Championship Rings and Polish Things

Well, we got our rings on Saturday after our sold-out loss to Club Deportivo Chivas USA. Pretty sweet if you ask me, I'm so proud of my first championship in sports, even if it was just the 2006 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. We won it and it was a great night. I don't think I'll wear this thing all the time, but definitely on game days and big meetings. It's a good conversation piece because it's so damned big you can't miss it.

To update everyone on the job, I'm still with the Fire, been about 16 months now. I'm still doing the corporate sales gig, selling suites, sponsorships, club seats, etc. But lately, I've been put in charge of the majority of our Polish marketing and sales initiatives. I just hired a high school kid to make some Polish cold calls for me and sell some tickets for our exhibition match next Friday (June 22) against MKS Cracovia Krakow, a Polish first division team.

Between the Polish marketing and the Referee Development Program, this job with the Fire has opened a number of doors for me in Chicago, it's making it hard for me to ever want to leave here. I'm beginning to think that's a reality though as the cost of living and the sport's world's ridiculously low salaries (specifically for soccer) is making me broke. I think about how much money I would be putting away if I were back in Ohio, or another smaller town. I think about how even if I found the right girl, and not just the right now girl, I wouldn't be able to afford to do things right with her. I think sometimes I chose the wrong profession, as much as I do love sports and what I do.

And as for the girls, well, nothing new to report. Sadly, my life has been fairly uneventful as of late. Jen and I broke up awhile back and things have been very complicated between us ever since. I just find it hard to trust her and love her the way that I did before, which I suppose is understandable given how many times she walked out on me. At the same time, she seems genuine in her desire to be with me now. But is that enough? I wonder...

I do have the all important family wedding coming up on June 24 and I have been told to bring a date. I'm not sure that I want to because I'll face the Spanish Inquisition with thousands of questions about whoever I'm with. I don't know that I would subject anyone to an entire evening with my family at this event. "You're 23-year old cousin is getting married, what's your problem?" Yikes.

Okay, my writing is getting choppy now and I'm still at work at 8pm on a Tuesday. I'm the only one left in the office, mainly because I just didn't feel like fighting the Cubs' Night Game traffic. I should be gone now, just need to find parking. Let's see what we find....and see if anyone reads this nonsense.