Happy Halloween!

Here are a couple Halloween nuggets for everyone to chew on.  Enjoy!

And this one...

Carpe the Great Diem

Do you ever wake up and have something happen to you to start your day and realize, "Whoa! This is going to be a GREAT day!!!"?  Yesterday was just such a day for yours truly.

6:54 AM:  Wake up to the sound of Zara laughing at my alarm ringing.  "Dun dun-dun DUN dun-d-dun dun..." (Yes, I'm well aware that it's kind of weird to set your alarm for 6:54.  Well, I'm a weird guy.)

6:54:12 AM:  As I stretch my arms across the bed and contemplate waking up, I reach over and feel something large, wooden object in my bed next to me.  Upon further inspection the picture frame, previously hanging about 2 and a half feet above the right side of the bed, is now lying on the bed next to me.

6:55 AM:  As I emerge from my early morning wake-up haze, I finally realize how lucky I am that I decided to sleep on the left side of the bed, thus avoiding having a heavy wooden frame dropped on my poor defenseless sleeping face.

7:00 AM:  Since it had absolutely poured all night long, I ask Chris and Zara if I can borrow an umbrella and rainjacket.  They say, "No problem, you know where they are."  Perfect.

7:02 AM:  Begin shaving face.

7:05 AM:  Finish shaving face.

7:05:01 AM:  Get a big smile across my face with the realization that I just had one of those near-perfect shaves, where your face hardly feels any irritation at all.  For those of you out there thinking, "What Mike, the 16 hairs are your face weren't feeling itchy???" I say, "Hey, you shut your mouth when you're talking to me!!!"

7:55 AM:  Walk outside, and while walking down the street, I realize I have forgotten both an umbrella AND a rainjacket.  Awesome.

7:55:01 AM:  Realize that it isn't raining anymore.  It isn't even drizzling.  Woohoo!!!

7:55:02 AM:  Remember that it's Friday.  Great success!!!!

7:59 AM:  See a hilarious cute little girl dressed up as a witch walking to school with her mom.

8:02 AM:  As I reach the top of the L platform, the purple line express train rolls up immediately.  Damn, I'm on a roll.

8:02:14 AM:  Walk onto the train, and there's actually a seat for me!

8:15 AM:  While riding the L, I see the following headline in the Chicago Red Eye, and laugh to myself because I have the maturity of a 14 year-old.

8:25 AM:  Walk into work early.

4:45 PM:  Done with work.  Time for the weekend.

6:30 PM:  Jim Beam and coke.  Need I say more?

7:30 PM:  Commence pumpkin carving for the first time since I was 12 or something like that.  I had forgotten how fun this is.  Chris, Zara and I carve two amazing pumpkins!  What a great day.

How sick are those?!?!  That's mine on the right and Chris and Zara's on the left (DOMO!!!).

And of course, the spooky dark shot.  Happy Halloween and happy weekend everybody!

The Longest Inch, Episode #6

In episode 6, Skyler and I do a special Thursday show (the only thing that makes it special is that it was done on Thursday instead of Friday).  We dive head-first into dissecting the Game 1 of the World Series, discuss the greatness of the Agassi mullet, debate the outrage over his meth use, and break down Week 9 of the college football schedule telling you who will win and who will suck.

It's all here, so buckle up and get ready for the ride of your life.

Why I Want To Have Kids Someday

The Longest Inch, Episode #5

In episode 5, the Sky man and I talk about the World Series and some big St. Louis Cardinals coaching moves (Big Mac is back!), Coach Herman Boone and Mike rip Nebraska a new one after a disappointing Cornhusker loss, we dissect the other top NCAA games, and we cut through all the BCS ranking B.S. to tell you who really has the best case for being the #1 team in the nation.  And yes, that's right, we see if I can "Stump The Skyler!"

Motivation for the Huskers

Fear not sports fans, the Longest Inch Episode #5 will be up in just a few hours.

Until then, I leave you with the following:



Here's hoping the Husker players are watching this and getting motivated to get their act together for the rest of this season.  I'll also add that despite the pain of that loss from being a Nebraska fan, this is still a pretty cool video and takes me back to the days of "Who ****** Middlebury?!?!?  WE ****** MIDDLEBURY!!!!!" in the ATO basement.  Speaking of which, do any Jumbos out there have any video of that???

The Longest Inch, Episode #4

In episode 4, (Friday, October 16), Sky and I have switched the format up a little.  We're now focusing mainly on college football and the MLB.  We figured the scope of the podcast was a bit too large before, so hopefully this way we can go into greater depth on these topics.  And, as always, I attempt to stump the Skyler.

Google Wave

So I'm going to stick with the Google theme and the props to Patches theme and tell you guys about Google Wave. Actually, instead of telling you, you can watch a presentation about it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ

From the looks of the presentation, it is amazing. It is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Actually, come to think of it, it is way cooler than slicing up flour, yeast, water and salt.

So if you want to request a Google Wave account, just go to:

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

Mikechop: Keepin' the people informed.

Google Voice

Big ups to Patches for keeping me technologically informed.

So, there is this thing called Google Voice. Basically, this is what it is:

"Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they are being left and the ability to make low cost international calls. You can record custom greetings for your favorite callers or block annoying callers by marking them as spam."

