SUPER THANKSGIVING!

HOW ABOUT THAT FOR A SPECIAL THANKSGIVING TREAT?!?!?!!! the BEARS go up to green bay where they normally can't win a one man race and stop the puke green & urine yellow packers 17-13. made that pumpkin pie taste reallllllllll good.

did you notice the early 'home cookin' by the officials in an effort to get the home team over the hump? and tell me you didn't hold your breath waiting for a flag on the last pass into the end zone. a perfect end to the holiday on brett favre night. screw him too.

COACH JOHN FOX has done a great job of getting the bears competitive with a dearth of talent on his roster but they keep things close in almost every game.  since starting 0-3, the bears are 5-3 and those three games have been lost by a TOTAL of 8 points, which should give you great hope for the future.

I just noticed that the RUSSIANS were suspended from future track activities when it was discovered they had used performance enhancing drugs in the Olympics.  what a shock.

showtime for NOTRE DAME this weekend. they need to beat favored STANFORD and then pray that OKLAHOMA COACH 'BIG GAME' BOBBY STOOPS gags it up again against oklahoma state. if the sooners win and everyone else holds serve, it doesn't matter what the irish do, they're toast.

are the WHITE SOX doing this just to piss me off? they've signed some interesting free agents including an outfielder with a lifetime average of .208, a sore knee catcher who hit .191 last year, an outfielder coach who ended his career early because he kept running into walls and finally, in a trade, a relief pitcher with an e.r.a. of almost 5.00 who walked three batters for every four he struck out last season. wonderful.

and I hear nothing from the north side. just what are those sneaky bastards up to?

the BULLS have the fourth best record in the NBA but it sure doesn't seem like they're one of the four best, does it? JOAQUIM NOAH doesn't seem to fit in with this offense and might be done for good. look for him to be traded to a team that runs a set offense where noah can handle the high post. a good test for the bulls will be Friday night at INDIANA.

and the BLACKHAWKS keep amazing me in a year that was supposed to be a rebuild due to salary cap issues. PATRICK KANE is playing like a man possessed with 34 points in just 22 games and left wing ARTEMI PANARIN is now the favorite for rookie of the year with 23 points in twenty-two games. after a slow start for the team, the return of DUNCAN KEITH has propelled the hawks to fifth in the conference and when JONATHAN TOEWS & MARION HOSSA get untracked, the sky's the limit.

all the rivals play this weekend in college football. OHIO STATE/MICHIGAN............OREGON/OREGON STATE............ALABAMA/AUBURN............MISSISSIPPI STATE/MISSISSIPPI & USC/UCLA......whoyagot??????

later, dude.

ALL SORTS OF STUFF

I wonder how convicted pedophile JARED FOGLE will fare in prison over the next fifteen years. the former long-time spokesman for SUBWAY pleaded guilty of traveling across state lines to have sex with minors along with possession of child porn and got whacked by the judge, who gave him three more years than the prosecution asked for and fined him $175,000.  

last time i checked, pedophiles don't win any popularity contests in the big house.  maybe he can make friends with convicted illinois governor ROD BLAGOJEVICH, who is also a resident of the littleton, colorado federal facility. fogle will be eligible for parole in 2028. enjoy your time, jared.

still nothing from the jungle regarding anyone coming forward to point the finger at the murderer of TYSHAWN LEE. even rewards totaling more than $55,000 gets no response and don't tell me that a nine year old shot in broad daylight has no witnesses to the crime. the residents won't talk to white cops, black cops or any cops at all but they 'want justice' for the killing.  shut up.

and now the black alderman are calling for the resignation of SUPERINTENDENT GARRY McCARTHY. why, because your constituents won't EVER cooperate with the police??? what the hell are the officers supposed to do without hard eveidence? they need testimony and some finger pointing to get the job done. so get out on the streets and talk to your voters. somebody either knows or heard something by now.

i think GOVERNOR BRUCE RAUNER stepped on his penis the other day by announcing he was closing the borders of illinois to all syrians. what kind of a moron are you?

an interesting race has developed in the democratic primary for the u.s. senate seat currently held by republican MARK KIRK. there are now three candidates: war hero TAMMY DUCKWORTH, former federal prosecutor and corporate c.e.o. ANDREA ZOPP and the latest entrant, former NFL player and current state senator NAPOLEON HARRIS.

duckworth has the most money, zopp has some money but controls the south & west side black vote and harris might be entering too late to have any impact but could hurt zopp with black voters. kirk has over 3.5 million in his war chest and understands all about tough political races. 

presidential hopeful and proven liar BEN CARSON is toast. 

