I did this for the Winter Olympics in Torino, so I thought it might be a nice tradition. I’ve been watching quite a bit of the Olympics, though I don’t have the time or strength to watch it all the time. All in all, this has been an INCREDIBLE Olympics, from the political drama to Michael Phelps quest to the stories that fall in between the cracks, it’s been a good two weeks.

Here’s my highlights:

• Best Part of the Opening Ceremony - to me, it had to have been the Tai Chi.  Their lines were incredible, and it made me realize that we could never do anything like that in the US.  We’d have people sticking out all over the place!

• Worst Opening Ceremony Outfits - Come on, Hungary, what were you thinking?  Such beautiful girls looked like they were forced to were outfits from their grandmothers’ closets.

• Best use of Humans During the Opening Ceremony - Seriously, how did they do that Cube/Bouncing Block thing…even after the third time of watching it, it baffled me how they could have done it so perfectly, making waves with the blocks at different levels - there weren’t even any real beats to the music!
• Worst National Case of Milli Vanilli - Poor Yang Peiyi, not deemed cute enough by her country to sing at the Olympics.  I feel for ya, girl.
• Best Unspoken Requirement for Men’s Gymnastic Teams - that you need to have at least one hot guy.  See below for samples:

• Worst Follow-Through of Trash Talking - The French Men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team, saying "We’ll smash the Americans" before the race, and ending up second behind the Americans.  What makes the victory even more sweet was the NBC commentators saying that the US team had no chance…which brings us to…
• Best 46.06 Seconds Ever - That was the time that Jason Lezak swam his incredible anchor leg of the 4×100 freestyle relay.  When he was the first one to touch the wall I literally screamed in happiness.
• Worst Time for an Interview - Right after 15 year-old diver Haley Ishimatsu learned she didn’t make the finals, she was interviewed by NBC.  Even before the interview started I could see her eyes were puffy, and I could feel it coming.  Poor girl could hardly answer any questions she was so emotional.  She was a good sport and said the right things, like, "It was a great experience, I had fun" etc.  But I think that the press should let people have time for their emotions, especially ones so young.
• Best Post Olympics Plans - Misty May and Kerri Walsh want babies.  Walsh: "We need a baby…it’s that time." May: "We need the team of the future!"
• Worst Show of Happiness at Getting a Silver Medal - Alicia Sacramone.  Such a pretty girl, and I know that she felt the weight of the loss of the gold medal on her shoulders.  But come on!  You’re at the Olympics, and you’ve got a silver medal, more than most of the Olympians that you stood on the field with during the opening ceremonies could ever hope to get.  Cheer up, sourpuss!
• Best Sport to be a Volunteer For - When Kerri Walsh lost her wedding ring while blocking a spike, the Chinese volunteers brought in volunteers and metal detectors after the match to find it.  One lucky guy found the ring, and in return received some US flags, some Olympic pins, and a pat on the ass by Kerri Walsh.
• Worst Second of the Best 9+ Seconds Ever - Was it really necessary for Usain "Lightning" Bolt to stretch out his arms and celebrate during the last second of his 100m dash?  Watching this kid run is like watching me run against Ben - he makes it look so easy when he beats these amazing athletes.  What would have happened if Bolt ran the whole way?  How low would he have brought the world record?  Now we’ll never know. However, I don’t agree with the IOC reprimanding him for being a poor sport - this guy is making the sport exciting! If you’re going to reprimand someone, reprimand China for lying to get the Olympics.
• Best Reaction After Getting Your World Record Smashed - Michael Johnson, 2 time Olympian and previous 100m record holder, punched the air, laughed, jumping and shouting "Oh my god!" as he watched Usain "Lightning" Bolt run and win the 100m dash.  Although he has no longer the record holder, Johnson was totally excited to see such an amazing race.
• Worst Cover-Up - The Chinese gymnastics team saying that their athletes are 16 years old.  When you’re going to fake documents so your team can win golds, the least you can do is google them so you can delete any reference of their ACTUAL ages.  You may censor the internet in your country, but the rest of the world can still find these things out.
• Best Random Facts Blog - Yahoo’s "Fourth Place Medal".  They answer such obscure questions like, "Why do divers shower after diving?" (to keep loose),   "What is that black stuff on Kerri Walsh’s arm?" (kinesio tape that supports her muscles) and "Who was that really hot chick with Paraguay during the opening ceremonies?" (Leryn Franco, javelin thrower).
• Worst Case of Team Unity - Both the men’s and women’s 4×100m relay teams DROPPED their batons in the qualifying heats. Nice.
• Best Den Mother - Old lady Dara Torres (I kid!) went up to one of the officials during one of her semi’s. Why? To ask the official to hold up the race while a fellow competitor changed suits after finding a rip. After talking to the official, Dara talked to the other girls (because seriously, to Dara these were girls half her age) and told them to stay loose as they waited. It was obvious that they respected her. Once the race started, she took first in her heat, eventually winning silver.
• Worst Show of Sportsmanship - Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian dropped his bronze medal on the mats in protest.  I don’t care if you thought you were wronged - go through the correct channels and suck it up while you’re on the podium and walking off.
• Best Moment I’m Glad I Missed - When German weight lifter Matthias Steiner won his gold, he took out a photo of his wife who had died in a car crash and held it with him on the podium.  I swear, if I watched that, I would have cried.  Man, it makes me a little misty even posting the picture.  (and speaking of Misty, Misty May dumped some of her mother’s ashes on the volleyball court after their gold medal win)******

