South Side Parade 2013: Leo Lions Learn About The Irish Game of Camogie ( Women's Hurling)

While waiting to step off in Sunday's South Side Irish Parade, members of the back-to-back IHSA Track Championship Leo High School team were instructed in the ancient Irish game of Camogie.

The Leo Lions With Annie Redmond of the GAA Champion Camogie (camógaíocht in Irish)  Squad - St. Mary's Camogie.  Camogie is the Woman's Hurling Sport sanctioned by the Gaelic Athletic Association.  St. Mary's play at Gaelic Park through the post-Memorial Day sweltering Chicago Heat.

Camogie like hurling is played with what looks like a sawed-off hockey stick and a leather ball called the sliotar

Matches are contested by two teams of 15 a side, using a field 130m to 145m long and 80m to 90m wide. H-shape goals are used, a goal (scored when the ball goes between the posts and under the bar) is equal to three points and a point (scored when the ball goes over the bar) is equal to one point.The rules are almost identical to hurling, with a few exceptions.^[6]

• Goalkeepers wear the same colours as outfield players. This is because no special rules apply to the goalkeeper and so there is no need for officials to differentiate between goalkeeper and outfielders.
• A camogie player can handpass a score (forbidden in hurling since 1980)
• Camogie games last 60 minutes (senior inter-county hurling games last 70)
• Dropping the camogie stick to handpass the ball is permitted.
• A smaller sliotar (ball) is used in camogie - commonly known as a size 4 sliotar - whereas hurlers play with a size 5 sliotar.
• If a defending player hits the sliotar wide, a 45-metre puck is awarded to the opposition (in hurling, it is a 65-metre puck)
• After a score, the goalkeeper pucks out from the 13-metre line. (in hurling, he must puck from the end line)
• The metal band on the camogie stick must be covered with tape. (not necessary in hurling)
• Side–to-side charges are forbidden. (permitted in hurling)
• Two points are awarded for a score direct from a sideline cut (since March 2012)^[7]

Camogie players must wear skirts or skorts rather than shorts.

It is brutal! The Leo Lions, gentlemen athletes all, were astounded by the skill and athleticism required of this ancient Irish sport.




St. Mary's Camogie:
 R. Callnan, A. Byrne, A. Redmond, N. O’Keefe, C. Murray, L. Mitchell, A. Wall, E. Hennessey, Colette Gill (1-2), E. McQuaid, N. Kerlin, Miriam O’Keefe (2-0), Grainne McCrickland (1-2).

Thanks Annie!

The Town of Chicago and the Beauty of Waiting

Father John P. Smyth
"No person stands so tall, as one who stoops to help a child."

My job requires a great deal of waiting - waiting for that magic moment in fund-raising, when the mission and operation of Leo High School matches a prospective donor's history of giving to a school like Leo with that person's capacity to make a gift; waiting to pull together current achievements and activities at the school to make a compelling presentation to that person; waiting to get an opportunity or appointment and waiting for the magic moment when that person asks, "How can I help."

Waiting is beautiful. In that gap between need identification and the gift, I get to again get knocked over by the capacity of people to look beyond themselves. Here in Chicago, the wait is never all that long.

Yesterday, before I went home to clean up for the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame Induction Dinner at Hawthorne Race Course, I had the opportunity to teach a few seniors about the job interview process. The teacher is a wonderful young lady who won her teaching spurs and the universal respect of the often times challenging 17 and 18 year olds in her many Math classes. As part of a business math unit, this innovative and thoughtful young lady has called a number of Leo Alumni professionals to serve as a mock interview panel next week. I was the stalking horse.

I am a teacher and a teacher, or a coach is a salesman. This morning when I get into work, I will sit down with one of our senior athletes in this class for a lesson on preparing for the up-coming interview and to go over his practice resume. From those lines on the paper, I will attempt to articulate the core worth of this splendid, thoughtful, tough, and centered young man in a letter of recommendation for this fictional job. I will also use this opportunity to begin drafting a letter from me that will be used in his college application. This is fund-raising.

This teacher's impact on her students is the core of what I do. This lesson in the steps necessary for securing employment is what it is all about. The young man has learned that many people are in his corner - his teacher, volunteers who went to Leo years ago, and a splendid old chap who works in the Development Office. I'll be waiting for this senior.

I always arrive early. I had a ticket for a guest of the Leo Advisory Board's table, a beautiful woman who has helped the kids at Leo for a number of years. I waited outside the entrance for her.

Haythorne Race Course was packed with giants.

Father John Smyth the legendary priest/athlete who dedicated his life to Christ's children, no matter what religion, race, or circumsatnce they walk in the world. Father Smyth walks along side them.

Gale Sayers, the Kansas Comet and arguably the gold standard for NFL running backs, who uses his modest fortune to help inner city kids learn to speak in public, develop computer skills and more importantly learn that they do not walk alone.

Rocky Bleier of Notre Dame and NFL fame, whose career was interrupted by service in Vietnam where he was horribly wounded, but fought back his wounds to not only play professional football, but pace the great Franco Harris of Pittsburg Steelers.

Three Time National College Basketball Championship coach Jim Calhoun of University of Connecticut.

Mr. Calhoun reminded all of us of the quality that makes Chicago great - "Chicago is a Town," he told us, " You all know each other and care for one another."

Chicago is a town. I waited outside for a woman of great fortune. While waiting, I met one of Honorees for the evening Barry Sanders. He was followed by Heisman Trophy winner and Fenwick legend Johnny Lattner and a gentleman by the name of Pat Kelly. We talked while they waited for elevator operated by beautiful girl with a new set braces from Hubbard High School. Barry Sanders, Pat Kelly and Johnny Lattner turned all of their attentions to the little girl tasked with taking them up to the second floor.

The dinner began at 7 P.M. and Leo's guest was fighting traffic on the Stevenson Expresway, no matter I waited. Retired Cook County Sherrif Mike Sheahan, Hall of Fame Father and Daughter Jerry and Katie Schumacher with Katie's gorgeous Mom Kathy, Chicago Firefighting hero Jim Corbett and others treated the elevator operator like she was the most important person on earth as well. It is good to wait.

