Life in General

The Graduate - Don’t Die Digging Most anticipated album of...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:31:04 -0600

The Graduate - Don’t Die Digging

Most anticipated album of 2010.

This Bulls team may not win a Championship, but they are fun to...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:29:25 -0600

This Bulls team may not win a Championship, but they are fun to watch.

Rooting for the Underdog

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:35:00 -0600

It undoubtedly is because I am a White Sox fan, but I will always root for an underdog. I was born a Sox fan, its in my blood. No one growing up in my house could have done any different. Adding to the fact is that I never really had a friend that was also a white sox fan until I was an upper-class man in high school. Throughout elementary school and middle school I was the subject of any big Cubs win or embarrassing Sox loss.

Luckily the Cubs fans didn’t have much to brag about for the majority of my youth, but still, the constant harassment started to take its toll. Defending myself became a boring, monotonous daily task. It became second nature basically. It stemmed to other parts of my life.

Take this past World Series for example, I only watched because I wanted to see the Yankees lose. I despise the Yankees. I don’t really have a reason to, besides the fact that they are contenders every year. When it appeared as though they were going to win I couldn’t bare to watch. In a series that should not have garnered much interest on my part, ended with me in depression.

Now I find myself taking similar stances on topics totally unrelated to sports. In any argument I will side with the underdog. I don’t know if this is good or bad yet, I guess we’ll find out. All i know is that I continue to get in more and more arguments.

FIRE knockout Playoff Nemesis, Eastern Final awaits

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:12:48 -0600

On Saturday Nov. 7th the Chicago Fire were able to overcome their playoff Nemesis in the second leg of a home and away 2 game quarterfinal in the MLS cup playoffs. After losing the first game 1-0 to the New England Revolution, Chicago were able to advance through to the second round with a 2-0 home win. The game was highly contested as it always is between these two clubs and in the end Chicago was able to advance with goals from Thorrington, and a late winner from Blanco.

The FIRE has now played the Revs (N.E.) for 5 straight seasons in the playoffs. In 2005 we lost to New England in the Eastern Conference finals with what was thought to be one of the best FIRE teams ever. Then in 2006 we snuck into the playoffs and met the Revs in the first round and were once again knocked out. In 2007 came Cuauhtémoc Blanco, a capped Mexican international. With Blanco pulling the strings the FIRE were back to the Eastern Conference Finals, but whom did we have to play? The Revs. After beating D.C. United in the first round the FIRE once again lost to the Revs in the conference finals. In 2008 we again met the Revs in the first round, this time beating them to advance to the conference finals, where we lost to Columbus (eventual champion).

After four years of heartbreak the FIRE are once again in the spotlight, with one more win needed to put us into the MLS Cup Final. The last four years have been filled with playoff disappointment for FIRE supporters. This year’s season has been filled with ups, downs, and a huge grey space. The FIRE has been quite dull for much of the season, hardly what fans and most experts thought going into the year. The FIRE frontline, midfield and defense looked set to be the best team in the league this year. Due to many injury knocks through parts of the season including players like McBride, Segares, Conde, Blanco, and Thorrington, the FIRE struggled to produce goals. That was simply our biggest problem all year, and we failed to capitalize on many games we should have been victorious, instead we drew and had to settle for one point.

With that said, we can look forward to this Eastern Conference Final now. The overall theme of the conference finals the last four years has been home advantage. The FIRE will play in its 8th conference final/MLS semi-final in club history and fourth in the last five years this Saturday against Real Salt Lake. Since it seams like forever, we can finally rejoice that the game is at our home field in Bridgeview at Toyota Park. In the Chicago’s previous 3 conference final trips we have played on the road in the one game, winner advances, Eastern Conference Finals, and we lost all of them.

That is enough to keep me optimistic for this game, I finally get to watch our guys battle it out for the chance to go to the Final (in Seattle). The FIRE has been a successful, respectable, consistent franchise since it’s existence (1997, 98 first MLS season). Since 1998 we have been to the playoffs 10 times, won 1 MLS Championship, and have lifted the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (USA’s longest running tournament) 4 times, one short of the record 5. Needless to say, we’ve been quite successful. However, we crave our 2nd championship.

