A Look Ahead To The Cross-Town Classic

Thankfully, Finals Week is over and I am home sweet home for the summer and I have some things to look forward to.

First, I need a job. I want a job. I want money. Lots of money. I need ca$h money a.s.a.p. so I can pay for my expensive college life style. But another thing I need money for is baseball--Cubs baseball.

Cubs tix aren't cheap, not by a long shot....and it's very UN-likely that I can get some Cubs/Sox tix for this weekend because I don't have much money in my name.

So I'll take a look at a preview from a far.

The Cubs will have a few distinct advantages. As the home team, the White Sox will be without the designated hitter. I am not a fan of the designated hitter. The idea of someone hitting for the pitcher is like having someone on the bench coming in to shoot Shaq's free throws.

Not only will the Sox not have a designated hitter, the guy who is their designated hitter won't be off the DL until after the series. Jim Thome, even at this age and being injury prone this year, is still a dangerous left handed bat off the bench.

The Sox will have their advantages too. They're at home for this week---their road games will be eight miles north of U.S. Cellular Field. And of course they have the master motivator Ozzie Guillen, who loves to play the underdog card and Sox fans eat it up.

Oh, and the Cubs kinda have sucked at home, record wise.

The Cubs will be out in Flushing, N.Y. playing one of the best offenses in baseball when they play the NY Mets in a four game series in the midst of their 13 consecutive games.

With all that said, I'm still looking forward to Cubs/Sox this weekend at Wrigley, specifically these pitching match-ups.

FRIDAY: Mark Buehrle (CWS) vs. Ted Lilly (CHC)
SATURDAY: Javier Vazquez (CWS) vs. Jason Marquis (CHC)
SUNDAY: John Danks (CWS) vs. Carlos Zambrano (CHC)

Those should be fun games, though I wish that the Cubs could have lined up their pitching staff to where "Triple-A piece of sh*t" (as referred to as by Guillen) Rich Hill could have pitched this weekend with the majority support of Cubdom and the Friendly Confines.

Here's hoping the Cubs can split against the Mets, which would be a major success. Though I'd prefer that they picked up 3 of 4 and take 4 of 7 from the road trip. Then take 2 of 3 from the White Sox.

Seems like I"m asking a lot, but all three Sox starters are beatable. Yes, even Buerhle, he of the April no-hitter.

OTHER STORYLINES:

• The Cubs will face two lefties---meaning two games w/o Jacques Jones and Cliff Floyd---though Jones should start on Friday---he has a high career average against the White Sox.
• Hopefully Zambrano will be motivated to the point where he knows a possible future employer will be watching carefully in the visiting dug out with Guillen, a fellow Venezuelan.
• The Cubs will have their two big free agent acquisitions going back-to-back on Friday and Saturday. Lilly and Marquis have been impressive so far, but could really earn their keep in the eyes of Cubs fans with a pair of quality starts against the cross-town rivals.
• We could see which team won this off-season's cross-town trade. Neal Cotts has been the best lefty out of the pen and arguably the Cubs best reliever. David Aardsma is one of the league leaders in strikeouts, WHIP & ERA out of the bullpen. His 100 MPH fastball would be quite nice---looks like Don Cooper straightened out his mechanics and his control problems.
• Lou Piniella gets his first taste of the cross-town classic as a manager. Piniella vs. Guillen: need I say more?
  

This could/should be fun!

It's Al Come Down To This

Post #365---feels like there have been many more than this...well there is that other site---which I might quit with but who knows.

Anyway, it's all come down to this. Finals week at SIU. 5 days that define about 120 days of knowledge. Doesn't seem fair, but that's college life. You know what else isn't fair--bookstore buy back policies. The university and the bookstores around campus are making a KILLING in this industry---not to mention the parent companies that put these book packages together. It's so not fair to the students....or in my case my parents who pay for the books. $300 worth of books shouldn't give me a return of $32.50. That is wrong on SO MANY LEVELS!

Anyway, back on topic.

This roller coaster semester, heck, this roller coaster year will end sometime around 9:50 a.m. CDT when I get out of my MCMA 201 final. Not too long after that, I'll be on my way home for sweet home Chicago.

This semester has really been a learning experience. This school year has been an experience in itself. I dont have time to do a Semester Review right now because I have that final to go to at 7:50 a.m. but I will hopefully get to it sometime next week.

