(Get) A Sporting Life

I've rarely slept so soundly as in this bed. ...but I still have the world by the balls. I'm back from a couple of weeks in Illinois and the report is superb. My godson grew up in a household of heathen Cubs and Bears fans. Yet, as this photo shows, he is safely in the arms of angels. Being a cruel bastard, few things have given me more pleasure in life than knowing that a Cubs/Bears fan cousin (whom I adore) has seen her beloved spawn grow sensibly into a Cards and Packers fans like his dear ole godfather. The Illini garnish is just the icing on the cake, seeing as that is the one loyalty the family shares.

That is the phrase du jour at the Southlandish household after I mocked his preseason predictions. I must now bow to the genius that is Kiper in his Illini football prediction of seven or eight wins. I'm in the same boat as IM, only with the words "Illini" and "bowl bid". Now I'm getting greedy and starting to hope for a bowl game here in Florida so I can go see them play. I have no illusions about Saturday. Even though we have traditionally played well against the Buckeyes, we'll be mauled. But if we could bounce back and beat Northwestern to close out an 8-4 season, I'll be nothing short of dumbfounded. And to think we had a very real chance to win in all three of our losses to date. That's just crazy. In other random thoughtlessness: - No great opinion on the Mo GM position or LaRussa's re-upping for the Cardinals. There is so much work to be done that I don't know where to start to make this club competitive next year. Every time I be...