This day in sports

... This day only got more interesting as the hours passed ...

First, Ken Griffey Jr. gets traded to the White Sox ...

Meanwhile Brett Favre and the Packers still hadn't decided their respective futures -- although the latest report was the Packers supposedly offered Brett 20 million over 10 years to stay retired. Lovely ...

Then the Cubs slaughtered the Brewers again. 11-4 this time ... I watched it play out in the Gameday format on my computer as I worked this afternoon and I can't remember the last time I've been more relieved to see a game end ...

Meanwhile Brett Favre and the Packers still hadn't decided their respective futures -- although the next latest report was the Packers are now considering trading Brett to the Vikings or Bears. Fine, just get a deal done, already ... If, at this point the Packers are so sure Aaron Rodgers is their man and they have no need for Favre's services than send him on his way -- no matter the team. If the Packers are so sure about Aaron Rodgers, than they should have no fears about Brett Favre beating them in a rival game, right? Although, I sort of like Jason Whitlock's offer, too.

Then, after seeing reports all day that Manny Ramirez appeared destined to become a Florida Marlin -- bam -- it comes across that he's becoming a Dodger ... Sweet! I'll take it! The joy of that one makes up for the downer of seeing Ivan Rodriguez go to the Yankees yesterday ..

And the Brett Favre saga goes on ...

So I opened my e-mail this morning ...

... and holy crap!

Ken Griffey Jr. headed to White Sox

Steve Rosenbloom: Where will Sox play him?

Phil Rogers: Cubs don't need more moves

Cubs and Brewers. Yeah.

... This Brewers-Cubs series is getting ridiculous.

Last night, Dempster cruised and the Cubs wallopped the Brewers for the second straight night.

Not that I'm unhappy with the Cubs on the verge of a four-game sweep. But I went in hoping the Brewers would at least keep it interesting and more games would end up like Monday night's thriller ....

Other good reads ...

a Cubs and Brewers will likely make postseason
a Cubs do not need to make any more moves

Favre latest

The latest from Favreland ...

Favre, Packers prez talk; Goodell doesn't act on request

Forget Favre, there are other great stories ... Great story, indeed.

Swirling

... One of my all-time favorite scenes in Friends has been playing repeatedly in my head today ...

"Ok, ok I give up! Ross, here... Phoebs wanna fly a plane? Better make it a spaceship so you can get back to your home planet! Ross, phone call for you today, Tom Jones ... He wants his pants back! And Hornswaggle!? What, are you dating a character from Fraggle Rock?!...Aaaah!"

... The way Chandler screams at the end of his rant, sticks his fingers to his head and flops down on the Central Perk couch in utter relief? Yeah, that's kind of the way I've been feeling. Waaaaaaay too many thoughts swirling in my head ...

To cap my afternoon -- in the Are you kidding me!? file -- the news comes across that the Tigers have traded Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth.

Granted Rodriguez's numbers are down this year, and he's going to be a free agent at the end of the season ... But for Farnsworth!? Seriously!?

... So much for the good old days when the Tigers were finally serious about winning again.

Then I got to come home and watch Phoebe play and discover her hands and feet for 15 minutes. That's the kind of stuff I live for these days.

Ball in GM's court now in Packers' civil war

It's an NFL game of chicken, and Brett Favre just put his foot on the accelerator ...

Nightly news

Favre's finally filed for reinstatement ... though my money's on him not being traded.

As usual, Michael Wilbon makes some good points in his column.

In other news, the Brewers were awful tonight.

Packers move on minus Favre

... Throughout this entire Brett Favre saga, I've thought several times about the similarities to the Joe Montana deal that sent him from his famed 49ers team to the Kansas City Chiefs...

I was in Kansas City then, and no matter how ugly it was in San Francisco, it sure made a fun ride for us Chiefs fans ...

So I found it interesting the latest Packers camp story from USA Today mentioned the Joe Montana trade ...

Brett who!?

… So Favre didn’t show up to training camp after all. But he’s still hoping for a trade…

Who cares!?

We’ve got Brewers-Cubs baseball, baby!!

… Kates and I tried looking for tickets last night. How stupid were we … We didn’t stand a chance; all four games are sold out -- even Thursday’s day game. A day game -- on a Thursday! Crazy.

(Funny story: As Kates and I were getting ready to watch tonight’s game, Kates had just finished feeding Phoebe and Kates stood up with Phoebe on her shoulder. Then, in the blink of an eye, what seemed like a whole gallon of milk erupted from Phoebe’s mouth and fell on our hardwood floor with a loud splat! … ah, the joys.)

Few things could have made tonight’s game more exciting. CC Sabathia on the mound. The crowd was roaring. And it was a back-and-forth affair.

When J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun hit those back-to-back home runs, I got so loud I woke up Phoebe. Oops.

