TUP-Cast 5 (or 'Holding Down the Couch Springs')

Three-man booth: download

(Type in the four-digit code, wait 45 seconds for the 'regular download' to appear.)

I thought I found a way to stream this on the site, but it turns out we went waaay too long. I guess we'll have to keep it around 15 minutes from now on, which is probably better for everyone involved anyway.

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The Bears interview I did with MVN.

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Bears 2009 sked. Initial prediction: 11-5. And I seriously feel like that's about worst case scenario. If you can't tell from that interview, I am very, very excited for football season already.

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My favorite blog referencing my favorite band in a headline? Why, of course that deserves a link! Let's throw in a Hold Steady link too, just for fun. Even after years of listening to THS, I never knew Ybor City = Tampa.

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I think I'm sort of cool with the Bulls playin' the Celtics in the first round. They'll probably lose, but I thought they'd probably lose against the Magic, too. I do think the Bulls have a chance, though. In fact, if you look at all the playoffs matchups across the league, the Bulls may be the NBA's best chance for a first round upset. And Simmons says Garnett is more beat up than people realize, which is good. So I don't know. But either way, I'd say this has been a pretty successful season.

Perhaps we'll tie up the Bulls at a later date, but the Chicago sports spotlight shifts to the Blackhawks first. Tonight is their first playoff game since 2002, and this is really only their second playoff appearance since people around my age (early 20's) really started following sports. So it's going to be a little weird, but then again this whole season has been a little weird. The Hawks as the hottest team in Chicago? I barely know what the blue line is!

Anyways, this truly is a momentous occasion. I'm going to try to write a Hawks column-thingy later today if I have time. They deserve it. But my first class is at 9 a.m. tomorrow, so I may need a mid-day nap. So I'm not makin' any promises. Unfortunately, I won't be able to watch the game because of my ferocious Thursday night schedule (class/work), but I'll be following along as best I can to be sure.