Eric, not in response to anything in particular, but (as a 40 year resident of LGP, now FL) when I read your stuff and JK’s stuff, I usually think: Ilinois: You gotta be kidding me!?
That photo of Putler with those words are perfect!
What's truly baffling are all the members of the former virulently anti-Communist Republican Party who now love Russia & Putler & want him to destroy the nascent democracy in Ukraine & then overrun all the former satellites of the now wonderfully extinct Soviet Union & turn them into satraps of his, along with invading NATO countries, which the fat orange bastard, seditionist & outright traitor would never help defend, despite the existence of Article Five of the NATO treaty, in which we pledge to help out any other member of NATO that's invaded & which the other countries of NATO did just that with this country after September 11, 2001!
Mary's column reminded me of Al Gore's SNL monologue reviewing the first 6 years of his presidency 2000-2006. It's gut-wrenching to think how closely we sometimes miss out on great opportunities. I guess this is what inspires time travel Sci fi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMOGYipQeyM
"Some 87% of you are age 60-plus, which is what inspired the joke nameplate above. Twelve percent are in the 45-59 age bracket, and just 1% are under 44."
Literally made me laugh out loud. Didn't think it would be that extreme. I'm 33.
Thank you for Mary’s unpublished column about Hillary Clinton winning the election! It reminded me of how elated I was to vote for her that year, made especially memorable with my granddaughter going to the polls with me to vote in her first election. From elation to devastation in one day — the election results were beyond heartbreaking as are the conditions and stupidity that continue to reign in our country. Talk about an election that altered the course of history! ALSO, would love to know your view on when did the teacher’s union leadership become so combative? Gates, along with Brandon, could benefit from compassionate conversation training! Love your writing and your Mincing Rascals podcast. Keeps us up to date on the ever-fascinating political happenings and personalities in Chicago.
I also voted for Hillary Clinton. During the election I remember saying that there are probably more women voters than men. That her chances of winning looked pretty good.
I got brought up short by a conservative who pointed out some thoughts.
When you hang out with men, some consider themselves superior to women, some equal, but NONE ever say they are below women.
Get a group of women, a few say they are superior to men, a bunch say they are equal and some say they are below men and subject to them. Whether because of religion or upbringing, there are a bloc of women that will vote against women to keep them in their place.
They remain an important reason why Hillary may not win besides the acceptable “male superiority” position some males push.
Well Hillary lost for a variety of reasons, including this backlash of anti-women women.
They are still out there…how sad.
We have had a Black President, it seems an even greater hurdle for a woman to be President.
Barbara Jordan said racism was far less an issue for her than sexism. The day Mary posted this column on FB was the same day another woman candidate, Nikki Haley, dropped out. I think there are more men out there than will ever vote for a woman than women who won't. This is probably because by and large, I enjoy the friendship of a heck of a lot of strong women, including all three of my daughters, who are Uber-liberal and frequently complain of the "patriarchy," including when their father is around.
On your statements about women hating women: The culture in which I grew up in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s depicted men as the people with agency making an impact in the world, and women as people without agency, as supporting players. And the support revolved around sex and caring for children. Women, not men, were seen as sexual. (Which is kind of weird because both men and women are attractive in their own way, and both men and women experience pleasure in sex.) Playboy magazine was a commercial success during those times; Playgirl magazine was a flash in the pan. The women’s movement sought, with some degree of success, to change those cultural gender expectations. We have more movies and television shows now which depict women as the agents of action and change in the world. And that’s a good thing. But, just as there are men who want to return to the culture of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, there are some women who wish to do so as well—women who were comfortable with the gender culture of that time. Do you remember the line in My Big Fat Greek Wedding—something to the effect of “the man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck, and the neck can turn the head”? The idea was that the woman would use her wiles and persuasion to get what she wanted notwithstanding her status as a second class citizen. That line sort of captures, I think, what some women who are against the changing gender roles feel. They say things like, “I want to preserve the differences between the sexes.” Perhaps they were comfortable or successful interacting within the gender culture of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and want it to remain. In that sense, those women aren’t really “anti-women.” They are against the cultural changes in which women are seen as agents of action and change in the world, and equal to men in that respect. I’m sure that Phyllis Schlafly, who is largely responsible for the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, would have told you that she was not anti-women. I think that this desire to preserve the cultural gender expectations of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s is largely what is motivating the MAGA people. If you look at the worldwide right wing governments and movements today, including Russia and Hungary, what they call “preserving traditional gender roles” is one of their important themes. That’s also why they want LGBTQ+ people back in the closet. Change is hard for some people. But, thank goodness, the women’s movement has been somewhat successful, and it won’t be stopped.