At 7:35 P.M. our table mate arrived and immediately was swarmed by the parking lot attendants. This wealthy and prminent lady greated the older attendent,"Hey, how's your wife Albert?" I waited while she caught up with her friends. When our elevator doors opened the Hubbard Greyhound in braces was on break, but when we arrived on the second floor Gold Cup Room, Leo's beautiful philanthropist chatted with each and every waiter, waitress, bartender and manager after hailing them by name. The wait was worth it.

Later in the evening, Jim Calhoun reminded all of us that what makes Chicago great is not, plants, Silver Beans, or World Class tinsel.Chicago was, is and should remain a Town of Wait-ers. Waiting is beautiful. Chicagoans are neighbors and they are patient, generous, friendly, helpful and present. They wait in the long lines at Wakes. The greatest people are never disdainful of people and treat every person Oprah or a janitor like a neighbor.

Pikers are pushy and never wait.

We joined the throng of Leo Men waiting for this gracious woman's arrival. Presidnet Dan McGrath held out her chair and the brawny stalwarts stood in welcome: Jack Fitzgerald, Bob Sheehy, John Linehan, Bill Holland and Rich Finn - Mike Joyce a Hall of Fame Director and his expectantly radiant wife greeted us from the directors table. We were waiting for Leo football coach and Board Member Mike Holmes, who arrived before Grace was said. Our table included Tamara Holder, attorney, journalist and Fox Television News legal analyst, who joined the Advisory Board in January. The brawny stalwarts now include a stunning young lady. Father John Smyth led us all in prayer and he noted while many in crowd had not waited for Grace to said, somethings should not wait. Our guest handed President Dan McGrath a gift for the boys at Leo. Waiting is exquisite in this great town.

I better launch off my ass, I do not want to keep a young man waiting.

Illinois HR1593 97th General Assembly Resolution Honors Richard Doyle's Life of Service!

Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan's Resolution (HR1593 97th General Assembly) passed by the Illinois General Assembly and signed by Governor Pat Quinn honors south side Vietnam Era Veteran, Windy City Veteran Director, Local 150 Illinois Operating Engineers member, Father Perez Council Grand Knight and Leo Alumni Leader Richard Doyle for a lifetime of dedication to America, Illinois, Labor, Special Needs Children, the Unborn, Veterans Rights, and Leo High School.

Before Friday's Leo Alumni Basketball Game between Brother Rice Crusaders and Leo's Lions, Leo President Dan McGrath read the resolution sponsored by Rep. O'Sullivan and issued by Governor Quinn to a crowd of hundreds.

Representative John O'Sullivan presented the resolution to Mr. Rich Doyle, Leo '65, American.

NFL Hall of Fame Legend Gale Sayers Visits Leo High School

Leo President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, Illinois State Rep. John O'Sullivan and NFL Hall Fame Legend Gale Sayers


On Wednesday October 13, 2010, Worth Township Committeeman and Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan brought his friend Hall of Fame NFL legend Gale Sayers ( Bears # 40) for a visit to the students of Leo High School.

Gale Sayers met with President for Institutional Advancement and Morgan Park native Dan McGrath and talked to Leo Students about sacrifice and achievement.

The Kansas Comet* spent the morning meeting with Dan McGrath, Principal Phil Mesina and the staff of Leo High School.

In Leo Legend and former Principal Pete Doyle's science class a good number of Leo Lions football players were treated to serious lesson about the realities of playing sports beyond high school. Gale Sayers played 68 games in the NFL and cautioned student athletes that when you prepare for football one must also prepare for life well beyond the game. That means developing skills and interests well beyond the fields or the hardwood floors.

The soft spoken sports legend encouraged the Leo Lions to prepare themselves as men of character, family obligations and civic responsibilities.

The Leo Family thanks Illinois State Representative John O'Sullivan for inviting Gale Sayers out for one of what could be many more visits to Leo High School.


*

Like a twisting tornado on the Kansas plains from whence he came, the Chicago Bears' Gale Sayers swirled onto the National Football League scene in 1965, wreaking fearful havoc and destruction on every opposition defense that stood his way. The fluid, will-of-the wisp ball-carrying thrusts of the mercurial Sayers dazzled the pro football world in a manner that it had not experienced for a full 40 years, not since another whirling dervish runner, the fabled Red Grange, flashed into action, also as a Chicago Bear. There is no telling what the "Kansas Comet" might have attained not fate stepped in to neutralize the flashing feet that no defense could adequately contain. A right knee injury in the ninth game of the 1968 season was a foreshadow of things to come. Yet, more determined than ever, Gale underwent a tortuous rehabilitation program, and in 1969, rushed for his second 1,000 yard season and won universal NFL Comeback of the Year honors.

But a left knee injury sustained in the 1970 season effectively put a stop to the glittering career after just four-and-one-half seasons of full-time activity.

Even though he was named the top halfback in the NFL's first 50 years in 1969, there was concern for a time that Sayers' comparatively short playing span might prevent his eventual election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

But the Hall's Selection Committee never wavered in its resolve at the 1977 meeting, the first one in which Gale was eligible for consideration. The Committee's vote was unanimous and its summation simple: "There never was another to compare with him. What else is there to say!"

On July 30, 1977, Sayers joined his fellow 1977 enshrinees, Bart Starr, Bill Willis, Frank Gifford and Forest Gregg, in receiving the impressive induction rites on the front steps of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

From the time he first handled a football as a youngster, Sayers was a sensation. Born May 30, 1943, in Wichita, Kansas, he moved to Omaha, Nebraska, with his family in his early years. There he became an all-state football and track star at Omaha Central high school.

Heavily recruited by numerous colleges, Sayers picked the University of Kansas, where he enjoyed a sensational three-year career under Coach Jack Mitchell. While setting Big Eight records, Gale rushed for 2,675 yards, caught passes for 408 yards and added 835 yards on kick returns.

Sayers loomed as one of the top prizes in the raging AFL-NFL war in the mid 1960's. One of three first round draft picks of the Bears, Gale was also the No.1 choice of the Kansas City Chiefs. While Kansas City was closer to home, Gale opted for the NFL because he felt the older league could offer a better showcase for his exceptional talents.

Incredibly, it now seems, more than a few pro scouts questioned whether Gale could make it in the pros. Everyone recognized the Jayhawk all-America's natural abilities but some doubted that the 6-0, 200 pound speedster could stand the pounding that he was sure to face. Otto Graham, the 1965 College all-star coach, suspecting that Gale had exaggerated a practice injury, even declined to play him in the summer classic in Chicago.

