Chicago -
By Steve Rhodes
This might be my favorite tidbit of the night:
The crew bringing the Stanley Cup to the United Center on Monday night amid road closures and flooding was given a police escort for a trip that, according to a source, reached speeds of 100 mph.
That’s hockey, baby!
Posted on June 16, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“If you study the history and crunch the numbers, you start to get a clearer picture of the challenge facing your Tampa Bay Lightning,” John Romano writes for the Tampa Bay Times.
“Technically speaking, the team is toast. Give or take a miracle. At least that’s the pessimistic interpretation of the statistics in front of me. Since the National Hockey League went to its best-of-seven format in the Stanley Cup final, the team leading after five games has gone on to win the series 78.3 percent of the time. That’s disturbing. In fact, if you’re a Lightning fan, it’s downright depressing. And, heaven knows, depressed and disturbed is no way to start a new week. So we’re here to offer five reasons why you should tell hockey historians to go shove it today.”
You’ll have to click through to find out what those mildly persuasive at best reasons are.
Posted on June 15, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Good quest stories start at the beginning, so let us untangle all the various narratives about the improbable birth of the Tampa Bay Lightning and begin with the bold desire of one man, a man whose life was defined by hockey, a man who got emotional when he talked about hockey, a man who would let go of his wife before he let go of hockey.
“Phil Esposito wanted a hockey team.
“That’s the beginning, a man with a wish. On May 1, 1990, eight months after the NHL announced its intentions to expand from 21 teams to 28 by the year 2000, Esposito told the hockey world he was interested in bringing a team to a place most unlikely: Tampa Bay. And he had a name: the Lightning.”
Posted on June 13, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Chicago Public Schools admits that it mischaracterized some of its students who dropped out as ‘transfers,’ thereby inflating its 2014 graduation rates, but the district refuses to consider changing those graduation numbers,” Lauren FitzPatrick reports for the Sun-Times.
Wait.
The district refuses to consider changing those graduation numbers. Which it admits are wrong.
CPS can’t even be bothered to pretend to care about facts anymore. Not even a listening tour!
It’s just gonna double-down on false data.
Posted on June 11, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“The shots kept ringing off the post and the crossbar for the Blackhawks – one, two, three, as the groans from the crowd at United Center grew ever louder, ever more insistent. Those clangs echoed in the second period and the third period until the puck sneaked into the net,” Ben Shpigel writes for the New York Times.
“The shots kept sailing wide of the post for the Lightning – one, two, three, as the cheers from the crowd grew ever louder, ever more insistent. Those misfires in a chaotic final three minutes tormented Tampa Bay as the clock struck zero.
“The final score Wednesday was Blackhawks 2, Lightning 1, victory secured by a third-period goal from Brandon Saad, and the result validated the wisdom that had been spouting for days from each team’s locker room – that these Stanley Cup finals were as tight as a subway car in morning rush hour.”
Posted on June 11, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
1. How A Reporter Opened A Closed Meeting.
“In the middle of a budget stalemate in the middle of the country, Associated Press correspondent John Hanna passes a closed conference room en route to his basement office in the Kansas Statehouse.
Posted on June 10, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Hossa missed a mid-period shot at a net that was so open it made a 7-Eleven store seem closed by comparison,” Rick Telander writes for the Sun-Times.
Okay, that’s not quite how you write a line like that. The comparison ought to be inherent without a need to point out that you’re making a comparison. So:
” . . . a net more open than a 7-Eleven.”
” . . . a net open like a 7-Eleven at bar time.”
” . . . a net more open than a cash register at 7-Eleven during a robbery.”
Posted on June 9, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
“Three Chicago police officers and a Glenview police officer have been charged with lying under oath in court during a drug case last year,” the Tribune reports.
“The officers – Chicago Police Sergeant James Padar, Officer William Pruente, Officer Vince Morgan and Glenview Officer James Horn – have been charged with felony perjury, according to a statement issued early Monday by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“The charges come after a video contradicted the officers’ sworn testimony during a March 2014 court hearing on whether evidence in the drug case had been properly obtained.”
Posted on June 8, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
I’ll be on the noon boat with my parents on Saturday hearing a tour narrated by our very own J.J. Tindall.
Later, we might check out Remix Chicago, which is just outside my door on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square, or even take a gander at the 606. I’m particularly interested to see the work of my pal Flash, whose Artistic Bombing Crew has been asked to throw up some art on those fresh new walls.
Then there’s the Preakness. Our very own Tom Chambers says American Pharoah is beatable and the race itself is quite bettable.
Tonight, I’ll be watching the Blackhawks game. Maybe my parents will, too; they used to go to North Stars games in Minnesota when I worked part-time for the team in the PR department and press box and got free tickets.
Posted on June 6, 2015
By Steve Rhodes
Programming Note: The [Friday] Papers will be rolled into The Weekend Desk Report.
Lightning City
Here’s a dumb column from Tampa.
Reverse Tourism
“Explore Minnesota is asking people to leave bustling Chicago and the Rocky Mountains to visit the Land of 10,000 Lakes this summer,” the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal notes.
“The state’s tourism agency has a digital mural in Chicago’s Wrigleyville where Minnesota photos from Instagram are on the scroll.”
Posted on June 4, 2015
