Father Knows Nothing

My latest Father Knows Nothing column has been posted. This week I try to put into words what attending the Paul McCartney concert with my son meant to me.

You can read it here.

This week in 1908, 1945

Every weekend JOBC goes back in time to the last year the Cubs won the World Series (1908) and the NL Pennant (1945).

This week in 1908, a race riot breaks out in Springfield Illinois, as the Cubs limp home from a road trip six games out of first place.

This week in 1945, the Cubs are in first place, but there's a slightly bigger story in the news. The U.S. has just dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima.

Eleanor Rigby

45 years ago today the Beatles released their album "Revolver" along with the single "Eleanor Rigby" (the flipside was "Yellow Submarine").

This is a real good version of the song from Paul's horrible "Give my regards to Broadstreet" movie...

As the Rupert Turns

On this morning's episode of As the Rupert Turns, we discover the unlikely hero of this story. Would you believe it's Hugh Grant? He and a few others were the ones that kept this story alive after Rupert had almost successfully swept it under the carpet.

The full story is here.

NFL to test for HGH

Are we about to see the end of 350 pound men that run a 4.4 40 year dash? If they're really going to test for HGH, then maybe there's a chance. I sure hope so. It wasn't just getting ridiculous, it was getting ridiculously dangerous.

That said, however, bring on football. Baseball season ended in Chicago about two months ago.

The Spam King is indicted

It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Have you ever had your Facebook account hacked and had someone send out a gazillion spam messages under your name? I've always said that if those darn hacker/spammers were caught, we should throw the book at them.

Well, finally, one of them was caught, and was indicted yesterday.

If they need someone to throw a book at him, let me know.

The Media & The Crash

Yahoo! asks the question: "Did the media coverage of yesterday's stock market crash make it even worse?"

I'll answer that question for you: Of course.

I watched a little bit of it, and it was as if we were being attacked by aliens. "Run for the hills, run for the hills, run for the hills!"

I honestly think our "financial press" is worse than any other part of our media apparatus. They're never right (ever!), they don't investigate malfeasance (ever!) and when things go bad they just scream.

Misunderstood lyrics

"SS" writes about misunderstanding "Bennie & The Jets" also...

"I used to sing, "She's got electric boots, her mom has too..." We were just talking about that the other day! Bernie Taupin, Bernie Schmawpin."

Colbert on Baseball's Worst Records

Colbert discusses Adam Dunn and Craig Counsel and takes an unnecessary (but funny) swipe at the Chicago Cubs in the process...

The Colbert Report
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Sights & Sounds

Friday is Sights & Sounds day at JOBC, and we have video of Harry Caray the night the Cubs clinched in 1984 and audio of Rod Beck getting his 50th save in 1998.

The worst hitter ever

Adam Dunn is going after his record of the worst hitting season ever (he hit .139 one year).

Craig Counsel is going after his worst (non)hitting streak ever (he went 0 for 46 in one stretch).

But neither of them will ever match the overall futility of Bill Bergen. The New York Times has a great article about him.

2 1/2 Men

It's already been reported that Charlie Sheen's character will be killed off, but how are they introducing his replacement?

Here's the story line: Ashton Kutcher will play an Internet Billionaire with a broken heart. So says the AP this morning.

Now that I know, there's no reason to tune in. So I won't.

As the Rupert Turns

On this morning's episode, as police notify more people about potential phone hacking, litigants are lining up to sue Rupert and News Corp. The number of people who had their phones hacked may go into the thousands. If all of them sue, Rupert is in deep financial doo doo.

That little tidbit is reported this morning in Rupert's own Wall Street Journal.

Rogers Hornsby

The story of the great Rogers Hornsby must make Pete Rose crazy. Rogers was one of the best right handed hitters in baseball history...but he was also a notorious gambler.

That's today's Tale from a Bad Century.

Misunderstood Lyrics

Jim Smith was one of my program directors during my tenure at WJMK Radio. He was also the music director of WLS during it's heyday, and has tons of great stories about those days. (Some of which he told during my Chicago Radio Spotlight interview with him a few years ago). But I never heard this one he told to Tom Taylor in his Radio-Info.com column this morning. It's an amusing example of misunderstood lyrics...

