Wisch List

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

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

There are hotel rooms without doorknobs and with toxic tap water. There are stray dogs roaming the streets – and then vanishing off them to who knows where. There are unfinished buildings, toilets that don’t flush and dangerously steep snow jumps for skiiers and snowboarders.

Oh, and there might be terrorists on the loose, too.

If Sochi doesn’t exactly sound like the ideal wintertime getaway, well, you’re not alone. Many Olympians would likely agree with you.

I’m certain that most Olympic journalists would.

Nevertheless, in spite of its avalanche of venue shortcomings and safety concerns, Sochi is where the 2014 Winter Olympics are being held over the next couple of weeks. And, although you haven’t read much about them lately, Russia actually does have some great things going for it.

Namely, its food – and luckily, you don’t need to actually go to Russia to experience that.
Instead, you can head up to Chicago’s Loop and slip in to Russian Tea Time, located for the past 21 years at 77 W. Adams St., just a curling stone’s throw off Michigan Avenue across from the Art Institute.

Continue reading “Enjoy a taste of Russia – without actually going there”

Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Separated by 140 miles, four counties and countless cornfields, State Farm Center down in Champaign and Wrigley Field up in Chicago wouldn’t seem to have a whole lot in common.

But here in 2014, you can expect to hear, “Wait ’til Next Year” at both venues. In fact, at State Farm Center, where the Illini basketball team is currently caught up in an overall eight-game losing streak, many fans are saying it right now.

Earlier this week on Twitter, @Frustrated_Fan – a fitting handle for any Illini supporter these days – wrote to me about Illinois, saying that, “The rest of this season, they’re the Cubs. The guys who aren’t on the team yet are more intriguing than the ones who are.”

That interesting observation arose during a discussion about the transfers currently sitting out this season for John Groce’s Illini and just how much the trio of Aaron Cosby, Ahmad Starks and Darius Paul might help the offensively challenged squad in 2014-15.

So, how much will those three help?

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Around the country, Wednesday was National Signing Day for college football programs. But for University of Illinois fans, it was Sighing Day, too.

Illini coach Tim Beckman’s third recruiting class ranked 13th out of 14 Big Ten teams, according to 247sports.com’s composite rankings, which was one spot behind newbie Rutgers and four spots behind traditional doormat Indiana. Thank goodness, at least, for Purdue, which fell behind Illinois at No. 14.

Beyond that, according to Champaign News-Gazette columnist Loren Tate, out of of Illinois’ 13 prep signees, only one – Mount Carmel running back Matt Domer – had even one other offer from a Big Ten school per Scout.com data, and that came from the Hoosiers.

Now, that isn’t to say that the rankings of recruiting services should be taken as gospel (they most certainly shouldn’t) or that coaches at major programs don’t overlook talented kids (they most certainly do), but it does say that there isn’t much buzz about this year’s Illini class, even if the coaches are trying their best to create some.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) In spite of its taxes, politics and potholes, Chicago is a super city.
But it isn’t a Super Bowl city.

And it shouldn’t be. No matter how much you, the Bears or Mayor Rahm Emanuel might want it to be. That is, not unless Emanuel takes out another enormous bond loan and builds a brand new enclosed football stadium for the Bears.

(Which also should not happen.)

On Monday after Seattle put the Mile High City six feet under in Super Bowl XLVIII, the Associated Press wrote that, “Now that the first New York/New Jersey Super Bowl was a smashing success for everyone except the Denver Broncos and their fans, NFL owners in other cold-weather cities are sure to be lining up to try to bring the Big Game to their stadiums.”

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

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

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

One night a few weeks ago, I was headed northbound on the Dan Ryan when I noticed something off-kilter about the twinkling Chicago skyline looming beyond my car’s windshield.

It was the Willis Tower. It wasn’t twinkling at all.

