Coheed & Cambria: Good Apollo Creed, My Burning Indie Rock Dick Is Burning Roman Numerals Whatever

A good friend of mine, whose opinion on music I trust and respect, beseeched me to listen to the newest Coheed & Cambria album, the name of which I do not feel like looking up and typing because it is long. The reason I was asked to listen to the album is because my friend knows that I really despise Coheed & Cambria. He had very good things to say about the record and said that he thought I would really enjoy it, and that the band had made strides on this album.

Chicago Cubs 2007 Postmortem

So the Cubs just got swept by the Diamondbacks. I am sure Wrigleyville is aglow with self-flagellaton and gnashing of teeth, and to all the Cubs fans who are writhing and shedding tears, all I have to say is;

What the fuck is wrong with you?

The 2007 Chicago Cubs were a mediocre, bipolar ballclub  who only played championship caliber baseball for a month or two of the regular season. They split the six months of the regular season, 3 winning months and 3 losing ones. They displayed the capability to win and lose in fits and starts. They are a team with certain glaring deficiencies that were finally exposed on a national stage by a team who just flat out played better baseball.

The Cubs are the more talented team, but they also are inconsistent. The Diamondbacks play a lower risk style of baseball that helps not only in a short series, but over the course of 162 games. You don’t win 90 games if your pitching, hitting or defense cannot provide you with a reliable baseline of expectations. When people asked me what I thought about the Cubs chances, I said it all depended on which Cubs team shows up.

Unfortunately, the Cubs team who got swept by the freaking Florida Marlins showed up. The team whose top 5 men in the lineup strike out and leave men on base. The team whose 2nd and 3rd starters fold under the pressure of the playoffs. The team who cannot win if they are not crushing the ball out onto Waveland.

They were bad and they lost. It should not be surprising to anyone. I have said it all season. This is NOT a championship caliber team, and their playoff demise is indicative of exactly how they performed all season.

Cubs fans - take a page from the book of the White Sox fans or Braves fans. Believe it when you see it. Enough of the blind faith and unwavering loyalty. Use your fucking brain and think critically about your team. Raise the bar. Expect more. There is nothing to celebrate this season. They failed to win the World Series. Now it is all about next year, when everyone will be a year older and a year more expensive.

Also…no fucking billy goat curse bullshit talk. THERE IS NO CURSE. ONLY BAD BASEBALL.

Chicago Sports Roundup

Seeing as how I no longer have the time to do lots of in depth posting, I will try to give you a thumbnail sketch of my thought on the teams in this town.

About the stunning lack of updates…

I am working two jobs now. Monday-Friday, I get up at 4:30 am and I do not get home until 6:30 or 7 pm. By that time, I am pretty fucking wiped and I just want to spend time with my wife and daughter.

I will try to put in a little extra effort now that I am getting slightly more used to my schedule, but it’s been pretty damn hard to find the time.

I gotta start buying lottery tickets.

Finally, something enjoyable about this baseball season.

These are lean times for baseball in Chicago. Sure, there are people who think the Cubs are in it still…clinging to the moronic idea that this team can be the Cardinals of last season and win the World Series if the manage to fight off the awful Brewers and win the worst division in the history of professional sports.

Those people are morons. The Cubs are done. They have been for a long time.

Luckily, for Sox fans, they do not have to experiences the gut-wrenching horror that is a meaningless playoff “run.” Their team ran the white flag up the flag pole about 3 or 4 months ago and the fans don’t have to make any emotional investment as October draws near only to have their hearts stomped upon by a real team from a real division.

Also luckily for Sox fans, they got to see a Mark Buehrle no hitter early in the season. US Cellular Field was the setting for another baseball milestone tonight, as it hosted the dramatic 500th home run of one of baseball’s good guys, Jim Thome.

Bears Week One Postmortem

Chargers - 14
Bears - 3

Bears 0-1 (season) 0-1 (road)

What a let down. Watching this game was like getting repeatedly punched in the stomach by a very wimpy person for 3 hours. At first it was no big deal, but goddamn it got really fucking annoying after a while. It was incredibly disappointing because the Bears really could/should have won it. The Bears defense was excellent in the first half, holding the high octane Chargers offense to 0 points. Ladainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates were absolutely shut down and Philip Rivers looked like how everyone seems to expect Rex Grossman to look - befuddled and confused. By the time that LT and Rivers got their groove on, Rex and the gang should have had at least a 10 point lead…14 would have been realistic, though.

Rex didn’t play terribly. He did not have a great game, but he made a lot of quality throws. He has proven conclusively that he can zip that ball in through coverage on the intermediate routes. He can throw to the spot with precision and their mid-range passing game was solid. He had a few bad throws, 1 interception and 1 fumble, which thankfully bounced into the hands of Adrian Peterson. Total line on Grossman was 12/23, 145 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT. Rating works out to around 53…but passer rating can be deceiving. The reason the Bears lost this game is because they could not establish the run whatsoever…not because of Rex.

Recipe Collection: Roasted Italian Sausage & Veggies

This one is about as simple and versatile as it gets. Our demonstration calls for:

1-1 1/2 lb of Italian Sausage (we like hot, you can use mild if you are a spicy food wuss)
2 Green Bell Peppers (red, yellow and/or orange would certainly work)
3-5 Cloves of Garlic (can never have too much garlic)
1 Onion (medium-large should suffice)
4 Potatoes (we used small Russets, red would probably work better)
Rosemary, Thyme, Red Pepper Flake, Salt, Pepper (use whatever seasonings you like)

ATTN: Extremely high paid athletes on a certain floundering baseball team

Yesterday there was a starting pitcher in the Majors who could not get out of the 5th inning. That is nothing unusual. Happens all the time. The main difference is that this particular pitcher, who shall remain nameless as to not hurt is poor wittle feewings, is in the midst of a wretched string of winless starts that goes back to the month of July. What’s more glaring is that this particular pitcher also just got a gigantic contract extension which paid him a lot of money and locked him up for a long time. Fruthermore, this pitcher is not only the best starter on the team, but one of the best in the league he plays in. Before he hit the skids there was major Cy Young consideration for him.

Yesterday, though, things continued to not go well, and when his manager pulled him out of the game in the 5th inning after giving up a lot of hits and runs, he received a chorus of boos from his hometown crowd who have apparently grown tired of his poor performance.

Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

So on Friday I discovered a wonderful little place called Binny’s Beverage Depot. I have long known of it’s existence, but never paid it a visit before, out of fear that I would not be able to leave without having spent hundreds of hours and dollars that I did not have to waste. I was given an unexpected $20, though, and decided I would take my half ($10 went to the wife’s Starbucks addiction) and go buy some beer. I have been buying most of my beer at Dominick’s when we do our grocery shopping just out of convenience, but inspired by an internet discussion with a brewmaster friend of mine I decided to seek out something a little more expensive higher in quality.

My intent was to pickup some Three Floyds Gumballhead, which I have heard good things about. After arriving at Binny’s (and after I was done staggering like Fred Sanford in front of the massive Wall-O-Beer) it became quickly apparent that I would not be purchasing what I had driven the 10 minutes for. Gumballhead is only available by the bottle (32 ouncer, IIRC), but it was close to $10 per. While I am willing to bet that it is worth it, when I only have $10 to spend on beer for the entire month, common sense begs me to pick up more than a single serving.

The Return of the Human Rain Delay

For those of you who have (rightly so) stopped paying attention to the Cubs, GM Jim Hendry went out and made a BIG move yesterday, in trading P Rocky Cherry and IF Scott Moore to the Baltimore Orioles for former Cub Steve Trachsel.

Trachsel’s numbers on the year:

ERA: LOL!
IP: WTF!
K: OMG!
BB: LMAO!

Thank God the Bears are starting soon.