Dropped the ball...

Been a while since my last entry. I have to admit, I was rather swept up by the last couple of weeks down in Florida. Since my return the weekend prior to Valentine's Day, I've just been reacclimating myself to remaining portion of the cold Chicagoland winter. It was a hell of a trip. After a week or so of great dock fishing, I circumnavigated the central to southern portion of Florida. I departed Tampa to drop off some friends that came for a brief visit in Orlando. There wasn't much to see there. I drove down to Ft. Lauderdale to pick up another friend that flew in from Chicago. I stayed a night in Ft. Lauderdale, taking in the nightlife in the Las Olas portion of town. From there it was down to Miami Beach for a day to enjoy the beach and the always entertaining Ocean Blvd / South Beach area. We then worked our way down through the keys taking in some of the best weather I've ever experience down there this time of year.

Camping in Key West was so relaxing. Met some really interesting transplants and natives. They pointed us in the direction of some really great hidden locals bars and restaurants. Didn't have a chance to cover them all, but I'll be sure to hit them next time. After a few days we trucked back North to Miami Beach for one more night. I dropped my buddy off in Ft. Lauderdale, took one more stroll down Ft. Lauderdale Beach and then it was off across Alligator Alley (only spotted one. It was chilly) and back up to Tampa. I packed the remainder of my gear at my sister's house and pointed north to make Nashville the first day. I missed a bad winter storm that hit the southern region the day before. It was smooth sailing back home with great tunes and plenty of sunshine. It's always becomes a drag when I hit southern Indiana. That's when things pretty much start to look like Illinois....BLAH!

So here I am, once again. I'm riding out the last 5-6 weeks of crap weather in IL (mostly on my trainer). I'm sure anyone who religiously follows my blog have been waiting with bated breath for an entry since my last..... all 3 of you. I missed a lot of big things going on, so here's a poor attempt at catching up....

Superbowl - I had to leave the Key West bar that I wound up in to watch the game. I've never been so gutted by a game in my entire life. Just didn't feel up to watching the Green 'n' Gold since it had only been two weeks since they sent my beloved Bears packing. Have I matured that much (doubtful) or has the humor in commercials really been reduced to the lowest common denominator within a viewing audience? Kinda sad, but it sure beats the dot com ads of the mid nineties. GOOD GOD, those were boring and most of the companies promoted proved to have the staying power of Justin Bieber.

Egypt- YEAH, Facebook liberated one of the world's most ancient civilizations! Leave it to Americans to finally abstain (kinda) from involvement in a major world event, but find a way to justify it's success with a product of U.S. origin. Not trying to be ignorant about the significance of social networking/media in situations like this, but I think the key ingredient is America (gov't) finally starting to see the value of keeping their guns at home. If you think about it, this has really made George Bush look like even more of an ass. Passively feeding the fire of a foreign civil uprising with open and distant verbal support; it's a good template for the future. I prefer implosions over explosions. Good to see Obama starting to earn that Nobel Peace Prize.

Grammy's- Hey, to their credit, they try....kinda. I blame myself for always stumbling upon the event for several hours on end. I always hope that they're going to turn a corner. But always; pop product of the moment, catchy "country" ballad, young pop product of the moment, acknowledgment of those they've snubbed over the years they had their head in their asses and missed a moment, movement, or scene that has in one way or another shaped our nation/world culture. And then there's always the comeback story that everyone seems to always be a sucker for...

Notes from the event:

- I would love to someday arrive to a Catholic Mass in the same fashion that Lady Gaga did. But I'd pop out of the egg dressed as a Rabbi.

- It was good to see Arcade Fire handed the award for Album of the Year. After the conclusion of the show, it left many around the country asking "Who are these guys and I wonder if they sell their CD in Starbucks?"
- Bob Dylan has reinvented himself once again. This time into Tom Waits.
- Mick Jager looks like he's still got some good years left in him...even though he followed up the musical deaths of note over the last year. Is that like the Sports Illustrated cover curse?
- I had no idea Tim Tebow was the lead-man in Mumford & Sons. 
- Can someone ask Will Smith to stop reproducing? He's worse than a Georgian toddler beauty pageant mom. Sometimes parents just don't understand. 
- Lady Antebellums' "Need You Now" should be used on a late night burrito commercial for Taco Bell. Think about it. 

