Why Chi? Because It's The Best City In The World!

My sister found this. I dig it and thought you would like it as well.

Why Chi? Answers are blowing in wind

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By Scoop Jackson
ESPN.com

Many people across America will ask, "Why Chi?"

Why did Chicago get the first ESPN local site to itself? They will ask what makes us so special. What makes us think we are so special? Why did ESPN choose the Windy City? They will find fault.

Cool.

	Why Chicago? Well, we did have the greatest basketball player ever ...

As a city, we don't have a problem with any of that. Most of us will accept it because we are so used to it. Try living here and you'll understand. If you are born and raised (and gonna die) here, you more than understand ... you embrace it. We are -- in our minds -- the most slept-on, overlooked, underappreciated sports city in the world.

In our minds, this site, one dedicated to all of Chicagoland sports at every level, is long overdue. Because when it comes to the games we all play, watch and love, no one -- and I repeat no one -- on any corner of any block in any city any place in the world got swagger like us.

These reasons only further our proof:

Because we turned the saying "Good Guys Wear Black" into a rally cry.

Because our Cubs blue is truer blue than Yankees or Dodger blue.

Because the words "upscale" and "sports" don't mix here.

Because when it comes to sports, we die harder than Bruce Willis.

Because we have a Claes Oldenburg-designed steel sculpture of a 100-foot baseball bat on the corner of Madison and Jefferson in the middle of the city for no damn reason!

Because Michael, Scottie and Phil got us six rings.

Because our players only cry after winning.

Because only here can you have two sides of town that hate each other because of their beloved teams while they will never ever be a threat to one another in winning a World Series.

Because we will put this city up against any city in the world when it comes to diversity, knowledge and passion for sports. There isn't a city that exists that holds our desire for sports on an everyday basis.

Because we're about to host the Olympics in 2016.

Because Jackie Robinson is a league to us, not just an icon.

Because only here could a car dealership (Chicagoland Chevrolet Dealership Association) get Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali together for an ad.

Because of Walter Payton.

Because we just won the Jay Cutler sweepstakes.

Because no other place can handle the annual pain that comes along with loving the Cubs.

Because when the Blackhawks eventually win the Stanley Cup, we will -- in all of our belligerent arrogance -- have the gall to say to anyone who is listening, "We told you so!"

	... and the greatest NFL team of all time ...

Because we have Ozzie and they don't.

Because we were the originators of "March Madness."

Because we were too stupid to trademark the phrase and too forgiving to sue someone -- anyone! -- for copyright infringement.

Because as far as we're concerned, there is still no team in the history of the NFL that could beat the '85 Bears.

Because we play with 16-inch Clinchers (TM).

Because we drink Old Style and Olde English at games.

Because we hoop on ice, golf in snow, row on frozen ponds, play beach volleyball on hard sand, do marathons on North Face and play soccer on grass that won't bend.

Because what Green Bay calls a "tundra," we simply call "a football field."

Because "strikeout" is much harder than "stick ball."

Because we validate the existence of a sports jinx.

Because Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are the next Crosby and Malkin, and ESPN wants to get an early jump on covering them.

Because the women at Wrigley Field look better (and can drink more) than women who go to baseball games in any other city in the country.

Because our "W" doesn't stand for a hotel chain or a former president.

Because we consider pitching pennies a sport.

	... and we'll keep showing up at those rooftop seats until the Cubs finally win it all.

Because win, lose, draw and lose again, we rep our teams like Drew Rosenhaus reps his clients.

Because the greatest sports documentary of all time ("Hoop Dreams") and arguably the greatest sports film ("Brian's Song") were about what we are all about.

Because we use our brown paper bags for sneaking booze into stadiums, and we don't use them to show we're embarrassed of the team we came to see.

Because we (not Denver) made "Rock and Roll, Part 2" famous.

Because we nurtured a Rose from concrete.

