Say what you will about this rant being a Chicago fan venting that the big free agent didn’t choose the Windy City. But the spectacle LeBron James made of himself over the last week is really pretty sad. Not to mention for a man that bills himself as “King James” he sure acted more like a court jester, following the crowd to South Beach. Last I checked, Kings lead, they don’t follow.

On top of all that, this BIG announcement on ESPN was nothing more than a big joke and a way of sticking it to Cleveland. The worst kept secret in sports. You’d have thought all the reports over the last few days were a perfect way of throwing people and the media off for when he would announce some place other than Miami to play.

Now, LBJ becomes 2nd banana to Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh gets to tag along for the ride as long as his knees hold out. I’m betting in the long run these three musketeers end up more like the three stooges and I’ll be all the more happier if some other team takes home the championship next season.

For a man compared to Michael Jordan, he sure doesn’t act like it. MJ would have never gone out of his way like this to put himself above the game. Yeah he endorsed tons of products and yes he was larger than life. But he wouldn’t degrade his sport all in the effort to purposely plaster his face on primetime TV for an hour, just to take 2 seconds to announce the next stop on the celebrity express.

The Bulls are better off without LeBronMania. Some people may not see that now, but it’s true. We have a great young nucleus and money to spend to surround them with good talent.

James couldn’t hold MJs jock strap, let alone be any real threat to the legend that is Michael Jordan, here in Chicago, or anywhere else. And, the Bulls attempt at luring James to Chicago was perfect, attacking directly at his competitiveness. Looks like MJ beats him in that category too. If James competitive nature was half that of Jordan, he would have jumped at the chance to try and overtake MJs popularity and success in this city. As it is, he gets to put up with Pat Riley for the next 5 years.

2 million fans made their way from Michigan Ave and Wacker Dr in Downtown Chicago this afternoon following the Blackhawks Stanley Cup Championship Parade and Rally. An amazing sight to say the least. Defenseman, Duncan Keith absolutely stole the show when he made his way to the podium asking those 2 million fans “Does anybody know a good dentist?” For those not familiar, during the Western Conference Finals, Keith took a puck to the face, knocking out 7 teeth in the process.

As a die hard sports fan, many, like myself, we live out our dreams through our hometown teams, whether in person in the stands, or on TV and radio. I was 7 years old in 1986 when the Bears won the Super Bowl and in my teens when the Bulls made their run in the 90′s with 6 titles in 8 years. In 2005 we watched as the White Sox won the World Series, and while happy for the city and the White Sox, I do afterall, bleed Cubbie Blue.

This Stanley Cup championship is just an amazing feeling for a sports fan like me. I grew up listening to my dad talk about Stan Mikita, Bobby Hull, and Tony Esposito. I remember watching Denis Savard, Chris Chelios and Jeremy Roenick and the crushing feeling in 1991 when the Penguins swept us out of the Finals. But, I’ll always remember Game 6 Wednesday night, when that puck hit the inside of the net, a city that waited way too many years finally had reason to go crazy and also, when Jeremy Roenick broke down on national TV watching the team he spent 8 years with, win the prize that eluded him during a 20 year NHL career. These are memories that can’t be taken away and yeah hell, I’m a sappy kinda guy sometimes. But who cares, if Jeremy can do it, so can I!

We’re Stanley Cup Champions! And, with any luck, I’ll be in the stands next season to help cheer them on to another Stanley Cup Championship.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup (online.wsj.com)
• Stanley Cup 2010: Chicago Blackhawks Complete Incredible Resurrection (bleacherreport.com)
• Chicago hockey fans party like it’s 1961 (thestar.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Blackhawks Win! Blackhawks Win!

The Chicago Blackhawks oust the Flyers with a 4-3 OT victory in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals, thanks to the game winning goal off the stick of Patrick Kane. For Marion Hossa, the 3rd time really was the charm. After missing his chance to raise the cup last year with the Red Wings and two seasons ago with Pittsburgh, he helped bring home the hardware to the Windy City. Jonathan Toews was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner, given to the Stanley Cup Playoffs MVP.

