Gettin Biz-ay, Boodles, and Losing Two Chicago Institutions

It's been a steady week at the old LLC. Just got a condo conversion project where I will buy the building for my client and then work on the conversion and sale of the converted units -- means 15 separate sales as well as hourly billing. Scored three more property sales this week as well, as well as some hourly work from a colleague, so 2006 looks like it's going to get off to a profitable start.

Headed out tonight to catch my brother's act at the IO in Wrigleyville (formerly the Improv Olympic) -- sounds like it's going to be highly-larious. Always glad to go out and watch my brother Jeff (the artist formerly known as Baby Boodles from Badadoodles) in action.

Actually glad that 2005 is ending for Chicago. A few months ago it was revealed that Macy's bought Marshall Field's and will be changing the name to Macy's, a big blow for the city and particularly State Street (that great street, as Sinatra called it). Today, the papers reported that another Chicago landmark, the Berghoff restaurant, is closing its doors (in February 2006, I believe). Loved the food -- it was my second favorite German restaurant in Chicago (behind the Heidelberger-Fass, which closed years ago and whose owner was General Erwin Rommel's chef as well as Eisenhower's chef during the occupation, BTW), and the root beer (which we'll still be able to get, the bar/cafe will remain open). Both Field's and the Berghoff are Chicago landmarks for anyone who grew up or visited the city regularly. Their spaces will be occupied, but never replaced. Somtimes change is a real kick in the pants.

Cubs Make Offer for Tejada

The Cubs have offered Mark Prior, Corey Patterson and Rich Hill to the Orioles for Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard, according to ESPN1000 in Chicago. I like this deal as it is, much as it pains me to lose Prior, as Bedard is projected to be a solid 2 or 3.

Christmas 2005

Is now over. It was a good, but exhausting holiday, which is why it's great that the family is hanging loose and recovering today. Jen made it through her year-end deal only to pick up two more for next week, and I've got a deal that closed, but isn't finished quite yet -- so much for the wind-down between Christmas and New Year's!

Christmas Eve we went to an early showing of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, which was enjoyed by all -- we thought parts might be too scary for the kids, but they really liked it. We tried to go to our 4:00 p.m. Mass, and got there at 3:30 with the kids, but the only place we could have sat together was on the altar, which just wasn't going to happen given the lack of naps. Instead, we went on to my aunt's for a family party. Party was fine, but we left just as the major meltdown was occurring, and Hailey and Rachel stayed up until about 10:00 p.m., which created the inevitable scramble for Santa's arrival...

Christmas Day was nice -- kids slept until 7:00 a.m., and we didn't really get going with Santa presents until 8:00 a.m. -- finished just in time to get ready to go over to my Mom's for an early dinner and present exchange. Exhaustion by the end of the day was inevitable, but we all got a good night's sleep, and today has been an all day pajama day for the kids, which is making for a restful day.

Hope all had a good Christmas, and best wishes for 2006.

Prior for Tejada?

The latest rumors from the Washington and Chicago papers are that the Cubs are shopping Prior for Tejada. Sticking points -- Orioles want OF Felix Pie, Cubs want P Erik Bedard, and both sides are balking over these two players. Cubs would need a solid pitcher in return to do this...

Cubs Nab RF

CBS Sportsline is reporting that The Cubs signed Minnesota RF Jacque Jones to a three year, $16M deal today, to provide some lefty pop in the lineup. It's an okay signing given what was out there. Jones is a gamer, and he's played on winners in Minnesota. He doesn't hit for as much power as last year's RF, Jeromy Burnitz, but over his career he's hit for a better average, he's a better fielder with a better arm, and he's got a bit of speed. He does a bunch of things well, but nothing at the top for his position. Filling holes, yes, but the jury's out on how much this improves the team. At least he came relatively cheap.

In other news, The Washington Examiner is reporting that the Cubs have offered Kerry Wood for 2B Jose Vidro and utility OF Ryan Church. Hmmmm.

Fametracker

Love this website as well, particularly it's "Fame Audit" and "Hey, It's That Guy!" features. Fametracker is what Entertainment Tonight would be if it recognized how ludicrous mooning over Hollywood stars is. Check out the new "Celebrity vs. Thing" pitting Matthew Broderick against French Toast. Let's Get Ready to Ruuuuuuuuumble!

Jib Jab's Year In Review

Click here and then click on Jib Jab's Year End Round Up 2-0-5. Hi-lar-i-ous.

What I Like About Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of year, not so much because of the trappings, but because it's a rare time of year when many people stop to think, as busy as they are getting ready for the holiday. It's a time of year when the promise of heaven seems so near, and so reachable. I find that by and large, despite the horror stories of nasty shoppers and increased stress levels, people are actually much easier to deal with between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's a time of year when the Christmas and Easter Christians attend services, and a time when the more frequent churchgoers spend more time focusing on the divine. It is the time of year that hope is rediscovered, and the fallen human condition is closest to glimpsing the face of God.

"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?"
-- Bob Hope

Happy Birthday Hailey!

Here's a happy birthday message to my one and only 6 year old. You are a bright, beautiful, wonderful daughter that I am blessed to be responsible for! Here's a special picture for you, my "My Little Pony" afficianado:

Cupcakes Are Made, Man!

It's just after 6 p.m. CST, and quite a bit of the day's to do list is done. Had a small glitch when the dryer decided to stop spitting out hot air, but the repair service can come early next week, so we may avoid going to the [gasp!] laundromat. Kids are in the basement with me watching one of my all time favorite Christmas cartoons -- "The Year Without A Santa Claus." Weekend is slowly coming into view...

Thursday, December 15

Busy day today. I'm finalizing documents for an asset purchase on Monday and a real estate closing tomorrow, and also trying (with the help of our awesome sitter, Jamie) to bake 4 dozen cupcakes for treats at Hailey's school and her party for her 6th birthday, which is tomorrow. We've got two playdates today with friends of the girls, need to pull pictures for a testimonial about Hailey's life so far for her afternoon school, the Academy tomorrow... The list goes on!

Sam (my 2 year old) woke me up this morning with this: "Daddy? Daddy! I awake. I naked Daddy. Daddy, I naked! I no clothes! Come see me!" Sure enough, he had stripped down to nothing -- I'm starting to take this not so infrequent (these days) morning greeting as a sign he is not a fan of a wet diaper, so maybe potty training is on the horizon...

Sam also told me later this morning: "Watch out Daddy. I a shark. I gobble up you parts [meaning the shark would like to take a bite out of Daddy]." When I told him I needed all my parts, he replied, "No you don't. I a shark. I eat them!"

More later...

Birthday Books

Went to Borders the other to cash in my birthday gift card from Nana, Papa, David and Chill Factorino (along with a bit of birthday dough from Mom). Many thanks, I got four books I can't wait to read:

Into the Wild -- story of a 24 year-old who hiked into the Alaskan bush alone and underequipped, just to see if he could survive -- he didn't.

Let Me Go -- Mother abandons husband and daughter in Austria in WWII. 30 years later daughter discovers Mom left to become a notorious SS concentration camp guard for women. Mom remains unrepentant about her role -- daughter must come to terms.

A Brief History of the Middle East -- enough said


1491: The Year Before Columbus -- anthropologist's reconstruction of ther lives of Native Americans in both North and South America the year before Columbus arrived.

Just finished "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee, a story about a South African professor who is forced out of his university after having an affair with a student, and then travels to his estranged daughter's homestead in the bush, where Afrikkaners have become persona non grata. After a robbery and brutal attack on father and daughter, it's about coming to terms with the new South Africa, where the oppressors are now being oppressed. Bleak, but a worthwhile read.

Belleau Wood -- A Soldier's Christmas Poem

Belleau Wood
by Joseph Gilbert

Oh, the snowflakes fell in silence
over Belleau Wood that night
For a Christmas truce had been declared

By both sides of the fight
As we lay there in our trenches
The silence broke in two
By a German soldier singing
A song that we all knew

Though I did not know the language
The song was "Silent Night"
Then I heard my buddy whisper,
"All is calm and all is bright"
Then the fear and doubt surrounded me
"Cause I'd die if I was wrong
But I stood up in my trench And

I began to sing along

Then across the frozen battlefield
Anothers voice joined in
Until one by one each man became
A singer of the hymn

Then I thought that I was dreaming
For right there in my sight
Stood the German soldier
'Neath the falling flakes of white
And he raised his hand and smiled at me
As if he seemed to say
Here's hoping we both live
To see us find a better way

Then the devil's clock struck midnight
And the skies lit up again
And the battlefield where heaven stood
Was blown to hell again

But for just one fleeting moment
The answer seemed so clear
Heaven's not beyond the clouds
It's just beyond the fear

No, heaven's not beyond the clouds
It's for us to find it here

The Tablecloth --- A Christmas Story

Is this story true? Don't know, but even if it's not, I like it.

