Wisch List

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Arrested developments: Chicago Police vs. City Hall

The WISCH LIST

Sept. 18, 2010

I live in Chicago, where the taxes are outrageous, the politics crooked and the parking tickets plentiful.

And I live in Chicago, where the streets are clean, the public transportation convenient and the downtown as beautiful and vibrant as any I’ve visited.

For the former, I blame Mayor Richard M. Daley.

But for the latter? Well, I credit him.

Not unlike the city itself, Chicago’s longtime emperor, er … mayor – who last week stunned the state with the news that after six terms he’s turning in his scepter – is a mixed bag.

He’s the savvy politician that still mangles his words. He’s often maddening, yet almost always engaging. And while he’s transformed his hometown into a world-class showpiece, he’s also turned it into a financial boondoggle through countless sketchy city contracts and questionable deals.

With a budget crisis, a number of unfinished construction projects and the trick of navigating a political labyrinth that Daley has laid out like a Minotaur over the past two decades, Chicago’s next mayor undoubtedly will have his or her hands full.

But, for the sake of Chicago’s citizens, visitors and reputation, its next boss should make no issue more important than making peace between the Chicago Police Department and City Hall.

From July 2005 to July 2007, I worked full-time as a news reporter in Chicago and found myself (all too) regularly dispatched into violence-plagued neighborhoods on the South and West sides following yet another tragic murder or senseless shooting.

It was my job to interview the neighbors and relatives of victims, and what I always found in the worst areas of the city were so many good people living there. Worn down by the violence of their environment, they were desperate for assistance and answers. But as a young reporter armed only with a notepad, a pen and a deadline, all I really could provide were more questions.

I still don’t have answers, although to be fair, Mayor Daley has provided at least a few during his tenure. In 1989, when he first took office, Chicago had 747 murders. Last year, there were 458. Today, most of Chicago is very safe. But still, based on the ratio of crime to population, it remains more violent than either New York or Los Angeles.

This summer, three Chicago police officers were among those killed in the city, placing a brighter national spotlight on a problem already well known to locals.

I’m not sure that the intensity of the city’s violence is actually increasing – again, overall murders have dropped sharply the past 20 years – but it’s clear that the tension between Chicago’s rank-and-file police officers and their bosses certainly is. And that’s a situation that not only doesn’t help those living on the gang-ridden South and West sides, but also threatens the safety of residents and visitors citywide.

On Wednesday morning, a few hundred officers gathered at Chicago’s police headquarters to protest the leadership of Superintendent Jody Weis and call for his resignation. The officers’ discontent with Weis (whose contract runs through March 1), as well as with Mayor Daley (who saw more than 2,000 officers protest City Hall last year over labor negotiations), stems largely from the budget woes that have led to manpower shortages in the police department.

During the demonstration, officers toted signs reading, “More Police, No Weis” and “Simply Resign,” while at least one donned a T-shirt bearing Daley’s likeness and the message: “Worst Mayor Ever.”

That statement is debatable. The importance of a mayor resolving this worsening rift between the city and its police department, however?

It’s not.

Due to Caller ID, the Age of Cranks Calls is over. But the Age of Crank Texts is now upon us, thanks to this guy who has a lot of time on his hands so he sends texts to random numbers. Some respond.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Chicago Baseball: Win, Lose … and Draw?

The WISCH LIST

Sept. 11, 2010

The Bears open tomorrow. The Fighting Illini home opener is tonight. And next weekend, the Blackhawks already have a sell-out at the United Center … for a practice.

But here, baseball is still in season – even if the Cubs are done and the White Sox just barely hanging on. Last week, after dissecting 90 years of Chicago baseball attendance figures, I asked readers for explanations on why the Sox have served as the city’s Second Fiddle since the ’60s and even lost ground during the 2000s, a decade in which they won a World Series.

Their theories were many, and here are a few …

It’s the money

“Sox fans pay the fifth-highest ticket prices in all of baseball,” Jason Bauman writes. “Why? I don’t know. I believe the Cubs charge the second-highest prices behind Boston. What do the Red Sox and Cubs have in common? They have a tourist attraction for a ballpark …

“Thus, the Cubs and Red Sox can get away with charging people through the nose. The White Sox, not so much.”

It’s the math

“As a lifelong die-hard Sox fan, I have always been somewhat embarrassed and bewildered by the perpetual attendance problems on the South Side,” writes John (no-relation-to-Jason) Baumann.

