Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Wisch Lists are for New Year’s

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 31, 2011

Wish lists are for Christmas.

But Wisch Lists? Well, they’re for New Year’s.

And as we prepare to turn the page on 2011, I wanted to beat Dick Clark – or, I guess, Ryan Seacrest – to the punch and drop the ball on my year-end Wisch List well before they drop the ball in Times Square.

Speaking of which, you might be interested in knowing that a ball has dropped from the flagpole of One Times Square in Manhattan on every New Year’s Eve since Dec. 31, 1907, except for 1942 and 1943 when New York City was under wartime lighting restrictions in case of an enemy attack.

With no restrictions of my own, let’s get this ball rolling …

I Wisch the mild December that we’ve enjoyed means can expect an equally warm winter. But, after weathering Snowmageddon last February, I’m not holding my (visible) breath.

I Wisch the ill-advised 75-year agreement that Mayor Daley struck with a private parking meter company wasn’t the gift that keeps on, well, taking. Yes, street parking in Chicago is about to go up again by 25 or 50 cents. Beginning Monday, it’ll cost you $5.75 per hour to park in the Loop, $3.50 in the rest of downtown and a $1.75 elsewhere in the city.

I Wisch Theo Epstein had signed a player – say, Prince Fielder – who’s worth paying the price of Wrigley Field admission to see next season. I support rebuilding, but Manny Corpas and David DeJesus don’t exactly have me itching to buy tickets.

I Wisch that in lieu of a significant signing, the Cubs had dropped the prices for tickets stadium-wide in 2012. At least bleacher prices are going down, though.

I Wisch Jay Cutler was healthy. Or that Caleb Hanie was good.

I Wisch North Koreans didn’t have to fake grief for creepy propaganda footage.

I Wisch more years saw the likes of Moammar Gadhafi, Osama bin Laden and Kim Jong-il leave the Earth – enough years, at least, that we didn’t have the likes of those men around any longer.

I Wisch that when it comes to celebrating sports figures our society would cool it on creating myths out of mortal men.

I Wisch I’d never heard Jerry Sandusky’s name this year and that the authorities in Pennsylvania heard it a lot more about a decade ago. Or well before then.

I Wisch that since Chief Illiniwek is gone from the University of Illinois, his critics would just leave him alone. Now, however, there’s a campaign to eliminate the school’s 3-in-1 halftime song because it reminds fans of the Chief. Enough already with the thought control in Champaign.

I Wisch I believed that after Rod Blagoejvich, all Illinois politicians would get their acts together. But I doubt that they will.

I Wisch Derrick Rose the best of luck against the Miami Heat this season. It looks like the kid is probably going to need it.

I Wisch the violence and killing would stop in Englewood, where Rose grew up on Chicago’s South Side. This year, murder dropped by 2 percent overall in Chicago, but it still increased by 40 percent in that neighborhood.

I Wisch there was an easy answer to Englewood’s problem.

I Wisch I could blame Lovie Smith, Mike Martz and Jerry Angelo for the Bears’ collapse this season, but I can’t. Hard not to blame the injuries, instead.

I Wisch that Illinois’ freakishly talented 7-foot sophomore Meyers Leonard would stay in Champaign for one more year.

I Wisch that 2012 included 28-hour days. I’d get more done. And more sleep, too. But not tonight. Happy 2012, everyone.

From the Saturday, Dec. 24, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Nine things you might not know about Christmas

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 24, 2011

You know about “The Nutcracker” by the Joffrey Ballet. No doubt, you’re familiar with “A Christmas Carol” at Goodman Theatre. And, this year, “A Christmas Story” – the new musical based off the ubiquitous holiday film featuring Ralphie and his father’s legged lamp – is all the wintertime rage at the Chicago Theater.

Last weekend, however, I took in another seasonal Chicago show that I was far less familiar with and which informed me about a Christmastime tale that I knew almost nothing about.