• Worst Example of Getting Jinxed by the Media - Since the beginning of the games, NBC had been talking about how the Olympic Committee was going to get rid of women’s softball, probably since the US women had won all of the gold medals since it was included in the games.  Why keep a sport where one nation was unstoppable?  Then irony rains down in the form of a Japanese women’s team with an incredible pitcher.  They beat our girls and made them cry.  Goodbye softball.
• Best Genuine Smile - Shawn Johnson, after winning gold in the balance beam.  All week she has smiled and hugged as she’d been surpassed by her team mate Nastia Liukin and various Chinese gymnasts.  When her team fell apart, she kept a smile on her face and stayed cool.  Unlike others, she smiled during the team medal ceremony.  But once she knew she got that gold, it was a different smile altogether!  A well deserved win for someone who didn’t pout and stayed positive during the competition.  I remember her smiling and waiting patiently to be the first one to hug Sandra Izbasa, who beat her top floor exercise score on the last routine.
• Worst Use of Media Passes - After Michael Phelps got the record for most golds, he climbed up the stands to hug and kiss his mother.  however, he had a hard time coming back down because the press (or shall they be called paparazzi at this point?) had swarmed around him, leaving him no room to move.  He had to actually say, "Come on, guys" just so he could get back down to the pool.  Several times during the games I’ve seen photographers get way to close to the athletes…it’s annoying.

• Best Reason I Like Michael Phelps - (I know that makes no sense, but it had to start with "best", right?)  Yes, I know he broke Mark Spitz’ record.  Yes, I know he’s arguably the best Olympian ever (but come on, Carl Lewis was in 4 Olympics and won in 2 different events - running and long jump).  But to me, Michael could have been a guy that was full of himself and was going to waste his money away on booze (hello DUI!) and women.  Until I saw an interview with Bob Costas and his mother (not Bob’s, Michaels!).  Bob had asked Michael’s mom why she was going back to work as a school principal, and as she answered, Michael was looking at his mom with what could only be described as a look of pride.  He then said that to his mom, her kids (referring to the school children) are everything.  It made me melt a little to see him talk so proudly of his mom.
• Worst Try At Making an Interview All About You - In an arranged interview with Phelps and Mark Spitz, Mark tried every way he could to talk about himself.  From talking about meeting Phelps in Athens several times (which I’m assuming is a dig for not being invited to Beijing this year) to saying that he was the inspiration for Michael’s quest for gold, there was one thing that was clear with Mark…it’s all about ME! ME! ME!
• Best Event that I’ve Only Seen Five Minutes Of - I was flipping through the channels yesterday and came across the Rhythmic Gymnastics team event. The Chinese team was doing a routine with a rope, and let me tell you, it was beautiful! They were tossing them up in the air to each other and catching them, winding it around one of the girls and lifting her in the air…it was so pretty! But that was one of the last routines they had, so I didn’t get to see much more. I’ll definitely try and catch it tomorrow morning, er, night, ugh, this time difference confuses me!

…because I know some of you still read this thing -

Apolo Anton Ohno is going to be on Project Runway tonight in their Olympic themed episode. What he knows about fashion, I have no idea, but hopefully they’re designing skinsuits. There have been way too many skinsuit fashion disasters in the past - the US stars suit and Canada’s “pretend we have no skin so it looks like just muscle” for example…

Three posts today…damn, I don’t know the last time that happened!