Bears coach George Halas, more understanding of Gale's injury problems, opted to bring him along slowly to build his confidence as well as to heal his aches and pains. Sayers saw his first action in the third pre-season contest and started for the first time in regular season Game No. 3. Almost immediately, he flashed the comet-like form that soon was to shake up the entire NFL.

Against the Los Angeles Rams in pre-season, he scampered 77 yards on a punt return, 93 yards on a kickoff return and then surprised everyone with a 25-yard left handed pass for a touchdown as the Bears won, 28-14.

In his starting debut, Gale scored both Chicago touchdowns in a 23-14 loss to Green Bay. A week later against the Rams, he ran 80 yards with a screen pass and threw another touchdown pass as the Bears won, 31-6.

Rosey Grier, the Rams' great tackle, answered the skeptics who doubted the Kansas Comet could make it in the NFL. Speaking of hid 80-yard run, Grier pondered: "I hit him so hard. I thought my shoulder must have busted him in two. I heard a roar from the crowd and figured he fumbled. Then there he was, 15 yards away and going for the score."

Seven days later, Sayers scored four touchdowns as the Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 45-37. The game breaker was Gale's 96-yard kickoff return.

Still the best was to come!

On December 12, the next-to-last week of the season, playing on a muddy field that might have stalled most runners, Sayers scored a record-tying six touchdowns as the Bears annihilated the San Francisco 49ers, 61-20. His TDs came on an 80-yard pass reception, rushes of 21, 7, 50, and 1 yards, and an 85-yard punt return. For the day, the Bears ace amassed 336 combined yards.

"It was the greatest performance I have ever seen on the football field," an exuberant Halas, who had been watching NFL play for 46 seasons, proclaimed.

Sayers' rookie-season totals were staggering. He amassed 2,272 combined net yards and scored a record 22 touchdowns. A year later, he increased his combined net yards figure to a record 2,440 yards and led the NFL in rushing with 1,231 yards.

He continued to sizzle in 1967 and well into the 1968 campaign until, in the ninth game against, ironically, the same 49ers team that he had decimated as a rookie, Sayers suffered the first crippling injury of a series that would eventually end his career. On one of his familiar burst around end, Gale's right knee buckled as Kermit Alexander applied a clean, but crushing tackle. Massive ligament damage required immediate operation.

Gale, with almost complete intensity, undertook a strenuous leg-building program, determined that he would once again run as the Sayers of old. His pace in 1969 was slow at first but he finished with a rush and wound up with his second NFL rushing title with a 1,032-yard total. On a Chicago team that only won one game in 14, Sayers went over 100 yards four times, scored eight touchdowns and won a carload of "most courageous" type awards.

Much like the baseball pitcher who must perfect new deliveries after his first ball has waned, the Sayers of 1969 was still one of the NFL's most effective running backs but he no longer was the game-breaker that had startled the league such a short time ago.

As the Chicago Daily News observed, "Gone are that instant acceleration from medium to top speed and the incomparable ability to change directions on a dime without hesitation or loss of speed."

Backing up the News' Contention was the 1969 NFL record book which showed that Gale's longest rush was for only 28 yards. He did return one kickoff 52 yards, but he didn't score.

Still, the familiar No. 40 had enjoyed a remarkable season and it was not unreasonable to expect that he might improve even more in another season.

But fate struck again with cruel suddenness in a summer-season game against St. Louis Cardinals in 1970. Hit viciously hard by an eager Cardinal rookie on the kickoff team, Sayers suffered severe ligament damage once again, this time in his left knee.

Sayers delayed an operation and tried to play but could manage only 52 yards on 23 carries in two games. In mid-October and again in February, 1971, he underwent surgery to repair the damage.

Still determined, he tried once again in 1971 but could play only two games. Finally, after a desperate comeback attempt in the 1972 pre-season, Sayers reluctantly called it quits. By this time he had foot and ankle aliments to go along with the injured knees and the old magic had simply vanished.

But the marks he left behind will never vanish! In four-and-one-half heavy-duty campaigns, Gale totaled 9,435 combined net yards, 4,956 yards rushing and he scored 336 points. He still ranks as the NFL career leader in kickoff returns. He was named all-NFL five straight years from 1965 to 1969 and he played in four Pro Bowls. In three of them, he won Offensive Player of the Game honors!

Sayers at 34 is the youngest person ever elected in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His term of effective playing time is also the shortest of any Hall of Famers. Those facts stand out as two very strong testimonials to the gridiron greatness that came so quickly to Gale Sayers

Rick Kogan Hosts Leo President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath on WGN 720's Sunday Papers

Leo High School President for Institutional Advancement Dan McGrath, the best prose writer in America, joins Chicago's Best Voice - Rick Kogan for The Sunday Papers tomorrow Morning!

Rick Kogan has a voice like the Wannamaker Church organ in Philly* and we get to hear it every Sunday morning, as we get gussied up for Mass and Services. This Sunday, Rick's guest is Dan McGrath and together they will toccata and fugue the mission of Leo High School, the Catholic high school for young men in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood that provides a quality college preparatory education and sends 93% of its graduates to college and balance into the skilled trades and public service.

The Sunday Papers with Rick Kogan
Sundays 6:30 a.m.
Rick Kogan starts off your Sunday morning with stories unique to Chicago and discussions on the news and oddities of the day . . .

Rick Kogan -Named Chicago's Best Reporter in 1999 and inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, Rick Kogan is currently a senior writer and columnist for the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine. He began his career at 16, working for the Chicago Sun-Times during the tumultuous Democratic Convention of 1968 and in various writing capacities over the next decade. He was later on the staff of Panorama, the arts and entertainment section of the Chicago Daily News.

When that paper ceased publication in 1978, Kogan joined the Sun-Times, where he worked the night shift, covering crime; served as entertainment editor; investigative reporter, feature writer and critic. His weekly columns on the city's nightclub scene were collected in a book, "Dr. Night Life's Chicago."

By the mid-1980s, he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune where he was TV critic for five years and later the editor of Tempo, the paper's daily feature section. He was for five years the personal editor of the syndicated Ann Landers column.

