Full Circle

 Well would ya look at that? The school year is pretty much over, meaning that this is the last scheduled weekly Pain blog...for now at least. I feel like this blog strangely came full circle in a way. I started my blog complaining about the Bears trying to trade for Carson Wentz. They didn't trade for him, so then my topics switched to hype around Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson. The Bears didn't make either of those trades. Then I had a full blog post, and numerous other disgruntled mentions, of the Bears signing Andy Dalton and naming him QB1. All hope had seemed lost and I thought for sure that I was done writing about Bears quarterbacks for a while. That was until last Thursday, when the Bears FINALLY made the right move, traded up, and got their future franchise QB in Justin Fields. If you follow me, or any Bears fan really, on Twitter, then you know that we're all hyped for Fields. I'm sure anyone reading this blog has already had a week to soak in the Bears/Fields pick and that they've heard all the hype, so I'll spare you from reading anything about Fields that you've probably already read somewhere else on the internet. All I will say is that I'm very excited for the upcoming season and that I hope Fields can become the star QB that Bears fans have craved for decades.

Since this is sort of a wrap up, I'll keep it short and sweet on the rest of the teams. The Blackhawks are officially eliminated from playoff contention, which is a bummer. I was obviously wrong in my prediction post I made a few weeks ago when I said they had a good chance to make it. Shocker. Disappointed, but optimistic for next season with Toews hopefully returning and the young guys developing even more.

The Bulls are just about done. There's not much season left, and even if they do make the play-in tournament as the 10-seed, I can't see them making much noise. I'm still rooting for them, obviously, and anything is possible. But I think that they need to figure out a few more pieces this offseason and come back stronger next season. I'm very excited about the Bulls future though.

The Cubs continue to be a roller coaster of a baseball team. They lost a ton of games in a row, but then they just go ahead and sweep the Dodgers in a high-drama, playoff-like series, where the Dodgers pitched Kershaw, Bauer, and Buehler. They also walked off the last two games of the series. It was a treat to watch and it gives me hope, but the Cubs still have to be more consistent and figure out their pitching if they truly want to be a force in the NL. The MLB season is a marathon though, not a sprint, so I will continue to follow diligently throughout the summer, and I will do my best to try and not overreact to anything Cub-related in the upcoming weeks. (It's doubtful that I am able to do that.)

With all that being said, that's it for the final blog of the school year. If you weren't aware, I had to write this blog for a class this semester, but the semester is over this week, so the blog won't be a weekly requirement for me anymore. However, I've very much enjoyed writing it every week, and I do plan to continue it at some point in the near future. But for now, I got a lot on my plate and probably need to take a few weeks off here. I have to move out of my campus house, find a job, and graduate all within the next week and a half. Then once that all happens, I kind of just want to relax, celebrate with a few cold ones, and maybe even go AWOL on the internet for a few days. I'm not sure yet, but I just know that I need a bit of a break. It's been a very long year, to say the least. Thanks to the couple of readers that I've had all semester though, and to the people who retweet and share my blog online. It means a lot to me, because even just a small amount of publicity can potentially go a long way. And even though the Pain blog will be going away for a bit, I'm sure that our Chicago sports pain will continue to stick with us, even in the blogs absence. With that being said, it's been a blast writing this blog all semester, and go Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox! (I guess)