“The Christmas Schooner,” a longtime Chicago musical currently playing at the Mercury Theatre (3745 N. Southport Ave.), is based on the true story of the “Rouse Simmons,” a Great Lakes schooner that during the late 19th century became known to Chicagoans as “The Christmas Tree Ship.”

That moniker was earned after its German-born captain and crew battled Lake Michigan’s bitter November gales to become the first ship to transport firs from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to Chicago so the city’s German immigrants could have Christmas trees.

Before seeing “The Christmas Schooner” it had never occurred to me that men had once risked their lives just to provide Chicagoans with a dose of holiday cheer. So, in honor of that revelation, I thought I’d share with you today eight additional facts about Christmas that you might not already know.

The birth of Christmas

In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I, bishop of Rome, proclaimed Dec. 25 the official celebration date for the birthday of Christ. Fifteen hundred years later, in 1836, Alabama became the first U.S. state to officially recognize Christmas. The U.S. itself followed suit on June 26, 1870, when it declared Christmas an official holiday. Oklahoma was the last state to make it a legal holiday, not doing so until 1907.

The birth of the Christmas tree?

Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546) was reportedly the first person to decorate a Christmas tree. According to legend, Luther was so moved by the beauty of the stars shining between the branches of a fir tree that he brought home an evergreen and decorated it with candles to recreate the image for his children.

On the 12th Day of Christmas …

The “true love” mentioned in the song “Twelve Days of Christmas” actually doesn’t refer to a romantic couple, but rather to the Catholic Church’s code for God. The person who receives the gifts represents someone who has accepted that code. For example, the “partridge in a pear tree” is meant to represent Christ, while the “two turtledoves” represent the Old and New Testaments.

Imagine placing the star on this …

According to the Guinness world records, the tallest Christmas tree ever cut was a towering 221-foot Douglas fir that was displayed in 1950 at the Northgate Shopping Center in Seattle.

… And stuffing this stocking

Meanwhile, the world’s largest Christmas stocking – made in 2007 by the Children’s Society in London – measured 106 feet and 9 inches long and 49 feet and 1 inch wide. Weighing the equivalent of five adult reindeer, the jumbo sock held nearly 1,000 presents.

Branching out

Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold, with approximately 30 to 35 million real (living) ones bought annually by Americans for their homes.

Santa’s girls

Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzer, Comet and Cupid. Male reindeers, however, shed their antlers around Christmastime, meaning the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are likely not guys. They’re girls.

Tissues, anyone?

Why is Rudolph’s nose red? Well, Norwegian scientists have hypothesized that it’s probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respiratory system.
Achoo! And Merry Christmas, everyone.

In Chicago, Santa has also been known to ride the rails ...

From the Saturday, Dec. 17, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

A new look for Navy Pier? This winter, it’s in the works

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 17, 2011

So, who goes to Navy Pier in December?

Well, as it turns out, a whole lot of people apparently.

At least, that was the case this past Tuesday when I strolled out there on a night when the pier’s IMAX theater was premiering the highly anticipated prologue for the 2012 finale of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Besides the bat, the evening’s unseasonably warm weather certainly didn’t hurt the crowd’s size, either.
Five years from now, though, if pier officials have their way, Chicago’s best-known dock will be drawing more people to it than ever before. And they’ll

come to see a Navy Pier that’s far different – and more beautiful – than the one existing today.

Who knows, perhaps, they’ll even show up to see it during the wintertime – no IMAX premiere necessary.

Wading 3,000 feet out into the waters of Lake Michigan, Navy Pier originally was envisioned as part of legendary architect Daniel Burnham’s celebrated 1909 Plan of Chicago. But, today, as the old pier closes in on her 100th birthday in 2016, she’s in need of a makeover – even if her last one came just 16 years ago.

(Hey, cut the pier some slack. After all, the pier is 95.)

Back in 1995, at a cost of $225 million, Chicago’s once-crumbling municipal dock was remade as a mix of shops, exhibition halls, cultural attractions and public spaces that proved appealing enough to re-establish Navy Pier as Illinois’ top tourist attraction, now drawing more than 8 million people a year. It had previously held that same honor during the 1950s, when 3.2 million visited annually.