Then the Cubs took back the lead on the double play ball that Rickie Weeks botched -- which proved to be the defining play of the game …

And it wasn’t over until it was over … With the Brewers down 6-4 and a runner on base in bottom of the ninth, Gabe Kappler stepped to the plate and swung at what the Cubs and the home plate umpire thought was strike three …

Yet, immediately I was thinking the same thing as Kappler while he turned and started protesting the strike three call -- clearly Kapler had tipped that ball, allowing it to bounce into the catcher’s glove. The umpires conferred and ruled that indeed Kapler had tipped the ball and he would see at least one more pitch …

Lo and behold he sends the next pitch soaring deep into left field … but it fell short into Alfonso Soriano’s glove along the warning track …

We’ll do it again tomorrow night.

Flickr, Library of Congress find something in 'Common'

USA Today had a interesting story today about Flickr and the Library of Congress teaming up for a display ...

Check it out here.

Very cool.

The Next Food Network Star!

So Kates got me into The Next Food Network Star this summer. She started recording it on the DVR and one Sunday night -- in week three, I believe -- when she was away, I got curious, started watching -- and I was hooked …

Next thing I know Kates and I are glued to our TV at 9 p.m. every Sunday night watching the “American Idol” -- Food Network style …

And tonight was the finale, baby …

Going in, Kates asked me who I thought could win -- Lisa, Adam or Aaron. I’d been thinking Aaron … Lisa was such an emotional roller coaster, and Adam was a goofball. Aaron may have been the plainest of the three and he’s not as in-your-face good as the others, but I liked his down-to-earth personality; he was the most all-around likable cook of the three of them, I thought.

‘Course, if I could’ve picked anyone, I would have taken the shiny-happy-Kelsey, who was in the Final Four. But the judges ultimately let her go because she was too young and she kept referring to her culinary school experience … Too bad, I think she could’ve been a hit.

Lisa’s pilot was really good, and like the judges said she offers a lot to market … but Kates and I felt like she was always talking down to the viewers …

Adam’s pilot was really good too, and fun, and out-of-the-box … but I sort of felt with the whole web-cam, e-mail viewer thing that there was too much going on …

Aaron’s pilot was just ok … But the audience seemed to really enjoy themselves watching it …

Then the judges deliberated, and I was thinking for sure they were going to select Lisa …

And they picked Aaron!

Good stuff.

Sunday reading

Kates, Phoebs and I just spent the entire afternoon sprawled out and sleeping on our living room couches, while the baseball games played out on the TV. Nothing like a lazy Sunday afternoon ...

I've been too scattered the last few weeks to do a whole lot of reading ... So I'm playing catch-up again this week ...

Here's my Sunday reading, including several good reads from the last few weeks. Enjoy ...

Sports ...
a Tough to watch what's going on in National League West
a Ballpark safety is about keeping your eye on the ball
a Cubs' Soto latest Puerto Rican standout behind plate
a Hall of Fame former Tribune reporter was game's official historian and a true original
a Favre's heir? With backing from mates, Rodgers waits patiently
a Pro athletes? They'll take Manhattan (Beach)

The Internet ...
a Believe it or not, these are fake
a Do you believe in miracles? A trio of unbelievable videos
a Facebook never forgets

Politics ...
a Vanity Fair satirizes McCain/New Yorker
a Highlights include groundbreaking footage of Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon and Kennedy

TV ...
a 'Survivor' mastermind shares his secrets

Music ...
a The Who look back without slowing
a 'American Idol' top 10 hit the road to stardom ... Just when I've caught my breath and I'm relieved another season is over, I catch these sunny kids, start reliving the good times of last season in my mind, and I can hardly wait for it to start over again ...
a Hannah Montana is bigger than Batman and Brangelina, but not Miley Cyrus
a Ben Folds talks new album and release date ... Aw yeah. The guy makes me feel like a kid in a candy store.

Movies ...
a 'American Teen' pulls you in to high school circle ... Add this to my list of movies I'd like to see. Very Short List also showed off the trailer a couple weeks ago.
a Rumors of Friends movie not true after all
a Samberg has some monkey business going on; video

The Onion ...
a Rain Told To Go Away In 1986 Returns
a Not Snowing Over Here, Man On Phone Reports
a Courageous E-mail To Boss In Drafts Folder Since December
a C.C. Sabathia, Prince Fielder Keep Imagining Each Other As Giant Talking Hot Dog, Hamburger

Game day

I had a tough, tough game today.

… I made a fielding error that cost us two runs. And I struck out three times -- with some help from the umpire. Had I fared differently, we might’ve won today …

Starting and playing my usual left field, I made a nice running catch to end the first inning, and I ran down a long ball later in the game with a little Soriano hop, as our center fielder called it …

But in the bottom of the third, with runners on first and third, I let one get over my head that allowed both runners to score. I misjudged it off the bat and then made a wrong turn as I went back on it. Not good … What was worse, I had just moved up on the batter; had I held my ground I would have been in prime position to catch the ball. And there were two outs in the inning; had I caught the ball we would’ve been out of the inning. Instead, the inning ended with us trailing 8-2 …

In the meantime at the plate, I batted in the sixth spot today and got my first chance in the second. Our opponent was throwing a guy that we’d hit well and I had all the confidence I needed as I stepped up … I took the first pitch for a strike and then swung and missed the second pitch. The third pitch was low and away -- and the umpire called it strike three … I subtly showed my disgust with the umpire, and the guys in the dugout backed me up on it. Still I should’ve been protecting the plate better with two strikes on me. I wasn’t going to put all the blame on the umpire. Yet.

