Morose

That is the only word to describe how I feel this morning.

I got up at the usual time.

Had my usual three cups of coffee.

Read the paper.

But, no matter how hard I went to my usual routine to invoke my version of normal, the loss of my beloved Fighting Illini last night stills hangs in the air like a fine mist coming off of a fog rolling in to blanket my day in darkness.

I feel ill when I think about all of the naysayers coming back to the forefront. Now that the bandwagon has abruptly come to a screeching halt, time to jump off. I can hear it now, the endless “I-told-you-so’s” assaulting me like the massive raindrops of the first spring thunderstorm. Eventually this will storm will spawn a whirlwind of comments ranging from “they were good, but, not good enough” and “they didn’t have what it took down the stretch” and “good team, but the talent wasn’t good enough”, ad nauseum.

And, although I still think Jay Mariotti is a moron, and the King of all Naysayers, he does make a good point in his column today – “Sports archivists tend to remember only the champs, not the runners-up.” Forget the fact that Illinois had a 37-2 record on the season, tying only a few other clubs to reach that mark, or came back from a double-digit deficit to win a game in the Elite Eight that may be remembered as a tourney classic. Only one team can win. Unfortunately, it was a team with a bunch of punk kids with attitude and leaps, who ousted their last coach, went 8 - 20 in their first season with the new coach.

Jay Mariotti really IS an idiot

The media. Grrr. The media. They are fickle. They are indecisive. They waffle. Sometimes they smell like waffles. But this guy is just killing me. Notorious for not supporting the local sports contingent, any sports team in Chicago regardless of sport or prestige, he experiences an epiphany with the Fighting Illini basketball team? His exact words, “Never, ever doubt them. They will make you look dumb.” Just three weeks before, this idiot was calling the Illini a bunch of crying babies, how they melted down, were confused, how they “wobbled,” that they were not a “perfect team.” “Hogwash,” I say. Bollocks. And, now, he’s calling the Illini “America’s Team.” and, now, he's on the Illini Nation bandwagon? That’s right, bitch, they ARE America’s Team, regardless of what you write about them. The constant criticism of their game, and all the Illini can do is post “W’s”? Well, guess what, Mr. Moron-otti, the Illini just made YOU look dumb.

Okay, I'm done now. Whew. Anyone have some beta-blockers or an AED I can borrow?

