Acerbic columnist Jay Mariotti abruptly quit the Chicago Sun Times on Monday after returning from Beijing. Just last summer, he signed a big contract extension to stay at the Sun Times, but after covering the Olympics, he decided newspapers are dinosaurs and to try to find his way on the web.
You can tell from this piece in today's S-T that he's missed by almost no one. I haven't read him for years, for many of the reasons detailed in the piece, so I don't miss him either.
Showing posts with label local. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local. Show all posts
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
The University of Chicago at South Bend
One of my pet peeves about the Chicago Tribune sports section, and Chicago sports media in general, is that they treat the University of Notre Dame like it's the University of Chicago at South Bend. I understand that the school has a large fan base here, but I have always thought that it is a bit silly for the Irish to get better coverage than the University of Illinois. But, they do.
South Bend, by the way, is halfway to Ohio from Chicago. Milwaukee is closer to downtown Chicago than South Bend.
The most recent (and blatant) example of the geographic confusion is in the agate type on the Olympics page. There, you'll find a list of three dozen athletes with Illinois connections. There are people who grew up in Illinois, went to college in Illinois, or play professionally here. They might not even represent the US in the games, like Andres Nocioni of the Bulls, who plays for Argentina, but they all have a connection to the state, except one.
Near the bottom of the list is women's sabre gold medalist Mariel Zagunis. Her "Illinois" connection - she attended Notre Dame.
South Bend, by the way, is halfway to Ohio from Chicago. Milwaukee is closer to downtown Chicago than South Bend.
The most recent (and blatant) example of the geographic confusion is in the agate type on the Olympics page. There, you'll find a list of three dozen athletes with Illinois connections. There are people who grew up in Illinois, went to college in Illinois, or play professionally here. They might not even represent the US in the games, like Andres Nocioni of the Bulls, who plays for Argentina, but they all have a connection to the state, except one.
Near the bottom of the list is women's sabre gold medalist Mariel Zagunis. Her "Illinois" connection - she attended Notre Dame.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Favre and other frustrations
I can't think of any similar case where a legendary player for a team was so actively shunned. Maybe Bobby Hull with the Blackhawks back in the day.
It's probably just as well he's gone, although as a Bears fan, any distraction for the Packers is fine with me. I'm not as convinced as others that having Favre back makes the Packers better. Not if there's that much bad blood between him and the coaching staff.
A lot of folks around here would like to see Favre join the Bears, but that'll never happen. The Packers still own his rights, and there's no way they'll let him stay in the division. The Vikings would also love to have him and have made no secret about it, but once again, same division. Now, it looks like he'll be traded to Tampa for a bag of chips and a case of beer.
At least I have power. I live on a small street and usually if one of us has a power outage, we all do. Right now though, our house is the only one powered up on our side of the street. Very strange. Also, we're the only ones who didn't get water, thanks to a battery backup sump pump. Best investment I ever made.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Not quite the big time
We had a chance to go see the Gary/South Shore Railcats on Saturday night. The Railcats play in the independent Northern League, with teams from Joliet and Schaumburg, IL, Kansas City, Fargo, and Winnipeg.
This is an interesting level of baseball. Most of these guys are minor league rejects. Some are local guys who tried out and latched on. A few are former major leaguers.
We saw Gary take on the Schaumburg Flyers, who has former Pittsburgh Pirate Jermaine Allensworth playing center field. Allensworth (who is from my wife's hometown of Anderson, IN and a fellow Boilermaker), played a few years in the bigs, kicked around the affiliated minors for a few more, and has been in the Northern League for the last five season. He played two years for the Railcats.
Guys like Allensworth stand out. He's better than everyone else. He never blows the routine play in the field. He has a polished swing. He doesn't make the silly baserunning error. You can tell he played pro ball once. He's just not good enough to anymore.
The rest of these guys might not be good enough to play on the teams I watch in the College World Series. There is a fair amount of slop (the home pitcher, warming up right before the start of the game, threw a wild pitch and the catcher overthrew second base by 30 feet on the throw down). The players play hard though, so it's fun to watch. They certainly aren't playing for the money. They get paid, but nobody makes a living.
Put me in coach!
Gary plays at the US Steel Yard, which is a nice, relatively new minor league joint. It seats about 6000, but almost none of it is in the outfield. There are a few seats near the RF line, and a hot tub section next to that, but otherwise, all the seats are in foul ground.
Like most minor league parks, there is a lot geared toward the kids. They even have a playground behind the hitting background in CF. There is also train tracks that run just past the left field wall, so we'll get a train going by every once in a while that gets every kid's attention. There are also not one, but two mascots, Rusty and Rascal. Rusty was my two-year-old daughter's favorite. They have kids competing for prizes between almost every inning. They also get to run across the outfield during one inning break.
My daughter's first crush
I missed quite a bit of this game (Gary won 6-5). I had the longest wait ever in a concession line - and I have been in a lot of concession lines. The line itself was short, but the guy right in front of me was ordering dinner for his family of six. It took the dimwitted woman trying to process this almost twenty minutes. Just waiting on this one guy, I missed the last two batters of the top of the fourth, the entire bottom of the fourth, and the first four batters of the fifth. I also spent an inning with my kids in the playground.
The game is almost besides the point though. The point is for the family to have a good night out without going broke, and we managed that.
We were all a little bleary-eyed when it was over
This is an interesting level of baseball. Most of these guys are minor league rejects. Some are local guys who tried out and latched on. A few are former major leaguers.
We saw Gary take on the Schaumburg Flyers, who has former Pittsburgh Pirate Jermaine Allensworth playing center field. Allensworth (who is from my wife's hometown of Anderson, IN and a fellow Boilermaker), played a few years in the bigs, kicked around the affiliated minors for a few more, and has been in the Northern League for the last five season. He played two years for the Railcats.
Guys like Allensworth stand out. He's better than everyone else. He never blows the routine play in the field. He has a polished swing. He doesn't make the silly baserunning error. You can tell he played pro ball once. He's just not good enough to anymore.