Edit: A Rally and Ticker Tape Parade is now set for Downtown Chicago, this Friday 6/11. The parade begins at 10:30am, at Wacker Dr and Washington St. The rally follows at approximately 11:30am at Michigan Ave and Wacker Dr.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Blackhawks prevail in OT for first Cup since ’61 (sports.espn.go.com)
• Chicago Blackhawks win Stanley Cup (thenewstribune.com)
• Blackhawks Win Stanley Cup (online.wsj.com)
• ‘Hawks hoist first Cup since 1961 in OT thriller (nbcsports.msnbc.com)
• Blackhawks hoist Stanley Cup for 1st time since 1961 (ctv.ca)
• Blackhawks finish Flyers to win Stanley Cup (sportsillustrated.cnn.com)
• Champions! Blackhawks Win First Stanley Cup Since 1961 (chicagoist.com)
• Blackhawks 4, Flyers 3, OT: Blackhawks Win First Stanley Cup Since 1961 (nytimes.com)

The Fratellis: Chelsea Dagger (Blackhawks Goal Song)

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

For all the fans just jumping on the bandwagon, something for you guys too:

The Retar Crew: Blackhawks Song (We Love the Hawks?)

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Up late and a little ticked off about some computer related problems, here I am to get my mind off of it for a minute or two.

Opening Day is a little over a week away! I can’t wait. The ONLY upside to being out of work may be that I can actually watch the entire Chicago Cubs game on April 5th. The Cubs have their pitching rotation set until Ted Lilly comes back from his surgery and are still trying to work out the bench situation. Oh, and Milton Bradley is still a tool even if he now resides in the pacific northwest, far, far away from the Friendly Confines. He needs a splintered baseball bat shoved down his throat, maybe he’ll shut up for a while. Blaming Chicago and the fans for his poor season last year? Please, check your attitude at the door, you’ve played for 8 teams in 11 years. I guess all those cities and their fans were to blame why you have to keep filing a change of address? A pathetic waste of a Major League roster space. Baseballs Kanye suffers from a condition my school teachers used to call, diarrhea of the mouth. Everything that comes out is a little shittier than the last.

Baseball disciplinary policies confuse the hell out of me sometimes, too. Earlier in Spring Training, Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants hit Prince Fielder with a pitch, retaliation for the Milwaukee Brewers excessive celebration following a Fielder home run, last season. No repercussions for Zito. Cliff Lee of the Seattle Mariners has a couple pitches get away from him, neither of which hit the batter, and he gets a 5 game suspension. Am I missing something? If you decided on the suspension because it was deemed that Lee intentionally threw at the hitter, then why didn’t Zito get the same suspension? Isn’t the whole purpose supposed to be that everybody gets treated the same. Now, I’m a big enough pain in the ass that if associated with the Players Union, I’d be calling ‘Bull Shit!’ on this one. But, since I’m not, I’m still calling ‘Bull Shit!’ It’s cases like this where the player has perfect reason to appeal. Unlike alot of other appeals where they just inevitably wait for the hearing, and get 1 game chopped off the suspension or something.

Little, stupid things like this add up, and when they go back to negotiations on the collective bargaining agreement, somebody is going to pull out all their Post-It notes and smack ‘em on Bud Seligs forehead. Well, maybe not, but it’d be fun to see.

I guess ranting makes me feel better. Now back to the computer problems at hand.

Play Ball!

Related articles by Zemanta

• San Francisco Giants Retaliation Against Prince Fielder “A Wasted Bullet” (BleacherReport)
• Mariners’ Cliff Lee suspended for start of season (Seattle Times)
• M’s Bradley: I’m baseball’s Kanye West (ballhype.com)
• Payback’s a Pitch: Barry Zito Gets Revenge, Drills Prince Fielder (BleacherReport)

That’s about it for now, I’ll see what else I can come up with, soon. Expect it to be baseball related … Opening Day is almost here!

