Anna-Marie and I spent the weekend in Chicago with a number of our friends who either live up there or came up there for the U2 concert Saturday night at Soldier Field. When I left town on Friday, I figured the Cardinals would win two of three, Missouri would handle Bowling Green with ease, and the Rams would at least be competitive with the Seahawks. I also expected U2 to put on an even better show than the one they put on nearly four years ago at the Scottrade Center.

Yeah...

...I was wrong on all accounts.

The Rams: Awful

We arrived back in St. Louis at 4:30 Sunday afternoon after our flight was delayed from the Dante's Infernos of airports that is Midway in Chicago. I was in full freakshow mode as I refused to look at TV's, listen to the radio, or talk with anyone who may accidentally let me know what was going on in the Rams' game. I had the DVR set back at the place, and I was fired up to get home---after picking up a steak sandwich from Biggie's on the South Side---and watch the debut of the Spagnuolo era. I was hopeful that there'd be something different, but much like my excitement for the season opener last year at Philadelphia, by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, I didn't care. The only thing that Some observations:

- Over their last three openers, the Rams have been outscored 93-16.

- Pretty sweet to start the season off with a kickoff return fumble. Donnie Avery not only carried the ball with all of the control of Tony Banks, he picked up a holding penalty that negated a big Steven Jackson run.

- The defense actually was pretty good in the first half. Two picks and a forced fumble kept the Rams in the game during the first 30 minutes. But...

-...Everything---defensively---changed after the blocked field goal that was returned for a touchdown...only to be called back when the Rams had 12 players on the field. Seriously, I mean, this stuff is so over the top bad it borders on being comical.

- Meanwhile, the offense was dreadful across the board. Same crap as before. Where's that supposed new era discipline? Same crap with false starts. Same crap with Bulger looking helpless. Same crap with Steven Jackson failing to effectively block for Bulger. And, same crap with Richie Incognito picking up personal fouls. After the game, Incognito actually said he played a good game. I don't think there's much the Rams can do this year to get the community buzzing about them in a positive manner, but cutting him would be the most exciting and noteworthy move they could make...before drafting a quarterback next April.

The Cardinals: Surprising

- Wow. Chris Carpenter giving up 7 runs is something I didn't even consider possible. Much like Adam Wainwright's random bad inning in Pittsburgh last weekend, Carpenter had one really bad inning yesterday. Let's hope that just like Wainwright's, it was a bad coincidence and nothing more.

- Getting swept by the Braves most likely means very little in the whole scheme of things, as far as how good the 2009 Cardinals are, but there are some ramifications to the lost weekend:

- It is scary that the Cardinals have now won just 6 of their last 13 against teams with winning records.

- And, now the Cardinals trail the Dodgers for the best record in the National League by a game...and lead the Phillies by only one.

- And, finally, it looks like the Cardinals will be clinching the Central on the road, as that magic number of 11 is going to be incredibly difficult to get down to zero by the time the team leaves for a nine-game road trip after the final six of this homestand against the Marlins and Cubs.

The Missouri Tigers: Fortunate

- I'm standing at Soldier Field Saturday night...and even though U2 is playing a few hundred feet away from me, I'm freaking out because I see Missouri is trailing Bowling Green. Fortunately, after a terrible first half and a third quarter score that led to a 20-6 Falcon lead, the Tigers righted the ship in time for a 27-20 comeback victory. Even though Missouri was able to improve to 2-0, perhaps the close call puts things back in check when it comes to expectations for this upcoming season. After last week, I thought it was inevitable that Missouri would be 4-0 going into Nebraska on October 7th. Now, I wonder if that's a given. Nevada didn't play this weekend, so it's still tough to gauge whether or not they're as bad as they looked at Notre Dame last week. But, they will play their home opener on that Friday night the 25th against the Tigers, and that will likely be quite a test for Tiger team that---surprisingly---performed poorly in front of 65,000 at Faurot Field yesterday.

- If it weren't for the Missouri defense, the Tigers lose that game. When is the last time that sentence was written? Bowling Green had some great field position courtesy of turnovers, but the Tigers' defense kept them in check. And, after a disappointing touchdown drive allowed to start the second half, they shut the Falcons down the rest of the way. That's hugely encouraging...because that carried over from last week against Illinois.

- Also good to see the running game get going. Derrick Washington bounced back after a rough game against the Illini and rushed for 120 yards on 23 carries, and freshman Kendial Lawrence showed the promise that has Gary Pinkel about what he will be bringing to the program.

- Maybe Bowling Green isn't that bad. They did beat Troy last week...and the MAC had a big weekend with Toledo beating the hell out of Colorado Friday and Central Michigan going to East Lansing and beating Michigan State. Still...as Pinkel said on This Week In Missouri Football last night on Fox Sports Midwest, "This game will serve as a lesson for our football team. But, this is an easier lesson to take, because we won the football game."

U2: Disappointing

I have to put this in perspective, because U2 is my favorite band, and Saturday night at Soldier Field in Chicago, they kicked off the North American leg of their tour...so my excitement of being at the show set the bar really high...and perhaps that wasn't fair.

After all, their show at the Scottrade Center in December of 2005 was the best concert I've ever been to...so I was hopeful that with Saturday night's show being the first of this leg of the tour and the show being in front of 80,000 people, they'd tear it up.

But, the show was just good...not great.

Now, my opinion may be a bit tainted because our seats---while in the lower level and about even with the front of the stage on bassist Adam Clayton's side---were under the overhang, and therefore, we couldn't see the video board...and kind of felt detached from the inner workings of the concert. As a matter of fact, while we were only in the 17th row, the rows behind us were full at the start of the concert, but a few songs in, nearly everyone in those rows had gotten up and left to move elsewhere. It was odd, because it was essentially dark inside Soldier Field with the exception of the lights around U2's monster spaceship-like stage...but we had the lights of the walkway and the overhang separating us from that faux intimate atmosphere inside the stadium.

Nonetheless, it was still U2...and it was a packed house. Furthermore, they played some surprise songs along with the classics. Those of us who fancy ourselves pretty die hard U2 fans were hoping like hell that they'd play "Bad," and sure enough in their first encore, they did indeed deliver that song to the delight of the 80,000 plus. They also surprised us by playing "Ultraviolet" from the Achtung Baby album. That led into "With or Without You" in the second encore...but the final song of the night was a surprise. It was the rather obscure and boring "Moment of Surrender," and so as opposed to ending on a huge high...the show just kind of faded. Surprising...and very un-U2-esque.

But, the show was good, and I don't want to take away from the experience with the criticism. They still put on a damn good show, and if you haven't seen them live, it's something I can't recommend enough.

Here's a look at the set list from the show Saturday:

1 Breathe
2 No Line on the Horizon
3 Get On Your Boots
4 Magnificent
5 Beautiful Day/Blackbird (Beatles snippet)
6 Elevation
7 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For/Stand By Me (Ben E. King snippet)
8 Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of
9 Unknown Caller
10 The Unforgettable Fire
11 City Of Blinding Lights
12 Vertigo
13 I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
14 Sunday Bloody Sunday/Oliver's Army (Elvis Costello snippet)
15 Pride (In The Name Of Love)
16 MLK
17 Walk On/You'll Never Walk Alone (snippet)
18 Where The Streets Have No Name

Encore
19 One
20 Bad/40 (snippet)

Second encore
21 Ultra Violet (Light My Way)
22 With Or Without You
23 Moment of Surrender

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