I woke up yesterday morning and turned on ESPN expecting to hear about the AL wild card race, the NL wild card race, training camp news, or essentially anything but what I did hear. My daily dose of sports began with the news of Maurice Clarett, the former star running back from Ohio St. who had to be taken down by mase by cops and had 4 guns in his car.

(Quick tangent: I've never liked Clarett. I thought he was a fluke for the buckeyes. Hell, my beloved Wildcats shut him down with their defense. He was a one year wonder who would never pan out, ok back to my qualms)

So, of course, we have to see the timeline of Clarett's troubles, interviews with those who knew him, his mugshot., and pictures of the guns. I'm still young, my brain hasn't fully developed yet, but I'm pretty confident that is not sports.

But that's what sports news is about these days--a good 10 minutes dedicated to what I like to call the 'sports blotter.' We get frequent visits from the Bengals, Trail Blazers, Daryl Strawberry, etc. It begs the question: What true sports fan out there is looking forward to learning about a player who assaulted his wife? Does our society need to be reassured professional athletes have feet of clay? But we love the sports blotter and ESPN knows it because we're always up to date. Whether it's Oklahoma's quarterback receiving extra money or the Miami players suspended for the FSU game--Americans love the sports blotter.

And it's not only jail-risking activities that grab our attention. My generation has been introduced to the era of steroids. No other generation has had to wonder when their favorite athlete makes an accomplishment if he/she cheated or not. Barry Bonds is the most frequent visitor to the 'sports blotter.' The sight of Mark McGwire and Rafeal Palmeiro in court defending themselves is more famous than them hitting home runs. Next year the sports blotter will be busy covering the hall of fame votes and if Mark McGwire gets in.

(Quick tangent- if I was voting, I'd only vote for Gwynn and Ripken, not because I don't think McGwire should get in, but just to show what types of players the hall of fame deserves and I don't want great players like them to have their ceremony overshadowed by a steroid controversy)

Only in the steroid era would the most inspiring story in the sports in 2006 be scarred due to allegations of cheating. Yup, my boy Floyd Landis. I read every article I could about him, woke up to watch cycling for the first time in my life, told everyone his great story. Now I hear his amazing ride really was one-of-a-kind, not because of the accomplishment but becuase of his testosterone. Now, thanks to the sports blotter, even casual sports fans are experts on testosterone levels and what they mean. Only in this era could I be crushed about an inspiring athlete due to doping.

The biggest problem with the sports blotter is that it's not going away anytime soon. Has there been a decline in athletes' crimes recently? Probably not. There's been a huge increase in steroid-related blotter stories, which has increased the blotter exponentially. As technology imprvoes, more ways are going to be found to mask performance-enhancing drugs--of which more and more will be created.

I don't think that the popularity of sports has in anyway decreased due to the threats on its integrity, but it does make you wonder who can we trust . Who can our heroes really be? I grew up on Michael Jordan. He was my sports hero, but even he had his faults, and thanks to the sports blotter, they were well publicized, from gambling to marital issues. But as I watch young kids growing up with Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi, I wonder about my kids--will any athletes be clean by then? This damage to the sanctity and morals of sports keeps me looking for those feel-good stories, but when Floyd's test came up positive, I was given a harsh reminder at what sports have become in the 21st century.

I will still continue to look for those great stories in sports, and they are still there. But as long as the Sports Blotter is still intact, digging for the tear-jerking, non-cheating, stories will be more difficult.

As I go to bed tonight with a wonderful White Sox winner, I wonder what I'll hear more about in the morning: The Sox and the wild card chase, or LenDale White brawling at Titans practice--the most recent addition to the Sports Blotter.

Why is the foul pole called the foul pole if it’s in fair territory?

How can Barry Bonds’ head be twice the size it was 10 years ago because of his ‘arthritic cream’ and not because of steroids?

Why is US Cellular Field sometimes still half empty even after the White Sox won the World Series?

Why, if the Bears had the 2^nd best defense in the league last year, would they spend all but two of their draft picks on defensive players?

Why do you have to like either the Cubs or Sox and not be a both-fan?

How come it seems like the only hockey team in Chicago is the Wolves?

Why would the Bears draft a player whose name is Danieal (pronounced Danielle)?