The Tablecloth

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church,it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc. and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it.The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

Cubs Could'a Had Furcal Too

WSCR Radio 670 in Chicago reported this afternoon that higher-ups in the Tribune Company put the kabosh on raising their offer for Rafael Furcal. The Cubs' offer was 5 years $47M, with the last two years "guaranteed" based on a games played incentive in years 3-4 of the deal. According to the report, when the Dodgers made their offer of 3 years, $39M guaranteed, Furcal came back to the Cubs and asked for 5 years, $50M with the games played incentive taken out. The Cubs balked, and it appears that someone higher up the Cubs' food chain than GM Jim Hendry (i.e, Andy McPhail or Tribune management) communicated that the Cubs' offer would stand.

So for an extra $3M, the Cubs may have had both Furcal and Pierre, as the Pierre talks were ongoing with Florida at the time of the Furcal offer. Way to let the big one get away!

George Bush -- Worst President Ever?

So says this article by Richard Reeves, the apparent result of a poll of 415 historians, with 338 of those believing the President is failing in his duties. While I agree with many of the critiques listed in the article, it's not too hard to list other presidents who were worse -- Martin Van Buren, perhaps? Chester A. Arthur? Carter? Ford? Hoover? Andrew Johnson? I'm no fan of the President, but let's be reasonable. First, it seems unfair to rate a presidency before it's over. Second, we won't have a full understanding of the hows and whys of the Bush presidency until administration documents have all been made public, and we have some benefit of hindsight to see how things play out. Third, I say again, Chester A. Arthur? The guy's biggest accomplishment wasn't even his -- it was the Statute of Liberty, which was a gift from France...

Pierre A Cub

It's Official -- the Cubs have acquired Juan Pierre. Couple more bats, maybe a starting pitcher and a good off-season becomes a great one...

Now We're Cooking

ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago is reporting the Cubs have acquired Marlins CF Juan Pierre for Pitchers Sergio Mitre, Ricky Nolasco and Renyel Pinto. If the trade is confirmed, the Cubs have bounced back nicely from losing Rafael Furcal and have saved some bucks in the process. Now onto the corner OF spots, and maybe SS.

Cubs / Texas Blockbuster in Works?

The Chicago Tribune (hmmm, can we say potentially biased reporting?) is reporting that the Cubs and Rangers have a big deal brewing: Jerome Williams, Corey Patterson and Todd Walker to Texas for Alfonso Soriano and Kevin Mench.

Trib also reported that the Cubs may wade into the waters for A.J. Burnett, and if they land him, substitute Kerry Wood for Jerome Williams in the above deal.

I'll believe it when I see it, but if the Cubs could make the first deal, they'd be crazy not to take it. The second deal would also be acceptable. Soriano is young, and a monster hitter and Mench is a good power guy who doesn't strike out a lot (68 and 63 times the last two years). I note, however, that the team would still need someone to set the table...

They Say It's Your Birthday...

It's my birthday, too, yeah. 35 today. Not as old as the BQP (he's ancient, for the love of Pete), but starting to get up there nonetheless. When I was a kid, I thought 35 was Methusa-like. (Methusala, Methusa-like, get it?) As I get older, particularly when I see my Mom and Jen's parents doing things like they too were in their 30s, I feel like I've got a lot of prime years left. Although, when I asked Hailey and Rachel (my almost 6 year old and 4 1/2 year old) to hazard a guess as to how old I was, Hailey volunteered "54?", and Rachel followed up with "61! No! 41!" Sam (my 2 year-old) just said, "You old, Daddy?"

I'm not really one to dwell on my age, and the fact of the matter is, while I have a few more aches and pains when I run or play basketball, I'm still enjoying myself...

Furcal? He Gone...To L.A.

Looks like L.A.'s last minute bid $13M per year for 3 years has snagged Rafael Furcal. Would have liked to see the Cubs get him, but not at the Dodgers' price. Problem is, this severely limits the options out there for some leadoff help/solid middle infielding. Always seems to happen to the Cubs. Hope springs eternal however, the hot stove is heating up with baseball's winter meetings next week...

McSweeney's

Timothy McSweeney's Internet Tendency -- Jen plugged it in her blog previously, and I'm doing the same because it is hands down gut-busting funny. Below is one of their lists.

State Songs, If They All Suggested the Apathy of Idaho's "Here We Have Idaho."

BY CRAIG ROBERTSON

- - - -

Check It Out, Dude, I Think That's Florida

Well, If You Insist, Then I Guess I'll Take Indiana

Hey, Is That Oregon? Oh, My Mistake, It's Washington

Hey, Kentucky, How You Doin'?

Texas, Does This Mole Look Irregular to You?

I Was Only Born in Arizona, Then We Moved When I Was 2

No, This Is the Other Carolina, but It's an Honest Mistake

Please Pass the Salt, Wyoming

I Don't Even Know Why I Try With You, Arkansas

To Maine It May Concern

Do You Like Nevada? If So, Check This Box

What Are You Going to Do, It's Michigan, You Know?

Kansas Loves Its Zoloft

Utah: The State Version of a Polite Nod in the Office Hallway

Minnesota, Land of Minimum Expectations

The Collective Sigh of Florida

Another Day, Another Delaware

One Little Slip

I'm a big fan of the Barenaked Ladies. The rock group, just to be clear. They performed a single for Disney's movie Chicken Little, which our whole family went to see. Kids loved it, and love the video for "One Little Slip" because it's interspersed with clips from the movie. Now you can enjoy it too!

Go to Video, then the "Clips" section on the right hand side of the page. It's the fourth clip down.

Furcal on Hold

The Dodgers have jumped into the mix for Rafael Furcal, making him a 3 year, $39M offer versus the Cubs' 5 year, $50M offer. Let's get it on. Cubs need him. Let's hope they make this work.

Figured Out How To Add Pictures

So feel free to peruse the the breathtaking grandeur of this new and improved blog!

Sam is Crack-a-lackin'!

Working in my office today (former guest bedroom in our house) while Sam was taking his nap, and our sitter was outside with my girls. After I'd been working awhile, I hear Sam, almost whispering, "Daddy, Daddy, I ready..." When I fail to respond, he breaks into his new rendition, of an old favorite song, "Old McDonald", singing, 'Old McDonald Had Some Pants, Daddy I ready!"

The Hubble Space Telescope

How cool is this telescope? Bash NASA all you want, but this telescope is an unqualified winner. The photo is of the Crab Nebula, the only fixed remains of a supernova. Amazing.



Wispy filaments, primarily of hydrogen, weave through the Crab Nebula, at the center of which sits a neutron star that spins 30 times per second. -- AP photo

Carl Sandburg

Another of my favorite authors/poets -- brilliant, but also one with the City of Chicago:

A snippet from his poem Chicago (full text at the link)

And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning...

The Little Prince

Voici mon secret. Il est très simple : on ne voit bien qu'avec le coeur. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

(Here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

"If you please--draw me a sheep!" Thus begins Antoine de Saint-Exupery's bittersweet story of childhood -- his meeting with the little prince. Few writers have captured the differences between adults and children better than Saint-Exupery, particularly this book, which tells the story of the Boy Prince from Asteroid B-612, who comes to Earth looking for a sheep to rid his tiny planet of baobab trees. The story is full of wisdom for both kids and adults, and above all teaches love and understanding and the importance of childhood.

Very few books can reach both adults and children -- The Little Prince stands on a level with Narnia and Dr. Seuss in that respect. If you haven't read it, whether you have kids or not, I highly recommend it.

Cubs Front-Runners for Furcal

It appears the Cubs may make a big splash in the free agent market by signing SS and needed leadoff hitter Rafael Furcal, in reports from ESPN and the Chicago Tribune. This would be big for the Cubs, and would make their off-season a success even if they can't add another bat. Stay tuned.

Well, Duh

This news just in -- if you have a fat rumpus, you may need a longer needle for those delightful medical sticks in the derriere. Are you kidding me? This is the best the media can come up with? This isn't news, it's common sense!

Bears

Week by week, I'm becoming more of a believer. The only teams I don't see them matching up well against are three AFC teams: Indianapolis, Pittsburgh (if healthy) and Denver. Can they get to the Super Bowl with Kyle Orton at QB? Definitely. Will they? Now that's the question. I think they have as good a shot as any in the NFC, particularly if they get a game or 2 at home. My prediction -- they win one playoff game this year and set the foundation for next year.

Here's what the SNL Superfans have to say about this weekend's game (from SNL website -- Packers and Lovie Smith references substituted!)

Bill Swerski: Now, gentlemen, let me ask you this: What if Da Bears were all 14 inches tall, you know, about so high? Now, what's your score of Sunday's game?

Carl Wollarski: Against Da Packers?

Bill Swerski: Yes, give 'em a handicap.

Carl Wollarski: Bears 18, Packers 10. And that would finally be a good game.

Pat Arnold: Yeah, it would be a good game. Mini Bears 24, Packers 14.

Todd O'Conner: What about Coach Lovie? Would he be mini, too?

Bill Swerski: No, he would be full-grown.

Todd O'Conner: Oh, then, uh.. Mini Bears 31, Packers 7.

Carl Wollarski: Oh, hold on. Then I change mine, too. I thought it was Mini Lovie.

Next Time, I'll Try the Getaway Car

Man tries to evade police on riding lawnmower -- I'm cutting some grass while I'm heading to Mexico, and freedom, baby, sweet freedom!

