Day 226

My condolences go out to all of you Bear fans out there. I was close in my prediction - The Bears did score 17 points. I just expected the Colts to score more than 29. Was that the most anti-climactic game though? Right after Devin Hester took back the opening kickoff 92 yards to give the Bears a quick 7-0 lead, I said to Leah and my mom "this is going to be like Ted Ginn and Ohio State all over again. Its all down hill from here for the Bears." Sure enough, that is what happened. I don't care that the Bears were close in score for the first three quarters or so, you knew the Colts were going to win the game. The Bears offense, especially that bad QB of their Rex Grossman, was bad all day. Two of his interceptions were reminiscent of a Charlie Frye "up for grabs" dying quail. Peyton Manning was masterful and the Colts running game dominated the Bears overrated defense. Bottom line is that Peyton Manning and Coach Tony Dungy deserved this championship. Two well respected, classy men received their due last night. But again, it all went awry in my eyes when Tony Dungy went to the "We did it the Lord's way" routine when he received the Lombardi trophy. He said that both he and Lovie Smith can be proud of their teams because not only were they the first two Black head coaches in the Super Bowl, but they are both "good Christians" who do things "The Lord's way." Enough with that bit. Meanwhile, what did he say was the Lord's reasoning for having his 18 year old son commit suicide 16 months ago as his team was preparing for a playoff run?

But I digress. I took a half day break from the diet. Mom, Leah and I buried the famous Patti D cheese dip and I also hammered some brownies. Who else besides me enjoyed Price at halftime? No doubt about it, Prince is one weird cat. But he is so smooth and can do it all. His music is timeless and he is quite the performer. I have never seen him live, but from what I hear, his stage show is amazing. How about that outfit and schma-ta he had on his head? Only Prince could pull that off; that and the symbol guitar he was using. He is a pimp. Meanwhile, you know you though one his dancers was going to bite it and fall in those heels in the pouring rain. Here is another question for you, how does he not get electrocuted using his guitar in the rain? Oh well, the season is over. Today is one of Leah's favorite days of the year - no more football until the fall.

Leah's friends were in town this weekend and couldn't have picked a colder time to be here. As it is all over the Midwest, we are in the midst of a deep freeze. It is bitter, bitter cold here. 6 degrees for a high here. Chicago is worse. The high today is 1. Yikes. So while Leah and the girls went to the movies, the mall, etc, I had one of the more productive days I've had maybe ever. With all of these baby gifts arriving, this also is the arrival of things that I have to put together. Now you all know that I am not exactly "Mr. Fix it" by any means, but the new and improved TD is out to dispel the myth that little Jewish boys like me cannot do anything. So in the morning my first move was to attack the infamous Bugaboo stroller. For those who are not familiar, the Bugaboo is like the Rolls Royce of strollers. This thing is a tank. The directions provided could not have been more confusing and the picture diagrams made zero sense. So I'm down in the basement trying to figure this thing out and to quote Kramer, "I am letting the expletives fly." After a good hour or so, it just all came together and worked. My next project was the bassonet. The directions for this were much easier to follow, but trying to put together a bassonet while watching college hoops and having the dog trying to get at all of the pieces is not an easy task. This took me a good 90 minutes to finish. I must say I was pretty proud of myself. Of course, the bassonet isn't working as it should and needs a few tweaks, but it is essentially ready for junior. Still left to do are getting the car seat bases installed (which I am getting done at the fire department) and a few other minor details. Our house is almost complete now too. Since we spoke of Price earlier, our "Purple Rain" dining room is no longer. The painting and carpet are down and the table and chairs will be here by Wednesday. The only thing left is the Wall-unit in our family room that I am still waiting on. That should be done by the end of next week. I just want to get it in here before the baby comes. Its all happening.

Speaking of Kramer, my mom, my aunt and uncle and I went to see Jerry Seinfeld do standup Friday night. While I am not a big standup comedy guy, it was very cool to be in the same roon seeing an alltime great work his craft. He was pretty funny, although I had some of his material before. The best part was at the end he did a question and answer deal with the crowd. He is so quick witted. I still can't believe nobody asked him about Michael Richards.

Saturday night, the Girls and I went to Pizzaz for salads and pizza. I have never had their pizza before, nor have I had the famous "Pizzaz salad" that Jaimo raves about. I tried one slice of the pizza and it was pretty decent, the salad was delicious as well. I wasn't planning on going to dinner because of the big Kansas/Texas A&M game, but I ended up going and tivoing the beginning of the game. I was caught up by halftime. In the meantime, in the biggest game of our season, KU Coach Bill Self, who has been questioned about his game coaching abilities, single handedly cost us the game with his late game decisions. KU was up 11 with just over 6 minutes left and inexplicably choked the game away in a 69-66 loss. Our best offensive player all night, Sherron Collins, was on the bench the final 4 minutes of the game until the last play when we needed a three to tie the game. Nobody could understand why. Our worst free throw shooter, Sasha Kaun, was on the floor the last 8 minutes of the game. I don't want you to think Kaun is an indispensable player on our team - the guy scored a total of two points in the last two games. Texas A&M purposely fouled the 53% free throw shooter off the ball to get him to the line. I've got some questions for our coach: Kaun missed the front end of 1-and-1 free-throw situations at 3:52 (with KU up, 62-56) and 1:28 (with KU up 64-61). WHY IS HE ON THE FLOOR THEN BILL?"The whole thing is, they were big misses," Self said, "but also he'll be in that situation again. He has to have the confidence to go up and make them. We believe he will. WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO BUILD HIS CONFIDENCE IN THAT SITUATION BILL? ITS THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR! "He probably has not been in that position many times in his career. It's different shooting them in games than practice. It's unfortunate for us it happened, but you probably need your best players or who you feel are our most experienced players on the court late." SINCE WHEN IS SASHA ONE OF OUR BEST PLAYERS BILL? Self completely blew it. I haven't been that aggravated after a regular season loss maybe ever. We are totally regressing right before our eyes and I just can't see us being a major factor come tournament time.

Song of the Day: "Sign O' The Times" by Prince