By Steve Rhodes
1. “The primary problem with the Lovie Smith coaching philosophy and persona reveals itself in games like Sunday’s Bears debacle at Cincinnati,” our very own Jim Coffman writes in SportsMonday.
Find out what he means.
2. From the Sun-Times:
“On the eve of the 1996 season, Illinois athletic director Ron Guenther said coach Lou Tepper would be back in 1997 ‘no matter what.’
“That was false.
“Before the 2004 season, Guenther said of coach Ron Turner, ‘There’s no hot seat. He’s our guy.’
“That was false.
“During Saturday’s loss to Purdue, Guenther said coach Ron Zook would return in 2010.
“WILL THAT BE TRUE OR FALSE?”
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Maybe Ron Guenther is the one who should lose his job.
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Notre Dame’s athletic director is also on the hot seat. Guess who put him there?
3. Good Day Chicago’s Jan Jeffcoat says she’s going as balloon boy for Halloween. How? She’s going to hide in the attic.
4. “Daley himself reminded us of City Hall’s defensive culture when he met with the Sun-Times Editorial Board last week. When asked a perfectly reasonable question, he gave a perfectly dismissive answer.
“This was the question:
“If the city can get along with all city employees taking 24 unpaid furlough days next year, as called for in his budget, is it possible all these employees are not needed in the first place?
“To which the mayor replied, ‘First of all, it’s a loss of pay for a lot of people.’
“When we assured him that we were not ‘belittling’ any employee, Daley shot back, ‘Yes, you are’.”
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I’m sort of with Daley on this one. I only wish he would have asked the Sun-Times folks the same question: Seeing as how you continue to put out a paper with an emaciated staff due to your own budget cuts, were those people let go really necessary to begin with?
Of course the answer is “But we’re putting out an even cruddier product now and continuing at this staffing level is not sustainable.”
Similarly, massive layoffs of city workers isn’t necessarily going to do anyone any good. Garbage will pile up, the police force will remain too small, etc. etc.
I’m sure there are still slackers and hacks on the public payroll, but there are slackers and hacks on the Sun-Times payroll too. They’re barking up the wrong tree. It’s the pinstripe patronage – the deals that developers and the mayor’s buddies keep cashing in on – that are the problem as far as waste in city government goes. And the Sun-Times apparently didn’t even ask about the shadow TIF budget, which equals one-sixth of the “real” budget.
Putting more people out of work in a bad economy is counter-productive. It’s the mayor’s spending that ought to get scrutinized, not his payroll.
4. Legoland, Illinois?
5. David Spade spits on Chris Farley’s grave.
6. “Elvis leaves the building. Every hour on the hour.”
7. “Tribune Sets Its Sights on New York Times’ Luxury Ads.”
8. “The Chicago Sun-Times‘ Monday through Friday average circulation over the six-month reporting period was 275,641, a decline of 12 percent compared with the same period a year ago,” the paper announced. “The newspaper’s Sunday circulation over the six-month reporting period was 251,260, down 1.8 percent. Over the same timeframe, Saturday’s average circulation was 210,027, down 7.9 percent.”
Apparently this means the strategy is working.
“During this most recent period, we successfully executed our strategy to increase the prices of all of Sun-Times Media’s newspapers as many newspapers have done in the face of rising production costs, including competitors in our marketplace,” said Rick Surkamer, President and Chief Operating Officer of Sun-Times Media Group.
In other words, we successfully shed thousands of customers by pricing them out of the market!
9. “An Illinois man who was hurt while playing ‘wallyball’ can collect workers’ compensation benefits because he was on the job, a state appeals court ruled,” the Courthouse News Service reports.
10. Showdown in Chicago.
Posted on October 26, 2009