Usually, I LOVE the Olympics, but these upcoming games have me worried. I stuck up for the Olympics when activists in different countries were protesting the running of the Olympic flame, saying that politics should be left behind. But the closer and closer these games get, the more I realize that it was a horrible idea to give these games to China. It makes me upset that the spirit of the games is marred by the actions of the host country trying to show their supremacy and power.

One thing is the censoring of the internet for the media - something that China had said before that they would allow. Later, they said that they would relent and allow more internet access to restricted sites - but not all. Next is how horrible the air is in China - athletes are staying in neighboring countries because the air is so bad. It’s come to the point where sporting events lasting more than an hour (like the marathon) could get canceled if the air is poor. Can you imagine? You train your whole life, travel around the world running marathons, then cannot race because China never bothered in the past to care about vehicle and factory emissions.

What sparked this post today is the latest in this clusterfrak that is 8.8.08 - the 2006 Winter Olympics golden boy (and all-round good guy), Joey Cheek, has been denied a Visa. In 2006 Joey made headlines by donating his medal winnings , about $40,000, to Right to Play, an organization that promotes sports to children in Darfur. He’s one of the reasons why the Olympics are as awesome as they are, and to me, embody everything that the Olympics stand for. He skated for the joy of it, for the competition with his peers, and not for the money, but along the way, made the world aware of the struggle of the people of Darfur.

He was planning on attending the Olympics to support other athletes who are part of his organization, others who also support efforts in Darfur. Unfortunately for Joey, China has ties to Sudan and Darfur, and not the side that he’s on.

Read more about it here.

But he’s not the only one having problems with visas. Even foreigners who are living and working in China are having problems with their visas - many of them having to leave China because of the tight visa restrictions. Hotels are fighting each other for travelers, since China’s visa restrictions are so tough, no one is coming to China to actually watch the games.

It’s all a little sad - these games should be about a celebration of sports and competition, but instead is becoming a hotbed of ill feelings and politics. China is working so hard to make themselves look good and keep their games safe according to their standards, but I’m afraid that it may all backfire on them, with the losers being the athletes themselves.

update: The US is going to protest Joey’s visa denial:

“We have sent in our embassy in Beijing to demarche the Chinese. That is where we go in and say we are concerned about this and we want you to reconsider your actions. We would hope that they would change their mind.”

Finally got a Wii today. I’ve been itching to get one forever, but they’ve been sold out for the longest time. On a whim I decided to call my closest Best Buy and it turned out they had 3 left. I finished up some work, and as a pulled into the parking lot, I saw a guy walking out with a Wii. I was getting a bit nervous, since it had been a couple hours since I had called.

I walked in, went to the Wii section and didn’t see any Wii’s there. Luckily, a salesperson came up and told me that the Wii’s were behind the counter. So I stocked up on some accessories - battery charger and rechargable batteries, game, and extra controller. Didn’t realize how much all of this stuff would really add up - I’m in for a load of trouble when Ben grows up and wants this stuff all the time.

I have NO idea why I bought it, since I have no time to do anything. But I think the Wii would give me a good excuse to take breaks from work instead of working the whole day through with a 15 minute lunch break. Ben had a great time holding the controller and seeing the little hand flash on the screen every now and then. He was content just watching me play and make funny sounds then actually trying to play himself. Probably the most exciting time for me was to make Mii characters to represent me, Dave and Ben. It was funny to go through the different male hairstyles that best looks like Dave, and then going through the eyes and making them extra tiny and slanted. He was starting to get annoyed with my horrible representation of him - “Why are my eyes so beady? Can I have whites in my eyes, please?!?!”

I only have a couple basic games for right now - Wii Sports and Wii Play, but I will probably be picking up more soon. Anyone have any game suggestions?

…tonight! We’ll be in the bleachers, with a Cubs blanket and all bundled up!

Got some really great tix for today’s game against the Padres. Turns out that today is half price day, so we got some $66 seats for $33. So watch out for us - we’re in the second section between home plate and the Cubs dugout. Ben will be wearing his Cubs gear, Dave will be wearing a white Cubs jersey and I’ll probably be wearing a brown jacket with my Cubs blue underneath. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some great shots!