“I think the reasons for the Cubs popularity are pretty simple. I’m only 26 years old, but from what I can gather it all started with the ’84 Cubs and Harry Carry arriving on the North Side, which established Wrigley as party central in Chicago …

“As for the reason the Sox have failed to draw in the past, I think a huge reason is that there simply just aren’t that many Sox fans. On top of that, most Sox fans live a good distance away from the Cell, as most old-school Sox fans long ago relocated to the South and West suburbs.

“I guarantee if the Sox played in Naperville or Tinley Park their attendance would surge. I might be wrong, but it seems like most Cubs fans are either young, single people who live near Wrigley, tourists from Iowa, or retirees, while the Sox cater more to families. That’s why the Sox draw extremely poorly on April, May, and September school nights.”

It’s television

“The biggest influence, I think, regarding Sox vs. Cubs attendance is WGN,” David Rigg writes. “The Sox also used to be broadcast on WGN until they moved to Ch. 32 in the ’70s, and then to the absolute television sewer of Ch. 44 where nobody watched them!

“Remember Sportsvision? That was another fiasco that lost TV fans. For $50 you bought a converter box to unscramble the TV signal from Ch. 44. Nobody watched. [The Sox] weren’t even televised at all in the early ’80s. You could only get them on radio until they had clinched in ’83, and TV broadcasts were renewed.

“They could only be seen on cable (still new to Chicago) or Ch. 32 until they returned to WGN in the early ’90s. But, they lost a generation of Chicago fans while the ‘Cubbies’ held the limelight. Cubs games broadcast for free on a superstation drew not only local fans’ attention, but tourists from far and wide, making Wrigley Field a destination and helping fill up the park no matter what’s happening on the field.”

It’s the location

And, finally, Dick Kazlausky writes, “My one regret, even today, is when the Sox decided to build a new Comiskey. I wonder how things would’ve changed if they built it right next door to Soldier Field, where you could hit a home run into Lake Michigan.

“If they had built an indoor stadium to the likes of Miller Park a stone’s throw from the Loop … Attendance problems? Hmm, I wonder …”

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

A Game of Numbers

For the Cubs and White Sox, attendance figures tell a tale. But what’s their story?

The WISCH LIST

Sept. 4, 2010

Like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Area 51, some things in life are just meant to remain a mystery.

And that appears to include U.S. Cellular Field, otherwise known as the Bermuda Triangle of Major League Baseball – a place where good White Sox teams enter, only to watch their fans disappear.

Conversely, on the North Side of Chicago, the Cubs seemingly can pack Wrigley Field during a Depression (they did, in fact, more than doubling the White Sox’s attendance in the 1930s). Or during depression, as 86 million fans have bought Cubs tickets since the Lovable Losers’ infamous flop of 1969 – nearly 18 million more than the Sox.

During the Summer of 2010, Chicago’s baseball fans have been particularly moody. For the White Sox’s games Aug. 10-12 against Minnesota, an average of only 32,057 showed up at 40,615-seat U.S. Cellular Field for a series in which both teams entered in a tie for first place.

Meanwhile, with the Cubs running in reverse, even Wrigley die-hards are fed up. For Tuesday night’s game against Pittsburgh, attendance at the Friendly Confines tumbled to an unfriendly low of 29,538, although the Cubs still remain on pace to draw nearly 900,000 more fans than the Sox this season.

In the Windy City, the attendance disparity between teams has been a hot topic for as long as I can recall. And from the economy to demography to apathy, the list of fans’ explanations (or excuses) for it is even longer.

I’m sure you have your own theories, which I want to hear. But I don’t know that any one of them tell the full story of why the Cubs draw, while the White Sox don’t. The truth is murky at best. And who knows why the Sox couldn’t sell out even one game during the Twins series, their biggest of the season.

As I said, some things are meant to remain a mystery.

However, in an attempt to at least shed some light on when – if not exactly how – the Cubs became baseball’s Big Dog in Chicago and relegated the Sox to Second Fiddle, I’ve spent the past week crunching historical attendance figures. Beginning with 1920, the dawn of the first full decade in which both Wrigley Field and Comiskey Park were in use, I compared numbers from nine decades through 2009.

And what I found is interesting. Because, the Cubs weren’t always dominant, you know. No, once upon a time, the White Sox held the Windy City in the palm of their glove. But then it all changed, before it changed again. And again.