DONALD TRUMP is scary.

HILLARY CLINTON gives me the creeps.

but i hope all of them and YOU 
have a safe and HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 

take a minute and nineteen seconds (1:19) and enjoy the song below..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGaaYKAagU

JUST SPORTS

Congratulations to the CHICAGO CUBS for their post season trifecta of cy young, rookie of the year and manager of the year to top off a 97-65 regular season record. 

it reminds me an awful lot of the 1984 season when they took mvp, cy young and manager of the year with a 96-65 record and according to all the 'smart' people in baseball, that team was also destined for long term greatness. the next year they finished 77-84.  just sayin'.

FYI....one other similarity of those two teams is that neither won anything.  just sayin' again.

think PEYTON MANNING carries some weight with the bookies? the line for this sunday's game between denver  & the bears was the broncos favored by 5 1/2 points IN CHICAGO. then they announced that manning wouldn't play and the bears are now favored by 2. over a touchdown swing because one player went down. unheard of to date.

speaking of the bears, what do you do with the running back position when MATT FORTE is healthy again? twenty three year old JEREMY LANGFORD is running like a man possessed and makes 450,000 per year while forte is thirty and makes eleven million. langford is your future but how do you sit forte when he makes the big bucks?

MR. SOFTEE goes down again! driving to the hoop, softee rolled his ankle and according to the man himself, wasn't supposed to miss any time at all but he sat for the phoenix game and is now out for the game against the world champs.  hmmmmmmmmmmm...maybe softee wasn't looking forward to league MVP STEPHAN CURRY lighting him up.  

the NHL has awakened! in a sport that struggles for viewership, the league has decided to make their all-star game a series of twenty minute three-on-three contests with the winning team taking home a million dollars.  the league instituted the same format for their overtime periods this year and it's been a rousing success. welcome to the millenium.

a monster game this week in the NFL.  the reeling GREEN BAY PACKERS try to right the ship when they visit MINNESOTA in an nfc north showdown.  the game is rated even and the packers will either cut the vikings two game lead in half or let everyone know that the nice run they had is over. hard to believe the vikings are that good so gun to head, i would take the packers. prime time at 3:15 on television.

the WHITE SOX? still hibernating on the south side with the somnambulant robin ventura at the helm. they signed thirty-five year old outfielder SCOTT HAIRSTON to a minor league contract. and why not? he's a career .208 hitter and hasn't played baseball in two years. what's not to like?

have a good weekend!

AS THE WORLD TURNS

the ISIS story is not going to go away. PARIS is reeling just like we were after 9/11 and have responded in a like manner by attacking the enemy by air but just like osama bin laden, exactly where are the leaders?? ISIS has threatened an attack on washington d.c. so now look for special forces to be involved soon on the ground in an effort to take out the bosses in their hiding places.

CHARLIE SHEEN has rocked the hollywood world with his admission that he's hiv positve and was diagnosed FOUR YEARS AGO. sheen, who has long been known as a 'player' with a variety of sexual tastes, made a strange confession to MATT LAUER on the today show. 

sheen stated he was diagnosed four years ago and informed all of his partners of his condition and that he always wore a condom "except with two people and they were aware of my condition."  excuse me?   why would he endanger those two who then might get infected and pass it on because they're not as 'truthful' as sheen?

sheen has always been a loose cannon who plays a little loose with the truth and i just have a hard time believing him but i guess will see who turns up infected down the road.

AND IN BREAKING NEWS........ sheen's ex-fiance porn star BRETT ROSSI calls him "a f------ liar. he never told me while we were living together and then offered me a hundred grand hush money.  i guarantee you his virus has infected hundreds if not thousands of people. he's a piece of s---!"

current information has it that sheen has settled with at least a dozen people who found out he knew about the infection and failed to tell them.

and with more testimony like that, i believe sheen could be charged under the felony C.A.R.E. statute for 'failure to disclose his condition to any sexual partner.' now let's see how far ms. rossi wants to take it.

and while we're talking about screwed up actors from 'two and a half men',' it appears that ANGUS JONES, who played jake on the show, is in the process of giving all of his money to a 'pop up' church called forerunner chronicles with which he's associated. jones made $300,000 per episode the last couple of years on the show but that money appears to be long gone. jones has dropped out of acting, calling it 'hypocritical' to his values.

