If you grew up in the Chicago area and you are about my age, you remember The Blizzard of 1967. It is the snowstorm we measure all others against. 23 inches of snow fell with drifts up to 8 feet deep.

I was 6 years old at the time and I remember helping my mom bake cookies while it was snowing. The wind was blowing off the lake from the northeast and the snow was piling up on the window ledges outside of our living room. I remember it snowed and it snowed and it snowed. We had to clear the front door of snow for fear of being trapped inside. And we didn't dare venture outside until it was over.

When it was over, we went outside and were amazed at what we saw. The snow had drifted up as high as the garage roof. We immediately got busy digging a tunnel around the garage and up against the south side of the house on the patio. We had never seen such an opportunity for adventure. We played outside until our clothes got soaked. We then came in and let them dry out in our pantry where the furnace was. After they dried, we went out again. I don't remember much more...

I do remember though seeing a picture of my grandparents years later in front of their house in Edgebrook digging out after the great blizzard of '67. My grandfather's name was John Nielsen, but my grandma called him Jack and he was 76 years old at the time. There they were shoveling snow over their heads.

Little did they know at the time that that would be my grandfather's last great snowstorm. He would die of throat cancer a little over a year later. But remembering that picture, their smiles as they proudly battled all that mother nature could dish out, is one I'll never forget.

So today, 44 years later, I sit and watch the Weather Channel as they forecast a major winter storm heading for Chicago. Will it be "an Oklahoma hooker", a nickname for a storm that curls up from the southwest and wraps around the windy city? Will it be the latest "Storm of the Century"? We shall see and if it is, memories will be made.

The Fall of the Texas Empire

Remarkable.

The Texas Longhorn football program from mid-October of 2004 until mid-September of 2010 was quite simply remarkable. They posted a 68-8 record during that time. They played in back to back Rose Bowls winning both against Michigan and USC. They beat Ohio State in a Fiesta Bowl. They won the National Title in 2005 and lost the National Title game in 2009.

After a loss to Oklahoma in 2004, Texas won their next 20 games. They came down to earth with back to back 10-3 seasons that were followed up with 12-1 and 13-1 seasons. They were 3-0 in 2010 and then the program suddenly crashed and burned.

Texas won only 2 of their remaining 9 games last season resulting in a losing season and no bowl game. The fall of the Longhorn empire looked similiar to a cyclist cracking. His legs push the pedals around, but they have no power left in them. Texas bonked.

What now? Will I look back on these recent teams like Texas fans used to about the teams of the 60's? Will it take 35 years to win another National Title? Gosh, I hope not.

As far as I know, football is not an elective at Texas, so please get rid of the track guys and the other proven losers Mack. I do not want to hear anymore NFL potential crap about players. Prove it to us on the field or please get off of it for goodness sake.

Mack you better wake up and smell the coffee or you'll be wondering what happened to your job like we are wondering what happened to our team this past season. Texas is one of the best programs in the country and should be easy to turn around with all the advantages it has.

Mack, the question is do you have it in you to do what is necessary for the good of the program or not? Time will tell.

Memories of Christmas

The Lionel train that chugged up the trestle tracks on its way to sudden impact with the living room wall when the kid at the controls sped into a turn that couldn't be navigated at high speed...unpurpose.

Hiding under the Christmas tree, buried under the presents on Christmas Eve...

Watching the neighbors 4-color wheel rotate on their artificial tree through our living room window...

Hoping for snow for a white Christmas...

Realizing one Christmas that we didn't have a fireplace and wondering how Santa delivered the toys...

Listening to Christmas albums on the RCA stereo cabinet turn table...

Wrapping Christmas presents after midnight mass...

Driving to Chicago on Christmas Eve to visit my Mom's 2nd cousin who we called Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Frank...

Looking at Sears and Wards catalogues to make our wish list for presents from Santa...

Making a Christmas card holder out of a Reader's Digest magazine...

Playing hockey in our kitchen...

Being told not to bring a toy car to church on Christmas because you could lose it and then, you guessed it, losing it...

Having to wait until after dinner on Christmas night to open presents at one of our grandparents houses...

Sliding down carpeted stairs on our butts as we played guess-which-hand-the-penny-is-in game with our Uncle Conrad...

Driving our mom crazy by turning off all the lights to see the Christmas tree lit up in the dark...

Sitting under the Christmas tree and staring at the patterns of color reflected on the ceiling...

Saving money and depositing it in the bank for Christmas presents...

Not having to go to school the whole week before Christmas and the whole week after Christmas...

Rolling the TV stand into the kitchen so we could watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" during dinner...

Feeling like the air got let out of your tires when you realized Christmas afternoon that it was over, for this year...

Merry Christmas.

4 is the Magic Number

My stepdaughter came up to me and said, "Give me a number." I said, okay, 7. She said 7 is 5, 5 is 4, and 4 is the magic number. Say what?

She said give me another number. I said 10. She said 10 is 3, 3 is 5, 5 is 4, and 4 is the magic number.

My mind took the bait and I was off to the races in problem solving mode.

Numbers. Since I have used math most of my career, my mind was programmed to think in terms of numbers. What was this riddle 4 is the magic number? Do I add the numbers together and then divide by something and then subtract by something else?

Any number I would give her, she would think momentarily and then rattle off a chain of seemingly random numbers that culminated in the phrase "and 4 is the magic number." My brain kicked into overdrive, but I was not able to solve this riddle.

Seeing my dismay, she then gave me an invaluable hint about the riddle. She said that it had nothing to do with math. Say what?

Okay. Back up the truck and dump out the garbage cluttering my mind. Suddenly, the answer to the riddle popped into my head. With math out of the equation, I quickly formulated that if I counted the letters in the word that represents the number, I came up with the answer to the riddle.

For example, the number 7 is spelled s-e-v-e-n. That's 5 letters. The number 5 is spelled f-i-v-e. That's 4 letters... and 4 is the magic number.

Light bulb.

What if people with opposing views could find common ground by figuring out that what they were trying to communicate to one another was not getting through because of the way they were approaching the problem? In other words, what if math had nothing to do with it?

Just look at the way our government approaches problems like out of control spending and you'll see that...

...math definitely has nothing to do with it...

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...