You brought up Phyllis Schlafly…a world class successful con artist.
One of her tricks was to tell women, “You may be subject to unisex bathrooms!”.
This seemed to have some effect on some women.
Of course Phyllis forgot to mention that she used a unisex bathroom on the flight with no issues or problem.
I believe she has a daughter who continues her anti woman crap.
I thought the ERA was a slam dunk, boy was I wrong. And I would love to see another attempt to pass it, but you must admit, it will not be easy and still would have a very good chance to fail.
She’s not nearly as well known as Sarandon, but she’s been around awhile. I first remember seeing her as a reporter in The Dead Pool (the Dirty Harry movie, 1988), and later on in a couple of Woody’s lesser efforts.
She's a pretty well known supporting actress. She was Downey's wife in Good Night and Good Luck. My family are all movie nuts, and play a very competitive game of Name the Character Actor and/or Obscure Movie Quote.
I'm not suprised about the age and political makeup of the survey, though I, too, miss our conservative friends from CoS. We disagreed often, yet respected each other (most of the time).
Yeah, JerryB, MikeN and those guys were pesky and in some cases relentless, but they added to the conversation in often very interesting ways. JoeP, too. Yet they bailed out on me early.
Forgive me while I play Captain Obvious. Brandon Johnson campaigned on one thing and did another after getting in? Duh!. It's called being a politician. The new governor of North Carolina is a racist sexist pig? Duh! Like we don't all know someone that says stuff like that in private when they think they are safe from public view! I constantly credit Trump for making people comfortable saying su h things in public. The mayor of Dolton now wants to be Vladimir Putin. Note how she had the cops waiting around to get rid of the opposition. Caitlin Clark and Pistol Pete? I have always pooh-poohed comparing athletes from different eras. They can only compete against those with them at the time. That's the main problem with choosing people for halls of fame based on stats.
Yep. But also, there have been ever-increasing changes changes in the rules (to protect the quarterback, chucking at the line, limiting certain kinds of hits, etc.) that have inflated passing numbers over time. (Remember Jack Tatum and "They Call Me Assassin"?, passing routes and schemes have changed due to the rules changes.)
I’m going to watch dark Brandon tonight! State of the Union! 8:00 p.m. And we can all judge how with it he is. I’m remembering a past State of the Union where he used Republican hecklers to get a commitment not to cut Social Security.
Moderately Conservative over 60 here. If anyone here is taking a Republican ballot in IL 14 (Lauren Underwood’s district) I’m on the ballot as a Christie delegate. At this point, our votes don’t matter for presidential nominee. Might as well try to give the orange man the middle finger from Illinois. If anyone is interested in knowing how Christie found me and others it’s an interesting (?) story.
You know how candidates are always asking for money? Christie needed a certain number of donors to get on the debate stage. So I sent him some. He then had my contact information. His campaign called in November and asked if I’d be a delegate. I said yes, so a few weeks later his Illinois campaign called and emailed forms. I got them notarized and not wanting to spend his money I offered to deliver them in person. I drove to Warrenville and found that his whole Illinois campaign was two temps from Texas working out of the lobby of a Residence Inn. They were nice, and hard working. They had to do a lot of heavy lifting to get delegates. They didn’t fill all the slots, but most. And he dropped out a week later. (Not the most exciting story, but it is what it is)
Unless you were a Democratic mayor of a NYC suburb who refused to endorse him & then he shut down the George Washington Bridge entrances from your suburb. Plus when the entire state of New Jersey shut down, including the state parks, he went to a state park beach all by his enormous lonesome, just to give a finger to all who live in the state!
I thought you promised to ignore me. Of course, I was aware of Bridgegate and his beach excursion during the COVID lockdown. But I stand by what I said. He seems down to earth and genuine, like a neighborhood guy.
I enjoyed him on ABC's Sunday morning politics show (I can't recall the names of all the Sunday shows). He and Rahm were spirited debaters and clearly off-screen at-least-sort-of-friends.
I was browsing women’s basketball, reading about Caitlin Clark when I came upon stories concerning the University of South Carolina Women’s basketball team.
They did not lose a game last season, and they have not lost this season..yikes!
Basketball is a team sport and undefeated teams are rare and iconic (Bobby Knight comes to mind).
