Don't miss a moment

Having been around the block a few times, I knew going into the 2011 season that the Cubs — my Cubs, your Cubs, whatever — weren't going to be very good.

The Opening Day outfield was good ... enough. The infield was also good enough, though with potential to be great. The starting rotation was pretty average, though the bullpen was pretty good. I knew they weren't going to win the division or anything, but it could at least be entertaining.

And with access to the entire season (not to mention the entire seasons of every other team, too) on MLB.tv, we'd get to watch.

Truth be told, it has been entertaining — but in a fifth-place team kind of way. For every good moment, like yesterday's game-winning three-run homer in the 13th inning, there's something like we saw in Kansas City last weekend. Two walks, a passed ball and a grounder that should have been an easy out. Except it wasn't. Ballgame.

Halfway through the season, the Cubs are under .500 and not exactly in position to move up. They're playing better baseball, by and large, but the hole might be too deep. Either way, it's fun to have access to every game.

Six months into the no-dish plan and things are going pretty swimmingly. The Tour starts tomorrow, which means I should figure out exactly how we're going to watch it. If the free streams were worth a crap, I'd go that way. But grainy video and distorted audio isn't really my thing.

Plus, crowding around the ol' laptop isn't nearly the same as sitting on the couch and watching it on TV.

—

Today is July 1. Nine days until the Clear Lake crit, just over two weeks until Omaha, which I haven't done since 2008. Sure, I did the road race last year, but that was more of a participation event than anything else.

I'm psyched for the Papillion crit on the 16th. I've had success there, and I think we can probably take home a win. The road race I'm less psyched about, but mostly because of the course — it's a bit boring. There's not much we can do about that sometimes, though. And given the roads that are open right now to begin with — not many of them — we can make do.

Am I actually ready? Not quite. I'll lighten the load a bit starting on Monday, hopefully getting some extra rest/sleep and being nice to my legs. Considering there isn't much of a road season left after this, I'd like to go out on a high note.