All I know is that as of right now I have an 'A' in my poetry class and a 'B' in my Psyc 102 class. I need a 40/60 to get a 'C' in my MCMA 201 class and my JRNL 310 and POLS 352-I classes are up in the air as of right now. Again, I'll learn my fate soon enough.

I'll close on this note. If all goes as planned (which I know it never does, but bear with me). If all goes as plan, I will have no grade lower than a C. Doesn't seem like much of an accomplishment, but for the last year and a half I've been in an absolute rut. Readers of the blog know why, so there's no need to get into that right now.

As of right now, this is the best I've felt about my educational progress in a loooong time. As for my personal life, it could be better of course---and I hope to improve it somehow, someway.

Again, I'll get into that in another blog.

I just needed a few minutes to vent before I go to bed in Carbondale for the last time 'til---well---I dunno.

Wish me luck!

Fun With Poetry: Part III, Semester II

Part three of three. Yes, the final edition...finally.....and I still have finals to do. ARGH!!!!

THE NATURE OF POETRY (Ars Poetica)
By Luis C. Medina

Poetry is like a map without direction,
showing you where you want to go
without telling you how to get there.

A poem should be portrayed
with vivid wordplay.
Showing the blind
things they’ve only heard about.

Let winds turn
into whispers overheard
while the rain drops,
giving you a beat to put your words to.

Sunrise, a clean slate.
Treat the new day like a blank canvas
fill it. Nightfall can lead to a new beginning.
Sunsets don’t have to mean ‘The End.’

A poem should be about
how birds and bees co-exist
until the bird that gets stung
heads back to the nest
with something to chirp about.

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IN RESPONSE TO A MONDAY MORNING PHONE CALL (Prose Poem)
by Luis C. Medina

On TV is some story about corrupt politicians and I’m wishing I could change the channel because this ain’t news to me. Where’s the remote? Shoot, I’m still trying to figure out how Friday night turned into Monday morning. The phone rings, but I could care less because I don’t take phone calls while I eat. Now I’ve got this voicemail from some sobbing gal saying we need to speak. I find it odd because we haven’t spoke, not since she did you know what, with you know who. Sounds like she wants to reconcile, saying the things that make me smile, meanwhile I reconsider dating a cheater because that’s the lone reason I had to leave her. She said she was sorry for causing my heartbreak, but as nice as it was between her thighs, I could no longer put up with her lies. I decided not to return the call.

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OH, BABY! (Occasional Verse--Genethliacum--poem about the birth of a child)
by Luis C. Medina

A new beginning sent from above
to complete this family. Celebrating life
as the newest branch of the family tree.
You are proof that special things
can come in small packages.
Born innocent, your future
is as bright as the morning sun.
Looking at you I get a special feeling
because today a star was born.

Fun With Poetry: Part II, Semester II

Part two of a three part series. More poetry!


FRIDAY NIGHT STORM (Terzanelle)
By Luis C. Medina


Again, another lonesome Friday night,
I am alone; wishing I had a friend.
I do not want to cry, but I just might.

The heavy rain outside I wish would end.
Thunder sends me running to my bed.
I am alone; wishing I had a friend.

Gloomy weather always saddens me.
Lightning strikes seem close; they scare me too.
Thunder sends me running to my bed.

When will this bad night end? I have no clue.
Rain and thunder make a lot of noise.
Lightning strikes seem close; they scare me too.

Shaking under the sheets I show no poise.
All I want to do now is go to sleep.
Rain and thunder make a lot of noise.

Lying down in bed I start counting sheep.
All I want to do now is go to sleep.
Again, another lonesome Friday night.
I do not want to cry, but I just might.

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I GOT THE BLUES BECAUSE OF YOU (Blues Poem)
by Luis C. Medina


It’s sad I’ll never find another you
with your hair so soft and your eyes so blue.
You used to be the one I would run to,
now that you’re gone I don’t know what to do
knowing that I’ll never find another you.

Don’t know where you are, I wish you were here.
I can’t believe for you I shed a tear.
You made me feel better when you are near.
That’s what I believe I’m being sincere
as I sit alone, wishing you were here.

I wonder why you aren’t here with me.
I don’t know what I did to make you flee.
I guess you just wanted to be free.
Oh why, won’t you listen to my last plea?
Hoping one day you will be here with me.