The rest of these guys might not be good enough to play on the teams I watch in the College World Series. There is a fair amount of slop (the home pitcher, warming up right before the start of the game, threw a wild pitch and the catcher overthrew second base by 30 feet on the throw down). The players play hard though, so it's fun to watch. They certainly aren't playing for the money. They get paid, but nobody makes a living.
Gary plays at the US Steel Yard, which is a nice, relatively new minor league joint. It seats about 6000, but almost none of it is in the outfield. There are a few seats near the RF line, and a hot tub section next to that, but otherwise, all the seats are in foul ground.
Like most minor league parks, there is a lot geared toward the kids. They even have a playground behind the hitting background in CF. There is also train tracks that run just past the left field wall, so we'll get a train going by every once in a while that gets every kid's attention. There are also not one, but two mascots, Rusty and Rascal. Rusty was my two-year-old daughter's favorite. They have kids competing for prizes between almost every inning. They also get to run across the outfield during one inning break.
I missed quite a bit of this game (Gary won 6-5). I had the longest wait ever in a concession line - and I have been in a lot of concession lines. The line itself was short, but the guy right in front of me was ordering dinner for his family of six. It took the dimwitted woman trying to process this almost twenty minutes. Just waiting on this one guy, I missed the last two batters of the top of the fourth, the entire bottom of the fourth, and the first four batters of the fifth. I also spent an inning with my kids in the playground.
The game is almost besides the point though. The point is for the family to have a good night out without going broke, and we managed that.
Sunday, June 08, 2008
We moved!
Last night, a series of tornadoes ripped through the area. The Chicago Tribune story details the damage, but also notes that Lake County is in now northeast Indiana. That must have been some storm if it picked up an entire county and moved it (Wizard of Oz-style) all the way to the eastern part of the state!
I was at a graduation party for the daughter of a friend of ours in St. John, IN when the sirens went off. We went outside to have a look and it looked very nasty just to our north and west. Where we were, it was just raining and it appeared to be clearing up.
I've lived in this area nearly all of my 44 years and have never seen a funnel cloud, let alone an actual tornado. I could go 44 more years without seeing one and wouldn't feel like I missed anything.
I was at a graduation party for the daughter of a friend of ours in St. John, IN when the sirens went off. We went outside to have a look and it looked very nasty just to our north and west. Where we were, it was just raining and it appeared to be clearing up.
I've lived in this area nearly all of my 44 years and have never seen a funnel cloud, let alone an actual tornado. I could go 44 more years without seeing one and wouldn't feel like I missed anything.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Two major political cogs go down
This was a tough week for local politicians in this area as two dealmakers were found guilty on corruption charges.
In Chicago, Tony Rezko was found guilty on 16 counts of fraud and corruption charges. He was guilty of taking kickbacks to funnel state teachers' pension fund money to certain brokerage houses. Rezko has been a rainmaker for both Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, though both have tried to distance themselves from Rezko since his indictments. Yes, that's plural. He has at least two more trials coming.
This is the latest in the string of victories for US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago. Fitzgerald (not to be confused with Northwestern football coach of the same name) came to the Northern Illinois district in 2001 and has been taking down corrupt pols ever since, including former governor George Ryan. Many of us are waiting to see if he ever gets to the big fish, Blago and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
Rezko was also allegedly part of a group of local pols that included former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert that tried to get Fitzgerald pushed out of his job and this investigation killed, but that plan failed, obviously.
The Tribune's John Kass writes that Rezko may not just be trouble for Obama, but even some republicans.
Lake County, Indiana has a level of corruption that not only rivals, but surpasses what happens in Chicago. Our county's reputation for shenanigans was the reason local officials were the butt of a national joke on the day of our primaries when they couldn't promptly count and release vote totals.
One of the reasons why corruption goes on unfettered, and barely under the table, is because we don't have a Peter Fitzgerald willing to take on the politicians. Perhaps that is finally changing.
Yesterday, a key Lake County political dealmaker, Bob Cantrell, was convicted on 11 fraud and corruption related counts. Cantrell got kickbacks for arranging for local judges, including his daughter Julie, to send people to a friend's addiction counseling service company. He also got hit with tax fraud charges for not reporting that income.
The NW Indiana Times has a blog detailing the trial.
So, maybe the feds will use the momentum from this verdict and go after more local pols. It's a well that will never run dry.
In Chicago, Tony Rezko was found guilty on 16 counts of fraud and corruption charges. He was guilty of taking kickbacks to funnel state teachers' pension fund money to certain brokerage houses. Rezko has been a rainmaker for both Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, though both have tried to distance themselves from Rezko since his indictments. Yes, that's plural. He has at least two more trials coming.
This is the latest in the string of victories for US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago. Fitzgerald (not to be confused with Northwestern football coach of the same name) came to the Northern Illinois district in 2001 and has been taking down corrupt pols ever since, including former governor George Ryan. Many of us are waiting to see if he ever gets to the big fish, Blago and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
Rezko was also allegedly part of a group of local pols that included former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert that tried to get Fitzgerald pushed out of his job and this investigation killed, but that plan failed, obviously.
The Tribune's John Kass writes that Rezko may not just be trouble for Obama, but even some republicans.
Lake County, Indiana has a level of corruption that not only rivals, but surpasses what happens in Chicago. Our county's reputation for shenanigans was the reason local officials were the butt of a national joke on the day of our primaries when they couldn't promptly count and release vote totals.
One of the reasons why corruption goes on unfettered, and barely under the table, is because we don't have a Peter Fitzgerald willing to take on the politicians. Perhaps that is finally changing.
Yesterday, a key Lake County political dealmaker, Bob Cantrell, was convicted on 11 fraud and corruption related counts. Cantrell got kickbacks for arranging for local judges, including his daughter Julie, to send people to a friend's addiction counseling service company. He also got hit with tax fraud charges for not reporting that income.
The NW Indiana Times has a blog detailing the trial.
So, maybe the feds will use the momentum from this verdict and go after more local pols. It's a well that will never run dry.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Thank you, sir! May I have another?
Gas around here shot up over $4 per gallon for the first time today. At the rate it's going, we'll see $5 before the 4th of July and $6 by Labor Day.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Don't spend it all in one place
Last week, I was among the many who received property tax rebate checks from the county as a result of a cap passed by the state legislature a few months ago. However, even something good like this provides another example of how inefficiently our local government operates.
