The Inaugural Post

To quote the eloquent, fictional character of Albus Dumbledore, created by the famous J.K. Rowling; "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts!" (or welcome to my first blog). "Before we begin our banquet (or my first post ever), I would like to say a few words. And they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, page 123).

And with that, welcome to the blog of Sammie Kiesel, movie, television and sports expert extraordinaire. I would like to start off by saying this blog is not just dedicated to the facts and obsessions of Harry Potter, or that of my girl Tina Fey or the headaches of the University of Illinois sports teams (which is where I attend college). This blog is dedicated to the things I love most and that is entertainment and sports. I am not claiming to be an expert in the subject but I will say I waste numerous hours a day watching SportsCenter, reading entertainment websites and checking Mugglenet fan site on multiple occasions. You might be asking yourself, why is this girl covering so many subjects and the answer comes with another question, why not? They are three things I am overly passionate about. So I thought why don't you take some time out of your busy lives and see what fantastic, wise, worthy information you can gather for me.


First let me explain how this will work. I will take the daunting task of blogging three days a week, once school starts we'll see how that works but I'm determined to try. So, Monday's will be dedicated to movies. Things I've seen over the weekend, developments on movies via the billion sites I read and anything in between. Wednesday's will be dedicated to sports. So as of right now news in the MLB world or in the PGA tour, expect me to focus on the Chicago sports teams but others as well. Finally Friday's will be dedicated to, as of right now, the 12 shows I watch on the great invention of the television. Maybe even shows I don't watch but caught a glance of. I already refuse to discuss anything on ABC Family (sorry Pretty Little Liars or Secret Life of the American Teenager) or the CW (sorry One Tree Hill or Vampire Diaries fans). You can expect little spoiler alerts, except maybe when I talk about Harry Potter because let's be honest if you haven't read/seen the movies, get off my blog.


With that I will start with the team with the longest drought in all of baseball (102 years without a World Series win) and that is of course the Chicago Cubs. I have been a fan for many years, which means I get to suffer watching and getting updates on my phone that the Cubs once again lost (lucky for me tonight they won, totally proves my point). In this 2011 season my analysis is: the pitching is awful, they lack determination when running to first base and General Manager Jim Hendry just needs to leave. I had the pleasure of going to three games so far this season, two of which they won (I know surprising, I must be a good luck charm) but the third I will say was excruciating. It was just yesterday (Tuesday, June 28 against the San Francisco Giants) where I got to watch the first of a rough doubleheader. Despite the decent offense scoring 7 runs, I got to watch horrendous pitching of Doug Davis, giving up 12 hits and 10 runs. And I am pleased to say (although I do feel bad for the guy) he was released from the Cubs today (Wednesday). At least they are doing something about that pitching. I also will say the game was enjoyable as always in the Friendly Confines, where I got to eat a $4 hot dog and a refreshing cold Pepsi (man I can't wait till I'm 21, only a year and 51 days - not that I'm counting). The experience of Wrigley Field is like no other (I have been to several other ballparks, U.S. Cellular included) and the loyal fans, the range of ages of the workers (beer guys included) are fantastic and I swear this is in all honesty, absolutely no sarcasm. I love Wrigley Field, I would call it the best ballpark in America (yes, beating out Fenway, although I'm kind of biased).

And here is where I will finish today, because I do not want to scare you off with my rant about how awesome Wrigley Field is or how bad the Cubs are (except I still love them). I now end with a few side notes.
1. Roger Federer lost today at Wimbledon, as a huge fan of his, this is upsetting. Let's hope that Djokovic can beat Nadal in the finals (although this is not the finalized matchup, but what I'm predicting).
2. Shout out to former Cleveland Indian Cliff Lee (I am also a huge Indian fan since I was born in Cleveland) who went 5-0 and a 0.21 ERA in June for the Phillies. He also has 32 straight scoreless innings, which is quite remarkable.
3. My final point, to the weirdest thing I have ever heard, where the North Korea women's soccer team claims they lost to the U.S. 2-0 in the World Cup because some of their players were struck by lightening. Is it so hard to say that the U.S. actually beat you in something? Maybe a new victorious women's soccer team is in the air. One can only hope.

With that I say.... Live long and prosper.