Walk the Line

Saw the Johnny Cash biopic last night -- well worth the price (free, thanks to David or Papa's?) movie passes. Would've been worth the $7.50, too. Joaquin Phoenix really gets into the character, and Reese Witherspoon was also great as June Carter. The time frame of the movie is a pretty brutal time in Cash's life -- a time when he was drinking, pill-popping and cheating on his first wife. A scene I really liked came toward the end; in helping Cash get his life back together, June Carter takes a reluctant Johnny back to church for the first time in a long time. Not a country fan, but there's something about Johnny Cash's music that breaks down that boundary for me.

Sox Trade for Thome

Why is Sox Nation so excited about this deal? The guy's had back problems for several years, is coming off an awful 2005, and happens to be 35 years old, an age when many sluggers that aren't on the juice start hitting the downside of their careers. And to get him they trade Aaron Rowand? Please. I think the heady days of the 2005 World Series win has addled Sox fans' brains. These are the types of team-killing moves they made up until last year. Gonna be a waste of $21.5M for the Sox, which could have been spent on keeping Konerko or otherwise upgrading the O.

Sayonara Mr. Miyagi

Pat Morita died in Las Vegas yesterday at age 73. He was best known for the roles of Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid (and for the butt-kickings he gave Johnny and his posse and eventually, Johnny's sensei, Kreese). He also played Arnold on Happy Days, preceding Al, who owned the drive-in Richie and the Fonz hung-out in. Daniel-san and I, will miss you.

Tornado in Newburgh

Took a drive through Nana and Papa's town today to take a look at the tornado damage from a few weeks ago. Absolutely unreal. The amount of the destruction and the total randomness of the homes hit versus the homes spared are the two things that really struck me. Gave me an appreciation of what New Orleans and Mississippi must look like on an even greater scale. Jen took some pictures, which are displayed on her password protected blog. I think it's worthwhile to see things like these up close and personal. Being there can impact you in a way that the news and mere pictures cannot.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The following is from the Fourth World Documentation Project, at the following website -- http://www.2020tech.com/thanks/temp.html

THE PLYMOUTH THANKSGIVING STORY

When the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620,
they landed on the rocky shores of a territory that was
inhabited by the Wampanoag (Wam pa NO ag) Indians. The
Wampanoags were part of the Algonkian-speaking peoples, a
large group that was part of the Woodland Culture area.
These Indians lived in villages along the coast of what is
now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They lived in round-
roofed houses called wigwams. These were made of poles
covered with flat sheets of elm or birch bark. Wigwams
differ in construction from tipis that were used by Indians
of the Great Plains.

The Wampanoags moved several times during each year in
order to get food. In the spring they would fish in the
rivers for salmon and herring. In the planting season they
moved to the forest to hunt deer and other animals. After
the end of the hunting season people moved inland where
there was greater protection from the weather. From
December to April they lived on food that they stored
during the earlier months.

The basic dress for men was the breech clout, a length
of deerskin looped over a belt in back and in front. Women
wore deerskin wrap-around skirts. Deerskin leggings and fur
capes made from deer, beaver, otter, and bear skins gave
protection during the colder seasons, and deerskin
moccasins were worn on the feet. Both men and women usually
braided their hair and a single feather was often worn in
the back of the hair by men. They did not have the large
feathered headdresses worn by people in the Plains Culture
area.

There were two language groups of Indians in New
England at this time. The Iroquois were neighbors to the
Algonkian-speaking people. Leaders of the Algonquin and
Iroquois people were called "sachems" (SAY chems). Each
village had its own sachem and tribal council. Political
power flowed upward from the people. Any individual, man or
woman, could participate, but among the Algonquins more
political power was held by men. Among the Iroquois,
however, women held the deciding vote in the final
selection of who would represent the group. Both men and
women enforced the laws of the village and helped solve
problems. The details of their democratic system were so
impressive that about 150 years later Benjamin Franklin
invited the Iroquois to Albany, New York, to explain their
system to a delegation who then developed the "Albany Plan
of Union." This document later served as a model for the
Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the
United States.

These Indians of the Eastern Woodlands called the
turtle, the deer and the fish their brothers. They
respected the forest and everything in it as equals.
Whenever a hunter made a kill, he was careful to leave
behind some bones or meat as a spiritual offering, to help
other animals survive. Not to do so would be considered
greedy. The Wampanoags also treated each other with
respect. Any visitor to a Wampanoag home was provided with
a share of whatever food the family had, even if the supply
was low. This same courtesy was extended to the Pilgrims
when they met.

We can only guess what the Wampanoags must have
thought when they first saw the strange ships of the
Pilgrims arriving on their shores. But their custom was to
help visitors, and they treated the newcomers with
courtesy. It was mainly because of their kindness that the
Pilgrims survived at all. The wheat the Pilgrims had
brought with them to plant would not grow in the rocky
soil. They needed to learn new ways for a new world, and
the man who came to help them was called "Tisquantum" (Tis
SKWAN tum) or "Squanto" (SKWAN toe).

Squanto was originally from the village of Patuxet (Pa
TUK et) and a member of the Pokanokit Wampanoag nation.
Patuxet once stood on the exact site where the Pilgrims
built Plymouth. In 1605, fifteen years before the Pilgrims
came, Squanto went to England with a friendly English
explorer named John Weymouth. He had many adventures and
learned to speak English. Squanto came back to New England
with Captain Weymouth. Later Squanto was captured by a
British slaver who raided the village and sold Squanto to
the Spanish in the Caribbean Islands. A Spanish Franciscan
priest befriended Squanto and helped him to get to Spain
and later on a ship to England. Squanto then found Captain
Weymouth, who paid his way back to his homeland. In England
Squanto met Samoset of the Wabanake (Wab NAH key) Tribe,
who had also left his native home with an English explorer.
They both returned together to Patuxet in 1620. When they
arrived, the village was deserted and there were skeletons
everywhere. Everyone in the village had died from an
illness the English slavers had left behind. Squanto and
Samoset went to stay with a neighboring village of
Wampanoags.

One year later, in the spring, Squanto and Samoset
were hunting along the beach near Patuxet. They were
startled to see people from England in their deserted
village. For several days, they stayed nearby observing the
newcomers. Finally they decided to approach them. Samoset
walked into the village and said "welcome," Squanto soon
joined him. The Pilgrims were very surprised to meet two
Indians who spoke English.

The Pilgrims were not in good condition. They were
living in dirt-covered shelters, there was a shortage of
food, and nearly half of them had died during the winter.
They obviously needed help and the two men were a welcome
sight. Squanto, who probably knew more English than any
other Indian in North America at that time, decided to stay
with the Pilgrims for the next few months and teach them
how to survive in this new place. He brought them deer meat
and beaver skins. He taught them how to cultivate corn and
other new vegetables and how to build Indian-style houses.
He pointed out poisonous plants and showed how other plants
could be used as medicine. He explained how to dig and cook
clams, how to get sap from the maple trees, use fish for
fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for their
survival.

By the time fall arrived things were going much better
for the Pilgrims, thanks to the help they had received. The
corn they planted had grown well. There was enough food to
last the winter. They were living comfortably in their
Indian-style wigwams and had also managed to build one
European-style building out of squared logs. This was their
church. They were now in better health, and they knew more
about surviving in this new land. The Pilgrims decided to
have a thanksgiving feast to celebrate their good fortune.
They had observed thanksgiving feasts in November as
religious obligations in England for many years before
coming to the New World.

The Algonkian tribes held six thanksgiving festivals
during the year. The beginning of the Algonkian year was
marked by the Maple Dance which gave thanks to the Creator
for the maple tree and its syrup. This ceremony occurred
when the weather was warm enough for the sap to run in the
maple trees, sometimes as early as February. Second was the
planting feast, where the seeds were blessed. The
strawberry festival was next, celebrating the first fruits
of the season. Summer brought the green corn festival to
give thanks for the ripening corn. In late fall, the
harvest festival gave thanks for the food they had grown.
Mid-winter was the last ceremony of the old year. When the
Indians sat down to the "first Thanksgiving" with the
Pilgrims, it was really the fifth thanksgiving of the year
for them!

Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims,
invited Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit (the leader of the
Wampanoags), and their immediate families to join them for
a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian families
could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims
were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives
that Squanto and Samoset brought with them. The Pilgrims
were not prepared to feed a gathering of people that large
for three days. Seeing this, Massasoit gave orders to his
men within the first hour of his arrival to go home and get
more food. Thus it happened that the Indians supplied the
majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys, fish,
beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries. Captain
Standish sat at one end of a long table and the Clan Chief
Massasoit sat at the other end. For the first time the
Wampanoag people were sitting at a table to eat instead of
on mats or furs spread on the ground. The Indian women sat
together with the Indian men to eat. The Pilgrim women,
however, stood quietly behind the table and waited until
after their men had eaten, since that was their custom.

For three days the Wampanoags feasted with the
Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two
very different groups of people. A peace and friendship
agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish
giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the
old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of
Plymouth.

Howry's A Cub

The deal is done 3 years, $12M. Won't announce officially until next week, when Howry has his physical. Bullpen's looking better. Now it's time to focus on leadoff and another big stick in the OF.

