeyes, you ask?

Yes. Even more the reason to root for them to win. It validates our season and makes our out-playing them in week two only to have our beloved coach Jimmy T make one too many quarterback changes.

Also, they beat Michigan in last year's Rose Bowl and hammered Oklahoma earlier this fall. In my order of hatred for college football programs, those two are ranked #1 and #2 respectively, so you've gotta love that.

Why do I think they'll win? I just think they are better at special teams and defense than USC is. I have this feeling that you'll see a game eerily similar to the 2003 Fiesta Bowl when our Buckeyes upset the heavily favored #1 Hurricanes in the midst of their 30-something game winning streak. They'll win the field position battle and although they won't stop Bush and Leinart, the Horns will slow them down just enough to let their offense outscore the Trojans.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of people giving a "hook 'em horns" salute.



















Lance Armstrong














President George Bush




















Brooke Burns















And I even found a picture of the man who invented the hand-gesture, Harley Clark.

The Sixth Cents VI

I've been on a week-long New Year's/Bowl Game bender and I'm running on fumes. I've also decided that Six Cents will no longer be a weekly post, there just isn't enough good sports gossip during some weeks to get six quality topics. Instead, I'll be doing it twice per month on the first and third Tuesdays. I have also added some bloggers to the blogroll on the right as well as started a list of my favorite links. Today we'll have a good sized recap of the Fiesta Bowl and then some short personal absurdities from the past week in this weeks addition...
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1. I'm not one to say I told you so, but...HOW 'BOUT DEM BUCKEYES!?!?

Let's break this sucker down quickly based on my previous predictions from last Tuesday.

Notre Dame on offense
I got this one right, although I was a little off on the tactics. Very interesting approach by Jim Tressell that I hadn't really thought of. They actually seemed to be allowing the Irish to run the football as Darius Walker had 3 rushing touchdowns and averaged over 5.5 yards per carry. Unfortunately for Notre Dame, Charlie Weiss (the most brilliant offensive mind in the history of the world according to Brent "I hate the Buckeyes" Musberger) couldn't figure that out. He wanted to throw and throw and throw.

But, just as predicted, the Irish didn't dominate in the air like most football analysts thought they would. Quinn threw the ball 45 times, his second highest total of the season only to the 60 he put up in a loss to Michigan State. This was also the only time all season Quinn was held without a touchdown pass. tOSU's DBs played physical and only allowed a couple of plays to get into the seems downfield. They were swarming to the ball and didn't allow any running room after the catch. Everything was kept in front of them and Brady Quinn was frustrated and running for his life most of the afternoon. Defensive MVP AJ Hawk was a one man wrecking crew. I can't imagine how different the game plan would have been if Bobby Carpenter was available. I really hope that Mike D'Andrea, John Kerr, Marcus Freeman and James Laurinaitis can fill the gap the three seniors are leaving next year and give us a shot at a national title.

Ohio State on Offense
I wish I had written this because it is so dead on; last week I told a co-worker that ND's defense was "pedestrian at best." Holy crap did we expose their lack of speed. I really didn't think Tressell would take chances downfield the way he did, but Smith completed TD passes of 56 to Ginn and 85 to Holmes. They used the read-option package to near-perfection, but in the second half went to more traditional sets in efforts to grind the clock. Pittman did his typical grinding out of the tough yards and then was rewarded with a 60-yard TD run that seeled the deal in the final minutes. Ginn also broke a 68-yard run on an end-around. Troy Smith was remarkable. He was the Offensive MVP and will now be an early 2006 Heisman candidate after helping the Buckeyes complete 8 of 12 3rd down conversions including a 3rd-and-9 and a 3rd-and-11 during the final drive of the game.

Special Teams
The Buckeyes performed somewhat subpar in this aspect of the game, but fortunately it didn't hurt them like it did against Michigan. Two blocked field goals made me a little nervous, but Houston had kickoffs flying out of end zones and Fitzpatrick of Notre Dame flat out missed a PAT. What a bum.

Coaches
I actually underestimated our boy in the sweater vest and I would like to apologize for that. I don't know how I called this even. Jimmy completely out-foxed the "guru" most of the day. I think one of the biggest plays early on was Weiss' decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from inside the Buckeye 10. AJ Hawk came busting through and hammered Quinn for a drive-ending sack and momentum would be ours for pretty much the rest of the way. Then, with the Buckeyes basically letting Notre Dame run the ball, Weiss refused the handout and kept trying to pass on an overloaded and hard-hitting secondary. Big mistake.