Why so little hype here and so much on Caitlin? Expect these two teams will meet, it will be interesting to see who wins.
Michael Jordan was a great player and scorer, but needed Scotty and the rest to become the iconic Bulls Champions. Wilt Chamberlain won all kinds of scoring records, but Bill Russell won all the NBA championships with his iconic Celtics teams.
I am much more impressed by winning teams rather than individual scorers. It is nice to rack up points, but the main idea is to win the game!
Hey Joanie - Iowa this past weekend defeated Ohio State who had been ranked 2 or 3 at the time. If the NCAA and all of us fans are fortunate, Caitlin will lead Iowa to the finals again so that we can enjoy watching her for a good number of games before she finishes her college career.
Professional (and to a lesser extent, College) basketball used to be a team sport, but the crossover (carrying the ball) dribble, and the no-calls for traveling (in the pros - what is it - 5 steps? 6?) turned it into an individual's game.
Hey JayG - I could not agree with you more, particularly the NBA has become a joke. Traveling and palming the ball are still in the rule books as violations, but for whatever reason the refs simply ignore it even when it is patently obvious. LeBron James is the master for taking up to five steps down the lane for a dunk to posterize an opponent. I would pay a large sum of money to be able to see the look on his face if he was ever whistled for doing this. Add that to the way he constantly flops at the slightest contact, launching himself backwards onto his butt with his arms outstretched looking at the ref and demanding a call which he unfortunately all too often gets. The NBA is a business and the game is their product, so unfortunately they must believe this is what people enjoy seeing, but count me out.
Personally, I believe that it was Magic Johnson who effectively made the palming/carrying foul a dead letter in the NBA. A 6'9" guard? There hadn't been any (or darn few, anyway) before him because if a 6'9" guard is NOT carrying/palming the ball, it's going to be swatted away from him/her by a savvy defender in an instant. Johnson's game helped drive the "evolution" the NBA into what it has become. (I attended Magic's Michigan high school state championship game - Lansing Everette vs. Birmingham Brother Rice, spring, 1977 - where he carried his team on his back to win the State Championship.)
Thanks, I googled some video and did indeed see magic doing this. But I did not see him taking five steps through the lane the way James routinely does now. If the league isn't going to call these violations, they should change the rules. But at present, the established stars appear to be able to ignore them without being whistled. Interestingly, these are called in Olympic play, and is noteworthy that our all stars on the US Olympic team are fully capable of changing their game and not doing these. Very unfortunately, I believe that these infractions leading to monster dunks are similar to fighting being allowed on the ice in the NHL, that the respective leagues believe there are people who enjoy this and so they allow it.
all due respect to Bro. Rice for making the finals game vs Magic's [then Earvin's] Everett team in the '77 Mich HS playoffs was a semifinal. But the game of the year that year was Earvin's Everett team vs Jay VIncent's Eastern team in the district finals. it was the first HS game in Mich history to be televised.
while i won't take issue with your assessment that Magic carried/palmed the ball as a pro [i'd have to watch film], i would disagree with your claim that a savvy defender would have swatted the ball away from him. you seem to know enough about Magic to know that he was a uniquely talented individual, who won championships and was named MVP at every level he played at. i think it's more likely that he could have prevented almost any defender from swatting the ball away, regardless of whether he palmed/carried the ball.
He was an incredible talent. But I still believe that his style of play (carrying/palming the ball as "dribbling") was/is against the rules of the game. Here's a snippet of that BR-Lansing Everette Championship Game from 1977. (I was in the nosebleed seats - literally the last row of Crisler Arena.)
I played against Jay Vincent in high school Ann Arbor Pioneer got whupped by Lansing Eastern, and we'd all heard about this kid Magic Johnson. Wish I'd played against him. I'll bet everyone who did still talks about it.
what a great experience. i was 2 yrs past graduation from MAC [oops, MSU] at the time, living in the Lansing area, and keenly aware of this local kid Earvin 'Magic' Johnson. i saw the Everett-Eastern district championship game on tv, and was mesmerized by Magic. if he had been born into an era of cable/satellite/streaming tv and social media, he would have been a similar or greater phenomenon that Caitlan Clark.
EZ, did you realize at the time you were wintessing history-in-the-making?
and oh, BTW, few more nail-biting nites in my life than the nite before Magic announced he would attend MSU - and not U of M. having lived thru 40 yrs of the 'wilderness' of MSU-UM football, UM got all the top recruits from the state of Mich then. we got lucky with Magic.