100 Posts Baby!

To celebrate this milestone post, I thought I'd share 10 little known facts about myself, the intriguing and mysterious Tarzan Joe Wallis.

1) Tarzan Joe Wallis is my favorite Cubs from the monumentally bad teams of the late 1970s.

2) I have a single dimple when I smile -- on the right side of my face.

3) I have a single dimple on my butt -- on the right cheek.

4) When I was a kid, I had two nicknames: Jelly Belly (I was a chubby l'il dude) and Bazooka Butt (let your imagination run wild).

5) I have three visible scars -- on my chin from a bike accident, on my knee from hitting a fireplug making spectacular baseball catches, and on my left thigh from catching my leg on the bumper of a car.

6) When I was in high school, I was on the Board of the Chicago Catholic Youth Organization.

7) In my chubbier days, I would amuse friend and foe with "Belly Face." (eat your heart out Homer Simpson)

8) I invented an art form called "Flex Poetry", four lines of verse, always ending with "because I love you and stuff."

9) My attorney brother is a part-time improv performer at the IO in Chicago (formerly Improv Olympic).

10) In second grade, I was Mr. Frog in the class production of "Mr. Frog Goes A-Courtin'" when the star caught the flu, opposite the girl of my early grammar school dreams...

MOBA

MOBA -- The Museum of Bad Art. I'm fairly certain that if you look long enough, you'll find most of my grade school art work here. Love to know what the muse was for several of these works...

Gizoogle

Ever wanted to translate your webpage, or another's webpage into Snoop Doggy Dogg Gangsta speak? Then Gizoogle is for you. Word of warning though -- Gangsta speak can be somewhat colorful (or off-colorful, if you catch my drift). I've taken the liberty of editing out some of these remarks, so as not to offend some of my more sensitive readers...

For example, check out this translation of an Associated Press article on Ted Koppel's last Nightline:

Koppel Bidd'n Farewell ta 'Nightline'
Izzy

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Televizzle Writa 1 hour, 8 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The Ted Koppel era on ABC's "Nightline" ends wit his farewell Tuesday night afta 25 years of rhymin' a serious alternative ta late-night laughs.

Koppel's final broadcast was ta be a look B-to-tha-izzack at one of his favorite interviews. Im a bad boy wit a lotta hos: his 1995 conversizzles wit terminally ill college professor Morrie Schwartz, which led ta Mizzitch Albom's best-sell'n book "Tuesdays wit Morrie."

"Nightline" wiznill continue Monday wit a revamped format n hosts Martin Bashir, Cynthia McFadden n Terry Moran.

The program officially began in Mizzarch 1980 now pass the glock Anotha dogg house production. Playa Koppel spizzent several months brief'n brotha each nizzight `bout tha Iranian hostage crisis, ABC put him in that time slot permanently.

Koppel's live interviews wizzle tha early clockin' card. At tha time, wit CNN jizzay start'n as tha only all-news network, it was a novel idea ta bring interview subjects motherfu%$! fizzy all over tha world.

His voice rarely rose — n tha famous helmet of hizzy stayed in place — but Koppel's incisive interviews continued through Hurricane Katrina n his memorable takedown of forma Federal Emergency Managizzles Director Michael Brown.

"Oizzay legacy," Koppel told The Associated Press, "is that a serious news broadcast can be successful on all counts, witout blunt-rollin' ta anyone's wanna be gangsta instincts fo' sheezy. `Nightline' has made a lot of money. Ya "mess" with us, we gots to "mess" you up. It has been successful in terms of viewership, awards n accolades. But mizzay important ta me, it's bizzle successful in not ever hav'n ta cracka its standards."

In wanna be gangsta years, "Nightline" evolved into a home fo` some of broadcast's most serious news documentizzles wit each rhymin' concentrated on a single topic fo shizzle.

The program survived a brush wit death in 2002, W-H-to-tha-izzen ABC execizzles courted comic David Letterman ta fizzy tha tizzle sliznot.

Koppel, 65, slowed dizzle in his last few years, often perpetratin' three nights a week and, like tha late-night comedians, tap'n his shizzay a few hours before broadcast.

ABC wizzill go live again wit "Nightline" wizzy Bashir n McFadden wizzle friznom tha network's Times Square studio in New York. Like Koppel, Moran will be based in Washington yaba daba dizzle. New brotha James Goldston said tha spiffed-up "Nightline" will tackle several topics a niznight to increase tha peace.

Those is big changes, but Goldston said he's extremely consshizzous of not scar'n away tha loyal but blingin' "Nightline" audience — its nightly average of 3.6 million brotha is dizzle fizzy 5.5 million a decade ago. Goldston promised several stories on tha Iraq war n a series on AIDS in India in his first two weeks.

Koppel is not clockin' — he will continue work'n wit his produca, Tom Bettag. They were negotiat'n wit HBO `bout doing documentizzles with the S-N-double-O-P.

Cabbage?

Ever wonder what it would be like to be a cabbage? Wonder no more.

Super Bowl Shuffle II?

Not willing to go that far yet -- Carolina is a good team, but not a great team, methinks. Haven't been this excited about a Bears team since the late 80s, however. That defense has the makings of a dominant unit if the Bears do what it takes to keep them together. If Kyle Orton (or Rex Grossman) can make more strides over the next few years, they could eventually go Shufflin for the first time since I was a teenager...

View the original Shuffle

"They call me Fridge, and I'm the rookie. I may be large, but I'm no dumb cookie."

Bobby Howry

Rumor has it that the Cubs made an offer to ex-Sox closer and Cleveland set-up man Bob Howry -- something in the range of $12M for 3 years. If they can get Howry to go along with Eyre, that would be a solid start to upgrading the bullpen. Still, $23M for two set-up men seems like a boatload of money that may lead to excuses as to why they can't sign a leadoff hitter, a SS, and another starter...

Winter Movies

Love this time of year -- it's like summertime for movies -- only for adults. Saw Harry Potter this past weekend -- best of the Potter movies to date, but then it's gotten a little bit darker given the struggle between good and evil. Here's what's on my list between now and Christmas (although most will end up NetFlixed):

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Jarhead
Walk the Line
The Ice Harvest
Syriana
The Libertine
Munich
The New World
The Matador
Good Night and Good Luck
The Weatherman
Shopgirl
A History of Violence
Elizabethtown

The Boss -- A Few Of My Favorite Springs(teen)

Love the Boss -- another chronological list of my favorites, again MY favorites (they may or may not be yours!)...

Growin' Up
It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City
4th of July, Asbury Park
Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Thunder Road
Tenth Avenue Freeze-out
Born to Run
Jungleland
Adam Raised a Cain
Something in the Night
Streets of Fire
Darkness on the Edge of Town
The River
Fade Away
Atlantic City
Reason to Believe
Walk Like A Man
Tunnel of Love
One Step Up
Better Days
If I Should Fall Behind
Sinaloa Cowboys
My Best Was Never Good Enough
Nothing Man
Jesus Was An Only Son

A Few More Deep Thoughts

How come the dove gets to be the peace symbol? How about the pillow? It has more feathers than the dove, and it doesn't have that dangerous beak.

If you define cowardice as running away at the first sign of danger, screaming and tripping and begging for mercy, then yes, Mr. Brave man, I guess I'm a coward.

Maybe in order to understand mankind we have to look at that word itself. MANKIND. Basically, it's made up of two separate words "mank" and "ind." What do these words mean? It's a mystery and that's why so is mankind.

Happy Birthday Cate!

My niece turns one today! Shout out to Catherine, Jeff & Julie (Cate's proud Pop and Mom) on a milestone day!

Word Play

Ah, political correctness. Sometimes thy name is stupidity. Gotta love this. The Global Language Monitor stays abreast of trends in the English language. The group appears to be serious, but the results it tracks seem anything but... Gotta like "misguided criminals" and the banning of the word "mate."

Deep Thoughts

Deep Thoughts -- one of my favorite things from SNL -- and someone has collected most of Jack Handey's Deep Thoughts at the link. Here are few to set the mood:

Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I
forgot to put on my pants.

Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is
not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an
elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see.

The memories of my family outings are still a source of strength to me. I
remember we'd all pile into the car - I forget what kind it was - and drive
and drive. I'm not sure where we'd go, but I think there were some trees
there. The smell of something was strong in the air as we played whatever
sport we played. I remember a bigger, older guy we called "Dad." We'd eat some
stuff, or not, and then I think we went home. I guess some things never leave
you.

Why do people in ship mutinies always ask for "better treatment"? I'd ask for
a pinball machine, because with all that rocking back and forth you'd probably
be able to get a lot of free games.

Scott Eyre Draws Mine (Maybe....)

Gotta say there have been sexier moves. $11M for a 33 year old reliever who's had one really good season in his career? And this is supposed to make me wanna go out a buy tickets? It's early in the off-season, granted, but it already looks like the best laid plans of Cubs and fans are going awry -- Chipper renegotiates so the Braves can afford Furcal, now the Cubs are saying that with Eyre's signing, they don't necessarily need another good starting pitcher because Rusch can stay in the rotation. All too predictable...