Jay Mariotti is an idiot

Ok, so I relented, and bought both the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times. I almost never buy the Sun Times because it's very much like reading the National Enquirer or the Sun, and I already subscribe to US Weekly. Of course, I only bought the papers today to read what all of the so-called "pundits" (what makes one an expert if he/she hasn't done anything in the area that he/she is supposed to be expert in? Curious) had to say about Illinois' loss. And, this brings me to my point -- Jay Mariotti is an idiot. Not just your garden variety idiot; a full-blown, blow-hard, dyed-in-the-wool (whatever that's supposed to mean), hard-boiled IDIOT. And, I quote, "But then, there never was a compelling reason to think Illinois was a perfect team." Is he kidding me here!?!?! Okay, agreed, NOTHING nor NOBODY is perfect, but, what exactly is he insinuating here? "And, now that we've seen it, the history-buster that leaves the Illini 29-1, the issue isn't why they wilted in the final minutes against Ohio State, but how they'll respond to their first blast of failure in almost a year." Again, are you kidding me?!?! They lost a critical game that is a major measure of PRIDE, not just success, not only for Illinois, but for the Big Ten overall. "I have contended all along, to the wails of players and fans, that this team was better off losing a game before the NCAA tournament so it wouldn't carry unreasonable burdens and pressures into March." I hate to tell you, Jay (read name with dripping sarcasm), but, when Illinois was ranked for longer than a week at No. 1, and EVERYONE ELSE was already calling them darlings and saying that this could be Illinois' chance at competing for a National Championship, THAT ALONE was "unreasonable burden and pressure." Moron. Further, "[t]hey needed a reminder that they aren't superior to the rest of college basketball as much as a high-quality byproduct of a wishy-washy Big Ten." I agree the Big Ten conference has been fairly lackluster this season. With one very orange exception. Okay, Jay (said tauntingly) them's fighting words. Clearly, many of Jay's contemporaries don't agree with him on this point. AND, if our so-called basketball "pundit" would do his homework, the numbers PROVE that Illinois has dominated MANY, if not ALL, other college hoops teams in many areas. Big Ten or not, Illinois is the real deal. "But, after owning the winter as The Story, they just became one of several stories entering the real season." This just proves how powerful media influence can become, and we give this power to utter jerk-offs like Mr. Mariotti. "If there is concern about an aftereffect, it would center around the way they lost....how would they fare if their three guards weren't on their shooting games?...how susceptible were they to a team with a major presence inside? ...[a]ll of which conspired to keep the game close into the final minutes, a sorely needed aberration for an Illini team living too easy a life." Who's living the easy life, you fat-assed, no-sport reporter with bad hair and no sense of style or grace? And, comparing Matt Sylvester to Larry Bird? Moronic, simply moronic. The kid got LUCKY, that's all. He's a 7th man, a junior sub, who rose to the occasion on his HOME court. Uh, duh, Jay, numskull, that's what he's SUPPOSED to do. He's no super man. He's just a kid trying to fight for a starting spot on a team with a new coach and a new system. The kid better enjoy it, because it will be his last time. "Naturally, [Sylvester] claimed to have told a teammate he would 'score 25 points and hit the game-winner against Illinois,' further proof that karma wasn't wearing orange." And, cocky, too? One game. At home. With a team that CAN'T EVEN ENTER THE TOURNAMENT. Puh-lease. Moreover, isn't Mariotti a Chicago, home-town, reporter (who is always made fun of by his fellow sports reporters because he has nothing good to say about his home town teams). Admittedly, he's supposed to be unbiased as a reporter. However, most of the local TALENT (I emphasize TALENT here, something Mariotti lacks) leans toward supporting the hometown teams without being too overtly pro-Chicago (or Illinois). Move to Indianapolis, where the fairweather fans love to listen to the inane derision of an ignoramus like Jay Mariotti. And, talking about how the Illinois players were "water[y] eye[d]" and had "eyes [that] were still damp...." Again, what is he suggesting here? That the Illini players are a bunch of crying babies? Jackass.

"10 Items Or Less"

Doesn’t that mean exactly as it reads? Or am I missing something here? Don’t you people get it? T - E - N, 10, items, or less (definition: adj. A comparative of little; Consisting of a smaller number), which means 9, or 8, or 7, and so on. But, if you want to nitpick about proper word usage, the traditional rule holds that fewer should be used for things that can be counted (fewer than four players), while less should be used with mass terms for things of measurable extent (less paper; less than a gallon of paint). However, less is used in some constructions where fewer would occur if the traditional rule were being followed. Less than can be used before a plural noun that denotes a measure of time, amount, or distance: less than three weeks; less than $400; less than 50 miles. Less is sometimes used with plural nouns in the expressions no less than (as in No less than 30 of his colleagues signed the letter) and or less (as in Give your reasons in 25 words or less) – not that Americans should be concerned with proper English, which is technically a foreign language (from England) and not American. Oy. But, I digress. Here, yet again, American society rules the roost – “I want mine, I want it now, and I don’t care about what anyone else thinks or does or if I have negatively affected them, because, guess what, I got mine” (ad infinitum). And, most Americans wonder why they get such poor service in France, or why the State Department warns citizens to not travel to a list of countries that include Pakistan and Israel (which, coincidentally, are supporters and allies to the US), or why other Americans treat each other with such disdain. Regrettably, our national obsession with ‘instant gratification’ has led to a mass breach of the “10 items or less” etiquette, and yes, I use the word ‘etiquette’ here, albeit rather loosely. Actually, more of a rule than etiquette, it is more often treated like a ‘recommendation,’ much like the speed limit, which many admittedly consider as more of a suggestion of how fast one should drive their car as opposed to a rule governing how fast one should actually go. (Yes, yes, I do recognize my hypocrisy in lecturing anyone on the speed limit, or even mentioning it as a mere suggestion or even rule/law that I tend to largely ignore. I beg of you, please cease the verbal harangue about how fast I drive…I am working on it!) Nevertheless, the beloved consumer, the beloved American consumer, has misapplied the belief of the ‘pursuit of happiness’ and distorted it, creating the hideous and multi-headed ‘instant gratification’ beast, or is it a monster? Which leads us to ‘express’ (definition: adj. Of, relating to, or appropriate for rapid travel; n. A rapid, efficient system for the delivery of goods and mail and goods and mail conveyed by such a system.) lines, or lanes, at the grocery store checkout area – the "10 items or less" rule helps to facilitate the notion that express lines are exactly that, checkout areas intended for the rapid and efficient movement and delivery of, I can’t emphasize this point enough, 10 items or less. Lesson learned: Be courteous (I still have faith in the American family, which I trust is still teaching the value of good manners), which means, please, oh for the love of all that is good and right in the world, please, allow the poor guy, with the single item (flowers, to be exact), who is late for an important date, so to speak, behind you in line to check out before you place your twenty seven – yes, I counted – items, which consisted of nothing less than a superfluous amount of single serving bags of Doritos and Cheetos (get the multi-pack, equating to one item) , single serving yogurt cups (once more, think multi-pack, you will actually save yourself some money here, as well as preserve my sanity, and the sanity of others around you), tomatoes (which should be bagged together and not separated and placed as such), etc., onto the checkout lane’s conveyor belt, coupled with a further delay as you look for a pen to fill out your check – the sign at the cashier clearly said cash or credit ONLY – and present your identification, which you had to search inside of your duffle-bag sized purse, to give to the cashier as you hand over a check that you ‘accidentally’ forgot to endorse, further delaying the progress of the express line. Is that asking for too much? Or, maybe I'm just trying to satisfy my own need for instant gratification? Maybe the appearance of my own "impatience monster" has skewed and polluted my own perspective? Nah, I don't think so.

Valentine's Day Shmalentine's Day....blecch

Valentine's Day has come and gone. Thank goodness. Valentine’s shmalentine’s. Why is it that when you are alone on Valentine's Day, everyone perceives you as a "loser"? I just don't understand that at all. Ironically, a great tragedy is associated with a major holiday – the St. Valentine’s Day massacre. Apparently, there was no love lost in the mafia. So, why does American society places an incredible amount of importance in the expectation that one must be with someone on Valentine's Day? Why treat someone nice only on one day....why not be like that every day when you have someone in your life? We as Americans are far to susceptible to the marketing of things and events and stuff. It's actually fairly pathetic. Of course, I don't want to sound bitter or angry, but, you, the reader, probably already think that I am. So be it. What I am most concerned with is what my children, or my nieces and nephews will be faced with as they get older – overbearing expectations of their "love" lives, over-hyped expectations of gift giving (or receiving, I don't know which is worse), predisposed notions of how they should feel, intense pressure from their peer groups, as well as all of the unintended results from all of these effects. I just don't want them to have to go through the humiliation, hurt and torment that I have endured in my short lifetime. Unfortunately, being on overwhelmed with the media blitzkrieg on how we should think, act, talk, sit, eat, dress, smell, look, taste, walk, drive, bathe, feel, emote, drink, be drunk, sleep, ail, heal, examine, be examined, and just overall live, I have been undeservedly become a fatality of our own society, and have bought into those marketing ways and wiles. The deceit is now my own. Distressing? Certainly. A quandary? Without a doubt. Correctable? Perhaps. Rectifiable? Unsure. This all points to the perpetrator who has hoodwinked us into thinking that this day is so very important, only to reveal that this is a hoax of such grand proportion – who is this “Hallmark,” how did Hallmark take over the world?

My first attempt at anything like this....

Okay.....so, I admit, I had no idea what a blog is until my friend Kat turned me onto this idea (Kat, you are my inspiration, and will be the inspiration for many others!). And, this is my first attempt at anything like this....so, please bear with me during this illogical time for me (for those of you that know me, you know why this is illogical). I will try to post here as often as I can. Does everyone know who or what Boobah is? Does it scare you as much as it does me? I used to be afraid of clowns. Clowns are now my friends since Boobah came on the scene.