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Hey guys I'm going to be home for the next week so I don't know how often I'll post. If I don't before Christmas or New Years, I hope you have a great holiday season. I'm also accepting suggests on what to post on. So far I have been told to post on the Bears, Bulls, Hannah Montana, and what my apartment looks like so any suggestions are welcome.

Hannah

Here's a new post after a long break. I have been busy the last couple weeks so I haven't hd much time. I'm thinking about doing a theme week for next week, though. I think it will be on the Bulls so stay tuned. Anyway, due to popular demand there will be a Hannah Montana post, however I started it a few weeks ago so some of the links might not work anymore.

Believe it or not news of the concert was so large that Rosemont officials said it was the hottest concert in recent memory and the Sun-Times had a special Hannah Montana section in its website. Most of these articles are from the Sun-Times Website. The reason I find this facinating is that I don't know why she's so large. And now her movie is "the best-selling concert movie in Fandango's seven-year history," Best quote from that story, ""It prevents the market from getting over saturated with Hannah Montana-ism." As my friend Amanda says, "I believe that is already donezo"

• Why does the Sun-Times have a special section dedicated to her on their website?
• Why has the Governor seen every episode three times?

In fact, the Governor took his daughters to see the show. He wasn't the only political person there as he went with State Senator DeLeo. One of Obama's daughters was also there.

• Why did someone spent $1,800 in tickets to the show?
• Why is it the hottest ticket in 20 years in Rosemont?
• Why did a mother lie about her husband being killed in Iraq to get her daughter tickets?

Also, I heard in her shows she does acts as Miley and Hannah. Which brings the question, is she performing as Miley Steward or is she Miley Cyrus or is she Hannah? And a recent story says that she has a body double. So is the body double supposed to be Miley, the real Miley or Hannah? Talk about an identity crisis. This has apparently led to some controversy on the internet.

Here are other stories I found:
Hannahpalooza hits town

Blagojevich has no regrets about taking daughters to concert.

Tickets for next show top out at $3000.
Why those Hannah Montana tickets cost so much
Athletic Hannah lives up to hype

Santa comes to Kyrgyzstan (a place where few people can name and fewer people can say) as they name one of their mountains Mount Santa Claus. There is also plans to have a Santa Claus conference complete with "chimney-climbing, sled-racing and tree-decorating skills".

Disney a deathtrap? Three people have died on Disney rides this year. (In case your wondering, I was being purposely overly dramatic about the deathtrap, but 3 people have died.

If you go to Portillo's, you probably won't see the owner. He's been on trips all over the world, but a Sun-Times article talks about his trip to WWII battle sites in the Pacific. It sounds pretty cool, island hopping and seeing remnants of a war that took place over 60 years ago.

By the way, check out the County Sheriff's name in St. Clair County. I can see the political ads. "Justus is served".

The Horror still presides over the original Heart of Darkness as the publicity over Darfur obscures a crisis in the Congo where more than 4 million have died. Check out this article.

Also, an interesting article on the duality of globalization in Chicago with rich getting richer and the middle class dropping out.

Apparently it snowed 8 inches here this weekend. Although its hard for me to tell cause I was in downtown Springfield the whole time

Another article about rubber ducks. I can't help it.

An article of one of my favorite places to hear about, Dubai. Check out the comparison graphic on the leftside to the size of Chicago

Scientists clone glowing cats in Korea.

Winter in Springfield

I guess Des Moines is cool than I thought, according to NY times article, maybe I'll have to check it out soon. They also have a 36 hr plan for Des Moines.


Also, a soon to be extinct turtle tells the condition of the environment in China in the NY Times. More info is found here.


Another interesting article about intelligence and race and about the difference in studies that studied the difference between Black and White IQs. What about Asians?


Water sharing agreement reached in the West. Water will probably be the most sought after resources as our population grows. Good thing I live in the Great Lakes region.

Bulls v. Celtics

I'll post some pretty cool (no pun intended) pictures I took of some icicles outside my window later this week. So there will be a little less sports.

