Wisch List

My Jan. 3 column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) “Bear Weather” is bull.

And if anyone says that they truly love attending football games played in bitterly cold temps, well, I’d say that’s a bunch of hogwash, too.

You might tolerate such weather. You may even embrace it (for a quarter). But to say that you love wearing six layers of clothes and five pairs of socks just to watch a football game held outdoors in four-degree weather?

C’mon. No you don’t.

Now, I love attending sports events in person. But I hate freezing during them. That goes for Bears games in late December and Cubs games in early April. I’m willing to suck it up and certainly have in the past, but it’s simply no true fun attending a ballgame that has you waiting for it to end more than it has you actually enjoying the experience.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Jan. 1, 2014, column from CBS Chicago …

As the Granddaddy of Them All, it’s always a big game.

But, fact is, the Rose Bowl hasn’t been much of a B1G game for years.

In fact, since the 2000 season, the Big Ten has gone just 1-9 vs. the Pac-12 on New Year’s Day in Pasadena, with Ohio State’s 26-17 win over Oregon in 2010 as the league’s lone victory.

Which makes for an awfully lonely victory, too. No. 4 Michigan State, however, will be hoping to give that win some company when it attempts to right the Big Ten’s ship this afternoon against No. 5 Stanford in the 100th edition of the Rose Bowl. The game, as you might have heard, is Sparty’s first appearance in Pasadena since Jan. 1, 1988, when MSU edged out USC 20-17. What you might not have heard, though, is that 11 games before ending that season with a Rose Bowl win over the Trojans, the Spartans opened the 1987 season with a win over them.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

My Dec. 31, 2013, column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Come next week, Greg Maddux will make the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. But he almost certainly won’t make it in the way he should.

And, no, I’m not talking him sporting a Cubs cap on his plaque.

(Although that would certainly be nice.)

Rather, I’m talking about “Mad Dog” making the HOF unanimously.

Each year, Baseball Think Factory’s “Ballot Collecting Gizmo” tracks the Hall of Fame elections by collecting every ballot posted online by voters. As of this morning, the Gizmo had collected 80 full ballots – only 14 percent of the vote, mind you – but was projecting that Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas and Craig Biggio are all on track to make the Cooperstown cut, which will be officially announced on Jan. 8.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, Dec. 28, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

Wish lists are for Christmas.

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

And now that we’ve almost made it through 2013 – not to mention the madness of cramming both Thanksgiving and Christmas into a four-week span – I wanted to share with you my year-end column as we head into 2014.

It looks to be an interesting one. After all, the United Nations has already deemed 2014 the International Year of both Family Farming and Crystallography, which is, well, interesting.

There’s also going to be a Winter Olympics, a World Cup and 90 more losses for the Cubs. I think all three are already set in stone.

Other things, however, are not. And with that in mind, it’s on with the column.

Continue reading “Wisch Lists are for New Year’s”

From the Saturday, Dec. 21, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

I come from a Land Down Under.

And after spending two weeks honeymooning in Australia, my body – and mind – both still feel like they’re there.

Yes, the odd experience of living 17 hours in the future for 14 consecutive days and then passing through eight time zones on a 20-hour journey home still has me feeling about as lively as a koala.

On Ambien.

Nevertheless, the crooked after-effects of boomeranging back to the States from Oz is worth it. From its exotic wildlife to its breathtaking scenery to its friendly, easygoing people, Australia truly is a remarkable country. But what’s perhaps most remarkable about it is that despite being so incredibly far away from home it also manages to feel incredibly homey.

Continue reading “Australia is a world apart – and a lot like home”

Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) A few years ago, when rumors were swirling about Missouri potentially jumping from the Big 12 to Jim Delany’s favorite league, there was one B1G reason why I didn’t want it to happen.

Braggin’ Rights.

In many ways, of course, Mizzou made perfect geographic and competitive sense for the Big Ten – certainly much more than Rutgers and Maryland. However, as a longtime lover of the annual Christmastime clash between the Illini and Tigers down in St. Louis, the last thing I wanted to see was college basketball’s most electric nonconference match-up to turn into two run-of-the-mill conference ones.

Call me selfish, if you will. But, either way, you could certainly call me relieved when Mizzou-to-the-Big-Ten didn’t happen. And at 4:30 p.m. today, you’ll also be able to call me excited when I’m in the stands at the Scottrade Center for my first Braggin’ Rights game since attending back-to-back battles in 2001 and 2002.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Friday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) So, Derrick Rose reportedly doesn’t want to go through rebuilding.