"I was Music Director at WLS, Chicago in the mid-70s when a call came in from a listener who wanted to know the title of a song he said we were frequently playing. The only portion of the lyrics he could identify was where they sang 'I want to do that f---ing b-tch.' Huh?!? He didn't sound upset, and it turns out it was his favorite song. He wanted to know the title so that he could buy a copy. I, however, was baffled. We had Elton John's 'The Bitch Is Back' in recurrent rotation, but he said that wasn't it. 'I know that one. This is by some other guy.' And he repeated the lyrics for me. (I, uh, heard them the first time.) I asked whether he remembered any of the other lyrics. No. Could he tell me what was sung immediately before this line? He thought it was an instrumental, and then this portion was repeated over and over. Could he tell me what came after this repeated line? 'Oh, yeah. It was 'Take me by the hand, mama' or something like that.' Bingo! I recited some other lyrics and he confirmed my guess. It was 'Black Water' by the Doobie Brothers. What he thought he heard was actually 'I want to hear some funky Dixieland...'”

Around this same era the song "Bennie & the Jets" by Elton John was a hit. My buddy Stu and I bought the 45 because we were sure Elton said the line "She's got electric boobs." It made us titter every time we heard it. We didn't find out until years later that it was only "electric boots," but by then Zayre already had our 99 cents.

Boys will be Boys

My latest Suburban Dad contribution to the City Mom blog at ChicagoNow has been posted.

This week it's called "Boys will be Boys"

As the Rupert Turns

You'd think I would run out of stories in this ongoing series, but you would be wrong. In today's episode another former Rupert managing editor is arrested in the phone hacking scandal.

This story isn't going away.

Wrigley without Old Style?

There's a rumor going round that Old Style is trying to get out of their 61 year relationship with the Cubs.

The Chicagoist reports on the rumor.

Men's Advice Column

World's Best Flyers Making Fun of Other Flyers

Love this one.

There are even more available here.

The Most Brilliantly Pointless Street Flyers

Love this one. (Click on the photo to enlarge it.)

There are a bunch more here.

Rick Springfield

30 years ago this week I returned home from a six week adventure in Europe (the summer after my high school graduation) to discover that this country had lost its collective mind.

I knew this to be a fact when I found out that this was the #1 song in America...



When I listened to it this morning, it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it. Maybe I've lost my mind now too.

RIP Sporting News Radio

Just five years ago or so Sporting News Radio shut down their headquarters here in Northbrook and moved out west.

Now, they aren't even known as Sporting News Radio anymore.

Their new name: Yahoo! Sports Radio

As the Rupert Turns

On this morning's episode, it is revealed that News International (Rupert's company) ordered a mass scrubbing of their e-mails nine different times this year.

Nothing suspicious going on here. Move along everyone. I'm sure there was no evidence at all in those hundreds of thousands of e-mails.

Poll Numbers

This should make President Obama feel a little better. PPP did a poll asking about job approval. Obama's numbers have gone down, but so has someone else's.

God's approval rating is down to 52%.

I kid you not. (Unless the New York Daily News is messing with us, which I suppose is possible.)

Son of 2 1/2 Men

I'm having a hard time wrapping myself around this new "2 1/2 Men" show with Dick Sargent...er, I mean Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen.

How are they getting rid of Charlie? According to this, they're killing him off.

That's what they think of you, Charlie.

I admit it. I'll be checking out that first episode to see just how harshly they do this.

Rebel

Tuesday is Great Nicknames day at JOBC, and this week feature the man his teammates called "Rebel".

Read all about him here.

The JOBC Contest

Time for this week's JOBC Contest.

The first person that e-mails me the correct answer at rick@justonebadcentury.com will win a commemorative Greg Maddux 3000th strikeout scorecard and a t-shirt from the Just One Bad Century catalog.

Here's the question. Albert Pujols got the 2000th hit of his career this weekend against the Cubs. This week in 1999 a Cubs player accomplished the same feat. Name that Cubs player.

UPDATE: Gary Compton was the first person to e-mail me the correct answer to the question this week. The man that got his 2000th hit this week in 1999 was Mark Grace.

McCartney at Wrigley

This is the song that made my son Tommy jump out of his seat with excitement at the concert last night. It was awesome to see him so excited...

As the Rupert turns

On this morning's episode, Rupert's prize acquisition (the Wall Street Journal) asks its readers if their owner's scandal impacts their opinions about the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times reports on that survey today. Some very interesting questions.

All News

It's been a pretty exciting few days in Chicago for news junkies. Two all-news radio stations are now on the FM dial; at 101.1 FM ("FM News 101") and 105.9 ("WBBM NewsRadio" simulcast).

Now when I need to find out which tornado will hit me next, I won't have to listen to the crackling noises. That always made the storm sound scarier.

Monte Irvin

This week's Cubs Hall of Famer at Just One Bad Century is the great Monte Irvin.

Read all about him and watch him talk about one of the most important moments of his life--and it had nothing to do with baseball.