Why do Cub fans waste more energy cheering against the White Sox than they do cheering against the Cardinals?

Why do people want Pete Rose (who admitted to wrong doing) in the Hall of Fame and not Shoeless Joe Jackson (who was found not guilty by a jury)?

How can people not consider Secretariat an athlete?

Why, if the Cubs have so much money, can’t they ever hold on to star players? (See Rafael Palmeiro, Greg Maddux, Lou Brock)

Why, as of the time I’m writing this column, have the Cubs yet to find a player who can hit with Derrek Lee injured?

Why can’t they check in girls’ lacrosse?

Why, even after the Sox won the World Series, did Sports Authority have only Cubs merchandise?

How come everyone blames Steve Bartman for the NLCS demise when he had nothing to do with losing game 7?  Or the error by Alex Gonzales, for that matter.

Why can’t you turn on SportsCenter without seeing an update on the Duke Lacrosse scandal?  Or Barry Bonds’ home run count?

Why is there a commercial after the touchdown and also after the kickoff?

A couple months ago I wrote about the top 5 sports days in a given year.  I even listed a few more that just missed my top 5.  However, after this weekend, I'd like to apologize for a big omission.  Some comments were posted regarding my omission of the NFL draft and, now, I agree, the NFL Draft weekend should seriously be considered as one of the most exciting sports weekends of the year.  I should have made a log of my time watching the draft, but since I didn't, I'll try and just write all my random thoughts throughout the draft.

I'll begin with Friday night, I was at a friend's house when my cell phone rang.  "The Texans signed Mario Williams!" yelled my friend Charlie.  I knew Williams was a possibility, but I figured it'd be impossible to pass up Reggie Bush.  I firmly believe Bush was not only the best player in the draft but will be the best player in the NFL.  What is great, however, about the draft is guys like Mario Williams--who only die hard college fans have heard of pre-draft, dominate the headlines.

I yelled at my TV as each team in the top 10 passed over Matt Leinart.  I really didn't understand it.  So one guy said he doesn't have an 'NFL arm.'  I'd take Leinart over Cutler any day, and I'm glad the Cardinals did.  Yes, Leinart had a great supporting cast, but he also played in more pressure-packed games and situations than any player in the draft.

Then as the 1st round came to an end, the fun for us Chicago Bears fans began.  For those of you unfamiliar with the Bears, let me give you some 1st round picks of theirs: Cade McNown, Curtis Enis, David Terrell, Anthony Thomas (1 year wonder), Michael Haynes, Mark Columbo.  I think they speak for themselves to show why I was a little nervous with the 26th pick looming.  I was hoping for tight end Mercedes Lewis, because the Bears have a terrible offense and with a short=passing offense style, they could use a solid tight end.  But, I guess to avoid making another first round bust, the Bears traded their pick.  Ok, they make good picks in the later rounds, so they'll just get some steals, right? Like Nate Vasher in the 4th round or Alex Brown in the 4th round.  Well, my friend and I were speechless as we saw "Danieale Manning/ Abeliene Christian" flash across the ESPN bottomline.  Who the hell is Danieale MAnning was my first reaction.  Clearly ESPN didn't know either becuase they didn't even say anything about him.  Ok, fine, so I guess we want a returner.  So with the 57th pick I'm all excited again because LEonard Pope, tight end out of Georgia, is miraculously still available.  Cmon, the Bears can't screw this up.  It's clear they need a tight end.  He's still available, they're sure to take him.  But, once again, only the Bears.  Only the Bears would take Devin Hester, who don't get me wrong--I'm a big fan, but they could have taken him instead of Manning then taken Pope with the 57th.  And the mind games Jerry Angelo plays with his fans continues.  The 3rd round continues and we watch as teams are still passing over Leonard Pope and my friends and I get excited that he'll be available.  Cardinals on the clock with the 72nd pick, we're next.  Well, the Cardinals don't want another offensive player, right? Well, wrong again. 

So it took until day 2 for the Bears to finally take an offensive player--a fullback from Oklahoma.  Looks like we really do want to make our Defense our Offense.  The Bears will be the only team in the league that will punt on 3rd down if they feel they could pin the other team far back enough. 

