Day 209

I have to say this right off the bat - after months in Cleveland and a weekend in Chicago, my feelings have been re-confirmed. While I love that city, it was time for me to go. The things that used to not bother me - the traffic (ok, this bothered me, but I knew it was part of the deal), the lack of parking, the crowds, etc, no officially bother me. Leah and Jessica were down on Michigan Ave Saturday and came back saying it was unbearably crowded. That is to be expected at holiday time. Prime example on my end - Teddy was late picking me up to go to the Kansas/Depaul game, which was out by O'Hare in Rosemont. Even still, we left at 11:35 for a 1:00 start. It took us 25 minutes just to get to the expressway. Then the expressway was bumper to bumper the entire way. We didn't walk into the arena until 1:05. I don't want you to think Rosemont is that far away. Maybe 15-20 miles tops. It was beyond aggravating. And then there was the game......

So you all know of my love for my Jayhawk Basketball team. This is one of those years where coming in, all of the experts loved us, picked us to go to the Final Four and some, including Sports Illustrated, picked us to win it all. We have about as much talent as I have seen since the 96-97 team. Or at least I thought. I came to Chicago this past weekend partly for work, but mostly to see the game. I showed up. 5,000 of my closest Jayhawk brethren showed up. The team didn't. In as pathetic an uninspired of a performance as I can ever remember, we lost to a sad sack Depaul team 64-57. As bad as they played, the game was easily in hand. KU blew a 14 point second half lead. We were up eight points with four minutes to go and Depaul hit us with 14 straight points. We couldn't score or defend. The crowd turned on us. We were getting taunted left and right. The whole thing was an embarrassment. How can a team look like world-beater one week earlier in beating the #1 team in the country and be this bad against a much lesser opponent? I don't know, but for coach Bill Self who's angered the spoiled fan base with his wildly inconsistent coaching, losses like this don't help his job security - Even if he just signed a contract extension. I'll tell you one thing that was great - seeing all of the randoms from college at the game.

Rewind to Thursday night - they were predicting the storm of the century. Everything was shutting down. Leah and I flew in earlier so we would make it. We were 45 minutes later taking off and then we landed and sat on the runway for an hour and a half because there was a ground stop at Midway and a plane was at our gate. That was legit. Leah was in full freak-out mode. We stayed at a hotel by the airport. The next morning, we fully expected to see terrible conditions and a blizzard. There wasn't. Was it bitter cold and windy? Yes. But turning on the news, it was like the city was shut down. Like Ags said, a snow like this in Cleveland and the people wouldn't even had batted an eye. Chicago on the other hand had a ton of school closings, people not showing for work, etc. I waited until about 9 AM Friday morning and drove Leah over to cousin Jamie's. I haven't seen the expressways at that time of day that empty probably ever. It zoomed right into the city, dropped her off, and then went out to the clients. Again, nobody on the roads. The city seemed to shut down prematurely for no reason.

I have said in this space how much I miss my friends, but this weekend re-affirmed that fact and reminded me just how many friends were there and how few good friends I have here. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but its the facts. Friday night was so much fun. We had a crew of 12 at Hacienda, one of our favorite spots. The food is overpriced and average Mexican, but it the drinks are great and it is such a festive spot for a big group. You always wait an hour and get loaded on the margaritas. By the time you get to the table, you load on on chips and salsa and never touch your meal. This time more than any though, I really appreciated the friendships I've made with this group. It was a mix of my college boys with their wives (Sean, Teddy, The Buatch), Dave, Sara, and Mark P. Jessica joined us as well. The meal had it all - making fun of each other, old stories, and the usual Buatch inappropriate comment. Fun was had by all. Saturday after the game I went over to Gregg's and hung out with his daughter Samantha, who put on a solid performance. My favorite is when he said "wanna see how she loves rap music" and put on some tunes. All of a sudden, she started head-bobbing to the music and smiling. It was hysterical. Saturday night we went to Wildfire with Jaimo - who looks as beautiful as ever pregnant - Steve, and Ags (I buried a full slab of Ribs). Again, we had a great time and ate great food. I left early Sunday morning and Leah stayed behind to see all of her friends and flew home last night. It was such a short period of time, but we were able to squeeze in a lot of see a ton of people. We miss everyone terribly, but Chicago isn't that far away and it makes getting together with everyone more special.

As I said, I flew home early yesterday morning so I could go to the Browns/Chiefs game with my Mom in a luxury box. (In C-Town, they are referred to as "Loges," but as we talked about the other night, the term isn't used anywhere outside of this city and is lame, therefore, I refuse to it.) It was freezing and to be honest, with the way our team is playing, no way we go to this game unless we were in the box. It was great - we sat outside under heaters all game long and the Browns, for the first time in ages, actually played solid football. After being disgraced by the Bengals last Sunday, a week of turmoil and finger-pointing ensued. Yet, somehow, they came out and played their best game of the season, beating the playoff-bound Chiefs 31-28 in OT. Unlike previous games, Mom and I stayed until the bitter end. Backup QB Derek Anderson, playing for the injured Charlie Frye, led two huge fourth quarter touchdown drives as the Browns forced OT and won it on an Anderson 33 yard run and a Phil Dawson field goal. Anderson is a 6'6 strong-armed QB who looked good. It said more about how average Frye is than how good Anderson is. Mom and I haven't had that much fun at a game in I don't know how long. It was actually worth flying home for. This Thursday, The Browns play the Steelers on the NFL Network, which nobody gets. I'm going to be in LA at a sales meeting and at best, will get to see the second half at a bar of I can. 5 PM start time out west and my meeting is from 2:30-6.

This is the beginning of a crazy two weeks of travel for me. Tomorrow morning I leave for two days in Toronto. I come back Wednesday night and leave Thursday morning for LA where I have meetings. I come back Friday. Monday I go to St. Louis for essentially 24 hours (including the Bears/Rams Monday night game), and then Chicago on that Friday. I've got to get it all in before the baby comes. Speaking of which, Leah is getting more and more uncomfortable but she is a trooper as usual. The problem now is that she has a really bad cold and can't take any medicine. My poor wife. She still got up and went to work today.

Props and a belated happy B-day (yesterday) to my cousin Julie who ran in her first marathon in California yesterday. I have unbelievable respect for her for being able to pull this off. I couldn't even run six miles, let alone 26.1 miles. She is an amazing woman and I am so proud of her.

Song of the Day: "Band on the Run" by Paul McCartney and Wings