North Side Apocalypse

Twenty-five years ago tonight, I was parked on a couch in Harbor Springs, Michigan, with my friend Tim Olson and his family, watching history being made:

Chicago Cubs pitcher Rick Sutcliffe, knowing he was on camera, deliberately picked his nose.

OK, maybe that wasn't the "history being made" aspect of the night, but the shot of Sutcliffe in the Cubs dugout was just one quirky moment of the night the lights came on at Wrigley.

Just a few weeks before my final semester at Central Michigan University was to commence, I needed to make the 2 1/2-hour-long drive from suburban Detroit to CMU in order to finalize my financial aid package and resolve some other issues, and was given the blessings of my family to tack on a few additional days of much-needed time away from home by spending time with Tim and his family, who lived several hours north of the Mt. Pleasant campus.

This was during the "summer of hell" in the midwest, where it refused to rain for weeks at a time and temperatures hit the 100s regularly. Grass fires started along metro Detroit highways because the lawn was so dry, the intense sunlight hitting broken bottles would ignite the area.

The summer was, indeed, "hell" for a different reason; my father was in the hospital, having had surgery to remove a brain tumor in late June, and the prognosis - at first hopeful - was not favorable by this time. Mentally, emotionally and spiritually, I was a mess.

Which explains the "blessings of my family" (more specifically, my mom) in my taking about a week to both take care of much-needed business and take a break from the day-to-days. Not that it did much good; I was on the phone regularly with my mom while with the Olsons, and when there was any "down time" (which was often), my thoughts were drawn immediately back to the hospital bed in which my father was resting.

Among the many activities the Olsons and I did during my mini-vacation was miniature golfing and watching the first-ever night baseball game at Wrigley Field on August 8, 1988. (For the record, the night before my father passed away, Tim and I got hammered on ... a combination of whatever we consumed. Hey, it's been a quarter century - my brain cells aren't what they once were, and possibly in large part due to whatever it was we had that particular night whilst walking around Nub's Nob. I'm not sure Tim has any specific recollections, either!)

But I digress.

The Cubs were hosting the Philadelphia Phillies, and Tim - a long-suffering Cubs fan - was beside himself regarding the end of Wrigley's daytime-only baseball tradition. But we resigned ourselves the end of our innocence was upon us, and grabbed the popcorn to try and enjoy the show.

Of course, it didn't quite work out the way the Cubbies planned; a torrential downpour caused the game to be postponed, and the next day (er, night) ended up being the official "first night game at Wrigley Field" contest. Tim believed the rainout was "a sign from an angry God" that night baseball should never have found its way to the shrine at 1060 West Addison, and it was difficult to argue his philosophy. (I'm still not sure if Sutcliffe's nose-picking adventure supports this position or not.) We still believe, individually and collectively, that "night baseball" at Wrigley should be relegated to this famous image:

(For a slightly different viewpoint and recollection, I encourage you to read ESPN writer Jim Caple's commentary.)

The Fine Five - August 8, 2013

(1) It is also the anniversary of an almost equally historic event, as 39 years ago today - August 8, 1974 - US President Richard M. Nixon announced he would be resigning the following day following months of connection to the Watergate scandal.


(2) Continued interviewing various members of Wellington Debate for 2013-14 officer positions. The best part about the interviews is just getting the chance to talk with them about their experiences in debate, what they've done over the summer, their college plans, and a number of other aspects that really have nothing to do with the program as a whole.

(3) Hung roughly a dozen of Dale McCall's Twin Lakes High School and Wellington High School debate plaques in the debate room, including her National Forensic League Hall of Fame plaque and NFL Sixth Diamond plaque. She may have retired in 2000, but it's still important that her legacy with the program I have headed for more than a decade be remembered. Wellington Debate would not exist without Dale McCall, it's that plain and simple. And the high school debate world knows this.

(4) Back to baseball for a second: I agree with Detroit News sports columnist Tony Paul that the numbers of Trammaker - former Detroit Tigers shortstop Alan Trammell and second baseman Lou Whitaker - should be retired. ASAP. (Yes, I'm a bit biased, since Trammell is my favorite player of all time, and one of the greatest MLB shortstops of all time. He should have been inducted years ago!)

(5) I need a massage. Just sayin'

Foodercize
WEIGHT: 238
STEPS TAKEN: 11,009
MILES WALKED: 5.6
CALORIES CONSUMED: 2,175
DAILY CALORIE GOAL: 2,895 (1,890 + 1,005 earned through exercise)

Weird News of the Day
From The Riverfront Times: "Cardinals Security Kicks Out Fan on Star Wars Night... For Having Stormtrooper Mask?" - if only she had used her Jedi mind trick powers ...

Stupid News of the Day
From 89 WLS: "Bank robber foiled by Facebook photo pleads guilty" - the headline says it all, to be honest. DISHONORABLE MENTION: the webmaster for placing a photo of the Facebook logo on the page, and adding a caption saying "Facebook logo" (because ... we can't figure that out in the first place?).

Video of the Day
Grace under pressure, thy name are those of KNBC co-anchors David Horowitz, John Beard and Kirsten Wilde, who were held hostage live on-the-air in 1987. Horowitz was forced, at gunpoint, to read a statement from a deranged individual armed with what turned out to be a BB gun ... not that they knew it at the time.