Day 2 is fun for me becuase I'm a die-hard Northwestern fan so I'm waiting for their seniors to get drafted.  Luckily, 3 (Barry Cofield, Zach Strief, and Tim McGarigle) were drafted on day 2.  However, my favorite college player of all time, Brett Basanez, who I think was one of the top 15 quarterbacks in this draft class, wasn't drafted.  Who knows, maybe he'll be the next Jake Delhomme.

Well, I'll just have to wait until next draft to see how the Bears make all their fans crazy next year.

Until then, i'll be hoping for many 3-0 victories.

Continuing my theme of days/events in sports that are highly-touted, I'd like to talk about some that I feel are overrated.  Once again, this list is biased based on my own personal preference of sport, so it's very much open for debate.

5.) Daytona 500-  While I know some about racing and follow it in terms of seeing who wins each race on Sportscenter, it is a very boring 'sport,' if you can call it a sports, which helps land the Daytona 500 at #5.  It marks the start of the neverending racing season where the winner of it doesn't usually even count to factor into the race for the cup at the end.  The Indy 500, for racing fans, I feel is much more historic and exciting to watch. 

4.) The NFL Preseason- Come on guys, like it really matters? The Colts went 0-4 this NFL Preseason.  I know that football is king of the sporting world these days and it gets football fans all fired up for the upcoming season but it is highly overrated.  The games are poorly played, starters play only a half, and if you're watching you're probably too busy worrying about your favorite player getting hurt.  THe NFL preseason is stupid, should be shorter, and doesn't have anticipation aspect that baseball spring training does (it also gets about 10 times more hype than spring training).

3.) NBA All-Star Game- I love the dunk contest, the 3 point contest, but what's the point in playing the game?  It ends up being something like 140-135 and the NBA is a sloppy game to watch as it is so when you put 10 ball hogs on the court together it's even worse.  It is very over-hyped and the game means nothing and i think it has lost a lot of its valour in the years since MJ.

2.) Super Bowl Sunday- I know I had this on my previous list of best days because it is a fun 'sports' day, however, it's also very overrated.  I'ts one day and one game, granted it is the championship game but there's no other sports to watch that day.  You also have the chance of it being a bad game and there's nothing to look forward to except for commercials.  And if you have 0 loyalty to the two teams (like i'm sure a lot do this year, Steelers vs. Seahawks? come on) it's probably not so fun to watch.  We have to wait 2 weeks to watch the Super Bowl, go through the media day coverage and the 6 hour pre game shows and millions of predictions for one game that means little unless you're a big fan or if it is a good game.

1.) The Pro Bowl- Ok, I guess it's kind of obvious that I'm not the biggest NFL fan from my list, but I enjoy football a lot I just think the NFL takes advantage of their standing as the highest-rated sport by over-hyping ever single event, including the Pro Bowl--the most pointless, stupid sporting event of the year.  I watch sports everyday, I'll watch bowling, tennis, even ping pong (a very underrated sport to watch on tv) and I'm proud to say I have never watched the Pro Bowl.  sure, I've turned it on once in a while but who cares? The season's over, ,many players don't even want to play so they don't get hurt, they don't play hard so it's usually a boring game, but NFL primetime is there and all week is leading up to the big game in Hawaii.  IT is completely overrated and shouldn't even be played in the first place.

Next up: underrated sports events. 

With a very famous sports day upcoming in Super Bowl Sunday, I'd like to do a couple top 5s involving sports days, starting with my personal favorite and maybe including some that are overrated and some that are underrated.  

5.) Sunday at the Master's- Ok, this really only works if you're a golf fan I understand that.  But I'm not even that much o####olf fan but I love watching the final few holes of the Master's on Sunday.  Obviously it's much more fun to watch if it's close and Tiger isn't running away with it, but even without the drama it brings the Master's tradition, sparks the opening of golf, and ends in the famous green jacket celebration.  It's one of the only times I'll watch golf all year and that is why I added it to the list.

4.) Super Bowl Sunday-  While this may find a spot as well in my top 5 most overrated days in sports, it's hard to argue what a great day Super Bowl Sunday is.  All sports fans have a house to go to and can play squares and make bets and even if it's a bad game you can always enjoy the commercials.  Super Bowl Sunday lands a spot here mainly becuase of it's history and entertainment aspect to it.  Also, if your team is in the game even better because there's about as much pre game as you can get that morning and afternoon.

3.) New Years' Day (excluding this year)- My favorite memories from when I was younger is waking up on New Years' Day and finding mulitple bowl games to watch.  College Football is such an exhilirating sport and the pagentry and tradition involved with the New Years' Day bowl games makes it that much more fun to watch.  Once you get to around 1 or 2 o'clock there's already 4 games on at once, all with something up for grabs.  And if some games are blowouts there are always others on other channels making it one of the great days of channel surfing as well.  I admit it has lost some of its lure with the BCS spreading out its games but New Years' Day bowl games still find a way to #3.

2.) Thursday's First round NCAA tournament games- Okay, so you have your 50 brackets filled out, highlighters ready, pools entered, and you've been waiting since Selection Sunday for this moment.  Starting at 11:00 you;ll have 16 games of thrilling March Madness to watch on CBS.  As a student I'll go from class to class trying to hide my radio or trying to find a way to get to a computer to watch the gamecast.  It's the start of the most exciting playoffs in all of sports and 16 games is a great way to do it.

1.) Baseball's Opening Day-  While this has also lost some luster due to a random game in Japan or a Sunday nighter before all the games, it finds itself at #1 because it marks the beginning of our National Pastime.  We've lasted through offseason trades, pitchers and catchers reporting, and spring training all leading up to Opening Day where usually almost every team has a game throughout the day into the evening.  It's the beginning of spring and then summer and the start of the 162 game marathon the baseball fans live for.  It's historic and exciting and always worth the wait.

This list is clearly biased due to my own personal interests in specific sports, but some are hard to argue with.   Willing to hear many other ideas on other great sports days.

Just missing the list: Final 4, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Olympics Opening ceremonies,

Before I give some Chicago sports-angled predictions for the upcoming year, I'd like to tell a quick story about a recent DePaul basketball game I attended.  It was New Year's Eve and the team looked very sluggish against a weak, injured Florida International team.  We won the game and the players who excelled were Sammy Mejia, Draelon Burns, and Cliff Clinkscales.  But what made it an inspiring game for me to watch as a fan was the game by Marlon Brumfield, the 6'8 senior center.  Most DePaul fans know the story of Brum, he worked his butt off after being a backup to Andre Brown and earned a starting job last season but was ####ed up frequently.  He is always considered the hardest working player on the team by coaches.  This season Brum has been ####ed up and his minutes have been limited.  In the game on Friday, Brum had 4 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals.  But he was so fun to watch.  He got his hand on many balls fed to the post on defense and induced turnovers and bad shots.  All of Florida International's points came from their guards it seemed because of Brum's inside defense, not to mention his constant battle under the basket that led to offensive rebounds by him (2) and other Blue Demons.  When Brum exited, my Dad and I stood to congratulate his game, but few others realized his impact.  Brum is one of those players that makes sports so joyful because he's a feel-good story that makes you feel even better when he does well.

Now some predicitons for 2006, once again with a Chicago angle:

Bulls: Will get the 8 seed, get swept in the first round, but make a great run at the end of the season to make the playoffs that makes most fans forget about their early exit.

Illini: They'll get a 2 seed and get upset in the 2nd round.  Sorry orange crush, but Dee can only do so much.

DePaul: They'll have a couple fun upsets in the Big East and just miss making the big dance after an early Big East Tournament exit.  They'll win a game or two in the NIT.

Northwestern: Bold prediction: The Wildcats make the NCAA tournament for the first time in history after winning the big ten tournament with Vedran Vukusic averaging 40 points per game.

Bears: They'll make the NFC Championship, i obvoiusly want them to win the Super Bowl but it seems like it's the Seahawks year, with a healthy Rex next year things may be different.

Cubs: If they trade Prior: They'll finish 3rd in the NL Central and Miguel Tejada will have many arguments in the already tumultuous clubhouse.

If they keep Prior: they'll get the Wild Card and lose first round.

White Sox: Can anyone say back-to-back?

And last but not least, the Blackhawks prediction...Wait, there's a hockey team in Chicago?