Wisch List

My Jan. 24 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Greg Maddux certainly was an Atlanta Brave. And he definitely was a Chicago Cub.

He also was a Los Angeles Dodger and a San Diego Padre, albeit briefly.

But when he’s inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer, Maddux won’t be any of them – and yet, at the same time, he’ll be all of them.

And, really, that just makes a whole lot of sense.

On Thursday, the Hall announced that Maddux has decided his plaque will have no logo, a decision that the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan described as “a small, but telling victory for the Cubs, who let the four-time Cy Young Award Winner leave as a free agent in his prime.”

Earlier this month, I argued in a column that I’ve long believed that deep down Maddux has always felt he was more of a Cub than a Brave, and I suspected that if given his preference he very well might choose to represent Chicago in Cooperstown.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Jan. 18 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) In January 2013, the University of Illinois basketball team saw a promising nonconference campaign devolve into a potential disaster with a flurry of Big Ten setbacks that included deflating losses to Wisconsin, Northwestern and Purdue.
Sound familiar?

It should, of course, since one year later we’re seeing déjà vu all over again with John Groce’s second edition of the Illini – who just lost to Wisconsin, Northwestern and Purdue to squander a strong first half of the season.

And now, after completing the “easy” part of its Big Ten slate – with a disappointing 2-3 record – Illinois (15-3 overall) enters a gauntlet that’s likely to decide its postseason fate. It begins at 8 p.m. tonight with No. 4 Michigan State at the State Farm Center, and is followed by games vs. No. 11 Ohio State (away), Indiana (away), No. 14 Iowa (home) and No. 3 Wisconsin (home).

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, Jan. 18, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

It was within easy driving distance of California’s Hermosa Beach that he launched his mouse-eared empire. But for Walt Disney, the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago is where he began his remarkable life.

And it’s on the city’s northwest side where a piece of Disney’s early life still stands – alone, for the time being.

Last month, the Chicago Tribune, New York Times and other major news outlets profiled the story of husband and wife Brent Young and Dina Benadon of Silver Lake, Calif., who last spring, purchased a humble two-story house at 2156 N. Tripp Ave. In an upstairs bedroom of the home on Dec. 5, 1901, Walt Disney was born. Eight years earlier, his brother Roy had been born in the same room, historians say.

For more than 20 years, various preservationists and entrepreneurs have tried to rustle up excitement about the house where the Disney family lived until 1906, when Walt turned four. Aldermen, however, have voted against giving it landmark status and restoration funding has repeatedly fallen through.

Continue reading “Growing pains for restoration of Disney birthplace”

My Jan. 17 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) When it comes to using the playbook for “How To Introduce a Mascot,” the Chicago Cubs hardly could have dropped the ball much worse this week.

I think even Steve Bartman would agree about that.

But in spite of a fallout from Clark the Cub’s radioactive debut that’s gone on to reach Chernobyl levels, there are some ways that the franchise can repair at least some of the mascot’s damage – and save some face – heading into this weekend’s Cubs Convention.

Here’s how:

Tip No. 1: Re-brand Clark as a ‘Kids Mascot’

Prior to Monday afternoon, the Cubs were one of just four Major League Baseball franchises along with the Yankees, Dodgers and Angels to not have a mascot. As points of pride go, that’s not much of one, nor is it even one that’s easy to understand.

But it was something of a point of pride nonetheless.

And a true Cubs fan – like, say, Tom Ricketts? – should have known that.

My Jan. 14 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) For fans of the Chicago Cubs, the hits just keep on coming.

Problem is, yet again, not a one of them is happening on the field.

On Monday afternoon, the Less-and-Less Lovable Losers dealt their latest sucker punch to the belly of their less-and-less loving fan base when the team unveiled its first official mascot in modern franchise history.

Clark the Cub.

Within an hour, the sad-eyed, pants-less, backwards-hat clad cartoon bear had become such a target of derision via social media that I half expected to hear word that Elliot Ness’ grandson was out tacking up “Public Enemy No. 1” posters on the walls of North Side post offices.

And all of that was before we had even seen the live, oversized version of Clark, which was revealed Monday night during a visit to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

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

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

Having combined for a record-setting 195 losses, the Cubs and White Sox didn’t exactly make 2013 the best year ever for their fans.

