Stink of the Sox: How Getting Clubbed by Cubs Shouldn't Be A Surprise (and Why I Expect Further Stink)

Entering the 2013 season, I had lower fan expectations than most when it came to the Chicago White Sox, who I believed overachieved greatly last season in holding first place in the AL Central for most of the second half of the season before being edged out by the eventual pennant winners Detroit Tigers.

My prediction of 76-86 was based on my questions with guys who had tough shoes to fill (Flowers replacing Pierzynski), who strike out too much for how little they get on base (Viciedo, Alexi), guys who would have a difficult time duplicating previous seasons (Sale, Peavy), and guys who would likely tail off at some point (Konerko).

I have been wrong so far about my pre-season assessment of Sale and Peavy, but otherwise most of my suspicions for a tail-off this season have been proved true, especially in their latest series versus their National League counterparts about 10 miles north.

The White Sox hitters have been beyond putrid this season. Check out some of these team stats entering Thursday's game (their third loss to the Cubs), accompanied by their AL rank (out of 15 teams). And remember that the Astros (one of the worst teams in the majors) are now in this league:

• .240 batting average (13th)
• .293 on-base percentage (15th)
• .379 slugging (13th)
• .672 OBP (15th)
• 126 extra base hits (15th)
• 121 walks (15th)

Trying to find a good stat from White Sox hitters is like trying to find Where's Waldo as a kid when the pages weren't pre-circled. If it wasn't for the stellar pitching of Sale & Peavy, this team would be much much worse than their 24-27 record indicates. It's actually quite surprising that they've even gotten this many wins.

On the other side of town...the Cubs have actually showed some promise, more than most people were expecting.

Here are the Cubs stats in the same categories entering play on Thursday:

• .248 batting average (8th - a higher average even though pitchers have to hit in NL)
• .302 on-base percentage (12th - one of the things really holding this offense back from being even better)
• .411 slugging (3rd)
• .713 OBP (8th)
• 172 extra base hits (1st in NL, 4th in the majors). 
• 118 walks (15th)

Most of these stats are not too shabby, especially for a team that sports a 22-30 record. Strange thing about their record is their runs for vs. runs allowed (Cubs have plated 214 runs to their opponents 208, including Thursday). These are stats that I like to use to see what teams might have deceiving records at a certain point in the year (I like to start taking stats/trends seriously around the 35-40 game mark). This contrasts the Sox luck of scoring only 183 runs while allowing 212.

Yes, at the end of the year, the record is what tells the story, especially of who is playing in the postseason and who is joining Terrell Owens and just eating popcorn in October. And by the time this season ends, I believe it will be the Cubs who will have bragging rights (at least with win totals) over their South Side brethren. 

With one game left in their season series with the South Siders on a yet-to-be-determined date, the Cubs clinched the Crosstown Cup with their win Thursday. Whenever their next game might be, I believe we will be looking at a North Side team that will have overtaken the White Sox in wins.

Out of (hockey)towners: Hockey Thoughts from Non-Hawks Fans in the Chicago Area

You might remember a blog series that I did before the 2012 NFL season began about people who live in/around Chicago and are fans of out-of-market teams. Seeing as though hockey is in season here (at least for a few more days), I decided to reach out to some of my hockey friends who have favorite teams outside of the Blackhawks.

Some of these gents - two of the Tims - were featured in the football blogs in August (one a Vikings fan, another of America's Team), so they have quite the background in rooting for non-Chicago entities.

With these friends of mine (four of them answered my questions), I was looking to see the roots of their hockey interest, what steered them to the teams they rooted for, and why not the Hawks?

I also gauged their thoughts on the large increase of Blackhawks fans who have (for the most part) been filling the United Center since Rocky Wirtz took over the team in 2007. They had varying thoughts on the bandwagon fans, ranging from acceptance to complete disgust.

Enjoy!




Bubba - Wings Man

The first one to answer (we'll call him Bubba) is a Red Wings fan, which seems to be the most common out-of-market team for Chicago people to root for. Needless to say, he's a happy camper as they sealed their third straight win to go up 3-1 in their best of 7 against the rival Hawks. When he answered this, they were down 1-0, so his answers may be different now than before, especially his predictions, which I'll mention below.

Bubba's roots as a Wings fan date back to his days of playing Sega Genesis, when the Red Wings had the best team in the game. "You couldn't beat them with (Steve) Yzerman, (Sergei) Federov, (Dino) Ciccarelli, and (Chris) Osgood," he said.

In a rivalry like Detroit/Chicago, you might find this nugget from Bubba surprising: not only does he not mind
the bandwagon of fans that have come cheer on the Blackhawks recently - he also cheers for the
Hawks...when they're not playing the Wings. He was rooting them on in the 2010 Stanley Cup - how many

Wings fans can you say did this? However, to be a true Hawks fan, Bubba has a few criteria.

"Give me stats and show me they know the game," he said. "If they know old players and key moments in history, I'd label them a true fan."

Entering the playoffs, Bubba said he would have considered this postseason a success if the Red Wings advanced past the first round of the playoffs.

"Since we did, I'm happy with whatever happens from now on," he said.

Having held onto his answers since Saturday, he might want to revise his Cup prediction (the Hawks losing to the Penguins in 6), but I'm sure he doesn't mind possibly being wrong about that.