Overall, I thought that the Bulls played with the Celtics the whole game. The Bulls were able to limit Paul Pierce most of the game and Ray Allen was limited to mostly 3pt shots. KG was well KG. The thing that hurt the Bulls was not the Big Three for the most part, it was the other players like Rondo or "Big Baby" Davis. Rondo was a constant spark plug on offense and Davis seemed to grab every lose board. Now, albeit it was created off the offense of the "Big Three". The Celtics were most successful offensively when they went to an open set where Rondo would start with the ball close to midcourt, with everyone else completely spread out. Rondo would drive and kick it out to someone giving defensive help. Other than that, I thought Nocioni played another good game and Kirk hit some shots when needed. You could tell there were some match up problems with KG, but none so apparent when Skiles put Noah on KG. They left that plan quickly. The difference in the game was the difference in the teams. The Celtics were able to give it to their superstars, i.e. KG and let him do his thing knocking down jumper after crucial jumper, while the Bulls struggled to knock down shots as Ben Gordon was 0-11 in the 2nd half. Is this a preview of what will happen to the Bulls in the playoffs (assuming they make the playoffs, which at this point is definitely not a given).

Bears v. Redskins

Based on the recommendations of certain people, I have agreed to do a little analysis of last nights game.

Horrible
It was a poorly played game overall. Too many penalties, too many dropped passes, missed assignments, and misplays on both sides. How do you get a delay of game penalty after a false start? How many false starts are possible on a drive? That being said the Bears were in it most of the game. The encouraging sign for next year is that they have not really been out of a game, they have been in just about each game. It's all a matter of perspective, expectations this year were rightfully high coming off a Superbowl loss. If this team were coming off a 4-12 season it would be considered a step forward. My point is that this team has shown that it can compete with teams, so things aren't as bleak as they may seem.

I also heard the announcing was brutal. Bryant Gumbel isn't the first name I think of when it comes to pro football. Also, it probably would have been a miserable game to watch if you we not a Bears or Redskins fan.

Offense
This team is obviously a team that has lost their identity. Last year, they were known as a defensive team that will just pound it at you with the run with the two headed monster of Jones and Benson. That has completely changed with only 60 years rushing and Griese attempting 45 passes in fill in duty.

It was very apparent how much faith they have in the run game when AP was stopped at the goal line after a Hester catch got them to the 1. They proceeded pass on the next two downs and settle for a Gould field goal when they could have tied the game. Last year, they would have just pounded it in there or maybe they would have done a little play action roll out to a TE.

Even though the OLine is probably to blame for the poor run production and looked horrible in the beginning of the game, which is one of the reasons why Grossman got hurt, they were able to put together a drive and give Griese a little time to throw in the second half leading to 16 points. Also, aiding that effort was Turner's screen passes which helped slow the relentless blitzing the Redskins were throwing the Bears way.

MIA in key plays
When it mattered, the Bears failed and that was the difference in the game. The defense played pretty good for the majority of the game. However, when it came to key 3rd down stops or down the stretch the D let Todd Collins (who's that?) have his way. The same with the offense as it failed to punch in the aforementioned TD and settled for a FG at a crucial point in the game. Take out the 4th quarter the the D played a pretty good game. But in the 4th it just seemed like Washington did what it wanted.

Leaves me wondering where all the miracle finishes went? I guess Mike Brown took them with him when he got injured.

Chimps may be smarter than you. In a test of cognitive function, chimpanzees outperformed humans. According to the article, "That challenges the belief of many people, including many scientists, that 'humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions,'"

Cars have been getting smarter too. A self driving car might be on its way. "The World of Tomorrow"

Here's a pretty good article about the Bears struggles this season. It says that the Bears don't do enough to hide their weaknesses, which is true. The Bears coaches need to put their players in the better position to succeed.

One of my more recent favorite songs

Speaking of Ducks

In a little old Bull news since the current team only seems adept at losing games and missing shots, 42 year old Scottie Pippen is actually going to play a game in Sweden.

Here's a pretty good Burt Constable article from a while back about how news stories making a come back.

Warning: $1 Million Dollar bills are fake.

