Don't Tread

Clint Dempsey, probably the one saving grace from the US World Cup Team that crapped the bed in Germany, recently produced this rap video. All things being equal, it's actually not too bad. It's also work friendly since it's produced by Nike.

The thing is though, this guy also plays for New England. Being that they are our biggest rival right now, and our opponent in the playoffs, I'm obligated to make fun of him. We're all secretly hoping that he's been too busy making rap video's to train for this game.

Don't forget, before you head out for Halloween parties this Saturday, do your pregaming at The Globe Pub near the intersection of Damen and Irving Park at 6:30 PM. The Chicago Fire are on their way to doing the double and taking the MLS Cup. Jump on the bandwagon. You know you want to.

Also, if you're really bored at work today, please take a minute to vote for Andy Herron for MLS Goal of the year. He scored his bicycle kick goal as part of my birthday present in a 1-0 victory over the Kansas City Wizards on July 4th. You can see the video of the goal at the link above.

Rain Rain Go Away

So I got a flu shot on Tuesday at work. Never again. Ever.

The charitable arm of the Chicago Fire, the FireWorks for Kids Foundation, volunteered to deal cards at some company's event at Ditka's Restaurant downtown on Monday night. There was free food and drink for our volunteers and the foundation pulled in a few grand for helping out. I talked All-In Chris into coming with, and we ended up having a good time. There were a couple of cash poker tables, two blackjack tables, and then 40 people got into a $100 buy-in no-limit tournament, which All-In and I dealt along with two other guys that I work with. We had a good time, but I was a little tipsy at the end (we didn't drink until fter we were done dealing) and it was almost 2am before I went to bed.

Tuesday at noon I got the flu shot.

I have had a fever for three days now and my arm is still sore. This is stupid. I haven't gotten sick in a long time (other than two horrific bouts with food poisoning -2000 and 2004- and the occasional cold) so I don't know why I got it to begin with. Absurd really. Why fix something that isn't broke? So I've been miserable for three days, starting Tuesday night. I got home from work (about 6 hours after said shot) and passed out from exhaustion on my bed. I woke up in the 7th inning of Carpenter's gem in St. Louis and watched the end of the game in agony as the fever had broken out big time.

Wednesday I woke up feeling terrible, but we had our big sales retreat at Dave & Buster's down on Clark Street and I had to be there. We spent about 7 hours or so recapping 2006 and setting goals for 2007. Fun stuff. Then we had a "corporate challenge" where we each competed in four games and they ranked us by our scores.

We started off with the Daytona USA racing game. I immediately shot out into second place and held my position for the first seven laps quite easily, never getting passed other than trading spots with the leader once or twice. Then, on the last lap, the third and fourth placed cars started to catch us and caused a massive wreck. I ended up finishing 3rd as a result, the guy who led most of the way finished 4th, out of the points as only top three score.

Next was skeeball. After dropping consecutive 40s to start the game, I don't think I hit above a 20 the rest of the time. I finished last in my group and among the bottom 3rd on the day.

Then I went MJ in game 5 of the 1997 Finals on everyone. High fever, exhaustion, sweating, could barely lift my arms, I really felt like giving up. I stepped up and dropped 50 for the overall victory in the pop-a-shot. I felt like I should have been stumbling as I walked away from the machine with Mike, my new boss and teammate for the team scores, holding me up.

The final game was the derby downs thing where you have to roll the cue ball up into the holes and make the horse walk, trot, or run. I landed a couple trots early and then got out in front with two runs. I looked up to see I was neck and neck with another horse, but that I was one small step from the finish. So instead of rolling it up to the top, I went for the quite hit and walked across the finish line for another victory.

As the overall winner, I got a shot glass. Cheap bastards. Our team also won the overall competition and got....well, a pat on the back. Oh well, it was fun and good bonding with some of the sales staff that I really haven't gotten to know too well since I've been working in Premium Seating for the past seven months.

On my way home I stopped for a haircut (it had been over a month,) and then went home to rest again. The fever was boiling at this point and even a cold shower and a boat load of advil couldn't bring it down. My only saving grace was that Jeff Suppan was throwing in Game 4 and I was looking forward to watching baseball. Then there was a rain-delay that ended up cancelling the game.

Now I'm at work, exhausted, still have a slight fever and I can't wait to get out of here.

One final note: Halloween has seriously become the new New Year's here in Chicago. It's like, everyone is having a party and you're expected to dress up, show up and spend over a hundred bucks getting drunk and having fun. I don't think I'm going out this year....just not in the mood.