But I got jipped again when I came up in the fifth inning -- with the bases loaded … That time I went looking for a good first pitch and fouled it off. Then the second pitch I saw even further off the plate then the one in my previous at-bat, and the umpire called it a strike again! Still worse, he reacted to his own call like he knew he missed it …

“That’s OK. That makes up for the other ball you missed,” the catcher tells the umpire as the catcher’s making eye contact with me and rolling his eyes at the slew of bad calls.

“Yeah, I know, grumble grumble grumble,” says the umpire. … Now I really pride myself on being able to pick out the good pitches and staying away from the ones that should be called balls. But this umpire was all over the place. Frankly, he was barely in the game …

… And like that, my second at-bat ended when I foul-tipped the ball into the catcher’s mitt for another strikeout.

I got one more chance in the eighth -- a really good chance. We had just posted a six-running inning to tie the score at 8-8 and I came up with runners on second and third … Again, I was looking for a good first pitch and fouled a hot shot down the line that nearly took our off our third base coach’s head. Then I got a ball high and a ball low to force a 2-1 count. I was sitting in a good hitter’s count … Until the infielders called a conference at the mound. When the conference broke, it appeared they were going to intentionally walk me. I’ll take it, I thought. I’d been fouling off the good pitches all day and I’d like to think they knew I was bound to get a hold of one. I took it as a sign of respect. Only, they changed their minds a few seconds later and decided to make a pitching change instead -- in the middle of my at-bat … Great, now they're really playing with my psyche.

With the new pitcher, the umpire called another bad, outside strike on me to move the count to 2-2 -- you would think I’d seen enough to be swinging at those by now, but I still didn’t pull the trigger -- and then he got me swinging at a nasty slider for strike three. It was ugly.

We went back into the field with new life, but couldn’t hold ‘em in the top of the last inning. Our pitcher gave up a couple walks and some good, solid hits put them ahead 11-8.

We went 1-2-3 in our last at-bats, and that was the ball game.

Tough day.

Pine-Tarred and Feathered

Here's a good read I came across today about the anniversary of the infamous pine tar incident involving George Brett.

I also stumbled on an original story from the New York Times ...

Good stuff.

Favre coming out?

So today we learned Favre is planning to show up at Packers training camp ...

The NFL Network is reporting that Brett Favre plans on reporting to Green Bay Packers' training camp ... And ESPN's Chris Mortenson is reporting the New York Jets and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are expressing interest in Favre.

Wonderful.

I'm saying it again -- Brett should just get it over with and report to camp, and fight for the starting job. The way the Packers are pushing this whole Aaron-Rodgers-is-our- guy thing, Rodgers is bound to get hurt and Favre will be the starter -- and the hero -- again ...

Brewin' hot

... What a game last night... What a week to watch the Brewers!

... Once again, I figured the game was over with the Brewers down by a run to the Cardinals in the ninth. I was all the way across the room and barely paying attention anymore. I seriously should've known better ...

Then J.J. Hardy got on, and right on cue, as the commentators were discussing the Brewers amazing run of come-from-behind victories this season, Ryan Braun popped one over the outfield wall ... My head shot up from my laptop and I drifted over to the TV to see the ball sail over the wall and the Brewers dugout going crazy ...

So they've won eight in a row now, and their biting at the Cubs ... whose fans, we learned this week, are already putting down hundreds of dollars just to reserve a chance to buy World Series tickets ...

When will Cubs fans learn?

The seond half pennant run is underway, and oooooh this is gonna be good ...

When the Brewers got CC Sabathia a few weeks ago, and the Cubs answered by getting Rich Harden the next day -- it got really serious.

Here's some good reads I've caught about the second half ...

a If Cubs run the table, holy cash cow
a Cubs' road to glory needs to be smoother
a Book it: Cubs, Sox both headed for the postseason
a Brewers' owner tops list of non-playing heroes from first half
a More curveballs coming in baseball's second half?
a Fresh faces making it tough for MLB's bargain shoppers

Jessica's Thunder

So this was a fun story to come back to this week …

Jessica Simpson had been in town over the weekend at the annual country music festival … Interestingly, Kates and I had a chance to go this year, too; I had the tickets in my hands. But I ultimately returned them, knowing it would it be too tough to sneak it in with our planned trip. Without thinking about it, Kates and I always seem to pick our summer vacations on the same weekend as the festival …

But back to Jessica. She came, she sang … and according to the account a fellow reporter wrote, a noticeable portion of the crowd didn’t have a favorable reaction.