the saga continues in fox lake. investigators have discovered past withdrawals from the police explorer account by JOE GLINIEWICZ and a day later, the same amount deposited in a personal account by his wife, MELODY.

 it's over, melody. if you were smart (and i probably just answered my own question) you'd sit down with investigators and empty your gunny sack of lies & excuses and tell them everything you know.  you can't stop the upcoming indictment but you might get some leniency from the judge if you cooperate and tell all.

i hear that the gliniewicz son is thisclose to being released from his remaining time in the army and could face a court martial for his involvement in the phony marriage for money scam. i guess the apples really don't fall far from the tree.

it's a nasty world in which we live.  hug the people in your life that you care about.                         later.

JUST SPORTS

Is this the real JAY CUTLER or an imposter left over from halloween? other than the pick six he tossed last week, he's been the best 'game manager' in the nfl this year. he seems calm & efficient and his qb rating of 95.3 has never been higher. let's get one thing straight...he's never going to be AARON RODGERS or TOM BRADY but this version of jay eliminates most of the angst from previous seasons. stay the course, jay.

the CHICAGO CUBS are listed as the favorite to win the 2016 world series with the DODGERS, ROYALS, BLUE JAYS, METS and NATIONALS right behind,  11-1 on your money. feeling lucky, north side sewer rats? take some of the money you normally spend on cocaine and twelve dollar beers in wrigleyville and invest in your boys in blue.

but beware the ugly monster known as supply & demand:    cub fans were ecstatic over their success this past season but the season ticket invoices arrived last week and the rats learned all about the price of that success.  TEN PERCENT was the average bump but most fans are going to shrug their shoulders and write the check because they think ten percent isn't too bad. well, not so fast, loyal fan.

imagine that you've been a long time ticket holder with seats in the reserved terrace down the left field line by the bullpen. totally crappy seats as are most at wrigley BUT the cubs have decided to designate those as CORNER BOX SEATS so your invoice went up 40% !!!!  that's like buying a chevy neon and then getting billed for a corvette except NOTHING CHANGED on the car.     ah, the friendly confines.

the cubs are also now figuring the secondary resale market as part of their formula on what to charge the regular season ticket holders. "tickets are being sold for four & five times their value so we take that into consideration," said COLIN FAULKNER, vp of sales.

so SCALPERS are determining your everyday prices. just curious....if you never scalp your tickets, do they give you a discount? how bad are ticket prices for real?  wellllll, a bleacher seat is now averaging forty bucks and on "premium" games (designated by the cubs) you'll pay SIXTY FIVE DOLLARS to sit in the bleachers.        WHAT????????

don't like that cubs bet at 11-1? how about the CHICAGO BEARS at 115-1 to win the super bowl THIS year. ten bucks gets you back over eleven grand.

what the hell is wrong with the green bay packers? three bad losses in a row including yesterday to the lowly lions IN green bay.

say good-bye to first ballot hall of famer PEYTON MANNING, who tore the plantar fascia, which is the ligament that connects the heel to the toes. already slow as a sloth, manning now has to think seriously about hanging them up rather than risk major injury by returning as a sitting duck.  big guy, you have nothing left to prove.

moving along.....now DERRICK ROSE (aka MR. SOFTEE) says it might be three more months of double vision that conveniently 'comes and goes' while he's playing.  talk about covering your butt for the many bad nights to come from a fading superstar. but if that's the case according to rose, then a 35% shooter shouldn't be on the floor at crunch time, right?

and finally.......is it just me that thinks the government has bigger problems than wasting their time & money investigating fantasy football companies like DRAFT KINGS? it seems like such a waste. tax it and move on.

ok, that's it for now.  have a good week.

NOTHING BUT GOOD NEWS

There's so much nasty going on that i thought i would ease into the holiday season with a short column featuring nothing but good news in the world.