Thankfully, 2014 is off to a better start.

Off the field, at least.

On Wednesday, bitterly cold Chicago received the warm news that both ex-Cubs great Greg Maddux and ex-Sox great Frank Thomas had been voted into Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame on their first ballots.

While Maddux should have been a unanimous selection – or, at the very least, broken Tom Seaver’s record of 98.84 percent of the votes (he got 97.2) – it’s still a boon to see two of Chicago’s favored baseball sons enter the Hall in the same year. And it’s also refreshing that it can unfold this summer without any concerns about PED suspicion and controversy.

Thanks, Frank and Greg for keeping things clean. Baseball is better off for having had the two of you around. Chicago is too.

And with that, here are a few more thoughts about our local sports teams and figures that I thawed out just for you.

Continue reading “Hall of Fame inductions warm up Chicago’s winter”

Friday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Come July, Greg Maddux will enter the Hall of Fame with an Atlanta Braves cap emblazoned on his plaque. And that’s absolutely as it should be.

But are you absolutely sure that’s also his preference?

I’m not.

In fact, it’s long been my suspicion that if truly given a choice – and Maddux isn’t, since the Hall decides – that he very well might opt to wear a Cubs cap in Cooperstown. Because I do believe that deep down, Maddux does consider himself to be more of a Chicago Cub at heart than he does an Atlanta Brave.

Now, of course, I don’t know that for sure. How could I? And Maddux is far too smart and much too diplomatic to say anything that would confirm such thoughts. But here is what “The Professor” did tell the Tribune about Chicago this week after his HOF election was officially announced.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Jan. 8 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Buckle up, Illini fans. And, well, Bucky up, too.

Because, remember, this isn’t going to be a smooth ride.

Did you think that it was?

“You have to have amnesia,” Illinois basketball coach John Groce said late Wednesday night after his squad was humbled defensively, offensively and in pretty much every other way you can think of during a 95-70 train wreck at the Kohl Center against unbeaten Wisconsin.

“But, you have to learn from it,” continued Groce, who saw his Illini fall to 13-3 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten. “It’s very important to learn from it. You can’t have a hangover; that’s a recipe for disaster. We’ve got confident guys, and they’ll respond. We’ve got great kids.”

And I still think that Illinois has a very good chance to earn an NCAA Tournament berth come March, which is really the goal for this season. Beating the No. 4 team in the nation on its home court isn’t.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Jan. 7 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) I grew up in Bourbonnais, which at 55 miles is far enough away from Chicago to not really be considered suburbia, yet close enough to the city’s southern border that you might think that it was White Sox Country.

It wasn’t.

No, just like most of Illinois north of Interstate 70, Kankakee County when I was growing up during the 1980s was predominately Chicago Cubs turf. So much so that when I was 13 years old during the summer of 1989, I can recall a discussion with my Pony League teammates about our favorite baseball teams. To a man, everyone said the Cubs except for one kid, who was embarrassed to admit that he instead rooted for the White Sox.

“I know they suck, but …” I can still remember him saying.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com ..

From the Saturday, Jan. 4, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

If Wrigley Field is Chicago’s Friendly Confines, then Union Station has to be the city’s unfriendly one.

But just like Wrigley, changes are being discussed for Chicago’s aging transportation center as it ultimately morphs into an expected high-speed rail hub from which rapid lines will spider out throughout the rest of the Midwest. As for when those changes are actually coming to Union Station, we don’t know.

Just like Wrigley.

Built in 1925 along Canal Street between Adams and Jackson in Chicago’s West Loop, Union Station – with its limestone façade and massive Corinthian columns – is one of the city’s most iconic structures. That’s particularly true inside the magnificent Great Hall, which boasts marble floors, brass lamps and seasonal décor that can take a visitor’s breath away upon entrance, unlike the rest of Union Station, which is just suffocating.

Beyond the spacious Great Hall – which really serves much more as an event space than as one that benefits commuters – lurks a cramped, congested and confusing labyrinth that is in dire need of not just a renovation, but a massive rebuild.

Continue reading “To become high-speed hub, Union Station needs cash”