Thousands of Lake County taxpayers received rebate checks for $0. The county spent whatever its postage rate is x however many people got those checks to let them know they got nothing. I wonder if anyone tried to cash them.
And speaking of incompetent customer service resulting in paltry rebates, I heard back from American Airlines. They supposedly sent me a check for my hotel for the extra night I spent in San Antonio. I should have stayed in a nicer place.
The e-mail I got announcing that my reimbursement was on the way said, they would work hard to prevent future schedule disruptions. Of course, that completely misses the point. Schedule disruptions happen. It's the insufficient response to those problems that needs to be prevented.
Thousands of Lake County taxpayers received rebate checks for $0. The county spent whatever its postage rate is x however many people got those checks to let them know they got nothing. I wonder if anyone tried to cash them.
And speaking of incompetent customer service resulting in paltry rebates, I heard back from American Airlines. They supposedly sent me a check for my hotel for the extra night I spent in San Antonio. I should have stayed in a nicer place.
The e-mail I got announcing that my reimbursement was on the way said, they would work hard to prevent future schedule disruptions. Of course, that completely misses the point. Schedule disruptions happen. It's the insufficient response to those problems that needs to be prevented.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
1...2...5 (3, sir!)
Lake County took a lot of national abuse for not getting ballots counted promptly on election night. It was well after 10 PM Central time before the county began reporting any numbers.
Many folks in the national media assumed some kind of shenanigans was going on. This is, after all, the most politically corrupt county in the nation. One CBS reporter contacted the Post-Tribune (a local paper) and asked if Lake was borrowing from Cook County (Chicago) politics, but really, the Cook County folks are jealous of what goes on here.
CNN and Fox News had a field day with Lake County also. Here is a link to a snippet of Wolf Blitzing Gary Mayor (and county Dem chair) Rudy Clay.
The official explanation was that the county decided not to release numbers until after the over 11,000 absentee ballots had been counted. Counting that many ballots takes a lot of time. After all, each counter only has 20 fingers and toes (in most cases).
I think they were just trying to get a little spotlight on themselves by reporting last, and by possibly changing a close presidential race. If that was the plan, it failed because the Clinton-Obama race wasn't that close.
However, the race between the democratic candidates for governor, Jim Schellenger and Jill Long-Thompson, was neck-and-neck all night, with Schellenger up by a slim margin before Lake County reported. The late Lake numbers were enough to put Long-Thompson past Schellenger for the win. Long-Thompson had been endorsed by the steelworkers union, so it was expected she would do well here.
The play for attention worked, though, but probably not the way they hoped. Now, the entire nation thinks our county is either run by idiots who can't even count, or is so corrupt that they'll try to fix an election even in the bright spotlight of the national media. Correct on both counts.
The best and most ironic comment on this was in the Times (another local paper) this morning. George Van Til, the county surveyor, said we (the county) look "stupid" because of all this. This comes from a guy who won reelection in spite of the fact that he stole gas from the county and let his teenage son drive his county-issued car around - until he got caught. It's not the inability to count votes that makes us look stupid. It's continuing to elect guys like him.
Many folks in the national media assumed some kind of shenanigans was going on. This is, after all, the most politically corrupt county in the nation. One CBS reporter contacted the Post-Tribune (a local paper) and asked if Lake was borrowing from Cook County (Chicago) politics, but really, the Cook County folks are jealous of what goes on here.
CNN and Fox News had a field day with Lake County also. Here is a link to a snippet of Wolf Blitzing Gary Mayor (and county Dem chair) Rudy Clay.
The official explanation was that the county decided not to release numbers until after the over 11,000 absentee ballots had been counted. Counting that many ballots takes a lot of time. After all, each counter only has 20 fingers and toes (in most cases).
I think they were just trying to get a little spotlight on themselves by reporting last, and by possibly changing a close presidential race. If that was the plan, it failed because the Clinton-Obama race wasn't that close.
However, the race between the democratic candidates for governor, Jim Schellenger and Jill Long-Thompson, was neck-and-neck all night, with Schellenger up by a slim margin before Lake County reported. The late Lake numbers were enough to put Long-Thompson past Schellenger for the win. Long-Thompson had been endorsed by the steelworkers union, so it was expected she would do well here.
The play for attention worked, though, but probably not the way they hoped. Now, the entire nation thinks our county is either run by idiots who can't even count, or is so corrupt that they'll try to fix an election even in the bright spotlight of the national media. Correct on both counts.
The best and most ironic comment on this was in the Times (another local paper) this morning. George Van Til, the county surveyor, said we (the county) look "stupid" because of all this. This comes from a guy who won reelection in spite of the fact that he stole gas from the county and let his teenage son drive his county-issued car around - until he got caught. It's not the inability to count votes that makes us look stupid. It's continuing to elect guys like him.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Former President visits
Last week, those of us in Schererville got a chance to see something we had never seen before. A former President of the United States came to visit.
Bill Clinton made an appearance to stump for votes for his wife, Hillary, in advance of Indiana's primary today.
Those of you who have read my profile know that I don't favor either party particularly. However, I always vote, and in the primary, I always vote in the Democratic. That is because Lake County, where I live, is so heavily Democratic that the primary is the only chance I have to vote for local officials. The Democratic primary is the de facto general election locally. The fact that I always vote in their primary means that the local Democrats think I'm one of them.
It also means I get to vote for Hillary or Barack Obama, the Senator from Next Door, so I thought it might be useful to hear what Bill had to say. I also thought it would be a good chance for my older boys (11 and 9) to see a former President and get a taste of the process.
But first, we had to hurry up and wait.
The doors to the little banquet hall that Clinton would be speaking at opened at 2:45. We were not told when Bill would actually speak, but we were prepared for a long wait.
The crowd waits breathlessly
We showed up right at 2:45 and had to wait in a little bit of a line to get in. Security was not as tight as I would have expected for a former President. Bags were checked, but that's about it. In fact, I went through a more thorough security check to get into the arenas for the NCAA tournament.
