One week

Some week.

It’s been the best of times …

I had a fantastic week mentally and professionally. I was in my sports heaven on Sunday night. The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup … And I even got to see a good portion of the ticker tape parade in Chicago this morning, thanks to the magic of the Internet and NBC5’s streaming video feed …

Dare I say, watching that parade today was even more memorable than the White Sox celebration five years ago. Chills were running down my back at the sound of the cheers and the sight of the double decker buses rolling down Michigan Avenue with the players. Then, the shots of red and white confetti flying everywhere, the crowd chasing after the buses, and the pans showing the unbelievable enormity of the crowd had me tearing up. (This video shows a neat birds-eye-view of all of it.)

“You absolutely want to freeze this moment in time,” one of the newscasters said.

Admittedly, things did start to get a little out of hand near the end of the parade route. I can only imagine the letters the Blackhawks will be getting from parents of young fans about the display Patrick Kane put on as they drank beer from the Stanley Cup ... especially after their rowdy victory lap the other night.

Still, I can't get the Blackhawks adopted theme song out of my head and the grand images of the celebration will be ingrained in my head for days, weeks to come.

* * *

It’s been the worst of times …

Oil is still spewing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of who-knows-what. To quote one newsman this week, it’s “relentlessly depressing.”

I almost threw up on my bagel the other morning when I saw the commercial with CEO Tony Hayward assuring me that BP has taken full responsibility to end the crisis ... More active, enlightening and amusing is the infamous BPGlobalPR Twitter account … which BP tried to stifle this week. (Thanks to my friend Mallory for sending this explanation of BPGlobalPR.)

Just get the dang pipe covered already.

And then there’s the sick feeling of watching the Big 12 crumble and die right before our eyes.

The story has dominated local news the last two weeks, and it never fails to come up in conversations with friends and colleagues, too. Big time college athletics in this region will never be the same.

I‘m not opposed to any changes … But I hate the idea that theses changes seem to be driven by greed, money, TV revenue and that stupid BCS.

It’s nerve-racking that a conference with such a strong history and storied rivalries can be destroyed within the blink of an eye. Worse yet, respectable programs like Kansas are hardly being considered. One of the popular lines this week among Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri fans is that one of them won’t have a chair when this game of musical chairs stops.

I’m rooting for them to end up anywhere but the Mountain West. A Big 10 landing would be stellar, but that doesn't seem likely.

Oh yeah, and we’re still navigating the anxiety of selling our house in K-Town.

Two more weeks, and Phase 1 of The Adventure is over.