Ducks

I just realized that Ducks are pretty hilarous. Plus I couldn't really find anything interesting in the news so here is a picture of some ducks. Feel free to add a caption

The aftermath of Katrina and Rita gets worse with estimates of 320 million trees in Mississippi and Louisiana killed which amounts to "$2 billion, or 5.5 billion board feet worth of timber". Also, "The die-off, caused initially by wind and later by weeks-long pooling of stagnant water, was so massive that researchers say it will add significantly to the global greenhouse gas buildup -- ultimately putting as much carbon from dying vegetation into the air as the rest of the nation's forests take out in a year of photosynthesis."

U of I is going to build the world's fastest computer. Pending State funds

There is priest stalking Conan O'Brien.

I guess the Wrigley Field project is really coming together. To see photos you can go here. It really shows the field striped down.

Inside the beehive building in Chicago. This trib article takes you inside the light.

Cockroaches respond to peer pressure according to this article.

A really interesting article about swarm intelligence and why ants are better at moving in mass than humans. This article talks about ant highways, cannibal crickets, and locust. Check it out.

Speaking of swarms here about the Illini celebration in CU over the weekend
I also happened to catch Nova last night which was a about the fight over teaching intelligent design in classrooms. It was pretty good and I'd recommend watching it. You can find some info here.

Scientists clone monkey embryo in hopes of eventually being able to create stem cells for humans

Here is a pretty interesting article about MJ's marketing power and how it might never fade away.

Wrigley Field prices are going up, but there are more good insights in this article

"This is a good time of year to learn about your inexperienced players, unless, of course, you're from the Dusty Baker School of Playing Neifi Perez Until Fans Throw Themselves Off The Upper Deck."

Sportspickle.com: "Writers' strike leaves David Stern in a bind on how to script NBA season.''

An interesting article about the effects of genetically modified corn killing certain insects that fish eat.

A very odd story about a mail carrier being shot for delivering mail too late.

Be nice to your coworkers they may get you through the day according to this article.

Be careful because the US set a new record for cases of chlamydia with over 1 mil reported

It doesn't look like things are getting better in Pakistan as Bhutto wont work with Musharraf and asked for his resignation.

We all could have chemicals in us. According to this article they found 3 chemical that have been know to go from the product to people from things like shower curtains and toys.

So I had a fast food revelation today. Maybe I'm completely dumb but I realized that the initials for roast beef is RB and thus would be RR's or Arby's connection. Well I looked it up and well I was wrong. Arby's is named for the company founders, Leroy and Forrest Raffel, the Raffel Brothers, also R.B. So another piece of useless information. Your welcome.

The Big Ten Network and Comcast are working towards a solution in broadcasting Illini games. Currently, games exclusive to the Big Ten Network cannot be seen on Comcast. Here is more info.

Illini open the season today as well. It sounds like they have a plethora of forwards but lack in guards the exact opposite of what it used to be. Here's an article about the team. I guess we will see a lot of Jeff Jordan in tonight's game

Another gem from chicagopedia

I guess Deng is the piece of the puzzle missing in the Kobe trade. Without him no trade according to a Sun-Times article

Bulls Opener

We've been training here for the past two weeks so I haven't had as much time as I usually do. But I am excited for tomorrows Bulls season opener against the Nets. If you remember last year it was the Nets who beat the Bulls in the season finale. The loss forced them to drop a spot down in the playoffs. Instead of playing who the Cavs did (Wizards and Nets), the Bulls had to make its way against the Heat and the Pistons, a far greater task, before getting to the conference finals. The Bulls had trouble against the Nets last year and both teams are relatively the same. It was also last year that the Bulls started a game 18-0 (I think) against the Nets and ended up losing it. They also let an 18 point lead disappear against them in the second half of another game. So it should be an interesting opener.

Looking at the Bulls team there remain a few issues unresolved.

To get Kobe or not that is the question.
Would anyone not want Kobe? Of course, Kobe Bryant is the best all around player in today's game. The question is cost. How much is his contract going to cost and how much will it cost a franchise to get him. Now I don't know much about the financial side but with large contracts about to be rewarded to Deng and Gordon, it seems apparent that the Bulls will not be able to hold onto their core forever.