So we know why he liked the Wings - why not the Hawks?

"Just not a Hawks fan," Bubba said. "I was born a winner and the Blackhawks were shitty for so long."


More Wings Please - The Tim C. Story

Another Wings fan in my group of friends, Tim C. fell in love with Motown's hockey team for a much different reason than Bubba. Instead of video games, Tim was introduced to hockey by Wings fans.

"After learning the history and traditions, I was hooked," he said.

Tim is a little more rough around the edges (to put it nicely) when it comes to his distaste of the Blackhawks and their fan base. As a kid, the Hawks were irrelevant to him, largely due to their lack of television presence.

"The Chicago Wolves had a better attendance rate," he said. "It's hard to root for a team that gets no local coverage."

When the Hawks won the Cup in 2010, Tim turned his TV and went to bed - so no celebrating with his Hawks friends like Bubba did.

His thoughts on the bandwagon fans are a lot different than Bubba's as well, and Tim certainly didn't mince words.

"Everyone is technically a bandwagon fan. They're no different," Tim said. "Now if you want me to answer what it would take for me to remove them of the label of low IQ'd morons, then my answer would be 'Shut up and listen. Learn something before you open your mouth because you spew verbal diarrhea.'"

Regarding his Wings, he has been very surprised to see the Wings playing so well, especially with their youth movement.

"For them to help grab the 7th seed, knock off the 2 seed, and give the 1 seed a run for their money," Tim said, "I'd say that's surprising and very impressive."

Like Bubba, Tim answered this before the Wings took a convincing series lead, so his series pick (Penguins over Hawks) may be different now.

"That's the match I'll root for if the Wings lose because it will be a classic," he said.




Another Tim, Another Out of Market Team A'Bruin

Yet another Tim in my group of friends can't root for the Hawks. This particular Tim roots for a team a little east of Detroit.

Tim W. became hooked on the Boston Bruins in a similar way that Tim C. did - with historical players on the team as he started following hockey. These greats included Ray Bourque, Cam Neely & Andy Moog, making his liking of the team come "pretty naturally."

He knew that his hometown team had some great players like Ed Belfour, Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios, but Tim couldn't bring himself to root for the Blackhawks.

"The Hawks and their poor management/ownership really steered me away from them," he said. "Not showing home games on TV really was a turn off and didn't make them seem fan friendly or accommodating to their fans."

Since his Bruins aren't really rivals in the truest sense of the word, Tim didn't find himself rooting against the Hawks like an average Red Wings fans would. Consider his Cup reaction in 2010 a cross between the Wings fans mentioned above.

"I was happy for the fans that I knew were true fans and tried to ignore the ones that just started following them," he said.

For those fans that fall in the latter category (the bandwagon fans), Tim believes there is hope for them to become real fans. In addition to touching up on the team's history, he believes showing loyalty will weed out the bandwagon fans from the ones who actually became fans in the past five years.

"If they are new to the game, they can prove their worth by sticking with the team through tough times, " he said. "Because it's easy to like the hot team when you first start following the sport."

Entering the Bruins second-round series versus the Rangers, Tim didn't think his team would advance. Now that his team has a 3-1 lead (lost Thursday in Game 4), he believes advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals is a given "barring collapse", but doesn't see them advancing past the Penguins in the next round.

"I don't think they are consistent enough offensively to beat the Penguins though, but they will give them a good fight," said Tim, who now has the Penguins over the Sharks (after revising it from a Blues over Rangers prediction before the playoffs started).



Penguin Pride

The last fan profile is on Don, who became a Penguins fan with help from his cousins and brother, with a little help from Mario Lemieux being a staple of the team when Don was a kid. Like the hockey fans above, his lack of exposure to the Blackhawks made his interest draw to a different squad.

"When I got into hockey, it was hard to watch a Hawks game with them not being televised," Don said.

His Penguins won the Cup in 2009, so seeing the best championship trophy in sports go to the hometown team the next year should have been tough on Don - but it wasn't.

"I was out with friends who were Hawks fans at a bar and took it as an opportunity to celebrate," he said, "seeing as though the Pens won the year before and I didn't do much for that."

Don finds the bandwagon Blackhawks fans to be annoying and more focused on social interaction with their friends while the game is on instead of intently following the action of the games. He does believe these bandwagon fans can become real fans if they try to educate themselves on the game.

"Real fans follow their team every day. They know all the players, when the games are, who they're playing against," Don said. "They know who's hurt or who's a scratch. They aren't there just for social interaction."

Making it a clean sweep among the out-of-market fans, Don is sticking with his prediction and bet from a few months ago that the Penguins will win the Stanley Cup. As a witness to his prediction, I can say that he had the Penguins over the Red Wings before the playoffs started.

"I think they have a real good shot at the Cup," he said. "But I thought that two months ago too when I bet it!"

Get Busy Livin': Why We Need Perspective on a Daily Basis

One word that has confused me lately: perspective. As in, why does it take the worst things around us to use this word so freely?

From the shootings at the school in Newtown to the Boston Marathon bombing, I heard this word a lot: perspective. These tragedies make those who were lucky enough not to be affected by it to say that these horrible events give them perspective to what really matters in life: family, friends, relationships, love. In general, everything great in life.