Hey Peter - Caitlin Clark is more than just a scorer. She is among the women's collegiate leaders in assists with laser passes and also gets her share of rebounds. She is a consummate team player in addition to her long-range scoring prowess, making her teammates better and doing whatever she can for a team win. I relish the opportunity to be able to catch one of her games on TV - she is simply a joy to watch with her incredible skills. She is much more fun to watch than any other basketball player make or female at this point, a rare transformational talent and personality who has greatly elevated women's collegiate basketball, and I'm hoping she may be able to do the same for the WNBA!
Unlike this week's VTotW, the regular TotWs this week were "meh". I found 3 amusing, including the 2 (current) top vote getter. (That Store Tweet really hits home - and is not far from the truth.)
I was (but shouldn't have been) a little surprised at the results of your poll and your readers' self-reported demographics. I would have thought you'd have more readers under 44 (1%?).
I had never seen "Mother Lover" before - but I liked how they tied it into DiaB. Is that Patricia Clarkson as the other mother? (I'm too lazy to take the 20 seconds to find out.)
I finally pulled the plug on my digital Trib subscription, which is due for renewal later this week, and even when the live (I presume Philippines-based) operator offered me a 6 month renewal at 25 cents a week. There's just so little relevant content, and much of the content is quickly stale. You can tell that Alden has cut actual newsgathering staff to bare bones. I know you still have friends there EZ, and I have very fond memories of the Trib - especially of the late '80s and early '90s, and the 2-1/2 inch thick Sunday paper. (The Trib even had a musical TV commercial about how "thick and fat" the Sunday edition was IIRC.) 'Tis sad.
The recent hoopla regarding Tom Skilling's retirement brought to mind his brother Jeff Skilling - of Enron infamy. I'm curious to know what ever happened to him.
J Skilling served only 12 years in prison. Tried to start an oil and gas trading platform but it fell through. I believe he still lives in Texas with his fellow Enron figure wife.
EZ - you sent out some love to your conservative commenters to the PS, few as they may be. how about your libertarian commenters? 😉
i do enjoy the PS and the comments thereof, for a variety of reasons - incl'g that it is not an echo chamber - even tho content and commentary are dominated by liberal/progressive opinion, consistent with the demographics of the readership.
The elected school board for CPS was a capitulation to the CTU. When Johnson got elected, the appointed/elected transition became irrelevant. So, of course the CTU opted for the cheaper path of having Johnson appoint their preferred candidates and then only have to pay for 10 races in the first election. Future elections will merely be exercises in CTU career management. I don't see outside organizations being stupid enough to waste money on these elections any more than they waste money on any other Chicago or Cook County election.
i wish EZ would set up a poll on this issue - something like: what is your prediction for student achievement in CPS after 5 years of the elected school board?
this whole business of the elected school board will be a clown car - politicians and politician wannabes running on either single issues, paying homage to CTU, burnishing their credentials for higher [and more lucrative] political office, self-aggrandizement, or some combo.
and a 21-member board? you couldn't script a more reliable prediction for chaos in governance.
let's not 'kid' ourselves - an elected, 21-member CPS board is not about the best interests of the schoolkids.
How is it that the most notorious (and among the most photographed) people in the world has to fake pictures of himself with some Black people?
Just a thought, they should fake pictures of him standing normally.
It's not possible for him to stand normally, as the 3" lifts in the heels of his shoes make him stand at that weird forward angle.
How about "The [What's that word again? Ah, yes] Sentinel"?
Eric, not in response to anything in particular, but (as a 40 year resident of LGP, now FL) when I read your stuff and JK’s stuff, I usually think: Ilinois: You gotta be kidding me!?
What is LGP?
probably LaGrange Park
I live there now! La Grange Park, north of La Grange, west of Brookfield. Far west Cook County.
That photo of Putler with those words are perfect!
What's truly baffling are all the members of the former virulently anti-Communist Republican Party who now love Russia & Putler & want him to destroy the nascent democracy in Ukraine & then overrun all the former satellites of the now wonderfully extinct Soviet Union & turn them into satraps of his, along with invading NATO countries, which the fat orange bastard, seditionist & outright traitor would never help defend, despite the existence of Article Five of the NATO treaty, in which we pledge to help out any other member of NATO that's invaded & which the other countries of NATO did just that with this country after September 11, 2001!
He & they make me sick!