When Chicago put its Sox on

From the 1920s to the ’40s – a stretch in which the Cubs made five World Series appearances, and the Sox none – it’s true that, just like today, Chicago’s baseball fan base heavily favored the North Side.

During the ’20s, 56.6 percent of the 14.4 million total fans that attended baseball games in Chicago did so at Wrigley. In the ’30s, that number rose to a whopping 68.1 percent.

During the 1940s, however, the White Sox gained ground, capturing 44.1 percent of the city’s 16 million total fans. And then, beginning in 1951, when the Sox outdrew the Cubs 1,704,984 to 894,415, Pale Hose Fever took the city by storm – and reigned for 17 consecutive seasons.

In the 1950s, the Cubs posted zero winning seasons, and the Sox attracted 56.5 percent of the city’s 20 million total fans. Then, using the “Go-Go” mojo from their 1959 World Series appearance, the Sox rolled in to the ’60s with eight straight winning seasons (1960-67) and enjoyed 55.2 percent of the city’s 19.6 million total attendance for the decade.

Cubdom comes back

In 1968, however, the city’s passions again began to tilt northward.

That season, the Cubs outdrew the Sox at the gate 1,043,409 to 803,775 – their first such victory since ’50. Then, during 1969, the Cubs reeled in nearly three times as many fans (1,674,993 to 589,546) and turned the table for the 1970s, attracting the exact 55.2 percent of the city’s 24.7 million total fans that the Sox enjoyed a decade before.

When 1980 arrived, however, the Cubs (1,206,776) and White Sox (1,200,365) actually stood neck and neck in fandom, before the Sox once again took control. From 1981 through 1984, the South Side outdrew the North each year, including by a 650,000-fan advantage during the Sox’s AL West-championship season of ’83.

In 1985, however – the year after the Cubs came within one win of reaching the World Series – the North Siders outdrew the Sox 2,161,534 to 1,669,888, and then proceeded to do the same for the next six seasons.

By 1989, the Cubs were more than doubling the Sox’s attendance (2,491,942 to 1,045,651). But then New Comiskey replaced Old in 1991, enabling the Sox to outdraw the Cubs for two straight seasons. Since 1993, however, the Cubs have been King, topping the White Sox in attendance for 17 straight seasons (2010 will make it 18).

But, here’s what’s interesting.

2000s sock it to ’em

In every decade since 1970, the Cubs have drawn a higher percentage of Chicago’s total fans. However, you might be surprised to learn that during the 1980s and ’90s the White Sox actually gained ground.

For the ’70s, the Sox drew 44.8 percent of the city’s total fans, followed by 45.6 percent in the ’80s and 46.3 percent in the ’90s.

But then came 2000-09, a decade in which the White Sox won a World Series, yet somehow lost 4.3 percent of the city’s fan base, as the Cubs attracted 58 percent of the city’s 52.3 million total fans, compared to 53.7 percent in the 10 years before.

Why?

Well, I have my theories, but what I really want to know are yours. Write me at wischlist@gmail.com or comment on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/wischlist to tell me why you think the Cubs gained so much attendance ground during the 2000s, why the White Sox have served as the city’s No. 2 attraction since the ’60s and why The Cell couldn’t even sell out for August’s Minnesota series.

Armed with your answers, we’ll take another swing at things next week.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Squeeze the summer out of September

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 28, 2010

Summer is almost over.

Except that it’s not.

Sure, next weekend might signify the unofficial end of summer with the arrival of Labor Day, but the calendar tells us that the season still runs through Sept. 21. And, in Chicago, it might as well run a little longer than that.

That’s because the city still has plenty of summer-style weekend fun in store throughout the month of September. Go ahead, see for yourself …

Sept. 2-5: Chicago Jazz Festival

Back in Chicago in 1978, three different annual jazz festivals were scheduled for Grant Park during just the month of August.

Recognizing the nonsense of that, the Mayor’s Office of Special Events – in a rare moment of streamlining rather than swelling a budget – proposed combining all three into the Chicago Jazz Festival.

It was a hit as all that jazz attracted 125,000 people during its first go-around in 1979. Now in its 32nd year, it’s the world’s most extensive free jazz fest. The festival officially begins on Thursday, Sept. 2, but doesn’t truly get rolling until Saturday morning. For more information, visit www.chicagojazzfestival.us.

My tip: If you’re at the Jazz Festival, but start feeling the blues, head on over to the brand-new Buddy Guy’s Legends club, nearby at 700 S. Wabash Avenue.