A frequent guest on national radio and television shows, he has been an on-air critic for WBBM radio and WBBM-TV; was creator/host of "The Sunday Papers" on WLUP-FM radio; co-host of the daily "Media Creatures" program on AM1000 radio; and a featured weekly commentator on the television program Fox Thing in the Morning.

He has written 12 books, including, in collaboration with his father, Yesterday's Chicago, and in collaboration with Tribune colleague Maurice Possley, the best-selling Everybody Pays: Two Men, One Murder and the Price of Truth. His America's Mom: The Life, Lesson and Legacy of Ann Landers, was published in 2003. His latest books are A Chicago Tavern, the history of the Billy Goat, and a collection of the Sidewalks columns he writes for the Tribune magazine, embellished by Charles Osgood's photographs. He is also the narrator of an hour-long, 10-part Discovery Channel series titled Escaped!

*

The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the largest operational[1] pipe organ in the world, located within a spacious 7-story court at Macy's Center City (formerly Wanamaker's department store). The largest organ is the Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ (which is barely functional). The Wanamaker organ is played twice a day, Monday through Saturday, and more frequently during the Christmas season. The organ is also featured at several special concerts held throughout the year, including events featuring the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Festival Chorus and Brass Ensemble.

http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/index.php

Rick Morrissey on Leo High School President Dan McGrath - 'Bricks,Mortar and Truth'

(Photo by Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)


Yesterday, I drove out to far suburban( well, it is far -what with truck traffic on 79th Street, Rt. 83 and all that) Naperville to meet with Leo Man Bill Koloseike (Leo '45)-Chicagoland's Bill Kay the Car King.

Bill has just come back from Kenya where he built and helped dedicate a Catholic school, as a Jesuit volunteer. Bill Koloseike was great Leo football star who traded a college career for a hitch in the United States Marines at the end of World War II. After his service, Bill took a business degree from Loyola and began his career as a Chrysler Dealer - the biggest. Bill retired from the day-to-day work and learned Spanish to teach Mexican kids in Aurora and work as a Jesuit volunteer and build schools out of his own wallet in Africa. Bill wrote me a check that had a numeral and six zeroes and asked about Dan McGrath, Leo's new President. Bill met with Dan and Leo Principal Phil Mesina at Ken's Restaurant on Western Ave. a few weeks ago.

I let Bill know that Dan had already hit the ground at a dead sprint, even though his contract does not kick in until August. We agreed that things look good for our school.

This morning, I went on line and found that Rick Morrissey had written a superb piece on Dan McGrath and Leo High School. I stopped at Beverly's Java Express and met Larry Lynch, recently retired from the U.S. Secret Service. "Hickey, you see The Times? It's great!" Larry, was on his way to Loop and asked about the Alumni Golf Outing. I assured him that I would be there and would not hold up the progress by playing myself. " You are a good man, Hickey, . . .some days." True, in so many ways. I got my coffee and headed to Leo with the paper. It is wonderful.

Here is the meat for your breakfast!

. . .A few months ago, McGrath, the former sports editor of the Tribune, told me he was considering a job as president of Leo High School on the South Side. I laughed. He was kidding, right? Or perhaps misinformed again? His entire professional life had been devoted to journalism, either as a writer or an editor. How could this be?

And then I thought, of course. Some things are true and right, and this is one of them. He's a 1968 Leo graduate, and he has given time and effort to the school. He has served on the school's advisory board. He loves the place, as much as a man can love bricks and mortar and ideas.

And that's the truth.

The new president of Leo will start work next month, proving there is life after a newspaper career and that the concept of giving back is still alive and well.

''I don't want to sound all 'Field of Dreams,' but it felt like a calling,'' he said. "It felt like at this time of my life, this is something I could do and maybe I should do.''

Leo is a struggling, all-boys Catholic high school at 79th and Sangamon streets in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Even though its enrollment is below 200, it has been very successful in basketball and track. Ninety-four percent of the students continue their education after high school, yet a challenging economy has Leo fighting for its life.

It's a comeback story McGrath would love to write.

Click my post title for Rick Morrisey's superb story about a wonderful man and the great school he will guide. God Bless All Leo Men and People Who Help Us!

Skinny and Houli Welcome Dan McGrath -Tonight on Radio AM 950 at 6PM

Skinny - "Houli, Dan McGrath is the finest prose crafter since Ring Lardner penciled a score card at Sox Park."

Houli - " Lawless, Billy Lawless fills the bill, Skinny."

Skinny -"You're daft man! Billy Lawless is a civic-minded saloon keeper."

Houli - " I'm daft? Rewind, please."

THE SKINNY & HOULI SHOW
Wednesday 6-8 PM

Special guests this week include Dan McGrath, sports writer for the Chicago News Cooperative, an innovative news web site dedicated to building communities through quality journalism. The Chicago News Coop contributes Chicago stories to the New York Times on Fridays and Sundays. Also joining us is Billy Lawless, owner of The Irish Oak in Wrigleyville and The Gage on Michigan Avenue. Billy is very involved with immigration reform as a native of Galway, Ireland. Plus, we will have Mind Over Matter, one of the groups performing at this weekend's Gospel Fest in Millennium Park.

Skinny and Houli -Chicago's Genuine Pour of Plain Speaking Radio!

Tune-in for Real Radio at Avenue 950 AM on your radio dial!

Dan McGrath and Bobby Hull - Poet Warrior and Warrior Poet

Dan McGrath of Chicago News Cooperative is one the finest prose craftsmen in the business. He is the master of the declarative sentence.

"Bobby Hull is 71, and that’s a sobering realization for those of us who remember him as the forever-young Golden Jet of the Chicago Blackhawks."

Bobby Hull is the Captain of the Ice and metaphorical soul of the Chicago Blackhawks.

He can spin a metaphor as well as shoot a black biscuit. Here Hull gives rival and teammate Bob Pulford a slap-shot concerning his management acumen.

“Bob Pulford couldn’t lead a dog out of a thunderstorm with a T-bone steak,” Hull said.

Read Dan McGrath on Bobby Hull - click my Post Title

Sun Times Natasha Korecki - A Real Reporter! Natasha Skewers Blago With an Elegant Final Sentence

That is Natasha Korecki in the Center - One of Chicago Best Reporters!


Who, What, When, Where, and Why are all that a reporter needs to present in any story with simple declarative sentences.

The absolute American Master of the simple declarative sentence is former Chicago Tribune Sports Editor Dan McGrath.