Lance Armstrong Retires...again - Austin's pride and joy better watch out. One more retirement and he'll start to be mentioned in the same breathe as Cher and Garth Brooks. Love what he's done for the sport and for the money he's raised for notable causes. But I'm sorry, with all those at the top of the cycling world falling into conviction and/or speculation of doping, I have to admit that his star has dimmed a bit for me.

IL state Taxes raised by 66%- After being handed some relief from the Federal Government, IL just couldn't wait but a week or two to snatch it all back and stuff it in their kitty. Census number report 200,000 people have left Chicago in the last decade. However, road construction just seems to increase year after year. I like the more pavement per capita approach; better make much of it a bike lane. Bike lanes are green (that's still popular in political agendas, right?) and a bike is all a poverty to middle-class person is going to be able to afford pretty soon. Great time of the year to implement the increase as well. A perfect time for people to look at their lives in the bleak winter months and ask themselves "Why the hell do I live here?!" Note: There are ten states in nation that have NO state income tax. Several of them are warmer!

Rahm 'n' oodles - After Rahm Emanuel's brief period of being removed from the Chicago mayoral ballot, it was great to see his name return after review by the state's Supreme Court. It's not that I'm a huge fan of Rahm, but if a polls are indicating a candidate to have a majority of the vote, I really don't care where they're from. The voice of the people is what is most important. Also, the man left the City of Chicago to serve a temporary and greater purpose for his country. It was shameful to see the insiders of Chicago politics yet again flexing their muscle to try to strong-arm their agenda by way of loophole. I'd like to see politicians try to pull the same on a recent war veteran. It wouldn't happen. But the one thing I'm not fond of regarding Rahm's campaign is the shameless running of commercials with verbal endorsement by Barrack Obama and Bill Clinton. How can  any local government candidate compete with that in a predominantly Democratic city? That's just playing dirty pool. Also, kinda funny how William Daley (brother of Richard M. Daley - current mayor of Chicago for all outsiders or Chicagoans sleeping under a rock for the past 22 years) lands Rahm's abandoned post without much scrutiny.  Funny how things unravel when two parties are in a situation to scratch one another's backs. I'm sure the final decision for the post came down to resume and track record.

Sorry to make this entry sound like an Andy Rooney rant, I'll work on the positivity in the following days. I have plenty of good things in the works and look forward everyday to the improvement of the weather. I think I'm going to hit the Lake Front trail to ride some base miles. I'm getting emails about spring training criteriums. This is making me feel warmer already. I've been spending more time on foot, hoofing it on some cross training runs. I've left the running shoes at home for the past couple years. It's going to be nice to crank out some 5-10K's this year. Maybe even a half marathon; I'm sure a suggestion to do a full will come from someone. Hopefully I'll have the strength to resist. My knees hurt just thinking about it!

Infamia: The Cutler Conundrum

The loss handed down from the Green Bay Packers to the Chicago Bears in yesterday afternoon's NFC Championship game was a hard pill to swallow. But perhaps what made it most bitter was the birth of bubbling accusations directed at Bear's quarterback Jay Cutler. An apparent left knee injury to the 27 year old was incurred in the latter portion of the second quarter of the game. However, it is the validity of the injury that was drawing most scrutiny from masses of fans and analysts alike.

Within moments of the injury's declaration on the game broadcast, Twitter accusations from NFL players, both past and present were being hoisted into the spotlight. Post game analysts took various shots at the young quarterback with heavily opinionated responses regarding his effort to remain in the game. Newscast displayed fans burning #6 (Cutler's number) jerseys in the parking lot of Soldier Field. The hysteria caused by all involved seemed to paint the picture a dictatorship thwarted by coup de ta rather than the simple conclusion of a football contest. Hell, even I took a misdirected shot via Facebook in my feeble attempt to make sense of the post-game situation with many questions unanswered. A day after and a few beers metabolized later, I retracted (erased) the statement. I felt dirty. I came to the realization that  I had taken part of some kind of modern day witch hunt; not my proudest moment.

It's not so much the nature of the inury that has drawn so much attention; it's rather the manner of it's coming to light and it's handling therefrom. We, as fans, have become so pampered by the recent advancements in a game's broadcast. Sometimes if a controversial play is in need of review, networks now furnish a retired referee to key inform fans into the intricacies of game rule and detail as we wait. As proven by the Twitter attacks on Mr. Cutler by fellow players, new instant social network options are proving to bring a fan closer to the inside "dirt" that fuels team rivalries. Ultimately, as an effort to draw more fans to the game, the league has in effect spoiled it's fans with a barrage of options creating a false reality of being closer to the game.

Enter the Cutler situation: we're introduced to the second half of the game with the sudden and brief announcement that Jay Cutler is struggling through a knee injury and Todd Collins, the team's back-up, is on the ready to take over. As a fan I had witnessed many injury scenarios before. However, typically there is a side-line reporter to get the 'skinny' on the severity and cause of the injury. Furthermore, a player that is injured so severely to be pulled out of the game usually takes an exit from the playing field or is shown being given frequent attention by it's training staff. The overwhelming frustration felt by fans seemed to be heavily fueled by the lack of communication of injury detail to those watching. Fans at the game were simply  left to watch their injured quarterback walking the sidelines with an oversized jacket cloaked over his shoulders. Fans at home are not shown the in-depth, frequent updates about their leading man that they'd grown so accustomed to. The frustration builds and unfounded questions of Cutler's drive to get back on the field starts to grow throughout masses of onlookers..

But are the network and the those responsible for the team's public relations the ones to blame for the issue? Fans now look at these modern day gladiators as if they possess extra-human qualities. They train with the best equipment, science, and technology. They consume the most cutting edge dietary supplements. Physical feats of speed and strength are pushed further and further every year. Long standing records are being crushed seemingly every season. We've witnessed the likes of Brett Favre and Jerome Bettis playing important games with broken bones while wincing away unbearable pain. Why, even a couple week's prior, I had witnessed the Philadelphia Eagles' DeSean Jackson leave the playing field barely being able to walk. Minutes later he emerged from the locker room in almost a dead sprint to get back into the game. God only knows what they had to pump into him? All of these assorted showings of "valor" have hoisted men like this into the Hall of Fame and have become the material that has woven the cloth of the NFL for several decades now.

Players live lavish lives of fame and fortune broadcasted on reality T.V. shows and featured in entertainment tabloids. It seems to me that there has actually become a major separation between player and fan all due to the attempts of the modern technology to bring the fan closer to it. These guys are superhuman, unbreakable, and virtually infallible. On the rare occasion that they do break, we want to see them carted off the field on a gurney giving us the ol' thumbs-up to ensure us that they are down but not gone for good. Nothing short of a player displaying the inability to walk, we've grown to expect a full and prompt return to the field.

The long term effects of playing this brutal game are starting to rear their ugly head. Players long retired are starting to show the effects of frequent head trauma. There have been symptoms that parallel ALS that have been linked to concussion related injury. Much respect to the NFL this season for implementing heavy penalties on tackles that can bring on such trauma. I feel it's important that we check ourselves for a moment to find respect in the sacrifice of these elite few athletes that have worked their way into the premier level of the game we all love. It's very important that we don't linger in a crowd like blood hungry ancient Roman masses watching two groups of warring factions bludgeoning one another to death.

When it boils down to it, an the NFL game isn't life, it's simply a game. If it means life to anyone, it would be the players. If there's anyone who can paint this picture better to all us fans, it would BE the players. Yes, believe it or not, hours after the "devastating" playoff loss handed down to the Bears by the Packers, Jay Cutler and crew were already settling down at various steakhouses and restaurants throughout the city. They're not wringing their hands while crying at their lockers. They move on, and so should we. We all enjoy the thrill of living and dying over the duration of a game on the couch, recliner, or stadium seat. But what's most important is we move on at the conclusion of the game. And most importantly, I feel that there is a great need to focus on the return of the pure enjoyment of the contest and not all the unnecessary details between that have made way into our lives as of late.

Turns out, Jay's injury is bonified and legit, but he'll be back and so will we as fans. And remember: (because I was so quick to forget) sacked 52 times this year, and he almost always got up. And lest we forget the famous body-sacrificing helicopter rushing TD he delivered against the Lions ???  (video)  So let this all be a lesson in the importance to all fans, regardless of team, to check ourselves and WAIT for pertinent information before jumping to conclusions. Shame on me for becoming a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale fueled meathead. And shame on the moron that burned a jersey in the parking lot of Soldier Field... Who does that ??? BEARS!