Because at least 81 times a year, we "take you out to the ballgame."

Because we'd rather build a spaceship inside of our football stadium than do what the Yankees did to theirs.

Because on any given day, at any given sporting event in the city, Oprah or Obama could be sitting next to you.

Because of what Devin Hester is about to do this season.

Because no one gives the term "ride or die" more meaning when it comes to sports teams than us.

Because of the overtly obvious reasons not even worth mentioning.

Because we got Mike Ditka, fool.

Another NFL Week

Here's how this is going to play out:

IND over JAX
DAL over BAL
CIN over CLE
TB over SD
TEN over PIT (Upset one)
SF over STL
NO over DET (Go winless, you jerks!)
AZ over NE (Upset two)
MIA over KC
DEN over BUF
NYJ over SEA
HOU over OAK
ATL over MIN (PLEASE!!!)
WAS over PHI (Final upset)
CAR over NYG
CHI over GB

Now, I'm off to Second City to see some former classmates perform. You enjoy your football, and I will join in with you shortly!

GO BEARS!!!

First Snow

A few weeks ago, Chicago got 437 inches of snow in one evening. It seems ridiculous that they still stuck with the inch measurement, but they did.
I captured this event, the first snow of this season, with my camera from my balcony just for you. Here are some of the images:


Here's how it all started.


My Christmas decorations got a little more festive.

Nope. Not in black and white, it was just that damn cold out.

Electric lights + Melting snow + 1972 extension cord = Merry Christmas!


Moon not actual size.








Steve P. and me on 12/07/08 - Bears vs. Jags. The good guys won.

NFL Picks

Turkey and football go together like Obama and Socialism. (Obama just came up in the Spell Check for this Apple computer. You would think that Apple would be on that by now.)

Anyway, I can't wait to relax in front of the TV tomorrow and watch some football and drink some beer after enjoying too much turkey. Oh, and my relatives will be there too.

Here is what is going to happen:

TEN over DET (Come on! THIS is the Thanksgiving Day game?! It might as well be the '85 Bears vs. a ballet company! I would like to see the remarkable odds on DET coming up with a win on this one!)

DAL over SEA

AZ over PHI (Let's see McNabb cry on the bench again this week!)

TB over NO

NYG over WAS

BUF over SF

IND over CLE

CAR over GB (This is a "wishful thinking" upset from me.)

MIA over STL

ATL over SD (I can't believe this is an upset, but it is. Go Ryan!)

PIT over NE

OAK over KC (Who cares anymore?)

NYJ over DEN (Should be a good game.)

CHI over MIN (An upset? Really? All they have is a running game and we proved in the past two out of three games that we can shut that down. Now, if we can shut down both the ground AND air attack, we'd have something!)

HOU over JAX

That's it for this week.

Enjoy your football with turkey.

Week 12

I know that the Thursday game has already been played. And I know that the Steelers have already won. However, I picked them before the game started. Trust me, that due to my above average record, it should be known that I am aware that The Bengals suck this year. Perhaps Ocho Sinco should change his name back to Johnson.

Here is the rest of the league:

BAL over PHI
TEN over NYJ (Although, if any team were to beat them, the Jets would be them. I hope they do! The Titans need a reality check!)
TB over DET (Detroit has NO CHANCE!!!)
MIN over JAX (Even though I hope the Jags win to give Da Bears a better record in the NFC North!)
BUF over KC
CHI over STL (FINALLY an easy win for us... I hope!!!)
MIA over NE (Who would have said this before the season started?!)
DAL over SF (Despite the fact that I want Singletary to have his second win of the season!)
HOU over CLE
DEN over OAK
ATL over CAR (Close game here! AZ is playing for more than CAR is.)
NYG over AZ
WAS over SEA
IND over SD
NO over GB (Hopefully. Assume this is my only upset of the week with GB doing as well as they have been this week.)

Enjoy your football this week.
Go Bears. (We need it!)