Natasha Korecki of the Chicago Sun Times is always at the head of the Class of the Field as well!

Today's piece on the Northwestern University speech by the odious louse and former Illinois Governor is one of Natasha Korecki's best presentations. It is a gem of solid reporting.

Ms. Korecki allows Blago to speak and cavort, unencumbered by irony. The irony of this Drip's perpetual public posing suffices and Ms. Korecki reports.

More, without the preening and self-absorption of columnist, Natasha Korecki gives the reader an elegant coup de grace on Bumpkin Blag with this poignard* of closing sentence -Blagojevich, 52, is scheduled to go to trial on wide-ranging corruption charges in June.

Right thru the liver!



*A poignard, or poniard, originally a French word, is a lightweight dagger employed in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

New York Times Features Leo High School, The Great Bob Foster and the Leo Alumni!

Sports Prose Master Dan McGrath reports on the continued support of all black Leo Catholic School by white Catholic Alumni, because Bob Foster articulated the mission of the Lions.

Bob Foster, 69, made it his life’s mission to keep the school open. A former Leo football star whose bent-nose bluntness reflects a lifetime of line play, Foster was Leo’s football coach, principal and president for more than 40 years before stepping down for health reasons earlier this month. Leo was built in 1926 to serve boys from Chicago’s working-class South Side, Foster said, and that mission shouldn’t change just because the makeup of the neighborhood changed from Irish, Italian and Polish immigrants to blacks.

Foster had a small group of deep-pocketed alumni he could call on for help with big-ticket expenses like a new furnace, but the smaller donations he coaxed from the middle-class graduates were the school’s real economic engine. The policemen, firefighters, teachers and tradesmen supported Leo even after they stopped sending their sons. Leo endures as an inner-city symbol of educational opportunity, a haven in a troubled area plagued by gang violence.

Leo Roars!

'Shoeless' Joe Took the Dough and Only Buck Weaver Died Game

Two more lawyers have joined the Progressive chorus to Free Shoeless Joe Jackson from the bribes that he took while helping Ed Cicotte of the Chicago White Sox and Arnold Rothstein of the American Gaming Interests fix the 1919 World Series.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-talk-clear-shoeless-joesep09,0,556801.story

Swell. You guys are a few months late - Studs Terkel is off the air.

The late loud-mouth and Chicago buried treasure Studs Terkel was a huge advocate for the Free Joe Jackson movement. He did so only to sully the name of White Sox Founder and Owner Charles Comiskey and push victim politics. There are victims, but Progressives tend to make perpetrators ( Mumia, Most Gang-bangers, Libya, ACORN and Van Jones) appear the victim by heaping more horse manure into a moral mountain.

Yesterday, I passed the gates of Mount Hope Cemetery, where last week families and investigators were looking into allegations that more African American families had deceased loved ones disrespected by persons tasked with keeping their burial plots. Chicago White Sox Great and the only member of the 1919 Team tainted by the FIX and absolutely innocent of taking bribes from Rothstein, George Daniel 'Buck' Weaver is buried at Mount Hope.

Buck Weaver does not enjoy the 'victimhood' anointed to the eyes, mouth, temples and ears of Shoeless Joe.

Buck Weaver was a stand-up guy and would never rat-out his teammates, let alone help fix a game in anyway. George Weaver took his infamy with stoic heroism. Shoeless Joe has lawyers, crumbs and money.

Shoeless Joe was a dumb-as-dirt phenomenon. He sold his gifts and talents for the coin of the corrupt. However, he wanted his bat and ball back.

Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis ruled. Baseball, from Judge Landis on down to Bud Selig, has denied attempts to clear anyone that the Landis Ruling banished from Baseball. In 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama wrote to Commissioner Selig in attempt to clear Buck Weaver, but that was before he became President of the United States. I'll bet the President could clear Buck. It was damned great of Sen. Obama to try and right a genuine wrong in 2005.

Shoeless Joe took the money and Buck Weaver did not. Joe Jackson got exactly what he wanted and immediately. Only Buck Weaver is Pure. I hope his grave remains as unsullied as his great heart and soul.

In 2004 Tribune Sports Legend Dan McGrath conducted a forum along with Dr. David Fletcher of the Baseball Museum at the Chicago Historical Society to clear Buck Weaver.

Chicago Treasure Studs Terkel, a Shoeless Joe Confederate, did not participate. Buck Weaver did not inspire Folk Songs on Public Radio and Dirt-Poor, Dumb-as-Dirt Shoeless Joe certainly did. You see clearing Buck Weaver would also clear Charles Comiskey -owner of the 1919 White Sox who is the goat in all of this Progressive Clap-trap.

Here was what the late World Class Word Moocher StudsTerkel offered to the New York Times following the Chicago White Sox 2005 Championship - "If there had been real justice after the scandal of 1919, Charlie Comiskey, the Sox owner, would have been the one kicked out of the game. That year, the star pitcher Eddie Ciccote had been promised a $10,000 bonus if he won 30 games; as he neared the mark Comiskey had him benched for the remainder of the season rather than open his wallet.
But there was nothing the players could do. Most weren't very worldly -- Shoeless Joe Jackson couldn't sign his own name -- and they couldn't change teams. They were serfs of the owners. "

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5DC1E3FF93BA15753C1A9639C8B63

Hoist the Red Flag, Studs, you mope. The serfs took bribes, all but Buck Weaver. Baseball as Class Warfare - and this goof is an icon?

Well, now Studs is stealing ideas and stories from Gunga Din while he pours drinks to 'poor damned souls.'

Charlie Comiskey paid his players according to the contracts that they 'in good faith' signed after they agreed to comply. Comiskey has been tarred by the Progressives as a tight-wad. However, Comiskey cared more for the people who came to the games than the sociological implications of Shoeless Joe's poverty and ignorance.

George Daniel 'Buck' Weaver was the only pure Chicago White Sox Player in the 1919 Scandal. Charles Comiskey was a victim too.

