And We're Back!

I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but at least I got it in before the regular season started. :) Photo and tickets to the game last night, courtesy of my friend Nathan.

Now that the Bears have their 3rd 4th preseason game under their belt, I feel that I can actually make some educated observations about this relatively new team this year.

Defense
The defense seems like it's picking up right where it left off last year. Yes, we've lost Brian Urlacher, but we've got enough veteran leadership with Tillman, Briggs, Peppers, and others that the team will move on. Things will get very interesting around week 2 or 3 when middle linebacker D.J. Williams is recovered from his injury. Right now Jon Bostic is doing a great job, but the Bears didn't sign Williams to a (potentially) $1.75 million contract to be a back up, at least not at the beginning of the year. It should be interesting to see how that turns out in a few weeks.
Outlook for the year: Solid

Special Teams
We lost Dave Toub to the KC Chiefs, but we also lost Devin Hester as a wide receiver. Yes, that second part is a positive. Now that Lovie Smith is gone, the Devin Hester experiment is finally and officially over. He sounds excited to bring his focus back to the return game. I'm excited to watch it! He's had slumps before, and I'm eager to see if he can come back again. I think he can. In other news, dedicated specialists Patrick Mannelly, Adam Podlesh, and Robbie Gould will continue their excellent work.
Outlook for the year: Solid

Offense
This is going to be the hardest to nail down. I'm excited to see Jay Cutler play without (legitimate) excuses to hide behind. I think he has much higher potential than he has been able to achieve for the last 4 years with the Bears, and I'm eager to see him reach that potential this year. He's had unstable coaching, play calling, targets, and protection for most of his time here. This year, those handicaps should be gone and I'm looking forward to a Bears team that can let its offense do some of the talking. We look to have a strong offensive line this year (never thought I'd say that), we have plenty of great targets for our QB to throw to, and we have an offensive coordinator who will not only get the plays to the QB well ahead of the play clock, but will probably call some creative plays while doing it. All the pieces are there, I want to see them fall into place.
Outlook for the year: Excited, but cautiously optimistic

The Bears have looked good in the preseason both as a team and as individual players. But as Brad Biggs pointed out, their pre-season opponents had a combined record of 23-41 last season so it's not like they're the cream of the crop. In addition, the 2008 Detroit Lions proved beyond all doubt that a preseason record means absolutely nothing by going 4-0 in those games and then 0-16 in the regular season. But all in all, I like what I'm seeing so far. No matter what happens, it's going to be an exciting year for the Bears.

Bear Down!!!

...

The last couple days have been intense.

Naturally, I'm about to make it all about me.

On Wednesday, I learned that my brother's best friend's younger brother had been hit by a car. I don't know the details of what happened, but it was bad. He was on life support. He wasn't gone yet, but it was an inevitability. I just couldn't believe it. It seemed impossible that he could be there and then suddenly gone. I never knew him well, but he'd been on the periphery of my life for a long time. I was friends with his sister when we were in high school -- never super close and we haven't kept in touch, but I'd been to their house a few times -- and our brothers have been best friends for years. I couldn't imagine what his family was going through.

On Thursday morning, I got an email from Pat telling me to check Facebook and to call my mom. I haven't been on Facebook much recently; if I was, I would have seen the post as soon as I woke up.

Chris's family was donating his kidney to my dad.

My dad has had kidney disease for years. He had his first transplant in 2000, on New Year's Day in fact. But apparently, transplanted organs don't last forever, and he's needed a new one for some time. Last year, I was going through testing to see if I could be a donor, and it was looking good for a while, but my last couple tests had been less than conclusive, and the doctor wanted me to lose another 10 pounds anyway before he'd consider the surgery, so we were going to wait until I lost the weight and then run the tests again.

I never lost the weight.

In fact, I've been moving slowly in the opposite direction, to the point where I'm almost back where I was three years ago, before I made the decision to get healthy. Which would be frustrating regardless, but with this transplant situation hanging over my head, it makes me feel even worse about it.

And I've been trying... not hard enough, obviously, but TRYING... to get back to making healthy choices. And -- yesterday's stress eating aside -- I feel like I've been doing better recently. Earlier this year, I was at a pretty low point, where I really didn't give a crap about anything. And now, I feel like, mentally... I'm not back to where I was at the peak of my efforts, but I'm closer. I'm moving in the right direction again...

And then this happens, and it messes with my head. Because it was supposed to be me.

After my initial weight loss, I've slipped and started and slipped again so many times in the past couple years, and if this is the time that I finally don't slip... what does that say about me? That subconsciously I never wanted to go through with donating?

Well, eff that.

(Perhaps this would be a good time to start seeing a therapist.)

So anyway... that's where I am... all of my own crap mixed in with the already conflicted emotions of the situation. But back to the current events...

My dad had the surgery last night. He's doing well. Pat and I are driving out for the weekend once he gets off work. There's a service for Chris on Sunday.

