Thursday July 20th, 2005
12:45amCFB Roundtable Discussion #3
A few weeks back I mentioned that I was invited to participate in mgoblog's 2005 season BlogPoll. Well there have been two roundtable discussions with a third that just ended (I missed it cause I was out of town). I was really late tossing my thoughts into the 2nd Roundtable and I completely missed the 1st one. It's been tough for me to get into the CFB mood with all the baseball going on but last week during the All-Star break it hit me hard.....I want college football to start.
I went out and bought the bible, Dave Campbell's 2005 Texas Football, and read a good portion of it while I was gone last week.
When we got home and checked the mail, Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer was sitting in my mailbox courtesy of Warren St. John himself who assured me that the book was written pre-Fran so there wouldn't be any conflict of interest (Warren participating in the BlogPoll which is how I got in contact with him). I was really excited because it was on my list of books to get my hands on and now that I have my hands on it I'm going to read it as soon as I finish Ball Four.
To top of my plethora of CFB info, I was able to get my hands on a copy of the A&M Football Media Guide a month before they hit the stands (as well as the Big XII Media Guide) thanks to a buddy who works for SportsRadio 610 and was at the Big XII Media Day on Monday. The last A&M Media Guide I bought was from 2000 (only because they cost a fortune and I'm a poor college student) and I am amazed at the improvement in the product. It is a great piece of literature and, frankly, it ought to be used in ENGL 101 for the freshmen.
Anyways, I'm into football mode and I want to catch up on the Roundtables even though they've come and gone. I'll start with the current questions....
BlogPoll Roundtable #3Q1. Which unheralded player on your team will be the hardest to replace? Which seemingly inconsequential player could make the biggest impact?
A1. I am actually thankful for the fact that we only lost 6 starters off of last year's squad but the most unheralded player we lost wasn't one of those 6. It is corner back, Erik Mayes, who was our third leading tackler as well as our team leader in pass breakups....as a red-shirt freshman. Erik played in all 12 games but only started in one game. Erik's dismissal from the squad will be especially painful since 2 of those 6 starters we lost were senior CBs. This means that going into the season our top 4 CBs we have a total of 12 starts among them....all from Ronald Jones who hasn't started a game since 2003 even though he played in all 12 games in 2004.
Q2. Which regular-season game that won’t feature your team would you pay the most money to see this season? Why?
A2. September 10th: Notre Dame at Michigan. I've always wanted to see a game at the Big House and I like ND more than I do Ohio State.
Bonus: Which rivalry game would you most like to attend?
ABonus. Other than the one above....The Iron Bowl: Auburn v. 'Bama
Q3. If your team were a rapper, who would it be and why?
A3. The words rapper and A&M are kind of like oil & water. If I had to come up with a formula I'd go with a band that put out a few great albums, then a couple disappointing ones but has a top record just hitting the radio waves. Does Dr. Dre fit this template (I honestly don't know)?
That was kinda fun so let's back track a bit....
BlogPoll Roundtable #2Q1. What's THE critical game of the season on the national scene?
A1. texas v. OU. It could very well determine the Big XII Champion and with OU allegedly down this year it gives texas a chance to finally knock off the Sooners.
Q2. What's the most critical match up for your team?
A2. I think it'll be texas tech on November 5th. On paper our three toughest games happen to be our last three (@tech, @OU, tu....in that order) and there is a possibility that we could have a pretty nice record going into that match up. On top of all that we simply suck in lubbock, where we haven't won since 1993 (that's 5 straight losses). It could certainly be a season breaker.
Q3. What's your wingnut upset prediction of year?
A3. Iowa State over Iowa? I would have said Boston College over Miami but that match up is non-existent now.
And going back further.....
BlogPoll Roundtable #1Anyone agree? Disagree? Feel free to share yourCommentsQ1. Based on this compilation of the top 25 as Internet pundits and preseason rags see it, who looks flagrantly overrated? Why?
A1. I'm going to go with OU simply because they have lost 8 starters of which many were key cogs. With OU as my official answer, I can still mention that Florida will be interesting to watch simply because Urban Meyer's offense seems pretty complex and there is bound to be a learning curve of some sort. LSU will be interesting to watch as well.
Q2. Who looks underrated?
A2. Texas A&M. Sure there is a little bit of the old Maroon Glasses in this pick but I think if we win our opener at Clemson and beat tech we'll be a Top 10 team and the highest we're ranked in any of those is #13.
Q3. What team in the high teens or lower could end up in the Rose Bowl?
A3. This one is kinda tricky because the teams range a lot from poll to poll. Some have Miami and V-Tech in the top 10 and some don't. I'll go with Miami simply because they're Miami.
