Friday, May 30, 2014
Chicago 365 Playoff Central: That Good Feeling
First off, to get you in the mood, here's the music for today's entry:
Okay guys, it's Game 6. We fought off the Kings on Wednesday, but tonight we're in their place. We're gonna need to dig deep in this. We can do this. The Hawks can do this. Jonathan Toews said that he, much like Flo Rida, has a "good feeling" about tonight's game. But good feelings don't score goals. Good feelings don't stop pucks, and they sure as hell don't win games. We're gonna need purebred ambition and gutsiness for that to happen. It is possible to win tonight and force Game 7 but it won't be easy. Keep the faith, and hopefully I'll be back in 4 hours to tell you all about how we're coming back to the United Center to play on Sunday. Hopefully.
Unseated
On October 14, 2003, the Cubs were 5 outs away from going to the World Series. A strange amalgamation of shitty circumstances followed, including Steve Bartman interfering with a foul ball. After nearly getting beaten into a pulp by enraged Cubs fans and being threatened with the denial of a pardon by then-Governor Blagojevich(which became hilariously ironic a few years later), Bartman settled into an uneasy(if not private) exile/life. The other elements of that day took on a life of their own. The ball was sold to Harry Caray's and blown up in a grand affair. The blame eventually died down, after a while. But the most enduring legacy was the seat.
Aisle 4, Row 8, Section 113, to be more exact. That was the seat that Bartman was sitting in with his cronies hoping to see the Cubs make it to the World Series. Since that fateful night, the seat has become a folk icon at the park, with fans sitting in it, taking pictures of each other in it, and even decorating it with Cubs stickers. But that could all go away before long. Part of the extensive Wrigley Field renovations that the Ricketts are pushing for is a relocation of the dugouts, which would straighten out the left-field line, therefore potentially eliminating that area of seats. When pressed about it, a Cubs spokesman said that "that name has been taken out of our vocabulary...That seat will have other seats adjoining it". So folks, if you haven't done so already, make sure to trek it out to Wrigley this summer and check out the Bartman seat before it is lost to history and the petty pride of the Cubs organization.
Aisle 4, Row 8, Section 113, to be more exact. That was the seat that Bartman was sitting in with his cronies hoping to see the Cubs make it to the World Series. Since that fateful night, the seat has become a folk icon at the park, with fans sitting in it, taking pictures of each other in it, and even decorating it with Cubs stickers. But that could all go away before long. Part of the extensive Wrigley Field renovations that the Ricketts are pushing for is a relocation of the dugouts, which would straighten out the left-field line, therefore potentially eliminating that area of seats. When pressed about it, a Cubs spokesman said that "that name has been taken out of our vocabulary...That seat will have other seats adjoining it". So folks, if you haven't done so already, make sure to trek it out to Wrigley this summer and check out the Bartman seat before it is lost to history and the petty pride of the Cubs organization.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Chicago 365 Playoff Central: ONE. GAME. AT. A. TIME!
After getting kicked around for 3 straight by those sun-worshipers from out west, the Blackhawks finally found their hockey abilities again and took to the ice like the defending champs that they are. The puck dropped at 8 PM, and the game got going soon afterwards. Within the first 4 minutes, the Hawks had already gone up 2-0. The Kings began a quick resurgence with 4 goals to make the game 4-3 after the 2nd Period. Then the Hawks got the equalizer in the 3rd when they clawed their way back to a 4-4 tie. With that, the game went into overtime, where the Hawks eventually prevailed in 2 overtime periods by a final score of 5-4. Now guys, this was only one game, but that's all we need to worry about. Just one game. Each night, we just play THAT game, not worry about the other games we have to win to stay alive. THAT is how we will survive and thrive. By keeping our heads down and grinding out winning hockey games. And for now, it's back to L.A. for Game 6 on Friday. We'll be waiting and ready, just aiming to win one game at a time.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chicago 365 Playoff Central: RALLY! RALLY! RAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For maximum effect, play this video while reading this entry.
Okay Chicago, our backs are against the wall. We're down 3-1 to LA, and I'm gonna be honest, we're facing elimination in tonight's game. But you know what? We can't let that happen. And we won't let that happen tonight at OUR HOUSE. This is the place that cheers through the National Anthem like the bunch of hockey fan beauties that we are! This is the place that they call the Madhouse on Madison, the craziest freakin' place in the League! This is Chicago and we want another damn parade! So it's not over. Oh boy, it ain't over. Was it over when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL TO THE NO!!!!!!!!!! SO. Western Conference Finals Game 5. TONIGHT. OUR HOUSE. Let's go make LA wish they'd never set foot in the joint.
That is all.
GO HAWKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Biking south on Lake Shore Drive...
This past Sunday, as everybody was getting ready for Memorial Day, Lake Shore Drive was closed down for 6 hours. Why? For your information, it wasn't because the city likes closing roads down(though it sure seems like that sometimes). It was actually to facilitate the 13th annual Bike The Drive, an event that is put on each year by the Active Transportation Alliance to generate advocacy and raise awareness of alternate modes of transportation. The ride stretches the whole course of Lake Shore Drive, going from 57th Street all the way up to Bryn Mawr Avenue. Riders start out in Grant Park and then proceed either north or south, turning around at either terminus and heading back in the other direction.
For this year's event, 20,000 people registered, making it the 2nd most well attended event in Bike The Drive's history. The cyclists ranged in age from 11 year olds, all the way to married couples with grown children. One of the riders said that it was "tiring, very tiring...[but] It's fun. It's kind of weird to think you're biking somewhere cars normally go down at like top speed". Even though organizers exercised their best efforts and screened a pre-ride safety video, there were a few bumps and scrapes. But for the most part the ride was fine, as said another rider "It's a long road and there's a lot of space, It's very surreal to be out here on Lake Shore Drive with no cars. I'll definitely do it next year".
For this year's event, 20,000 people registered, making it the 2nd most well attended event in Bike The Drive's history. The cyclists ranged in age from 11 year olds, all the way to married couples with grown children. One of the riders said that it was "tiring, very tiring...[but] It's fun. It's kind of weird to think you're biking somewhere cars normally go down at like top speed". Even though organizers exercised their best efforts and screened a pre-ride safety video, there were a few bumps and scrapes. But for the most part the ride was fine, as said another rider "It's a long road and there's a lot of space, It's very surreal to be out here on Lake Shore Drive with no cars. I'll definitely do it next year".
Why(or more appropriately, How) Memorial Day?
And so it begins. Summer 2014 is upon us, and for the next 98 days I'll be putting up fresh new articles every day talking about just what Summer in Chicago truly is. What a better place to start than with the roots of the holiday that kicks off the summer.
Memorial Day is the day where most people unofficially pin the beginning of summer. Memorial Day is also the day set aside to honor those brave men and women who have given their lives in military service to our country. But how did it start? For that we have to go back to the early 1860s, when women in Georgia would decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers. Over the next few years, there were sporadic commemorations of the war dead held at cemeteries throughout the country. Finally, the war ended in 1865. Along with that came the mechanics of honoring 600,000 dead American soldiers, giving the proceedings a new found significance.
On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic(an alumni association of sorts for those who had fought on either side of the conflict) proclaimed that a "Decoration Day" would be observed on the 30th of that month. The first observance of said holiday proved to be a success, and all of the northern states had officially adopted it by 1890. Originally the holiday(which came to be known as Memorial Day) was celebrated on May 30 each year. But that changed in 1971 when the Uniform Monday Holidays Act took effect at the federal level, which was intended to create more 3-day weekends for federal workers.
Now as for what this has to do with Chicago, here's some facts: the Grand Army of the Republic was founded in Decatur and had a healthy presence in Chicago. In fact, the GAR sponsored a room that was built into the first Chicago Public Library. Additionally, General Logan was an Illinois native. Beyond that, Logan is memorialized in two different places in Chicago. The first is with a statue at the south end of Grant Park. The second is the Logan Square neighborhood, which is named for the General.
Memorial Day is the day where most people unofficially pin the beginning of summer. Memorial Day is also the day set aside to honor those brave men and women who have given their lives in military service to our country. But how did it start? For that we have to go back to the early 1860s, when women in Georgia would decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers. Over the next few years, there were sporadic commemorations of the war dead held at cemeteries throughout the country. Finally, the war ended in 1865. Along with that came the mechanics of honoring 600,000 dead American soldiers, giving the proceedings a new found significance.
On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic(an alumni association of sorts for those who had fought on either side of the conflict) proclaimed that a "Decoration Day" would be observed on the 30th of that month. The first observance of said holiday proved to be a success, and all of the northern states had officially adopted it by 1890. Originally the holiday(which came to be known as Memorial Day) was celebrated on May 30 each year. But that changed in 1971 when the Uniform Monday Holidays Act took effect at the federal level, which was intended to create more 3-day weekends for federal workers.
Now as for what this has to do with Chicago, here's some facts: the Grand Army of the Republic was founded in Decatur and had a healthy presence in Chicago. In fact, the GAR sponsored a room that was built into the first Chicago Public Library. Additionally, General Logan was an Illinois native. Beyond that, Logan is memorialized in two different places in Chicago. The first is with a statue at the south end of Grant Park. The second is the Logan Square neighborhood, which is named for the General.
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Tragedy at O'Hare
As per yesterday's announcement, we're going to spend the summer going all around the city and explaining exactly why everybody makes such a big deal about Summertime in Chicago. But for today, we're going to take a slightly different track and chronicle the events that unfolded at O'Hare International Airport exactly 35 years ago today.