Regarding Tweet Madness, #5 & numbers 20-25 were unfair, as both in each of those were excellent.
Excellent group of weekly tweets this week, I liked 7 of the 10!
Last year I made a concerted effort to seed the tweets by margins of victory, but that was long and tedious work.
Mary's column reminded me of Al Gore's SNL monologue reviewing the first 6 years of his presidency 2000-2006. It's gut-wrenching to think how closely we sometimes miss out on great opportunities. I guess this is what inspires time travel Sci fi https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMOGYipQeyM
"Some 87% of you are age 60-plus, which is what inspired the joke nameplate above. Twelve percent are in the 45-59 age bracket, and just 1% are under 44."
Literally made me laugh out loud. Didn't think it would be that extreme. I'm 33.
One of my millennial friends who is under 44 did ask how to subscribe. Not sure if they did.
Thank you for Mary’s unpublished column about Hillary Clinton winning the election! It reminded me of how elated I was to vote for her that year, made especially memorable with my granddaughter going to the polls with me to vote in her first election. From elation to devastation in one day — the election results were beyond heartbreaking as are the conditions and stupidity that continue to reign in our country. Talk about an election that altered the course of history! ALSO, would love to know your view on when did the teacher’s union leadership become so combative? Gates, along with Brandon, could benefit from compassionate conversation training! Love your writing and your Mincing Rascals podcast. Keeps us up to date on the ever-fascinating political happenings and personalities in Chicago.
I also voted for Hillary Clinton. During the election I remember saying that there are probably more women voters than men. That her chances of winning looked pretty good.
I got brought up short by a conservative who pointed out some thoughts.
When you hang out with men, some consider themselves superior to women, some equal, but NONE ever say they are below women.
Get a group of women, a few say they are superior to men, a bunch say they are equal and some say they are below men and subject to them. Whether because of religion or upbringing, there are a bloc of women that will vote against women to keep them in their place.
They remain an important reason why Hillary may not win besides the acceptable “male superiority” position some males push.
Well Hillary lost for a variety of reasons, including this backlash of anti-women women.
They are still out there…how sad.
We have had a Black President, it seems an even greater hurdle for a woman to be President.
Barbara Jordan said racism was far less an issue for her than sexism. The day Mary posted this column on FB was the same day another woman candidate, Nikki Haley, dropped out. I think there are more men out there than will ever vote for a woman than women who won't. This is probably because by and large, I enjoy the friendship of a heck of a lot of strong women, including all three of my daughters, who are Uber-liberal and frequently complain of the "patriarchy," including when their father is around.
On your statements about women hating women: The culture in which I grew up in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s depicted men as the people with agency making an impact in the world, and women as people without agency, as supporting players. And the support revolved around sex and caring for children. Women, not men, were seen as sexual. (Which is kind of weird because both men and women are attractive in their own way, and both men and women experience pleasure in sex.) Playboy magazine was a commercial success during those times; Playgirl magazine was a flash in the pan. The women’s movement sought, with some degree of success, to change those cultural gender expectations. We have more movies and television shows now which depict women as the agents of action and change in the world. And that’s a good thing. But, just as there are men who want to return to the culture of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, there are some women who wish to do so as well—women who were comfortable with the gender culture of that time. Do you remember the line in My Big Fat Greek Wedding—something to the effect of “the man is the head of the family, but the woman is the neck, and the neck can turn the head”? The idea was that the woman would use her wiles and persuasion to get what she wanted notwithstanding her status as a second class citizen. That line sort of captures, I think, what some women who are against the changing gender roles feel. They say things like, “I want to preserve the differences between the sexes.” Perhaps they were comfortable or successful interacting within the gender culture of the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and want it to remain. In that sense, those women aren’t really “anti-women.” They are against the cultural changes in which women are seen as agents of action and change in the world, and equal to men in that respect. I’m sure that Phyllis Schlafly, who is largely responsible for the defeat of the Equal Rights Amendment, would have told you that she was not anti-women. I think that this desire to preserve the cultural gender expectations of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s is largely what is motivating the MAGA people. If you look at the worldwide right wing governments and movements today, including Russia and Hungary, what they call “preserving traditional gender roles” is one of their important themes. That’s also why they want LGBTQ+ people back in the closet. Change is hard for some people. But, thank goodness, the women’s movement has been somewhat successful, and it won’t be stopped.
You brought up Phyllis Schlafly…a world class successful con artist.
One of her tricks was to tell women, “You may be subject to unisex bathrooms!”.