The past 24 hours I've been alternating between a numb haze and ALL THE EMOTION, and I have a feeling this weekend is going to be more of the same.

IT'S FINALLY OVER!!!

If you somehow missed the drama that is our computer situation, here's a couple links to catch you up:

My Kingdom for a Trouble-Free Computer (April 3)
Blargh... (May 6)

Even if you don't feel like clicking the links, the dates alone will tell you that this has been going on for A WHILE (and my laptop had already been having issues for several weeks when I first wrote about it). So basically, I had an intermittent laptop through March and April... and then no laptop at all through May and June, as we finally had Staples send it away to a repair depot just after my May 6th post. These guys, we were assured, would fix the issue we were having, along with anything else they found wrong with it, and we'd essentially be getting it back in new condition, probably in a couple of weeks.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

But although it was frustrating and inconvenient not to have my own computer, between my smart phone for little things and Pat's desktop for big things, I got by. There were file incompatibility issues (the desktop used Office 2003, the laptop had used Office 2009) and just the general awkwardness of using a computer that wasn't my own, but it wasn't too bad... aside, of course, from the fact that we hadn't planned on this arrangement lasting more than a few weeks. We'd paid good money, we'd expected results, and as weeks turned into months, the frustration (if not the inconvenience) continued to grow.

AND THEN, we came back after the Fourth of July weekend to discover that the desktop monitor was dead for some reason. Thankfully it was only the monitor and not the computer itself, so we were able to hook up to our TV and use that for a monitor... only we don't have one of those nice new flat-screens, it's an old TV, and everything looks incredibly fuzzy and distorted, no matter what resolution we pick. I mean, it was nice to be able to get all our data off the computer, and to use it if there was something we absolutely couldn't use our phones for (I was doing a little bit of blurry blogging these last couple weeks), but for the most part we were computer-less.

MEANWHILE, either the computer depot that Staples uses is full of morons, or they had a string of incredibly bad luck. I'm not even going to recount all of the updates we got over the past couple months (and getting those updates was like pulling teeth). Suffice it to say that they tried one thing after another after another, went through faulty parts and needed to replace them multiple times... and in the end, they finally gave up and sent the laptop back to the store MORE BROKEN THAN IT WAS WHEN WE SENT IT TO THEM!!!

The good news in all of this is that Staples gave us a full refund, plus a compensatory coupon, and so last night we bought a brand new laptop -- my first one since 2001 (!!!) and a nice upgrade from the old one -- for about $60 more than what we would have paid for the repairs. Obviously it would have been better to get this resolved months ago, but I'm just glad it's finally over.

Jay Cutler is on the Clock

I've been very quiet lately. Work’s been busy. I've been spending time outside. I just haven’t been spending as much time sitting on the computer. Anyway, I thought I’d do another Chicago Bears post to get me started again.

If you've read my posts on the Bears before, you probably know that I’m a fan of Jay Cutler. I’m not his #1 fan or anything, but I have a lot of respect for him. I chose the picture above to illustrate a point. Jay Cutler is the best QB the Bears have seen in a long time, but there has been entirely too much of what you see above happening. Some of it is Jay’s fault for holding onto the ball too long and trying to make a play out of nothing. Most of it is the organization’s fault for having been too much in the “getting off the bus running” mindset for far too long.

The days of the QB who is simply a game manager who can simply hand the ball off to the running back are long gone (well…except maybe for Minnesota). Cutler has been in Chicago since 2009 and this is the first year that the Bears have truly decided to surround him with the supporting cast that a successful quarterback needs to have. Getting Brandon Marshall last year was a great move, but with the injuries that plagued the rest of the receivers last year. Defense against the Bears was simple. Over-cover Marshall, then squish Cutler when he had nowhere to throw the ball. Now he has the makings of a good offensive line to protect him, and a play caller who knows something about calling plays. From what I saw, Mike Tice was able to put together a reasonable o-line for what he had to work with, but a good play caller he was not. Now we’ve got a guy who is supposed to be a real whiz kid when it comes to play calling and from what I’ve seen from OTAs, the plan is to nip the sack count in the bud.

Now to get back to the title of the post and my long and meandering point. Assuming the line performs like it’s supposed to and Mark Trestman has a reasonable game plan in his head, Jay Cutler is out of excuses. As I’ve said before, I’m firmly in the camp who believes that those excuses up to this point have been legitimate. I imagine it’s hard to look like a great QB when you’re getting knocked on your ass every other play. However, if he doesn’t have a stellar year this year, Jay Cutler will have no one to point the finger at but the guy in the mirror.

That said, I think the combination of the surrounding cast and the last year of Jay’s contract will add up to one heck of an offense this year. With Alshon Jeffery coming in with a little more experience under his belt, a tight end who can actually catch a ball, and someone who understands that “run Matt Forte up the middle” doesn’t actually work, I’m excited to see what the Bears offense can do this year.

BEAR DOWN!