Ya gotta love it when technology works to clean up the world. "jihadi john" was lit up by a united states drone in syria and sent to the promised land thursday night. you might remember john as the isis terrorist who cut the heads of numerous jounalists and media members from around the world and recorded the executions before releasing the video on the internet. "a direct hit and no one else was injured" according to a government official. have a nice day, john.

you like country star DIERKS BENTLEY? well, you'll like him a lot more now. while dining at a local restaurant in chicago wednesday night, he noticed a young woman sobbing at one of the tables in the corner.  the waiter explained she worked there part-time but was being forced to drop out of school because of the budget deadlock in illinois and wouldn't be able to finish her last three semesters and get her teaching degree.  bentley went over and introduced himself and sat with her for a half hour and then provided tickets & limo service for his veterans day concert. and just to make her day even more, he paid her tuition at the college she's attending for the next year.  nice guy.

here's a holiday gift for the family (but probably not for pre-high schoolers. "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" arrives at the goodman theatre on november 14 and runs thru december 27. the classic about ebenezer scrooge runs less than two hours and the goodman is a very nice theatre to watch a play.  tickets start at just twenty-five dollars.

medical marijuana became legal in illinois on monday and all day,  i thought it was smoke from burning leaves in the air all day.

how was that?  did you smile in your heart at least once? then the column was worth it! have a good weekend.

THE JUNGLE ROARS AGAIN

I just don't understand. no matter how bad your life is going, no matter how angry you are and no matter how much you hate a rival gang member...........what kind of animal lures a nine year old boy into an alley and assassinates him? nine years old. TYSHAWN LEE was a third grader. exactly how dangerous was he to the other gang? well, he wasn't dangerous at all but his gang banging father is very active in gang activity and the jungle gangs have now declared 'open season' on rival gang members AND THEIR FAMILIES.  doesn't that send a shiver down your spine?

and there's no doubt that the neighborhood would band together and point out the shooter, right? sorry, suburban folks but that's not how it works in the jungle.  everyone has become a turtle or an ostrich and didn't see anything. even a $35,000 reward hasn't been enough to bring a turtle out of it's shell. FYI--a chicago p.d. friend of mine says that MOST of the offered rewards go unclaimed which is incredible when you figure the average family income in the jungle is less than $10,000 per family. (not counting welfare benefits).

but surely the father, gang member PIERRE STOKES would help the police find the killer or at least give them a likely shooter from the other game. uh, no. stokes' response to two requests for interview was EXACTLY as follows: "why dey got to do me like dat? i got nuttin to say to da po-po. i ain't no banger. why dey wastin time talkin to me when dey could be lookin for da killers my son."

two days after the murder, police executed a search warrant at a south side apartment where stokes, currently out on bond for a gun charge, was found eating pizza and smoking marijuana with friends. and i quote again: "so we smokin dope and chillin. waddup with dat? i got court in the morning and now dey rassin' me instead of gettin the killers. dey got to loosen up wid me and pull da noose tighter on someone else cuz i got nuttin to say."  

now if this is the attitude of the father and the neighborhood together, is it any surprise when non-jungle people just turn the page of the newspaper without reading the murder stories? they see the headline, shake their head and turn the page. again and again and again.

the next day a neighborhood shrine to the slain child was burned down by an unknown arsonist.  ready to talk yet, folks? this is getting closer & closer to your homes and families.

just to wrap it up for this round, here are the stats from the last 5 days in the jungle:

8 dead, including tyshawn lee and an 89 year old woman 

who was set on fire when she walked in on a burlgary at her home.

13 wounded, ranging in age from 17 to 48 including 3 females.

they live by and die by different rules. violence solves everything. if you're in the city and you're not sure of your non-stop destination, then MADISON STREET should be as far south as you go. don't become a victim of the jungle.

SPORTS ODDS & ENDS

Do you think NEW YORK METS second baseman DANIEL MURPHY understands now what a fickle mistress major league baseball is? murphy was king of the world during the NLCS sweep over the hapless cubs, hitting .529 on 9 for 17 with four homers, a double and six ribbies which brought him a well deserved MVP award for that four game series.

and then the worm turned and the world series madam made murphy look like a little leaguer as he garnered just 3 singles over five games and batted .150 with zero rbi's plus two HUGE errors on simple ground balls to turn the tide of two games in favor of the royals. and that's what makes baseball the game that it is.

DERRICK ROSE (aka mr. softee) has come up with the PERFECT EXCUSE for poor play and the excuse is good for the entire season. "i have double vision.... sometimes" said the master of candyassdom.  how perfect is that? if he scores 29 points like he did thursday night against OKC, then "i was feeling good and had no problems" is the statement from his camp but if he scores less than ten points three games in a row?  "my vision isn't perfect so i try to contribute in other ways." WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP.  

but the worst part of this is rose's MONSTER CONTRACT so he's untradeable. a declining former superstar who's not even ranked in the top 15 guards in the NBA making TWENTY MILLION a year. and we have him for two more years. yay!

