By Steve Rhodes
1. “The two teams get a three-day break before playing Game 6 in Philadelphia – odds and a Total are forthcoming,” Sports Betting Live reports.
“History is not on the Blackhawks’ side however, as they are 1-11 straight up in Philly dating back to February of 1996 and are currently amidst a 10-game road losing streak in the City of Brotherly Love.
“Flyers netminder Michael Leighton has struggled in the Stanley Cup but has been a rock at home, going 14-1 SU at the Wachovia Center in 2010.”
*
Our very own Jim Coffman writes that coach Joel Quenneville’s plan to split up the Hawks’ top line worked, but that the Hawks D is running on Zamboni fumes.
Still, the Hawks need just one more game to win it all. The Flyers need two.
*
Note: Our baseball columns will appear on Tuesday.
2. I went to the Do Division street festival on Saturday somewhat reluctantly, but I got something great out of it: My first Sybris show, even though they’ve been around for about seven years. I was quite taken.
3. Curious that Sun-Times transportation reporter Mary Wisniewski’s review today of departing Active Transportation Alliance director Rob Sadowsky’s six years heading the group ignored the biggest controversy of his tenure.
*
“Initially skeptical of Daley, Sadowsky was surprised at how easy he can be to work with. ‘He’s a nice guy, he’s funny, you can get to him, you can make a reasonable case,’ he said.”
Or maybe he can get to you, Rob.
*
“But Sadowsky wishes the administration didn’t have such a ‘revolving door’ for department heads, which makes it harder for people to do their jobs and pursue an issue. He noted that the city has had five transportation commissioners in six years.”
A political strategy – don’t let anyone else develop a power base, shake things up when you need the PR, revolve your people in and out of departments and the private sector to extend your tentacles – but not good management.
*
“Chicago was leading the way for a long while in cycling,” Sadowsky said. “Things have been happening in other cities, like Minneapolis and New York, that really made strides we’re not even coming close to. Part of that is a strong presence from the Department of Transportation’s commissioner level and strong backing from the mayor. We’re kind of lacking that in the city right now.”
But I thought we were No. 1 and our mayor was a great manager? I wonder where I got that idea from.
4. 1 Aloha Lane, Cook County.
*
Aloha Lane Holiday Apartments, Australia.
5. What are the chances that our mayor sticks a rifle up a reporter’s butt? Find out in The Political Odds.
6. “If you didn’t read the fine print, you might have assumed that P&G was giving one dollar to these causes for every bottle of Dawn sold . . . ”
7. “With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution,” the Guardian reports. “Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations. Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution.
“‘If this Gulf accident had happened in Nigeria, neither the government nor the company would have paid much attention,’ said the writer Ben Ikari, a member of the Ogoni people. ‘This kind of spill happens all the time in the delta.'”
8. The fact that the same fake newspaper seems to be used in every movie got a lot of viral play this weekend.
9. Slacker P.I.: The Race Card.
10. Big in Tucson.
–
The Beachwood Tip Line: Do the math.
Posted on June 7, 2010