Wisch List

Friday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) With Illinois trailing Michigan in the second half of the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals on Friday, Illini junior Rayvonte Rice grabbed the basketball, raced down the court on a one-man fast break and leapt off the floor for a what looked to be a sure one-handed dunk.

Instead, it resulted in an air ball.

“The ball just slipped out of my hand,” Rice sheepishly explained after a game the Illini ultimately lost 64-63. “There ain’t no other way to say it.”

And with that one-point loss to the Wolverines – one that ended with Tracy Abrams’ floater bouncing off the front of the rim as time expired – a huge upset of No. 1-seeded Michigan and a potential berth in next week’s NCAA Tournament also slipped out of the Illini’s hands.

There ain’t no other way to say it.

For Illinois, it was a quality finish to the regular season but a tough way to end it. After all, the Illini, who had won five of their previous six games, certainly had their shots to knock off a Wolverines squad that had crushed them 84-53 at State Farm Center only 10 days ago. But like Rice and Abrams, the Illini just couldn’t quite hit them.

So, while the season isn’t yet over for the Illini with the NIT likely looming, the season’s big dreams now are. And as Illinois waits this weekend to learn its exact postseason destination, the question is, which direction is head coach John Groce’s compass now pointing in the eyes of Illini nation?

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

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

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

You may be able to freeze the Chicago River, but you can’t freeze out its traditions – not on St. Patrick’s Day Weekend, at least.

With all the ice and snow that’s plagued the Windy City this winter, there had been concerns as recently as last week that the river might still be frozen over today, denying the city its ability to dye the water green as has been the March tradition for more than five decades.

However, Kevin Sherlock, an event organizer with the Journeymen Plumbers Local Union 130 that oversees the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade and river dyeing, said everyone should chill.

“There’s no need to worry,” Sherlock told the Chicago Tribune on March 4. “The ice is never that thick that we can’t break through it and make it work. They will get the water moving and get the dye in there. They have never had a problem before.”

And won’t today, either, as the weather has at least warmed up a little bit this week. To get things flowing for Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade – which you can watch live at noon on ABC-Ch. 7 (the river is dyed at 9:30 a.m.) – here are a few things you may not know about the holiday and Irish in Chicago.

Continue reading “On St. Patrick’s Day, it’s easy being green in Chicago”

Thursday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Can you be on the bubble for being on the bubble?

If so, that’s precisely where ninth-seeded Illinoisfinds itself today after an impressive 64-54 victory over eighth-seeded Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis.

On the strength of a season-high 25 points from junior guard Tracy Abrams, the Illini (19-13) have advanced to the quarterfinals, where top-seeded seed Michigan (23-7) awaits. And sitting there right alongside the Wolverines is Illinois’ chance at possibly sneaking into the NCAA Tournament, something that only someone wearing the thickest orange-colored glasses would have thought possible just a few weeks ago.

Coming into the conference tournament, I thought that if the Illini could win two games that they’d put themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble and that if they could somehow win three they’d have a great shot at getting in. But first, to have any shot at all, they need to keep Michigan from shooting as great as it did during the Wolverines’ 84-53 embarrassment of Illinois at the State Farm Center on March 4.

With all that in mind, here are a few more thoughts after the Illini’s rousing victory over the Hoosiers.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) With last-place finishes in the Big East piling up and attendance numbers at Allstate Arena plummeting, DePaul basketball is clearly in need of a fix.

But a new arena in Chicago isn’t going to fix it alone.

And the worry here is that the Blue Demons’ forthcoming $170-million home is going to end up bedeviling taxpayers for years to come.

On Monday, Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business reported that two and a half years ahead of the scheduled opening of a 10,000-seat DePaul basketball arena next to McCormick Place, the school’s already paltry attendance figures are heading in the wrong direction.

According to Allstate Arena ticket records obtained by Crain’s, DePaul’s men’s basketball attendance dropped 27 percent year over year this season to just more than 1,900 fans per game. The Blue Demons went 11-20 overall and 3-15 in the Big East, securing their sixth straight year of owning at least a share of last place in the conference.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Friday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) When it comes to Starlin Castro’s fielding percentage, the good news is that it’s improved every season. But the bad news? Well, after four years of big league ball, it’s still never been better than .967.

And for those of you scoring at home, that’s not good.

Despite Castro’s high-profile struggles at the plate in 2013, I still believe that he’s is a natural-born hitter, and hopefully he shows that again this summer in Chicago. But on the flip side, based on his proclivity for errors – both physical and mental – while out in the field, I’ve never really believed that the guy is a natural-born shortstop.

Rather, he just plays one on TV.

So far, much of the talk this spring in Mesa has been if Castro, the Cubs’ 23-year-old entrenched shortstop, and Javier Baez, the Cubs’ 21-year-old phenom shortstop, can eventually co-exist on the same roster.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, March 8, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

Its name changed months ago, and now down in Champaign, State Farm Center is finally getting a facelift too – or, at least, the beginnings of one.

But come November 2016, once all the construction is slated to be finished and the University of Illinois’ venerable basketball arena has been fully renovated, there’s another time-honored institution that also should consider changing its identity by moving back into the place.

