The pic - in honor of the ND-USC showdown (and in honor of a friend ;) - is for loyal poster Seedy Backlash, who got tired of seeing pics of Charlie Weis on this blog.
So let me jump into the hackneyed pool of trite Thanksgiving wishes.
Thankful? For many reasons, including these:
* USC cheerleaders
* Wrigley Field
* Coveritlive
* Watching the UFC at the Fifty/50 Club or Joe's on Weed
* Charlie Weis' comeuppance
* Facebook friends
* The return of the Blackhawks
* The "Waddle & Silvy Show"
* The Bright One's stable circulation
* Ozzie Guillen
* Ricky, Kyle, Kevin, Qumar and others who help out with FCP and live chats
* James Smith's "Mr. President" headline
* Topo Gigio
* Old friendships rekindled (Mac)
* The Anthem at Hawks games
* Murphy's
* Derrick Rose
* My Au Bon Pain friends (Maggie)
* Lincoln Park
* My Uncle Emil
* Close friends during difficult times
* Lou Piniella's interviews
* A sunny day, even when it's cold
* The PR staffs of the Bulls, Hawks, Cubs, Sox, Wolves, Bears and UFC
* Albert
* The Jabb crew
* Cool exes
* Carlos Zambrano
* And all of my every-day Full Court Press posters and live chatsters like Julie, Keith, Villano, Navarro, Philtration, Culzie, William, Darryl, Sweeney, Kris and others.
Thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving!
What are you thankful for?
I'm thankful for that personal shout out! JK!
Roman responds: You know I'm thankful for you Minda. You're part of the "close friends" one.
Thankful for Topo Gigio and not O'Briens?
There you go!
Who wants to see yet another pic of Rodney Dangerfield's brother?
How great is it to be a star football player at USC?
I'm thankful that Weis' mug has now been replaced.
He looks like a bulldog, but not one that you actually would find loveable, faithful or obedient.
A happy Thanksgiving to you also Roman!
Some things I'm thankful for:
*Derrick Rose - Unbelievably Better then expected, has nearly single-handedly made Chicago Bulls basketball watchable/competitive again!
*Matt Forte - Terrific young running back
*3/4 of the Cubs season - You know, the part that Lou was awake for :p
*Mikey something and Jay whatever being tossed from their collective over-pompous media perches
*President-elect Obama - Sorry Culzie, but the best man won!
*Kyle Orton - For the healthy part of the season was able to spare us from the Rex-roller coaster.
*The Devil Rays - Too hurtful a Cubs sweep to hear it from White Sox fans this year
Thankful for...
The Bears replacing Cedric Benson with Matt Forte.
The Bulls replacing years of crap draft picks with Derrick Rose.
The White Sox replacing Juan Uribe with Alexei Ramirez.
The Cubs replacing the Tribune Co. with a new owner (to be continued?)
The Blackhawks replacing the team being an after though with a real buzz in town again.
Jessica Alba filming that under water scene in "Deep Blue" and making a really bad movie into something worth watching.
I'm thankful for my manager.. who turned into my Wife.. who turned me into exactly what I told 'everybody else'.. all my life.. I wanted to be...screw 'them' hard in a prison sex sorta way (which doesn't count as gay for me!)... and I Love you, Honey
and My Wife..heehee.. makes USC cheerleaders look like...well...Wyoming's (queue squealing pig)
Thankful for that, too
and Kneckbeards..
and culzie drafting Matt Forte..
and the Blackhawks..
and Illiniweks return..
and Tom Crean looking like Tom Arnold..
and of course...The loss of RexandCed
Thankful for...
overpaying our defense and hopeful that it will cost Angelo his job
Kyle's bright, shiny year and the fun that we've had in the Orton Fun-vee (made all the better by the steep slide in gas prices)
Ron Turner reading this blog so he knows who to use on offense (in this order: Olsen, Forte, Clark, Hester, Davis)
not buying a #8 jersey
Albert Pujols -- toughness and talent go a long way
not buying into the Bulls hype
the Hawks emergence
attending the Wolves championship clinching game
Happy Thanksgiving Roman!
Oh yeah, "LADIES, God Bless You lovely damsels!" Don't eat too much turkey now!
Many things to be thankful for, in no particular order.....
- Never being a cheerleader
- Andrew, Ray & Zoey
- Full Court Press, Roman and the Regulars
- Perspective
- Being a chick who who can hang with the guys and be part of the conversation
- Red wine, specifically the glass in my hand
- Xanax, and finally understanding that Rolling Stones song
- Section 105, Row 8, Seats 16 & 17 at Soldier
- The Pit Vipress persona
- Being a Sox fan
- Lucky and the 10 great years she was our pet
- Freddy and all his poodle-y, stinky cuteness
- People who rescue dogs
- Being at Super Bowl XLI, even though the outcome sucked and I was really wet
- Surprises
- Row 30, Seats A & B
- Chase Crawford and Ed Westwick
- My imagination
- Texting
- Yoga and the body, mind and spirit I've developed because of it
- Understanding that surrounding yourself with good people is the key to happiness
- Witnessing Mark Buerhle's no-no in person
- Bob Papa replacing Bryant Gumbel on NFL Network broadcasts
- The doctors and nurses at Illinois Masonic
- Dinkel's Bakery
- Chicago
Happy Thanksgiving to my family here at FCP!!! I love you guys!!!
xoxo
Happy Thanksgiving All!