Sept. 10-11: Windy City Wine Festival

Situated in the center of Grant Park, Buckingham Fountain is modeled after the Latona Fountain at Versailles, located of course in vineyard-laden France.

So, perhaps, it’s only appropriate that Buckingham (500 S. Columbus Drive) is the new location for Chicago’s sixth annual Windy City Wine Festival.

Featuring more than 300 international and domestic wine varieties, as well 50 festival vendors, the event lasts from 4 to 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10, and 3 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 11. For more information, visit www.windycitywinefestival.com.

My tip: Don’t like wine? Well, the fest also features the Belgian Beer Café and its ample samplings of Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden beers.

Sept. 18: Chicago Blackhawks Training Camp Fest

It seems like hockey season just ended, but it’s almost here again.

And to help drop the puck on their 2010-11 season, the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks are holding their annual Training Camp Festival at the United Center on Saturday, Sept. 18.

The daylong event features a 5K Run/Walk and a 10K inline skating race, as well as the opportunity to watch a live Blackhawks practice. It all costs only $5 for a general admission ticket. For more information, visit www.blackahwks.nhl.com.

My tip: If you’re looking to run or skate in the 5K or 10K races, make sure to preregister online at www.chicagoevents.com. Cost is $30.

Sept. 25-26: Randolph Street Market Festival

If you’re looking to shop in the sunshine one last time before it begins to fade away for winter, the final weekend of Chicago’s outdoor Randolph Street Market Festival is your chance.

Located in the West Loop along Randolph Street between Ada Street and Ogden Avenue, the festival features antiques, vintage collectibles and indie designer apparel from more than 200 dealers, as well as food and drink vendors, music and kids’ activities.

The fest is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 to 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit www.randolphstreetmarket.com.

My tip: At $12, admission is a bit steep – you know, to just go shopping – but, you can gain free entry for the final two hours of the market each month with the downloadable “See for Free” coupon on the market’s website.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

In Chicago, there’s trial … and error

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 22, 2010

If I hadn’t studied journalism in college, I probably would have studied law.

I’ve long been fascinated by the art of framing an argument (sometimes as a newspaper columnist, I even do it well). And in criminal court that’s, of course, what successful practice is all about.

This week, the federal corruption trial of Rod Blagojevich proved to be far less than a success for the prosecution, as the ex-governor dodged (for now) 23 of the 24 bullets that the feds fired at him.

The jury foreman attributed the jurors’ inability to reach more than one unanimous decision to the “lack of a smoking gun.” And, as frustrating as the outcome of Blagojevich’s trial may be, I also can understand how a juror might have felt that way.

I won’t say that Blagojevich was arrested too soon, because who knows what damage might have been wrought if President Obama’s U.S. Senate seat had actually been sold. But, the lack of a smoking barrel left reasonable doubt a very realistic possibility.

Regardless, the prosecution of our pompadoured pol certainly gripped the headlines this summer. Blagojevich’s court case, however, is far from the first – or the most sensational – blockbuster to hit the Windy City.

From the Chicago Seven to the Chicago Black Sox, the city has had its share of high-profile trials. And as we prepare for the inevitable “Blago, Part II,” I thought I’d take a quick look at three of the more famous.

Leopold & Loeb

Rod Blagojevich aspires for a perfect hair day. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb aspired to commit the perfect crime.

In May 1924, the wealthy and brilliant Leopold, 19, and Loeb, 18, were law students at the University of Chicago when they kidnapped 14-year-old Bobby Franks and murdered him with a chisel.

The pair dumped Franks’ body in a remote area in northwest Indiana, dousing it with hydrochloric acid to make identification more difficult. Upon their return to Chicago, they then called Franks’ mother to demand ransom.

The body was discovered before ransom was paid, however. And the “perfect crime” crumbled when a pair of eyeglasses with a unique hinge mechanism was discovered near the body. In Chicago, only three people had purchased such glasses – and one of them was Nathan Leopold.

Defended by famed attorney Clarence Darrow in the “Trial of the Century,” Leopold and Loeb were ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment.

Al Capone Tax Evasion

Eliot Ness never brought down Al Capone. But Frank J. Wilson did.

Ness, the legendary Chicago crimefighter, found Capone to be, well, untouchable on Prohibition violations. However, Wilson’s investigation into the gangster’s tax history led to Capone’s indictment on charges of income tax evasion in 1931.

