Cubs Logic

8 months ago, they had a great idea. Let's play a college football game between Illinois and Northwestern in Wrigley Field. It will be the first football game played in Wrigley since the Chicago Bears left for Soldier's Field 40 years ago.

What's the problem? Oh, you say there is a brick wall at the back of the east end zone? And maybe somebody could get hurt? Welcome to mamby pamby land. The monsters of the midway never complained...

No problem, we'll just change the rules a little bit. Both teams will now play toward the west end zone. What?

If you have ever been to Wrigley Field or just Chicago for that matter, there usually is a breeze off the lake. That's east to west for all of the geographically challenged out there. So, if there is a breeze tomorrow off the lake in Chicago, every kickoff is going right over the third base dugout and into the stands. All passes will be with the wind. And if you have seats in the right field area, all action will be going away from you. Sounds great.

Also sounds like the new owners of the Cubs and the Big Ten Conference are a little spacially challenged...and did I mention that the sun sets in the west?

Purple Passion

Northwestern University is located on the North Shore of Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. It is by most standards a very prestigious academic institution. Northwestern also fields a football team and is part of the Big Ten conference.

I was born at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Illinois and grew up on the North Shore. Northwestern was the doormat of the Big Ten until the late 90's when they had a miracle season and went on to play in the Rose Bowl. One of the players on that team was an All American linebacker named Pat Fitzgerald.

Today, on a rainy day in Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern played host to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa came into the game ranked #13 in the country still with hopes of winning the Big Ten title this season. Northwestern played a solid defensive first half and led 7-3 going into halftime. Iowa came out in the second half and re-established themselves taking a commanding 17-7 lead. Northwestern's undersized defense was wearing down and Iowa was driving to put the game away in the 4th quarter when it happened. A simple mistake. Iowa's quarterback threw deep down field into the waiting arms of a Northwestern defender. Still, with the ball on their own 15 yard line and with no evidence of being able to move the ball, Iowa looked in command. Not so fast my friends...

Northwestern's Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald is a fighter and a winner. He was not hanging his head on the sidelines. He was into the game, coaching and encouraging his team on. Northwestern proceeded to drive the ball 85 yards with a hurry up offense that had the much bigger defensive players gasping for air. Touchdown. Northwestern's defense made the necessary stop the next series of downs and once again, Northwestern drove the length of the field. They went 91 yards to take the lead with just over a minute and a half to play.

Northwestern won the game. The fans ran onto the field. The players were happy. The coach was happy. And all of this when things really looked bad for Northwestern.

The last 2 weeks, Northwestern had given up big leads and lost. It looked like this game was going to be no different. But it was different. The Northwestern kids never gave up. They fought and clawed and pulled the win out. It was nice to see and the reason I love college football. No game this season have I seen my beloved Longhorns come close to that kind of effort and determination.

Northwestern played and won a game today. Texas needs to get back to this same type of effort and determination if they want to earn the right to be an elite team again.

Texas Wrong Horns

No, this is not a blog written by an Asian trying to speak English...

I think aliens from another planet have kidnapped the Texas Longhorn football team, lock, stock and barrel. What we have now are some scabs dressed up as coaches and players that the athletic director has thrown on the field while he searches for the missing team.

The head coach who is pretending to be Mack Brown is a bad replica who looks older than Joe Paterno. The players are all way too small, too slow, and too stupid to be real Texas football players. And the losing is a dead give away. I mean come on, 5 losses this season so far? Isn't that how many times a Texas team loses in a decade?

I have seen a lot of players who look like longhorns playing on Sundays, so maybe I'll just start watching football the second day of the weekend until the team is found. Maybe they are all on an island somewhere like the show LOST...or maybe they are all vampires who can't be seen in bright light...come to think of it, the Oregon team is good this year...maybe the team has been hiding in the Twilight of Eugene all season...