But why does it take tragedies and bad things around us to get this perspective? Do we take life for granted all of the other days in life? Perhaps I take some stuff for granted, but I try to enjoy every breath I take and every moment I have with the people I love and care about. While I think we could all use a little perspective from time to time, I don't think we should have to rely on large-scale tragedies to make us realize things that we should realize all the time.

What inspired this perspective blog? It wasn't any of the items mentioned above, nor was it the recent tragedies in Oklahoma due to the unreal storms, including devastating EF-5 tornadoes that completely destroyed a city near Oklahoma City.




If you've seen the above video before, then you likely know the story of Zach Sobiech, who passed away on Monday after a 3.5 year battle with osteosarcoma, which is a cancerous bone tumor that develops in children (The video above describes it in more detail). During his battle with the disease, which he knew would take his life at a very young age, Zach adhered to the Andy Dufresne philosophy from Shawshank Redemption of "get busy living or get busy dying." Part of this living was through song, as he demonstrated above with his song that recognized his nearing death and unwillingness to let it define the rest of his time on Earth.

His family and friends knew of his fate too, and while it was hard for them to deal with the fate of their loved one dying way too young, they knew they had to have the same outlook on life that Zach had. It didn't do Zach or his loved ones any good to stress about the short time left he had when there was still plenty of living to do. So as demonstrated in the video below, they cherished every moment they had together (note, this video is a little longer but is well worth the watch if you have the time.



I recommend looking up his story if you want to know more details of what exactly he went through and some of the lives he's touched. I only learned of this story yesterday (unfortunately, after I heard that he had passed) and was amazed at the attitude he carried based on the video and documentary seen above. There's also a celebrity video that was created by Soul Pancake (a Rainn Wilson - aka Dwight Schrute from the Office - production) of people singing Zach's song.

It's stories like Zach's that justify the way I live every day. For we are all just like Zach, more than we realize. Our days here are finite, for all of us. We all wish to live as productive and as long of a life as we can, but there are no guarantees.

The main difference with Zach and us is that he had a really good idea of when he was going to die, so he decided that he would make the most of his time while he was still here. Just because we don't know our end date doesn't mean we shouldn't live like every day is important and every moment is important - because it is.

I know we all get caught up in life, which causes us to take steps back when shocking things happen that make us reflect. But at no time should we ever lose sight of what is or should be important to us on a daily basis: our loved ones, friends and family, the moments we have with them. That's something I will never need perspective on.

At the Quarter Pole - MLB So Far

While the All-Star game is when most baseball analysts start breaking down the baseball season so far and what is to come, but I like to break baseball up into quarters. Much like high school, except this class has way more fun numbers to play with. And gambling.

Quarters tend to give a decent (although not entirely accurate) model into how we should expect the season to play out. Here were the standings last year after May 20th. Bolded w/o italics indicates the eventual division champ; bolded w/ italics indicates Wild Card entry:

2012 MLB Standings after May 20th

Balt - 27-15
TB - 25-17
Tor - 23-19
NYY - 21-20
Bost - 20-21

Cle 23-18
CWS - 21-21
Det - 20-21
KC - 16-24
Min - 14-27

Tex - 26-16
Oak - 21-21
Sea - 19-24
LAA - 18-24

Atl - 26-16
Wash - 24-17
NYM - 22-19
Mia - 22-19
Phil - 21-21

Stl - 22-19
Cin - 21-19
Pit - 19-22
Hou - 18-23
Mil - 17-24
Cubs - 15-26

LA - 28-13
SF - 21-20
Ari - 19-23
SD - 16-26
Col - 15-25

The most fascinating stuff about these standings? Two things:

1. None of the teams that eventually won the division were leading at this point of the year, although 4 of the 6 that were leading did end up with all of the 4 wild card entries into the playoffs. Three of the eventual division champs overcame a 5+ game deficit with the division leader at this juncture.
2. Four of the six current division leaders were also the leaders at this point last year. Arizona and Boston are the only differences.

So for those of you penciling in all the division winners to hold on, remember that the season in long and that none of the division winners last year at this point held on to win the division. I'm willing to bet that at least one of the current division leaders is destined to be at the top when the season ends.

Current division leaders: NYY (0.5 games up); Cleveland (2 games up); Texas (6.5 games up); Atlanta (2.5 games up); St. Louis (2.5 games up); Arizona (1 game up). My guess? Texas & Atlanta hold up.

As was stated in my predictions blog, I made several bets for the 2013 season. Here's the predictions blog for reference  and also my official bets for 2013 before the season began (note: I added  $15 more to my Indians division bet at +1450 a few weeks ago). Let's have some fun with these:

• Raise your hand if you bet on Houston to win over 59.5 games *raises hand in disgust, in process of flushing a Benjamin in the toilet*. Currently, Houston is 12-32. In order to reach 60 wins, they need to go 48-70 down the stretch. I don't feel good about the start, but I have to remember that only requires a 40.6% win percentage down the stretch. I put my chances of winning this bet at around 30%.
• I laid heavy juice on Tampa Bay (Over 86) & Cleveland (Over 77.5) and also threw a little cash on each to win their divisions. So far, Tampa is right around the pace required (23-20 record ~ 86.65 wins with the current percentage), while Cleveland is two clear of the rest of the AL Central, sitting pretty at 25-17. Tampa needs to go 64-55 to win my bet, while Cleveland can go 53-67 and still win me my wins bet. I believe Tampa's best ball is coming - their ERA (4.42) will only get better. Even with a slight regression in hitting, I think Tampa still has a good/great chance of winning this division. Obviously I feel better about Cleveland's chances to cash the win bet at the moment, but the Indians have blown good starts the past few years, so I'm not holding my breath. Still though, a nice start. I put my chances of winning the Tampa wins bet at around 54%; division bet at 30%. Meanwhile, I put my chances of winning Cleveland wins bet at around 70%; division bet at 35%. Detroit should still win the division, but Cleveland's bats could carry them to division crown.
• San Diego was my other over bet (74.5 wins). A slow start had me doubting this bet, but a resurgence in the offense has increase my confidence in this ten-fold (14-8 in their last 22 games). They may only be 20-23, but I do think San Diego has a great shot to be a sleeper team to make the Wild Card. In order to reach the wins total, the Padres need to go 55-64 down the stretch. I believe they will crack 80 wins and contend for a Wild Card, so my confidence in this bet is at 70%
• My only under bet was the Blue Jays going under 89 wins. A 17-26 starts means that Toronto would need to go 73-46 (61%) while playing in baseball's best division. Needless to say, I put my chances of winning this bet at 85% (since anything can happen, but I feel really good about this).
• Other division bet I made was on the Phillies, who sport a 21-23 record and sit 4.5 games back of the Braves. I don't give the Phils much better than a 15-20% chance to win this.
• Player props - Jay Bruce and Yoenis Cespedes most HRs in MLB. It took Bruce forever to hit a home run (now he has 5), while Cespedes just nailed his 8th. They both trail Justin Upton (14) by a significant amount. However, a little streak for either of these guys can put them right in it. My chance of winning either of these bets is about 2-3%.

Uncle Brian

Understanding my feelings at this moment
Now is when I start to grasp the feeling of what this
Could feel like, this new member to the family, the newest
Love of our lives. What an amazing feeling this is to
Everyone around us. Here is the newest

The newest Bolek - my awesome (yet to be named) nephew

Bolek to the world, probably not
Ready for the craziness of the family, but
I know that this child will be brought into
A world of immense love. The Boleks and Zipsies
Now have a true bloodline. Brought to us from Jeff & Amber's love.


I still can't process what this title means. I cried the moment I read the text around the 1am mark of today  from my sister that said that we would be the proud uncle/aunt of our brother and sister-in-law's baby very shortly. (welcome to 2013 as far as news alerts go!)

And yes, I squeezed one last workout in before the news was official, as I had to see if I broke the 200 pound barrier as part of my goal to reach 199.9 or lower by the time I became an uncle (I didn't - but that's ok). I will break that 200 barrier when he is a few weeks old. Never mind that - I'm an uncle!

For a man who usually has a thousand words to say on a subject, being an uncle has made me speechless. It's truly a humbling experience that makes me smile from ear to ear. Just to say the words Uncle Brian have to pale in comparison to what Jeff and Amber are thinking as they process the days ahead where they will be called "Dad" and "Mom" (or some baby offshoot of that) in about a year or so.

I can't wait to have a beer (or if he's like my brother, a Squirt) with him and watch football with him (or if he's like my brother, watch him run around like a spaz).

I can't wait to teach him on why the Niners will cover the 6.5 point spread this week.

But most importantly, I can't wait to see the little guy grow up.

Congrats to my brother and his lovely wife on their new baby boy. The boy has broken the streak of girls being born on my mom's side of the family. The last boy born? My brother almost 28 years ago, of course. Since then, from my sister to my youngest cousin, there were six girls born in a row (a span of almost 24 years).

I can't wait to see this little bundle of joy later today.

Uncle Brian. Awesome.

Fan Switch - When Is It OK to Switch Your Favorite Sports Team?

My friend Tim often shares with me his frustration with any and all things relating to the Dallas Cowboys. Whether it be something Jerry Jones said or did, there seems to be no shortage of things for him and any other Dallas Cowboys fan to legitimately complain about.

I don't want to turn this blog into a Quentin Tarantino flick with the colorful quotes that Tim shares with me about draft picks, dumb signings and baffling quotes - the most baffling of which has to be when he said he would fire himself as general manager if he weren't also the owner.

The more Tim complains, the more I tell him - bail on your team, like yesterday. I won't normally advocate being able to change your favorite teams mid-life, but I've come up with a few exceptions to the rule.

When is it OK to switch your sports fan interest?

Note - this applies to any sports-loving adult. Kids can go back and forth and often love a couple of teams throughout the course of their childhood for reasons as silly as them being an expansion team or having a left-handed quarterback (so I liked the Jaguars when they first joined the league because of Mark Brunell).

Here are my only acceptable reasons for being able to switch allegiances to teams. I used some ideas that I found from a Google search on the topic, but the words and thoughts (as always) are my own:

1. Relocation of a team into your city/out of your city/team folds: This is one of the most acceptable forms of changing your rooting interest in a sport. For example, no one should expect any Seattle Supersonics fan to continue their allegiance to the Oklahoma City franchise when the Sonics had their team stolen away from them. If someone decides to completely disown being a sports fan in that scenario, I wouldn't blame them.