Final Score
34-20. I've been saying for three weeks that tOSU would win by two touchdowns. Nobody believed me, not even my fellow Ohioans. After watching this game and analyzing the stat break-downs, this could have been even uglier than it was. Congrats to the Buckeyes on a great win. Here's to rolling back down to Tempe in '07...we own that place and this time we could be playing for all the chips...again.
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2. Party like it's 1999.

Kudos to my "big brother"on the party of the year. If asked which year, one could answer, "both." Seriously, well done. For those of you who missed it, it was one for the ages. It had a classy grown-up feel at times with party favors, food, and even torches out front to keep the people outside warm. Other times it felt like a crowded late night bar. Awesome. People were making out like it was going out of style and I had to break up a fight over a spilled beer. "How dare you spill a beer on the Gongola's floor!" - John P.

Lizak, classy as always, threw a champagne bottle into the street (which I got blamed for) and then stuffed his hand into a pot of meatballs and licked it clean. He then almost threw up in my sister's car, but managed to get out in time to walk it off and then hurled into my kitchen sink instead.

The little brown buddy made his usual surprise guest appearance and after meeting a nice Indian girl said, "I only like white girls." That's just how he rolls, gotta respect it.

I made the obligatory 523 drunk dials from 3:00-4:00 am and considered "Who's your buddy"-ing Nash. I thought better of it since the Nurse stayed over and had to work early.
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3. Debauchery

After the Buckeyes game yesterday, the plan was to get home and sleep. The plan failed miserably when I got a call from Graham (on the right.) He was in town visiting his girlfriend and I met them out for what was supposed to be a couple of beers. Hours later G was practically carrying her out of there and I was left to close the bar down and head to the next watering hole with my new friend and fellow no-limit soldier, "Iowa." Make 'em say "ughhhhhh." I got home around 6:00 this morning with just enough time to shower and get ready for work. I am currently ready to fall asleep at my desk.
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4. Battle of the Deadities (at least they will be soon!)

For those of you with nothing to do tonight, head on over to Gongolapad for some leftover beer and watch the Orange Bowl. Hopefully the Big Ten can get it's 3rd win of the bowl season (in seven games, pathetic) when 352-year old Joe Paterno's Lions take on 347-year old Bobby Bowden's 'Noles. I hate them both. And I will likely be asleep by 5:15 this evening so don't count on seeing me there.
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5. You Gotta have Goals!

I've always been against New Year's Resolutions, but I'm going to set a couple of goals for myself for the upcoming year.

-Make a decision about my career. No more of this I'm going back to school I'm not going crap. I want a solid decision made by the middle of March.
-Get back in shape. I lost 18 pounds this summer on the bike and playing soccer, then I put about 10 back on once it got cold. I finally bought a trainer so I can ride and I want to start running again. Once the spring hits I'd like to join a gym and start swimming so I can try to do a triathlon this summer.
-Cooking. I am sick of eating out and spending all of my money on food. I want to cook at like 5 nights a week and make my lunch 3-4 days a week. I also want to learn to cook something new every other week. I need more diversity in that department.
-Drinking. Time to slow down...a bit. I'm not a quitter, but I need to scale back so I can accomplish my next goal.
-Sleep. I need to start getting to bed at a decent hour. No more of these 4 hour night sleeps before a long day at work.
-Save up money for big purchase. If I decide to go back to school, I want to buy a new laptop this spring. If I decide not to go to school, it's either a new bike (this summer) and/or finally buying a place here in Chicago by spring of 2007.

There are definitely other things on my list, but I want to be realistic about these goals and make sure I focus on just a few so I can succeed in all of them.
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6. Obligatory reference to The Miami of Ohio State University

Miami Hockey won the Ohio Hockey Classic in Columbus this weekend after beating RPI in OT and then the Buckeyes in the final by a shootout. It was the second consecutive year tOSU lost their own holiday tournament in a shootout to the #2 team in the nation. Last year it was Colorado College. With that tournament win, Miami remains ranked #2 in the country, but we continue to lose ground on Wisconsin after two ties and one overtime win in the past four games.

If anyone is interested, I'm thinking about heading to South Bend to see our boys take on the Drunken Irish on January 13th. Let me know...

Buckeye hoops moved to 10-0 after a come-back win over LSU and yet another game-winning three pointer by Matt Sylvester. If you remember, it was young Matthew who burried the Illini in the regular season finale last spring, hanging U of I their first loss of the season.