A Wrigley Abomination

I love football. I really do. But sometimes those football folks overstep their bounds. And this is one of those times.

The fact they painted the Wrigleyville marquee purple makes me sick to my stomach. As a born and bred Chicagoian who lost her first teeth in the shadow of that very marquee, that purple is just... perverse. I don't understand why they felt the need to paint it, you don't see Yankee Stadium decking itself out in camo paint for Army/Notre Dame game this weekend. According to the Cubs' president, they "want the building to reflect a Northwestern feeling" so that "Northwestern didn't lose a home game" -- I'm pretty sure the boys aren't going to be thinking about how home-y the marquee is when they're running into the giant brick wall six inches behind their end zone.

The president went on to prattle about how they've 'changed the colors on the marquee before' and how it 'wasn't a big deal'; I call BS. I can't find one example on my cursory search of the Googles that supports that claim. The closest I came was when I discovered that back in the 60's the sign was blue. As a matter of fact, what I did find was that when Valspar became a sponser of Wrigley Field in 2009, they freshened the paint on that sign and revealed it to much hoopla and ado. This suggests to me that maybe painting the giant stadium-side sign is more than a little effort.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it really is "every Chicago kid's dream to see Wrigley Field not only for baseball, but football and the history it had with football." I don't know. All I do know is, come April, that sign better have no hint of 'Wildcat purple'.

NFL Fit 5k

I'll start off by apologizing for falling off the face of the planet for the past couple weeks -- blame the mail (no, really). I had big plans to post something last week; I had a funny, insightful, gripping (I wish) piece written about the Cowboys' coaching staff but then forgot to post it in a timely manner (again... mail), and now I feel like I've missed my window of opportunity. Perhaps I'll rework it and post it later this week. For now, I'd like to talk about something closer to my heart: fashion.

Glad I didn't lose you with that one. Let me explain: this past weekend I participated in Washington, DC's NFL Fit For You 5k run through the lovely National Harbor. I first heard about it from some friends of mine -- there's some sort of bug going around that makes people I know decide they want to start running. Seeing how if there are two things in this world I'm all for they would be: general healthiness without expending too much energy and opportunities to do things in my Bears jersey and Soffe shorts, I agreed to participate. Since there isn't a 5k race in existence that isn't linked to some sort of charity, I assumed this one was benefiting some sort of NFL health program -- someone alluded to a loose affiliation with the 'make kids play for 60 minutes a day' thing the NFL is promoting and come on, the race has 'fit' in the title, am I right?

No. No I am not right. Turns out this event was a 2 hour commercial promoting the NFL's new line of women's apparel. 'Fit For You' didn't have anything to do with being healthy -- they were talking about the 'fit' of the clothes (in most cases, tight, bedazzled, and either low-riding, low-cut, or with those cap sleeves every designer ever thinks make tee-shirts more 'girly') being more feminine.

The hostess of the event was some women they found god only knows where; she's some sort of trainer to the stars or something equally nauseating. They shoved her in a rhinestone-affixed Redskins tracksuit ('Redskins' across the ass, naturally) and she attempted to lead us in a group warmup before the 5k began. Let me tell you - this warm up was a joke. For some unknown reason this woman decided to lead the crowd while facing away from us. I guess the thinking was that it was better to guide the dozen or so cheerleaders at the back of the stage than the hundreds of people in front of the stage. The end result was that she spent 15 minutes blatently shaking her ass at the better part of a thousand people while flailing her arms about in what I can only guess is an homage to the time she was attacked by a swarm of bees. Or was an extra in 'The Birds'. Or something. I swear the woman came thisclose to dislocating her own shoulder. If that's what her workouts are like, I'll be over there with the meatheads grunting at their too-heavy free weights, thanks.

Truthfully, I could have forgiven the ridiculous woman. I could have forgiven the blatent NFL gear propaganda. I was just there to run a bit, enjoy the beautiful autumn day, get a workout in, see what kind of time I can pull, and hopefully run SG into the ground (success!). But the race itself was disappointing. We were given racing bibs, but neither timing chips nor someone marking official times at the finish line. Half the course was run on a trail cut through some native grasslands -- it was 4 feet wide and made of unpacked sand strewn with boulders and hidden rocks. The 5k was open to runners and walkers, which I'm fine with, and they let the runners go first, which is standard. However the way the course was designed you had to eventually turn around and share the 'scenic' trail with the moms pushing the double-wide strollers going the opposite direction. And the children! Someone decided to allow children into the running group. No one thought about their tendencies to sprint 50 feet then stop dead in front of whatever unlucky soul happened to be behind them at the time. I nearly killed about half a dozen of the little ones and definitely yelled at the pre-teens who were strolling 4 across.