Why the iconic skyscraper stood dark that night, I don’t know. But what its skyline void made me realize is that while we don’t often refer to Chicago as a city of lights, it very much is one. And now, in the hopes of boosting tourism, Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to officially make it so.

Last week, the mayor’s office unveiled a grand plan that the Sun-Times noted would essentially turn Chicago into a Midwest version of Paris – “La Ville Lumiere, the City of Light” – by spotlighting the city’s architectural gems in a variety of spectacular new ways.

Continue reading “Mayoral plan to light up Chicago could be a bright idea”

Friday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) As we enter February, the days are supposed to be getting longer. But for the Illinois basketball team, they’re still looking awfully dark.

Caught up in a six-game tailspin, the Illini not only are showing a shooting percentage that makes the polar vortex look downright toasty, but they also can hear the clock ticking loudly on their postseason hopes as No. 15 Iowa prepares to roll into State Farm Center on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. (BTN).

And if the clock does indeed strike midnight for Illinois (13-8 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) at some point this month, it won’t be just the hoops squad that will end up turning into a pumpkin.

The entire Illini athletic season will too.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Thursday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Just when you thought you’d heard the words “Notre Dame football” and “expansion” for the last time, the Fighting Irish went and brought them up again on Wednesday.

Granted, Notre Dame meant expansion in a different way.

But potential fan concerns about the school’s construction goals still made me think about the other expansion definition we’ve become so used to, and how I still feel that the Irish dropped the football in regards to that one.

After all, the changes to the Irish’s future schedules is likely to impact fans far more than any piles of brick and mortar.

On Wednesday morning, Notre Dame unveiled a sweeping plan through which it intends to meet multiple needs for campus athletic and academic space by building a trio of new buildings that will be connected to its iconic football stadium.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Jan. 28 column from CBS Chicago  …

(CBS) Generally, contract extensions and pay raises come as a result of success. But for University of Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas, apparently the hope in Champaign is that they’ll lead to success instead.

Last Thursday, Illinois’ third-year athletic director was awarded by the school’s board of trustees with a contract extension through Aug. 28, 2019, and a salary bump of $50,392 that pushes Thomas’ base compensation to $554,320 annually.

Those rewards come in spite of the fact that Thomas’ hand-picked football coach is 6-18 overall and 1-15 in the Big Ten, his hand-picked basketball coach is currently mired in a six-game Big Ten losing streak and fans’ attendance at both Memorial Stadium and State Farm Center doesn’t exactly have the ticket office jumping for joy.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, Feb. 25, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky 

In Chicago, they like to do things big.

Such as Restaurant Week, which actually lasts for two.

The city’s 2014 Restaurant Week(s) – which involves participating restaurants offering three-course lunches for $22 and/or three- and four-course dinners for $33 or $44 – began on Friday and runs through Feb. 6, making the event’s seventh annual installment the longest ever.

“To me that’s a good thing,” Chicago Tribune food critic Phil Vettel wrote this week. “It tells me that the menus are discounted low enough to attract customers, but not so low that it’s a hardship for restaurants to offer them. The fact that there are more than 250 participating restaurants (about the same as last year) tells me that too.”

Most of the establishments taking part in Restaurant Week are in Chicago, but there are also at least 20 suburban participants. A full list can be found at eatitupchicago.com, where you can also book a table.

Continue reading “Chicago’s Restaurant Week is twice as nice”

My Jan. 25 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) When it comes to the glory days of Northwestern basketball, there’s a lot more daze than there is glory.

The Wildcats have never made an NCAA Tournament. The last time they had a winning record in the Big Ten was back in 1968 – when Chris Collins’ dad was a junior in high school. They’ve only had one .500 season in the league once since then.

And so on, and so on …

However, heading into today’s home game against No. 10 Iowa (11 a.m., BTN), Chris Collins’ Northwestern squad is looking like a team that has a shot to actually accomplish something very few NU teams have done before it.

They could give their coach a winning record in his first year.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …