Chicago 365 Playoff Central: The Running(out of town) of the Bulls and The Waiting Game

     For those of you who missed my updates on Facebook last night, I regret to inform you that the Chicago Bulls fell to the Washington Wizards in Game 5 last night, losing the series 4 games to 1.  The First Quarter didn't go so well for the Bulls, and they ended the Quarter down by 8.  However, they closed out the half strong, going on a 26-17 run in the Second to end the half tied with Washington.  They once again stumbled in the Third, being outscored 11-20.  Finally, the Fourth Quarter loomed, and with it the final chance for the Bulls to save their season.  They put up a valiant final push, actually outscoring the Wizards 17-15 in the Quarter, but the clock ultimately ran out on both the game and the Bulls' season, with the team falling to the Wizards by a final score of 75-69.  After persevering through a season where they lost both Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, they finally went as far as they could.  Good job Bulls, and best of luck for next season.

     Meanwhile, the wait continues for the defending champions.  Game 7 between the Avalanche and the Wild commences tonight, and the team will be eagerly awaiting the result.  If Minnesota wins, we get home ice.  If Colorado wins, they do.  Regardless, all will be revealed by the end of tonight.

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Hole? What hole? Oh, THAT hole...

     The last time I updated you on the performance of the Blackhawks, things were looking pretty grim.  The Hawks were down 0-2, and dark skies were forming over the defending champs' hopes for a repeat.  Then the Chicago Blackhawks actually remembered that they were the Chicago Blackhawks, and proceeded to hammer the Blues over the next 4 games to seal up the series in six games, adding an exclamation point by scoring 4 goals in the 3rd period of the clinching game.  Jonathan Toews added to his already illustrious resume by scoring his 23rd career postseason goal.  As for who they will face in the second round, that's still to be determined, as the Minnesota Wild forced a Game 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, which will be played tomorrow night.  The Hawks will play the winner of that game in the second round.  As for the result of the second round, history should give Hawks fans comfort here.  In the past 5 years(ever since they returned to the playoffs), the Hawks have made it through the second round unscathed.  Moreover, the Blackhawks have only suffered one second-round defeat since 1982.

     Of course, the playoffs have not been nearly as kind to the other tenant of the United Center, with the Bulls taking the momentum from their win on Friday and wasting it with a loss yesterday, putting them into a 1-3 hole and facing elimination tonight at the United Center. On Sunday, they played in Washington and lost by a score of 98-89.  The Bulls have said and done all the right things since then, but now is the time to put the talk away and show the proof in the pudding.  There is only one way for the Bulls to do that and save their season.  And that one way is for the Bulls to win.  Tonight.  One game at a time.

Still Swift after 50 years

     In the 1960s, the sprawl that came of the Baby Boom was still being felt, leading to a mass exodus to the suburbs. It was at this time that a group of different bodies came together to try something out. A new transit idea that involved linking outlying suburban areas with existing cities using limited-stop rapid transit. That idea was put into motion in 1964, when the Chicago Transit Authority inaugurated service on the Skokie Swift. Running from North Suburban Skokie, this route connected to the rest of the CTA at the northernmost point of the Red Line, at the Rogers Park-based Howard station. The line became a success, pioneering such features as a large park-and-ride lot, drop-off areas, and integration with local bus services. In 1993, the Skokie Swift was renamed the Yellow Line as part of the transition to a color-coded naming system.

     This past Saturday, ceremonies were held at the 2 year old Oakton station to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the line. Dignitaries were present, speeches were given, and attendees were given the chance to ride a special demonstration train which consisted of old 4000 series cars that would have been the ones in operation when the line was founded.

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Bring on the Bulls!

     After the first two games of this playoff season in Chicago have been Blackhawks losses, the future gives us some hope, as the Bulls take on the Washington Wizards starting tonight at the United Center.  After starting off the year with Derrick Rose making his triumphant return, Rose was lost again for the year before Christmas.  Since then, the team has battled through his absence and made it back into the playoffs.  Tonight, the first step begins with the NBA playoffs.  We'll be back with updates and a recap. 

GO BULLS!!!!!!!!!

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: 0-2, in the hole. Oh no?

     The Blackhawks just wrapped up ANOTHER overtime playoff game, and the results were not kind to the men from Chicago.  Things were going well for the Hawks as the Third Period arrived, and the Hawks were up 3-2 with 10 minutes to go.  Then Brent Seabrook drove David Backles into the glass and was hit with a 5 minute major penalty.  This would come back to haunt the Hawks, as the Blues wound up pulling their goalie in the final seconds of the game, and using their 6-4 advantage to score the tying goal with 6 seconds left in regulation.  Yeah, you read that right. 6 SECONDS.  !@#$%^!  But what's worse?  The Blues ended up winning the game in overtime 4-3.  grrrrr...  !@#$^&*!!!!!!

     Scottrade Center?  More like Scottrade Shit-Hole.  Luckily, Game 3 is coming to us on Monday from the United Center, and while being down 0-2 is nothing to be happy about, it's not like the Hawks haven't come back from a bad playoff deficit before.   Tomorrow we'll be switching gears and catching up with the Bulls as they start their first round series, but we'll definitely be back on Monday night pulling for the Blackhawks.  Till then, stay strong boys, and here's to a better Game 3.

1 Day. 4 Wins.

     April 18, 2009 started off like any other Saturday: warm, springlike, full of promise. The time of getting excited for what the summer had to offer, overall a great day to be alive. However, it was about to get a lot better. On that day, the Chicago Bulls were all set to tip off their playoff tilt against the Boston Celtics. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks were celebrating their return to relevancy by opening up their first postseason series since 2002.  Elsewhere, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox were getting ready to play early-season games of their own. Here's how that day progressed:

      To start things off, the Cubs played the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. Before any baseball was played, the first pitch was thrown out by none other than newly-signed Bears quarterback Jay Cutler, who also sang the 7th-inning stretch. The game was won in a thrilling walk-off fashion by Aramis Ramirez, who belted a two-run homer in the 11th inning, wrapping up Ryan Dempster's first home win of the year. One person who did not partake of the win was Milton Bradley, who was serving a 2 game suspension(gee, what a surprise)

      Heading south down the Snowbird Trail, we find ourselves following the White Sox as they took on the defending AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays. Mark Buehrle gave up 8 hits, but he still managed to gut it out and start the season 2-0. Additionally, this kicked off once again the annual tradition of the Rays being stymied by qualified pitchers.

      Back in the Windy City, the Blackhawks were hot to trot in their comeback tour after languishing for years in Hockey Hell. After digging themselves a 2-0 hole against the Calgary Flames, the offense sputtered to life, scoring 3 goals in the second period, including Jonathan Toews' first playoff goal, to put away the Flames 3-2.

     And over in Boston, the 7th-seeded Bulls were starting off their series against the 2nd-seeded Boston Celtics.  All of the commentators and most of the fans were predicting a relatively easy victory in this series for the defending champion Celtics.  However, tonight's game cast doubt on those assumptions.  By the end of it, Derrick Rose had tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for best playoff debut, the series had seen the first of seven overtime periods, and all of a sudden we had the makings of an instant classic series on our hands.

     And there you have it folks.  1 Day.  4 Teams.  4 Wins. 1 incredible and true day in Chicago Sports History.

Chicago 365 Playoff Central: Here we go again!

     Another (late-arriving) spring, another playoff double-shot for the city of Chicago. For the past five years now, we've been able to obtain a distraction from inconsequential/unwatchable spring baseball thanks to the tenants of the Madhouse on Madison. And 2014 is proving to be no different. With the Blackhawks starting off their series visiting the St. Louis Blues tonight and the Bulls starting things off by hosting the Washington Wizards on Sunday, Chicago is getting a taste of something that is all too rare around here: games that actually matter. Not games that matter because you're playing spoiler, not games that matter because you're playing a hated rival, but games that matter because every win gets you one more game closer to that championship. For the next several days(and hopefully longer than that) we're going to be treated to those kind of games, and Chicago 365 will be there all along, recapping each day of action, bring you both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat(but lets just stick to the victory part, okay?)


UPDATE AS OF 11:27 PM:  The Blackhawks and the Blues are tied at 3 goals apiece at the end of the second overtime period.  Tied? Overtime? Jeez, some things just never change, don't they.  We'll be back with the final result if it ever when it comes across the wire.

The Day that changed Archaelology forever.

    On October 4, 1997, the museum world converged upon the Sotheby's auction house in New York City to bud on a most unusual object-a dinosaur skeleton. But this was no ordinary dinosaur skeleton(though to be fair, dinosaur skeletons aren't exactly ordinary things to begin with). No, this specimen was the most intact fossil of Tyrannosaurus Rex ever found. And it was about to change the world of archaeology forever.

     After being discovered in the Badlands in 1990, this particular skeleton was cleaned, examined, and preserved for several years, until the time came for the specimen to be transferred. There were several different parties interested in acquiring this skeleton, which by this point was named Sue after the rancher who had discovered the skeleton. And so, the auction began.  As the bidders rolled into Sotheby's, they were handed this program:

     Several museums had stated their interest in acquiring Sue, but one institution that had hidden any speculation was the Field Museum, from right here in Chicago.  The bidding started.  Bids were put out on behalf of museums in North Carolina, South Dakota, and even a cultural center in Florida.  But there was one other museum that truly craved the skeleton: the Smithsonian.  Eventually, it became a bidding war between the North Carolina museum, the Floridian cultural center, and a private bidder serving as proxy for an anonymous bidder(the Field Museum).  The North Carolina museum stopped bidding.  Then the Floridians bowed out.  And then finally, the private bidder had won the T-Rex for the whopping price of $8.3 Million, which was quickly revealed to be from the coffers of the Field.  This auction changed the landscape of archaeology forever.  All of a sudden fossil-hunting out west became the late-20th Century answer to 49ers panning for gold.

     As for Sue and her new home, she went on display at the Field Museum of Natural History in 2000, and has held court for more than 21 Million visitors over the past 13 years.  As bold as it might have been, the Field's win-at-all-costs attitude over Sue proved to be a dark harbinger of the future, as by 2013 the museum was facing massive budget deficits due to rampant expansion and acquisitions without commensurate fundraising, a trend which in many ways was kicked off by the 1997 bidding war over Sue.

Al Capone's Empty Room

     The year is 1986.  Al Capone has been dead for 39 years.  Prohibition has been over and done with for 53 years.  But Big Al is about to pull one last trick from the grave. 

     In that year, the Lexington Hotel in Chicago was being renovated, as was the case with many hotels in that period of time.  When the contractors found their way into the basement of the Lexington, they discovered a shooting range.  Additionally, they found an immense network of tunnels connecting numerous taverns and brothels.  Clearly this was no ordinary hotel basement.  Instead, this was a hideout of truly grandiose proportions.  In fact, this hideout belonged to none other than Al Capone. Capone's hideout had been in a different hotel in the city, but in July 1928 he moved his operation to the Lexington.  When he was arrested, Capone went away, but rumors of his treasure did not.

     Coming back to 1986, when the rooms underneath the Lexington were unearthed, who knew what could have been in them?  Enter Geraldo Rivera.  Geraldo was on the upswing of his career when he caught wind of the find over at the Lexington.  So, being the crack reporter that he was, he hopped on the next plane to Chicago and decided to have a look-see at the vault for himself.  What he saw certainly looked promising.  So promising in fact, that he decided to have a live TV special to unveil it.  The hype was incredible.  Arrangements were made to have a medical examiner on the scene in case any bodies were unearthed.  The IRS even sent over some agents to properly collect any monies that would be discovered in the vault. It was even rumored that Jimmy Hoffa might have been in there!(hey, you never know)  So after all of this build-up, and after a two-hour nationally syndicated special, the big moment came.  Geraldo blew the vault open, and what did he find?  Treasure, bodies, unfiled tax returns, the very meaning of life itself?  Actually, how about none of the above.  In fact, if you answered "An old stop sign and some empty bottles of gin", you would be correct.  Here's Geraldo's take on the whole affair:

     It was embarrassing.  It was humiliating.  People are still making jokes about it 28 years later.  But it was also the highest-rated syndicated special in the history of television.  And to this day, it is still the highest-rated syndicated special ever.  And Geraldo Rivera is still going strong(and in some cases, a little too strong).  Not too bad for a failed television special.

The Introduction: Fight Song Week Day 5

     Okay folks, let's be honest.  It had to end this way.  It was ALWAYS going to end this way.  With the Chicago Bulls and an English bloke by the name of Alan Parsons...


     In the final decade of the 20th Century, the city of Chicago had many things going for it.  A new expansion to the Adler Planetarium, the transformation of Navy Pier from abandoned hulk to THE tourist trap of the Midwest, and the creation of the Museum Campus(just to name a few).  But the ONE thing that put Chicago on the map in the 90s?  Well that's easy.  But rather than tell you, how about I just play you a video to introduce them much better than anyone else ever could.

     That's right, 1990s Chicago was ruled by Michael Jordan & Co.  This opening theme just served to enhance their mystique.  The track used is called "Sirius".  It was originally released by the British group The Alan Parsons Project way back in 1982.  Later on in the 80s, the song was incorporated into the team's new intro music.  The introduction came to define the Bulls dynasty like nothing else.  The theme is still used to this day during player introductions(but lets be honest, it's nothing like it was in the 90s)

The North Side Anthems: Fight Song Week Day 4

     In 1984, the Cubs were burning up the National League, and well on their way to their first postseason berth since 1945.  And all summer long, the city of Chicago was singing along to the catchy tunes of Steve Goodman:

     Goodman, a well-known folk singer and a lifelong Cubs fan, wrote the song at the request of WGN, who wanted a more upbeat tune for the games.  Goodman came through, and the song became a staple of Wrigley Field for the entire 1984 season.  Tragically, Steve Goodman passed away due to Leukemia 4 days before the Cubs clinched a spot in the postseason.  Afterwards, the song continued to be well-known and liked and used as part of the Cubs' broadcasts.  In 1987, the song was eventually retired in favor of "Here Come The Cubs" by the Beach Boys.  However, in 2007, the song enjoyed a modern resurgence, and is now played after every Cubs win at Wrigley Field.


     Speaking of Cubs Anthems that rose to prominence in 2007, Eddie Vedder was attending a Cubs Fantasy camp when Ernie Banks approached him and asked him to write a song about the team.  Vedder, being a lifelong Cubs fan, was only too happy to comply.  This is what he came up with:

     In September of 2008, the song was made available for purchase on Pearl Jam's website.  This only served to raise the fervor surrounding the song and the Cubs' playoff chase to a fever pitch.  In the summer of 2013, Pearl Jam played a show at Wrigley Field, and at one point in the show, Eddie Vedder invited Ernie Banks onstage to lead the crowd in the song.  Ultimately, the Cubs are still waiting to go all the way, but when they do, they'll have a song to sing when they get there.

The South Side Anthems: Fight Song Week Day 3

     In 1959, the Chicago White Sox made it back to the World Series for the first time since the infamous 1919 Series.  After Richard J. Daley made everybody think the Soviets were invading, the team got to work getting ready for the World Series.  All that time, they were being spurred on by this little ditty:

     Earlier that year, Al Trace(a former Sox minor leaguer) wrote the lyrics, and was looking for someone to record it.  Enter Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, a country-comedy duo who were famed for releasing the jingles for the Roto-Rooter and Green Giant.  The song was a hit at the time, but was eventually forgotten until June 2005.  At that point, one of the employees of the Sox dusted off an old record of the song and decided to play it during a game.  The act went over without a hitch, so now the song has made a return to prominence on the South Side.


     Ever since the 1990s, the White Sox have had a distinctive way of welcoming their players into the game:

     Released by the band AC/DC in 1990, Thunderstruck quickly caught on for all kinds of sporting events, as evidenced by the video above, as well as the fact that it was used by numerous other sports teams throughout the country.


     When the White Sox made it back to the World Series in 2005 for the first time since 1959, they did so with yet another song in tow.  However, whereas the last one had been specially composed for the team, their '05 song was one of the most iconic 80s songs ever:

     The whole thing started out when some of the 2005 White Sox heard this song playing in a bar in Baltimore and liked the sound of it.  As the season wound on, the team was looking for a rally song, and this seemed to fit the bill.  After rolling through the playoffs and capturing their first World Series title since 1917, they went so far as to invite Steve Perry to their victory rally, where some of the players sang the song a capella with Perry.

You can like us on Facebook. Yes, that's right, YOU!

     For those of you who are somewhat newer arrivals to our blog-based journey through Chicago, you may not be aware of the fact that this blog has a Facebook page.   This is where you'll find posts that are put there after I publish them, as well as pictures from various past blog entries.  If you want to talk about things or suggest new ideas, this is the place for that as well.  The address of the page is:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chicago-365/426431247425717

     So go to the page, like it, and make sure to tell your friends to like it as well.  And make sure to check back here later tonight, when I continue Fight Song Week with a little help from Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers...