By the same token, if your city finally gets that coveted franchise in your city, it's quite all right to start rooting for that team. Houston Texans fans may have once been Houston Oilers fans and may have converted to the Cowboys for a brief period of time when the Oilers moved to Nashville. But once they have a new team, all bets are off on what team you could/should root for.

2. You're lucky enough to know an athlete, and you root for his/her team in lieu of your original rooting interest: No one can blame you if you have a brother who was just drafted by the Washington Redskins and suddenly become a fan of the franchise when the previous part of your life, you were cursing Washington as a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. Bloodlines can acceptably change your fandom. And if this player switches teams, it's quite all right to move along with the team.

3. Your ownership/management group are a bunch of dipshits who you can tell have no competency in running a franchise and often make moves that are done against common sense and/or making your team competitive. See: Jones, Jerry and Wirtz, Bill, among many other owners who have seemed to lack a clue in running a franchise.

"I just wanted to announce that I will continue to sabotage a great franchise, so suck it Trebek!"

When I see Jerry Jones, I see a man who was lucky to win 3 titles in 4 years thanks to the team that was made mostly by Jimmy Johnson. The worst thing that could have happened to America's Team was to win a title without Johnson in 1995, making Jerry Jones think it was all about him. Now, his ego gets in the way of any chance that the Cowboys have in seriously competing for a Super Bowl anytime soon. Have you seen the quarterbacks that have been on his rosters? Outside of Tony Romo, who was brought in by Sean Payton & Bill Parcells when they were with the Cowboys, the Cowboys haven't had anyone lining up under center with an IQ higher than Forrest Gump's. Quincy Carter, Drew Henson, Chad Hutchinson - all bums drafted in the Jerry Jones era. No wonder why he would have fired himself as general manager, yet continues to hold onto this role due to his incompetency and Texas-sized ego.

The subject of Bill Wirtz is sure to warm the hearts of Chicago Blackhawks fans. Wirtz, who built his wealth thanks to liquor distribution and housing, was way behind the times, never embracing modern technology (he didn't allow Hawks home games on TV for fear that people wouldn't go to the games - never mind that just about every other successful team had no problem selling out their arenas when their games were on TV). For being known as a smart businessman, I am baffled at how he could not see the value of showing his team on TV. Also, his nickname "Dollar Bill" stems from his days as a very frugal owner. Most of the Hawks' best free agents signed elsewhere in the 90s, and so began the quick decline of a once proud Original Six franchise.

Bill Wirtz: Great Businessman, Shitty Hockey Owner

(And an aside: many hockey fans of teams outside of Chicago will often critique Blackhawks fans for jumping on the bandwagon in the past 3-4 years. While the Hawks have picked up their fair share of bandwagon fans - as any team does in any sport when they field a competitive team, the fans, even the most loyal of ones, were in no condition to support their hometown team when Dollar Bill was the owner. When the old man died and his sons took over, they immediately corrected the mistakes that their father did while owner of the team, including lifting the home-game TV blackout for all home games. It was moves like this, not as much the winning I'd argue, that brought back the fans who used to go to games back in the day but refused to support a franchise who refused to support the fan. I have no problem with the Blackhawks fans who have become fans in this time frame. And as is the case with any bandwagon, you may pick up some new life-long fans from it who end up sticking with the team during future down years.)

In both of these cases, I would not blame a Dallas Cowboys fan, nor would I have blamed a Blackhawks fan, for switching teams. If your management/ownership group show a lack of interest in remaining a competitive sports franchise by constantly spitting in the faces of its fan base with its baffling and incompetent moves, if they abandon you to the point where they don't even really care about you as fans anymore, then who's to say you HAVE to be loyal right back? Do you stay in relationships longer than you should because you don't want to be looked at as being unloyal? That's a dumb reason to stay in a relationship, just as it would be to stay a hardcore fan of a team when that team's owners/management eats a bunch of White Castles and shits all over your hopes on a yearly basis.

4. No more rules apply: I would say that moving to a new city would allow you to root for a new team, but I think this would only be acceptable if you moved from a city/town that had no franchise in a particular sport to one that did. Otherwise, you stick with whatever team you were rooting for before you moved (which is likely your hometown team as long as you're not a weirdo like me who roots for an out-of-market team in football - 49ers).

Here are some major no-no's for changing mid-stream:

• No bandwagon jumping. Even if the ownership clause applies here, you can't just ride the hot hand and root for what's in, at least not when you're an adult. Like I said before, kids are flaky sports fans. Let them weed out who they really want to root for. Once they make their decision (and none of the above exceptions of changing teams apply), they will be forced to pick a team and stick with them. This is only if you are currently rooting for a team. If you've never been interested in a sport before, I have no problem with you jumping on the wagon, especially of a local team, so as long as you don't jump onto another wagon soon after if your newfound team falls and fails.
  
  Temporary fandom, if only for one night, (when a friend of yours might be rooting for the Niners to win the Super Bowl for example) is acceptable. Once that game or run of games is over, it's back to rooting strictly for your team.
• No actively rooting for multiple teams and playing favorites with whatever one happens to be doing better at the time. I understand if there might be a franchise who you admire from afar and wish your team could model itself after, but you cannot do the multiple fandom thing and flip-flop between who you root for the most. Not allowed.