But that was only the beginning of the story …

Our young reporter’s story about Jessica Simpson performing her first country music concert got bounced all over the world and blogged about and bent in what became a virtual telephone game …

Pollstar picked up on it. So did TMZ, E! Online, The Times of India, the Los Angeles Times, Perezhilton.com, CMT, Access Hollywood and my personal favorite the Idolator.

Today, our publication did a follow-up. And I’ll leave it at that …

Calling Steve Bartman

Bartman offer: $25,000 to show up, sign photo

... I totally hope he does it. It's time America forgives him, and he forgives himself ...

First vacation!

… We’ve returned from our first family vacation, a camping trip to Minnesota … and it could not have gone any better.

Not bad for coming up with the idea for the trip no more than a month ago, and planning the bulk of it within a couple hours …

It sort of went like this: Kates and I were watching a Minnesota Twins game and I began thinking out loud how I’d always wanted to see a Twins game in the Metrodome, and how it was a shame that Minneapolis is within a decent driving distance, but we’d never ventured up there …

To which Kates replied, “So let’s go to Minnesota.”

Within minutes we were pulling out a calendar, looking at the Twins schedule and picking a weekend. Then, when the plight of paying for accommodations came up, Kates suggested we camp. So, we started searching for state parks in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area … We found a few that looked promising along the St. Croix River and eventually booked a reservation at William O’Brien State Park, in addition to ordering a pair of tickets to the Sunday Twins game against the Texas Rangers, and our free Twin Cities Visitor's Guide …

... I think for a brief time as Kates and I were leaving Friday we thought, what are we getting ourselves into?! But everything worked almost better than we'd planned ... Phoebe handled everything beautifully, and appeared to be having a great time herself. She was constantly giggling with us and all of a sudden this weekend, it was as if she decided she was going to start talking ...

Check out this video ...

* * *

… So the day we’d been waiting for arrived Friday – Happy Birthday to Kates! … We got a later start than we would’ve liked, but managed to get the car loaded -- thank goodness for the Forrester. But seriously, we were packed in like sardines. I said if we do this again with another kid, we're going to need a trailer -- and we were heading out of town by 1 in the afternoon ...

According to Mapquest, we had a six-hour and 15-minute drive ahead of us, though we knew it would be longer with our stops ... We made our first Phoebe-feeding-pit-stop around 2:30, conveniently located at Grandma & Grandpa Horns' house. And then hit another roadside oasis around 5 (with a warm greeting, see photo), the great city of Eau Claire and a Taco Bell dinner around 7, and then one last stop around 9 in a Menards parking lot near the border so I could get some light bulbs for our rechargeable lantern -- which didn't work anyway because the lantern apparently has more complicated problems ...

Finally at about 9:20, we were driving over the St. Croix River into Minnesota. The scene couldn't have been better. There was a picture-perfect vanilla sky and the small towns with their old wood frame buildings spread along the river were buzzing with activity ... There was a lot of excitement and cheering in our car during those moments ... And the coolest thing -- since we were heading west, it was lighter much later than it would have been at the same time back home ...

We arrived at the campground and checked in with minutes to spare before it shut down for the night and we risked losing our site ... Then I strapped on my headlamp and went to work setting up our tent in the dark, while Kates tended to Phoebe ... It was then that Kates also realized Phoebe had loaded her diaper, and it had leaked into her car seat. Not pretty ...

For Phoebe's bed, we set her up on a couple pillows and layered them with blankets. She had her own little cozy corner of the tent, and she loved it ...

The forecast Friday night had called for rain, but we lucked out. The temperature was comfortably cool, the stars were shining against a clear sky, and the moon was bright and full ...

* * *

Right on time, Phoebe woke us up around 7 Saturday morning ... which was OK because it made us get up and start the day, and I like that ...

I got out and set up the rest of our camp. Started getting ready for breakfast ... and then realized I forgot the starter for our grill. Doh! It had the potential to be disastrous for our weekend's cooking menu ... but ok, we can deal with this, I thought. Quickly, I began gathering twigs and brush around our camp site, and I had a fire going in no time ... Then, once the coals were good and hot, we put on the sausages and eggs -- and wa-lah, we had a scrumptious breakfast ...

Afterward we explored some more of the campground ... It was dark enough when we arrived Friday night that Kates and I had major trouble finding the toilets and shower house. Both of us ended up hiking quite a distance to find a pit toilet before going to bed Friday night ... only to discover in Saturday's daylight the shower house stood just a few yards from our campsite ...

For the afternoon, we drove into Stillwater, one of those picturesque towns we discovered as we drove in Friday night ... The old downtown is loaded with charming little shops and some very good-looking restaurants. It reminded us a lot of Galena ...

But after awhile, the clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Luckily we were nearly finished with our tour and heading in the direction of our car when the skies let loose ... And luckily there was a wide store awning for us to stand under while we waited out the storm ...