the WHITE SOX made the final move to say good-bye to that piece of garbage JEFF SAMARDZIJA by offering him a one year contract in the hope that he turns it down so they can get a compensatory draft pick.  with the sox luck, the shark will say yes to the offer.

and finally, PATRICK KANE is off the hook and the case is closed.  no, kane won't be suing his accuser for slander because that would mean that kane would be subject to a deposition UNDER OATH and the opposition attorneys can pretty much ask you anything they want about your past life including sexual experiences, drunken behavior, arrests, complaints, rehab and and all sorts of good stuff.  and that's why this matter is done and will stay done.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

my thoughts

I really don't know what to say about the mess in fox lake but as someone who worked the streets as a police officer for twenty-five years, i can tell you that words like 'betrayed' 'disgusted' and 'embarrassed' come to my mind frequently. a lot has been written about joe gliniewicz and and his family but believe me, there's more to come so i'll leave that to the daily scribes

i was no saint patrolling the streets and i did what i had to do dealing with the maggots who ruined honest people's lives on a daily basis but as i saw it, my job was to protect the law abiding citizens of the town from that element. period. 

did people complain about me? absolutely. did the bad guys say i was too physical with them? yep. did i put resisters in need of medical attention? most certainly.  did i tell the habitual criminals that it would be in their best interest health wise to move out of town? right again BUT i never asked for or received anything from a local business person and i can honestly tell you i never took a dime from anyone. NOT A DIME. and i'm proud of that because being an honest cop is sometimes all that keeps you going when things get bad on the job.

in closing, i want to offer my condolences to all of the honest police officers in lake county who put their lives on the line every day because what's been printed this week has cast an unwarranted shadow on them and will for years to come. 

memo to the newer officers in fox lake: move on. take a job with another department because the stink from this incident will never wash off and you'll be constantly reminded of how dishonest you are, how you shake down business owners, how you drink & drive,  how you steal money and take bribes and how you're a dirtbag just like the criminals. get used to it.

now, none of that will be true but you'll never be able to defend yourself in your own town because PERCEPTION IS REALITY to many people. and in this case, you can thank joe gliniewicz for that. that's his legacy to law enforcement.

CATCHING UP ON EVERYTHING

congrats to the KANSAS CITY ROYALS for a great run to the world championship. coming from behind EIGHT times in the playoffs showed heart and talent, which is a combination only owned by the blackhawks in chicago but sorely missed in all the other venues in the windy city. the royals are a fun team to watch and they don't seem to have any weaknesses so look for them in october for a few years. (p.s.  their normal closer was out with an injury but their bullpen was still lights out.)

and special props to ALEX RIOS, who after 12 years of playing on some pretty bad teams finally grabbed the brass ring. enjoy.

historical note: the most dominant post season performance this century is still the 2005 CHICAGO WHITE SOX, who steamrolled the opposition and went 11-1 on the way to the WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP. just sayin.......

the story of DON MATTINGLY is a confusing one. he takes over a bad dodger team in 2011 and during his five year tenure was never under .500, won three consecutive division titles and had an overall winning percentage of 55% but gets dumped. why? read on.

there's a very strong story going around that mattingly's decision to pitch CLAYTON KERSHAW instead of fully rested cy young candidate ZACH GRIENKE in game 1 against the mets sealed his fated. greinke was apparently livid at the snub and the waters were muddied even more when kershaw lost his game and greinke won game 2.  a baseball lifer said, "mattingly's decision changed the entire dynamics of the series because if your strongest pitcher wins the first game, all of the pressure falls on the mets and not kershaw. the fans would have been revved up and kershaw has great killer instinct."

after the dodger elimination, greinke immediately opted out of the final three years of his contract and became a FREE AGENT plus there was a 'him or me' conversation with the dodger brass. the opt-out was expected for business reasons but turning in your papers 45 minutes after elimination sends a message.  so mattingly goes bye-bye and the dodgers can only hope that greinke calms down and re-signs because losing the best pitcher in the national league would not sit well with the fans.

it's hard to even talk about the bears.  they may have a great coaching staff but when most of your roster is filled with cast offs from other teams, you're looking at a minimum of three years to throw out the garbage and rebuild your team. eventually, you'll have enough draft choices and free agent signings to right the ship but it ain't happening overnight. p.s. coach JOHN FOX turns 61 during the off season and has a history of heart problems. how much coaching time does he have left?

is this the week PATRICK KANE begins to breathe normally again?

gotta run.  have a great week