For the occasion, in honor of Hillary's drinking habits, I wore my most obnoxious Boilermakers shirt.
The place was standing room only, but not because it was overly crowded. There were no chairs, so all we could do was stand. The room was a little less than half full, maybe about 200 folks. It was almost all adults too. My kids were the only grade school age children there. There were a couple of babies and toddlers, and a few HS kids as well. There were also a few media types, and seemingly every Schererville cop. It would have been a good day to rob a bank.
I was about 40 feet from the podium, which meant I could see OK, but it would have been better if I'd worn heels. My kids had trouble seeing, but they could find an angle on occasion.
Clinton started around 3:30, so it was only a 45-minute wait. Bill has a reputation for being a charismatic speaker, and he did not disappoint. He was concise, by his standards, funny, and at times blunt. And his style wasn't typical of most politicians. Politicians generally speak as if they are talking to idiots. In many cases, they are. They'll pause. After. Every. Word. As if you need a few minutes to process each one. I can't stand that. Bill spoke like he had somewhere else to go (which he did), even though he went on for 40 minutes.
He was giving us some of the main points of Hillary's platform (jobs, energy, health care, education, balance the budget, get out of Iraq, etc), the details of which I'll leave out here. You can get that in other places.
Bill doing his thing
His speech didn't end until ten minutes after the doors opened at his next stop in Crown Point. Those folks undoubtedly had a longer wait than we did.
Even though he was campaigning for his wife ("I'm just here as a volunteer campaign worker."), I expected to see more presidential stuff. Perhaps this is against protocol - I certainly wouldn't know - but I thought the presidential seal would be on the podium, but it wasn't. He does have security, though. I saw four Secret Service guys total. There was one on each side of the stage when he spoke, and two others joined the party when Clinton shook hands afterwards.
My sons and I got close enough to shake his hand, so we did. He and I actually chatted a few seconds about No Child Left Behind, which I think is useless and which he said Hillary wants to do away with.
And then he was gone, off to Crown Point.
One strange thing about this event was that there was no handouts, which is a sign, I suppose, of how cash-strapped Hillary's campaign is. There were no buttons, stickers, pins or signs given away. They did have a place to sign up to help, but as you can see, they weren't getting much interest.
Little help? Please?
They did give us a black-and-white flier on the way out, but I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do with it. It wasn't any different than the one I received in the mail earlier that week.
Bill and Hillary hit this region hard. We hardly saw Obama in NW Indiana, but the Clintons were here at least once a week. We'll see today if that pays off.
Bill Clinton made an appearance to stump for votes for his wife, Hillary, in advance of Indiana's primary today.
Those of you who have read my profile know that I don't favor either party particularly. However, I always vote, and in the primary, I always vote in the Democratic. That is because Lake County, where I live, is so heavily Democratic that the primary is the only chance I have to vote for local officials. The Democratic primary is the de facto general election locally. The fact that I always vote in their primary means that the local Democrats think I'm one of them.
It also means I get to vote for Hillary or Barack Obama, the Senator from Next Door, so I thought it might be useful to hear what Bill had to say. I also thought it would be a good chance for my older boys (11 and 9) to see a former President and get a taste of the process.
But first, we had to hurry up and wait.
The doors to the little banquet hall that Clinton would be speaking at opened at 2:45. We were not told when Bill would actually speak, but we were prepared for a long wait.
We showed up right at 2:45 and had to wait in a little bit of a line to get in. Security was not as tight as I would have expected for a former President. Bags were checked, but that's about it. In fact, I went through a more thorough security check to get into the arenas for the NCAA tournament.
For the occasion, in honor of Hillary's drinking habits, I wore my most obnoxious Boilermakers shirt.
The place was standing room only, but not because it was overly crowded. There were no chairs, so all we could do was stand. The room was a little less than half full, maybe about 200 folks. It was almost all adults too. My kids were the only grade school age children there. There were a couple of babies and toddlers, and a few HS kids as well. There were also a few media types, and seemingly every Schererville cop. It would have been a good day to rob a bank.
I was about 40 feet from the podium, which meant I could see OK, but it would have been better if I'd worn heels. My kids had trouble seeing, but they could find an angle on occasion.
Clinton started around 3:30, so it was only a 45-minute wait. Bill has a reputation for being a charismatic speaker, and he did not disappoint. He was concise, by his standards, funny, and at times blunt. And his style wasn't typical of most politicians. Politicians generally speak as if they are talking to idiots. In many cases, they are. They'll pause. After. Every. Word. As if you need a few minutes to process each one. I can't stand that. Bill spoke like he had somewhere else to go (which he did), even though he went on for 40 minutes.
He was giving us some of the main points of Hillary's platform (jobs, energy, health care, education, balance the budget, get out of Iraq, etc), the details of which I'll leave out here. You can get that in other places.
His speech didn't end until ten minutes after the doors opened at his next stop in Crown Point. Those folks undoubtedly had a longer wait than we did.
Even though he was campaigning for his wife ("I'm just here as a volunteer campaign worker."), I expected to see more presidential stuff. Perhaps this is against protocol - I certainly wouldn't know - but I thought the presidential seal would be on the podium, but it wasn't. He does have security, though. I saw four Secret Service guys total. There was one on each side of the stage when he spoke, and two others joined the party when Clinton shook hands afterwards.
My sons and I got close enough to shake his hand, so we did. He and I actually chatted a few seconds about No Child Left Behind, which I think is useless and which he said Hillary wants to do away with.
And then he was gone, off to Crown Point.
One strange thing about this event was that there was no handouts, which is a sign, I suppose, of how cash-strapped Hillary's campaign is. There were no buttons, stickers, pins or signs given away. They did have a place to sign up to help, but as you can see, they weren't getting much interest.
They did give us a black-and-white flier on the way out, but I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do with it. It wasn't any different than the one I received in the mail earlier that week.
Bill and Hillary hit this region hard. We hardly saw Obama in NW Indiana, but the Clintons were here at least once a week. We'll see today if that pays off.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Chicago Tribune abandons college football
I opened my Sunday Chicago Tribune looking forward to catching up on the college football action around the country and was shocked to see that the Tribune is no longer covering it in any significant way.