... Once there was a break, we headed for the car. In the rain, we got Phoebe into her car seat and re-packed the car ... just as the tornado sirens started blaring! WON-derful ... No tornadoes ever appeared, but it poured all the way back to our camp. And when we pulled back into our site, we sat in the car and waited for the storm to dissipate ... All of us fell asleep, and the next thing we knew, the storm was over and the sun was shining ...

I started up another fire and we grilled chicken burgers, before celebrating the night with a game of Phase 10, which Kates narrowly won ...

* * *

On Sunday, we were all about hitting the city ...

With our Twin Cities Visitor's Guide in hand, made the easy 40-minute drive into Minneapolis and set out first to find Loring Park and the Walker Art Center. Kates had been to the iconic sculpture garden during college and wanted to show it off to me. Talk about ripe for photos; it's almost like Minneapolis' version of Chicago's Bean ...

From there it was off to, as they call it in Minneapolis, "Twins Territory." The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ... We found the underground parking garage -- $10 for the day -- and hiked to the ground level outside the stadium where part of the promotion for the day was a huge fanfest sort of celebration, complete with games, inflatables, pony rides and a whole lot for the kids ...

Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was about as family-friendly as I think I've ever experienced at a baseball game. And it seemed as though everybody was dressed in a Twins t-shirt or jersey ...

And, oh, the field. That old Metrodome is quite the venue (There's some interesting history here.) ... The description that kept rolling over and over in my head as we sat there Sunday afternoon was that it's like being in a gymnasium with green carpet ... Watching games on television, it always looked so spacious to me -- but being inside it offers a whole different perspective ...I hadn't realized how much the football field configuration impacts the field dimensions ... Still, it was very cool finally being able to see a game there and marvel at the Metrodome's features, but I also understand now why the Twins wanted a new stadium ...

I also hadn't realized that we had pretty good seats -- second row on the third base side, next to the left field bullpen. On the downside, it was quite a hike from the concourse level and down the stairs to our seats, and our view of home plate was skewed ... But the upside was we were in the thick of the action, especially in left field, and we had a front row seat to the bull pen ...

And for her very first baseball game, Phoebe handled all of it, including the loud crowd, beautifully ... Perhaps one of the cutest moments of the entire weekend happened as the game was getting underway and the starting lineups were being introduced. Phoebs had been dozing off on Kates's shoulder, and when the crowd erupted in some cheers, her eyes exploded wide open like a bomb had been dropped directly in front of her. But she never cried, and instead began looking around and taking in whatever was in front of her. She even sat contently on my lap for a couple innings, before Kates had to take her for another feeding ... Oh, and where did the ushers allow her to go -- the Twins executive offices. Pretty cool ...

The game was pretty darn good, too ... In the week prior, Kates and I were looking forward to seeing the Home Run Derby stars Justin Morneau for the Twins and Josh Hamilton for the Rangers, but Morneau didn't do anything overly noteworthy and Hamilton didn't play. Instead, the stars of the game turned out to be the starting pitchers ... For the Rangers, Vincente Padilla went for seven shutout innings and gave up three hits, while the Twins' starter Scott Baker took a perfect game into the sixth inning. He got the first two outs in the sixth, but he'd also begun falling behind batters. Then, on a 3-2 count, Taylor Teagarden -- of all people -- popped a home run that just barely cleared the center field wall and broke up the perfect game, the no-hitter and the shutout all on one pitch. And I didn't realize this until later, but it was also the kid's first major league hit ...

And that was that ... We got to see the Twins star closer Joe Nathan (that's him warming up in front of us, at left) pitch in the ninth inning, and despite a little excitement in the bottom of the inning -- Joe Mauer got a two-out walk and then took second and third base on a passed ball before Morneau grounded out -- the game ended in a 1-0 Twins loss ...

We took our time leaving the game, taking in more of the stadium and taking pleasure in watching the throngs of kids stream on to the field to run the bases ... All the while, Phoebe was out cold in the Baby Bjorn, her little legs and arms just flopping along with the pattern of our walking ...

Because it was such a fast game, we had a lot of time to burn in the city afterward ... We drove through the University of Minnesota campus and saw the Weisman Art Museum...

We got to see the Stone Arch Bridge and the I-35 bridge in reconstruction after last summer's tragic collapse. And we even made it over to St. Paul, where we spent some time walking around the capitol building and gazing at the Cathedral of Saint Paul. The capitol grounds also served as another feeding area for Phoebe; by now Kates's is contemplating a Top 10 list of the most interesting places she's catered to Phoebs ...

Back at the camp, the weekend crowds had vanished -- oh, were there a lot of loud, obnoxious kids tearing around on bikes -- and we virtually had the entire camp to ourselves. We put Phoebe down and heated up some leftover brats and burgers over a campfire. And as the night wore on we began packing up some of our gear, hoping to get a head start on our trip home the next day ...

* * *

And that brings us to Monday: Our day to head home ...

Kates took Phoebe for a walk while I finished packing our gear and somehow found a way to stuff all of it back into our car ... Then I picked them up and we checked out ...