Recently, however, the pier’s attendance has experienced a slight drop and many Chicagoans – including pier officials and myself – consider it to now be more tacky than attractive.

“The Navy Pier that exists today is the result of a business strategy that emphasized quantity and diversity of uses over architectural enhancements,” said a plan that pier officials unveiled last June. The pier is so carnival-like, according to the analysis, that it is widely regarded as a tourist trap even though fewer than one-third of its visitors come from outside the Chicago area.”

In order to change that perception – which also in many ways is a reality – the honchos at Navy Pier this year launched a high-profile design competition intended to refresh and remake those gaudy public spaces into something more architecturally appealing.

As part of “The Centennial Vision” in recognition of the pier’s upcoming 100th anniversary, the competition is intended to re-energize Navy Pier by putting taking the landmark’s focus away from kitsch and putting it where belongs: On the beauty created by the confluence of Lake Michigan, Chicago’s lakefront parks and the city’s breathtaking skyline.

Last month, the architectural firms vying for the $85 million in funding to re-imagine the “pierscape” was whittled down to five finalists. Chicago Tribune architectural critic Blair Kamin said in a column two weeks ago that their visions could include such features as new green spaces to transform the pavement-heavy pier into an extension of lakefront parks, interactive fountains and pools, as well as sculptures and lighting elements that unify the experience.

Not included in the contest, but related to it, will be an upcoming redesign of the pier’s shopping arcade and Family Pavilion as well as the anticipated expansions of the Chicago Children’s Museum and Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

Designs for the contest are due Jan. 24 and will be exhibited to the public starting Feb. 2. In mid-February, the winning team will be announced.

My suggestion: Do it on IMAX.

Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Little joy in Wrigleyville with Ron Santo induction

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 10, 2011

Like he was with so many things, when it came to the topic of Hall of Fame snubs, Mike Royko was right on the nose.

Back on March 12, 1997, in one of the final columns he wrote before his death, the legendary Chicago columnist hit a grand slam when he made like a newspaper Nostradamus and predicted the future of former Cub third baseman Ron Santo.

For the piece, Royko led off with an interesting take on how former White Sox star – and longtime Cooperstown reject – Nellie Fox was finally going in to the Hall of Fame in ’97, but actually out of the limelight since people couldn’t gripe about his omission any longer. Royko then correctly guessed Santo would be the sport’s next high-profile HOF shun.

“… And he will be a fine choice since he is still a relatively young man and should have many good years of being snubbed ahead of him,” Royko wrote of Santo. “What a lucky guy. Once it starts, he can look forward to an annual ego boost from reading about all the home runs he swatted, the many runs he drove in and the fearless way he guarded the hot corner.

“Some of the more insightful baseball scholars might even make note of how many tons of home plate dirt he scooped into his hands and forearms. Or the time he heroically slugged an abusive fan, a hit for which he received the praise of a Chicago judge who hadn’t even been bribed.

“And there will be angry commentary about Santo being deprived of his rightful immortality because of the stupidity of East Coast baseball writers who would surely vote him in the sacred hall if he had been a New York Yankee instead of a lowly Chicago Cub.”

Well, today, I’m here a bit angry. But mainly, I’m just disappointed that Santo, who passed away last December at the age of 70, wasn’t around this week to enjoy the news of his long-awaited – and long-deserved – Hall of Fame induction, which was the definition of bittersweet.

I never understood why Santo – who won five Gold Gloves and belted 342 career home runs to go with a bevy of other impressive statistics – was kept out of the Hall of Fame. After all, only 10 third baseman have previously been inducted, and Santo hit more homers than all but two (Eddie Matthews, Mike Schmidt) and had a higher career batting average than three (including Matthews and Schmidt). Santo also did it all while dealing with diabetes.

Cooperstown, which I’ve visited twice, is a wonderful place for baseball fans, but the route to get there is very confusing – and not because the village is so isolated.