On May 25, 1979, people all across the country were getting ready for another calm and peaceful Memorial Day weekend filled with parades, grilling, drinking, and communing with peers. At O'Hare International Airport, Walter Lux was in the cockpit of a DC-10 prepping for yet another routine flight from Chicago to Los Angeles. Between Lux, his First Officer, and the Flight Engineer, the cockpit team had almost 5,000 hours flying experience on the DC-10.
8 weeks earlier, mechanics had been doing routine maintenance on that same aircraft when they performed a procedure on one of the plane's engines that involved removing the engine from the wing. There were two different ways of doing this. One involved taking the engine off of its pylon, and then removing the pylon from the wing. The other way involved removing the pylon with the engine still attached. The manufacturers of the DC-10 recommended the first method, but the second method was not without merit, as that involved fewer system disconnects to complete the procedure(which was gentler on the connections). Regardless, the mechanics working on that aircraft utilized the latter method.
Moving back to the 25th of May, the pilots have completed their pre-flight checks and the plane is now hurtling down the runway. All of a sudden, the engine underneath the plane's left wing breaks off of the aircraft and is flipped backwards over the wing. Many of the plane's systems begin to lose power as a result, rendering the plane in a good amount of trouble. As the plane was already at takeoff velocity, there was no turning back, and the plane left the ground. The flight crew saw that they had just lost an engine(though they had no way of knowing that the engine had literally fallen off), and initiated procedures to compensate for that. Alas, the procedures were not taking effect, and the aircraft climbed to a height of 300 feet while banking left at an angle of 112 degrees. For those of you who realize the extremity of that angle, you're right. In fact, this is what the plane looked like from O'Hare's observation deck in those final moments:
Soon after this photo was taken(and only 50 seconds after losing its engine), American Airlines Flight 191 crashed into a field near the corner of Touhy Avenue and Mount Prospect Road, erupting into a massive fireball. All 271 people onboard the aircraft as well as 2 people on the ground died. In the aftermath, the DC-10's reputation suffered as a result of the crash, as well as three other high-profile crashes from the 1970s. Ultimately, the DC-10 redeemed itself and continued to be used in passenger flights for the next 30+ years, before finally making its last passenger flight in February of 2014. The pylon-removal procedure(or more accurately, the shortcut method thereof) was eventually labeled the main cause of the engine snapping off. During that final maintenance stop, the pylon had been damaged, and 8 more weeks of takeoffs and landings had further exacerbated the problem until the stresses finally proved too much.
For the next several decades after the crash, there was no permanent memorial to those who lost their lives. That finally changed in 2011 when a 2-foot concave wall was erected 2 miles from the crash site listing the names of those who lost their lives in the crash. To this day, it remains the deadliest aviation accident to occur on United States soil(the September 11 attacks are not considered to be accidental)
On May 25, 1979, people all across the country were getting ready for another calm and peaceful Memorial Day weekend filled with parades, grilling, drinking, and communing with peers. At O'Hare International Airport, Walter Lux was in the cockpit of a DC-10 prepping for yet another routine flight from Chicago to Los Angeles. Between Lux, his First Officer, and the Flight Engineer, the cockpit team had almost 5,000 hours flying experience on the DC-10.
8 weeks earlier, mechanics had been doing routine maintenance on that same aircraft when they performed a procedure on one of the plane's engines that involved removing the engine from the wing. There were two different ways of doing this. One involved taking the engine off of its pylon, and then removing the pylon from the wing. The other way involved removing the pylon with the engine still attached. The manufacturers of the DC-10 recommended the first method, but the second method was not without merit, as that involved fewer system disconnects to complete the procedure(which was gentler on the connections). Regardless, the mechanics working on that aircraft utilized the latter method.
Moving back to the 25th of May, the pilots have completed their pre-flight checks and the plane is now hurtling down the runway. All of a sudden, the engine underneath the plane's left wing breaks off of the aircraft and is flipped backwards over the wing. Many of the plane's systems begin to lose power as a result, rendering the plane in a good amount of trouble. As the plane was already at takeoff velocity, there was no turning back, and the plane left the ground. The flight crew saw that they had just lost an engine(though they had no way of knowing that the engine had literally fallen off), and initiated procedures to compensate for that. Alas, the procedures were not taking effect, and the aircraft climbed to a height of 300 feet while banking left at an angle of 112 degrees. For those of you who realize the extremity of that angle, you're right. In fact, this is what the plane looked like from O'Hare's observation deck in those final moments:
For the next several decades after the crash, there was no permanent memorial to those who lost their lives. That finally changed in 2011 when a 2-foot concave wall was erected 2 miles from the crash site listing the names of those who lost their lives in the crash. To this day, it remains the deadliest aviation accident to occur on United States soil(the September 11 attacks are not considered to be accidental)
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