By Steve Rhodes
A few interesting additional facts for the Chicago Bears to think about when contemplating how much better the Minnesota Vikings are:
* The Vikings’ Vice President of Player Personnel is Rick Spielman, who was the Bears’ personnel director from 1997 to 1999.
From Wikipedia: “Spielman has overseen three drafts in Minnesota. His most notable draftees include Adrian Peterson in 2007 Tyrell Johnson in 2008 and Percy Harvin in 2009. The draft aside, Spielman is best known for the free agency splash the Vikings made in 2008, when they signed Bernard Berrian and Madieu Williams to big contracts and traded a first round and two third round picks to the Kansas City Chiefs for pro-bowl defensive end, Jared Allen, and finally in 2009 when the Vikings came to terms with long time Green Bay Packer Brett Favre.”
* The Vikings’ defensive coordinator is former Bear Leslie Frazier, who led the 1985 Bears with six interceptions.
* Former Bears’ wide receiver Bernard Berrian would be Chicago’s top receiver if he was still with the team; with Minnesota he has been overshadowed this season by Sydney Rice and Harvin.
* Percy Harvin vs. Devin Hester. Discuss.
* Coffman: “Maynard followed this up with another not-great punt but caught a huge break when the ball rolled almost 20 yards before going out of bounds inside the five. At that point did anyone else think to themselves ‘Oh great, so now when the Vikings go down and score it will be an especially demoralizing 95-plus yard drive rather than a garden variety 70-something-yarder?'”
* Ofman: “Oh was I wrong.”
Newspaper Narrative
“As for Thanksgiving being the busiest travel time of the year? Not true either, says Bialik. The number of commercial flights shows that Thanksgiving does not come close to being the busiest travel period.”
See the “Turkey Story” item here (and the one above it).
Not only was I not rewarded in my newspaper career for reporting the truth, I damaged my career by doing so. I reserve the right to remain bitter.
Daley’s Lies
Speaking of reporting the truth, our mayor is a serial liar and reporters in town know it. They talk about it amongst themselves. But they don’t report it that way to the public.
The mayor’s latest batch of falsehoods came in an interview with WBEZ’s Allison Cuddy. The Sun-Times’s Abdon Pallasch took a look and found that – in the words of the experts he talked to – the mayor was “less than truthful,” “told a number of falsehoods,” and was plain “wrong.”
Pallasch’s vetting of the mayor’s claims makes clear that when it comes to the equivalent of one-sixth of the city’s budget – its TIF funds – Daley is either a bald-faced liar or doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
How many people think Daley simply doesn’t know what he’s talking about – 20 years into his mayoralty and this late in the TIF debate?
Daley says the city has to do a better job of marketing TIFs. In other words, it has to lie better.
*
The Reader vetted Daley’s claims three weeks ago.
The Daley Show
“As for the previously promised scrutiny, Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th, Budget Committee chairwoman, said many aldermen had their concerns about Daley’s spending plan addressed in closed-door briefings with the mayor’s staff before public hearings even started.”
Tiger’s Tail
Maybe this is stale by now, but . . . from Texts From Last Night:
(918): i guess i finally out drove tiger woods this morning.
Retro News
“Floyd’s barber shop is a Wicker Park throwback.”
Only if some old guy named Floyd is giving $5 haircuts.
But no, Floyd’s is a chain out of Denver.
How in the world is that a Wicker Park throwback?
It reminds me of when the Deluxe Diner moved into the space formerly occupied by Friar’s Grill. The Deluxe Diner was a retro diner designed to evoke the feel of a place like . . . Friar’s Grill, which was actually an authentic, old-school grill.
But a little too authentic, I guess.
Next: Corner Tavern, designed to evoke the feel of the corner tavern that used to be here but which was just a little too real . . .
You might as well put a Taco Bell in where El Chino used to be.
*
That would actually make me very happy, but you get the point.
Billy Boy
“Chicago restaurateur Billy Dec has paid $1.65 million for a 10-room Lincoln Park house,” the Tribune reports.
“Dec continues to own a 3,338-square-foot house farther north in Lincoln Park that he purchased in 2004 for $745,000.”
See also: 20 Tweets: Billy Dec.
We live in a horrible world.
Double Agent Dorothy Brown
Or not.
Guv Candidates Withhold Tax Returns
Two goofs and a baby.
Mell’s Mess
Stays on ballot, but can’t vote for herself.
Bears Bite
The New York Times’s preview of the Bears game:
“Jay Cutler’s passes sail high over all our heads, like weather balloons, differential calculus or ‘Remembrance of Things Past.’ It takes amazing arm strength and a shocking lack of impulse control to overthrow Devin Hester, but Cutler finds a way. Some cosmic force turns Pro Bowl quarterbacks into Mike Phipps impersonators once they reach Chicago. Maybe it’s the weather (which hasn’t been a factor this year) or Ron Turner’s offense, or maybe the team needs to stop cobbling its receiving corps from undrafted speedsters and converted return men. The Vikings can officially knock the Bears out of the division race with a victory, but the Bears have been unofficially knocked out.”
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The Beachwood Tip Line: First-and-ten.
Posted on November 30, 2009