This seemed to have some effect on some women.
Of course Phyllis forgot to mention that she used a unisex bathroom on the flight with no issues or problem.
I believe she has a daughter who continues her anti woman crap.
I thought the ERA was a slam dunk, boy was I wrong. And I would love to see another attempt to pass it, but you must admit, it will not be easy and still would have a very good chance to fail.
Motherlover is nasty...and hilarious. Btw Timberlake's mom is Patricia Clarkson.
I looked that up. Is Clarkson well known? I certainly hadn't heard of her, but she was well cast!
She’s not nearly as well known as Sarandon, but she’s been around awhile. I first remember seeing her as a reporter in The Dead Pool (the Dirty Harry movie, 1988), and later on in a couple of Woody’s lesser efforts.
Patricia Carlson is Justin Timberlake's mother? How on earth did I not know that?
Only for purposes of SNL.
She's a pretty well known supporting actress. She was Downey's wife in Good Night and Good Luck. My family are all movie nuts, and play a very competitive game of Name the Character Actor and/or Obscure Movie Quote.
She's also the Warden's (James Cromwell's) wife in "The Green Mile".
I'm not suprised about the age and political makeup of the survey, though I, too, miss our conservative friends from CoS. We disagreed often, yet respected each other (most of the time).
Yeah, JerryB, MikeN and those guys were pesky and in some cases relentless, but they added to the conversation in often very interesting ways. JoeP, too. Yet they bailed out on me early.
I LOVED Change of Subject! I miss that community tremendously.
Forgive me while I play Captain Obvious. Brandon Johnson campaigned on one thing and did another after getting in? Duh!. It's called being a politician. The new governor of North Carolina is a racist sexist pig? Duh! Like we don't all know someone that says stuff like that in private when they think they are safe from public view! I constantly credit Trump for making people comfortable saying su h things in public. The mayor of Dolton now wants to be Vladimir Putin. Note how she had the cops waiting around to get rid of the opposition. Caitlin Clark and Pistol Pete? I have always pooh-poohed comparing athletes from different eras. They can only compete against those with them at the time. That's the main problem with choosing people for halls of fame based on stats.
Especially in the NFL and QB stats.
Do you mean because the rules changed in the 70s to allow for more passing?
Yep. But also, there have been ever-increasing changes changes in the rules (to protect the quarterback, chucking at the line, limiting certain kinds of hits, etc.) that have inflated passing numbers over time. (Remember Jack Tatum and "They Call Me Assassin"?, passing routes and schemes have changed due to the rules changes.)
I’m going to watch dark Brandon tonight! State of the Union! 8:00 p.m. And we can all judge how with it he is. I’m remembering a past State of the Union where he used Republican hecklers to get a commitment not to cut Social Security.
Moderately Conservative over 60 here. If anyone here is taking a Republican ballot in IL 14 (Lauren Underwood’s district) I’m on the ballot as a Christie delegate. At this point, our votes don’t matter for presidential nominee. Might as well try to give the orange man the middle finger from Illinois. If anyone is interested in knowing how Christie found me and others it’s an interesting (?) story.
Why don’t you tell the story here?
You know how candidates are always asking for money? Christie needed a certain number of donors to get on the debate stage. So I sent him some. He then had my contact information. His campaign called in November and asked if I’d be a delegate. I said yes, so a few weeks later his Illinois campaign called and emailed forms. I got them notarized and not wanting to spend his money I offered to deliver them in person. I drove to Warrenville and found that his whole Illinois campaign was two temps from Texas working out of the lobby of a Residence Inn. They were nice, and hard working. They had to do a lot of heavy lifting to get delegates. They didn’t fill all the slots, but most. And he dropped out a week later. (Not the most exciting story, but it is what it is)
I kind of liked Christie even though I never would have voted for him. He seemed kind of down to earth and genuine, like a neighborhood guy.
Unless you were a Democratic mayor of a NYC suburb who refused to endorse him & then he shut down the George Washington Bridge entrances from your suburb. Plus when the entire state of New Jersey shut down, including the state parks, he went to a state park beach all by his enormous lonesome, just to give a finger to all who live in the state!
I thought you promised to ignore me. Of course, I was aware of Bridgegate and his beach excursion during the COVID lockdown. But I stand by what I said. He seems down to earth and genuine, like a neighborhood guy.