Additionally, the Bulls have one of the deepest benches in the league. The only problem is that you can only play five of them at a time. So I think its time for a trade. The main components would be Deng or Gordon (preferably Gordon), Thomas, and a future first round pick for Kobe. That would give them (with Gordon) a legitimate scorer, a future prospect which scouts are high on in Thomas and multiple 1st round picks in the future. If they were looking for a point guard Duhon could be added as well with something else added on the Lakers side as well. There also remains the possibility of a three or four way trade as well.

The starting line up for the Bulls would be Hinrich, Kobe, Deng, Joe Smith, Wallace. Not too bad. They would have Sefolosha, Nocioni, Noah, and Grey who looked good in preseason coming off the bench.

Also, remains the possiblity of bringing someone in like Juwan Howard who just left Minnesota.

The question remains that even if this team has regular season success due to its deep reserves, will the be able to compete with superstars in the playoffs or will we see another early exit.

Who's at forward?
Another question is who will be at power forward. Noah? Thomas? Smith? Odds say that it will begin with Thomas and then go to Smith as his knee heals. But as any Bulls fan knows Skiles likes to tinker with the lineup until it finally settles around midseason. Is it possible that we could see Nocioni in there or maybe Duhon for Gordon with Gordon coming off the bench again?

Get Healthy
The Bulls seem to be coming into the season with a few bumps and bruises, but nothing too serious. However, it seems like everyone has had an injury. Wallace (ankle), Noah (ankle), Thomas (foot), Gordon (ankle), Griffin (back), Deng (Wrist), Nocioni (calf). I don't know if its such a good sign going into the season hobbling a bit. I said that the Bulls have been pretty lucky the past few seasons with injuries we'll see if that continues this season.

Wrigley gets a make over. The field at Wrigley is getting redone chicagosports.com has some pics. It says that they found the cement blocks supporting the old Chicago Bear goal posts as well.

One of my track coaches is being sued at BG for the moment of silence

Stories from yesterday i forgot to post

On Friday, J.K. Rowling revealed that Dumbledore is gay. This is right after I saw the movie Friday too. Puts a whole new perspective on the books/movies.



Another green idea. Plus a pretty interesting nature article in the Daily Herald that includes Why leaves are not changing color, a moving yellow-orange blob in gardens and cicada killer wasps that can be eaten from the inside by ants and all of this is in the suburbs.



I think Wally will like this story. Other aviation news that maybe he won't like.


End of the world section. Good reasons to live in constant fear.
Is are water safe? Deadly diseases looking to kill. Sex in our schools.

Some corned beef a made a few weeks ago.

Friday Facts

A few facts I learned recently from SI...

• Sean Payton, the Saints head coach, was a Bears quarterback during the player lockout


• The sport with the highest graduation rate among women in NCAA is Skiing at 95%. Apparently, skiing is a NCAA sport. For men, it is lacrosse at 88%


• A man recently in his will that his friend use his remains as fishing bait.

Also, here's an interview with David Chase about the ending of the Sopranos

Daily Herald's Barry Rozner thinks that Reinsdorf could bring in A-Rod and Kobe this season. Think it could happen?

Another sign of the times. The US establishes a coast guard base in the Arctic Ocean. And also here's the retreating ice.

Chicagopedia

The Sun-Times has a great feature called Chicagopedia. It defines many terms used by Chicagoans check it out. There are a few pretty funny ones.

Some samples...

Italian beef
Italian beef / uh TALE yun beef / n. 1. Thinly sliced beef seasoned with garlic, oregano and other spices and served on Italian bread. A Chicago creation, it is slowly spreading nationwide thanks to transplants who can't do without it. The slow-cooked, top-butt meat can be eaten "dipped" (in beef broth), "sweet" (with sweet peppers), "hot" (with giardiniera), "cheesey" (with cheese) or as a combo (with an Italian sausage tucked beneath the beef). In Chicago, it's a source of pride, competition and dirty shirts. 2. A sandwich not known to be served anywhere in Italy.

Downstate
Downstate / doun steyt/ n. Any place in Illinois outside of Cook, Lake, DuPage, Will, Kane or McHenry counties, even if it is actually farther north than Chicago, such as Rockford. "I don't know where that town is. It's probably Downstate."