R.E.M. -- The Best Kind of Sleep, and Another of My Faves

However, this list will only include my favorite Bill Berry included REM songs -- Top 20(again in chronological order) -- they just haven't been as good since:

Radio Free Europe
Letter Never Sent
Life and How to Live It
Superman
Finest Worksong
It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
The One I Love
You Are the Everything
Orange Crush
Turn You Inside Out
Radio Song
Losing My Religion
Belong
Everybody Hurts
Man on the Moon
Nightswimming
What's The Frequency, Kenneth?
Strange Currencies
Bang and Blame
Bittersweet Me

The Bestest Socks Ever

Jeff C's blog and it's discussion of gray tube socks got me reminiscing about my favorite socks -- white Calvin Klein tube socks, that I found in Paris on Jen and my trip to France. Before you go pegging me as an ugly American (I am, in fact, quite attractive) or as noveau rich, hear my story. While Jen and I made it to Paris with no problem, our luggage spent a wonderful long weekend in the beerhalls of Munich, only to be returned 12 hours before our return flight so that we could lug them back to the airport. After about 36 hours in the same clothes, with no hope of reprieve in sight (and to avoid becoming the Smelly American) we ventured out to a department store to find some Land End style and price type clothes. It was here, (among the French clothes that screamed go back to America to find "husky" sized clothing, Toughskins boy) that I came upon the greatest socks ever, the French version of the Calvin Klein tube socks.

What made them so great? Try stepping into a hug. That's how these socks made your feet feel. I could walk in them for hours upon hours, play basketball in them, whatever, and my feet felt as light and frothy as a freshly opened can of Mr. Pibb. One of the more disappointing days of my life was the day I tragically had to come to the realization the socks had expired (kind of like the day the music died in "American Pie"). Even sadder, I've searched for these socks across the U.S., and the Calvin Kleins just don't compare. While I wouldn't consider myself obsessive, I feel that my search for the socks echoes Captain Ahab's search for the white whale in "Moby Dick." They were that great.

Falco, Where Are You When We Need You?

Der Kommissar. Rock Me Amadeus. Vienna Calling. The Kiss of Kathleen Turner. The Man. The Myth. The Legend. It can only be 80s three hit wonder ("Kathleen Turner", sadly, never made it big in the U.S.) Falco. All I know is that you weren't truly alive in the 80s if you didn't catch yourself humming:

Dreh dich nicht um, schau, schau,
der Kommissar geht um!
Er hat die Kraft und wir sind klein und dumm,
dieser Frust macht uns Stumm.

Or in English:

Don't turn around, look, look,
the Kommissar is out and about!
He has the power and we're little and dumb;
all of this frustration makes us mum.

Or if you didn't catch yourself belting out:

Es war um 1780
Und es war in Wien
No plastic money anymore
Die Banken gegen ihn
Woher die Schulden kamen
War wohl jedermann bekannt
Er war ein Mann der Frauen
Frauen liebten seinen Punk

English:

It was around 1780
And it was in Vienna
No plastic money anymore
The banks against him
From which his debts came
It was common knowledge
He was a women's man
Women loved his punk


Much like Falco in Vienna Calling, I lament:

Vienna, Vienna, only you know me up,
know me down
You know me.
Only Vienna, only Vienna, just you alone
Where have your women gone

He sang. He danced. From Austria, he slicked his hair back like some Viennese Pat Riley. He called himself "Falco", although his given name was Johann Holzel. He was in the process of setting up a new recording studio when he drove into the path of an oncoming bus in 1998. In the Dominican Republic. And he is missed.

"The Haikster"

My almost six year old daughter is referring to herself as "The Haikster." I asked her if someone gave her that name and she said she had bestowed it upon herself -- except that no one else is allowed to call her by it -- not Mom, Dad, siblings, friends, teachers -- not a soul -- except for "The Haikster". Being curious, I pursued my line of questioning (I am, after all, a lawyer). I inquired as to why no one else can refer to her by her new nickname and she told me, "Because it's kind of dumb. My friends might me call me that name and laugh." My interest piqued even further, I followed up with the question, "Why call yourself by a name you don't like?", which was met with the reply, "I only like it when I say it. I say it cool." Fair enough, Haikster.

U2

I've enjoyed U2's music since I first heard "The Unforgettable Fire" -- I've got a complete collection of their US releases on tape and/or CD. Even when Bono goes over the top, I usually head along for the ride. And so, in chronological order, I present you with my 25 all-time favorite U2 songs.

I Will Follow
I Threw A Brick Through A Window
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Year's Day
The Unforgettable Fire
Bad
Where the Streets Have No Name
With or Without You
Running To Stand Still
One Tree Hill
Love Rescue Me (w/ Bob Dylan)
All I Want is You (also prominently featured in "Reality Bites" - one of my all-time favorite movies)
One
Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses
Ultraviolet (Light My Way)
Stay (Faraway So Close)
Some Days Are Better Than Others
The Wanderer (w/ Johnny Cash)
Do You Feel Loved?
Staring At the Sun
Elevation
Walk On
Kite
Vertigo
Original of the Species

The Quiet American

"I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."

"Innocence is a kind of insanity." Both quotes from "The Quiet American" by Graham Greene


Just finished Graham Greene's "The Quiet American" and watched the movie (props to Netflix, how did we ever live without it?) with Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. It's a great read -- suspenseful and filled with Greene's complex moral view. It's also a timely read -- many of the problems Greene identified at the time with French colonialism and American interventionism in Viet Nam read as a "How Not To" that was prescient concerning America's problems and eventual withdrawal in Viet Nam. The book was blasted as anti-American by a number of American critics -- given hindsight, it appears that this was so because while fiction, the book hit pretty close to the mark and seems to have evidenced a greater understanding of the culture and politics of (becoming) post-colonial Viet Nam than the U.S. either possessed or dismissed.

Book's better than the movie -- the movie makes Alden Pyle, the "Quiet American", more of a seasoned CIA operative than the book suggests -- but isn't the book almost always better?

A Few of My Favorite Cubs

To the Tune of "My Favorite Things"

Ryno and Ernie and Kingman and Trillo
Santo, DeJesus, Bill Buckner and Leo,
Biitner, Mitterwald, Murcer and all of their flubs, these are a few of my favorite Cubs

Tinker to Evers to Chance and then Gabby
Fergie and Sammy and Kerry ain't shabby
Hack Wilson, Kiki and Andre and Riggs for 91 years Wrigley Field's been their digs

When The Cubs stink, which is yearly, and they make me sad,
I just remember my favorite Cubs, and then I don't feel so bad...

American Idol, here I come!

Blogalicious

I'm amped to be blogging again -- seems like a lot my friends and family are doing it -- in particular my lovely wife, at least two C-wns, Jeff and Jon, and Byron P. It's pretty cool to have our own little band of commentators -- I get psyched when I see comments from people I know -- mad props in particular to the Funky Cold Morita, who's been checking in with me more or less since I cranked this up about a year ago. Thing I like most about blogging is that it's therapeutic -- it allows you an unfiltered outlet to just take some of the craziness floating around in your head and organize it -- sometimes you just have to communicate, even if it's to no one in particular. If a blog goes uncommentated (to borrow a word in the vein of Jeff C) upon, is it still worth doing? Absolutely, although comments and common-taters (there I go again Jeff!) egg us on.

I'd like to end with one of my favorite new quotes from my two year old son, who while jammin' to Radio Disney in the car, had the following to tell MC Hammer when Hammer was rapping "U Can't Touch This" -- "Yes, I can touch it." Word.

And So It Goes

Another day, continued senseless killings in the war between Mecca and Christianity. Random, hateful, anything but the actions of a God-fearing person. There will be no peace in this clash of cultures, religions, however you characterize it until generations are finally brought up looking at their fellow human beings as people rather than demonized caricatures. I do not live in a world without hope, so long as I believe there is a God and do what I can to bear up my brother or sister, but I live in constant fear that my children are going to inherit this world of hate.

How long -- can you hear someone crying
How long -- can you hear someone dying
Before you ask yourself why?
And how long will it be 'till we've turned
To the tasks and the skills
That we'll have to have learned
If we're going to find our place in the future
And have something to offer
Where this planet's concerned
How long?

--Jackson Browne

I'm Old Consarn It!

I typically play basketball on Wednesday nights with an over 30 crowd. Given the fact I'm one of the younger ones at age 34, you'd think I could keep up. I played last night having missed the past few weeks while working out nothing but my fork and spoon, and man was it bad. I was huffin and puffin like the Big Bad Wolf in the middle of a Little Pigs' Townhome Development, all the while getting more and more sore. Woke up last night with a coughing fit brought on by working the lungs too
much, and then woke up with a foot so sore I was bandyleggin' it down the stairs, much to the amusement of my beloved wife.

I know the answer is eat right and get more exercise, but what's the fun in that? The bigger part of the problem is just not accepting I've either got to take it easier, or take better care, such as perhaps stretching beforehand? At any rate, the day after is always amusing for my wife and kids, who find my plight (admittedly brought on myself) quite hilarious. As Dana Carvey's grumpy old man used to say, " I'm old...and I hate it!" (although not really!)

The Numa Numa Dance

Quite frankly, along with Dracula, one of the greatest cultural phenomenons (phenomena?) ever to come out of Romania... Ma-ia hii Ma-ia huu indeed.

