while the cubs give the windy city something to cheer about this fall. the "unbearables" will be on display for the nation tonight. also a national audience will witness the reopening of soldier field. the quote has been overused by the media here, but once you see it you too will say: "it looks like a ufo landed on the old stadium." my friend rob, a season ticket holder, saw the inside of soldier field on saturday and assured me it looks much better on the inside. but on the outside we can all agree this detracts not enhances chicago's magnificent skyline.

if i'm still dreaming don't wake me up. my oh my what a glorious day. where to begin this tale? so my wife, and i, rob and heather, went to murphy's bleachers on sheffield & waveland to watch the final two innings of yesterday's game. absolute bedlam when the cubs turned the closing double play. the bartenders were spraying champagne everywhere -- i made off with about half a bottle --- which was then liberally poured. on the way to murphy's we stopped and had our picture taken with a guy in a milwaukee brewers' sausage race suit. thank you AGAIN brew crew!! after murphy's it was off to john barleycorn for many more rounds. a pit stop at la bamba to get some burritos 'as big as our head". then it was off to gamekeepers down in lincoln park. we're drinking still chanting "the cubs win the pennant!" when the bartender points out that moises alou and randall simon are just hanging out a stanley's across the street. rob and i head over and congratulate the guys on their game. then shoes and i take a picture with simon. what a year?! a couple of months ago i'm sitting in milwaukee watching the sausage race game, last night i meet the sausage basher himself, on the streets on chicago after the cubs clinch the pennant. whose writing this script?! closed off the night on a rooftop overlooking chicago's beautiful skyline. what a day.

read about my opening day @ wrigley a few years back.

the cubbies magic number is down to one game!! thank you again milwaukee. . .

looks like this is become a cubs fan blog. sorry folks can't help it, i got pennant fever. the only cure is seeing the cubs in the playoffs. big thank you to the brew crew last night who did a job on the astros. now as mr. cub aka ernie banks once said, said: "lets's play two." and win that the double header today @ wrigley.

this also is worth checking out this weekend: martin scorsese's the blues on pbs.

just heard lin brehmer on xrt posing that age old question: "is it better to be a cubs fan and never have known love at all?" this is a team that has raised heartbreak to sadomachistic levels. you know the history of blowing an 8 game lead to the mets in '69. you know they snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. and then games like last night still have the power to shock you to disbelief. how is this possible? how is it so cub-like. has anyone ever said it better than royko? "An optimist see a glass half full, a pessimist sees it half empty ... a Cub fan wonders when it's gonna spill."

here's hoping friday and the weekend sees the cubs again alone in first place. dusty bring out your magic dust again, we need some mojo.

good news for those that have been checking out my site i've fixed some of those broken movies files in the ads section of cold storage. and . . .as an added bonus there is now a page 2 of funny ads. only three so far, but worth checking out.

hey check it out, just got an email from will hansen, sba president @ john marshall. i've won the election. thanks to everyone in my section for your support, i will do my best to represent you well in the coming year. drop me an email.

a concert review | damien rice 9.23.03 @ park west
the black crowes have been critiqued as a poor man's version of the rolling stones. this is not a diss of the crowes, going up against the legend of mick & keith is a tough standard for any rock n roll band. that said, i'd rank the crowe's southern harmony & muscial companion up against anything the stones have put out since tattoo you, way back in '81. in fact one could even argue that the crowes have done a better job at "being the stones" than the stones. but this is not a review about either one of those bands. just keep it in mind when i say damien rice is a poor man's jeff buckley. not trying to disrespect mr. rice, just calling it like i see it. my wife and i had the pleasure of seeing damien last night. i think he's going to be big. he has well written songs, and a great stage presence. his encore had snippets of prince ("doves cry"), led zeppelin ("babe i'm gonna leave you"), and portishead ("nobody loves me") so you gotta like the influences if nothing else. definitely check out a couple of his songs: volcano delicate. rice closed with a song called "cold water" and then leonard cohen's "hallelujah". the memory of buckley's drowning and comparison of "hallelujah" versions was inevitable. buckley definitely had a voice that comes once in a generation, but maybe where will damien rice surpass him is in marketing savvy. only now is buckely getting sales to merit his critical aclaim. rice already is in heavy radio rotation, and getting lots of video airplay on vh1 and mtv. but i can't help thinking back to the summer of '94 when a sony a/r person gave me a promo copy of grace, saying "this guy is the next big thing." here's wishing a long career for damien rice. don't nick drake and jeff buckley on us. the world has seen enough talented singers die young.

first off, thanks to everyone whose stopped by my site recently. i've heard from lots of folks at john marshall the last couple of days. don't forget to vote for sba rep tomorrow. whether you choose me or one of the other qualified canidates, be sure to participate in the electoral process.