Biggest shoutout has to go to all the new young stars in Chicago sports. Not only is this group talented, but their character is second to none.
I don't know about y'all, but I'm hungry!
That for which I am thankful:
My MacBook Pro, Dodge Intrepid, Fuji road bike, 30GB Zune, and black Fender Jazz for serving me well (if grudgingly so)
Full Court Press (where I may vent endlessly--BIG UPS TO ROMAN/RICKY/ET AL)
My determined high school debate team for putting up with my perfectionism
The Dark Knight, Let The Right One In, and all the other fantastic movies that renewed my faith in cinema this year
Kyle Orton (I'm still rockin' the orange #18)
TrueBlood and Sons Of Anarchy for reminding me that TV doesn't always suck in a bad way
fark.com
disposable sonic toothbrushes
my friends, family, roommates, and (extremely patient) girlfriend
and, last but not least, I am thankful that America was able to prove me wrong and put aside their institutionalized prejudices long enough to realize Barack Obama is far more qualified than John McCain for the office of POTUS.
Much love to the Pit Vipers (you're always wrong--and that's why I love y'all), my fellow passengers on the Orton Fun-vee, Roger Ebert, and everyone we've lost along the way.
Go Lions! (This week, anyway....)
Happy Thanksgiving Folks!
Did any of you know that as much as Charlie Weis likes to eat, he won't touch turkey; even on Thanksgiving.
That's because at the feeding trough, he draws the line at cannibalism.
Certainly this photo is much better than one of Weis.As far as Notre Dame goes, I would much rather read blogs about Big Ten teams. Notre Dame gets far too much attention from the media in general.As for thanks, I'm thankful the Bears' defense looked decent for a change and that Green Bay got Breesed to defeat.I'm not thankful that K. Samson got a $750,000 buy-out and a job with the Bucks for lousing up my alma mater.Whatever happened to the concept of rewarding virtue and punishing sin?
Im thankful for
Full Court Press - Because where else could I have a captive audience to post my insane rants and off the wall thoughts, where people actually almost like it?
Roman - Because he has allowed me to be his Friend twice on Facebook. Although currently, Im not ;)
Being Mentioned in other peoples Thanksgivings (more than I expected).
Hitwoman - The only person on the planet who has been able to somehow muzzle the rabidly poetic ramblings of one of the planets most sardonic sports philosophers.
Seedy Back Lash - No real Reason.
Rogers Park Kris - For single handily voting in a new era of peace on earth.
Bubba's Mom - For not having this USC cheerleader pic removed due to nearly NSFW content.
JB - For being JB
MarkV - For winning me over.
WMD - For actually finding a sense of humor (even though it was through sock puppet therapy with Keith).
Keith - For always giving you your Proper Respects, even if you dont agree with him (and lets face it, thats all of us).
Mike , MikeyC, Mike 123 - Not sure, but one of you could be my dad, so I am thankful for all you did to raise me right.
Philtration - Thanks for Nothing
Darryl M - thanks for always "going there" even though you know you are about to get blasted by 99% of the bloggers. If you didnt go there, most of these Thread/Blog/Posts wouldnt reach 20 comments.
Rexism and Racism - The two most popular topics on this Blog.
The Texas Police - For Busting Cedric Benson twice and allowing us to discover the best Rookie RB that Chicago has seen in 20 years.
Barry Hussein Obama - For just being from Chicago, being a Hooper and for being so photogenic and having such a great smile. My Jury is out on the rest...but I will keep an open mind.
No Thanks to Huckabee - Who stole votes from Mitt Romney and forced us to have McCain as our choice, instead of someone who actually understand economics!
My Wife - Who thinks I am the funniest, coolest, nicest guy on the planet.
My Family - Who reminds me that I am not.
My almost born son, who was due last weekend, but is taking his time getting here, but I cant wait.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!
BC
Con't...
Honorable Mention Thanks....goes to...
Tim Little - For being a thinker
Sweeney - For being a good dude and always putting comedy above all else (except the Bulls).
Q - For being my new debate sparring partner, good writer and just good dude.
Ricky Kyle O'Donell Koster- I am starting to think that Ricky is replicating himself, and im not sure if I should be thankful or fearful??
Guns...I aint forgetting you bro!
and...if I forgot anyone else...ill get you next time!
Thanks again to Roman...for making this all possible!
Peace.
Roman! Where did you get that picture of my next door neighbors?
Happy Turkey day Chicago from Hollywierd were I'm just now seasoning the tofurkey mmmmmmmm
Aloha
GO ND!!!!!!!!
Thanks Culz its all i got!
Seedy's thankful for: "not buying a #8 jersey."