*WEAVER DIES GAME AS REDS ROLL ON
Cincinnati Post
October 10,
1919
By: Ross Tenney
Though they are hopeless and heartless, the White Sox
have a hero. He is George Weaver, who plays and fights at third base.
Day after day Weaver has done his work and smiled. In spite of the certain fate that closed about the hopes of the Sox, Weaver smiled and scrapped. One by one his mates gave up. Weaver continued to grin and fought harder. Cicotte and Williams fell and the Sox were two games to the bad. Weaver’s smile never faded. His spirit never waned.
Cicotte tried again and failed. Williams made his second game ttempt butthe Red Juggernaut rolled on. In that sixth inning when Moran’s men sluggedand pounded the Sox into submission, Weaver pulled his cap lower over his eyes and grinned. Two of the Sox hits were lined out by his bat.
The Reds have beaten the spirit out of the Sox all but Weaver. Buck’s spirit is untouched. He was ready to die fighting. Buck is Chicago’s one big hero; long may he fight and smile.



George Daniel ‘Buck’ Weaver “A joyous boy, all heart and
hard-trying. A territorial animal…who guarded the spiked sand around third like his life…”
- Nelson Algren,“The Swede was a Hard Guy” in “The Last Carousel”

http://www.clearbuck.com/pdf/Online%20-%20Newsletter%208.pdf

Joel Weisman - A Tuba Joins a String Quartet of Chicago Talent

Joel Weisman on the Friday Edition of WTTW -Wilmette Talking to Winnetka -Chicago Tonight seems to be channeling MSNBC's Chris 'Milkey' Matthews. White noise.

I was stunned to see four great guest panelists on Chicago Tonight. While my daughter Clare was doing St. Rita Cheerleading stuff with the like-minded and spirited young ladies from the neighborhood, I chanced to see four -not just good -panelists on Chicago Tonight, but four great panelists.

News Legend Bob Crawford - a WBBM radio reporter who always gets it right

Nesita Kwan - A solid and clever NBC correspondent

Kate Grossman - a Chicago Education journalist for the Sun Times who speaks as well as she writes.

Dan McGrath - Chicago Tribune senior sports writer and the absolute best prose craftsman in journalism.


This line-up of genuine Chicago talent is like having the greatest Haydn String Quartet be joined by Joel and his Golden Tuba! Hey! Let's Polka to Haydn! Go for Baroque!

Jesus Christ! Everytime Bob Crawford presented a cogent analysis on Illinois politics, Kate Grossman cut through the nonsense surrounding the Clouting of CPS, Nesita Kwan silked the substance of dangers to our health , or the witty Dan McGrath hit for fences on Milton Bradley or the chances of 2009 Sox, Joel Weisman blows loudly to implode the music of great thoughts and sucks the intelligence and oxygen out of the room. Well, it is public TV.

Chris Matthews the braying jackass of MSNBC must have offered his playbooks to Jolly Joel.

Let's hear the panelists! Shut the Duck Up, Joel - your inner Duck! Keep him there.

Click my post title and watch a souffle drop because of Joel's Tuba playing to no one in particular.

Chicago Tribune's Dan McGrath Pillories Societal Balderdash in One Report on the Problem in Sports

Dan McGrath, Chicago Tribune Sports Editor's matchlees prose says it all:
TRIBUNE VOICES

Teacher's call reversed, putting teen athlete back in the game
Dan McGrath
March 23, 2009
The closest Chris Wolf got to watching his students at North Lawndale College Prep compete in this weekend's Class 3A state basketball tournament was a television set. And it was probably for the best.

Wolf, a 35-year-old math teacher, is not at all comfortable being in the center of a storm, but that's where he has found himself the last three weeks after turning in a star player whom he suspected of cheating on a makeup exam. Jonathan Mills was suspended from the team and sidelined for the state playoffs.

But his mother hired an attorney who sued school officials and got a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the penalty, on the grounds it would do Mills irreparable harm.

A 6-foot-5 senior with Division I college talent, Mills was in the lineup when the Phoenix lost to Champaign Centennial in Friday's 3A semifinal, then beat Leo in Saturday's third-place game.



Wolf was back in Chicago, his safety a concern. North Lawndale's team is the pride of its struggling West Side community, and some eyes view Wolf as a traitor, even though he is a basketball fan of the first order and the team's unofficial academic adviser, having spent many hours helping players (and non-players) do the work to stay eligible and qualify for college.

"I know Chris to be a teacher who goes above and beyond the call of duty in helping students," North Lawndale Principal Rob Karpinsky said.

Karpinsky, a former Catholic priest, has seen his faith tested by recent events. In November, three of North Lawndale's best and brightest students drowned in the Fox River when they took paddle boats out after hours during a leadership retreat at Camp Algonquin. The boats had been taken out of service for the winter and capsized shortly after being put in the frigid water. Adrian Alexander, Melvin Choice and Jimmy Avant died in the accident.

"You can say it's been a difficult year," Karpinsky said.

Mills' class was scheduled to take the Algebra II exam on Feb. 23, but he asked for an extension. North Lawndale had won the Public League championship the night before and the team enjoyed a postgame get-together at the ESPN Zone.

After Mills missed one makeup date, Wolf agreed to meet him at school at 6:45 a.m. on Feb. 24 to administer the test, and the player scored a 96. After Mills left the room, Wolf said, he came across evidence that he'd had help. He won't discuss particulars, because of the litigation, but he was certain, and he immediately began agonizing over what to do next.

"So much of what the school community prides itself on is athletic performance," Wolf said. "I knew it wouldn't be pretty."

He called his dad in Wisconsin, "the ultimate moral majority in the family. He told me to pretend I didn't see anything. If he says that ... ."

But Wolf couldn't let the matter slide. North Lawndale is a charter school, with more control over its curriculum than a typical public school, and a "do-the-right-thing" imperative is essential to its mission and to the life lessons it tries to teach.

"I try to be fair, and there's no way I could look at the other kids, the kids who work their butts off, if I hadn't followed through on this," Wolf said. "You want kids to get the grades, but they have to earn them."

Karpinsky and school President John Horan say they had no reason to doubt Wolf's version of events.

"Sports is a major factor that attracts kids, and we're very proud of our sports teams," Horan said. "There's a real balancing act between athletics and our academic mission, which is to prepare kids from an underserved community to graduate from college. Part of the challenge is to never see athletics as more important than that."

Mills has steadfastly denied cheating, telling the Tribune he didn't have to, that he was passing the course. Wolf acknowledges that he was. But the teacher believes he did the right thing, and he's gratified by the school's support.

