The [Monday] Papers

1. "Perfect Ending"

2. "18 AND UH-OH!"

3. "How could this possibly have happened?" our very own Jim Coffman asks in SportsMonday. "How could a Giants team that barely squeaked past a feeble bunch of Bears in a December regular-season game possibly have pulled it all together and capped off one of the great playoff runs of all time with yesterday's 17-14 victory?"

4. "In the four years since Nipplegate, the infamous wardrobe malfunction that guaranteed that MTV will never produce another Super Bowl halftime show, the NFL has played it safe with a procession of classic-rock heroes: Paul McCartney (2005), the Rolling Stones (2006) and Prince (2007)," Jim DeRogatis writes in his review of Tom Petty's performance on Sunday.

Likewise, Greg Kot writes: "Then came Nipplegate, the infamous Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake 'wardrobe malfunction' at halftime of the 2004 game. The NFL is all about charging fans big money to watch oversized men in armor smash in each other's brains, but show a little skin and the league caretakers turn into moral crusaders.

"As a result, the NFL tightened up its halftime editing policies with the TV networks and vowed to censor any unsanctioned language or choreography. They also skewed away from younger, more risque performers and started booking older mainstream acts in recent years: the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Prince."

I have to say, I hardly think Prince was a safe choice. After all . . .

5. "[I]t really wasn't a great performance; it was more of a Tom Petty commercial," Kot writes.

6. Obama's Record: The Truth Is Out There.

7. "[By] far the most revealing comments came from Jerry Mickelson, co-founder of Jam Productions, and Michael Yerke, talent booker with Live Nation and the House of Blues. Two of the most powerful and successful concert promoters in the United States, Mickelson and Yerke are cut-throat competitors who agree on almost nothing - except the fact that the city continues to see live music as something to be tolerated at best and silenced at worst," DeRogatis wrote Sunday about the Daley Administration's failure to appreciate - and market - the city's thriving music scene.

"Mickelson noted that the city Web sites for the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department of Tourism trumpet hardly any of the city's two dozen world-renowned rock, dance and jazz clubs, yet one page does tout the merits of the Admiral Theatre, 'the world famous home of hundreds of beautiful showgirls totally nude.'"

8. "The top mayoral aide charged with implementing a city hiring system free of politics is leaving her $147,156-a-year job - six weeks after a federal hiring monitor accused the city of regressing in its efforts," the Sun-Times reports.

"Jacqueline King has decided to return to her old job as head of graphics and reproduction."

Graphics and reproduction?

9. "Cook County Assessor James Houlihan has contributed $190,000 to a candidate running for a seat on the board that reviews the work of Houlihan's office," the Tribune reports.

I'm no fan of Joseph Berrios, but this doesn't seem right either.

10. I'm still roaring at Jack Higgins' editorial cartoon in the Sun-Times on Sunday featuring a snowman with a sign that says "Stop Global Warming" and a couple in a snowstorm walking by exclaiming, "Oh my gosh, it's Al Gore!"

Because, you know, every time it snows global warming is debunked.

11. Dan Lipinski is angry that people from "places like San Francisco, Hollywood, New York City and Massachusetts" are pouring money into his Southwest Side district.

I think he means fags, Jews and Democrats.

12. Please read Bob Somerby every day. Please catch up with his archives, too.

13. Chatham County Line, David Allen Coe, Tom Petty and Chuck Norris. In Don's Root Cellar.

14. "I'm not saying it's right for games to have such an impact on youth," Paige Wiser writes about the chances of Chicago landing a spot on Monopoly's new World Edition. "But there it is. As luck would have it, I grew up playing the war game Risk, and it has profoundly affected my geography skills to this day. Try keeping up on current events when your main point of reference is the military strength of Irkutsk.

"This Monopoly business, then, is not to be underestimated. With one feel-good publicity stunt, we will be establishing the global hierarchy, once and for all. If Chicago can get on the board, there will be no doubt: We are world-class.

"No longer will we be stereotyped as the home of Michael Jordan, Jerry Springer and miscellaneous mobsters. Now, we will be stereotyped as Chicago! Fourteenth-most desirable property in the world!"

15. Chicago-opoly: The Game Board That Works.

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