This got me to thinking ....
.... I might just be the only person on this blog who has never purchased or worn ANYTHING with a sports figure or team's name on it.
I don't see the logic in endorsing, promoting, or contributing so much as a single cent of my money to self absorved millionaires, and then wearing clothing with their names on it, announcing to the entire world that I was stupid enough to do so.
I've somehow managed to live almost 55 years without this pathetic form of symbiotic validation, and with any luck, I'll be able to make through the rest of my life without having the need wear a pair of pink, #54, Urlacher pull-ups.
Unless they put them on me in the nursing home after I've become incontinent, and incoherent.
Mark...you lost me again!
Roman - Happy Thanksgiving to you!
Culzie, thanks for the mention. You only WISH you were off the wall and crazy. I hope you will let us know when the Little Culzinator arrives. Many good wishes and blessings to you and Mrs. Culzie. And I like the USC Cheerleaders picture.
Julie B - Happy Thanksgiving. One of these days I know we'll meet at 35th and Shields. And one of us will have to buy Keith LTSS a beer. You impress me with your knowledge of many sports and your passion for all of them. A true kindred spirit.
Villano, Philtration, Navarro, Darryl, his other brother Darryl, etc. - everyone here has made me laugh out loud, sometimes to the point of tears. That's what I love most about FCP.
Many thanks from Bubba's Mom
You know I know all those Trojans, right?
WESTIN EDWARD CULZIE
11-29-09 11:35pm
8lbs 14oz 22inches
9003 Cochise St., Scottsdale AZ
Congrats Culzie!
And no Pink, Urlacher #54 pullups for the budding young real estate mogul.
Make sure they're blue ;)
Wow. A big baby boy culzie. Great news!
Let's hope the Bears can win one for you, little man.
Congratulations Dad- I hope you're in awe of your wife!
I am thankful to Christ for everyday in the land of the living.
Thankful for a wonderful wife and two beautiful children (none of them likes sports - I'm still trying to figure that out)
Thankful to be in America - the greatest country on earth.
Thankful to be a lifetime Chicagoan and Southsider!
Thankful for Barack Obama - Hope Personified.
Thankful for Full Court Press - Roman and especially his fairness.
Thankful for the entire FCP gang, especially Culzie (for that pink hat photo - Blog Badboy, and for being a truly unique Chicagoan with a gold-plated ghetto visa) and Big Willy (for drawing me in with his heartfelt espressions), Edgar (great anaysis and writing), Jewels (the flirtatious one), Bubba's Mom (best Sox Fan on the blog) Knoles/Villy (best Sox Stats), Tim Little (Bulls Buddy barnone - even when it was just you and I sometimes) and the entire crew. Hitman and those songs. Daryl for standing on it.
Thankful for Orton and Forte over those other two, but really thankful for Rose! Bulls hit the jackpot! And extremely thankful for Ramirez and Quinton and the AL Central CHAMPS! Jewels, Bubba's Mom - I don't drink, but I will raise a diet coke with yall.
Yes I am bummed about the Bears yesterday, but I am still thankful. After all, this could be LAST YEAR...lol.
We need to organize an event next spring or early summer, where we can have all the Bloggers come in and actually meet each other.
Yes, we will need to have everyone patted down at the door, but thats only because we have someone named Hitman....who may attend....and of course...because of the constant threats against Ricky's wordy substitute posts.....so...rest assured....security will be of primary concern.
Here is my proposed FCPtinerary
5PM - Sign in, get name tags
6pm - Coctail Hour - Passed HorsDevours and Cigar and Martini Bars on either end of the Peninsula Hotel Lobby.
7PM - Opening speech from MC and beloved BlogFather Roman MadDogowski and a quick tipping of the cap for R'O'D, KK, and Q!
8pm - Dinner - 12oz Filets or Borsien/Spinich stuffed chicken breasts with any side you can imagine.
8:15 - Awards Ceremony to begin.
9PM - More Drinks and (diet cokes).
10PM - Hookah Bar Side Rooms open up.
11PM - VIP Room Party...and the VIP is short for VIPER.
12-6AM - AFTER PARTY!!!!!!!
Roman responds: Chicken or steak? All these years together and you forget I'm a vegan-turned-pescetarian??? Sounds like fun. I know an Esthetician at the Peninsula, so we may get facials. I know a former masseuse there, who may get an invite. Sounds great!
At first, I thought this idea came from Julie, but there is a misspelling in the above post so it can't be her. COUNT ME IN!
--Bubba's Mom
Congrats Culzie! I LOVE children! I know you are going to teach him the Ropes!
Roman I don't know how they forgot you. I know 3 things about you that I will never forget: 1. You love animals. 2. Vegan 3. Can run a marathon. All admirable.
I don't drink and don't like chicken. Put a steak on the grill for me.
Dang it, It was late, and I was sleep deprived. I will addendum the Menu/Itinerary to reflect the MC's needs.
* Vegans (who eat Fish) Can Substitute a Special Veggie Gastronomy Special.