Chicago Radio Spotlight: Chet Coppock

This week I interviewed Chet Coppock at Chicago Radio Spotlight. I think it's probably one of the best interviews I've ever done thanks to Chet. He was in rare form. Read it here.

This week in 1908

The Merkle Game. I told the story via video last year on the 100th anniversary...



There's more here: This week in 1908

World's Longest Basketball shot

Don't know if it's real or not, but it looks real...

Pat Malone

The big Irishman was born on this date in 1902.

Pat Malone was one of the best pitchers on the Cubs in the late 1920s and early 1930s, but he was also one of the best hell-raisers.

Read all about that here.

Glenn Beck

I don't know how old this clip is, but whoo boy, you've got to see it. This is Glenn Beck explaining a metaphor by tossing a frog into a boiling hot pot of water. This reminds me so much of the Les Nessman turkey discovery in WKRP in Cincinnati.

Milton apologizes

He's still a goner, but at least he apologized.

Details are here.

My new favorite show

I watched this last night. Great show!

Cubs clinch division

On this date in 1984, exactly twenty five years ago, the Chicago Cubs clinched their first playoff spot since World War II.

Rick Sutcliffe threw a two-hitter in Pittsburgh.

Here is the audio of that final out.

Happy birthday to a great mustache

The Cub player attached to this mustache was born on this date in 1952. Read all about him here.

Another review of $everance

By Sean Lyon...







"“They don’t cover more stories than we do. They cover less—just the same thing over and over again all day long.” This line from Severance, spoken through the mouthpiece of the liberal media “Hoss” Sampson is very indicative of what we see today from the 24 hour cable news networks of the CNN and HLN ilk.

From my point of view a 24 hour news network is not a bad advancement. However, unlike, say, a 24 hour weather channel in which every detail can be objectively measured by trustworthy, accurate instruments, I realize that the introduction of the human element in the delivery of news brings with it laziness, bias, and because nobody wants to bore an audience, a bit of that old sensationalism.

Another character, Richard Lawrence, a onetime journalism student who because of cutbacks to his news “department” has to read day old news (what torture to a news man! You feel his pain at the onset of the novel), becomes disillusioned by how he sees others reporting the news. His observations of the falling standards compared to the way he was taught in college shatter his naivety and passion. He sarcastically questions whether someone has used two confirmed credible sources before airing an outrageous segment. But as Lawrence discovers and the author Kaempfer illustrates, it's a gun slinging atmosphere in the news, “Shoot first, ask questions later.”

Even though Severance is in large part a satire on political media and politically motivated characters, because of Zagorski's (and possibly Kaempfer's) indifference, bordering on annoyance, towards politics it remains just that, good, even handed satire, with the real punches aimed at the spurious journalism that fills these TV & radio shows. And unfortunately for us, that is not satire. Severance it's an accurate appraisal of the industry."

Protect Insurance Companies

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Tom Delay dancing

Parade for the pennant winners

On this date in 1932, the city of Chicago (led by Cub fan Mayor Anton Cermak) threw a ticker-tape parade for the pennant winning Chicago Cubs.

It's a moment captured forever on film.

The World Series against the Yankees turned out to be slightly anti-climatic. It's a good thing we do our parades before the World Series.

Worst Song Ever

"BP" chimes in on the Worst Song Ever discussion...

With all due respect, "Rose Garden" can't be mentioned in the same breath with the all time worst song ever placed on vinyl, "Afternoon Delight." This monstronity was #1 during a good portion of 1976. In one of biggest travesties in Grammy history, Starland Vocal Band beat out Boston for best new artist. In addition, they afflicted us with a TV variety show that ran during the summer of 1977. Both David Letterman and Jeff Alman participated in this televised roadkill. I'm sure both Dave and Jeff would advocate burning all evidence of that TV mistake that surely can be rationalized due to their youth and inexperience.

All excellent points.

Worst song ever

In this week's "Father Knows Nothing" column, I declared that "Rose Garden" by Lynn Anderson was the worst song of all time.

I've since had a few other suggestions, which have given me pause.

RP: Worst song...I'm sorry, but "Run Joey Run" by David Geddes is the worst song ever recorded.

AS: "Rose Garden” may be a steaming pile of dreck, but it still pales in comparison to the revulsion I feel for “Seasons in the Sun.” I assume Terry Jacks is a senior citizen now, so I’m trying not to have negative thoughts about what I would do if I ever met him.

Hmmm. Hard to dispute those choices.

Milton Bradley

Turns out he really was a clubhouse cancer.

Read this article on mlb.com. There are quotes from teammates Ryan Dempster, Reed Johnson, Ryan Theriot, Derek Lee, and Aramis Ramirez.

Bradley won't be coming back.

This reminds me very much of Sammy's departure. The Cubs finally say "Enough!" and do it in a very public way, thereby diminishing the value of the player to a point where they can't get anything for him. On the other hand, in this case, there isn't a GM in baseball who doesn't know about Bradley.

At this point, Hendry will take a bag of balls for him.

Wrapping up the birth announcment controversy

I had loads of fun with that birth announcement controversy this past week. Thanks again to Mary Schmich for writing a column about it. The story was picked up by scores of newspapers around the country, including USA Today. At least a half dozen radio shows in Chicago did bits on it too. I also appeared on Brian Noonan's show on WGN to talk about it.

But probably my favorite part of this story is that I'm now on Snopes.com. If you want to debunk someone that swears an idiot Cub fan actually named their child Waitle Nex Yeare, you can do it on Snopes.

A day of lasts

Two Cub Hall of Famers had memorable days on this date in history.



In 1983, Fergie Jenkins pitched in relief of Chuck Rainey and earned the 284th (and final) win of his career. A young 2B named Ryne Sandberg stole his 36th base of the season in that game.








In 1997, that same young 2B played his final game at Wrigley Field. The Cubs beat the Phillies that day 11-3. Ryne Sandberg singled in his last at-bat, and was replaced by pinch runner Miguel Cairo.

Father Knows Nothing

I just posted my latest Father Knows Nothing column at NWI Parent. It's called "Back to the 70s" and it's about a day I knew was coming: Fighting about haircuts.

You can read it here.