It's All About the Bike

June 14, 1974. The day I got my first road bike. I remember it well.

It was a bike that I had wanted for some time. I had seen it in a pamphlet I got from the local bike shop, George Garner Cyclery in Northbrook, Illinois. I spent months doing odd jobs and scraping together money in order to buy this bike.

When the day came, my mom took me down to the bike shop and they brought it up from the basement. I looked it over and told the guy who brought it up to get me another one because this one had a scratch on it. The adults then looked at me like I was crazy and said this is your bike. All righty then.

I got on the bike just outside the store and told my mother I would see her at home. There is nothing quite like the sound of a new bike. It is so quiet and charged up with the adventures that lay ahead. When I got home, my friends were all waiting there to see the new beauty. Russ Williams decided that we should try it out so we all went for a ride down to Glencoe Beach. It was sweet.

When you're 13 years old, a bike is your way out into the world. My family did not go on vacations, so this was it. Freedom baby. Within a year, my friends and I were charting courses as far away as Fox Lake, Illinois. For a 14 year old kid, 62 miles round trip was pretty good. We stretched one trip intended for Wilmot Mountain into an 80 mile ordeal. Oh the places you will go...

As I got older, I hung on to that bike. It made it's way to The Woodlands, Texas when I was 18. It visited Eastern Illinois University when I was 20. It found its way down to Texas again when I was 24. It returned to Illinois when I was 30. It traveled to Colorado when I was 38 and remains with me today.

Today, I have had that 1974 Schwinn Sprint bicycle for 36 years. It was in my basement this morning and I pumped up the tires and took it for a spin this afternoon.

It no longer is my primary road ride. Back in 2003, I bought a Lemond Tourmalet that I will have had 7 years already this fall. Why do I keep the old Sprint? Is it a symbol of my journey out into the world? Or is it a tangible part of my past that illustrates if you want something bad enough, you will and can attain or achieve it. I don't know. Time will tell.

Spoiled

I was in college in the spring of 1983 and I dropped by the ballpark at The University of Texas at Austin to see my first Longhorn baseball game. I had started listening to games on the radio and their history had perked my interest.

Texas was playing a Southwest Conference game against TCU. It was the seventh inning and I noticed on the scoreboard that TCU didn't have a hit. Then, the Texas pitcher went into his windup and delivered the ball. There was a loud ping sound. The Texas outfielder backed up and went to the wall and the ball just cleared the fence for a home run. The Texas pitcher (Calvin Schiraldi) let out a yell and whipped his glove down on the mound. At the time, I was like bummer, but hey, we got a ways to go here dude. Well, Texas came up in the bottom of the 7th and went in order and to my surprise the game was over. You see in those days, the first game of a double header was a scheduled 7 inning affair. Being new to Texas baseball, I did not know this. So, Texas lost the game 1-0 on a 1 hitter by Schiraldi.

I went to other games that spring, Then I went home to Chicago for the summer. I followed the team in the Chicago Tribune's box scores in the back of the sports section. I went over to my friend Chris Kennedy's house every morning to look at his newspaper. Texas had made it to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska and were playing for the championship. In those days, without ESPN, the only way to find out if they won in real time was to call a Sports Information phone number. Anyway, I remember calling and hearing that the score was Texas 2 Alabama 2 in the 7th inning. A guy by the name of Roger Clemens was on the mound for Texas.

Later that night, I called again and was informed that Texas had indeed won 4-3. They had won the National Championship. I was excited and proud and had absolutely nobody to celebrate with because I was in Chicago.

So that was the beginning of my obsession with Texas Baseball. The next season, Texas lost the National Championship game to Augie Girrido's Cal State Fullerton team 3-1. Ironically, Augie is the current Texas head coach and has led Texas to 2 National Championships. And the season after that, Texas lost the National Championship to the Miami Hurricane's 10-6. It was quite a run of excellence.

And now you now why I expect so much from my Longhorns. At the time I thought they would play for the National Championship every year. Could you blame me?

Texas lost the National Championship to the Wichita State Shockers in 1989 and then struggled to be competitive until Huston Street grew up and won the National Championship for Texas in 2002. Texas was runner up to Cal State Fullerton in 2004 and won it all the next season in 2005 when they beat Florida for their 6th National Championship (1949, 1950, 1975, 1983, 2002, & 2005). Texas was runner up AGAIN last season to LSU.

That brings us to this past weekend. Texas was playing in what is called a Super Regional down in Austin. They had lost the first game of a best of 3 series to TCU 3-1. Then, Texas bounced back with a 14-1 victory to even the series. But yesterday, Texas lost to TCU 4-1 ending their season. Texas will not be going to Omaha and the College World Series this year. For TCU, it will be their 1st trip to Omaha and the College World Series. They earned it and they deserve to be in Omaha. They beat Texas and they made school history.

As for Texas and me, we'll be back. History is on our side. Funny thing is that I had just finished celebrating the Stanley Cup Championship with the Chicago Blackhawks, which took a lifetime to achieve. Sports most times is a way to mark time, which inevitably keeps ticking by. Enjoy the highs and remember them because championships don't come along every day and when you win one, it is as much for the here and now as it is for all the times you came up short.

Schooled

Ok, it's reality time for the Chicago Blackhawks and their fans. After storming into the Stanley Cup Finals against inferior Western Conference opponents, the Blackhawks have more than met their match in the Eastern Conference Champions, the Philadelphia Flyers. (The Flyers not only touched the Conference Championship trophy, they carried it around because they earned it.)

We have seen this rodeo before. An overconfident, young team told they are great and that they are going to win it all falling short of expectations. Right now, the Flyers are putting on a clinic on how to beat a superior opponent by doing all the little things that win games.

Somebody forgot to tell the Hawks that this is the Stanley Cup playoffs where grit and determination usually prevail over pure talent. The Blackhawks can skate like nobodies business. They are uber talented. They are also very young and inexperienced. Right now, they are being schooled by the Flyers.

Did we forget already that: the Flyers won their last game of the season on the road in a shootout just to make the playoffs, that the Flyers beat Martin Brodeur and the #2 seed New Jersey Devils in 6 games, that the Flyers came back from three games to none to win in game 7 on the road after being down 3-0 in the game, that the Flyers shut out the Canadians 3 times after the Canadians beat the #1 seed Washington Capitals and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, and that the Flyers have Chris Pronger, who is being allowed to play as dirty as he is capable of and not be penalized for it.

You bet we did. The fans of the Blackhawks want the Stanley Cup. They have waited 49 years for it. So, while we were all fixated on winning it, we forget to respect the opponent, who by the way wants it as bad as we do. If the Hawks don't wake up and start playing hockey again, I'm afraid that we will all be saying "wait till next year" like the true Chicago fans we are.