Tuesday July 19th, 2005
11:22pmChicago Trip
Wednesday July 13th
Our flight was at 5:20pm and the morning/early afternoon was pretty much spent in a complete frenzy trying to get everything together. My brother Sean helped us out by taking us to airport and before you know it we were bound for "The Land of Lincoln" (or so the license plates in Illinois told us).We landed at O'Hare Airport and after a little confusion we hopped in a cab and headed towards our hotel, the Tremont. After we checked in and put our stuff in our room we were starving....luckily for us, Ditka's was right next door to the hotel.
The steak was great (expensive, but great) and I even got to see Da' Coach while we were there. He was at the bar upstairs with some guys standing around him doing the standard back slapping you would expect to see a sports celebrity get when out at a bar.
Thursday July 14th
Game day.I got up at 9:40am (that's early for me on non-work days), I hopped up, put my contacts in, brushed my teeth, washed face (if my Mom is reading this I washed behind my ears too) and walked out of the hotel at 10:01.
I had decided to take the Elevated Train (the El) up to Wrigley so I walked a couple of blocks and was on the redline out to Wrigley at 10:12 thanks largely to a very nice guy working at the station who was extremely helpful. I gave him a Gig'em to thank him and he returned it but I think he was doing it more to confirm that I understood....we'll call that a non-verbal language barrier. Four stops and about 20 minutes later I caught my first glimpse of Wrigley from the El train window and 5 minutes after that I was standing face to face with the paradise that is Wrigley Field.
Wrigley from the ElI had a short list of things I needed to buy (read: wanted to buy) while I was in Wrigleyville and I took care of all that. It was still about an hour before the gates opened and since my brother, who graciously took us to the airport, made a last minute decision not to make the trip I had an extra ticket so I tried to legally dump it off to a broker. No avail. I grabbed a burger at McDonald's and then just walked around the ballpark taking pictures of all the standard subjects.
During this time I decided to try my hand with the ticket brokers again....but with a different angle. Instead of trying to sell my extra ticket I asked to trade my two tickets for one single seat that was better than what I had. The first couple of guys couldn't help me (one didn't have anything better than what I had and one was a jerk). Third time is a charm and I upgraded my two seats in section 218, row 21 for a single seat in 123, row 12.
When the gates opened I went inside and allowed myself to simply enjoy the beauty of the ballpark. I found my seat, took some pictures of the field, grabbed a couple of Cokes (Wrigley offers an Early Bird Special until an hour before game time) and planted myself in my seat to watch the end of BP and then watch the field crew.
My seat was awesome. The best way to describe it would be by saying I was in the corner between home and first base
I was 3 seats from the right aisle of 123I was about 10 rows into the shade but not underneath the overhang. I got some great pictures with my 35mm camera that I'll try and remember to post when I get them developed and scanned.
Panoramic from my seat on ThursdayThe two folks to my right were Cubs fans visiting from Australia and the two kids to my left were ~12 years old and at the ballpark by themselves. The kids were better behaved than the Australians and even kept scorecards which always scores points with me. Two rows in front of me were the only 3 Pirates fans remaining in the non-Pittsburg portion of the USA and they were pretty hardcore but at the same time realistic about the product on the field.
There were, however, the classic drunk obnoxious fans 3 rows in front of us who stood for innings at a time just looking around and yelling at those of us who were yelling at them to sit down. When the older of the two (if you look at the panoramic picture he was sitting in front of the guy in the striped Pirates jersey) decided to light up his second cigarette our usher finally came over and told them that it was illegal to smoke in your seat and then asked to see their tickets. Turns out that Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum were not supposed to be in those seats and they garnered a nice ovation as they were escorted out of sight.
The game itself was as perfect of a game as I could have asked for. Prior was on the mound and was virtually flawless in his 8 innings of work.
IP H R ER SO/BB HR G/F PC-S GSc 8.0 2 1 0 10/3 0 4/10 115-78 83It was a vintage Mark Prior performance. The unearned run was due to two errors in the 3rd inning.
The offense was strong led, surprisingly, by the bottom of the order -- Neifi, Blanco, & Prior -- who all had multi-hit games (combined 6-for-11) with 3 runs and 3 RBIs. There was just enough scoring to keep the stadium alive, which is exactly what I want out of a game. Also, in the innings we didn't score there were still extra base hits and plays at the plate which certainly make things exciting.
After the game I caught the El back to the hotel (although not as easily as I had going due to 30K other fans trying to get onto the same train). When I got back to the hotel I took a shower and went to dinner with Jennifer. Jennifer only wanted to go to one game (the Friday game) so she studied for her finals that start next week.
We walked to the famous Gino's East Pizzeria before it got too busy and had ourselves a feast of deep-dish pizzas.
After Gino's we went back to the hotel to digest and wait for my parents to arrive (they flew up on Thursday evening). When they knocked on our door we took off for Ghirardelli for some Coke floats, ice cream, shakes, etc....as if we needed it after Gino's.
Friday July 15th
The day started with a big breakfast, which is something that I don't usually do. We followed the meal with a hotel change from the Tremont to the Park Hyatt, which was simply spectacular.After standing mesmerized in our rooms for about 25 minutes we hustled to the El and hopped on the redline out to Wrigley again.
We got to Wrigley about 45 minutes prior to Kerry Wood's first pitch which was plenty early enough for my folks to snap a picture of Jennifer and I in front of the famous Wrigley Field sign.
"Mom, getting the sign in the picture is key"The seats weren't quite as good as mine was on Thursday but it was a heckuva lot harder coming up with a group of seats together (I bought them online weeks in advance). Regardless, they weren't behind any of the I-beam supports that so famously cause obstructed-view caution.
Not a bad view for only being one row from the top of the stadiumThe weather, again, was fantastic....sunny and warm with a breeze....wearing my fleece and shorts was perfect.
We were surrounded on just about all sides by a crew of ~50 accountants in their late-20s who all worked together. They certainly helped give Wrigley the reputation of being a giant frat party.....I stopped counting after the 16th beer I passed. One of the guys in front of us bought 8 beers on 3 separate occasions & at $5.50 a pop his wallet was certainly lighter when he left that evening.
The game was another good one but was much more lopsided. K-Wood threw well....and hit well too (a bases loaded double).
IP H R ER SO/BB HR G/F PC-S GSc 6.0 2 1 1 5/1 1 5/8 75-48 69The wheels fell of for Pittsburg in the bottom of the 6th inning after Hairston hit a grand slam to take the score to 11-1. Dusty wanted to get the bullpen guys some action with a monster lead so that was the end of Wood's outing. The bullpen had only saw a total of 5.1 innings in the previous 4 games with the All-Star break mixed in-between.
The offense was led again by Neifi (his home v. road splits are insane -- .312/.331/.453 at home v. .225/.251/.306 on the road), with Aramis Ramirez, Derrek Lee & Jeromy Burnitz chipping in.
We left in the bottom of the 8th after I realized how off centered the picture of Jennifer and me was so we could take it again before it got too crazy outside. Plus, Jennifer doesn't do well with crowds or public transportation and I wanted to get her into the train station before it became packed shoulder-to-shoulder with drunk, sweaty fans.
Much betterAll went well.
For dinner we met up with my cousin, her husband, and some other close family friends at Mia Francesca, which was great Italian food. Everyone had a good time and I know we all ate well.
Saturday July 16th
Jennifer and I slept in. When we got up we joined my folks and went to eat lunch. After lunch we just walked around the city and downtown, mainly on Michigan Ave which has just about all the big exotic shopping you can handle....We didn't buy a single thing.Did see some cool things though....
This is actually artNap time.
Well, Jennifer did and I just read (I'm reading Ball Four which, if you haven't read it, is great). At 7pm This Old Cub made its national TV debut and I obviously watched that. Jennifer woke up in time to see the end of it and even she enjoyed what she saw. Ron Santo is such a good guy.
We went to eat again....does anyone see a reoccurring theme? This time we went to a Mexican restaurant which was actually pretty good.
As I found out later, a team from Chivas played the David Beckham-led Real Madrid at Soldier Field earlier in the day and one of the Chivas players was dining a few tables behind us and was getting swamped by fans who were all wearing Chivas jerseys. Did I just display my soccer ignorance?
After dinner we went down to Navy Pier and checked out all the happenings. I had been down there once before but they either built a lot of new stuff since I saw it previously or I just flat out don't remember it.
After a significant effort we were able to catch a cab back to the hotel where we all hit the hay.
Sunday July 17th
My folks caught their flight home before we got up. When we did get up we went to lunch where we discussed one of the more interesting observations we both made while we were up there.With all the incredible food at every turn you make in Chicago there are so few really fat people up there, especially compared to Houston. I think it has something to do with the amount of walking that Chicagoans do but Jennifer made a good point when she mentioned how few fast food joints we ran across. While there is so much more food (traditionally heavy food -- pasta, steaks, etc.) there seems to be so much less processed food. Anyways, it's something interesting to toss around.
After eating we went back to the hotel grabbed our bags and went to the airport to try and see if we could get an earlier flight than our scheduled 8:20pm departure.
We ended up catching a 5:20 flight that was delayed until 6:30ish (we had to change terminals 3 times while we were waiting for the plane to show up).
We didn't get to sit together since we were both riding standby and I got stuck on the 2nd to last row of the plane in the middle sleep. The guy next to me drove me nuts by reading over my shoulder....he apparently liked Ball Four. It got to the point where I wanted to ask him if it was OK to turn the page.
Anyways, we got home several hours before we were originally scheduled.
The whole trip was great and I really had a good time hanging out with my wife, my folks, and the Cubs.
Let's go back in August ;)
Monday July 18th, 2005
1:01amComing Home
We arrived home safely last night and I've got some pictures ready to go as well as a pretty lengthy post. The problem is that the post is written on a pad of paper and I'm too tired to type it up as I'm sitting here. I'll get it all up later tonight or tomorrow morning.
I'll just tease you by saying, "It was a great trip."
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