check this out. the zagat guide just released a list of the top albums of all time. let the arguments begin. and speaking of arguments. . .
former ohio state star, maurice clarett, intends to make a legal challenge to nfl draft eligibility rule. i hope he's ready for a long and difficult legal battle. personally i think clarett has some real character isssues, but he's correct in attacking this nfl rule. collusion to restrict his means of employment is illegal in fact and principle. for some related reading check out this very cool site on the late curt flood. who is curt flood you ask? only jackie robinson had a greater impact on the game -- or make that, the business of baseball.

astros lose!! cubbies in first place. the day is off to a good start.

you don't have to be a lawyer or law student to appreciate this story from this week's onion.
Supreme Court Gets Free Box Of Shoes After Mentioning Nike In Ruling
WASHINGTON, DC�The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court were treated to a free crate of athletic shoes Monday, following an offhand mention of Nike during a ruling in the case of McBrayer & Company v. The City Of Detroit. "All I did was say that the claims made by the defendant were similar to those made by Nike when defending labor conditions in its Asian footwear factories," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said. "Next thing you know, we get this big box of red Air Zoom Spiridons in the mail. Inside the box was a form letter from Nike's publicist. Sweet!" The Supreme Court will begin its new session Oct. 6, with Case 03-130: Sony High-Definition Widescreen Televisions v. Fossil Sterling Silver Multifunction Watches v. Bombay Sapphire Gin.

just an fyi to the folks that regularly check out my site. i'm running for office, so you might see some different stuff on the front page. once the election is over, everything will be back to normal.

speaking of elections don't forget to vote for my buddy dave for governor of california. he's unemployed and needs the money.

sweat it, just got tickets for only $15 to see damien rice at the park west. the park west is w/o a doubt my favorite venue in chicago. intimate, friendly staff, great sound, should be a very cool night. don't know who damien rice is? take a listen.

in the priest we trust -- priest holmes that is. my fantasy team, the slack jawed yokels are off to their best start in 5 years. 2 and 0 and winning by big ol' chunks of points. the boffo move this week, was my decision to bench tony gonzalez in favor of minnesota's jim kleinsasser, i'm rewarded by 2 tds! it's even sweeter, since the guy i was up against had randy moss, who only got one score.

my beloved 'skins are also 2 and 0, with patrick ramsey looking like the second coming of joe theisman. give the boy time and he's got a real nice arm and touch. last time the 'skins went 2 and 0 was 1991. which is also the year they went to the super bowl. this is a weird year, i'm not making reservations just yet, but with the mighty eagles winless, making the wildcard or the playoffs from our division is not out of the question.

two years ago. . .

i'll never forget what a wonderful indian summer day it was. . .75-80 degrees, a nice breeze blowing in from the city, no humidity, just a picture perfect fall day. . .

i remember standing on my roof in brooklyn trying to see the city through the cloud of black smoke. . .the awful acrid burning smell. . .people walking home covered in dust, cut and bruised, looking like a defeated army. . .fire trucks, so many firetrucks, from as far away as coney island screaming up our street. . .F-14 jets flying low overhead. . .i thought the world was coming to an end. and in some ways it was.

our life in new york can be marked as the time before and the time after. and nothing for anyone who lived in new york at the time would ever be the same. today i'm going to think about the days before, when the world was a safer, smaller, happier place.

well maybe i spoke to soon about the redskins' prospects this year. they looked really good against the jets. patrick ramsey showed some nifty moves out there, and the running game while missing stephen davis looked respectable. my football team is in first place. the cubs are in first place. and my fantasy team team the slack jawed yokels are romping through the 1st week of the season. is it time for me to start playing the lottery?

got the new jeff buckley cd yesterday. i have a feeling its going to stay in my cd player for quite awhile. absolutely amazing. and speaking of amazing. usually around this time of year its all about one thing -- football season. college or pro, its what the weekend was made for, but this year in chicago things are a little different. don't get me wrong still love the pigskin over the diamond, but i've caught the pennant fever of the chicago cubs. down 6-0 yesterday they came back to win. mosies alou was a perfect 5-5. contrast that against my 'skins prospects for this year and you can see why i'm looking forward to baseball in october.

a good, relaxing holiday weekend in wisconsin. two minor blips on the radar, on the way out of the city friday night i got my first traffic ticket -- EVER. in a rush to head up north i ran an orange light, i say orange because it was damn close, if had slammed on my brakes at that point i would have caused an accident and been rear-ended. unfortunately one of chicago's finest was a couple of cars behind me and my wallet is now $75 lighter. the other boo hoo of the weekend was saturday out golfing. my crappy score, as usual, was causing no undue amount of mental anguish, when on the 8th hole i felt pain of the physical kind in the elbow. some kid on hole #5 sent a 30 yard line drive right at me. the kid's dad apologized profusely, and youngster (about 11 or 12) mumbled something. there was no blood, all my teeth were where they should have been, but just a little bit higher and i would have been KOed.

but as i said at the start of this entry the weekend was good and relaxing. i went back to the vacation cottage put a cold beer on the bruise, and drank some with advil and i was ok. we ate some great food, drank lots of margaritas, sat around a bonfire, and saw an amazing celestial display away from city light pollution. all in all i can't wait to go up there again.