So to the Tims out there who are rooting for a team whose ownership has turned its back on loyal fans across the country, I say, "find a new team." Why should you continue to give your team love and support when the guys running the team don't return the favor? If I am going to remain emotionally invested in a team, it's going to be with a franchise whose owners and management will do whatever they can to make themselves a competitive franchise for years to come.

NHL Playoff Predictions Round 2 and A Look Back at Round 1

Six out of eight in my first go-round of NHL hockey series predictions. Not too shabby, especially considering that four of those six correct series picked were the 6 & 7 seeds from each conference. I was really close to 7 of 8, but the Maple Leafs wilted on the ice.

As far as hockey bets go (series bets + game bets), not doing too shabby. 3-1 on my series bets (Wins: Red Wings, Sharks & Penguins/Blackhawks parlay). Unfortunately, my only series loss was also my bet to win the West & the Stanley Cup (damn Blues blowing a 2-0 series lead). I went about 7-7 in my first round individual bets, so again, not too bad.

Out West

My first Stanley Cup bet is still alive (San Jose), but I'm a little nervous with how well the Kings play at home and them having home ice. Both teams dominated home ice in the regular season and playoffs (going a combined 5 for 5 in playoff home games so far). I'm hoping my original prediction of the Wings beating the Blackhawks can come true so that the Sharks would have home ice if they are able to get past the reigning Stanley Cup Champs. If the Sharks lose, then the Hawks might as well win - I won't care about who wins at that point.

Rooting interest (for gambling purposes), I am hoping for Sharks/Wings. As long as the Sharks advance, I'll be happy, but I believe their best path to the Cup involves one without the Blackhawks on the menu (hence, rooting for the Wings).

What I think it will be: Kings/Hawks. See how I covered all my bases there - like a sports journalism pro.


Out East

The Penguins start their first round series against the Senators tomorrow. I originally picked Pittsburgh to advance in this match-up, but I'm switching my pick to Ottawa. Pittsburgh's goaltending/defense was very shaky in Round 1. Meanwhile, Ottawa made a little history in their series against Montreal by being the ultimate closers, outscoring the Canadiens 12-0 in the third period of their five-game series.

The Rangers prevailed in 7 games against the Capitals, and their reward is a conference semifinals series against the Bruins, who came from three goals back, including a two goal deficit with under two minutes to play, to force overtime and down the Maple Leafs in overtime. Based on my friend Tim's assessment of his team (Boston), I am taking the Rangers to win the series and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight year. I am also rooting for the Rangers thanks to my bet on them to win the conference before the playoffs start.

Rooting interest & What I think it will be: Senators & Rangers

We will see if I can build upon my previous round of picking series. I am likely betting the Senators & Red Wings in their first games of the series. I'm thinking I will bet the Rangers series when the odds for it are released.

Feel free to offer your picks below (or in my Facebook/Twitter posts). Enjoy the next round.

Facing the Heat: Why Refs are the Wrong Focus for Miami's Success

The Miami Heat are a day removed from going up 2-1 in their series against the Chicago Bulls, but it has nothing to do with the skill level of the Heat. At least that's what many in my social network would like you to believe.

• "I guess it's the Bulls versus the Heat/refs"
• "The Bulls are playing 5 on 8"
  

Those are a couple of quotes I came across (among many) since the Bulls/Heat series started. It's all the same complaints recycled from the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, when the Heat downed the Bulls in 5 games to reach the NBA Finals.

Blaming the refs is the easiest and laziest argument that a fan can make. It works as the perfect defense mechanism when your team loses - I saw this first hand when my boys lost the Super Bowl to the Ravens. Many Niners fans put a big chunk of the blame on the striped shirts for not calling a defensive hold against the Ravens on the Niners' last offensive play in the red zone (a fourth down) when San Fran was down by 5 late in the game.

What those fans failed to mention was the thorough beat-down that the Niners got in the first half that put them in a huge hole. They fail to mention the way Jacoby Jones and others tore apart their secondary and special teams units - the match-ups that ultimately failed the Niners. Just like a basketball game, there will be calls that go against an NFL team, even on the highest stage of the game. That doesn't mean that the referees caused the team to lose. The Niners' chances should have never hinged on a judgement call from the zebras - they shot themselves in the foot too often early on to blame officials for a non-call, which didn't even guarantee them a victory (they still would have needed to score a touchdown, which they failed to do on the previous three plays from the same yard line in the red zone).

The same goes for the bitching that many Bulls fans have done when their team loses to the Heat. They'll call Lebron a whiner (they call him much worse than this, but I have to limit my use of the female dog reference to one mention per paragraph). They'll say that the refs have it in for the Heat and want to see them win the title again.

If the NBA was as rigged as everyone would like you to believe, do you really believe there would have been NBA Finals match-ups like the Spurs/Pistons, Spurs/Nets (or Spurs/anyone), Lakers/Magic? The Spurs are one of the least attractive great teams in NBA history (were never good for ratings), yet in the past 10 years have made the Finals three times (winning all three appearances in 2003, 2005, 2007 in addition to their 1999 appearance). Unless you're an NBA junkie or a fan of one of those teams, I doubt you gave serious thought to watching any of the series mentioned above. And the ratings for those series (particularly the Spurs' ones) prove you likely didn't tune in. If it's all about ratings and money, then the rigging theory doesn't make sense in those situations.

