Pretty umbrellas help me forget about the Blackhawks (and other stories of the day)

Pretty umbrellas help me forget about the Blackhawks (and other stories of the day)
Pretty umbrellas help me forget about the Blackhawks (and other stories of the day)

Pretty umbrellas help me forget about the Blackhawks (and other stories of the day)

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Umbrellas save the rainy day. (Photo by Hello ChateauHo/Flickr)

When the Vancouver Canucks emptied their bench onto the ice in celebratory bliss, I sunk into a state of exhausted paralysis. No words, no actions, just an icy glare at images of Canadians celebrating. It’s a difficult emotion to put your finger on. It’s not disappointment or anger and it’s definitely not pain. It’s just dark stasis. It’s a fleeting and temporary emotion, one that is designated specifically for sports. It’s almost like your brain has compartmentalized sports emotions. One lobe is dedicated to the highs of lows of entertainment.  Because when you have real disappointment or anger in your life, it cuts much deeper and lingers much longer. It’s almost residual. It affects how you live your life. The Blackhawks’ loss didn’t really change how I slept, how I brushed my teeth or my outlook on the day. But there is something powerful about that sports feeling. It’s there for a moment, gone the next day as the rain washes it away.

What a game.

B story: President Obama released his long form birth certificate this morning. You know that ritual that presidents do after they’ve been in office for three years? I think Teddy Roosevelt started it. What I don’t understand is why you would release it at all? Let your opponents focus on it and focus on it and focus on it until they realize they focused on it too much and it’s too late. Boom, second term.

C story: Feder put out a list of the most powerful women in journalism today. Our managing editor, Sally Eisele, made the top 10! If the playoffs started tomorrow, she would get Jane Hirt in the first round. If she can get by Hirt, she would have a second-round matchup with Carol Marin. Wait, I have too much sports on the brain. Not everything is a tournament. But it should be! Congrats, Sally! Well deserved!

Weather: What I love about the rain has nothing to do with weather. It’s the by-product of weather: Umbrellas. When commuting downtown during a rainy morning, you see a glut of umbrella fashion clogging up the sidewalks. It’s fun to see the fashions, the styles, the sizes, who has broken ones or freebies and who decided to forgo the umbrellas entirely (hint, dudes). It also adds a nice aesthetic to the morning rush. Something different, something added to the landscape to battle the dreary morning.

Sports: On the other hand, that’s the Chicago Bulls team we fell in love with! A huge margin of victory with relentless pressure from not only the stars, but the bench, also. And throw in a bit of Stacey King and Scottie Pippen getting crazy with the calls? You’ve got a great night of Chicago Bulls basketball.

Pip was all over Boozer last night. Step too slow, not aggressive enough, not playing at a high level, you name it. They had shallow praise for backup Taj Gibson, which was really just veiled criticism of Boozer’s play. And now it turns out, Boozer has turf toe.

The Indiana Pacers need to retool their frontcourt. Too many thugs. Hansbrough, Foster and McRoberts just played with little to no composure or tact all series long. It almost took away from the Pacers’ resilient storyline. They played well against the #1 seed, but it was overshadowed by the shenanigans. The Pacers are like the ‘Bad Boy Pistons’ without the talent.

Now we get the Hawks or the Magic. Go Hawks. Not because I fear the Magic, but because it would be sweet, sweet revenge for Bulls’ fans to bounce wasted draft picks Jamal Crawford and Kirk Hinrich from the playoffs.

Kicker: You know April is National Poetry Month. So Amy Krouse Rosenthal is putting together a collection of poetry from Mission Amy KR readers. Join in here.