This is one that I heard from Weglarz that I didn't know about

Couple two tree
couple two tree / (cup el too tree) / n. / The Chicago way to refer to two or three of something. Maybe even four. Usage: "Hey, let me get a couple two tree Old Style."

Soldiers Field
Soldiers Field /sol jers fee uhld/ n. What Soldier Field, home to the Chicago Bears since 1971, is called everywhere but in Chicago. The lakefront stadium originally opened in 1924 and was called Grant Park Stadium before being renamed -- in the singular -- in honor of soldiers -- plural -- killed in World War I.

Obama and Cheney are 8th cousins believe it or not


A Bedouin farmer seeks to marry his 9th wife. Not only that he has 67 children and claims to remember all of their names.



Frango mints are coming back to Chicago. Cupid Candies will once again make Frango mints in Chicago.


Parking meters are getting high tech in Chicago, but it means you won't get anytime for free. It supposedly works just like a I-Pass

CTA woes. A good overview of CTA troubles.

US House campaigns report cash from around the state.

Pirate attacks are up 14% worldwide. That's right I mean like sea going pirate attacks are up 14%.

Part of being a Cub fan is having a sense of humor about the team.

This article made me both hungry and thirsty. Does anyone else want to make a quick trip to Milwaukee? We might even go there when we are trying to go to Chicago.

An interesting look at an odd football season at all levels, high school, college, and NFL. Mostly about college football. I didn't know that Navy's QB's name is Kaipo-Noa Hiwahiwa Akahi Kaheaku-Enhada.



Daily Herald's Mike McGraw did a nice summary of roster changes in the NBA East this season. It should be fairly competative. They also did a good summary of where the Bears rank so far compared to other seasons and its not pretty.

There were also a number of overreactions to the Bears poor start: Marotti and Rosenbloom. Rosenbloom even calls Lovie Smith an interim coach.

The Illini pick up another committment. This time from a CPS kid. The first since Calvin Brock. He is said to be the 2nd best post player in the city.

Well that Bears games was disappointing. When does the Bulls season start?

Who do you like better Leno or Conan? It looks like there could be a little trouble at NBC in 2009. Leno doesn't seem to want to leave when Conan is supposed to come in.

Other things to checkout on TV including a Frontline episode about Cheney

An older article about a Seinfeld guess spot on 30 Rock, which is a show everyone should see at least once.

A little Springfield news and more news about state politics

Also, the first A380 was delivered after many problems.

Ron Zook is getting an extension that could pay him up to $1.5 Million. guess all it takes is a couple of Big Ten wins to get an extension

I always like it when Kelvin Sampson gets in trouble especially after Eric Gordon. Maybe thats how he got him in the first place.

A couple environmental stories

I've Updated a few things on the post below so check it out.

Indiana is at it again trying to dump more chemicals into Lake Michigan.

Also, Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Don't swim in Illinois waterways half of them are unsafe for swimming and fishing. Also, about half of industrial and municipal facilities in Illinois discharged more pollution into waterways in 2005 than permits allowed.

Updated!

I guess I'll be posting every so often until I'm a little less busy, but I was able to catch some of the Bulls preseason game against the Bucks. I missed a to be a spectacular play by Thomas Gardner, one of the rookies. I have to say that Noah looked pretty good. I know many people are not Noah fans, myself included, but he looks like he can at least bring some more rebounding. I thought Aaron Gray looked decent at times too. This is just the first game though.

Also, here is a picture of the living room of my new apartment in Springfield. More pictures to come. It actually looks pretty empty from this view. Well I guess it is pretty empty still.

Here's an interesting article about websearches.

This is definitely a place I will be checking out when I get back to MP. Anyone else in?

Could the Sears Tower expand? A new proposal calls for a green renovation along with a new building next door.

A good Rex cartoon

Also it looks like the Bruce Weber finally is getting some recruits. But are they going to stay and not go to Indiana? And another one today. Thats three with 24 hours

Here's a good review and video of the Simpsons Movie which I definitely recommend if you haven't seen in. It makes me want to see the movie again.