Music Monday: Special Star Trek Edition

A year ago I started a weekly feature to share some of the music I enjoy. It fizzled out by the end of the summer, but I thought it was time to bring it back, if only for a single post. A "One Night Afternoon Only" special event.

What's the occasion?

If you're a regular reader, you already know I recently had a birthday. And while I didn't get my laptop back from Staples like I was hoping (it's been WELL over a month now... c'mon, guys, get it together!), I did get some actual presents, including two CDs from Pat (yes, I still listen to CDs, now get off my lawn) -- the soundtracks for Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness.

I know I've already mentioned that the music is one of my favorite things about the Star Trek reboot, so you can imagine how excited I was to get these. And I figured what better occasion to bring back Music Monday.

Happy Blogiversary to Amy!

Today is the second blogiversary of one of my favorite bloggers, Amy at Lucy's Football. Her past week of posts have been an epic countdown to this moment, filled with the "Best of Lucy's Football" (according to the masses anyway; there are many wonderful posts that didn't make the Top 7) and other bloggery goodness.

For me, it's been just over a year since I first stumbled across her blog, and probably just under a year since I started reading it regularly. And Amy is one of those people who I love having in my life (if only virtually) because she is so passionate about what she loves. Sometimes it's books, a lot of times it's people, but the one that really jumps out at me is her love of the theater.

Now, I am not a theater-lover. I'm not a theater-hater, and I like to think I have a greater appreciation of the arts in general than a lot of people do, but theater just isn't one I've ever been really passionate about. But the way she feels about theater is the way that I feel about music, and the fact that it's such a huge part of her life... well, it makes me nostalgic and more than a little sad, because I haven't made the effort these past seven years (oh God, has it really been that long since I graduated college?) to keep music in my life. Last summer I decided I was going to join the Dubuque Chorale so I could sing again, and then my social anxiety got in the way and I chickened out. I keep wanting to go to the Dubuque Symphony, but they only have a few concerts a year and I'm always either out of town that weekend or forget until it's too late.

But Amy makes me remember what having that passion in my life feels like, and her theater stories go a long way in keeping that dream alive in me rather than just letting it die.

So, Amy -- even though this got a little more self-centered than I'd intended -- here's to two years of blogging, and hopefully many more. The internet wouldn't be the same without you!

It's My Birthday!

Full Stop

I feel so scattered right now. Between the internet being out for most of Wednesday night, spending four hours at the car dealership yesterday waiting on a repair, and Memorial Day weekend sneaking up on me . . .

I had plans! I just never actually DID anything about them . . .

All of which to say is, this is as much of a blog post as you get today (instead of the Star Trek post I had planned), and I was totally going to write something and have it ready to go for Monday (another specific topic which I'll probably push to Wednesday), and my "bring back the words" campaign comes to a grinding halt.

Maybe for June I'll aim for two posts a week.

Brian Urlacher Redux

A couple months ago, Pat wrote a bit about the Brian Urlacher situation, how he and the Bears couldn't agree (some might argue, didn't really try to agree) on terms to bring him back. His future's been up in the air since then, but this morning he announced that he would retire.

I'm sure this isn't the way he wanted to end his career, despite ending his statement by saying that he has no regrets. I think there's a difference between having regrets and dwelling on regrets. There's nothing wrong with saying that you wished things could have happened differently.

I suppose only he knows how he truly feels, but I certainly wish it would have happened differently. Still, though, I'm (somewhat selfishly) glad he's not going to play for another team. I say "somewhat selfishly" because it feels wrong to say that I wanted his career to be over. But he's one guy I expected to see retire a Bear, and while you can argue the timeline and the semantics of that statement, at least now I can always think of him as a Bear.

(Not that I wouldn't have anyway, but it would have been a lot harder if he'd worn a different uniform for a couple years.)

There are already a ton of stories floating around with various takes on the news: recapping his stats, discussing his Hall of Fame future, comparing his career to that of other great Chicago linebackers . . . and so on and so forth. I'm not going to start collecting links or I'll never stop, but at the very least, here's a short article on ChicagoBears.com, including a highlight reel, and a collection of responses from Twitter. Twitter is, of course, where I first saw the news, and watched reactions roll in. There are a couple tweets worth pointing out on their own though. The first is a look back to thirteen years ago:

LM: Check out 2000 post-draft issue of Bear Report with Brian Urlacher on cover: "Born to be a Bear." twitpic.com/csfvjo

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) May 22, 2013

And the second, well . . . if you don't get it, don't worry about it. But if you do . . . enjoy a laugh.

You were who we thought you were.Congrats.RT @burlacher54: It was an honor to play my entire career for the @chicagobears.

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) May 22, 2013

Another Season Down

So, all of my TV shows (well, most of them) had their finales last week. Here are my thoughts:

(This will get spoilery. If you haven't seen the finales of Castle, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, or The Office yet, and are planning to, you should probably just leave now.)