Before getting too far out, we stopped in Marine on St. Croix, another one of the riverfronts neat, little villages, for a lunch picnic ...

We were truly on the road for home by about 1 p.m. ... and, after three stops along the way including a bank parking lot for another feeding, we turned the car off in our garage just before 10 p.m. ...

We unloaded only the essentials and hit our mattress as soon as we could ...

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Obama factor

So this New Yorker cover featuring the Obamas has been getting some interesting play this week ...

At first, I loved it; I thought it was genius ... But after a second look and some more thinking I thought, wait a minute, how can they get away with that!? I actually felt a little ashamed for initially thinking it was funny. Sure, enough the Obama camp wasn't pleased, either ...

Then I caught the Chicago Tribune's editorial about it this week, took another look at the cover and got back to laughing about it. The cover really is a clever swipe at the media for making so much out of Obama's name and heritage and that infmaous fist bump ... A link to terrorism!? Seriously!? Come. On. ...

Here's a snippet from the Tribune editorial ...

...there's an inspired twist to this latest cartoon contretemps. The New Yorker cartoon isn't satirizing Obama. It's taking aim at people who are frightened by Obama, those who are willing to believe even the most outlandish Internet-fueled rumors about the candidate. The New Yorker's having wicked fun with the absurd notion that America is one election away from installing a Muslim quisling as the leader of the free world, along with his terrorist wannabe wife. This Baracknophobia (thanks to humorist Jon
Stewart of "The Daily Show") is so preposterous, so ludicrous, so demonstrably untrue that it makes perfect fodder for a cartoon, and more.

Now I'm sort of feeling ashamed for feeling ashamed about the cover ...

Here's some other interesting reads about the cover and the Obama factor ...

a Obama spoofers walk a fine punch line
a How to make fun of Obama
a Laugh, Obama, laugh
a America's satire-a-thon

Flying high

... So I got to fly in a KC-135 Stratotanker with the Air National Guard and watch it refuel an F-16 at 30,000 feet above ground today.

Yeah.

Pretty awesome.

Along with a select group that included country singer Laura Bryna, and on what one guardsmen described as “a perfect day for flying,” we convened at Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Field for a pre-flight briefing, and then boarded the 136-foot-long, 41-foot-high Stratotanker.

The take-off and overall flight was smoother than most commercial flights I've been on ... And during the flight we got to roam the cabin, sit inside the cockpit and then lay below the deck with a boom operator as he controlled the refueling process and the F-16s swooped in ...

I'll do the rest of my talking in pictures, but first a few other notes ...

... The KC-135 Stratotanker’s primary objective is air refueling, though it’s also quite capable of transporting military equipment or flying patients and evacuation missions. The plane can hold 200,000 pounds of fuel or a cargo load of up to 83,000 pounds. The guardsmen explained to us the tanker can disperse as much gasonline in a minute as the average car uses in a year ... That's crazy!

...Basically, the Stratotanker is “a flying gas station” — albeit one with a 130-foot wingspan, a top speed of about 530 mph and up to 21,634 pounds of thrust in each engine. And the refueling missions must happen in specific areas, or refueling tracks, in the sky. “We don’t just fly up there and wait for somebody to come through and swipe their card,” a guardsman told us. “We’ve got a rendezvous. We’ve got a planned place and time and altitude in the sky that we’re going to meet our receivers.”

... Also these planes were only made between 1957 and 1963, but they look and feel brand new. “I equate them to your dad’s or your ’57 Chevy that’s sitting in that garage that nobody touches," the guardsmen told us. "It’s incredible because these planes fly every day. We fly missions every day. When you look at them, you look at how clean they are.”

For more about the trip, go here. For some of my photos and a video I shot, keep scrolling.

Just Favre-olous

... This Brett Favre thing is getting sadder and sadder each day ...

I just read the latest tonight that the Packers are saying the Vikings tampered with Favre.

Aye yay yay.

I've loved watching Brett Favre play football for the Packers -- Oh, Frank Caliendo, where is your John Madden impression now? -- and I would love to see him play another year or two with the Packers. But the guy cried his eyes out in March and told us he couldn't give his all to the game anymore. He said he was tired and couldn't take the grind of the NFL anymore.

And we all cheered him for his decision to go out at the top of his game and to do it with class, leaving behind a legacy as wide as Lambeau Field itself.

Now what?

Now Favre's playing hardball with the Packers, infering the team pushed him into retirement and he's demanding his release ...

Even as the rumors swirled this off season, myself and a lot of my cohorts shrugged them off. There's no way, we thought, his retirement announcement was way too convincing ...

Then, lo and behold, the news breaks last week that Favre wants to come out of retirement and he asks for the Packers to release him. At first we tried to dismiss it as ESPN and the local media just spreading rumors again; then we started rolling our eyes even more when it turned out the reports were true ...