Dylan (Thomas) and Bob (Robert Frost)

Been feeling literary (as opposed to literate) these last few days. As such, thought I'd share two of my favorite poems, from two of my favorite poets. A bit melancholy, but I was first introduced to the brilliance of Thomas and Frost in high school, a time of emotional extremes. Thomas' poem has particular meaning for me, because I associate it with my father (Thomas wrote it for his), who died of cancer.

Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.



Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

-- Robert Frost

Big on the Bard

Awhile back I talked about how much I enjoy Shakespeare. Here a few of my favorite quotes to spark discussion among those in the "love him" camp, and hopefully light a spark in the "those who detest him" camp...

Hamlet

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?

Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!

MacBeth

Had I but died an hour before this chance,
I had lived a blessed time; for, from this instant,
There's nothing serious in mortality:
All is but toys: renown and grace is dead;
The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.

Romeo and Juliet

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.

King Lear

I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.

The Merchant of Venice

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy witness
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

The Taming of the Shrew

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.

Henry V

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Men's Book Clubs?

I like to read. Just finished E.L. Doctorow's "The March" , "The House of Sand and Fog" and am currently in the middle of Graham Greene's "The Quiet American." My wife asked me a little while ago about Men's Book Clubs. "Men's Book Clubs?", says I, "what an interesting idea." Which is strange, because I have quite a few male friends and family members that also like to read, but the only book clubs I know of, are women's book clubs (of which my wife belongs to two). This can't be a "novel" idea, but I'd like to think I live in a relatively happenin' (not to mention pregressive) burg filled with metrosexual male types, and this seemed like an entirely original idea to me. Why is this? Is it because the male archetype is the strong silent type and book clubs involve too much "sharing." Don't really think so. So why not a men's book club? Maybe I'm on to something here!

Musings on the White Sox, Cubs

To paraphrase St. Paul, when I was child, I thought, acted and behaved like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things... Almost. When I was kid, I loved the Cubs as much as I absolutely loathed the White Sox. Chicago definitely wasn't big enough for the both of them. As I've gotten older, I've mellowed somewhat on the Sox loathing -- I can treat them like any other baseball team that's not the Cubs -- I appreciate good baseball wherever and whoever plays it, just not when you're playing my team.

The World Series however, awakened some of those old feelings, likely out of envy -- now the Cubs have everyone beat by at least 40 years with respect to not winning a title. I found myself hoping that someone, anyone, would put a stop to the Sox's postseason march, just because the rabid Sox fan can't be content to enjoy their team's victory, they've got to rub it in the face of Cubs Nation as well.

The truth is however, that while I'll never be a Sox fan, I enjoyed the way this team played baseball in 2005 -- you can't be a baseball fan and not appreciate the way these guys came to play every day. Sure beats listening to the same tired excuses on the North Side week in and week out. And maybe this lights a fire at Wrigley -- maybe the Cubs'll take a chance or two to put an end to their fans' misery. Gotta believe that glass is half full...

Katrina

What can you say that hasn't been said? I lived Uptown on Marengo Ave. (near Louisiana and St. Charles streets) in New Orleans from 1994-1997 while I went to law school at Tulane. I loved the city; it's second only to Chicago in my estimation. The music scene, the food, the architecture, just the feel of the city. The atmosphere of the city is alive -- there's a relaxed, cultured feel to the town that made me feel at home. It had problems, crime, corruption, racial tension, but my memories overwhelm those issues -- happy hour at the Columns hotel, listening to Peter Holsapple at Carrolton Station, listening to Harry Connick, Sr. (the New Orleans D.A. and Harry Connick Jr.'s dad) play the piano in the Quarter, catching the acts at Tip's. Jazz Fest. The food at Mike's on the Avenue, Casamento's, Bluebird Diner, watching the Green Wave get smoked in the Dome...
While it's not gone entirely, I just can't believe it will ever truly be the same. Here's hoping New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi come back. God bless the dead and watch over the living.

Back At It

I've been trying to expand my solo law practice, and it's amazing how easy it is to fall off the blog wagon when you don't make yourself sit down and do it. Can't promise I'll continue to faithfully blog, but I feel reinvigorated and ready to give it another shot...

Hotel Rwanda

"Hutus kill Tutsis, then Tutsis kill Hutus--if that's really all there is to it, then no wonder we can't be bothered with it." -- Philip Gourevitch

"We'll watch it on TV, say that it's terrible, and go right on eating our dinner." - Joaquin Phoenix as Jack, Hotel Rwanda

Went and saw Hotel Rwanda this past weekend, and words can't really describe how powerful a film it is, and sickening at the same time. Powerful, because it is based on the true story of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu who risked his life for his family and more than 1,000 other Tutsis, victims of the Hutu inspired genocide of 800,000 Tutsi in 1994. Powerful, because like the stories of people like Oskar Schindler, it demonstrates how "normal" people can perform incredible feats with ingenuity, moral conviction and some luck. Sickening, because it is another story of man's capacity for excessive inhumanity towards his fellow man, made even worse by the fact that the world stood by and watched. While the filmmakers took some liberties with the story, the bottom line is dead on -- Paul Rusesbagina was an African hotel manager who saved the lives of more than 1000 Tutsis, an unlikely hero who simply decided to stand up and say enough.

This is a film that should shame any person who watches it, because this situation was largely preventable with the intervention of the West and or other African nations, who simply turned their backs on mass murder. It should shame any person who's opinion on foreign policy is strictly based on what tangible benefit it has for one's country. It's not as simple as that, because intervention would require the use of the military, and would certainly lead to military deaths. It's not that simple, because maybe the U.S should not be the world's policeman. But when it comes down to it, some things are just right, and preventing genocide should be a staple, if not of U.S. policy, than NATO policy, because God knows the UN is toothless. I doubt that any film or book can change the way a nation thinks, or acts, or responds to crisis. But I think that this movie makes a difference, maybe one viewer at a time.

Two books discussing the genocide that I recommend:
"We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda" by Philip Gourevitch
"A Problem from Hell" : America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power

The Rites of Spring

Breathe that fresh air! While the NHL is imploding, hope springs eternal in baseball, as Cubs and Sox pitchers and catchers reported to spring training yesterday. Still skeptical about the Cubs' chances -- while I love the staff, assuming they stay healthy, and their hitting is okay (still missing one solid hitter I think), the team's bullpen, specifically the lack of a proven closer, will hurt their chances. One good thing is that the Astros and Cardinals lost a lot more than the Cubs did, which will hopefully even things out a bit. Nothing like spring training to make you feel good about a team that hasn't made it to the Series in 60 years...

Back From the DL

I've been sick the last couple of weeks, which is why I haven't blogged. The dirty little secret about having kids is dealing with the various illnesses they bring home that have vicious adult strains. In this case, it was a pretty nasty cold that led to pinkeye. Never had it before, and here's hoping I won't get it again, as the cold virus that brought it on is a nasty little bug that's still messing with my breathing. At any rate, feels good to blog on!

Cubs Sign Burnitz to Patrol RF

Goodbye Sammy, Hello Jeromy. Cubs signed Rockies RF Jeromy Burnitz to a 1 year deal with a second year mutual option. While Burnitz's numbers were inflated by playing in Colorado, he'll likely hit 30-35 HRs with 90-100 RBIs if healthy. If he can hit .275 and limit his Ks to 125, I think he'll be worth the $4.5M the Cubs paid. He should definitely help fill the void in the middle of the lineup, although it would be nice to see the Cubs have one more move up their sleeve to replace Alou's production.

Super Bowl Pick -- It's the Pats

Super Bowl XXXIX -- New England 27, Philadelphia 17

After picking both championship games right, my record stands at 6-4, with the big one to go. Believe me, I want to pick the Eagles. Not because I have any hatred for the Patriots, I just prefer to have new blood win the big ones every now and then. However, I just can't see the Eagles beating the Patriots with or without Terrell Owens. The Pats are too battle tested, too well coached, and too good of a team. While the Eagles are a good team, I don't think they're a great team as they struggled to beat AFC teams; they narrowly won at Cleveland (!) (34-31) and Baltimore (15-10), neither of whom made the playoffs, and they were pounded by Pittsburgh 27-3 and Cincinnati 38-10, although the Cincy loss was in the last two weeks of the season, when the Eagles starters were rested for the playoffs.

Bottom line, I think Brady, Dillon and the Pats' receivers will do more against Philly's defense than McNabb, Westbrook, TO (?), and the Eagles' receivers. Let the dynasty talk begin -- ugh.

September 11 Ten Years Later

The Atlantic Monthly has an interesting article by Richard A. Clarke imagining the future of terrorist attacks in America through 2011, given the present and projected state of our political, economic and security infrastructure. While it's clearly written as a wakeup call, and hence as a near worst-case scenario, it's component parts are each plausible scenarios -- I'm just not sure I believe that most of what's depicted in the article could happen altogether, even over a period of ten years.

