By Steve Rhodes
1. “Why is it that so many people who are paid to write about and talk about sports in this town can’t figure out that Jerry Angelo knows what he’s doing?” our very own Jim Coffman asks today in SportsMonday, where he makes a case for Angelo’s off-season.
2. “The Dave Clark Five were the Beatles if Ringo had been a heavy metal drummer and George had played sax at Chess Records,” our very own Don Jacobson writes in his appreciation of the band in RockNotes.
The Dave Clark Five will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame today.
3. “Legions of penny-pinchers, united in the thrill of the bargain hunt, have found Target a target,” the Buffalo News reports (hat tip: Consumer World).
“Shoppers across the country regularly search out what they call Target’s “secret sales,” and many share the details of their hunts in online forums.
“Dubbed ‘perimeter perusing’ by those who engage in it, the name comes from the location of most clearance items found at brick-and-mortar Target stores.”
4. “Backed by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-Ill.) and other lawmakers and activists, Deputy Gov. Louanner Peters said the Chicago Sun-Times and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) wrongly suggested politics played a role in Blagojevich’s 2005 pardon of Sharon Latiker,” the Sun-Times reports.
There’s a deputy governor?
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Actually, there are two!
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Plus, of course, a lieutenant governor.
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Here’s an idea: Can any of them drive a bus?
5. Apparently cops are calling new police chief Jody Weis, a former FBI agent, “J-Fed.”
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According to Urban Dictionary, “j.fed” can also mean “The state of having an unnatural addiction to old episodes of Boy Meets World,” i.e., ” His obsession with Topanga has totally gone j. fed.”
6. The Bill Foster-Jim Oberweis special election over the weekend was of national import for several reasons.
* The congressional seat up for grabs was that of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
* The race was viewed by national pundits as an early weather vane to the fall election (even if the battle was between a bumbling candidate versus a lackluster one).
” It was another test of the blogosphere’s potential influence on local races; having failed to do much damage in its opposition to U.S. Rep. Bill Lipinski in his recent re-election rout, the liberal netroots tried again by supporting Foster.
But despite these factors and turnout in the presidential primaries soaring, the election was disappointing in at least one regard.
“Gov. Rod Blagojevich scheduled the special election on Saturday as an experiment to see whether it would increase voter participation,” the Tribune reports.
“But the turnout was low, with barely more than one in five of registered voters making it to the polls.”
7. I believe it was the late Steve Neal of the Sun-Times who named Jim Oberweis “The Milk Dud.” Here’s why:
“Oberweis has now spent nearly $9 million of his own money on six elections the last six years and still does not hold elected office,” the Tribune account notes.
“The investment manager is better known for his family’s home-delivered milk and ice cream shops but could not translate that profile to victory.”
8. The Tribune’s gentle handling of Austan Goolsbee, the controversial University of Chicago professor who is Barack Obama’s chief economic advisor, featured Goolsbee’s mother calling the Canadian consulate general here in Chicago a liar (or an incompetent).
“It’s very frustrating for him, because he says everything that’s being said about what he said is all very false,” Jane Goolsbee told the Trib.
Well, that’s what Austan is telling his mother. He’s not telling the rest of us anything.
“Goolsbee has kept a low profile in the two weeks since his Canadian misadventure first became news, and he did not respond to repeated requests for comment,” the Trib notes.
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“He’s basically a volunteer,” Axelrod said as he distanced the campaign from the heretofore rock star advisor.
Axelrod then took a call from the producers of Moment of Truth and declined an invitation to appear on the show.
9. This is sad.
– Bethany Lankin
10. “You don’t have to like heavy metal to appreciate this dark, headbanging corner bar; you don’t even have to like alcohol. No, the main thing is that you’re into burgers, because Kuma’s, unlikely as it seems, serves the best in Chicago,” Jeff Ruby of Chicago magazine writes in Playboy.
“Take a look at that menu of 20 intriguing half-pound black Angus burgers named for the owners’ favorite bands: Dark Throne (with chipotle peppers, goat cheese, pico de gallo); Melvins (basil, prosciutto, mozzarella); Motorhead (goat cheese, kalamata olives, oregano, tzatziki, onion, tomato). They’re all well thought out and carnivorously debauched beyond words – but the centerpiece is the Kuma burger, a masterpiece piled with bacon, cheddar, and a fried egg on a puffy Labriola pretzel roll. Ask for yours rare, and rest assured there will be blood.”
The Beachwood Tip Line: Medium well, please.
Posted on March 10, 2008