Yes, I’m looking at you, IHSA Boys’ State Basketball Tournament.

No offense, Peoria.

On Tuesday night, the Fighting Illini played their final home basketball game of the season. After it was over, a crew began pulling up the court at State Farm Center so work could begin on Phase I of the building’s $165 million renovation, which is scheduled to take three off-seasons to complete.

Continue reading “IHSA Boys’ Basketball Tournament belongs in Champaign”

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Since its massive overhaul back in 2002, Soldier Field has never really made much sense.

Inexplicably, it is one of the NFL’s smallest stadiums (capacity: 61,500) despite its location in the NFL’s second-largest market (9.52 million metro area population). It doesn’t have a retractable roof even though it resides along a notoriously cold lakefront. And while I’m now accustomed to the look, the whole spaceship-inside-the-Parthenon thing is still an odd design.

Yes, Soldier Field may not be perfect. But with Chicago committed to funding its bond payments through 2032, it very much is ours.

And it’s not going anywhere.

Although, according to reports this week, it could soon be going up in capacity. On Tuesday, news broke that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is in the “very preliminary” stages of looking at a 5,000-seat expansion of the home of the Chicago Bears.

“It’s an exploration to see what, if anything, is possible,” Emanuel spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton told the Chicago Tribune.

If expansion indeed is possible for the stadium, I think it would be a great thing for Chicago and for Bears fans. But I don’t think it would be a “Super” thing, which apparently is what the city is hoping.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Late Monday morning, my buddy Danny was preparing to board a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago when he spotted a familiar face outside his gate at LAX.

Bill Murray’s.

A Deerfield native and a proud University of Illinois alum, Danny approached Murray – the famous Wilmette native who proudly cheered on Illinois during the school’s 2005 Final Four run – and introduced himself as an Illini grad.

“We just beat Michigan State,” Murray replied.

Before his flight departed, Danny texted me the news of his fun exchange with the comedy icon. Which seemed so fitting, as the fun is back for Fighting Illini basketball.

For now, at least. But also, I’d argue, for the future.

At 6 p.m. tonight, Illinois will host 12th-ranked Michigan at State Farm Center in what’s suddenly become a huge game – and an even bigger opportunity for the Illini.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, March 1, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

By Dave Wischnowsky

The WISCH LIST

Our state is called the Land of Lincoln.

But, ironically, when it comes to the Civil War that defined Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, the Great Emancipator’s home state of Illinois is likely one of the last ones you think about.
But think again.

Because there’s a lot of Civil War history in Illinois, and through March 24, much of it’s living at the Newberry Library in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. With an exhibition entitled “Home Front,” the Newberry – Chicago’s independent research library, founded in 1887 at 60 W. Walton St. – captures and memorializes daily life in the Civil War North.

“More than 150 years after it began,” the Newberry explains in the exhibition, “the Civil War still occupies a prominent place in our collective memory. Paintings and photographs, plays and movies, novels, poetry, and songs remind us of the struggle over the future of slavery, Lincoln’s determination to save the Union, and the brutality of brother fighting against brother. Battles and battlefields occupy us, too. Bull Run, Antietam, and Gettysburg all conjure up images of desolate landscapes strewn with war dead.”

The frontlines, however, weren’t the war’s only landscapes. Across the country, from the East Coast to the “West,” which Chicago was then considered a part of, civilians had their lives thrown into turmoil. The Newberry’s exhibition explores these connections between the Northern home fronts and Civil War battlefronts, including war relief work and women’s changing roles due to the conflict. It features beautiful paintings from the Terra Foundation for American Art, as well as compelling books, magazines, photographs, correspondence, sheet music and newspapers from Newberry’s own Civil War archives.

Continue reading “Behind Chicago’s Civil War ‘Home Front’”

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Does America’s national pastime deserve a national holiday?

Well, Budweiser and Ozzie Smith think so. But as much as I love baseball, I can’t say that when it comes to establishing Opening Day as a holiday that I’m drinking Bud’s Kool-Aid.

For one thing, it’s far too cold.

On Tuesday, Budweiser – the “Official Beer of Major League Baseball” – and Smith – the official back-flipper of the St. Louis Cardinals – announced that an online petition had been posted at whitehouse.gov to make Opening Day a national holiday.

Active for 30 days, the campaign is intended to gain support for the holiday initiative before the start of the 2014 Major League Baseball season.

The petition reads: “MLB Opening Day is more than just the beginning of the season. It’s a symbol of rebirth. The coming of spring. The return of America’s national pastime. It’s a state of mind where anything is possible. You can feel the electricity in the air. Opening Day brings with it the promise of a new beginning. Every fan is in good spirits. It’s a day of celebration. It’s a day of hope. It’s a day that, for generations, has been looked forward to by baseball fans every offseason. It’s an American tradition, and it deserves to be recognized as an American holiday. Join us in our quest to make sure every American can exercise their inalienable right to celebrate the day those two magical words are uttered for the first time: ‘PLAY BALL!’”

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …