Chicago Rado Spotlight: Judd Sirott

My latest interview is now up at Chicago Radio Spotlight. This week I spoke with WGN radio's Judd Sirott about his incredibly cool job--doing the Blackhawks and Cubs pre and post game shows.

You can read it here.

Johnny Kaempfer

I can't believe it, but it's true. I have two teenagers now.

Happy birthday, Johnny!

Can it really be 13 years?

Coming this weekend

I know we'll be losing an hour of sleep this weekend (spring ahead--move the clocks up an hour), but I hope you'll still have time to check out my weekend offerings.

This weekend I interview WGN sportscaster Judd Sirott for Chicago Radio Spotlight. I'll be posting it on Saturday morning.

On Sunday, I'll post my latest Father Knows Nothing column. It will be about a battle I finally lost after 47 years of valiantly fighting it.

Have a great weekend!

Supermarket Crankiness

I've been providing weekly guest columns to my friend Kim Strickland's "A City Mom" blog at ChicagoNow under the name "A Suburban Dad", and this week's entry has officially been posted.

It's called: "Supermarket Crankiness."

You can read it here.

E-mails, we get e-mails

My buddy Brent, a long-time vegetarian, is shocked (shocked!) that I'm becoming a vegetarian for Lent. (I once asked him to write a piece for this blog about what it's like to be a vegetarian, which I thought was pretty darn funny.)

He sent me the following e-mail yesterday, with the 5 reasons why Rick can't possibly become a vegetarian...

1. Wait, there’s no eggs in eggplant?
2. He doesn’t even own a pair of Birkenstocks
3. Germans are not huggers, much less tree huggers
4. Anytime someone say Peta, he giggles
5. Tofu looks like my luffa sponge, and tastes like it too.

Cars 2

The latest Pixar movie "Cars 2" is coming out on June 24th. The good folks at Pixar have sent me this photo and trailer to share with you.

My boys are pretty darn excited.

God Only Knows

Bob Dearborn's almanac really has something interesting every day, at least for someone like me that likes music from the 60s, 70s and 80s. I really thought I had an encyclopedic knowledge of that era's music, but he always has something I had never heard before. Like this little item from 45 years ago today...

March 10, 1966…Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys recorded the instrumental track for "God Only Knows." There were 23 studio musicians involved, but none of the Beach Boys played on the session. The vocals were recorded over the following month by three members of the group: Carl Wilson singing lead, Brian Wilson and Bruce Johnston doing backup vocals, probably the only well-known Beach Boys track that has just three voices on it. Mojo magazine ranked "God Only Knows" as the 13th-greatest song of all time.

Great, great song. Probably my second favorite Beach Boys record...

Garza watch

I'm not panicking yet, but has anyone else noticed that Matt Garza is getting lit up in spring training this year?

Yesterday he gave up six runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Keith Moon

From The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac this morning, 35 years ago today was a bad one for Keith Moon and the Who...

"March 9, 1976…For the second time, the Who's Keith Moon collapsed while performing at a show, this time at Boston Garden. Though drug and alcohol abuse were again the culprits, singer Roger Daltrey told the crowd that Moon was suffering from the flu. The performance ended at that point but the group played a make-good concert for ticketholders on April 1."

Here's a video of another time he passed out on stage. You can see Roger and Pete discussing what to do, and Roger saying "He's out cold." Then you see Keith actually being carried off the stage. It's a pretty compelling video.

No Silva Lining

Yahoo Sports take a look inside the numbers so far this spring for the fiesty and unlikable Carlos Silva.

It ain't pretty.

Second Jobs

Back in the old days, baseball players couldn't make ends meet with their baseball salaries, so many of them took second jobs.

Some of their more interesting jobs are this week's Tale from a Bad Century at JOBC.

Take Me to the Mardi Gras

Fat Tuesday. Mardi Gras.

Searching for the Wisconsin 14

John Oliver travels to the scary state of Illinois...

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Jennifer Aniston's viral video

Calling it a viral video doesn't seem right (don't you have to earn that?), but I'm going to play along this one time. I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of these and less actual commercials...

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.