Five states allow for same-sex marriages and many others recognize “civil unions” to some extent. President Obama, he himself holding an office no one thought they’d ever see an African-American hold is opposed to same-sex marriage, but supports the full civil unions and the rights that come with them. All that to preface the fact that a school district in Mississippi is going to ruin a high school tradition like the senior prom for an entire school, over their views on same-sex couples. It saddens me that by standing behind a statement saying they would not host the prom “due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events.”

Recent Events being a lesbian couple that wanted to attend the prom together. What does the educational process have to do with an extracurricular activity like the prom, anyway? Sounds like a load of BS to me.

School officials dictated a memo regarding the prom with one provision stating prom dates must be of the opposite sex. The ACLU of Mississippi asked them to change that rule as it was against the rights of the students in question, instead, they do away with the prom, to avoid the issue, at least until someone gets their head out of their ass, or until next year when inevitably, this same situation arises again.

Bureaucratic, simple minded, nonsense at its finest. You’ve got to love the stance they take to ruin an event for everyone just to spite a few.

There is something called freedom of choice, that if more people chose to exercise it on certain issues, the country wouldn’t be filled with ignorant rules and laws, or people standing up to boycott something that they could just as easily ignore, rather than make a public spectacle out of themselves and/or the minor issues at hand.

If a lesbian couple is going to do such irreparable harm to your psyche and your ability to have a good time at your prom, then don’t go! It would be your loss, no one elses. If some students or even parents, are as narrow minded as the school administration then something tells me, if it wasn’t a same sex couple bringing supposed conflict to the prom, they would find something else entirely.  Shame on the school district, you’ve ruined the prom for an entire school, over your inability to grow with the rest of the world and learn to accept things that have no bearing on your day to day life. But, in doing so you’ve disrupted teenagers and their chance to celebrate the end of their school lives as they’re friends and relatives have done for years and years before. Nobody said you have to agree with the way others live their lives, but to ruin this for everybody when you have issues towards a few, is ludicrous. Let the girls live their lives as they see fit, and let them participate in that which everyone else would be allowed to, if you didn’t take it all away.

Personally, I don’t agree with same sex lifestyles, but I can accept that people are free to do as they wish, with whomever they wish and I count gay and lesbian acquaintances as friends, without letting their sexual orientation dissuade me.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Lesbian’s lesbianness forces school to cancel prom, fun (trueslant.com)
• Dear Mississippi, THIS SUCKS! (perezhilton.com)
• School prom off after lesbian’s date request (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mississippi School Cancels Prom Rather Then Let Lesbian Take Girlfriend (lezgetreal.com)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade Over Ad (lezgetreal.com)
• Lohan sues eTrade for $100m over ‘milkaholic’ Lindsay ad (thestar.com)
• Lindsay Lohan Thinks This Milkaholic Talking Baby Is Her, and She’s Suing [Lawsuit] (gawker.com)
• Lindsay Lohan sues E-Trade over ‘milkaholic baby’ Super Bowl commercial (telegraph.co.uk)
• Actress Lindsay Lohan Sues E-Trade for $100 Million (shoppingblog.com)
• Lindsay Lohan Suing E-Trade For ‘Milkaholic’ Baby Ad (huffingtonpost.com)
• Lindsay Lohan sues, claims E-Trade baby is based on her (inquisitr.com)

While surfing the web doing some research, I came across the following two websites, which is what was used in the experiment:

• Opacity/Transparency: Design Dazzling – CSS Transparency in All the Browsers
• Vertically Centered Content: DocType.com – How to vertically center content on a page

This design is at 940px wide so obviously any lower resolution will butcher the vertically centered code. It renders normally and as intended, in Firefox 3.6, Chrome 4 and IE 8

If anyone would like to test it in other browsers, please do, as I’m curious to know the results.

The code is far from clean, I’m sure. Any suggestions on easier ways to accomplish what I set out to do? I’d be interested in hearing about that too.

With that, I’m going to find my pillow, I’ll post more about the current project upon its completion, or sooner, if I go quiet around here for too long.