"This isn't about squeaking by, about turning an 'F' into a 'C.' It's about performing in the classroom as well as on the basketball court," Horan said. "We want to create a situation in which our kids succeed academically, and we try to be flexible, but you can't be an enabler. There are bottom-line standards, IHSA standards and our own standards.

"And our standards are pretty high."

Basketball ends, for even the most talented kids. Life goes on, and for the kids of North Lawndale it's a daily challenge. Wolf and his colleagues want students to be prepared. Doing the right thing is part of the deal.

dmcgrath@tribune.com

"Hail Chicago Cardinals!" - Thanks New York Times and Vince Banonis!

The hard character on the far-right is Chicago Cardinal Vince Banonis! The Bidwills could pick them!


Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!


This John Branch story in today's New York Times is pure Grantland Rice!

The burly old two-way player, a center and linebacker who is now 87, is one of the few people alive to know how it feels to be on the Cardinals and play for a championship.

For Vince Banonis, 60 years and another title tilt with the Eagles were reasons enough to break out the old fight song. He and some teammates recorded it back in another time, another place.

Over the phone from Southfield, Mich., Banonis sang:

Hail Chicago Cardinals, crimson and white,

We’ll back you ever, down the field, we’ll fight, fight, fight.

We’ll whip the Green Bay Packers, Rams and the Bears,

We’ll take Detroit and Pittsburgh, and do it fair and square.

Yea, Cardinals!

Like his surviving Chicago Cardinals teammates, Banonis has long cheered the Arizona Cardinals from afar. Now there is increasing curiosity, even suspense, six decades in the making.

The Cardinals play the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s National Football Conference championship game. Millions will watch on television. A handful of viewers will see it differently than anyone else.

“It’s kind of a reminder of the games we had with the Eagles, oh, 60 years ago,” Banonis said.

Before they moved to Arizona, and before they moved to St. Louis, the Cardinals were Chicago’s team — or its other team. They played mostly at Comiskey Park, mostly in the broad shadow of George Halas’s Bears, who played at Wrigley Field.

But for one season, at least, the Cardinals outshined everyone.

“In 1947, we had a good run,” said Charley Trippi, now 86, then a nimble halfback from Georgia in the first year of a Hall of Fame career.

It never occurred to anyone that the Cardinals’ championship victory — a 28-21 defeat of the Eagles on Comiskey’s frozen and slippery field — would be the last that most of the franchise’s coaches, players and fans would live to see. No current N.F.L. franchise has gone longer without a title. The Cardinals have not even played for a league or conference championship since 1948, when they were 11-1 and lost a rematch with the Eagles.

“I didn’t think it would be forever, which it has been,” Jimmy Conzelman Jr said. He was 10, a “locker-room pest,” when his father, a gregarious future Hall of Famer with a shock of silver hair named Jimmy Conzelman, coached the Cardinals to the title.

This is a great story . . .and it is in the New York Times. John Branch is almost as good as Chicago Tribune's Dan McGrath - almost.

Click my post title for the full story.

My Dad, who could not be more happy about the Cardinals and for the Bidwill Family ( 'I knew Old Charley and the two kids, Billy and Stormy, - he was a hell of a nice guy and great to Veterans') called to remind me of the old Bidwill Stadium that served as a great Chicago Women's 12" Softball stadium over east in the South Shore neighborhood which brought me to this great South Shore Neighborhood Site - Shouth Shore Newspsot:

http://bradwell66.org/SouthShoreNewsSpot/NewsSpots/2006/November%202006.html


Nota Bene!!!! I deleted e-mail addresses from the excerpts.



BIDWELL UPDATES

Regarding Bidwill Stadium, it was the home stadium for the Bluebirds who were in the Chicago area women's baseball league. They played with a 12" and hard baseball. They had played with somewhat oversized gloves since the 12" ball is larger than the smaller ball used in the major leagues. Jerry Barich Hyde Park HS 1956



Bidwell stadium and it was named after Charlie Bidwell. It was also the home stadium for the Women's fast pitch (12" not 16") league during and immediately following WWII. There was another stadium around 76th St and Loomis called Shewbridge Stadium, another home stadium for the league. I recall one team was the "Bloomer Girls" and the other was the "Blue Jays". My father was part owner of one of the teams (the one that played @ Loomis Ave) but we used to go to Bidwell to see games in the late 40s & early 50s. John McNeal, Asst. Atty. Gen. (ret), originally from 73rd & Luella, Graduate of Mt. Carmel 1960 J



I remember going to Bidwell Stadium to watch DONKEY BASEBALL! Does anyone remember that? Also, I think they used to hold carnivals there. My brother and I and the neighborhood kids used to walk along the railroad tracks to get there. We all lived on East End Avenue between 73rd and 74th Street. Sara Zaremberg



I wrote back to Sara asking her if the donkeys played baseball and here is her reply.



Hi Caryn, your response really made me laugh! The GUYS ran the bases riding on the donkeys and of course, the asses didn't always want to cooperate! I don't remember if the BATTERS were on the ASSES when batting. It was an advertised event if I remember correctly. It was generally used as a softball field. Sara



All of my life I've pronounced the name of the stadium Bid-well and spelled it that way. In fact it's actually Bid-will. Still, nice to know some of the old time memorabilia is of interest to some people. Don Turner



Don Turner's recollection of Bidwell stadium is correct. The "Bluebirds" played there during the early 1940's. The Bluebirds was a woman's baseball team. I saw a baseball game there that was played on donkeys. That was quite a sight. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals. They are now the Arizona Cardinals. I would appreciate any pictures of the stadium that you might have. I made a slide-show of Chicago pictures. Any additional pictures would be a welcome addition. My wife, Gail Miller class of 1954, and I, class of 1953 enjoy your newsletter very much. Joel Wolff



I spent a lot of time at Bidwell Stadium growing up. The Bidwell family still owns the Cardinals, the Arizona Cardinals. I will send you some expansion of details on the area bounded by the B&O tracks, Jeffrey and 75th Street. Also some information on the "Stone Factory" in the triangle bounded by the B&O tracks, 77th Street and Chappell. Ronnie and Kennie Sone lived north of the tracks on Chappell. Their father was a doctor or dentist, I believe. Jim Gibbons /blockquote>

John McCain: Meet John Kass!