The Heat are not winning because of the refs. They're winning because they're a great team - they did go 66-16 in the regular season after all, outscoring their opponents by an average of 8 points per game. They didn't win 27 straight games this year because the striped shirts assisted them. They had that streak because they were dominant on both ends of the ball, outscoring their opponents by a 105-93 margin during their historic streak.

Speaking of history, Lebron had one of the quietest historical seasons in NBA history this year, shooting an unreal 56.5% from the field, 40.5% from three-point territory (both career highs by far), while averaging nearly 27 points, 8 rebounds (career high set this year) & 7 assists per game. He has improved his field goal percentage every season since the 2006-07 season while continuing to maintain his stellar stats across the board in every other category.

The above facts are not the result of the refs handing them wins, but because of amazing talent and a core who's had the chance to gel together for the past 3 years to become the best team in the league.

Yes, there are times when it gets annoying to see Lebron pout when he doesn't get a call, but let's not act like this is a trait exclusive to the Heat. Whenever I watch Noah or Boozer foul a guy, immediate looks of disgust almost always accompany the whistle and the calling of their number for a personal foul. There's probably at least one or two guys on every team in the league that have the "you gotta be kidding me!" look when they get called for a foul. But when it's your guy complaining, Joe Fan, who blindly supports anything the team does, will see the call the same way as the complaining player and completely neglects the hypocritical nature of their complaints. So yeah, the bitching about Lebron pouting seems silly.

And it's funny that of all teams, Bulls fans will complain about the star treatment that Lebron gets when a half NBA generation ago, they were witnesses to Air Jordan, who got his fair share of calls in his favor (his last shot with the Bulls when he pushed off on Byron Russell was the perfect example - if Lebron did that, Bulls fans would scream "Bullshit!")

Your team gets calls too. You're just pretending it doesn't happen.

I'm not saying that the Heat don't get any calls in their favor - they do. But I don't believe they get any more or less calls in their favor than most teams in the league, although many of you reading this might wholeheartedly disagree. It's hard to remove fandom with the judgement of other teams and referees. But to think there's a conspiracy theory every time your team loses to a great team who you think is getting hundreds more favorable calls than your team, that's just your fandom talking. Watch a random game of any sport involving two teams you don't care anything about, and you'll see that the bad calls go both ways and usually balance out in the long run.

And think about how many times your team gets breaks from referees. Oh wait, you can't, because they never make calls in your team's favor. I bet you can name 20 instances of refs being against your team before you can name a situation where a call benefited your team. You're way more likely to remember the times that an external force outside of your players (the refs) supposedly caused your team to lose than you are to remember when the refs may have made a big call in your favor to aid a victory. When your team wins, you attribute your team's win to their immense skill, not because they had a beneficial call or set of calls in a game. When your team loses, it's because the refs screwed them over. You can't have it both ways.

I fully expect the Heat to close this series out - if not in 5 games, then probably 6. And I also fully expect that the refs will be the root blame of the Bulls defeat, not the Heat's players, who have shot 60% & 50% in their past two games against a tough Bulls defense. Even without some defensive stoppers like Deng & Hinrich, the Bulls' defense is still a top-notch unit, making the Heat's hot shooting even more impressive.

Give some credit where credit is due. The Heat are good - damn good. I know you hate them, which is probably another reason why you might say the refs are favoring them. For the next set of games, try going 5 or 10 minutes without saying the word "referee" and instead focus on the players making the plays - I bet you can't.

The Heat will get a call here and there that goes in their favor, but it won't be the reason they win the series. They'll win it because they're better. Simple as that. 

Choose Your Own Adventure: The Chicago Apartment Edition

I remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books where turning to page 43 would lead you down a very different path than page 61. There would be many times where I would pick one, but would read the page I didn't pick anyways. Just to see if I made the right choice, and how the outcome would have differed if I made a different choice.

Unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. The page you choose is the only page you get to read. Granted, not every page leads to an important and immediate impact to your life. This point in my life is not one of those cases. After all, why the hell would I start with this Choose Your Own Adventure crap if I was deciding between the pros and cons of eating a peanut butter sandwich versus a turkey sub for lunch.

When the page you decide to turn is where you plan on living next, we're talking about a whole different book. We (me and Jen) started the process of looking for apartments later than we would have liked, but after things were cleared up in my life to start breathing again, we started Operation Find An Apartment (OFAA for short - ok, we never called it an operation, you got me).

Last week, we looked at a nice place in a neighborhood called Ukranian Village that was home or soon to be home to many of Jen's friends and co-workers. Unfortunately, our interest went from 10 to -50 when we heard that cats were not allowed. Back to the apartment hunt.

Last Friday, I was able to lock up two apartment viewings for this week. Both of those opportunities faded like a fart in the wind when one of our appointments went from being moved from Sunday to Tuesday, only to be outright canceled when the guy who was going to show us the apartment called to tell us that the tenant decided to renew their lease. And the other apartment ended up being a piece of crap. Son of a...

Luckily, I was able to secure a viewing of a place for the same time slot as the canceled appointment. Finally, a decent place that allowed cats. A smaller place than many of the places we've looked at, but a place that interested us enough to start the application process.