I enjoyed him on ABC's Sunday morning politics show (I can't recall the names of all the Sunday shows). He and Rahm were spirited debaters and clearly off-screen at-least-sort-of-friends.
I was browsing women’s basketball, reading about Caitlin Clark when I came upon stories concerning the University of South Carolina Women’s basketball team.
They did not lose a game last season, and they have not lost this season..yikes!
Basketball is a team sport and undefeated teams are rare and iconic (Bobby Knight comes to mind).
Why so little hype here and so much on Caitlin? Expect these two teams will meet, it will be interesting to see who wins.
Michael Jordan was a great player and scorer, but needed Scotty and the rest to become the iconic Bulls Champions. Wilt Chamberlain won all kinds of scoring records, but Bill Russell won all the NBA championships with his iconic Celtics teams.
I am much more impressed by winning teams rather than individual scorers. It is nice to rack up points, but the main idea is to win the game!
Iowa is ranked number 3 in the AP rankings, and South Carolina is ranked number 1. Maybe they will get to play against each other.
Hey Joanie - Iowa this past weekend defeated Ohio State who had been ranked 2 or 3 at the time. If the NCAA and all of us fans are fortunate, Caitlin will lead Iowa to the finals again so that we can enjoy watching her for a good number of games before she finishes her college career.
Professional (and to a lesser extent, College) basketball used to be a team sport, but the crossover (carrying the ball) dribble, and the no-calls for traveling (in the pros - what is it - 5 steps? 6?) turned it into an individual's game.
Hey JayG - I could not agree with you more, particularly the NBA has become a joke. Traveling and palming the ball are still in the rule books as violations, but for whatever reason the refs simply ignore it even when it is patently obvious. LeBron James is the master for taking up to five steps down the lane for a dunk to posterize an opponent. I would pay a large sum of money to be able to see the look on his face if he was ever whistled for doing this. Add that to the way he constantly flops at the slightest contact, launching himself backwards onto his butt with his arms outstretched looking at the ref and demanding a call which he unfortunately all too often gets. The NBA is a business and the game is their product, so unfortunately they must believe this is what people enjoy seeing, but count me out.
Personally, I believe that it was Magic Johnson who effectively made the palming/carrying foul a dead letter in the NBA. A 6'9" guard? There hadn't been any (or darn few, anyway) before him because if a 6'9" guard is NOT carrying/palming the ball, it's going to be swatted away from him/her by a savvy defender in an instant. Johnson's game helped drive the "evolution" the NBA into what it has become. (I attended Magic's Michigan high school state championship game - Lansing Everette vs. Birmingham Brother Rice, spring, 1977 - where he carried his team on his back to win the State Championship.)
Thanks, I googled some video and did indeed see magic doing this. But I did not see him taking five steps through the lane the way James routinely does now. If the league isn't going to call these violations, they should change the rules. But at present, the established stars appear to be able to ignore them without being whistled. Interestingly, these are called in Olympic play, and is noteworthy that our all stars on the US Olympic team are fully capable of changing their game and not doing these. Very unfortunately, I believe that these infractions leading to monster dunks are similar to fighting being allowed on the ice in the NHL, that the respective leagues believe there are people who enjoy this and so they allow it.
Yeah, Magic didn't travel, but he did popularize/make acceptable carrying/palming the basketball.
all due respect to Bro. Rice for making the finals game vs Magic's [then Earvin's] Everett team in the '77 Mich HS playoffs was a semifinal. But the game of the year that year was Earvin's Everett team vs Jay VIncent's Eastern team in the district finals. it was the first HS game in Mich history to be televised.
while i won't take issue with your assessment that Magic carried/palmed the ball as a pro [i'd have to watch film], i would disagree with your claim that a savvy defender would have swatted the ball away from him. you seem to know enough about Magic to know that he was a uniquely talented individual, who won championships and was named MVP at every level he played at. i think it's more likely that he could have prevented almost any defender from swatting the ball away, regardless of whether he palmed/carried the ball.
he was, after all, Magic.
He was an incredible talent. But I still believe that his style of play (carrying/palming the ball as "dribbling") was/is against the rules of the game. Here's a snippet of that BR-Lansing Everette Championship Game from 1977. (I was in the nosebleed seats - literally the last row of Crisler Arena.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=wLpNx3q17x4#:~:text=Kevin%20Smith's%20Half%2DCourt%20Miracle,careened%20sharply%20off%20the%20rim.
wow, what a great clip - i had forgotten all about that. and in the modern [post-1980] game, the BR kid's shot would have been a 3-pointer, for the W.
