Big Win for US Soccer

The next game will be tougher (vs. Mexico in Mexico)...

Weighted to perfection. pic.twitter.com/6lzAPuQUJL

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 9, 2017

Cubs Issues

This 2017 season is starting to feel like a repeat of the 1985 season. That year the entire Cubs pitching staff, which had led them to the brink of the World Series in 1984, went down with injuries.

The second Cubs starter went down this week. Kyle Hendricks is on the DL.

But more disturbingly, Addison Russell has been placed on leave, after being accused of domestic violence. MLB is investigating.

Not good.

On the other hand, this was a touching moment last night...

What an incredibly special moment! Ben's dad surprised him by throwing out the first pitch to Ben at tonight's ga… https://t.co/NnwNmm62p4 pic.twitter.com/WudMC51kUl

— Julianna Zobrist (@JuliannaZobrist) June 9, 2017

Minutia Men, Episode 54

EP54 – Rick and Dave discuss embarrassing misspelled searches, a man truly committed to mowing his lawn, Jenkins shutting down an airline, and Rick’s brush with Charlton Heston.

You can listen to it here.

Is there something on TV today?

Hunkering down for a little daytime TV.

When the Watergate hearings were happening, I was mostly ticked off because they interupted my Dick Van Dyke show reruns.

This time I have a box of popcorn.

JRL in Union, IL

This Saturday from 10am-4pm as part of the 42nd Annual Phonograph & Vintage Music Show, 8512 S. Union Road, Union IL, 815-923-7000.

Dave and I will be there too.

Mark Gelinas on HLN

Eckhartz Press' very own Mark Gelinas on national television...

Another one out of middle school

We took him out for ice cream after the ceremony...

Graduation Day

Son #3 is graduating from 8th grade today.

Back to blogging tomorrow.

John Landecker in Union, Illinois

This Saturday beginning at 10am, I'll be joining John Landecker in Union, IL for a phonograph & vintage music show. Should be a great time. John will be signing and selling copies of his book "Records Truly Is My Middle Name"

Details about the show are right here.

This is an area we've never gone before, so any of those Landecker fans in that general vicinity should come on out! A good time will be had by all. John is bringing some of his own personal records to sign as well.

John Williams Back in Chicago Full Time

From this morning's NOW Newsletter...

John Williams has had one foot frozen in Minneapolis and the other one planted in Chicago, but now he’s leaving the Twin Cities – and its reticent listeners. The talk-host tells the Star Tribune that Chicago audiences – like the ones he’s entertained on Tribune’s talk WGN/720 – “are much more forward. They tell you what they think.” While Minnesotans “are more inclined to text or tell you what they feel at a cocktail party.” He says getting listeners of CBS Radio’s news/talk WCCO/830 to call in and voice opinions “always felt like an uphill battle.” John just did his last 3pm-6pm show for ’CCO last Friday, and is moving to Chicago where he’s got family. He’d been originating a Saturday morning show for WGN after moving to the Twin Cities, and in recent months he’s also created a 1pm-3pm weekday show for WGN – followed by that three hours on WCCO. Doing two markets every day, he says, is “not good for your mental health.” He started offering $50 to a caller’s favorite charity if they caught him using the wrong call letters.

Cumulus Wants No Dickey

The people who run Cumulus broadcasting have noticed that their former chairman has been slowly amassing a war chest of cash, and they are getting nervous. From this morning's Inside Radio...

The plan includes what’s known as a “poison pill” which would automatically be triggered if someone buys more than 4.9% of the company’s stock on the open market. It comes as former chief executive Lew Dickey’s newly created Modern Media has amassed a $207 million war chest seeking acquisition targets.

Once activated, Cumulus’ poison pill would award shareholders with incremental shares of stock or give them the option to buy shares at a significant discount if the company becomes a takeover target. Either action would effectively dilute the acquirer’s position to 50% or less of what they’ve acquired.

Dickey may be the founder of Cumulus, but there's a good reason he was forced out. Many people believe he is the biggest reason the company stock is now less than a dollar a share.

Must See-TV

How big is this Jim Comey testimony on Thursday?

The networks are covering it live. It could be several hours of no ads. That's how big it is.

ABC, CBS, CSPAN, and all three cable news channels will be covering this sucker.

The question is this: Will the president be live tweeting it, or will his staff succeed in hiding his phone from him?

RIP Jimmy Piersall

Cubs coaches recall working with Jimmy, who passed away this weekend.

I told my brush with Jimmy in a previous episode of Minutia Men. You can listen to that here.

Jimmy was immortalized in film by Anthony Perkins in "Fear Strikes Out"...

Bill Maher

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't like Bill Maher if I got to know him better. I met him once, and it didn't go well. On the other hand, I do watch his show every week and think he does provide a valuable service. He is an unwavering liberal, as aggressive in his beliefs as the standard conservative is on his or her side.

But this weekend I did cringe when he flopped out the "N" word, trying to make a joke about himself. First of all, the joke wasn't funny. Secondly, that's a word that should just be dropped into the bins of history.

To his credit, Maher did something the day after that he never does. He apologized.

Somebody is actually hiring

From Tom Taylor's NOW column this morning...