Now here's where I stand: With the Packers ... Again, I loved watching Brett Favre play, and I'd be more than happy to see him play some more. But I don't blame the Packers for taking a stand and not releasing Favre to protect their organization. It's a business decision, plain and simple. The Packers have Favre under contract, and they can't risk releasing him only to watch the Bears or Vikings pick him up ...

On top of that Aaron Rodgers, presumably, has been preparing for the upcoming season for months, while Favre's been, presumably, waffling somewhere in Mississippi. If Favre wants to play again, I don't blame the Packers for suggesting he come to training camp and earn back his starting job ... And I think if Favre really wants to play, he should prove it. He should show up at training camp and reclaim his starting job. Do that and this whole thing would be over ...

In everything I've read and seen, the stories coming from Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy have been detailed and consistent. Favre's stories, on the other hand, seem to have a lot of holes, and his only motive appears to be some desire to have his way with the Packers ...

The icing on the cake, of course, is the interview with family friend turned Favre PR woman Greta Van Susteren -- on Fox news to make it no less suspect.

It's a sad, sad mess. And I'm so sick of the drama.

Here's some of the good reads I've found throughout the ordeal...

a Favre set to formally ask in, sounds off on Packers brass
a History lesson: Favre could learn from final years of Namath, Unitas
a Favre comeback rumors hurting his legacy
a Favre should come back immediately ... I caught this one a couple days before the Favre rumors really got hot, and even then I was sick of the drama.
a Boxed-in Brett Favre, Packers face 'very difficult situation'
a Favre to Pack: 'Don't worry about my legacy'

All-Star fun

I’ve been putting in some crazy hours this week, writing stories like I’m trying to save my life …

And now here I am doing some more of it, all for my high-powered blog …

And doing it for the love of the game.

It’s All-Star week, and I’ve been enjoying it, thoroughly … Phoebe has too. She's been sitting in my arms contently for a good part of both nights' festivities. Look at her watching last night’s home run derby …

About last night’s Derby -- how awesome! was Josh Hamilton!? 28 home runs in the first round!? Are you kidding me!? … I mean our hometown boy Ryan Braun was fun to watch too, but duuuuuuuuude Josh Hamilton …

On the other hand, I will say this -- I don’t care how many home runs Hamilton had in the first round … Complain all you want about how he was robbed of the crown, but Hamilton lost the derby fair and square to Justin Morneau. The rules are what they are, and part of winning the derby is having the endurance and consistency to hit balls out in all three rounds. Morneau did that; Hamilton hit 28 in the first round, sat out the second round (because he hit so many in the first round that he had a free pass to the finals) and he couldn’t get it done in the finals. Case closed.

* * *

I got home just in time to catch the introductions for tonight's all-star game -- Man, it was sweet to see all of the Cubs players on the National League side -- and the stirring introductions. Seeing all of the living hall of famers out there, on the Yankee Stadium field, standing at the positions they made famous and then joined by the all-stars of today … That was plain awesome. And seeing George Brett, Ryne Sandberg, Robin Yount, Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken -- guys I admired and grew up with -- named as immortals alongside guys like Ernie Banks, Bob Gibson, Yogi Berra and Willie Mays … That was pretty awesome too.

And then the game! How ‘bout it!? … The pitching was superb, and it quickly shaped into the kind of all-star game I like to watch …

For the record, I was rooting for the National League, as I have almost every year … and this year the NL had arguably the most talented, well-rounded team they’ve had in years. I certainly liked their chances … Ben Sheets pitching. Ryan Braun and Kosuke Fukudome in the outfield. An infield with Chase Utley, Lance Berkman and Chipper Jones -- I wouldn't ask for a sweeter lineup.

By the sixth, things were looking really good with the NL leading 2-0, thanks to Matt Holliday’s home run and then the manufactured run in the top of the sixth inning.

‘Course, then my jaw dropped when J.D. Drew hit the two-run shot to tie it in the bottom of the seventh ... and again when Evan Longoria hit the ground rule double to tie it in the eighth.

Then they go into extras ... which is amusing considering I'd been receiving text messages all night from my buddies Eddie and Matt that read, simply "benito santiago" -- a reference to the 2002 debacle the three of us watched together when Santiago had a chance to win the game for the National League before it ended in a dubious tie ...

And in the bottom of the 10th, Dan Uggla makes the huge error that led to the bases being loaded for the American League, and Eddie's texting me again: "Uggla finish. Headline?" ... He's a news guy too. ... Ah, but the National League infield stepped it up with some marvelous defense, turning not one but two consecutive ground balls into outs at home plate, and then Miguel Tejada handled a tough, slow roller and flipped it to first base for the third out of the inning ... whew!

And the 11th -- I thought that was it when Michael Young got the hit up the middle and Navarro headed around to score. I thought for sure Nate McLouth's throw from center field was going to be late and instead he nailed Dioner Navarro at homeplate, with some help from Russell Martin making a good block ... Check this stat: That play marked three of the last five outs being made at homeplate. Unheard of!

Now I'm getting so vocal and bouncing on the couch that I'm thinking this game is reaching the excitement level of the Jayhawks national championship game ...