Last Saturday we headed out to our first Cubs game of the season. It’s still pretty chilly in Chicago, especially nearer to the lake, so we made sure to dress warm. Even in our sweatshirts, it was pretty cold. Poor Benjamin’s fingers were cold, but that didn’t prevent him from having a great time. All the kids who went to the game got little bear webkinz that we’ll go online later to take care of. The guys who were sitting in front of us had a blast with Ben, calling him “the coolest little guy” as Ben gave out hi-fives after homeruns and danced to the YMCA during breaks. By the end of the game, Ben was hi-fiving everyone in the area, including the guys in the standing room only.

The game was a great - Dempster did a good job, and it got a little nervewracking by the seventh with the Cubs down 2 to 1. But they came back with some awesome hitting. Fukudome, the crowd favorite, capped it all off with a homerun in the bottom of the seventh, which led to the crowd chanting his name for several minutes. In the end, we won 7 to 2, leaving in a crowd of smiles singing “Go Cubs Go” and thinking that maybe, just maybe, this year really IS next year.

More pics can be found on my flickr site here.

UPDATE: Since Redpac is whining, THANKS to him, we had tickets for today, and several other games this year!

I know it’s a little late, but it’s been a busy couple of last days. Anyway, here’s my mini game and ad recap from this year’s Superbowl.

All along I’ve been rooting on the Giants. I’ve been cheering on anyone to beat the Patriots. Ever since I was a little girl and the Patriots played the Bears in the Super Bowl, I’ve felt a little animosity towards them. Even more so this year, for several reasons:

1) CHEATERS! I really don’t have to say much else.
2) I don’t like Bill Belichick. Rubs me the wrong way. More on that later
3) I can’t stand Tom Brady’s hair. There’s just something about it. I used to think he was good looking, but after he broke up with Bridget Moynahan (who later announced she was pregnant) and started appearing with Giselle Bundchen soon after (who I do like) he was no longer attractive to me.

So this year, I was all about the New York Giants. To me, they were treated the way the Bears were treated - no respect, their quarterback always under question, playing against a team that “deserved” to win, etc. So I had a soft spot for them.

For such a low scoring game, it was pretty exciting! How I enjoyed watching Brady make incomplete passes, snapping at his teammates, lying flat on his back after getting sacked. Randy Moss was catchless for a good part of the first half. It seemed like things were going great for the Jets, but there was always that looming dread, the knowledge that, as much as I didn’t like them, the Patriots were arguably the best team in the history of the NFL. Then the Patriots scored their touchdown. As the game wore on it was obvious that the Patriots were a little off, and that Eli Manning was playing the game of his life.

By the time the fourth quarter came and almost went, the Patriots were winning. The Giants had the ball with a little more than two minutes left in the game and my stomach was heavy, my mind thinking “Can they do this? Can we break the Patriots?”

Then the magic happened. In a play where it looked like Eli was going to get taken down, where he was smothered by the Pats’ defense, he was able to wriggle away and toss an improbable pass to David Tyree.

The clock was ticking, there was too much time wasted in between plays. “Stop the clock! Stop the clock!” I kept on screaming in my head. The Jets were knocking on the door of killing the Patriot’s season. Then Manning threw a beautiful pass to a very open Plaxico Burris (I always think of fish tanks when I think of his name). Whoo hoo! Brady still had a little less than 30 seconds to take history back, but it just didn’t work out that way.

Then with one second left, Belichick comes across the field, waving off the refs as they tried to tell them that the game wasn’t finished yet, shaking Tom Coughlin’s hand then running off the field, not staying to watch his defense finish out the game on the field. In a way, he stole that one second from New York’s victory, by not giving them the respect to stay for the whole game.

But hey, with that aside, it was an awesome game. The last 2 minutes were amazing! It was fun to see New England fall apart and to not see Eli Manning crack under the pressure. Big brother was in the stands, but the night was his!

Now for the commercials - to me, they were just “so-so” this year. Nothing really wowed me or had me laugh uncontrollably (like the running of the squirrels or boyfriend with knife spills spaghetti sauce on kitty of years before). But here are my faves from the night:

What were your favorite commercials?

Oh yeah, and I can’t forget the one that brought happy chills up my spine…

Every year, I try and get Cubs Convention tickets for Dave, since he’s such a huge Cubs fan, but every year I find out that it’s sold out. This year, Dave’s coworker was able to score some tickets and we were psyched! I gave Dave my quick tutorial on what to do at conventions (being a comic book convention vet myself) like wear comfortable shoes, bring something to read while you wait in line, bring things for them to sign, make sure you read up on who is going to be there and what sessions are available, bring food, etc.