I'll be updating my previous posts with some links to pictures. For some reason, I have a bunch that blogger wouldn't let me insert into the post. Somewhat annoying....

Return of the Mack The Sixth Cents XII

It's been a long time, eh? Long time. I definitely don't think this will become weekly or even monthly thing again, but when you have a sports week like we did you just can't pass up the opportunity for good stories. And I've actually been trying to write this since last weekend, so if I'm a little behind on the stories, well, bite me. Here goes...
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1. Snowed Out

Miami football has gotten off to a very rough start this season. Of course, playing your first two games against Big Ten schools is pretty much suicide so it wasn't completely unexpected to be at or around .500 right now. But 0-5? Are you serious?

After being snowed out on October 14th, yes, SNOWED THE FUCK OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER, Miami finally got our first win of the season that Sunday afternoon against the University at Buffalo. No, that is not a typo. The University AT Buffalo. Morons.

Anyways, a 38-31 road win, it's about time. Of course, we followed that up with a loss to Akron this past weekend and our record fell to 1-7 (1-3 MAC.)

The good news? Senior Wide Receiver Ryne Robinson is now the all-time leading receiver in Miami history. Congrats dood.
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2. Please don't confuse us with THAT Miami....ever again.

"The U" continued it's tradition of being the biggest douchebags in college football over Friday the 13th weekend. If you haven't heard already, and how could you not have, part way through the 3rd quarter of the game between the Miami Hurricanes and Florida International in the Orange Bowl, a brawl broke out.

And I'm not just talking a little skermish either. Benches cleared. Guys took off their helmets (how stupid is THAT!?) and hurled them at each other. Another player was stomping on a guy that was on the bottom of a pile. Yet another player, who was not even in uniform due to an injury, was swinging his crutches at people. This was insane.

If you haven't seen the video yet, well, that's disturbing by itself. Go ahead and turn the sound up though. Have a listen to former Hurricane wide receiver, and now former color commentator, Lamar Thomas. Biggest. Thug. Ever. Here is his police record:

• Arrested and jailed for aggravated battery for attacking his pregnant fiance with a deadly weapon.
• Arrested for violating probation.
• Detained for brandishing a handgun and threatening suicide, prompting authorities to check him in to a mental institution.
• Did jail time for again violating probation related to the battery charges, when he was arrested for choking his fiancee. His six-month old son was present at the scene.

Now, as I get up on my soapbox, the part that really eats me up about the entire episode was the punishment handed down by Miami. I think FIU did a nice job as they kicked the two main guys off the team and suspended 16 others indefinitely.

Miami? One guy (the helmet swinger) was suspended indefinitely. One guy (Thomas, the announcer) got fired. 12 other players were suspended for ONE DAMN GAME. Against Duke.

The president of the university came out and said that she thinks the punishment is justified and strong enough. She also said that she didn't watch the tape because it would have made her mad. WHAT? Does the judge ever just decided arbitrarily without hearing the evidence? I would suggest not.

"It is hoped that the actions taken by Miami, FIU and the conferences will send a message that such behavior is not tolerated." The was a statement from the NCAA. Personally, I don't see the message when you suspend them for one game that a few high school teams could win.

What happened is a disgrace to not only college football, but academic institutions in general. If you ask me, anyone that was throwing punches should be suspended for the remainder of the season. Miami should be suspended from postseason play (FIU sucks, so this wouldn't effect them.) Larry Coker needs to get fired because he's clearly lost control of his players. In fact, the only decent thing he's done was that 34 straight wins to start his career with Butch Davis' players.

The bottom line is that this has been the culture at "The U" for almost two full decades. Just now, AFTER THIS MELEE, they are instituting a zero tolerance policy. You have got to be kidding me. Something needs to change and someone needs to teach these players a lesson.
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3. Seeing Red.

How about those Cardinals? Left for dead at the end of the regular season, almost nobody had them picked to beat the Padres. Nobody had them picked to beat the Mets. Now they are tied 1-1 in the World Series and coming home for three games, the first two being started by guys named "Carp" and "Soup."

Everybody knows I'm an Indians fan and that I live a couple of blocks from Wrigley Field, home of the Cards biggest rival, but St. Louis could very well make my year in baseball. The sport has been dead to me since the Indians fell out of the race in May and the Cubs have been downright dreadful to watch. I've been to two games this year, by far the lowest total number of baseball games I've been to in one season since I was in high school.

I've always had a bit of a problem converting to the Cubs because I have liked the Cardinals as my number two team (favorite NL team) since I was a kid. The two teams are making it increasingly difficult right now. If the Cubs get A-Rod, that might convince me for good. I can't stand that guy. In the meantime, I actually starting watching some baseball this October, which is something I haven't done much of this summer.

People see me as a bandwagon jumper here, but that's not it. If the Cardinals win, I won't claim that one of my teams won a championship. I just hope they win. I hate Detroit, as I hate most things that come from That State of North. In all honesty though, what is there to like about this team? Kenny Rogers jacked up a cameraman last year. He may or may not have cheated in game two, but it was extremely suspicious. And either way, he lied about it afterwards. He claims that the umpires did not ask him to wash off his hands. Funny how the umps claim they did, and he came back out with a clean hand in the second inning.

Aside from Kenny Rogers, I also can't stand Carlos Guillen. To be fair, I think I despise all baseball Guillens. I also despise Magglio Ordonez and his soul-glo mullet. Sean Casey is a piece of crap too. I'm so glad the Indians dumped him on the Reds back in the day. Todd Jones, their closer, is also a self-admitted cheater. Frankly, the only thing even remotely likeable about this team is their chain-smoking old grandpa manager. And I don't even like him! He managed the stupid Marlins to a victory over the Tribe in the 1997 fall classic.
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4. Do the Double (and no I'm not talking about Fred Smoot)

The Chicago Fire kicked off our playoff season on ABC Sports this past Sunday with a 1-0 home victory over the New England Revolution in the two-match aggregate goal opening round series. Game two is at 6:30 CT on Saturday, October 28th in Foxboro. The lone goal of the match was a perfect strike by Justin Mapp off a free kick from 22-yards out. We are well on our way towards a second championship of the season (the double.) Saturday's game won't be on national TV unfortunately, but can be caught at The Globe Pub, just east of Damen on Irving Park. This will be the official viewing party for the game. A few people from our front office will be there as will our supporter's section. I doubt I will attend as this is the big halloween night in Chicago. We'll see.

In other MLS action this weekend, D.C. United won on the road at the New York Red Bulls 1-0. Western Conference favorites FC Dallas took down the Colorado Rapids on the road in game one of that series by the score of 2-1. Finally, Chivas USA won at home 2-1 over the 2nd seeded Houston Dynamo.
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5. On a more personal note

MM Arsenal was booted from the playoffs of our men's league when only nine of us showed up for our final match. Way to go out with a bang guys.

After last week's relationship report, things with the afforementioned forbidden fruit have gone a full 360 degrees. We started seeing each other and things looked promising, now they have gone back down the drain. As much as I like her, and as much as I want this to work, and as much as I'm willing to try....I just don't know how much more of the roller coaster I can take. the good news, no more home games (unless DC loses it's series to NY and we hold on against New England.) This would will certainly free up my calendar.

I also got my first chance to play on the field at TOYOTA PARK on Friday the 13th. We hosted the Corporate Cup, my new initiative. For our first year, not bad, we broke even. We had eight teams and played on the stadium field for about 4 hours that afternoon in the bitter cold. I played with Toyota since they didn't have enough players and scored four goals in five matches on our way to a 3rd place finish. (Note: we had to throw the semi-final because there were staff on the team.)
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6. Obligatory reference to THE Ohio State University

The Buckeyes are the unquestioned #1 team in all of college football right now and I really don't care what the computers say. We are hurt a bit because our big non-conference road win this year was against Texas, who has played some of the worst teams in college football. The simple fact is this, when That School Up North comes to Columbus in November, all bets are off. This will almost certainly be a match-up of unbeatens and could be a 1-2 BCS match-up. Further, this could be a better game than any other team in the country would give the Bucks. I hope USC and Arkansas each lose a couple of games because I would really like to see an Ohio State-Auburn clash in Glendale. That is, in my opinion, the only other team that could crack us.

The Heisman belongs to Troy Smith. How Brady Quinn managed to steer himself back into the picture about the awful game he had against Michigan is beyond my comprehension. It just doesn't make any sense. That's not to say Troy hasn't struggled this year, the Penn State game was a nightmare. The difference is simple, Troy's leadership kept the Buckeyes in the game and then, just like that, he came up with one HUGE play to put the game on ice. You will never see the #10 in the silver helmet put up a line like this (24-48, 234 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT.) To be honest, it looked even worse than that.

One more point of Ohio State dominance: Can we lay off the Bucks young defense already? Eight weeks into the season and we are in the top 3 in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 8.25 ppg. That's incredible when you factor in the road games at Texas and Iowa. Also remember that 20 of the 66 points allowed have come in the fourth quarter when the game was clearly already over with. Keep the starters on the field, which the good ole sweater vest would NEVER do, and we're looking at an unbelievable 5.75 ppg allowed. In fact, watch the replays of the two big road wins and you'll notice that Jimmy keeps the boys fresh by getting his youngsters and back-ups playing time in the first half. This is also how we can send almost our entire D to the NFL and come back and dominate the way we have.

Not bad for a unit that lost nine starters from a year ago, huh?

Painting a clearer picture for Fitz

I guess we really start hanging out in mid to late August, but nothing serious happened right away. The hardest part was the uncertainty of it all. The hiding. The secretness. The fact that I was coming out of a relationship and she had just moved here from New York. It's also tough to really get to know each other when you can't go out in public for fear that you'd run into a million people that would rush to judgement and frankly, just shouldn't know.

As I mentioned last time, I really liked her, but to be fair, wasn't giving myself fully because I knew her uneasiness due to our different varying interests. Two weeks ago I invited her to go out with me on Lizak's boat on a late Sunday afternoon. It was just the two of us and I called her figuring it was about time she met someone other than Hutch. She had been sick for several days leading up to this and was finally feeling better, so I figured it'd be fun. Unfortunately, she was with her roommate driving around downtown running errands and couldn't get her to come.
I told her it was no big deal and that there would be other times, but I could hear it in her voice that she was genuinely disappointed. At this point, I had already made plans to grab dinner with an old friend, whose mother was in town for the weekend. Realistically, I'd have blown it off if she had joined Lizak and I on the boat. But since she didn't, I figured I'd just catch up with her later. As it turned out, things ran a little long and then she started to send a few nasty text messages my way, upset that I hadn't called yet. We ended up not seeing each other that night, but we talked the next day and cleared some of the air.

The next day we went after work to kick the ball around (she's coming off of a serious ankle injury and is starting to rehab.) Then she went to my co-ed game. You may remember this game from the "I got red-carded because I jacked some dude" post. Needless to say, she wasn't very impressed with me and it seems she's been slowly backing away ever since.

Of course, the kicker is, that's not the only reason. Since I met her I've heard about her "best friend," a guy she's known pretty much her entire life. I've seen the pictures of the two of them all over her facebook and myspace pages, but she always made the comments that nothing romantic has ever happened. She dropped the bomb on me Monday night, a few hours after my post, that she can't open her heart to me because she thinks she has feelings for him. Great. The dude is in Ireland and may not ever be coming back (permanently,) but she just can't go out with me feeling the way she does.

It would have just been nice to know what I was up against I guess. Women complain that guys aren't open and honest about their thoughts and emotions, but they are just as bad. I'm sure I could have let her know earlier what I was feeling, but I was a little hesitant because it seemed like she was too.

I don't know what else to say, is that a good enough explanation Fitz? Duggan? Shaffer?

Forbidden Fruit - UPDATED

I managed to get myself involved with something, rather, someone, that I shouldn't have.

I met this girl a couple of months ago and quite honestly, didn't even think about trying to date her, hook up with her or anything. For one, things had just ended with Amy and I wasn't sure if I'd made the right decision on that front. Going further, this girl just struck me as someone that I could become good friends with. I didn't want to risk ruining a friendship like I'd done so many times before, but it was especially important with this one given where I met her. TOYOTA PARK.

You know how it goes, a couple of weeks of emailing, running into her at Chicago Fire games, the occassional quick bite to eat, and I was hooked. Well, as hooked as I can be. True confession: I clearly have a hard time staying hooked for very long over the past several years. I know this.

Time went on and we continued to hang out once in awhile, though not seriously. Hutch can attest to my repeat annoyance over the situation and whether it has any potential. The first time she even met Hutch, she went on and on about how different she and I were and that it couldn't possibly be going anywhere.

To be honest, when the whole thing started, I just saw it as a challenge. A new girl walks into your life. She makes it clear within the first couple of days of conversation that you aren't her type without ever even saying so much. She's cute. You like immediately have to prove otherwise. Right? Maybe it's just me, but I love proving to people that they are wrong about me.