There’s no logical reason, for example, why a player has never been unanimously voted in. Oddly, pitcher Tom Seaver, who garnered 98.84 percent of the vote in 1992, was the closest. Hank Aaron, meanwhile, was named on just 406 of 415 ballots (97.83 percent), whereas Babe Ruth appeared on only 215 of 226 in (95.13 percent).

And, really, who didn’t vote for those guys?

I think there should be first-ballot Hall of Famers (the true elites) and then Hall of Famers, who should then be voted in during their second year of eligibility. As Royko pointed out, Santo ironically became more famous by not being inducted year after year. But irony only goes so far.

And it’s a shame that Ron won’t be alive to see himself enshrined, to give that emotional speech and to hear all those cheers.

Without that, there’s little joy in Wrigleyville. Mighty baseball has struck out.

Today’s newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Discover just how the Tribune Tower rocks

The WISCH LIST

Dec. 3, 2011

Throughout its 164-year history chronicling the triumphs and failures of the Windy City and beyond, the Chicago Tribune has had its fair share of famous rocky moments.

“Dewey defeats Truman,” for one. The Sam Zell era, for another.

The newspaper, though, also has its fair share of famous rocks that you might not be so familiar with. Yes, rocks.
And this month if you’re in Chicago visiting the Magnificent Mile to see the holiday sights, I suggest swinging by the Tribune Tower at 435 N. Michigan Ave. to take a rocky ride around the globe via the collection of stones from nearly 150 exotic locales that are embedded in the ground-level exterior of the skyscraper.

It’s quite a trip.

How these stones came to Chicago is a story that begins in the early part of the 20th century, prior to the 1923 construction of the Tribune Tower.

On June 10, 1922, the newspaper hosted an international design competition for its new headquarters and offered $100,000 in prize money with a $50,000 1st prize for “the most beautiful and distinctive office building in the world.” More than 260 entries were received with the winner was a neo-Gothic design by a pair of New York architects.

Around this same time, the Tribune’s colorful publisher Col. Robert R. McCormick ordered his army of correspondents to haul back rocks and bricks from a vast array of historically significant sites from around the world so they could be embedded in the base of the Trib’s new digs.

When I worked at the Tribune from 2005 to 2007, the story was that some of these rocks were taken from their farflung homes without, ahem, proper permission. Regardless of how they were acquired, though, McCormick ended up with a literal mother lode of fascinating stones.

I’ve glanced at groupings of the rocks on many occasions, but on Monday night I returned to the Tribune Tower to take them all in at once. The experience was like opening up both a history book and a map of the world simultaneously.
Among the most recognizable foreign stones in the wall are those from sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Parthenon and the House of Parliament, as well as Germany’s Berlin Wall and China’s Great one.

There’s a rock from Hamlet’s Castle in Denmark and another from Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris donated a stone, as did St. Peter’s in Rome. You’ll also find Peking’s Forbidden City represented, along with the Great Pyramid of Giza and Moscow’s Kremlin.

Domestically, you’ll discover rocks from the Alamo, the original tomb of Abraham Lincoln and Princeton, Harvard and Yale. You can also spy a piece of South Carolina’s Fort Sumter, New York’s Fort Ticonderoga and Maryland’s Fort McHenry.
On one wall, Gen. Custer’s battlefield in Montana and the Battle of New Orleans left parts of their legacies, while on another a pair of Revolutionary War battlefields from New Jersey left theirs.

There are scores of other more obscure, but no less fascinating, rocks to discover, as well one item that’s not a rock at all: a piece of twisted metal from New York’s World Trade Center.

The stone you won’t see, however, is the only otherworldly one. In September, the Tribune returned its lone moon rook to NASA, who had provided it on loan for years.

NASA agreed to send another one, and it’s expected to arrive in the spring. In the meantime, though, you’ll just have to make do with an alternate.

And stare at a piece from the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, instead.

A stone from the banks of the Delaware River where Gen. George Washington crossed into New Jersey from Pennsylvania on Dec. 25, 1776, is among the nearly 150 historic rocks and bricks embedded in the exterior of the Tribune Tower in downtown Chicago.