There is no doubt that the atmosphere in Bridgeview will be excellent for Real Salt lake just as it was against the Revs. Ultimately the FIRE fans, board, players and coach should be expecting to win this match. Expectations are high here, and this FIRE team was put together to win a championship (now). With a poor result could come the exit of head coach Dennis Hamlett who has been given the weapons, and failed to deliver silverware. The lofty expectations are reasonable though. Real Salt Lake crept into the playoffs, getting the last overall seed (8th). They have been inconsistent and shaky at best, but should not be taken lightly after their destruction of the former champs Columbus last round. Robbie Findley is undoubtedly who I am most worried about. He is their most consistent attacker, and has been for some time. Their other two most notable players are their goalkeeper and central midfield stalwart. Rimando is a veteran keeper worth keeping an eye on. He can have bad performances as well as outstanding ones, but with his experience and recent form I would assume he would be on top of his game. In the midfield Beckerman will be a guy we have to shut down. The dread-locked American midfielder works very hard and can be a threat on both sides of the ball.

It’s quite simple for the FIRE. You are at home; you have the loud crowd of 20,000. Don’t let that slip away from the game, and try to score early on. Tactics wise it I don’t expect too many surprises. Thorrington was huge in the win over New England. When he’s in the lineup we are much more dangerous through midfield. His work rate is incredible. He covers tons of ground from box to box and that’s why he creates chances. McBride and Blanco’s importance doesn’t need to be spoken about too much; it is obvious what their performances mean to our chances. Also a great performer in the win over the Revs, Marco Pappa will likely be called on to be inventive and creative down the wing. His control, vision and eye for goal should cause problems to a leaky Salt Lake defense. Look for him to try to receive the ball a lot out wide and then look to cut in with it, either looking for shots or opportunities to lay back for Blanco, McBride, Thorrington and Rolfe.

My prediction for this one might be biased, but it is what it is. It is hard to assume what Salt Lake will do. Even when they were up against Columbus they attacked more. Either way I expect an open game with chances at both ends. I do not expect the FIRE to concede many in this game. The defense has been terrific for many games this season, even with injuries and transfers. CJ Brown is having one of his best seasons ever and has been a huge presence on the field for this team. In the end Il take the FIRE by one goal 2 to 1, advancing to the MLS Cup Final. I am blindly predicting Salt Lake’s goal to come from Andy Williams and from Chicago a 2 goal brace by Brian McBride.

The most nostalgic music video I’ve seen. Since 9th grade...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:25:28 -0600

The most nostalgic music video I’ve seen. Since 9th grade I’ve been able to trace my life simultaneously with fall out boy music/concerts/events. While watching this video that summarizes the past 7 or so years of fall out boy, I see the past 7 years of my life.

Universities

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:13:00 -0600

I started college two and half years ago, as a stubborn conservative, white suburbanite, whatever you want to call it. I wish I was writing right now, about how I’ve gathered support and evidence for capitalism, and the conservative stances on the social issues in this country. Sadly, I was wrong. For the purposes of keeping this paper under one million words, I will keep my arguments specific to one topic that has been, in particular, very troublesome for me: The system of universities and colleges in America. Just to show that my argument goes deeper than what will be covered, here is a brief list of what’s wrong. “Liberal” education and liberal arts, affirmative action, foreign exchange professors and assistants, the price of education, the risk/reward factor of investing in an education, the GPA , the ACT, and any standardized test. The first three listed, are the ones with which I am most concerned; so here is why.

Liberal education is unnecessary and obviously biased. Anyone who doesn’t want to major in English, or philosophy, or any other main liberal art major has to spend the first two years of college partaking in the “lib ed” required courses. For me, it was a plethora of manipulated history, abstract and nonsensical modern novels, and professors who obviously have tried more drugs than I can name off-hand. If I want to major in math, or business, why do I care about how the minorities have been mistreated up until the 1960’s and debatably still today, in this country. We went over that in 8^th grade. Also, I learned how to read shitty books in high school, and how to fake some deeper meaning in the word. The articles and novels about native Americans and Hispanics is just overkill, I would care more if I heard less about it. Instead of all of these “prep” courses that prepare you for nothing, It would be far more effective for me to have been studying harder classes related to my major, or just classes that I am actually interested in. But I was required, instead, to waste two years of my life; yes that’s right, REQUIRED!…thanks college.

