April 28

Forgive me readers, but I do not really feel like writing much about politics or even thinking about it today. Oh, I am still optimistic about what I feel will be a good result 192 days from now, but as a die-hard Chicago fan I have been focusing a lot on sports in recent weeks. It was disappointing enough when one of our teams was eliminated in extremely frustrating fashion earlier this week, but I was able to deal with it, because the Bulls looked like real contenders to take it all.

And then today happened.... I was so happy watching the game, as the Bulls rolled to an impressive victory in Game 1 of the First Round. Everything seemed right on path for a long and successful journey until June, but at the end, reigning MVP Derrick Rose got injured. His season is now over, and while the Bulls are still capable of success without him, winning a title seems nearly impossible now. An extremely depressing and disappointing development for me.

So, the whole politics thing is not really something I want to write much about this week (or maybe a lot for a few weeks.)  Tuesday was of course very satisfying for me as a Mitt Romney supporter to see him easily sweep all contests and for all intents and purposes declare himself the winner of the process and a beginning of a "Better America." The next day, the Newt Gingrich campaign confirmed that he would be formally dropping out in favor of Romney, once we all gave him a week.

I am trying to realize that if I am sad tonight, things could be so much worse if we were about to go into battle  Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum (or anybody else who ran this time) as our leader!

A lifetime of being a fan of the Chicago Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and Blackhawks sure had produced its series of ups and downs, and the downs seem to stay with you longer. Being an ardent political partisan brings about the same feelings, and of course the stakes are so much higher.

There will be many ups and downs in a close and competitive contest for the Presidency between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, as two skilled and accomplished politicians, who have both tasted victory and defeat and understand the meaning of the world resilience battle tooth and nail over economic, foreign, and social issues.

The polls are tight now and probably will stay that way for quite some team. As in the world of sports, those of us who care passionately about this election will side with our team and hope and pray for the best.