The Bears live another day

There could be some serious parallels forming here between the 2008 White Sox and these Bears. Both got f'd up in seemingly do-or-die division road games, where, wouldn't you know it, the Metrodome played a central role. The Twins of course went on to lose two of three to the Royals the next series, and now the Vikings, if nothing else, have at least given the Bears a ray of hope.

I'm probably getting way too ahead of myself here, especially since the Giants, Minnesota's next opponent, could be in serious 'nothing to play for' mode next week. But hey, whatever. That's not going to stop me from doing the Dirty Bird all night (I spent a solid five minutes looking for a good YouTube clip of Jamal Anderson doing the dance and found nothing), and being thankful that this Packers game at least means something. Sports suck when nothing is on the line (preseason games are unwatchable to me), so it's good that that won't be the case tonight. Now I can get all pumped up for a Monday night home game against my least favorite team in sports. That's always fun.

Here's what I'm looking for out of the Bears tonight: one crazy, game changing play. After all, that's how the Sox did it against Detroit in the makeup game against Fred-X Garcia, when Che slammed the Sox to game 163 and proceeded to pull of a Rocky III awkward man hug with Konerko that would make Bill Simmons blush. So what could happen in tonight's Bears game that would be on par with that? Why, the answer is simple: Hester taking one to the hiz-ouse. If that happens, start making plans for a playoff party. Tarvaris Jackson wouldn't stand a chance next week.

It does kind of suck that it has come to scoreboard watching, but if it means making the playoffs, I'm totally down with it. Anyways, the Falcons owed the Bears that one yesterday. If not for that goddamn squid kick earlier this year, the Bears wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place. Will I feel like I cheated the sports fan system if the Sox and Bears both make the playoffs because of epic collapses by another team? Sure, a little, though I still don't think this is half as bad as John Paxson landing Derrick Rose. Like that moron deserved him.

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Man oh man, the Blackhawks are good. Seven wins in a row, and now just five points behind the Red Wings in the division, with the mind blowing Winter Classic looming. That game is going to be beyond sweet, but I just have one small problem with it: why the hell does it start at noon? Not everything played at Wrigley needs to be a day game, people. I'd just like a few hours more recovery time, is that too much to ask NBC?

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I know I said recently that I'd add some music thoughts on Mondays, and luckily I've been on a hot streak finding sweet new music recently. I've always been a huge Rage fan, but even if you're not, go check out Tom Morello's solo act, The Nightwatchman. There are some super, super good jams on his two albums.

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I don't have live scoring, so I'm not 100 percent positive yet, but I think I just claimed my first ever fantasy football championship. More on that tomorrow.

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Two more quick things:

a) After Sunday, anyone who disagrees with Stompy about the four-season climate is out of their mind. Honestly, I think yesterday was the coldest it has has ever been in my 21 years of existence. When I was walking to work and wind would whip around the big tall buildings? Completely unbearable.

b) Just because he's been waiting his entire career to write it, I think Chuck Klosterman's review of Chinese Democracy deserves a link.