Affirmative action is wrong. I don’t even know why I have to write about this. America was founded on equal opportunity, not on equal lives. The Soviet Union tried the whole “equal” lives thing, it’s called communism. The recent trend of democrats seems to be: “hey! white men make more money or have better jobs than this minority, and that minority”. If anyone wants to know why, It’s because white men have been in America longer, have worked for America longer, and there’s more them. Now, instead of communism we have this excuse called affirmative action. I’ve gathered this from the pro-affirmative action side. Women don’t make as much money as men, and neither do Asians, Mexicans, Hispanics, and Antarcticans (joke). And to fix this problem, we decided to just make it so that anyone of these minorities that come within 1 full GPA point or 10 full ACT points within a white male, will get accepted before the white male. I have met multiple women who got into business school with ACT scores at least 6 points worse than mine, and GPA’s worse than mine. I understand that maybe some people didn’t get lucky and go to as good as a school as I did, but I’m sorry that doesn’t make them more qualified. If you have a terrible education up to college, chances are you’re not gonna magically become a genius in college. So we just continue to screw over those that are fortunate and smart, and successful to please those admirably empathetic liberal politicians. NOT

Lastly, we have the foreign exchange teachers. This will be shorter because it’s easier to see what’s wrong. I would like to believe that the purpose of all universities is to give the best possible education to its students. Foreign teachers don’t teach well because of something I call a language barrier. I’m not saying foreign teachers are stupid, in fact most of them seem too smart for their own good. But they don’t understand how to explain what they know in their native language, into something we can fully comprehend in English. They don’t understand half the questions you ask them, and thus I don’t learn as much. I learn more from the textbooks than I do from these professors. So all these universities are being so progressive by having a bunch of foreign people be apart of the system, but all they are doing is hindering everyone’s ability to learn… thanks again, I’m glad.

Now for my conclusion, I suppose one could gather from my paper, that I’m not a fan of minorities…that’s not the case. I am just not a fan of minorities getting favoritism over those that in a lot of cases are more qualified to help be a positive member of society. But from what I’ve experienced so far, I don’t deserve anything I’ve worked for because my ancestors were ass holes, and they’ve made more money than minorities… good call American leaders of education…and I bid you a “Thanks for nothing.”

Fun - All The Pretty Girls This band is my favorite thing about...

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:34:09 -0600

Fun - All The Pretty Girls

This band is my favorite thing about music right now.

World Football Rankings November 2nd

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:34:31 -0600

1. Barcelona (last years champions league winners still look impressive this season, Messi, Ibrahimovic, Henry, enough said)

2. Internazionale Milan (Eto’o has filled in nicely for Ibrahimovic and Inter sit 7 points clear on top of Serie A in Italy)

3. Chelsea (New coach Carlo Ancelotti has C.F.C. firing on all cylinders, Drogba is off to a hot start, and this is possibly the deepest team in the world)

4. Juventus (Juve has restructed their midfield this year, I was skeptical on how much influence Diego would have but he has been brilliant thus far)

5. Manchester United (Utd. are still a strong team, but they’ve clearly fallen off the top, to say they miss Ronaldo is an understatement)

6. Arsenal (The gunners have played well in the EPL this season despite losing some big names, don’t expect this team to win any silverware though)

7. Bordeaux (Last years French champions continue to play well, they have a huge game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday Nov. 3rd, Gourcuff is some player)

8. Bayer Leverkusen (It has been no secret that there was a lot of young emerging talent here, it is starting to come together, let’s see if they can keep it that way)

9. Real Madrid (This team has been utterly disappointing, Ronaldo has been hurt but still, with the all star squad they have they should murdering teams, not winning by 2 to Getafe)

