there IS a santa claus!

every once in a while, something occurs in the world of sports that makes you smile. for me, it's always been a white sox win, a cubs loss and a good boxing match that goes the distance. but last night, watching the dallas mavericks dismantle the hapless miami heat and sending lebron to a summer of self doubt was worth the price of admission. lebron's failure and his constant 4th quarter disappearing act finally wiped that smirk off his ugly face. now if the bruins can find a way to beat the jerkoffs from vancouver, it would be time for the happy dance in the bay window!

i found it amusing that peter gammons called wrigley field a dump last week. while he's accurate in his assessment, gammons has held season tickets for years at fenway park, which is the other dump in the major leagues. p.s.--gammons thinks 200 million will renovate wrigley but i have a cheaper idea. i think about 10 million will pay for a wrecking ball and then build a facility in the suburbs that's a 21st century structure complete with toilets that flush and actuel parking lots that don't require a second mortgage. screw the people in wrigleyville. let it go back to hookers, drugs and dirty book stores.

if you live in the northern suburbs, using rapid transit to a sporting event is a joke. i tried it to wrigley last week for the first time by taking the train to the grayland stop and exiting on a 2nd story platform. with NO signs, i picked a stairway and walked down to the city streets where, of course, there was once again NO street signs. i have no clue where i'm at.

i enter a bar called kennedy's and the purple haired multi-pierced gum chewing bartender waves her hand and says "addison is that way" and sorta points south. exit the bar in a pouring rain and walk three blocks to a cta bus stop (no shelter) and stand in the freakin rain until the bus comes. ask the driver how much and i get the same look skinheads get when they walk into a jewish temple. the driver says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and continues to glare at me while the people behind me still standing in the rain get restless very quickly. thankfully, the guy right behind me tells me it's two bucks and i hand the money to the driver and he reacts like my bills are radioactive. he points (but doesn't speak) to the slot and i feed the meter to continue my trip to the shrine on addison.

now the bus is packed with rain soaked cub fans which makes me uneasy enough but the windshield fogs up completely with all the humidity and the mutant operating the bus is driving blind! i swear to god there wasn't one inch of clear glass. the mutant finally pulls out his hankerchief AT THIRTY MILES AN HOUR and wipes the glass.......ONCE.....which creates a three inch opening. incredibly, we arrive safe. after the game, i took a taxi back to the grayland stop. fifteen bucks and worth every penny.