All the while, one more apartment viewing scheduled for the week for a place in Logan Square. I filled the paper work on the other place out in the meantime, just making sure we had a go-to place in case this last viewing ended up being a dud. The problem was, it really wasn't a dud.

When seeing this Logan Square unit, it was as if I was able to picture our current items (computer desk, furniture, television) in this particular place. I gathered that while Jen liked the charm of the first place, the extra space that we get from this place (it's essentially a 3-bedroom apartment that's advertised as a two-bed) at a more affordable price was enough to make us collectively decide that we want this place.

The Choose Your Own Adventure part of the story comes into play a couple hours after we got the application for the Logan Square place. After waiting to hear from the Tuesday apartment on whether or not we would be able to move in June 1st (apparently, the tenant said she wasn't going to move out till July 1st in between the apartment showing and Wednesday), I got a call from the landlord of that place while waiting in my car as Jen ran into Walgreens. "Good news Brian, you are able to move in June 1."

Since I wanted an extra day to assess our options, especially since we're leaning towards Apartment 2, I hesitated to give a definite answer on when a good time would be to sign for Apartment 1. I mean, I think we've made our decision that we like the second place better, but we're still waiting on whether we are approved to sign for that place. Also, we're unclear on whether there is any competition for this place. In the event there was, I immediately put our application check in the mail, hoping that it will get there right away. I also sent our applications via email to Apartment 2's landlord, whose housing group consists of an Italian family business that dates back to the late 19th century.

While we don't want to risk losing a place for a place we might not even get, I think we are going to take that risk. We're turning to page 61, and soon we will find out the results of our choice. We may never have the chance to see page 43's story, but when it comes to making choices, you must always go with the choice that you can live with, the one that makes you the happiest. We can live with the choices that go awry but that we made with the best data available and with our short-term and long-term happiness in mind.

Let's hope that page 61 is a great page for the two of us.

Chapter 11 Fit Happens: The B-Bo Dynasty?

Rule of thumb: if you ever have the opportunity to refer to yourself in the third person, make sure you are doing so in the context of success.

With that being said, B-Bo feels pretty confident in his ability to speak in the third person vernacular for this particular blog - the eleventh chapter of Fit Happens.

The final weigh in was earlier on Wednesday, and while B-Bo was not delighted to see his bid for a third victorious month in the contest (out of four) fail when Williams posted his weigh in for April, he was still quite satisfied with his second place finish for the month, which accompanies his second-place finish in February. Here are the results from the month, followed by the overall results through 120 days:

User	lbs	%
Dave	0.6 lbs	0.22 %
Hippo	-1.4 lbs	-0.64 %
LionEsquire	-5.6 lbs	-2.51 %
B-Bo Knows Weight Loss	-3.6 lbs	-1.73 %

User	lbs	%
Dave	-15.8 lbs	-5.47 %
Hippo	-28.8 lbs	-11.66 %
LionEsquire	-26.4 lbs	-10.82 %
B-Bo Knows Weight Loss	-30.8 lbs	-13.07 %

As expected, this month was the lowest amount of weight loss and weight loss percentage for a winner of a month. Each month has been more difficult for the contestants to lose weight. Note the totals below for monthly breakdown in weight loss:

	B-Bo	Hippo	Chris	Magic Bus
Jan 1 - Feb 1	-13	-11.4	-13.2	-11.8
Feb 1 - Mar 1	-7	-8.8	-5.4	-4.2
Mar 1 - Apr 1	-7.2	-7.2	-2.2	-0.4
Apr 1 - May 1	-3.6	-1.4	-5.6	0.6
May 1 - June 1
June 1 - July 1
	-30.8	-28.8	-26.4	-15.8

So what will be different this month? What will be the next step in B-Bo's dominance? Some thoughts:

1. Nike+ - I just got this app on my Android, which tracks my distance, time, path, and calories burned for each run I do. I plan on using it just for outdoor runs. I believe it will get me to run outside more in preparation for the Warrior Dash that I am doing in June. Also, with this being my last month in the South Loop, I need to take advantage of the nice running area by Grant Park and the Lakeside.
2. Weights - I will be trying to incorporate weights (not free weights, but more machines and dumbbells) into my workout. This should help me shed weight at a slightly faster clip.
3. Shakes - Jen just bought us a blender that we plan on putting to good use. I just finished my first shake that had strawberries, bananas and oats, among other things. I believe having these shakes on a regular basis in lieu of some of the junk I may eat will help my diet out. (Just noticed that items 2 and 3 can be rearranged to become Shake Weight)
4. Outdoor Sports? - I hope to play an outdoor sport of some sort on a somewhat regular basis (basketball, softball, whatever). Perhaps joining a league is an option.
5. Below 200 - The above items, as well as the continued intensity of workout that I've been doing throughout the months, will hopefully help dip my weight to below 200 pounds. It would signal me reaching my contest goal a month ahead of time and would be a major accomplishment for me as I look to continue my healthy journey.
6. Uncle B-Bo - I am looking to reach the Below 200 goal before I become an uncle. Whether I have a niece or a nephew, I would love to be under 200 pounds for his or her entire life. With my sister-in-law due in about three weeks, I may not achieve this goal, but I'll do my best to get there.

That about wraps 'er up for Chapter 11. Hope you enjoyed this latest edition. I will return either later this month or at the beginning of June to share my latest adventures and hopefully another winning month.

Peace.