10. Rubin Kazan (Last years Russian Premier League winners are about to repeat for their second straight title, they are also right in the thick of things in a race for a spot in the knock out stages of the champions league)

11. Olympique Lyonnais (New signings Gomis and Lissandro Lopez have covered well for the departured Karim Benzema, Lyonnais could retake the French title this year)

12. AC Milan (Milan started poorly but have significantly played better recently, their turning point may have been that stunning 3-2 win over Madrid last week, the rematch is tomorrow, Alexandre Pato continues to mold into Milan’s next superstar)

13. Benfica (The Portuguese giants have reloaded and look favorites to win a competitive Portuguese league this year)

14. Sampdoria (Sampdoria fan’s can only hope they are sitting in the top 4 at the end of the season in Italy, what a great start)
15. Sevilla (The Spanish league does not have much depth but this is clearly the next best team after the two Spanish giants, this midfield is exciting, especially the wingers)

16. FC Porto (People forget how strong this team may be, if it was not for one Ronaldo super strike last year Porto may have beat Man. Utd.)

17. Hamburg (The German league is super competitive to this point, it’s always hard to tell where this team is going but the pieces seam to be in place if they can find consistency)

18. Dynamo Kiev (Like Rubin Kazan, this team is in a fight for a knock out spot, and they’ve come off some recent success domestically and in the Uefa Cup)

19. Manchester City (Is it premature to put them this high? No, probably not. This team has quality all over the pitch now; Adebayor and Tevez are real strikers)

20. Fiorentina (This is a quality team that has been floating around the top of Italian football for a few years and they are starting to play well together)

21. Bayern Munich (Much more is expected of this club, they can buy all the wingers and strikers they want, but until they can play with a solid defense and field a sustainable keeper then Bayern are not going to win the title back)

22. Estudiantes (Brazil still has some excellent talent and teams, this one is the cream of the crop right now)

23. PSV (They sit a few points above Ajax in Holland for second place, Twente holds the lead but it’s a safe prediction to say that PSV and AJAX will be fighting for the title)

24. Ajax Amsterdam (Ajax used to compete for UCL titles until hitting this long rough spot, this team is starting to look better and striker Luis Suarez is a hot property among big European clubs)

25. Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs may have finally found their manager, Harry Redknapp has been excellent, Robbie Keane should have never left for Liverpool, he’s a Spur)

I kinda regret selling my tickets to this concert. Being able...

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:32:46 -0500

I kinda regret selling my tickets to this concert. Being able to see one of the biggest current bands at such a small venue doesn’t happen much.

Chicago

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:48:00 -0500

A week ago we found out Chicago would not be hosting the 2016 Olympics. I wasn’t mad or sad when I heard the news, even to the surprise of myself, I was content.

About 3 years when I first heard Chicago would make a push to get the 2016 bid I was excited. Initially I was excited of the possibility of seeing the Olympic games in person without the difficulty of traveling half way around the world. When I left for college however I developed another desire for Chicago to get the bid. Shortly after living outside the city for the first time in my life my pride for Chicago grew tremendously. While I would still love to see the Olympics in my home town, I now wanted Chicago to get the 2016 games to show the rest of the world what a great city we are.

Watching Michael Phelps and the rest of the 2008 Olympics last summer was awesome. Never before have I realized how fun it is to watch sports when the lines aren’t drawn and everyone is either your friend or enemy. The Olympics is the sole sporting event in the world where every single person can watch and root for the same team together (I wish this were true for the World Cup, but many people simply do not like soccer). I couldn’t imagine watching a sporting event of this nature 15 miles from my home.

However, a week before the host of the 2016 Olympics were announced I realized Chicago did not need to get the games. It would be great to see such a great event in my favorite city, but in the course of my lifetime I am sure I will travel somewhere half way around the world to see the Olympics and it will be a great vacation.

Now my Chicago pride grows exponentially every day and I realized we don’t need the Olympics to show the rest of the world how great a city we are. In the summer of 2016 I will be living downtown, watching the games in a bar with my friends and family, not sad that we aren’t seeing them live in person, but content knowing we live in the best city in the world.

“Keep The Light On” - Cavashawn Cavashawn has...