Well, after hearing how she felt, that we would never last because we were so different, I decided to slowly back away to protect myself. No sense getting involved with someone who doesn't see a future there. But as I was pulling away, she got upset and let me know how much she really cared about me. Now what am I to do?

The thing of it is, she's right. We are different. She is coffee, sushi and a music fesitval. I am heavy beer, a bacon cheeseburger and a football game. She's artsy, whimsical and creative. I'm loud, analytical and brash. She doesn't like it that I don't ever feel like I need help, that I can be emotionless at times when I'm in a bad mood and that I don't like sympathy. I don't like that I can't get her to watch a Buckeyes game, that she doesn't like it when I cut my hair real short or that she isn't a preppy little j crew girl.

The bottom line is this; the more we hang out, the more I like her. The more we're apart, the more I wish she was with me. She plays soccer. She's cute. She's fun. She doesn't put up with my bullshit. She's smart. She has good taste in music and movies. She eats steak and potatoes. She can cook. She's very organized. She's a good midwestern girl.

All I know is that I have a good time when I see her, that everyone tells me I shouldn't do it, and that I feel like there is something that she's not telling me.

As it turns out, there was something that she wasn't telling me. Kinda wish I had waited on posting this for about 8 hours. Oh well. Game over. Live and learn.

Sent to the Showers

Last night in Chicago we got more rain than I have ever seen in a short period of time. Streets were flooded, others blocked off completely. The lightning was frequent and very close by. Then I had to practically do the long jump to get from the middle of the street to the curb so I could go home. I also had to take three trips because I had my Jack Bauer man bag with my lap top in it, all of my work clothes, my dry cleaning, and all of my soccer gear.

After work I had a soccer game with a co-ed team that I play for on occasion when they need a sub. I really had no business playing. I'm still having problems with the outside of my left knee. IT Band, LCL, whatever it is, it's been hurting like hell the last couple of days. I was fine for awhile, but in the first couple minutes of my men's game on Sunday morning I got twisted up and dropped on a tackle from behind. The rest of the day I had trouble cutting and making turns. Running in a straight line is even painful, but mostly the starting and stopping.

For one reason or another I decided to play last night and I was doing fine since I had doped myself up on pain medication. Then, about 10 minutes into the match I tried to turn in traffic and I went down again. I soldiered on though because it didn't hurt as bad as it did Sunday morning and my team would have been a man short if I didn't.

I hobbled around the field most of the night, picking and choosing my spots to get up to full speed. We were trailing 4-1 and not really playing very well about half way through the second half when I got my chance. Off one of our goal kicks, the ball was being stood up a bit in the wind. Our other forward, Alex, was going up to challenge the header and I saw he was clearly going to win it. He knew I'd be taking off for goal so he just put a little flick on it to clear the defense. It worked and I was in with about 40 yards to go to goal.

I took the first touch off my chest as the ball skipped pretty high off the wet turf. I was almost at top speed (as top as one can be when you have a busted knee) when I felt a pull on my shoulder from the defender. I threw an elbow back and shook myself free for a moment, but the whole way he was on my heels and pulling at my shirt.

Finally, as the goalie came off his line I moved to my right to draw a better angle and right before I hit the shot I felt a shove from behind again. I missed the shot, which I pissed about, but right as I released the ball I felt a crushing tackle coming from my left side. Probably the second dirtiest tackle that I've ever felt (the first being the Japanese player that drilled me from behind and started the whole knee problem mess a couple months ago.) So the tackle was from behind, in a blow-out co-ed game, knowing full well that my knee was already in pain. Asshole.

Now, keep in mind this is a co-ed social club league and you are not allowed to slide tackle. Also note that everyone on the field knows that I'm hurt since the game was stopped once for me to recover and I'd been limping around like an idiot all night. It's also worth mentioning that a couple guys on the other team took themselves way too seriously and were starting to piss off a number of players, including their own teammates. I, for once, had been laughing it off for the most part and tried not to get wrapped up in the chaos. But this was it for me.

The tackle hurt and I could tell my knee wouldn't last much longer anyways, so after rolling to a stop I popped back up and went after the guy. I met him at some point inside the penalty box and slammed into him hard. Before I could throw a real punch, my captain, Ro', got there and pulled me back, but I definitely wanted a bigger piece of the pie.