You used to be able to read up on the action around the Big Ten and in the top 25. No more.
You used to be able to see news and notes from around the country. No more.
What we got on Sunday was a quarter of a page on the Northwestern game, a quarter of a page on the Illinois game, a quarter of a page on the Northern Illinois game, which was played in Chicago, a page and a half on the game at the University of Chicago at South Bend, better known to most people as Notre Dame, and a page of stats and box scores. That's it.
Oh, and we got three column inches on the Appalachian St-Michigan game. That was a quickie column from Teddy Greenstein, the Trib's excellent college football writer, suggesting it was time for Lloyd Carr to retire. No game story. No quotes. Not even a wrapup from the wire on one of the biggest upsets in recent history in the sport.
That's pretty disappointing, but I suspect it's a sign of the times. With more people going to the internet to get information, papers are getting more provincial. The Trib probably feels no need to cover schools outside the state because those fans are likely getting their info in other places. I do that too, but I'm old school enough that I still open the paper first. Now, I have no reason to rush.
You used to be able to read up on the action around the Big Ten and in the top 25. No more.
You used to be able to see news and notes from around the country. No more.
What we got on Sunday was a quarter of a page on the Northwestern game, a quarter of a page on the Illinois game, a quarter of a page on the Northern Illinois game, which was played in Chicago, a page and a half on the game at the University of Chicago at South Bend, better known to most people as Notre Dame, and a page of stats and box scores. That's it.
Oh, and we got three column inches on the Appalachian St-Michigan game. That was a quickie column from Teddy Greenstein, the Trib's excellent college football writer, suggesting it was time for Lloyd Carr to retire. No game story. No quotes. Not even a wrapup from the wire on one of the biggest upsets in recent history in the sport.
That's pretty disappointing, but I suspect it's a sign of the times. With more people going to the internet to get information, papers are getting more provincial. The Trib probably feels no need to cover schools outside the state because those fans are likely getting their info in other places. I do that too, but I'm old school enough that I still open the paper first. Now, I have no reason to rush.
Big Ten Network Review
As a Big Ten guy (Purdue '85), I was excited about the idea of a Big Ten Network. That idea came to life on August 30th when the network hit the air waves.
It began with a football preview edition of Big Ten Tonight hosted by the network's primary on-air talent, Dave Revsine, formerly of ESPN and a Northwestern grad. Revsine was joined by network analysts Gerry DiNardo, a former coach at Indiana, and former Illinois running back Howard Griffith.
The show went off without too many glitches. The worst was a technical problem during the Iowa preview, which got cut short. Revsine does a great job, of course. DiNardo adds good information, but watching him takes a little getting used to. He sits slumped and a little sideways and I find myself leaning in my chair a little when he's on. I think Griffith is new to TV because he's somewhat unpolished, but he does a decent job bringing the player's perspective. One thing he had trouble with was referring to his Illini in the first person, which is something I struggle with myself at times. 40-year habits are hard to break.
The network's biggest glitch occurred around 6 AM the next morning when it went off the air for just over an hour.
Friday night saw the debut of the Big Ten Tailgate Show, where they take a look at the games coming up the next day from the on-campus point of view. It's hosted by Mike Hall. At the open of the show, he went down the schedule of the next day's games and referred to Purdue as "Purdon't." I'm sure he thought that was clever, but Purdue people don't generally think of that as a term of endearment. Then, he threw it out to Wayne Larrivee and Chris Martin for a report from the "University of Indiana." It's not U of I, but Indiana University. So, he managed to offend the fans of 18% of the schools that pay his salary in his first minute on the air. Nice start.
The show also featured two correspondents who each spent time at one of the schools and took in some of the game week atmosphere. One attended Penn St and introduced us to things like the Creamery and the Friday night pep rally. The other was at Michigan and did things like work in the food service line and hang out with the band. They had reports interspersed within the show and sometimes talked with each other and Hall. The individual reports seemed OK, but there wasn't a lot of chemistry among them when they were on together. It could have been due to some technical trouble. It looked like the remote guys had problems hearing at times.
Game day was a big winner for the Big Ten Network because it had one of the biggest upsets in recent years, and it was the main game on the network at the time. Appalachian St stunned Michigan 34-32 in Ann Arbor in a game that may not have been on a TV screen at all if not for the BTN. (Note that all games have some sort of "television" coverage to accommodate replay, but some of those broadcasts are internet-based and not over the air).
For me, it meant that I got to watch the game, but I couldn't see it live. I was covering the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game (speaking of disastrous home openers) that day, but when I came home, I watched the replay. The crew on that game was Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis, who did a pretty good job. They were as surprised as anyone else, but never disrespected or patronized ASU.
There were a couple of funny lines from that broadcast. During the open, we had the requisite shot of Michigan entering the stadium and Brennaman was talking about how Michigan had dreams of a National Championship. Those would be quashed four hours later. Late in the game, Davis noted that this was only the second game he and Brennaman had worked together, and that the first was the Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl. Brennaman then said, "I bet Jim Tressel will be really glad to see us next week." They'll be doing the Akron-Ohio St game.
Also, Big Ten fans got to watch Tressel take on his old school, which certainly wouldn't have been on outside Columbus otherwise. And Indiana fans got full coverage of not only the Hoosiers' game with Indiana St, but all of the remembrances of their late coach, Terry Hoeppner.
There have been a few other minor things, like graphics misidentifying Oregon State as the Ducks (which would not be forgivable if it were the Pac 10 Network) and Michigan tackle Jake Long as a wide receiver. I also notice that sometimes the graphics on my TV are cut off on the left side.
And then there is the whole issue of distribution. DirecTV has it (and that's how I see it). Comcast does not, and it has a big chunk of the cable rights in Big Ten country. Negotiations have been public and acrimonious, so it doesn't look like Comcast or Dish Network, the other major satellite service, will be coming on board anytime soon. I think it will become more pressing as basketball approaches because the network will have more compelling matchups in basketball season than it gets in football.
All in all, the opening weekend was a pretty decent start for the Network. I don't know how many problems brand new networks typically have in their first few days on the air, but the BTN didn't seem to have too many and nothing that isn't fixable. I think the network is going to end up being a great thing for Big Ten fans, especially when they all have access to it.