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:24:39 -0500

“Keep The Light On” - Cavashawn

Cavashawn has entered the “next Chicago band to break out” debate in my mind. It’s really catchy pop-punk that has a slight sound of 1950s oldies rock ‘n roll. If I had to rank the “next Chicago band to break out” in order it would be:

1. Company of Thieves (If success was based purely on talent they’d be huge, unfortunately the music industry doesn’t work like that)
2. The Graduate
3. American Taxi
4. Empires
5. Cavashawn
6. Coventry

Cold Water Mystic - “Break Me” I’ve been...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:35:10 -0500

Cold Water Mystic - “Break Me”

I’ve been listening to this all the time lately. A perfect blend of rock and funk, very excited to see these local guys live soon.

Funny Video, Funny Guys, Good Song.

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:22:16 -0500

Funny Video, Funny Guys, Good Song.

New Weezer in October. I loved the Red Album so I’m...

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:24:04 -0500

New Weezer in October. I loved the Red Album so I’m excited for this too.

"The Fighting Illini tour bus finally hit the road. Look for weekly appearances across the midwest...."

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:05:24 -0500

““The Fighting Illini tour bus finally hit the road. Look for weekly appearances across the midwest. Lead singer Ron Zook has prepared many great songs for u and the Offensive/Defensive units are prepared to do the background singing. 1st stop is 9/5/09 in STL @ 2:40ct catch it in person or on ESPN!!!””

- Juice Williams

Starts at 48 seconds. This video does a good job of summarizing...

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:28:00 -0500

Starts at 48 seconds. This video does a good job of summarizing my summer internship at WGN. Under crunch time everyone stresses out but in the end all we really care about is what’s for dinner.

fun. - Be Calm

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:41:59 -0500

fun. - Be Calm

fun. - Aim & Ignite

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:03:00 -0500

When The Format broke up about a year and a half ago I was heartbroken, more than any other band announcing their hiatus. I did not see it coming and it shocked me. Their music made me happy, it was inspirational and creative.

Shortly after the announcement singer Nate Reuss clarified he was still going to make music. 18 months later and that music has finally been made. Reuss had started a band with two other members called “fun.” They released their debut album Aim & Ignite this past week.

Through The Format’s lyrics and other sources you could tell they weren’t the happiest people, yet they made music to help them through their difficulties. Things must have changed in Reuss’s life as his new bands’ name couldn’t be any more fitting. “fun.” simply is fun music. Over their sadness and pessimism, the new album “Aim & Ignite” focuses on being happy and enjoying life.

The music is similar to The Format, but taken a step further, in that it is more inspirational and more creative. More instrumentation and the use of back-up singers enable fun to differentiate them from The Format.

This album is a breath of fresh air. Only 10 songs long the cd is straight and to the point. Reuss gets his point across clear and concisely: he wants to have fun with his life.

The Format was, and still is one of my favorite bands. At this point however, they are just a notch below “fun.”

Dinner Conversations

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:35:00 -0500

You can tell a lot about a family by eating dinner with them. I love dinner’s with my family, but if someone sat in on one they’d probably think my siblings and I were crazy. 90% of the things I say every meal are a quote from an Adam Sandler, Chris Farley or Will Ferrel movie. If you’re like my parents, and don’t love these movies, it probably appears as though we’re talking in a different language. This seems perfectly normal to me though, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I also love eating dinner with other families to see how they interact at the table. I’ve seen some families where the siblings and parents make fun of each other non-stop, but they know it’s all fun and games and they don’t think much of it. I’ve seen other families where the kids talk about very inappropriate topics, and the parents just laugh it off. I’ve eaten with families in other countries where the only goal of the cook was to make me eat so much I couldn’t move for an hour after the meal. And maybe the weirdist of all are the families that take their dinners very seriously, encourage manners and politeness, and keep the conversation about the weather or how their day went.

Although I would never trade my comedy-driven, often repetitive family dinners, it’s great to eat with other families and see we’re not the only crazy one.

Top 10 player in the country.

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 12:03:43 -0500

Top 10 player in the country.