The referee came over and red-carded both of us. A red card. My first ever ejection in 22 years of playing soccer. Unbelievable. Now, to be fair, I definitely deserved it for retaliating and going after the douchebag. However, if the referee had kept up with the play and stepped in front of me like I would have, I don't know that I'd have reacted the way I did.

After the match, the ref came over to me and I apologized for my actions, thanked him for being on top of the play (even though he really wasn't,) and for having the brains to send both of us off. But then I had to say something. "I assume his red-card was for the tackle, because that was a bullshit challenge from behind." He answered that, yes, it was....and that he wished I had waited for him to get there so he could handle it before I reacted. I apologized again, saying that when you get crushed like that from behind by a dirty player you don't wait, you get up and protect yourself.

And then I asked, "So, why was the restart a goal kick?"

No response. He knew he was wrong. Or that I had caught him in a lie. You see, the restart should either have been a direct kick or a penalty kick if the tackle happened in the box. Restarting with a goal kick meant that he saw no foul, in which case he was not red-carding the other player for the tackle, but for the altercation afterwards.

Anyways, I still can't believe I was sent-off. I certainly pick up my fair share of yellow cards from time to time for hard tackles, every captain does because you have to show your team that toughness and lead by example. This, however, is something totally new for me. I had been very good over the past few years about playing with calm and poise. I learned that from Lorien of all people... mostly because she said she'd never come to another game if "Angry Cap" was playing.

So over the years I've changed on the field. I know that this isn't the World Cup, it's just a social league, so nobody should take it too seriously. But clearly the guy that tackled me was taking it that way, and he put me at risk of serious injury with a tackle like that. There is no place in the game for that kind of behavior. "Angry Cap" may be a thing of the past, but I'm still going to have to stand up for myself and my teammates when players like that exist.

Alright, time to get back to work....I have a long week of officiating, coaching and the Chicago Fire's final regular season home game on Saturday.

As if there was any doubt?

Okay....so I was a bit nervous for the Iowa game.

Everyone was hyping this Drew Tate kid and I almost bought into it a little bit. I think what made me the most nervous was the atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. You knew the crowd was going to be jacked. The Penn State crowd was the same way in Happy Valley last year when the Buckeyes rolled into town in week five and they had the "white out" game. Truly unbelievable sight and a great, great crowd that carried Penn State on to the upset.

The same could not be said for the Hawkeyes. They called it the Gold Bowl....but this time our opponent was just outclassed. Or maybe just out-ran.

It was obvious from the opening possession that Iowa didn't have the speed to match up athletically with players like Troy Smith, Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzalez, Antonio Pittman.

(since I don't know how to put the youtube thing in my blog, I'll have to settle for this URL for now...can anyone help with that?)

Seldom used Senior Roy Hall caught two passes including a touchdown. Sophomore Brian Robiskie caught a touchdown for the second straight game. Even Brian Hartline got in the mix delivering the crushing block that sprung Gonzalez on his circus-like 30-yard touchdown when he probably ran a good 50-70 yards on the play. (About 3:40 in the highlight video if you want to fast-forward the youtube.com link.)

As for me, I had a good day. I was a bit hungover after a last minute (bad) decision to venture out on Friday night. But my friend Natibugs forced some John Daniels down my throat at about 6:00 and we were on our way to Barleycorn on Clybourn - the bar formerly known as Jack Sullivan's. I must be honest, I enjoyed the scene there a little more than the old set-up. There was a $20 all you can eat and drink spread. Fantastic. It ran all the way through the end of the game. I definitely took advantage.

Of the drinks, that is. Not the women. Nati bolted just before halftime. In her defense, she'd been consuming the adult beverages since 11 AM in preperation for her kickball game that never happened due to a sudden thunderstorm that lasted all of a half hour. After she took off, I as bouncing back and forth between my buddy The Chilean and his crew upstairs, and Hutch and Donna downstairs. Donna brought her roommates, all lacrosse players from Northwestern. Yes, those girls.

I happen to think one of them is very cute, though I don't often date athletes. I don't think anything would ever happen there, but I will (of course) continue to hit on her for shits and giggles when we are all out in the future.

Sunday I had the pleasure of taking my first boat trip on Lake Michigan. How is it that I've been here over four years and I haven't been on a boat on the lake? Well, I guess that's not entirely true. I've been on some of the boats at Navy Pier including the Odyssey, the Seadog and the Windy II. But this was my first time on a regular boat. Lizak and I cruised around for an hour or so and battled some rocky waves before heading in to watch the Bears game. Next summer should be a good one with Lizak's new toy.