Bearing Down for Victory!: Fight Song Week Day 2

     In the 1940 NFL Championship Game, the Chicago Bears(led by the one and only George Halas) stomped the Washington Redskins to the tune of 73-0(yes, I realize that score sounds like something the Superfans would dream up, but I swear to you all that it actually happened). The Bears were on top, and they had announced their presence in a big way. Around this same time, somebody happened upon the long-disused nickname for the University of Chicago's football team, and figured it would fit well with the Bears. And so, the Monsters of The Midway entered the 1941 season with a good amount of swagger, a newfound respect from the rest of the fans, and to top it all off, a brand spanking new fight song:

     Composed by Al Hoffman in the wake of the historic victory by the Bears, the song made another milestone. Through the writing of this tune, the Bears became the first NHL franchise to have a fight song, which certainly made a difference in the spirit level of their fans. In 1993, Bill Archer and The Big Bear Band recorded a new version of the song, which is the one still played today after every Bears victory.

Scottish Hockey Music: Fight Song Week Day 1

     Well folks, it's time for the first theme week of the year.  I hope you guys enjoy this one!

     It's game time at the Madhouse on Madison.  The Blackhawks are taking the rink against any one of their many rivals in the National Hockey League.  All of a sudden, a player takes a daring shot, and the shot GOES IN.  GOAL!  The crowd goes wild.  The team celebrates.  And reverberating from the sound system is the driving bass of a certain song that should be instantly familiar to all Chicago fans.  Here, take a listen:

     For those of you who still don't know what song this is(maybe you're new in town), it's called Chelsea Dagger, and it was originally released in 2006 by the Scottish band The Fratellis.  The song was reportedly written about the wife of the lead singer of the group, who was an exotic dancer using Chelsea as a stage name.  Add in the fact that the term 'Dagger' is Scottish slang for a woman of loose morals, and I think you can see where this is headed.  The song ended up doing quite well for the band, eventually climbing to #5 on the UK charts. 

     The song found its way to Chicago in the Fall of 2007, when Rocky Wirtz assumed ownership of the team from his late father.  In a bid to attract fans who had abandoned the team in droves during his father's miserly reign, Wirtz started looking for ways to enhance the fan experience.  One of those ways was to add a goal song to every game.  After combing through all the different examples, the team's people settled on this song.  Initially, it didn't catch on, but then by the end of its inaugural season it had become as much a part of Blackhawks hockey as cheering through the National Anthem. 

     For an aside, Chelsea Dagger is not the first song that has been played by the Hawks either. In 1968, the Dick Marx Orchestra and Choir released "Here Come The Hawks!".  And then in 2007, The Ministry & Co-Conspirators released "Keys To The City" as a gift to the Blackhawks organization.

The Dead-End Station

     In the early years of the CTA, there were numerous expansions and additions of stations. One of these new stations came about in 1907, when the South Side Elevated (the first elevated line in the city and the ancestor to today's Green Line) added on a service branch to Normal Park. This area didn't see too much traffic, except for the students of the Chicago Normal School, which was a local college. One of the most interesting things about this station was its design though. The station was the last stop on the line, but whereas with other stations you have the end of the tracks, then some sort of yard facilities for various trains(or in the case of the old Westchester station vast expanses of nothingness), the 69th street station simply dead ended into the street. Just one catch though: this station was elevated, which meant that you had an elevated track ending at the street, like this:

     Suffice it to say that this would not have been a good station to have an asleep-at-the-wheel Blue Line driver pull into.

     Over the years, the station's low ridership became evident, and major changes came in 1949 with the great Service Revision. First off, the station became unstaffed, with conductors collecting all fares onboard trains(because we were still almost 50 years away from farecards).  Also, the station turned into a shuttle operation, with only a 1-car train coming into the station to take passengers back and forth to the mainline.  Finally, the station's time came in January of 1954 when it(as well as the entire Normal Park Line) was closed due to extremely low ridership.

The North Siders, by any other name.

     Since 1876, the National League ball club in Chicago had been known by names such as the Nationals, the Orphans, the Chicagos, the Colts, the Rough Riders, the Silk Stockings, the White Stockings, and even the Rainmakers. But in 1902, that all changed. On March 27 of that year, an insipid reporter for the Chicago Daily News penned an article about how the team was prepping for another season. This team was much younger and unseasoned than previous iterations, and the writer was looking for a way to impart that. He eventually used the line "manager Frank Selee will devote his strongest efforts on the team work of the new Cubs this year".

     At the time that it was written, the moniker "Cubs" was just another nickname, and the team continued to be known under various other names for the next six seasons, such as the Panamas, the Spuds, the Zephyrs, and the Microbes. But when the 1907 World Series rolled around, the team was issued new jackets with the picture of a Cub on it. With that, the North Side team officially adopted the Cubs name. And even though we haven't quite maintained the winning tradition started in 1907, the team does continue to be called the Cubs today, 112 years after the name was first coined.