It began with a football preview edition of Big Ten Tonight hosted by the network's primary on-air talent, Dave Revsine, formerly of ESPN and a Northwestern grad. Revsine was joined by network analysts Gerry DiNardo, a former coach at Indiana, and former Illinois running back Howard Griffith.
The show went off without too many glitches. The worst was a technical problem during the Iowa preview, which got cut short. Revsine does a great job, of course. DiNardo adds good information, but watching him takes a little getting used to. He sits slumped and a little sideways and I find myself leaning in my chair a little when he's on. I think Griffith is new to TV because he's somewhat unpolished, but he does a decent job bringing the player's perspective. One thing he had trouble with was referring to his Illini in the first person, which is something I struggle with myself at times. 40-year habits are hard to break.
The network's biggest glitch occurred around 6 AM the next morning when it went off the air for just over an hour.
Friday night saw the debut of the Big Ten Tailgate Show, where they take a look at the games coming up the next day from the on-campus point of view. It's hosted by Mike Hall. At the open of the show, he went down the schedule of the next day's games and referred to Purdue as "Purdon't." I'm sure he thought that was clever, but Purdue people don't generally think of that as a term of endearment. Then, he threw it out to Wayne Larrivee and Chris Martin for a report from the "University of Indiana." It's not U of I, but Indiana University. So, he managed to offend the fans of 18% of the schools that pay his salary in his first minute on the air. Nice start.
The show also featured two correspondents who each spent time at one of the schools and took in some of the game week atmosphere. One attended Penn St and introduced us to things like the Creamery and the Friday night pep rally. The other was at Michigan and did things like work in the food service line and hang out with the band. They had reports interspersed within the show and sometimes talked with each other and Hall. The individual reports seemed OK, but there wasn't a lot of chemistry among them when they were on together. It could have been due to some technical trouble. It looked like the remote guys had problems hearing at times.
Game day was a big winner for the Big Ten Network because it had one of the biggest upsets in recent years, and it was the main game on the network at the time. Appalachian St stunned Michigan 34-32 in Ann Arbor in a game that may not have been on a TV screen at all if not for the BTN. (Note that all games have some sort of "television" coverage to accommodate replay, but some of those broadcasts are internet-based and not over the air).
For me, it meant that I got to watch the game, but I couldn't see it live. I was covering the Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game (speaking of disastrous home openers) that day, but when I came home, I watched the replay. The crew on that game was Thom Brennaman and Charles Davis, who did a pretty good job. They were as surprised as anyone else, but never disrespected or patronized ASU.
There were a couple of funny lines from that broadcast. During the open, we had the requisite shot of Michigan entering the stadium and Brennaman was talking about how Michigan had dreams of a National Championship. Those would be quashed four hours later. Late in the game, Davis noted that this was only the second game he and Brennaman had worked together, and that the first was the Boise State-Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl. Brennaman then said, "I bet Jim Tressel will be really glad to see us next week." They'll be doing the Akron-Ohio St game.
Also, Big Ten fans got to watch Tressel take on his old school, which certainly wouldn't have been on outside Columbus otherwise. And Indiana fans got full coverage of not only the Hoosiers' game with Indiana St, but all of the remembrances of their late coach, Terry Hoeppner.
There have been a few other minor things, like graphics misidentifying Oregon State as the Ducks (which would not be forgivable if it were the Pac 10 Network) and Michigan tackle Jake Long as a wide receiver. I also notice that sometimes the graphics on my TV are cut off on the left side.
And then there is the whole issue of distribution. DirecTV has it (and that's how I see it). Comcast does not, and it has a big chunk of the cable rights in Big Ten country. Negotiations have been public and acrimonious, so it doesn't look like Comcast or Dish Network, the other major satellite service, will be coming on board anytime soon. I think it will become more pressing as basketball approaches because the network will have more compelling matchups in basketball season than it gets in football.
All in all, the opening weekend was a pretty decent start for the Network. I don't know how many problems brand new networks typically have in their first few days on the air, but the BTN didn't seem to have too many and nothing that isn't fixable. I think the network is going to end up being a great thing for Big Ten fans, especially when they all have access to it.
Friday, December 15, 2006
Curious promotional idea
Since sponsors spend a big wad of money to put on bowl games, naturally, they like to promote it. Champs Sports, which is a sports apparel store that sponsors a bowl, has a window display with a caption saying "We love football so much, we have our own game, and everyone's invited." The display has a space for four shirts, so around here (NW Indiana), you would expect Purdue shirts in the display because Purdue's playing in the game. Of course, you would be wrong. At the store in the mall in Hobart, IN, the display has four Indiana shirts.
When I went to the counter to buy, ironically, a Champs Sports Bowl shirt as a gift (if the person I bought that for is reading this, please act surprised when you get it), I couldn't resist asking the clerk about the display.
Me: "Can I ask a stupid question?"
Her (clearly exasperated): "I put Indiana shirts in the display because the manager told me to."
Me: "I take it I'm not the first to almost ask about it."
Her: "No. The manager says that the Purdue stuff is selling better, so he wants it where people can get to it. We have extra Indiana stuff, so he said to use that."
Me: "Don't you think that's kind of a silly way to promote the company's bowl game?"
Her: "I just do what the manager tells me to do."
The manager was unavailable for comment.
When I went to the counter to buy, ironically, a Champs Sports Bowl shirt as a gift (if the person I bought that for is reading this, please act surprised when you get it), I couldn't resist asking the clerk about the display.
Me: "Can I ask a stupid question?"
Her (clearly exasperated): "I put Indiana shirts in the display because the manager told me to."
Me: "I take it I'm not the first to almost ask about it."
Her: "No. The manager says that the Purdue stuff is selling better, so he wants it where people can get to it. We have extra Indiana stuff, so he said to use that."
Me: "Don't you think that's kind of a silly way to promote the company's bowl game?"
Her: "I just do what the manager tells me to do."