Initially, Capone agreed to a plea deal before instead opting to go to trial. A plan to bribe and intimidate potential jurors was then discovered by Ness’ men and the jury pool was switched with one from another case, stymieing Capone.

Following a lengthy trial, Capone was found guilty in 1932 and served 7½ years of an 11-year sentence before his parole in November 1939.

Standard Oil Antitrust

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis is best known as the first commissioner of Major League Baseball. But, before that, he really was a U.S. District Court Judge in Chicago.

In 1907, Landis presided over a major antitrust trial during which he fined Standard Oil $29 million. In 2010 dollars, that’s $660 million – or the price of 22 million haircuts at Mr. Barber on Oak, where Blagojevich gets his coif cropped every three weeks.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

Big Ten pride crawls through Chicago

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 14, 2010

When I was a freshman in college way back in the spring of 1995, I celebrated the end of the semester – four A’s and one B, if I remember correctly – by strolling up to Green Street on the campus of the University of Illinois and buying myself a new T-shirt.

On the front it read in big yellow letters: “JUST SAY NO.”

And, on the back: “Friends Don’t Let Friends Go To Michigan.”

Fifteen years later, I still have the thing. Granted, it now has a big rip down one side, I cut the sleeves off long ago and I really can’t recall the last time I wore the shirt, even to the gym.

But, in a couple of weeks, I might slip it back on.

As an undershirt.

I’m not going out in just that threadbare thing.

Besides, it’s white. And come Saturday, Aug. 28, I’ll need to be wearing orange.

Although, that day in Chicago I’ll also need to be giving Michigan fans a hard time. Indiana fans, too. And Iowa, and Wisconsin, and so on …

I’m quite certain that they’ll be giving it right back to me, as hundreds of Big Ten alums spend the day bonding over what we have in common while also ribbing each other over what we do not.

Welcome to a brand new era of Big Ten fandom with the launch of ChicagoBIGTEN, a non-profit organization that’s aimed at bringing the Chicago area’s 300,000 Big Ten alumni closer together to develop a collective conference identity, while also strengthening ties to their own universities.

On Aug. 28, ChicagoBIGTEN holds its coming-out party with a charity bar crawl through Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. The event is billed as “11 schools. 11 bars. 1 mission.” – and I’ll let my friend and ChicagoBIGTEN founder Cameron Croft explain.

“The goal for the bar crawl is to raise $25,000 to benefit Chicago Public Schools,” said Croft, a 2002 U of I alum and former president of the Chicago Illini Club. “And the ultimate goal for ChicagoBIGTEN is to increase membership for the different schools’ alumni clubs and give them all big events to be part of.”

The bar crawl, which kicks off at 10 a.m. at the corner of North LaSalle and West Hubbard and lasts until 8 p.m., is open to all Big Ten alums and fans, 21 years and older (“This isn’t just a young alumni event,” Croft said).

Tickets can be purchased at www.chicagobigten.org and cost $15, or $20 on the day of the event, with all proceeds going to the non-profit Alumni for Public Schools.

As for its details, the crawl will wind through River North hotspots such as Rockit, English, Bull and Bear, Social 25, and District, with each bar being decked out in one Big Ten school’s colors as its official “campus” for the day.

Alums will get the opportunity to square off in mental and physical competitions based around the conference’s rivalry trophies, such as the Illibuck (Illinois-Ohio State), Old Oaken Bucket (Indiana-Purdue) and Little Brown Jug (Minnesota-Wisconsin).

“It’s going to be like taking a tour of all the Big Ten campuses in one day,” Croft said. “And we’ll have little games throughout the day, pitting major rivals against each other …

“What I hope to see is, by the middle or end of the crawl, Ohio State and Michigan fans talking and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve been at each other’s throats for years, but you know, you’re actually pretty cool.’ ”

Who knows, maybe I’ll even tell a friend to go to Michigan.

Then again, maybe not.

Yes, it is Friday the 13th.

And, as WALB Ch. 10 News in Albany, Ga., insightfully informs us, “Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on a Friday.”

Thanks.

In any case, we all know that this date is considered to be “unlucky.” But exactly why is that the case? Curious about the reason, I took a quick trip around the Web this morning to see what I could find. And what I pulled together was a short list of theories (and some facts).

Call ’em the Lucky Seven …

1. It’s a curious quirk of the Gregorian calendar that the 13th of the month is more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week.