If this is something that interests you, request a number by going to:

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/

Oh, and for all the Tufts '07 grads, I already grabbed JUMBO07 as my number. I guess you could still go with TUFTS07, but that's not nearly as cool.

Hilarious

Dear Rest of the NFL,

In case you hadn't noticed already, the Bears cannot run the ball. You should no longer concern yourselves with ever worrying about run defense when playing Chicago. We also like to fumble multiple times on the goal-line. That is all.

Love,

Matt Forte

Did you know...

Since joining the National Football League in 1966, the Atlanta Falcons have NEVER posted a winning record in consecutive seasons.

The Longest Inch, Episode #3

In episode 3 (Monday, October 12), Skyler and I discuss freezing cold playoff baseball, college and pro football, why the MLB season is way too long, and we reveal the meaning of life*.

Get after it. You can sleep when you're dead.

*This didn't happen.

The Longest Inch, Episode #2

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. What can I say... computers are hard to figure out (thank God for Wolfy--he also recommends "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" to all).

With that being said, get excited cause the wait is over!

Episode 2 (recorded Friday, October 9) marks a sad sad day for Skyler as his Cardinals were swept out of the playoffs and Florida State dropped yet another game, this time to lowly Boston College. We talk playoff baseball, college and pro football, NBA replacement refs, and we try out our new "Stump the Skyler" trivia segment.

Drink it up sports fans, it always goes down smooth.

Cause I Want It That Wayyyyyyy

Case of the Mondays??? I think not after watching this. A big thanks to Marissa for this Monday morning Columbus day gem:

Subscribing to The Longest Inch Podcast

Hey all Mikechoppers,

So just as a little FYI, if you want to subscribe to The Longest Inch (obviously) you can skip going through iTunes by simply clicking here. When you go to that link, just click the subscribe button and you should be all set. Enjoy!

-mike

The Longest Inch Podcast, Episode #1

This is it folks, the moment we've all been waiting for. The moment that will help to shape and define every moment that follows it.

That's right. The launch of The Longest Inch Podcast!!! The single greatest sports podcast known to mankind. So sit back, relax, crack a ice cold Budweiser, and enjoy the sweet soulful melodies of Mike and Skyler.

In this episode, we recap week 5 of college football, week 4 of the NFL, preview the Vikings/Packers Monday Night game, preview the Twins/Tigers one game playoff, and talk MLB playoff baseball. Oh, and we also get totally radical. The Longest Inch is on the air!!!!!!

I guess that makes 101...

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart.

The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins

again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and

evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves

you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer

the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and

high skies alive, and then just when the days are

all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

That quote, taken from the late A. Bartlett Giamatti's The Green Fields of the Mind, seems to get more and more appropriate every time October rolls around. Every time the Cubs are snuffed out of yet another playoffs, or swept out of them after somehow managing to sneak their way in. At the conclusion of every single baseball season I find myself reading those words and thinking, "That could not be written any more perfectly." (I should also note that Al from bleedcubbieblue.com concludes every MLB season with that quote.)

With the Cubs' 5-2 loss today to the Arizona Diamondbacks, it is official. 101 years. Say that out loud to yourself. One-hundred and one years. Sheesh.

I guess technically it was official a week or two ago when St. Louis clinched and we were eliminated from Wild Card contention, but for me it doesn't truly sink in until there's no more baseball to be played. Until there are no more days to be spent in the sun in the bleachers at Wrigley. Until 40,000 standing, smiling fans won't be singing Steve Goodman's "Go Cubs Go" for at least another 6 months.

---

This season was just downright bizarre. We saw a rookie of the year go through a sophomore slump (Geovany Soto). We saw more trademark freak injuries (Ryan Dempster landing on the DL after breaking a toe trying to jump the fence to go celebrate a victory with the team. Derrek Lee hitting a game-winning homer and then promptly missing 5 games after getting a congratulatory slap on the head so hard by Angel Guzman that he had neck spasms...). We saw Rich Harden pitch on April 15 to the tune of:

3 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 8 K

In case you're wondering what's so special about that, it's that none of the other fielders (except the catcher) were involved in recording outs against any of the 17 batters that Rich faced that day. Every single batter either walked, struck out or got a hit -- an achievement in defensive indifference that no other pitcher in the past 80 seasons has duplicated in a start that long (Thank you Jayson Stark).

And yes, of course, we saw Milton Bradley. We saw him lose track of outs, pull himself out of games, and wage wars with fans, umpires and managers alike (2 more years and $20 million more, here we come!)

And as bizarre as this season was, it still ended the same way as the last 100 seasons -- with no World Series Championship to show for it. We spent more money than every other team in the MLB except the Red Sox and Yankees, and what have we got to show for it? Second place in one of the worst divisions in baseball and a set of steak knives!

And you know what the funny thing is? I'm still gonna miss it and I still can't wait for next year and I still think we're going to win it all someday soon.

And that's probably why Giamatti's piece seems so fitting to me.

Of course, there are those who learn after the first few times.

They grow out of sports. And there are others who were born

with the wisdom to know that nothing lasts. These are the truly tough

among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without

even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date.

I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and

cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might

as well be that state of being that is a game;

it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.

The Greatest Car Commercial Ever

The Test Episode of the Mike & Skyler Show

This is a test run for the up-and-coming amazing, sensational sports podcast produced by Mike and Skyler. Stay tuned for many more awesome, jaw-dropping, skirt-lifting episodes!