The manager was unavailable for comment.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Wrong way to appeal
I'm sure many of us have felt like doing this, but until now, none of us were stupid enough to actually try it.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Nashville Star
You would think someone with a seasonal job like mine would be able to write more once the season was over, but it hasn't worked out that way. I'm still catching up with all the stuff I let go during February and March.
During my late night downtime this spring, I did something I would have never imagined myself doing. I watched almost the entire season of Nashville Star, which is the country equivalent of American Idol. It would be an understatement to say that I don't much care for country music. Most of the time, I actively avoid it, but Nicole Jamrose was on the show, so I watched to see how she did. Jamrose, which is a great name for a country singer, is from Dyer and I had a chance to see her perform around here once a few years back, so it was pretty neat to see a local singer get that kind of chance. She did very well too, finishing third. The winner was a kid named Chris Young, who will soon be a superstar. He's unbelievably talented. In fact, the top five or six singers on Nashville Star were a lot better than anyone I saw on American Idol.
It will be interesting to see how her success on the show ends up affecting her career. Does she end up with a record deal and a shot at big-time success, or does she go back to playing the bars of NW Indiana? I suspect it'll be the former, but first, she goes on a tour with the other top four finishers on the show. If you're into that kind of thing, the tour is mostly in the southeast in July. Check your local listings.
During my late night downtime this spring, I did something I would have never imagined myself doing. I watched almost the entire season of Nashville Star, which is the country equivalent of American Idol. It would be an understatement to say that I don't much care for country music. Most of the time, I actively avoid it, but Nicole Jamrose was on the show, so I watched to see how she did. Jamrose, which is a great name for a country singer, is from Dyer and I had a chance to see her perform around here once a few years back, so it was pretty neat to see a local singer get that kind of chance. She did very well too, finishing third. The winner was a kid named Chris Young, who will soon be a superstar. He's unbelievably talented. In fact, the top five or six singers on Nashville Star were a lot better than anyone I saw on American Idol.
It will be interesting to see how her success on the show ends up affecting her career. Does she end up with a record deal and a shot at big-time success, or does she go back to playing the bars of NW Indiana? I suspect it'll be the former, but first, she goes on a tour with the other top four finishers on the show. If you're into that kind of thing, the tour is mostly in the southeast in July. Check your local listings.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
Life in the DMZ
Living in NW Indiana can be a lot like living in a DMZ. You're not really part of any particular country, or in our case, state. There were a couple of stories in the news this week that illustrate this point.
On Wednesday, Mitch Davis, the Governor of Indiana, which is technically the state we live in, held a statewide town hall meeting which was "broadcast to every corner of the state." Care to guess which corner was left out? That's right! No TV or radio station in NWI was even given the opportunity to broadcast the meeting. The closest stations to us that had it were in South Bend. We didn't even know about it up here until after the fact. WISH-TV in Indianapolis, which was in charge of the broadcast, said that they offered it to the Chicago stations because we are considered part of that TV market, but obviously, they weren't interested. We do have a local PBS station in Merrillville, but it was not offered the broadcast.
On Thursday, the Chicago Bears announced that playoff tickets would only be available to residents of Illinois. Here in NWI, we're really suburban Chicago. I live closer to the city now than I did when I lived in Deerfield. However, if you want Bears playoff tickets, you're better off living in East St. Louis (293 miles from Soldier Field) than in East Chicago (23 miles from Soldier Field).
Lake and Porter counties could secede from Indiana and nobody would notice. We'd probably be better off except that our governments, especially in Lake County, are comically corrupt and we need the help of the state to keep these guys in line.
I hope everybody has a Happy New Year!
On Wednesday, Mitch Davis, the Governor of Indiana, which is technically the state we live in, held a statewide town hall meeting which was "broadcast to every corner of the state." Care to guess which corner was left out? That's right! No TV or radio station in NWI was even given the opportunity to broadcast the meeting. The closest stations to us that had it were in South Bend. We didn't even know about it up here until after the fact. WISH-TV in Indianapolis, which was in charge of the broadcast, said that they offered it to the Chicago stations because we are considered part of that TV market, but obviously, they weren't interested. We do have a local PBS station in Merrillville, but it was not offered the broadcast.
On Thursday, the Chicago Bears announced that playoff tickets would only be available to residents of Illinois. Here in NWI, we're really suburban Chicago. I live closer to the city now than I did when I lived in Deerfield. However, if you want Bears playoff tickets, you're better off living in East St. Louis (293 miles from Soldier Field) than in East Chicago (23 miles from Soldier Field).
Lake and Porter counties could secede from Indiana and nobody would notice. We'd probably be better off except that our governments, especially in Lake County, are comically corrupt and we need the help of the state to keep these guys in line.
I hope everybody has a Happy New Year!
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
A new F-word in Chicago
Federated Department Stores, the owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, among many other regional chains, announced yesterday that it would change the name of the Marshall Field's chain based in Chicago to Macy's. The name change doesn't take place until Fall 2006, so they've given themselves time to come to their senses.
Field's is a 153-year-old Chicago institution, whose State St. store is one of the signature buildings in the city. It survived the Chicago Flood and the Great Chicago Fire, but it didn't survive the F-word. You can't grow up in Chicago without being familiar with the Walnut Room and the Christmas decorations in the windows. The building is featured on postcards in Chicago. When it comes to local retail, Field's isn't just the biggest name, but there is no real #2.
Now, F-word comes in and slaps a mediocre New York department store name on it. That's like renaming Wrigley Field "Yankee Stadium," or calling the Hancock Center the "Empire State Building."
Well, I have news for you, F-word. We're very provincial in Chicago. Very. And we hate New York. Killing Field's is bad enough. Naming it Macy's will go over here like New Coke.
F-word will say they're trying to create a national brand. We don't care. We like our local brand. They'll say they can save money using national advertising. We don't care.
Field's has suffered in recent years after Target bought it and tried to turn it into a Wal-Mart, but things had turned around in the last year or so. Now, they've alienated many of the customers they have left, and they're unlikely to win any new ones. Nobody is going to grow up here with memories of Macy's. Not good ones, anyway.