They’re hiring, at Chicago Public Media’s not-for-profit news/talk WBEZ Chicago/91.5 – “a dozen reporters, editors, producers and hosts,” says media blogger Robert Feder. The newsroom’s already at 56 people and CEO/President Goli Sheikholeslami aims to take that number “to 68 by December and to 90 by 2020.” With Chicago’s two daily newspapers perhaps merging and Tribune Media apparently going to Sinclair Broadcasting, the CEO says there’s more need for independent media – like WBEZ.

The World Series Ring

At a charity event this past weekend I got a chance to wear a Chicago Cubs World Series ring. it belonged to the Cubs trainer, who was kind enough to let me wear it. We might have gotten a little carried away...

If the President can do it...

...so can I.

No blogging today. I'm conducting business.

I am technically the president and co-publisher of Eckhartz Press. The other guys I'm golfing with could be heads of state. You'll never know. There's a media blackout.

Nigeria, Hello

In my instant messenger box this morning, a note from Nigeria...

Good morning sir,actually I see it as an honour and privelege coming in touch with you sir,on the platform,although sir,I read about you,while looking for great authors in my career of which the books,could make a great impact in my life & generally,in the practice of the profession. I am ige olalekan by name, student "nigerian institute of public relations" but now building career in broadcasting of which based on my passion for content development,I came across the name of your book"The radio producer's handbook" of which based on your wealth of experience will go a long way to improve my skills, & have in positive impact in terms of broad thinking, exposure & viewing things from the perspective of a professional.

That's not the sort of message I receive every day, needless to say.

Minutia Men, Episode 53

EP53 – Rick and Dave discuss fasting, 20th century comedy gems from Dave, another crazy story from Florida, Every Cub Ever with the letter U, and Rick’s brush with actor William Petersen.

Listen to it here.

Bonus Father Knows Nothing: The Emergency Room

My fifth book "Father Knows Nothing" has become a bit of a seasonal choice. When Father's Day rolls around, we know to be stocked up on books. This year I thought I'd feature a few of the outtakes from the book. I wrote the column for nine years, so there are lots of them that didn't make the final copy of the book, including a few of my favorites.

This one goes back to 2006. It was the second Father Knows Nothing column ever.




I always thought Emergency Rooms were supposed to be scary. They certainly seemed scary to me when I was a kid. We used to go there as a family to wait for my little brother while he was being stitched up every month or so. The waiting room was uncomfortable. Sick and injured people moaned in pain and dripped blood on the floor. Nurses and doctors came running in and out. Monitors beeped. Ambulance alarms whirred. And everyone waited for hours.

That’s what I was expecting the first time I accompanied Tommy to the Emergency Room to get stitches. He was eight years old at the time and had a very deep cut in his chin. I tried to prepare him emotionally for the whole Emergency Room experience, but he looked at me like I was crazy. He had been there a few times before with his mother and wasn’t concerned in the slightest. I gave him a comforting hug.

“You are so brave,” I said. “I’m so proud of you.”

He actually rolled his eyes. That choked me up. This kid was like one of those cowboys in the old time Westerns. His eyes were saying…“It’s just a flesh wound, Hoss; let me dig out the bullet in peace. Now go out there and keep them rustlers away from our herd.”

He was still nonchalant when we walked into the Emergency Room and awaited our turn with the triage nurse. He made small talk with her, wincing only slightly when she looked at the gash on his chin.

“Does it hurt?” she asked.

“A little,” he said.

“A little?” I thought to myself. “That thing is going to need ten stitches.”

“It’s a pretty big cut,” she said, “but we’ll take care of it for you.”

“Are we going back there?” he asked, pointing to the door behind her.

She nodded.

Uh oh, I thought. Here it comes. Now he’s going to remember what happens behind those doors; the needles, the prodding, the pain. I prepared for the hysterical reaction. I saw how he behaved when some small thing went wrong, like his macaroni touching the vegetables on his dinner plate, and could only imagine what was coming. I hunkered down for the fit of all fits.

“Follow me,” she said.

We followed her through the door to the kid’s section of the Emergency Room. Suffice it to say, it has changed a little over the past thirty years. The colorful walls were painted with cartoon fish. The gigantic fish tank contained a rainbow of tropical fish worthy of the Shedd Aquarium. It was like walking onto the set of “Finding Nemo.”

When they opened the curtain to his room, he was actually excited. He jumped onto the bed, pressed the buttons to raise it to the level he preferred, adjusted the television to the proper angle, and began changing channels. While the nurse put the numbing agent on his chin, he was watching a Tom & Jerry cartoon on the Cartoon Network.

“Do you have any video games?” he asked.

I was about to chastise him for his prima-donna demands when the nurse surprised me.

“Sure,” she said. “What kind of video games do you like?”

“Do you have Super Mario Brothers?” he asked.

“I’ll go get it,” she said, and walked out of the room before I could even utter a response. My boy looked up at me and smiled.

“Dad,” he said, “You’re gonna love this one.”

I’ll admit it. I found myself watching him progress through the levels of the video game instead of watching the doctor stitch up his chin. When the stitching was done, the doctor told us it was OK to leave.

“After this next level,” Tommy said.

She smiled and said, “I’m sorry, but we need the bed.”

My son started to get upset, so I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

“Don’t worry,” I said, “I’m sure you’ll injure yourself again. We’ll be back.”

“You promise, Dad?” he asked.

“I promise,” I said.


Father Knows Nothing makes a perfect Father's Day gift, particularly for new dads, or fathers of boys. You can order the hard copy here at Eckhartz Press for only $10, and the e-book here at amazon.com