It was a pretty cold day, but we had our Cubs gear on. Dave’s dad was wearing his Cubbie blue pullover, Dave was in his Prior jersey (which he will be removing the letters on before the next season starts), I had on Dave’s Zambrano jersey (because I don’t have my own :-() and Ben had on his warm Cubbie pajamas. He looked like a little Cub clown.

We got to the Hyatt downtown and it was PACKED with people in Cubs gear. Dave had dropped us off in the front of the hotel, so we waited in the lobby for him. While we were waiting, a man was walking through and people were asking him for autographs. He looked familiar to me, but I wasn’t sure who he was. Then I heard someone whisper to someone else, “It’s Jim Hendry!” (the general manager of the Cubs). He was actually standing right next to Dave’s dad signing autographs, and looked right at me, smiled and had a look of, “Anything you need signed?”. I must have looked like a deer in headlights. Since Dave had all the stuff to sign, all I had on me was my convention pass. I gathered up my wits, took off my pass and handed it to him, which he smiled and signed. Then he walked off or something like that because I really don’t remember.

As I said before, there were tons of people there. The two coat checks were full so I decided to take our coats and let Dave, his dad and Ben go off and start enjoying themselves. I went downstairs to check our coats and there was a long line for even the coat check. When I near the front of the line, I saw the sign that said, “$2 per coat”. Oh snap! I didn’t even think to bring any cash with me. So I started digging through my pockets, looking for cash. By the time I got to the front, I only had four dollars. “Um, I only have four dollars, so I can only check in two coats…” I said. Part of me was hoping the lady would take pity on my, wink, and say, “It’s alright hon, I’ll put two on a hanger…” But no….she said, “So which two is it gonna be?” I started lifting the coats to see which one wouldn’t be too much of a hassle to bring around, and I made one last effort, digging deep into my pockets. Then my Cubs miracle happened - two more dollars at the bottom of my pocket! Hallelujah! No coat left behind!

The convention was a ton of fun, though I have to admit, my comic conventions were a little better organized. Dave was hoping to get his bat signed by his childhood favorite, Bill Buckner, but the lines for him were crazy. He then decided to get into Ron Santos line, because the person right after Ron was Cubs hall of famer Billy Williams. So we decided to part ways while Dave waited in the HUGE line for an autograph.

The lines for autographs were CRAZY!

Ben, Dave’s dad and I headed out to some of the sessions. The first one we went to was a session with Cubs manager Lou Piniella. He talked a little bit about last year’s team and the team to come. What I enjoyed the most was the Q & A session. There was an older woman who came up to the mic and said something like, “I’ve been a lifetime Cubs fan (all questions seemed to start like that) and I want to ask Lou one question - Why do you keep pitchers in even after they’ve sucked for a couple innings?” Everyone laughed and went, “Ohhhhhhhh!” Lou said that sometimes he had to keep them in because he had to give time to the bullpen. Then she said, “You know sometimes I just want to throw my chair at the television! You need to get them out!”, to which Lou replied, “Listen, I’ll give you my cell phone number, and when you start feeling like you’re going to through the chair at the TV, you give me a call and I’ll take out the pitcher!” Lou was very charismatic and very quick witted when replying to the questions, yet pretty honest. I didn’t take notes so I don’t remember anything else.

Lou and his coaching crew (Lou has the blue shirt on)

Dave came back a little frustrated, saying that he had waited so long in line for Billy Williams autograph, and about 30 people before him, Billy’s time slot was over and Steve Trout and Les Lancaster took over. They’re still great players and Dave had them sign a baseball, but he was really hoping to get that bat signed! I think that’s one complaint I have, though I know that there are space restrictions - Dave waited so long in line for a specific person, but he got someone else. That would just not fly at a comic book convention - If I was in line for Jim Lee and got Rob Liefeld instead, I’d be pissed! At the comicon, they have one line per artist, and the last person in line has a sign that says, “I’m the last person in line”…the artist signs for everyone in their line. Take note, Cubs convention organizers!