Field's is a 153-year-old Chicago institution, whose State St. store is one of the signature buildings in the city. It survived the Chicago Flood and the Great Chicago Fire, but it didn't survive the F-word. You can't grow up in Chicago without being familiar with the Walnut Room and the Christmas decorations in the windows. The building is featured on postcards in Chicago. When it comes to local retail, Field's isn't just the biggest name, but there is no real #2.
Now, F-word comes in and slaps a mediocre New York department store name on it. That's like renaming Wrigley Field "Yankee Stadium," or calling the Hancock Center the "Empire State Building."
Well, I have news for you, F-word. We're very provincial in Chicago. Very. And we hate New York. Killing Field's is bad enough. Naming it Macy's will go over here like New Coke.
F-word will say they're trying to create a national brand. We don't care. We like our local brand. They'll say they can save money using national advertising. We don't care.
Field's has suffered in recent years after Target bought it and tried to turn it into a Wal-Mart, but things had turned around in the last year or so. Now, they've alienated many of the customers they have left, and they're unlikely to win any new ones. Nobody is going to grow up here with memories of Macy's. Not good ones, anyway.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Railcats win!
Congratulations to the Gary Railcats, which won the Northern League championship. The Railcats came back from two games down in the series to win the final three. In the deciding game on Sunday, they defeated Fargo’s Brandon Culp, who was 15-0 on the season entering the game.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Trail gets closer to Daley
There was another set of indictments in Chicago the other day as the Feds continue to attack the city's hiring practices. This time, they got the guy who is in charge of the Mayor's Patronage Hiring Department (which has some other name that escapes me).
Apparently, people are coming out of the woodwork to cooperate with authorities in the hopes of leniency. Among the incidents cited in the indictment was a case of a dead guy getting a job that he interviewed for after he was technically deceased. Nobody complained that he was "late" for his interview (editor: insert rim shot here).
Another job went to a soldier who was deployed in Iraq at the time of his supposed interview.
A third went to a guy who showed up drunk for the interview. When the personnel manager appealed to the head of the PHD about the applicant, he said to just do the best he could with him.
The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial yesterday, called these revelations "jaw-dropping." You would think an entity that had been around as long as the Tribune would know better. The only thing that would be jaw-dropping about Chicago's hiring practices is if they were clean.
Mayor Daley better watch his seat. The Feds may be getting ready to set fire to it.
Apparently, people are coming out of the woodwork to cooperate with authorities in the hopes of leniency. Among the incidents cited in the indictment was a case of a dead guy getting a job that he interviewed for after he was technically deceased. Nobody complained that he was "late" for his interview (editor: insert rim shot here).
Another job went to a soldier who was deployed in Iraq at the time of his supposed interview.
A third went to a guy who showed up drunk for the interview. When the personnel manager appealed to the head of the PHD about the applicant, he said to just do the best he could with him.
The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial yesterday, called these revelations "jaw-dropping." You would think an entity that had been around as long as the Tribune would know better. The only thing that would be jaw-dropping about Chicago's hiring practices is if they were clean.
Mayor Daley better watch his seat. The Feds may be getting ready to set fire to it.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Dyer is da bomb!
Any day now, I expect to see the most spectacular fireworks show of all time, which will be what happens when the town of Dyer explodes. I get this feeling every year, but it hasn't happened yet.
Dyer is a little town just on the Indiana side of the state line with Illinois, and because of taxes and the most idiotic law in all of America, 95% of the Dyer economy is based on the sale of gasoline, cigarettes and fireworks. The first mile and a half of US 30 from the state line into Indiana, which is the Dyer business area, you see a school, a couple of churches, five gas stations (three of which are Speedways), about a dozen places to buy cigarettes and another dozen to buy fireworks. Fortunately, there is also a hospital.
Lower taxes fuel the cigarette and gas sales from our neighbors in Illinois. The fireworks sales are seasonal (spring, summer and fall) and are due to a law which says you can buy any fireworks you want in Indiana as long as you promise to not blow them up here.
You'll be shocked to learn that law is not strictly enforced. If you had a cop on every corner, they still wouldn't be able to keep up. The only thing more surprising than that is that the fireworks industry contributes megatons of money to Indiana politicians so this stupidity can continue.
As a result of the spinelessness of our legislature, you can get anything from little firecrackers to thermonuclear devices in Dyer.
As you can probably tell, I'm not a big fan of the fireworks. The vast majority of the major explosives end up in the hands of kids who have no idea how to handle them. But, I'm just as offended by the wink-wink-nudge-nudge nature of the law. If we're going to let people buy the fireworks, we should let them shoot them off. If we're not going to let people shoot them off, then we shouldn't sell them.
I think they should be banned, even at the significant risk of turning Dyer into a ghost town, but either way, the Indiana legislature should make up its damn mind.
Dyer is a little town just on the Indiana side of the state line with Illinois, and because of taxes and the most idiotic law in all of America, 95% of the Dyer economy is based on the sale of gasoline, cigarettes and fireworks. The first mile and a half of US 30 from the state line into Indiana, which is the Dyer business area, you see a school, a couple of churches, five gas stations (three of which are Speedways), about a dozen places to buy cigarettes and another dozen to buy fireworks. Fortunately, there is also a hospital.
Lower taxes fuel the cigarette and gas sales from our neighbors in Illinois. The fireworks sales are seasonal (spring, summer and fall) and are due to a law which says you can buy any fireworks you want in Indiana as long as you promise to not blow them up here.
You'll be shocked to learn that law is not strictly enforced. If you had a cop on every corner, they still wouldn't be able to keep up. The only thing more surprising than that is that the fireworks industry contributes megatons of money to Indiana politicians so this stupidity can continue.
As a result of the spinelessness of our legislature, you can get anything from little firecrackers to thermonuclear devices in Dyer.
As you can probably tell, I'm not a big fan of the fireworks. The vast majority of the major explosives end up in the hands of kids who have no idea how to handle them. But, I'm just as offended by the wink-wink-nudge-nudge nature of the law. If we're going to let people buy the fireworks, we should let them shoot them off. If we're not going to let people shoot them off, then we shouldn't sell them.
I think they should be banned, even at the significant risk of turning Dyer into a ghost town, but either way, the Indiana legislature should make up its damn mind.
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