I realize this post wasn't actually about football, and I apologize. It wasn't really about fashion either, which some of you are probably thankful for. Mostly what I wanted to do was express my disappointment in the NFL for such a poorly thought out event. It seemed to me that they planned all the commercial bits first, then realized they had no real reason to get five hundred people in one place at the same time, so they slapped on a 5k. The NFL is associated with how many charities and good causes -- I'm baffled by the fact they centered this event around "Lov[ing] your team without looking like you're on it". I guess it's my own fault for not actually looking at the website before showing up, but still. Keep the advertising to the commercials I can fast-forward my way through, and if you're going to collect a registration fee from me I'd prefer it to support something worthwhile. Even if that 'something' is tearing children away from their game systems for 60 minutes and sending them outdoors with a stick.

Anniversary of 1st College Football Game

Today is the 141st anniversary of the first intercollegiate football game between Rutgers and Princeton University. 

The two schools, both of which I know well growing up in Princeton and partying at Rutgers, had always been rivals since they are about 20 miles apart. Two things really led up to Rutgers challenging Princeton to the game. First there was the fight for possession of a Revolutionary cannon - abandoned after the Battle of Princeton, Princeton had it until it was sent to New Brunswick to help defend the city in 1812. In the late 1830s, 100 Princeton students stole it and put it in front of Nassau Hall at Princeton and then in 1840, to make sure Rutgers couldn't steal it back, they cemented it into the ground muzzle-down.  Second, Princeton had beat Rutgers in baseball 40-2. 

So, Rutgers challenged Princeton to a series of three football games, the first being on November 6th, 1869, at College Field in New Brunswick, NJ (only the second game game was played because both school's protested that the games were interfering with the students' studies).  The game was played under Rutgers' rules and was a sort of mix between rugby and soccer.  With 25 players on each side, the teams had to score by kicking the ball into a goal, not by throwing or carrying it.  The teams played 10 "games", each "game" ending when a team scored; teams got 1 point for every score.

Rutgers scored 1st with the help of what would become known later as the "flying wedge." Princeton then scored in the 2nd, but Rutgers went up 4-2 after the 6th game.  Princeton won the 7th thanks to an unnamed Rutgers player who kicked the ball toward his own goal posts - despite the kick being blocked, Princeton capitalized on the opportunity and made the goal. Rutgers was all disorganized after this and Princeton won the 8th game a few minutes into play, tying it up at 4 all. 

Rutgers captain John W. Leggett then introduced a new strategy after noticing that Princeton's players were taller than Rutgers' - keep the ball closer to the ground. Following the new strategy, Rutgers scored in the 9th and 10th game to win 6-4.

There are two different stories of what happened after the game.  William Preston Lane, a player for Princeton, says that the Rutgers players ran the Princeton team out of town, while Rutgers' undergrad newspaper, The Targum, says that a meal was prepared for both teams after the game. 

As a Rutgers fan, I'd like to hope that they run the preppy Princeton kids out of town.

Vikings Waive Moss

So less than a month after the Patriots traded Moss back to the Vikings, the Vikings have waived Moss following a very odd press conference:

Just saying, if you miss the Pats so much, perhaps you shouldn't have run your mouth earlier this season about how the Patriots don't want you to succeed.   

I'm torn on whether or not the Pats should sign him again.  On one hand, it would be the greatest deal ever.  Trade him for a 3rd round pick only to pick him back up a month later for nothing.  BRILLIANT.  But all that aside, there was a reason he was traded, so why bother bringing him in again.  There is obviously a problem with him. 

So who will take him?  Most likely the Rams, but I would really love for no one to pick him up for two reasons: 1. He will REALLY feel stupid for running his damn mouth and blowing a good thing with the Pats and 2. the Vikings have to pay the rest of his 3 million dollar salary.