Since we had front row seats in the always-packed grand ballroom, we decided to just chill there for the rest of the day, listening in on whatever sessions were up. The next session we watched was definitely the most fun - Win Lose or Draw. It pitted some Cubs legends - Tim Stoddard, Bill Buckner, Doug Dascenzo and Bob Dernier - against the current players - Bob Howry, Ryan Dempster (who looks 10 years younger in normal clothing), Michael Weurtz and Scott Eyre. Two lucky fans were put on the teams, as well, who ended up being ringers because they were so awesome at the game. It was cool to see the players so relaxed and having fun with each other. When the current players came up to the lightning round, 2 points behind the legends, Dempster came up to draw, to which someone in the crowd yelled, “Don’t mess this one up!”. We laughed. Howry, Eyre and Weurtz laughed, and Dempster shook his head.

Ryan Dempster draws for his team

The cool thing is after Win Lose or Draw, several of the players stayed behind to sign autographs. There was a throng of people trying to get things signed, and the players (mainly Bob Howry and Michael Weurtz from my vantage point) patiently signed as many as they could.

Bob Howry signs autographs for the masses

Dave got lucky a couple times and got signature from several of the players. Having Ben is an advantage in times like this!

Dave and Ben get a signature from Scott Eyre

In between sessions, I walked around the convention looking to see if I could find Zambrano to sign my jersey, or at the very least, to take a picture of him. Unfortunately, the session he was in was closed because of the capacity limit so I didn’t get to see him. I did get to take some awesome pictures of other players, since I didn’t have to wait in line if I just wanted to take a picture. Look in the gallery link at the end of the post for some nice pictures of players. Unfortunately, the lighting wasn’t always great and the rooms were pretty big, so I had to convert some to black and white.

Hall of Fame newbie Ryne Sandburg

Easy-on-the-eyes pitcher Sean Marshall

The next session up was all about 8-8-88 - the day the lights were turn on at Wrigley. I loved the way that the old players spoke about their time at Wrigley, and listening to their interactions with each other. Even after so much time apart, it’s obvious that they still enjoy each other’s company. I felt like an eavesdropper as they recounted stories from the times they were Cubs. Rick Sutcliffe was a great storyteller, complaining about how Ryne Sandburg always teased his toll booth skills. Andre Dawson recounted an at bat with Sutcliffe when he was with the Dodgers, and Sutcliffe almost ripping Dawson’s mustache off with a bad pitch. Ryne Sandburg talked about hearing the announcer say his name, then Wayne Messmer interrupted with, “Um, *I* was the announcer for that game” which became a little joke for the rest of the session since Ryne had forgotten that Wayne has been the announcer for the team.

Rick Sutcliffe tells one of his crazy stories

The last session of the day had some legendary players, like Mr. Cub Ernie Banks and Ron Santo and some new players, like Scott Eyre and Mark DeRosa come and talk about the Cub mystique - what it’s like to be a Cub, and what it means to them. Ernie Banks made a very touching speech about the energy in the ballpark, the quality of the fans and how playing with the Cubs is an honor. He truly IS Mr. Cub…he had the whole room (which was more than filled to capacity - even the balcony was packed) clapping and cheering. DeRosa had some great stories about when he was still playing for the Atlanta Braves, and the Cubs would be in town. He would come out to play, and more than half of the stadium was in Cubbie blue - it was as if it were a Cubs home game. He thought to himself, “Man, I wish I was playing with the Cubs!” Scott Eyre had a similar story, going to Atlanta with Mark as part of the team. They had decided to play catch before the game, and went out onto the field. There were tons of Cubs fans there, super early, and there was a loud cheer that filed the air as the guys went out - just to play catch. Then the Braves players came out - the home team - and….nothing. Crickets! Mark talked about how during the division championships last year, how he could hardly hear himself think - that’s how loud Wrigley was, and how proud he was that he was the person up to bat, and he was so overwhelmed he even thought about taking a time out (which he thinks he should have) and how disappointed he was to hit into a double play.

It was heartwarming to hear these guys talk about their team, what the Cubs mean to them, and to talk with the fans about their experiences. They appreciate the support we give them, not just at Wrigley, but the Cubs fans that are scattered all over the country, filling up seats in empty parks and cheering on their team. It was a nice way to end the day!

Ernie Banks makes me proud to be a Cub fan

Mark DeRosa talks about having the home team advantage at other parks

Want more pictures? Click here

Illini Cupcakes, originally uploaded by Yano.

My Illini cupcakes weren’t strong enough to ensure a win at the Rosebowl. (BTW, they’re orange flavored cupcakes with lemon buttercream icing)

What a painful game. Almost as painful as Hawaii’s playing in the Sugar Bowl. Two teams I was rooting for, two teams that sucked ass.