I played against Jay Vincent in high school Ann Arbor Pioneer got whupped by Lansing Eastern, and we'd all heard about this kid Magic Johnson. Wish I'd played against him. I'll bet everyone who did still talks about it.
what a great experience. i was 2 yrs past graduation from MAC [oops, MSU] at the time, living in the Lansing area, and keenly aware of this local kid Earvin 'Magic' Johnson. i saw the Everett-Eastern district championship game on tv, and was mesmerized by Magic. if he had been born into an era of cable/satellite/streaming tv and social media, he would have been a similar or greater phenomenon that Caitlan Clark.
EZ, did you realize at the time you were wintessing history-in-the-making?
and oh, BTW, few more nail-biting nites in my life than the nite before Magic announced he would attend MSU - and not U of M. having lived thru 40 yrs of the 'wilderness' of MSU-UM football, UM got all the top recruits from the state of Mich then. we got lucky with Magic.
Hey Peter - Caitlin Clark is more than just a scorer. She is among the women's collegiate leaders in assists with laser passes and also gets her share of rebounds. She is a consummate team player in addition to her long-range scoring prowess, making her teammates better and doing whatever she can for a team win. I relish the opportunity to be able to catch one of her games on TV - she is simply a joy to watch with her incredible skills. She is much more fun to watch than any other basketball player make or female at this point, a rare transformational talent and personality who has greatly elevated women's collegiate basketball, and I'm hoping she may be able to do the same for the WNBA!
Hopefully we can see Iowa versus South Carolina, that will be most interesting.
Unlike this week's VTotW, the regular TotWs this week were "meh". I found 3 amusing, including the 2 (current) top vote getter. (That Store Tweet really hits home - and is not far from the truth.)
I was (but shouldn't have been) a little surprised at the results of your poll and your readers' self-reported demographics. I would have thought you'd have more readers under 44 (1%?).
I had never seen "Mother Lover" before - but I liked how they tied it into DiaB. Is that Patricia Clarkson as the other mother? (I'm too lazy to take the 20 seconds to find out.)
I finally pulled the plug on my digital Trib subscription, which is due for renewal later this week, and even when the live (I presume Philippines-based) operator offered me a 6 month renewal at 25 cents a week. There's just so little relevant content, and much of the content is quickly stale. You can tell that Alden has cut actual newsgathering staff to bare bones. I know you still have friends there EZ, and I have very fond memories of the Trib - especially of the late '80s and early '90s, and the 2-1/2 inch thick Sunday paper. (The Trib even had a musical TV commercial about how "thick and fat" the Sunday edition was IIRC.) 'Tis sad.
The recent hoopla regarding Tom Skilling's retirement brought to mind his brother Jeff Skilling - of Enron infamy. I'm curious to know what ever happened to him.
J Skilling served only 12 years in prison. Tried to start an oil and gas trading platform but it fell through. I believe he still lives in Texas with his fellow Enron figure wife.
Tom's other brother & sister showed up for his retirement sendoff, but Jeff was a no show.
Rightly so, his appearance would have taken the attention from Tom and his achievements.
EZ - you sent out some love to your conservative commenters to the PS, few as they may be. how about your libertarian commenters? 😉
i do enjoy the PS and the comments thereof, for a variety of reasons - incl'g that it is not an echo chamber - even tho content and commentary are dominated by liberal/progressive opinion, consistent with the demographics of the readership.
The elected school board for CPS was a capitulation to the CTU. When Johnson got elected, the appointed/elected transition became irrelevant. So, of course the CTU opted for the cheaper path of having Johnson appoint their preferred candidates and then only have to pay for 10 races in the first election. Future elections will merely be exercises in CTU career management. I don't see outside organizations being stupid enough to waste money on these elections any more than they waste money on any other Chicago or Cook County election.
i wish EZ would set up a poll on this issue - something like: what is your prediction for student achievement in CPS after 5 years of the elected school board?
this whole business of the elected school board will be a clown car - politicians and politician wannabes running on either single issues, paying homage to CTU, burnishing their credentials for higher [and more lucrative] political office, self-aggrandizement, or some combo.
and a 21-member board? you couldn't script a more reliable prediction for chaos in governance.
let's not 'kid' ourselves - an elected, 21-member CPS board is not about the best interests of the schoolkids.
I'm a skeptic. In LA you have the voucher folks and the teacher's union folks pouring millions, literally, into these races.