Author Archives: Dave

So, just how hard did it rain in Chicago on Monday night? So hard that my cell phone suffered catastrophic water damage when I ran from Cubby Bear to my apartment (about, oh, three-quarters of a mile) just as the late-night monsoon that finally ended the Cubs game for good began pouring down. And my […]

So, here’s my morning so far: 1.) I wake up and realize my cell phone no longer works. (Yet it worked fine at 11:30 p.m. when I made a phone call and set my alarm. What the …?) 2.) I then turn on the TV and realize my cable is not working. (And this has […]

About eight years ago, one of my buddies from high school was working for State Farm Insurance and dating a girl who worked with him at the Bloomington, Ill.-based corporation. While out with the two of them in Chicago one night, I recall my friend’s girl telling me how a recent work-related travel screw-up had […]

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 […]