Today's Reuters piece reports that John McCain feels that Americans are too cynical - really? Sorry- comes with being a life-long smart-ass and punching bag. And there in lies the rub; I make a crack and expect one in kind. Not so, too many very loud Public voices in Cable TV, Print and especially on Talk Radio. Say anything - no consequences.


Senator John McCain at 71 years of age and five of those years being tortured with great regularity, is sprinting around the country, while a bloated fop on MSNBC- The Tool Shed, Keith Olbermann makes cracks about his age and lifetime of service.

"But when healthy skepticism sours into corrosive cynicism our expectations of our government become reduced to the delivery of services. And to some people the expectations of liberty are reduced to the right to choose among competing brands of designer coffee."

Olbermann and his androgynous twin Rachel Maddow make a point of sneering at Honor, Service and Commitment, because they were spawned by the forces of indulgence and self-satisfaction.

Not so, Chicago Journalist, Columnist, wit and 'fly-in-the-ointment' that greases Illinois public corruption, The Chicago Tribune's John Kass. John McCain would have no difference of sentiment from John Kass - identical values it seems to me. From Wikpedeia - My C-Minus Intellect's Canon of Facts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kass

John Kass is a Chicago Tribune columnist.

The son of a Greek immigrant grocer, Kass was born June 23, 1956, on the South Side of Chicago and grew up there and in Oak Lawn, IL. He held many jobs - retailer, ditch digger, waiter - before becoming a student of film at Columbia College in Chicago. There, he worked in the student newspaper and gained the attention of Daryle Feldmeir, president of the media department and previous editor of the Chicago Daily News. Feldmeir and media professor Les Brownlee helped Kass to obtain an internship at the Daily Calumet in 1980, where Kass worked as a reporter until he left for the Tribune.

Kass lives in the southern suburbs of Chicago with his wife and twin children.


[edit] Style of Writing
Kass uses his bully pulpit to rail against corruption in government and highlight the impact of corruption on taxpayers. In September 2003, he wrote about Federal indictments handed down in a scandal involving city contracts. Kass wrote, "what drives the criticism is the obscene amounts of taxpayer dollars that go to [Mayor Daley's] pals. In deal after deal after deal, the attitude is that his guys can take what they want and the people in the neighborhoods better shut up about it, while higher taxes put more and more pressure on families to pay for the deals."[1]

Kass often writes nostalgically about Chicago's bygone days. He describes one of Chicago's famous steakhouses by writing, "[Gene and Georgetti's] is a hangout where information is traded, among politicians, insiders, reporters, wise-guys, salesmen, consultants, from the buttoned down to the gold chains crowd. And what makes it work is that they serve the best steak in the city, period. The service is impeccable without being showy and the drinks are honest. Gene's is a part of the old Chicago, the city as it was before so much of the downtown was turned into a theme park."[2]

A frequent target for Kass is Richard M. Daley, the long-time Mayor of Chicago. Kass once wrote, "Investigations into massive affirmative-action contract fraud and the Hired Truck scandals, and a series of convictions have pressured the mayor and his inner-circle, who, when it came to cronyism and contracts, once behaved as if they were untouchable. Now, the mayor has jumped on the reform bandwagon, at least publicly, frantically offering good-government initiatives, even as the feds bore in on the source of his absolute power: His patronage armies that dictate politics and policy on the local, state and federal levels, electing his favored candidates, but also crushing those he doesn't like, getting rid of them in party primaries."[3]

In his columns Kass is a frequent critic of what he terms as the "combine" of Illinois politics, wherein powerful elements of the Illinois Republican and Democratic parties unite for the purposes of political corruption.

Kass also writes about lighter topics, particularly beer can chicken.
Kass's column appears on page 2 of the Tribune's news section.

John Kass goes out of his way to pin-prick the vanities of public men and women whose public actions indicate that they feel somehow above the Law and those they were elected to serve. Kass is the best Chicago Public Writer since Finley Peter Dunne, who invented the 'Public Persona' style of writing with his character Mr. Dooley. Only the Chicago Tribune's Daniel B. McGrath, the Sports Editor, is Kass's superior in crafting simple declarative sentences. Dan McGrath is recognized nation-wide as a great sports writer. Writer indeed,

John Kass is no cynic - far from that group of wily Greeks who used words to circumvent the Law and even Ethics.

Kass is locked to ethikos - what ought to be. The Romans touted morals ( mores - customs or traditions, the Greeks locked ethics into Man. John Kass does not give - in Chicago terms - a 'fat rat's ass' about niceties or politically correct boondoggles. Like Dryden, Swift, Pope, Thackeray, Twain, and Mencken, Kass roots out the deeds that make life miserable for most of us.

Senator John McCain, meet John Kass.

Senator McCain worries that,

"Many Americans are indifferent to or cynical about the virtues that our country claims," the former Vietnam prisoner of war will say.

In part, he says, it is because some have suffered economic dislocations while others profit as never before, and in part, it is a "reaction to government's mistakes and incompetence and to the selfishness of some public figures."

He comes close to calling some Americans spoiled, saying they are cynical because "the ease which wealth and opportunity have given their lives led them to the mistaken conclusion that America, and the liberties its system of government is intended to protect, just aren't important to the quality of their lives."

Senator, point to John Kass and more of us will get things right.

John McCain - Chicago's Best Writer Since Finley Peter Dunne, John Kass, Tells Conservatives to Get With McCain!

This photo shows John Kass being interviewed by FOX Chicago News after the guilty verdict came down on Gov. George Ryan. I thought Kass to be especially hard on George Ryan, but he was motivated by the the deaths of six children.

Other journalists, who had made careers of kissing Governor Ryan's fanny, were much more vicious - as cowards always tend to be. Kass, with whom I disagree three days a week (which does not deprive him of sleep to be sure), is the best political writer since Finley Peter Dunne. Kass gets it right the other four days.


Today, one of the four, John Kass, the absolute best Chicago voice often compared to Mike Royko, chides Conservatives - especially GOP Righties - to stop bashing John McCain.

John Kass, who personally sticks his head into the issue of corruption in Illinois and who has been threatened by some of his targets, is a much better writer than Royko - Kass is the best Chicago political writer since Finley Peter Dunne, the creator of Mr. Dooley, and only bested for pure prose by his Chicago Tribune colleague, Sports Editor Dan McGrath.

Click my post title for John Kass on John McCain.