Well, you know who could help avoid that? Derrick Rose.

But only if he will.

Last Saturday, the New York Daily News published comments from an NBA source claiming that Chicago’s twice-injured superstar “is worried that the Bulls are going to lose what they have. He doesn’t want to go through rebuilding.”

“Rose has told several confidantes,” Daily News reporter Mitch Lawrence elaborated, “that he is worried that the Bulls will start to let the team hit the skids by allowing key players to leave via free agency, forcing him to go through a rebuilding program that he wants no part of.”

Bulls fans also want no part of another lengthy rehab process with Rose, but, hey, we don’t always get what we want. And while I’m not eager to rip Derrick for not wanting to come back to a weak team in 2014-15 – who would? – the guy also can’t simply have his cake and eat it too. And if Derrick wants to return to a strong lineup next year, then he’s going to need to work on more than just his knee during this latest round of recovery.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Thursday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) For the Illinois football team, .500 is an improvement.

But when it comes to retaining the program’s coordinators, is it also a victory?
With the news on Wednesday that offensive coordinator Bill Cubit will be back with the team next season, Illini fans should be thrilled. That’s a win.

On the flip side, however, Cubit’s retention was countered with the perplexing – and vexing – confirmation that Illinois defensive coordinator Tim Banks will be back next season as well. That’s a loss.

And when taken together, Illini head coach Tim Beckman had better hope that that the talents of those two men don’t simply result in a wash in 2014. You know, like it did this season.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

From the Saturday, Dec. 7, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee) and The Times (Ottawa) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

If you’ve visited Chicago, it’s likely that you’ve spent your fair share of time in downtown.

But Uptown? Well, that may be a different story.

In fact, unless you’ve attended a concert at the Riviera Theatre or the Aragon Ballroom, or swung by the Green Mill to hear some jazz, the edgy neighborhood just north of Lakeview across the border that is Irving Park Road is probably something of a mystery.

Which actually sounds like the type of movie that could have been produced at Uptown’s long-shuttered Essanay Studios, a fascinating landmark that once rivaled Hollywood for American film dominance and something that a tiny Chicago college is now hoping to restore.

Back in 1907, a pair of aspiring Chicago movie moguls named George K. Spoor and Gilbert M. Anderson founded a company on Wells Street that they called the Peerless Film Manufacturing Company.

Within months, however, the men decided to rename the studio Essanay (“S and A” after the first letter’s of their surnames) and produced their first hit called “The Hobo on Rollers,” which starred Ben Turpin, then the studio’s janitor. In 1908, Essanay Studios then relocated a few miles north to 1333 W. Argyle St. in Uptown, where it made history.

Over the coming years, the studio produced a steady stream of silent films, launching the careers of a number of stars while also attracting the talents of perhaps the nation’s biggest one: Charlie Chaplin.

Continue reading “Chicago college trying to restore city’s silent movie magic”

From the Saturday, Nov. 30, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee) and The Times (Ottawa) …

The WISCH LIST

By Dave Wischnowsky

When this column greets you on Saturday, my wife and I will be somewhere in the air over the Pacific en route to our honeymoon in Australia.

That is, we will be as long as we’re still married after sitting inches from each other for the duration of our 15-hour, 50-minute flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.

I’m kidding, of course.

Although, not about the flight time. That’s the truth.

While we couldn’t be more excited about our upcoming adventures in Melbourne, Sydney, and Hobart, Tasmania, our one lament is that we’ll miss most of Christmastime in Chicago, which is always one of the best times in Chicago.

And if we weren’t off mingling with kangaroos and the like “Down Under,” here’s what we would consider doing this month up in the Windy City.

Lincoln Park Zoo Lights

Live ice-carving demonstrations. Visits with Santa Claus. Warm drinks. Cool crafts. Cuddly animals. And some less-than-cuddly ones.

Oh, and more than 2 million beautiful lights.

Through Jan. 5, you can bundle up and take a stroll through Lincoln Park Zoo to enjoy the annual holiday celebration that lights the whole place up like a Christmas tree. Admission is free, and new this year is an ice skating rink that offers the chance to zip past goats and cows at Farm-in-the-Zoo. For hours and full details, visit lpzoo.org.

Continue reading “While I’m ‘Down Under,’ do December up in Chicago”