Some Good News after a Week of Bad

Hey I haven't posted in a while cause I've been busy but it was a little to depressing to post anything sports as my Cubs were completely swept from the playoffs. I'm almost glad I wasn't able to see the last game. That plus the Bears losing badly to the Lions didn't help. But after that a ray of sunshine: the Illini beat #5 Wisconsin after being Penn State the week before. Then the Bears actually pull one out and maybe things are coming together. And now the Bulls preseason opener is tonight. It should be interesting to watch the rookies but Ben Gordon and Sefolosha aren't supposed to play. So I'll put baseball in the back window and hopefully not think about it any for a while. The number 11 is still on my cube wall. (11 being the number to each team need to win the World Series.) Unfortunately, I never got to tear down a number. But is it ever too early to think about next year?

Anyway, now my new favorite college football team is playing Iowa this weekend. Will I get bragging rights Nikki?

Here's a pretty interesting article about the Bears this week. It takes about fans arrested at Lambeau, the most valuable member of the Bears secondary, Griese.

While the Chicago Marathon was a disaster, it hopefully won't affect the Olympic bid that is already in 4th place.

A little on politics... IL is going to be a battleground state in the 08 elections as there are 6 potentially close races. 5 Republican and 1 Democratic. Hastert, Weller, and LaHood are leaving. Bean, Roskam, and Kirk all had close races last time.
Maybe I'll have a little more time this week to keep up. Hopefully everyone doing alright.

An interesting story about Israeli jets firing on a US boat in 1967.

Here's another addictive game from back in the day.

The story of how Sputnik came to be.

Chicago top Ten scientific feats

So today is the first day of veto session and sure to come up sometime is the Capital bill. It was already passed in the Senate and awaits action in House. Here is a good idea of whats included

Ways to eat healthy

Hey look no sports stories today

The NBA season is here. Bulls reported to training camp Monday. Any early predictions? Call me pessimistic but I think that at least one major player will be injured for an extensive part of the season. The Bulls haven't had to deal with too many injuries in the past few years. I mean just look at the Bears now. I guess Big Ben can wear the headband now too.

Speaking of early predictions. I feel pretty good about the playoffs with the Mets gone. I think Arizona will be tough though. Everyone seems to underestimate them. Speaking of underestimated I guess Fontenot's nickname is Chicken for some reason.

Cubs rally downtown was short and the video was nice. Also, Blagojevich didn't get booed, unlike when he came to U of I after the Illini lost the national championship

Former MP couple owes $80,571 in toll fees. http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/581060,CST-NWS-tollscoff30.article.

Chip Caray could be announcing the Cubs if they win the first series with Bob Brenly. That seems like an odd combination of the past and present.

Here's an interesting case about sentencing in drug cases. The Supreme Court will review whether judges can Federal sentencing guidelines.

Yahoo has made upgrades on their search engine but I'll still probably use google to find the story on it.

It seems the rebellion in Myanmar (is that the place where J. Peterman went?) is losing steam.

If you haven't seen cup stacking it is actually pretty amazing. You can look up videos on YouTube

There's no crying in baseball and apparently no hugging in an Oak Park school, which has banned hugging.



Apparently setting goals that being more self-disciplined makes you less like likely to get Alzheimer's. My first goal not getting Alzheimer's. For some reason that seemed like a Norm MacDonald joke when he did the news on SNL.

Illini almost in the top 25 and rank higher in computer rankings? The Bears can't beat the Lions? The Cubs in the playoffs? Mayor Daley wearing a Cubs hat. Something seems off.

Baseball notes

Well it looks like the Cubs will be playing the Diamondbacks. It will pit announcers Bob Brenly and Mark Grace on opposite sides.

Soriano hit a leadoff homer giving him the Cubs record for HRs in the month of September and extending his MLB record of leadoff home runs in a single month. Too bad he didn't have this explosion earlier, really could've helped the fantasy team. Speaking of fantasy sports, payout Wally?

It's unbelievable what the Mets have done. Up 7 games with 17 games left? Well at least we won't have to face Beltran, Delgado, Reyes, and Wright in the playoffs. Playoffs!?!

