Monthly Archives: July 2008

Quick Question: What happens first?  a.) The Cubs win the World Series. b.) Kerry Wood’s finger blister heals. c.) Brett Favre (really) retires. d.) None of the above.

So, what will Chicago be like 32 years from now? Different … but the same. At least that will be the case if you believe the Beachwood Reporter in its entertaining take on the future: “Chicago 2040.”

At the team’s official Web site, the Chicago Cubs are urging fans to: “Bid now on a Felix Pie autographed baseball, and you can help towns in Iowa, where the Cubs’ Triple-A club resides, recently ravaged by the floods.” Eight All-Stars on the Big League club, and the best John Hancock the Cubs can come up with for charity is Felix’s, huh. What, […]

Like catchers, M. Night Shyamalan and lame pick-up artists, I like signs. Funny ones, at least. And it seems like there are no shortage of those in Chicago. This morning, while walking through Wrigleyville, I spotted another one — several, actually — plastered on the front doors of apartment buildings. In one line of hand-written […]

On Wednesday — when he should have been at training camp — the Chicago Bears’ kick-returner-extraordinaire-slash-wide-receiver-in-training Devin Hester was instead on the horn with the Chicago Tribune, telling reporter Vaughn McClure, “I can’t go out and play this year making $445,000. “Come on, man.” After all, that would be … ahem, ridiculous. Now, while I think most people can eke out a […]

Sometimes, advertising can be dumb. Sometimes, the media can be dumb. And sometimes, the two conspire together to make everyone look stupid. God bless ’em.

In October 2005, the White Sox were rolling through the Major League Baseball playoffs. And I was, well, rolling my eyes at it all while working the late shift at the Tribune Tower. Manning the phone for the paper’s Metro desk, my chief duty from 5 to midnight each night was to keep tabs on […]

It got plenty Dark at Navy Pier IMAX last Knight. And I enjoyed every minute of the new Batman flick. All 150 of them. Smacking his lips and screwing with the mind, Heath Ledger was creepy-funny-incredible as the Joker. Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent was “Believable.” And the rest of the film’s cast — along […]

Forwarded by my mother (a retired English teacher) to me (a “semi-retired” journalist) … Spell Chequer Eye halve a spelling chequer, It came with my pea sea, It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea. Eye strike a key and type a word And weight four it two say Weather eye […]

Sign seen today on the Michigan Avenue Bridge (held by a homeless man in front of a box of scattered pennies): “Senator Obama is campaigning for change … So am I.” I gave the guy a buck. I respect clever panhandling.