2. In fact, in any 400-year period, there are 685 Monday the 13ths, 685 Tuesdays, 687 Wednesdays, 684 Thursdays, 688 Fridays, 684 Saturdays and 687 Sundays.

3. Friday the 13th happens at least once a year, at most three times, due to the modern calendar. There’s only one this year (today) and only one next year (May 13, 2011), but, look out, in 2012 there are three (January, April and July). And, of course, there’s that pesky Friday the 21st in December (12-21-12) when the world is supposed to end.

4. Per the Huffington Post, this is the explanation for the Friday 13th mystique: “When you combine an historically unlucky day (Friday) with an unlucky number (13), all sorts of weirdness is bound to ensue. Hence the obsession with Friday the 13th.”

Since when is Friday an “historically unlucky day”?

Even sillier, the same writer informs us of this: “Historically, some very unlucky events were said to have occurred on the day. French King Philip IV rounded up hundreds of monks and tortured them for admitting to heresy on Friday, October 13, 1307. Some say Jesus Christ was crucified on Friday the 13th. More recently, on Friday, March 13, 1992, an earthquake in Turkey killed nearly 2,000 and left 50,000 homeless.”

Yeah, and 9/11 happened on a Tuesday the 11th. The Columbine massacre was on a Tuesday the 20th. The Great Chicago Fire started on a Sunday the 8th.

In the past 700 years, I’m pretty sure that every date on the calendar has had its fair share of “unlucky” events. So, c’mon HuffPo, get your act together. Not really supporting your argument there.

But I digress …

5. According to National Geographic, Friday the 13th is rooted in a Norse myth. 12 Gods sat down for dinner, when a 13th uninvited guest, Loki arrived. Loki, the god of mischief, convinced Holder, the blind god of darkness, to shoot Balder, the beautiful god of joy and gladness.

6. Another theory about Friday the 13th superstition is that 13 is unlucky because it follows 12. 12 is considered by many to be a complete number. 12 months in a year, 12 zodiac signs, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus.

7. And, finally, according to some folklorists, there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the 19th century. The earliest known documented reference in English occurs in an 1869 biography of Italian composer Gioachino Rossini.

So, really, it looks like no one knows exactly why Friday the 13th is considered unlucky, only that it is.

But, just to be safe, don’t break any mirrors.

Today’s Wisch List column from the Kankakee Daily Journal …

Homing in on Bears Camp as a Bourbonnais Boy

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 9, 2010

Flip open a Rand McNally, and you’ll find it just off Interstate 57 at Exit 315. Drive 60 miles south from Chicago or 80 miles north out of Champaign, and you’ll see the signs. And if you’re into plotting coordinates, its longitude is 41.16ºN and its latitude -87.87ºW.

But, for many residents of Illinois, Bourbonnais wasn’t on the map until 2002 when the Chicago Bears came to town and put it there.

Trust me, I know.

When I was in college at the University of Illinois (1994-1998), most of my classmates had never heard of my hometown – even though many of them drove right past it on their way from suburbia to Campustown.

After graduation, I then spent the next five years traversing the state as a sports writer and learning that some Illinoisans knew of Bourbonnais for one reason or another, but the bulk of them did not. However, since I moved to Chicago in 2005, the vast majority of people I’ve met statewide have been plenty familiar with where I hail from.

“Oh yeah, Bourbonnais,” is the common refrain. “Where the Bears train.”

Since becoming “The Summer Home of the Chicago Bears,” Bourbonnais has swept its way into the collective consciousness of Illinois. And, for a Bourbonnais Boy living in Chicago, that’s a nice source of pride.

It’s no secret that the Bears are examining alternate options for training camp and, as of now, Olivet Nazarene University has no agreement to host the team beyond this summer, although talks continue for a return in 2011.

For locals, I know that Bears Camp doesn’t generate the same kind of excitement as it did eight summers ago when it first rolled into town all shiny and new. But ONU still puts on a first-class experience, which I took in this past Wednesday. And, for Bears boosters throughout the state, the camp’s location and atmosphere remain as fan-friendly as can be.

Tales from training camp also remain the perfect postcards to send back home with fans, helping to promote Bourbonnais and greater Kankakee County statewide.

Whether the Bears stick around Bourbonnais for another eight years, or if they don’t, the town will be fine. But for an NFL training camp, it also is a fine spot.

I hope it remains that way.

In a Show-Me State

I don’t know if I’m necessarily a Jay Cutler critic. But I do know that I’m a Jay Cutler skeptic.

