Happy Birthday to Me!

One year ago today, I came up with a bold, innovative idea that promised to revolutionize the way we viewed Internet sports coverage.  But instead of pursuing that idea, I started this blog. When I first put fingers to keyboard, I had no idea my favorite teams would provide so much material.  So on the occasion of the first birthday of "The Frustrated Fan", let's take a look at some of the highlights from my first year of blogging:

• The Cubs made a nearly seamless transition from a hopeless, crappy 2010 season to a hopeless, crappy 2011 season.
• The Bears surprisingly won the NFC Central and hosted the NFC Championship Game (that's good)...which they lost to the Packers, who went on to win the Super Bowl (that's bad).
• With an exciting freshman QB at the helm, the Illini football team overcame the frequently idiotic coaching of Ron Zook and won their first bowl game of the new millennium.
• Bruce Weber finally won an NCAA tournament game at Illinois without players recruited by Bill Self, then lost in the next round of the tournament to a team full of players recruited by Bill Self.
• And (perhaps) best of all, Ron Guenther's reign as Illinois Athletic Director came to a peaceful end.

So many memories - and so many questions still to be answered in the upcoming year:

• Which veterans will the Cubs dump at the trade deadline?  With over $40 million in payroll coming off the books in 2012, whom will the Cubs bring in to upgrade next year's roster?  And will Jim Hendry be the GM doing that off-season upgrading?
• Will the NFL lockout end in time for the season to begin as scheduled?  And wouldn't a cancelled NFL season actually be better than the alternative - a season in which the Packers stand a good chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions?
• Can Zook build on last season's success after losing his best offensive player and two best defensive players to the NFL draft?  If not, how much longer will the new AD (whoever (s)he is) keep him around?
• Shouldn't a basketball team which possesses three consecutive highly-ranked recruiting classes and plays a relatively soft non-conference schedule and in a weak Big Ten be able to comfortably make the NCAA tournament?  And if Weber's Illini spend another Selection Sunday on the bubble (or worse), how much longer will the new AD (whoever (s)he is) keep him around?

Stick around to get the answers to these (and many more) questions.  It's sure to be a better "Year Two" than the Ricketts family is having!