Sammy So Long

It's finally happened. This Tuesday or Wednesday, the Cubs will officially announce that they have traded former city icon and future Hall of Famer Sammy Sosa to Baltimore for Jerry Hairston, Jr., Mike Fontenot and Dave Crouthers. Could the Cubs have gotten more? I think that's beside the point given that the Cubs and Sosa burned their bridges once the club decided to call Sosa out by releasing video of him leaving Wrigley 13 minutes after the Cubs' final game started. While Cubs GM Jim Hendry insisted publicly that he was approaching the upcoming season as though Sosa would be a Cub, it was clearly a smokescreen given the fact that neither Hendry, Dusty Baker or Sosa had picked up the phone to even attempt to hash things out, and Sosa's "apology" was issued through an agent.

While Sosa may put up good numbers in Baltimore, it's clear the Cubs organization (particularly his teammates) as well as Cubs fans, were through putting up with his selfish play and incessant promotion of himself. Cubs fans, myself included, have been hypocrites here; Cubdom was much more willing to put up with Sosa's antics when he was playing well. But Sosa ultimately has only himself to blame. As Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN puts it, "You want to know why Sosa is no longer a Cub? Because he forgot how to take the temperature of a city that can stomach losing but despises frauds. He underestimated the long-term effects of his annual late arrivals to spring training, his no-shows at the yearly Cubs Convention, the 2003 corked-bat incident, the 2004 hissy fits when Baker had no choice but to drop him in the batting order, the ditch-and-lie incident of Oct. 3. Had Sosa made any effort to repair the public relations damage, he'd still be a Cub today." What Wojciechowski only touches on is the fact that in addition to his public relations problems, Sosa was a former 5 tool player who became one dimensional in the end -- he couldn't run, he couldn't throw, he was a brutal fielder, and he wouldn't or was incapable of playing team baseball -- if he didn't hit the ball over the fence more likely than not any runners on base weren't advancing.

In the end, I think Sosa is a sure fire Hall of Famer, and I think he'll go in with a Cubs cap. But he's definitely tarnished his former image of a fun-loving, hard hitting Chicago icon; how much is for history to decide.

The No. 1 Fighting Illini

I've got to say that while I'm impressed by the U of I basketball team and how exciting it is for Illinois backers, I've never really been much of a fan. When I was a kid, DePaul basketball was the big draw, they had great (albeit disappointing) teams, with stars like Mark Aguirre, Terry Cummings, Clyde Bradshaw, Teddy Grubbs, and a host of others, they were the Big Boys in Chicago. When I got older, I was interested in Illinois hoops, but never could quite embrace them. Now, I'm still a bigger fan of the University of Dayton and the University of Tulane programs, since I went to both schools. However, I appreciate good basketball, and Illinois has been playing some outstanding ball to date, particularly their win against Wisconsin the other night. So while I'm not quite ready to say, "You're my boys!" the Illini are no longer the ugly stepchild for me either...

Bulls Jump the .500 Mark!

Doesn't seem like that long ago when I, and the rest of Chicago, were under the sway of the NBA Champion Bulls. At the same time, given the utter failures of the team since the Jordan days, those days also, paradoxically, seem decades ago. There's a light at the end of tunnel, and by the end of the year we should know exactly how bright it is. Don't get me wrong, this version of the Bulls is headed in the right direction, a nice mix of young and old players who aren't afraid to D it up and get floor burns in pursuit of a win. At the same time, I think this team at present, is a 5 games over .500 at best team -- they're young, and they're still learning how to win. If the GM can keep the core of this team together for the next 2-3 years, and add in a stud scorer, Chicago may be headed back to NBA glory...

Right to Privacy

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled yesterday in an Illinois case that a dog sniff conducted during a legal traffic stop that uncovers the location of contraband does not violate the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure. Having read the opinion, the 6-2 vote surprised me, particularly given the fact that Justice Stevens write the opinion and Justice Breyer agreed. The court focused the brunt of its argument on the fact that the stop itself was legal, the stop did not last an inordinate amount of time; one state trooper wrote the ticket while another conducted what amounted to a drug search with a trained dog. The argument seems to miss the point entirely, in my opinion, because it is wholly lacking in demonstrating the nexis between the probable cause for the drug search and the seizure of the marijuana itself. It's pretty chilling to me to think that any one of us could be subjected to the same.

Here's the opinion.

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/24jan20051130/www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/04pdf/03-923.pdf

Genocide - Word or Action?

Scott Straus, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin, wrote an interesting article on the genocide in Darfur for Foreign Affairs' January/February 2005 issue, "Darfur and the Genocide Debate." Straus notes that for the first time since the Holocaust, the U.S. government has labeled a foreign crisis "genocide." -- the "ethnic cleansing" in the Darfur region, in Sudan. He notes that since the Genocide Convention, which was established by the United Nations after WWII, the U.S. has never publicly termed such a crisis as "genocide", and that analysts have always figured that this was because the U.S., as a signatory to the Convention, would be bound to act under the terms and conditions of the convention (which the U.S. only signed in 1988, but which would have been tested in Rwanda, Bosnia and Sarajevo had the U.S. acted).

Straus notes, however, that in the instance of Darfur, both Colin Powell and President Bush have publicly termed the ethnic murders as "genocide," but that neither the U.S., Europe, nor the Organization of African States is in any rush to get involved. While the politics are never quite as simple as rushing into a foreign intervention headfirst, one has to wonder what the point of such conventions are, and what lessons were truly learned from the Holocaust if we stand idly by while such atrocities occur.

Got Controversy? Revisited

The Chicago Tribune reports today that on Friday, January 21, Governor Blagojevich signed Illinois equal rights bill for homosexuals, making Illinois one of only fifteen states to explicitly write equal protection for gay citizens into the law. Local news reports on the issue have been strangely muted from both sides of the debate. The governor interestingly invoked Scripture in signalling his approval for the measure; "What we're doing today is as old as the Scripture: Love thy neighbor," Blagojevich said. "It's what Jesus said when he gave his Sermon on the Mount: `Do unto others what you have others do unto you.'"

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0501220273jan22,1,7233964.story?coll=chi-news-hed

NFL Playoff Picks III

Evened up my record at 4-4 after going 3-1 this past weekend, only blew the Eagles game. That being said -

AFC Championship

New England at Pittsburgh -- Patriots 21-17

I'd love to see New England go down, but this team just seems incapable of losing a big game. The Pats will still be without Seymour, Law and Poole on the defensive side, but given the way the D shut down the Colts in Foxboro, it seems to me they can do the same to a less talented offense despite being on the road. Now it's Bill Cowher's turn to see if he can win a big game.

NFC Championship

Atlanta at Philadelphia -- Eagles 31-21

I bet against McNabb and Co. last week and they manhandled the Vikings. I think the fourth time's the charm for this team in the NFC Championship game, so long as Brian Westbrook stays healthy. Mike Vick concerns me, but the Eagles have a fast defense that should do a better job of containing Vick's mad scrambles.

Mell vs. Blago -- Now It's Personal

The Chicago Tribune reports today that Alderman Richard Mell, father-in-law of Governor Rod Blagojevich, has turned up the heat in what is turning out to be quite a nasty little political fight. Mell made allegations to Attorney General Lisa Madigan (daughter of house speaker, and Blago political foe Michael Madigan) and Cook County State's Attorney Dick Devine that Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the governor's election fund (and an unpaid advisor) gave 120 donors who donated a total of $1.9M to the campaign political appointments out of the 700 appointments made by the governor's office. Interestingly, the governor claims he asked his inspector general, Zaldwaynaka Scott, to look into the same allegations mere hours before Madigan and Devine announced their investigation. All of this comes to light two days after a visibly shaken Mell publicly asked for a ceasefire with the governor.

Mell now says he has no personal knowledge of his allegations, but was merely basing them on a Tribune investigation. The governor isn't buying it, and called out Mell, telling the Tribune, "A reckless and defamatory accusation was made that is completely and totally false. The person who made it needs to be held accountable. If he is now backtracking on what he apparently said, you should go talk to him. I want independent agencies to go talk to all the people involved and to prove what I know is the case, that we do things right. And if you make a reckless, defamatory accusation publicly and you've been in the business as long as he's been you got to be held accountable for making those."

Given the fact that this feud won't go away, and that new accusations are being leveled by both parties, I've got to wonder whether this points to a deeper rift in the Democratic party in Illinois, and whether there aren't bigger political skeletons in the closets of Alderman Mell and the Governor that may be brought to light by these investigations. Seems to me that the Governor is being taken to task for refusing to play the game the way the Chicago machine expects it to be played...

Got Controversy?

On Monday, The Illinois Senate passed a bill, 30-27, to ban discrimination against gays and lesbians in the areas of housing and employment. The bill as written would add "sexual orientation" to existing law banning discrimination in matters of housing, lending and employment. The Illinois House passed the bill by a 65-51 vote on Tuesday, and Governor Rod Blagojevich vowed to sign the bill when it is presented to him. As expected, gay rights activists have hailed the bill as an important step in affording gays and lesbians equal protection, while foes of the bill have intimated passage is the first step in a slippery slope leading to state recognition of a broader agenda for gays and lesbians, such as recognition of same sex civil unions or marriages. Given the Governor's support, it's clear this bill will become law. Given the narrow way the bill is written (providing equal protection rather than creating a special status for sexual orientation), there's a good possibility the law could survive a legal challenge by foes. As such, it's a good bet this issue will shape a number of upcoming state elections. Stay tuned...

