Bye Bye Briggs (Redux)

I won't lose any sleep over the departure of Lance Briggs. He was a great individual player, but benefited from playing next to one of the all-time greats in Brian Urlacher. He was fast, nimble, and a sure tackler, but also pretty selfish. And that's not new: http://fledglingtimes.blogspot.com/2007/03/bye-bye-lbriggs.html
In a nutshell, he was a rookie phenom and held his own next to Urlacher in what was probably the best linebacker tandem in the NFL for quite a while. He existed in a system that was focused on the defense, so aside from Ulacher, he also had pro bowl-quality support on the line and in the secondary. His play spoke for him, which became an issue when Urlacher retired and the coaching staff he had been with for many years was ousted.

As a fan, I expected him to be the de facto leader and take the reigns in the locker room. Even if his play or ability to stay healthy was diminished, he could still lead. Turns out he had no interest in that. He had enough interest in starting a restaurant in California that he missed time with his team to attend the opening. This is not new for him; in 2007, he announced that he would not play another snap for the Chicago Bears because he didn't like the offer they gave him on a new contract. He demanded to be traded. The illusion of any kind of allegiance to the Bears or their fans was out the window way back then. (For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Briggs)

In the meantime, his agent couldn't find him a better deal anywhere else (surprise, surprise) so he came back to the table more amenable to nearly the same offer he got the previous year. So, $33 million over 7 years, if I recall correctly. Nothing to sneeze at, but I think his ingratitude toward the Bears was not only ill-conceived, but also helped to cement a reputation that the organization was cheap and didn't value its players. In the case of Lance, I side with the organization. He was good, but Urlacher was the great one.

A quick aside: don't forget that the first thing Lance did when he finally got the big contract was to buy a Lamborghini and wrap it around a telephone pole, leave the scene of the accident, then call police and make up a story about his new car being stolen. What a colossal waste of money and resources. Read this article to see the kind of sway the Chicago Bears had over city infrastructure, too: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bears/2007-08-27-briggs-car_N.htm

In 2011, he asked to be traded again, and again was offered an extension. That runs out at the end of this season, and on top of all the other negativity this year has brought, if management re-signs him or extends him again, it better only be ceremonial (so he can retire as a Bear) or fans will respond.

All told, I'm glad Briggs was a Bear. I wish he would have been more of a team guy and a leader - especially once Urlacher left the building. The Bears are the oldest team in the league right now and it's time to start correcting that stat. My hope is that they draft more players like Urlacher and less like Briggs.

In Like a Lamb

Monday started off pretty well but ended with a broken toilet. Way to go, 2010. Way to go.

Mike, the trainer in our company workout facility, remembered my name after more than a year of apathy. That was a good sign first thing in the morning. I ran for a solid 20 minutes, did 50 crunches, then stretched pretty well. I did forget shampoo, but soap works just fine.

Once back to my desk, I got an e-mail with some of the information I'd been seeking for a while. More good news. This is where the wheels start to loosen.

Next e-mail was all about the new feature I missed in my initial research, and now, with only a week and a half until the deadline, I'll have to learn and document it. Two weeks of work in seven days. Bye Bye weekend.

Got a ton of work done anyhow, then stopped at Home Depot to get a new wax ring (couldn't find the one we got a few weeks ago) for the toilet. I had something totally different in mind but still let the plumbing aisle guy convince me otherwise.

First thing back at home, I brought the toilet inside the house to warm up. Called up Zappos to return a pair of shoes I got that didn't fit. That went really well, so I figured that was my precursor to another productive evening. I swear, it's dangerous for me to get optimistic.

I decided to get down to it and cleaned off the old wax from the toilet bowl and the drain cap. I siliconed the shim the Home Depot guy suggested and put it down, then realized the bolts he sold me were way too long. Hoping I could pull it off before the silicone dried, I ran downstairs and started furiously sawing down the bolts. It actually worked, so I put them in, set the shim, and put the wax ring on the toilet.

I flipped the toilet bowl onto the bolts and set it down, but the wax didn't seem to make contact. I knew I needed the bigger wax ring, but I let H.D. guy talk me out of it. At this point, it was after 10 PM, so there was no chance I was getting another ring. I opted to clean my sawing station instead so something would get done. When I pulled out the vacuum, I found the correct wax ring I originally bought a month ago or so. Things were looking up again, right?

This time, the flip worked, the bolts lined up, the wax ring gave some resistance before sitting flush, and I think I got the bolt length right. (There were correct bolts in the original wax ring box, for the record.) At this point, it's just a water connection and three bolts that hold the tank to the bowl - no problem, right?

Well, I hand-tightened two front bolts and started tightening the back bolt when I heard a crack. It was the sound of 2009 reaching into the future (our present) and snatching a possible victory from my hands. Even as I loosened up the bolts again, more cracking happened. Bah. That was that.

Today, no workout. No time. I didn't sleep much last night and there's (hopefully) band practice tonight. I'll be back on the exercise track tomorrow. I might have the toilet fixed tonight. Deadline at work is set for 1/15, after which I might have to decompress a bit.

This is not how I envisioned posts on ACTION CITY. Stay tuned!