Bear Notes

Well that was one of the more frustrating Bears games I've ever seen. Devin Hester was good minus the fumbles. He had 314 return yards and 1 TD as opposed to the Bears offense which had 303 yards and 2 TDs.

Does anyone know why Greg Olsen didn't play?

How many dropped passes were there? If Berrian fights for the pass in the end zone thats 7 more points. If he catches another, there is no interception. Griese was okay, but definitely needs improvement. He also needs a little more time.

Also, who else was confused on the initial ruling of Garza's fumble into the end zone. He gets flagged for illegal touching, but can fumble it. It seems to me if a lineman can't receive it the play should be dead and he should not be allowed to fumble. The penalty should take place and the play should be dead, since he shouldn't have had possession in the first place.

I thought the Defense played decent for the number of players they were missing. 5 out of 11 starters is not good especially when you have injuries to Harris and Urlacher who played and you play the leading passing team in the league with no DBs who started the season as starters. It seemed like McGowan made like every play he had 9 tackles and recovered 1 fumble.

Also, who thinks there should be Bears TV broadcasters? I'm sick of these national analysts who come on and don't know about the team. They just know the big stories about the team. It's not their fault I mean they can't get too in depth. They should broadcast Bears games like Sox, Cubs, or Bulls games where there is usually there is a Chicago broadcast team. I really miss Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer.

Other Things

Here is a game Pappas showed me. I've been addicted ever since.

Is Big Brother here? More advanced cameras in Chicago intersections.

If your in Oak Lawn check out the Stop signs.

China has water problems. I guess new developments have dried up ground water. Combined this with water pollution and the amount of water farming requires, China could have major problems.

Other sports

If anyone want to get in on our Pick'um Football league email me and I'll give you the details. My email is munemoto@gmail.com if you didn't know.

Also, is anyone interested in Fantasy Basketball? Its not as good as baseball or football, but I'm always in favor of more gambling.

Speaking of Basketball here's something on long time Bulls assistant Johnny Bach.

The Illini beat a ranked team? What's next a bowl appearance?

I didn't know this but the Lions have only won one playoff game in the last 50 years. Yikes.

Cubbies

Who else thinks the Cubs purposely blew the Marlins series so that they could have a huge party in the streets of Wrigleyville on a Friday night.

Thanks again, Maddux.

If you around Chicago you should go to Daley Plaza on Monday at Noon.

By the way, besides the Cubs winning the division Soriano has had an amazing September.

• 6 leadoff homers, the most by any player in any month (what if he batted 3rd?)
• 13 HRs in September ties Ernie Banks
• 19 Outfield assists for the season the most for any Cubs player since 1951

The Cubs has a team have hit 44 HRs this month a franchise record.

Also, when Rich Hill started yesterday it was his 32rd start of the seasons. He joined Marquis, Z, and Lilly each have over 32 starts. That is the first time that has happened in over 30 years for the Cubs. I think that's Len said the other day.

Everybody loves Carlos. I guess Marmol likes talking to people before games.

A few of the lost players that brought the Cubs here.

Here's what the playoff roster might look like.

Some clips of Friday's celebration are on Len and Bob's Blog

Interesting News Stories

How's it going everybody just thought I'd highlight some news stories:

I guess to see Dee your going to have to go to Turkey. Apparently he also put out a mixtape?

The Cubs Magic Number is 3 but should we be panicing? Len Kasper doesn't think so.

If you not watching the Cubs yet you should, but in case you missed it, the Cubs have been playing "Go Cubs Go" after each victory and just shows the crowd singing. It really looks like a good time. If you ever wondered where it came from... There are some videos posted here too.

I guess the Sox aren't that bad.

So last week's Sunday Night game was a mess. But can the Bears recover from this latest car Rex (no offense to Lance Briggs), or is the team too banged up

Want to live on top of the world? Or at least Chicago? It will cost you some.

Oops. I guess someone forgot to check the blueprints. Or maybe they just like the Third Reich.

Another coaster at Six Flags. Still going next summer Rick?

A landmark in MP?