Blago vs. Mell -- Steel Cage Match!

The family feud between Chicago alderman Richard Mell and his son-in-law, Governor Rod Blagojevich is making for some tasty political theater. Mell, who is connected with the Democratic old guard in Chicago, played king-maker for the governor, getting out the vote and creating a fundraising system that tapped the deep wells of Chicago's Democratic machine. Mell is now fuming because the governor is attempting to distance himself from the pound of flesh usually required by the machine -- his political soul. The governor, who is extremely aware of his white knight reputation, is attempting to make good on his "clean up Illinois" campaign promises by seemingly taking every opportunity to stick it to Chicago Dems, calling out Mike Madigan early in his administration, shutting down (temporarily) a dump connected to Mell, among other actions. There have even been suggestions that Blagojevich has created a fake feud between himself and his father-in-law to burnish his reputation as a reformer, which would take some truly Machiavellian chutzpah if true. What I can't figure out is which is the true Blagojevich (who I did vote for) -- the reformer, or a politician with his eye on a bigger national office who knows that it plays well in the media to appear to be his own man, or someone in between? Although, I must admit, as long as he keeps signing legislation and pushing reforms that I like, the answer to this question matters less to me.

...Not To Beltran

The Mets signed Carlos Beltran to a 7 year, $119M contract. Word on the Cubs' offer is that it topped out at 5 years, $75M; apparently management was seeking a discount for the opportunity to play at Wrigley and lead the Cubs to postseason glory. I'm not about to jump on the Mets' bandwagon; regardless of the fact that they signed Beltran and Pedro Martinez, they still have too many question marks to be considered serious contenders. With respect to the Cubs, however, you've got to wonder what they're thinking. They clearly need a power hitting OF to replace Moises Alou, regardless of how the Sosa situation resolves itself. By not making a serious run at Beltran, or at Magglio Ordonez while the Beltran derby was on, they hurt their negotiations with fgree agents like Ordonez, by allowing the field of available OF to be winnowed down. Once again, here's hoping Jim Hendry has a few more bb's in his pellet rifle, because the idea of a Jason Dubois/Todd Holandsworth platoon in LF smacks of trouble. It pains me to say, but at this point, I think the White Sox's free agent moves look better than the Cubs'...

NFL Playoff Picks -- Part Deux

One for four in the wild card round -- need a big conference semi round to turn things around...

AFC

Indianapolis at New England -- Patriots 38-35

I really want to pick the Colts here, particularly with the injuries to Richard Seymour and the Pats' secondary. However, the head is saying that Belichick and his defense are in Peyton Manning's head, and Manning's history against the Pats is woeful. I'm going to stick with NE in a tight game decided by a Manning TO.

NY Jets at Pittsburgh -- Steelers 24-14

At some point in the post-season, Ben Roethlisberger is going to play like Bubby Brister instead of Terry Bradshaw -- it's inevitable because the kid is a rookie. However, Pittsburgh's D and its running backs had Big Ben's back all season long, and I can't beleive the Steelers won't find a way to get it done here.

NFC

Minnesota at Philadelphia -- Minnesota 31-24

The question is which Vikings team will show up? The team that started the year 7-4 and walloped the Pack in Lambeau last week, or the gutless wonders who finished 1-4 and find ways to play well below their talent? The other question is whether the Eagles' O can outscore Minnesota, even with the Vikes' porous defense (which for the life of me I can't understand when you look at that D top to bottom). I'm saying Vikings, so make sure you pick Philly if you're a betting man or woman.

St. Louis at Atlanta -- Atlanta 35-21

I don't think the Rams can sustain their play of the last three weeks, nor do I think they'll be able to contain Mike Vick. The biggest concern is how the Falcons will respond to their first meaningful game in about a month. The thought here is that they'll be okay...

Beltran Or Not to Beltran?

Tonight is the likely signing deadline for Carlos Beltran, the latest superstar outfielder in baseball given his age (28), five tool skills and monster postseason for Houston last year. When the hot stove league first warmed up, all signs pointed to the Cubs making a serious offer to Beltran, whether the Cubs could move Sammy Sosa or not. At the time of this writing, however, it does not appear the Cubs are anywhere close to contending for Beltran's services, despite desperately needing a power hitting OF. Instead, it seems that Houston, and both NY teams will head toward tonight's likely signing deadline (Houston loses the ability to re-sign Beltran after today's date, meaning Beltran loses a suitor to drive up his price if Houston loses its rights) with the realistic shots at signing him.

While there are decent arguments for not signing him to the 7 year, $119M total contract favored by Beltran's agent Scott Boras (such as while a five tool star, Beltran's never hit higher than .307, never hit more than 38 HRs, and never once driven in 110 runs), Beltran's best years should be ahead of him, and how many chances do you get to sign a stud entering the prime years of his career, particularly when you need an OF of his caliber? The other problem I have with the seeming lack of Cubs interest is ownership's continuing arbitrary budgeting -- the Cubs could easily pay Beltran and Sosa for a year (especially given the fact that Beltran's contract is likely to be backloaded) at the very least to give Cubs fans the illusion the team is more committed to winning than revenue streams.

Here's hoping Jim Hendry has one more card to play here...

Duffs Under Seige

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday on James Duff's attempt to enter a guilty plea in the federal government's fraud case against a longtime associate and contributor to Mayor Richard J. Daley. Duff allegedly made his mother a company figurehead in a successful attempt to win $100 million in city affirmative action contracts as a minority or woman owned-business, when in fact he and his associates called the shots. The case is a major embarassment to the Daley administration given the mayor's apparent extensive contacts with the James Duff. One would think the mayor would know James Duff isn't a minority or female, and that awarding a contract to a business "run" by his mother would at the least stink of cronyism, no? Despite these facts, it's business as usual at City Hall, where the mayor's selective memory of such things has allowed him to say yet again, that he has no knowledge of any wrongdoing. The case took an even more interesting turn yesterday when the prosecution objected to Mr. Duff's guilty plea, arguing that the defendant didn't plead guilty to the actual charges against him, but a modified version of the charges possibly meant to allow him to challenge the plea at a later date.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/premium/printedition/Friday/chi-0501070273jan07,2,7783508.column?coll=chi-printnewsfriday-hed

NFL Playoff Picks

Someday the Bears wil be inlcuded in my playoff picks, if only because even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes.

Check back next week, when I backtrack from this week's (wrong) picks and predict anew!

NFC

Green Bay vs. Minnesota -- Packers 31-24. Favre in his element "the frozen tundra" of Green Bay (boy I hate how overused that phrase is on NFL broadcasts) throws for three TDs in Green Bay's third win of the season over Minnesota.

St. Louis vs. Seattle -- Seattle 28-24. Shaun Alexander takes it to St. Louis' weak run defense, allowing Matt Hasselbeck to throw less than 25 times, and Seattle breaks the 3-time loser jinx.

AFC

Indianapolis vs. Denver -- Indianapolis 38-17. The Colts in a repeat of last year (crushed by Denver in a meaningless finale, they return the favor in the first round of the playoffs). Manning, James and Brandon Stokely shred Champ Bailey and Co.'s defense.

New York Jets vs. San Diego -- Chargers 21-20. Brees and LT do enough against the Jets' underrated defense to eke out a win at home.

The Proffer Against George Ryan

The link to the Tribune's website connects you to the government's proffer of evidence against George Ryan. 114 pages of head-shaking, anger-inducing allegations of abuse of the public's trust.

Apologies for the lack of a direct link for the last two articles -- the Tribune's website is free, but certain content can only be accessed if you've signed up.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/acrobat/2005-01/15714886.pdf

Peddling Influence -- The Embarassment of George Ryan

If you follow Illinois politics, then you know of the serious charges against former governor George Ryan and a number of cronies -- the federal government alleges that Ryan and a number of his political friends and allies had the Illinois Secretary of State's office and the governor's mansion up for sale to the highest bidder. The feds have alleged Ryan obstructed investigations by the State's Attorney against political contributors; steered contracts to friends despite warnings certain of his friends were involved in questionable financial activities; and received gifts and money by using his public offices (and attendant political muscle) to grease the skids for his friends, among other allegations. A big part of Ryan's problem is that he seems to believe that political loyalty invites a blank check in return; Ryan's public comments (when he was making them before he was formally indicted about a year ago) were ridiculously out of touch with reality.

While I applauded Ryan's suspension of the death penalty and commutation of death sentences in his final days in office, it seems clear that this action was intended, at least in part to try and offset the storm he must have known was coming, even before his election to office, in which he denied any knowledge of, or involvement of the Secretary of State's office in the licenses for bribes scandal, which in retrospect, has made him look at worst a bald-faced liar who would cover up anything to get elected, and at best a doddering fool who had no idea what was going on in his own house. If even some of what the federal government alleges is true, Ryan should do hard prison time in a real federal prison.

The Chicago Tribune's latest story can be found here:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/premium/printedition/Wednesday/chi-0501050224jan05,2,7397115.story?coll=chi-printnewswednesday-hed