Interceptions make their ugly return to burn Da Bears

I know I've been away for a short bit and some of you faithful followers of The Way were probably thinking I went away because of the Bears struggles. Well that is not the case.
Yesterday the return of "Old Jay" made an appearance at Soldier Field and it was the reason the Bears lost. Well, really the four interceptions by DeAngelo Hall scored the winning points, but Jay's fumble on the goalline in the middle of a scrumb that showed he had crossed the goal line was what really cost the Bears the game.
At some point, Jay has to find a way to go and win the game for the team and I have no problem with him throwing interceptions if he is making at attempt at what could be a big play.
Considering the Bears lost just 17-14 with six turnovers could be a sign the defense is as strong as it's ever been and they just need to fix the offensive line to get this thing turned around after the bye week.
It is still like this game slipped away, though. There were many chances and the defense and Jay know they had a golden opportunity to make a run at winning this game and staying in first place in the NFC North.
The picks Jay did throw are all ones he knows how to fix and the problems are all things he can fix. That's what is the silver lining in this game.
The fumble on the goalline was a situation where I'm sure Lovie did not want to challenge after just challenging a play earlier. But in all honesty, that is the play he should have challenged and he would have won that one to get the Bears out front.

Note: As I've been away, I have still been making NFL picks. If you know me you can see my picks. I'll update things Thursday for you guys and get you a new season number.


Yep, my boy Brock got his ass handed to him and his face busted in this weekend. Can't say I didn't see it coming. I'll say Cain Valesquez is great and everything I heard coming into this fight was how he was the real deal and such a great threat to Brock, who came out firing, but couldn't finish it quick enough to avoid danger.
I just hope Brock gets a rematch and doesn't have to go through an undercard fight to get a shot at his title again. I think he deserves it.

Alight, time for the Nussie Hunter and while I was on the subject of MMA and UFC I was going to mention Ariany Celeste is on the cover and in the pages of this month's Playboy. Bad news is I couldn't find photos suitable for this space.
I did, however, find some shots of Adriana Lima that are easy on the eyes. She might be the single hottest Victoria's Secret model. But maybe I'm just smittent! There's more here at Guyism.

Reuniting with my summer fam at Opening Week at Miller Park

There they are. Two tickets that to some are tickets to a big party that surrounds a baseball game. But to me, those were two tickets back to my summer home to meet up with my summer family. I know it's been just over a week since the games so I won't rehash the results, but I just wanted to give all of the people that made the last week, which saw me hit four games in six days, so much fun. Oh and the games were pretty good too!


I have to start with Opening Day. My hangout spot for the last two-plus seasons has been Slim McGinn's and that's where it started again this year. This time with AJ and Jackie and Matt. As I do almost every year, a new member of the group gets added and it was no different. That's what makes it so enjoyable. I joke that I spend the day with 45,000+ of my closest friends, but it seems like most seem to become part of my festivities anyway. So while I am a huge baseball nerd, it's as much about the people as it is the games.


That was Monday. Tuesday I got a call that the man who I get my tickets through was making his first regular season appearance at Cathedral and had two seats open for me. That's RJ. He's famous on these pages and damnit I can't not mention him here. Big hat tip to him. That was a blast, plus Lori is now part of the fam. She has done well in "The 223" and posed a question Sunday night that will surely become a topic for a future blog.


Wednesday was a chance to skip out of work for the second time in a week to get in a game and I wouldn't have picked another person to spend it with. As I write this Vaughan is in Montana as he is moving to Washington, but before he left he took in some games with Wednesday being his last. It started a little rocky, but Trevor helped send him off in style and he got his win to hold him over until he and his girl Amy return in August. It was good to see big brother happy.

I had to take a couple days off and didn't return to Cathedral until Sunday. As you can tell, I was a little excited to get my first bobble of the year to join my collection. Bernie Brewer fits right in at the office.


I kept telling you it was about friends coming to the games  and a new friend is Angela (her first shout out on The Way!). She's admitted to me she's not that big into sports, but she was there for three games last week. She had only been to one all of last year, so she somehow worked through them. I think she enjoyed herself. And heck, she went 3-0 in her visits to Cathedral and even got a Bernie Brewer bobble of her own to show off. And if you don't see your picture here, don't worry. I didn't forget about you. And yes, you matter. I just ran out of room. That just means we need to hit another game together!


So all-in-all, after the first week, I'd say it's great to have the Brewers back. If only they could straighten Doug Davis out and work through this Jeff Suppan nonsense this week, they could be off to an even better start. I'm not worried about Prince pulling through and getting into the swing of things, nor am I ready to call Trevor done after blowing two saves over the weekend.
All of you fans on the ledge, remember we are just seven games into a 162-game season. Some of the trends are worth noting, but not panicking just yet. So settle down!

I know this blog was all about the friends, but I can't not have a Nussie Hunter feature. So, why not feature May's Maxim cover girl. Arianny Celeste has been featured here before, but this Maxim shoot is ridiculous. Yeah, she looks great. I'll have some big MMA on these pages in the next couple of weeks as my boy Urijah Faber gets in the cage to try to take back his WEC Featherweight title April 24. Enough of me babbling, take a look for yourself. There's more photos here.

Mike Martz looking better and better as Bears OC

Mike Martz was officially announced as the Bears offensive coordinator earlier this week and I haven't had a chance to sound off with my thoughts on the move. I'll be honest, initially I thought he was the worst possible choice for the spot and couldn't get it done again calling plays from the booth. But the more I thought about it and read his thoughts and poked some of the guys close the Bears situation in the Chicago media, I started to think it could work and I'll tell you why.
Looking at the numbers from his time in San Fran and in Detroit he was the reason Jon Kitna through for 4,000 yards and helped Sean Hill become a competent quarterback for the Niners. He is a quarterback guy and reading the comments from Jay Cutler on ChicagoBears.com today, he's on board with it and is in sync with Mike on what he sees with the offense.
Now, changes will be made to the look of the offense, but know Cutler is the guy Martz is there to work for and push to get the most out of him that he can. I actually like the weapons around him on the field, the biggest need is going to be offensive line help which will allow Matt Forte run the ball. And we can't forget Kevin Jones, who missed all of 2009 with a knee injury. Look for both of those guys to have great years in 2010.
I'm on board with this now, too, and think, while it took 27 days to hire him, the right guy was hired. That's all that's important. Now all that's left is going to be a Defensive Coordinator to work with Lovie and this defense that played without its best player almost all of last year.
There is some work that needs to be done in the defensive backfield and the loss of Adewale Ogunleye and death of Gaines Adams needs to be addressed, but my feeling is that they'll be OK.


It is Super Bowl Week and I have to give you an awesome pic from my boys Covino and Rich. Which one of these guys looks like the NFL player? Yeah, not the one that is right!
"That shirt comes with a one-year guarantee. You are guaranteed to not get ass for one year wearing it." Well, that is, of course if you're not a Super Bowl MVP! Haha.


Continuing on the Super Bowl tip, here's the Go Daddy commercial that was banned. I'm not sure why. Can you tell me? Yeah. Besides sucking, I don't know.

Alright, today's Nussie Hunter has a bit of a story behind it. Some high school kid started a campaign to get to ask UFC Octagon girl Arianny Celeste to go with him. He made a series of videos. Here's the first one. Awesomely bad, for sure! Haha.


You can watch the second and third vidoes with Connor asking her to the prom, here. And her response? Well, that's here. You have to scroll down and I couldn't figure out how to direct link or embed (because the site sucks), but it's easy once you're there.
Well, I can't really have a Nussie Hunter without a photo of our lucky lady. Well, here is Arianny Celeste!