Katie Couric shakes her sillies out

Katie Couric Investigates the Sillies from Katie Couric

Tina Turner

Exactly 45 years ago today (info courtesy Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac)...

March 7, 1966…With Phil Spector as producer, Tina Turner recorded the vocal track for Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep-Mountain High."

I still think it's her all-time most powerful song...

George Will

I almost never agree with George Will, but I do like him for some reason--maybe it's a bond among fellow Cub fans.

But I'm guessing that his conservative friends are not happy with what he wrote in yesterday's Washington Post about what will happen if some of these 2012 Republican hopefuls don't stop spouting the crazy...

"The nominee may emerge much diminished by involvement in a process cluttered with careless, delusional, egomaniacal, spotlight-chasing candidates to whom the sensible American majority would never entrust a lemonade stand, much less nuclear weapons."

Ouch.

DJ Who?

So who was that kid in the double-flap college-style helmet with no name on his back that hit the 2-run walk off homer in the Cubs first televised game of spring training yesterday?

His name is DJ LeMahieu, and he's another former LSU guy. The Cubs drafted him in 2009 (2nd round) after he led the Tigers to the College World Series title.

He played for Class A Daytona last year and hit .314 with 73 RBI and 15 stolen bases. He looks like a pretty good prospect. He's a 22-year-old shortstop.

Father Knows Nothing

This week's Father Knows Nothing column is now up at NWI Parent. I call this one "Extreme Lent" and it tells the tale of my insane plan for Lent this year.

You can read it here.

Chicago Radio Spotlight: Michael Damsky

My latest interview has been posted at Chicago Radio Spotlight. This week I spoke with WLS-AM & WLS-FM GM Michael Damsky.

You can read it here.

Tips for Geezer Parents

My guest blog has been posted at ChicagoNow. I call it "Tips for Geezer Parents."

Coming this weekend

Later today I'll be posting a guest blog at ChicagoNow's "A City Mom." This one will provide tips for older parents.

Tomorrow morning I'll post my latest Chicago Radio Spotlight interview. This week's subject is the man that runs both WLS-AM and WLS-FM; Michael Damsky.

And then on Sunday, I'll post my latest Father Knows Nothing column. This week's column will reveal my plan for "Extreme Lent."

Have a great weekend!

Joke for a Friday Morning

Contributed by "LR"...




For several years, a man was having an affair with an Italian woman. One night, she confided in him that she was pregnant. Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he said he would pay her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to secretly have the child.

If she stayed in Italy to raise the child, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18. She agreed, but asked how he would know when the baby was born..

To keep it discreet, he told her to simply mail him a post card, and write 'Spaghetti' on the back. He would then arrange for the child support payments to begin.

One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife.

"Honey," she said, "you received a very strange post card today."

"Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later," he said.

The wife obeyed and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted.

On the card was written: "Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Three with meatballs, two without. Send extra sauce."

Joke for a Thursday morning

Contributed by "MM"...




A husband and wife are shopping in their local Wal-Mart. The husband picks up a case of Budweiser and puts it in their cart.

"What do you think you're doing?" asks the wife.

"They're on sale, only $10 for 24 cans," he replies.

"Put them back, we can't afford them," demands the wife, and so they carry on shopping.

A few aisles further on along the woman picks up a $20 jar of face cream and puts it in the basket.

"What do you think you're doing?" asks the husband.

"It’s my face cream. It makes me look beautiful," replies the wife.

Her husband retorts: "So does 24 cans of Budweiser and it's half the price."

He never knew what hit him.

In midseason form

Yesterday was only March 2nd, but lo and behold, the Cubs are already fighting in the dugout.

And it wasn't even Carlos Zambrano this time.

There must be an unofficial "craziest Carlos" award given out every year. Look out Zambrano. Carlos Silva is gunning for you this season.

A fan's guide to fun at Wrigley

A writer for Yahoo sports wrote a piece with her recommendations for enjoying Wrigley Field.

I agree with a lot of what she wrote, but I think everyone has their own preferences and routines.

As for me, I usually sit in the same seats (section 228, row 2, seats 5 & 6) because I share season tickets, but when I buy from a scalper, I'm looking for bleacher seats in the cold weather (every month except for July and August basically), and shady seats (just under overhang, in the first couple of rows) in the hot or rainy weather. If it's a beautiful day, I go for best seats available.

My regular seats are also by the two most important concession stands at Wrigley...the grilled hot dog wagon, and the Beers around the World stand. Why pay $6.75 for a Bud Light when you can get a Becks for $6.50? And those hot dogs with the grilled onions...mmmm. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Those two concession stands are so important to me that I'm actually only going to one game this year before April 24th. You see, I'm giving up alcohol and meat for Lent this year, and can't have either of them before Easter on April 24th. (I call it "Extreme Lent"). I've watched a Cubs game without having a beer before, but I'm not sure I've ever gone to Wrigley without having a hot dog. I'm afraid I'll break out into a cold sweat.

By the way, if you're interested in getting a more detailed description of my Wrigley ritual (and boy am I a creature of habit), the main character in my first novel "$everance" goes through it in Chapter 29, starting on page 190.

Laughing baby video

If you can watch this without at least smiling, you're made out of stone.

My favorite joke of the year

Thanks to "AA" for sending this to me...




"A public union employee, a tea party activist, and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, 'Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie.'"

The Cubs are looking for a new PA announcer

And they're making a bit of a contest out of it.

The details are here.

In the fine print: you do need some prior experience as a PA guy, at least at the college level. Darn. I honestly thought about applying.