And while new Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz continues to praise his quarterback – he recently called Cutler “everything I hoped he would be” – I’m still waiting for the guy to lead a team to a postseason game (something Cutler hasn’t done since high school).

At training camp on Wednesday, Cutler did look sharp during 7-on-7 drills in the red zone, an area where he struggled mightily last season.

Although, apparently, one shouldn’t ask Lovie Smith about that.

“What happened last year,” the Bears coach said, visibly annoyed, when queried Wednesday by a veteran Chicago sports writer about Cutler’s 2009 red zone habits. “You tend to bring that up quite a bit.”

And the media won’t when it’s no longer an issue. Until then, however …

For the record

ESPN’s popular radio tandem of Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic respectively have the Bears going 6-10 and 5-11 this season. Meanwhile, former Bears wide receiver and current ESPN 1000 personality Tom Waddle predicts 10-6.

I think it’s more likely that the Bears will fall somewhere in between. Let’s say 7-9.

Although, like Brett Favre, I reserve the right to change my mind this summer.

Today’s column from the Kankakee Daily Journal and The (Ottawa, Ill.) Times …

So, does the Eye have it?

The WISCH LIST

Aug. 7, 2010

There’s a lot to see in Chicago during the summertime.

But outside of, say, the monkey house at Lincoln Park Zoo, most of it doesn’t stare back at you.

This summer, though, on the corner of State and Van Buren streets in the Loop, that’s all that Chicago’s latest, ahem, eye-catching attraction does.

It stares.

And then it stares some more.

In case you haven’t had your ears on and missed the word of mouth, one month ago today, the Eye – a massive three-story fiberglass eyeball – was officially unveiled on a patch of grass in Chicago’s Pritzker Park.

Designed by Oak Park artist Tony Tasset, who modeled the Eye after his own, the sculpture was lauded last month by Ty Tabing, executive director of the Chicago Loop Alliance, as a creation that could generate the same kind of buzz evoked by 1999’s famous “Cows on Parade” or Millennium Park’s wildly popular “Cloud Gate,” better known, of course, as “The Bean.”

As a guy who revels in exploring Chicago’s quirks and curiosities, last weekend I journeyed to the Loop to visit this oddball eyeball and investigate whether the Eye indeed does have it.

Standing 30 feet tall and consisting of nearly 9,000 pounds of fiberglass wrapped around another 9,000 pounds of steel, the Eye was constructed this summer by Tasset and his team in Sparta, Wis., home of Fast Corp. (Fiberglass Animals Shapes and Trademarks).

After assembling, sanding and buffing the enormous sculpture into a perfect sphere and painting on a couple hundred red veins and the detailed blue iris, it was then cut into 17 pieces and transported 256 miles down the Eye way to Pritzker Park.

“We wanted to have someone do something that we CLA sponsored the project. “[Tasset’s] art is not too highbrow and still very provocative and thought-provoking at the same time.”

There’s no doubt that the Eye provokes something. But exactly what depends on, well, the eye of the beholder.

When the sculpture debuted, WGN Radio’s John Williams, for example, debated on the air with listeners whether it was “Art or Crap” (I don’t know which camp prevailed). And last weekend in Pritzker Park, Beverly Pletsch, of Berwyn, asked skeptically, “Did we pay for this?” as she stood studying the Eye beside her daughter and three grandkids. “It seems a little extravagant for these times we’re living in.”

According to Tabing, the project cost “a little over the six-figures mark,” and was funded through special services taxes paid by Loop businesses, as well as corporate sponsorships. There’s no doubt that the Eye is over-the-top, but for many tourists roaming the Loop last weekend, cameras in tow, it was also enormously appealing.

This was especially true among the short set, as kids flocked to the Eye (Pletsch’s 8-year-old grandson, Frankie, for example, loved it). And, in fact, what I found to be the most entertaining aspect of the sculpture wasn’t the Eye itself, but the reactions that children had to it.

“How does it not roll away?” one little girl asked her mother moments before a boy climbed up and kissed the underside of the Eye as his parents snapped a photo. Later on, another youngster ordered his sister to stand still so he could stare into her eye “and see if it looks like this.”

“OK,” he decided after several seconds of eyeballing her. “It kinda does.”

Come Halloween, the Eye closes. Don’t trick yourself into thinking it’s worth a trip to Chicago on its own. But, if you find yourself already in the city, it is a treat for kids.