I don't know where these fine lasses are playing, but it undoubtedly would be quite a sporting event! In lieu of their game, we still have the more traditional form of the world's greatest sport and it's opening day! Here are the picks to click against the spread for week one:
As always, if you assume I have any particular insight into the outcome of these games, and gamble any of your money......well then you're a damn fool!
Being a Bears fan, one becomes accustomed over time to glorious heights and soul crushing depressions. Many of the latter have been at the hands of our Green Bay enemies, and today I'd like to write about one in particular.
It was the 1980 season opener, and the Bears who were coached at the time by the less than legendary Neil Armstrong found themselves coming off of a decent year in 1979 when they lost the NFC wild card game to the Eagles. While it would be an over statement to say that hopes were high - the 1970's were a tough time to be a Bear fan - it was a new decade and the previous season gave us some hope.
The 1980 opener was a tense one that went in to overtime. Things looked grim though as the geekiest looking player in the history of the NFL, Chester Marcol - tortoise shell glasses and all - lined up to kick the game winning field goal. Suddenly, a giant Bear hand looms high in the trajectory of Marcol's kick.......it's blocked! Bear fans begin the glorious rapture of celebrating a renewed lease on life when the unthinkable.....no the unfriggin' believable happens.
The ball, which moments ago looked to be harmlessly bouncing away from the goal posts, was in actuality deflected right into the chest of a very startled Marcol. Chester, who didn't need to be told what to do, runs 25 yards into the end zone for the game winning score. The awful moment is pictured above. Game over. The Bears go on that season to post a disappointing 7-9 record, with the only salvation being that they beat the Packers 61-7 in the second game of the season in what was the most lopsided victory in the history of the rivalry. Bears scout, Bill Tobin who had previously worked for the Packers revealed that the Bears had stolen that Packer signals.
The only rivalry that matters in any sport, anywhere at anytime. For those of you not familiar with all that is Bears/Packers greatness, here is the list of Bear priorities for each new season, most important first:
1. Beat the Packers
2. Beat the Packers again
3. Win the Superbowl
If we get numbers 1 & 2, 3 is then a "nice to have".
"nobody gets outta here without singin' the blues".
With those words, Albert Collins , aka; The Iceman, made his star turn in the much underrated "Adventures in Babysitting". It was a small scene, but a memorable one as the movies heroine, who was for some reason or another on the run from the Chicago mob with her young charges, accidentally bumped into Mr. Collins in a Chicago blues bar.
And sing the blues is exactly what she did...the Babysittin' blues to be exact, backed by The Iceman and his formidable band. If you haven't scene the movie, give it a rent some time as it is a highly watchable representation of mid '80's Americana. It also has the classic scene of the babysitter high atop the Stone Container building, nearly falling to her death as the bad guys try to nab her. Great fun!
As for The Iceman? Well he departed these earthly bounds a few years ago, but left a treasure trove of highly listenable blues. With a guitar sound that cut through any blues club fog, like a knife through butter, the Albert Collins sound is instantaneously identifiable as one of kind. Today's song, "I ain't drunk, I'm just drinkin'" is a personal fave.
Last year this blog predicted in several posts, including this one, that Joe Wilson was the one person most responsible for outing his wife.
From yesterday's Washington Post:
Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.
Unfortunate, indeed. Still I must ask how such an obvious goofball ever got access the NYT opinion pages in the first place (have they printed a retraction yet?), and secondly how he ever was lent so much credibility by the press. Further, is it not treasonous to "falsely claim" in the middle of a war, for what can only be interpreted as political reasons, that the administration's report on the enemy's efforts to obtain uranium were debunked?
The answer in my view is yes. While perhaps not criminally actionable, it does seem that Joe has caused this country to spend countless millions on a three year investigation that resulted solely from his irresponsible actions. Shouldn't he be sent the bill?