I should also note -- thank goodness for DVR! ... Kates and I had to pause this game several times to take care of Phoebe, or to take care chores around the house, or to talk about issues of the moment. Every time we caught up to real-time, something else would force us to pause again, and at times I wondered if it would be 8 o'clock Wednesday morning before I'd catch up again and see the ending of this thing ... But the game, just kept going and going.

Finally. In the bottom of the 15th -- the 15th! -- Michael Young got it done with a sacrifice fly that scored Morneau in another oh-so-close-play-at-the-plate ...

Thanks God Selig didn't have to call it again. You could just see him wanting to hide under his seat every time they put the camera on him in extra innings ...

What. a. game.

... And I have to be up in less than five hours and on an airplane in less than seven.

Good. night.

All-Star reads ...
a Pinstripes a perfect fit for Yankees All-Star Jeter
a For 85 years, history hit home in 'House That Ruth Built' ... I really don't understand the reasoning for tearing down Yankee Stadium ... sigh.
a Yankee Stadium awes NL players making first appearance

Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski quits

Another sign of trouble ...

Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski quits

Updates ...
a Ann Marie's World
a Ann Marie Lipinski resigns
a Former Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski hired at University of Chicago

Game day

… So I got my first managerial win today. Woo hoo!

With our leader Tom out again today, I was left managing the team for the second consecutive game … We held on for a 5-4 win, which brings our season record to 3-4 and my all-time managerial record to something like 1-3 …

I had a pretty good day at the plate too … For my first at-bat, I stepped to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the second, no runners on and no score. I got down on a 1-2 count and then got a decent pitch and hooked it down the right field line. It dropped just fair and I turned it into a double … The next batter singled and moved me over to third base, and the batter after that singled to drive me in to score. When the inning ended, we had taken a 2-0 lead … And I was getting pats on the back for starting the two-out, two-run rally …

When I stepped to the plate again in the fourth, I had two runners on and one out; the score was still 2-0 … The first pitch I got was a little bit inside, but right in my wheelhouse. I turned on it and launched it down the left field line -- foul! … I missed the next pitch and fell behind 0-2, but the third pitch was in the dirt. It got past the catcher and one of the runners came in to score, putting us up 3-0. Then, I gave the fourth pitch a ride to left field for a sacrifice fly and got the fourth run in … So you could say I helped us get another pair of runs …

I drew walks each my last two times up and we got one more run to take a 5-0 lead …

In the meantime, we had our ace start on the mound and he led us off by striking out the side in the top of the first. But in the bottom of the inning, batting fourth, he grounded out and stumbled over first base as he tried to beat the throw, in turn hurting his knee. He was done for the day, and the only other pitcher we had available was Garre, who was still recovering from his work in Wednesday’s game …

God bless him, he pitched the bulk of the game and we held the other team scoreless for most of the game. But Garre eventually did tire, and the other team put up a four-run inning …

We held on though, and had no other choice in the final inning than to pitch J.D., who’s thrown nothing more than batting practice. Still, I knew he could throw strikes, and I had confidence in him finishing out the game …

And he did. We got a one-two-three inning and the win to finish the game.

Sunday reading

It's been a busy and trying few weeks, folks ...

Here's several week's worth of Sunday reading ...

Sports ...
a Guillen doesn't like Wrigley any better now
a Mayor Daley shows off acting talent in White Sox spot
a New manager Manuel key to Mets' personality makeover
a Batty problem: Baseball discusses broken bats
a Younger Steinbrenner a chip off the old Boss since taking reins
a 'The kid did it the right way' ... I was really glad to see the Bulls picked Rose. I would have let a loud grown if it was Michael Beasley.

Movies ...
a 'WALL-E' plugs into human emotion ... Seriously, since we saw the first trailer last year, there's no movie I wanted to see more this summer. And we saw it this week. Here's another review from the LA Times.

Media ...
a George F. Will has eyes on the nation

The Onion ...
a New Dad Thinks Baby Might Be Gay ... this is great for a laugh.
a Fall Canceled After 3 Billion Seasons

Music ...
a Coldplay turns up the heat with 'Viva la Vida'

Politics ...
a To the Loser Go the Spoils

The Internet ...
a The Google Ogle Defense: A Search for America's Psyche

Life & Other stuff ...
a Help Wanted: Looking For Plan B ... Jim Shea on updating a resume
a The unusual past of San Francisco Bay's Point Montara lighthouse comes to light
a Parents fret as even toddlers love 'High School' ... What did these moms expect, naming their kids Tayla and Jemma!?
a What Comes Next After Generation X?
a Exhibit Examines Costumes Of The Courageous
a After the Deluge, the World in a Grain of Sand

Three months and kicking

So Phoebe is three months old today …

It’s interesting. In the days after she was born, we often heard people tell us, “Oh enjoy it now, they grow up so fast …” and Kates and I were like, “What are you talking about?!” Everything in those first few weeks was so new and amazing and it all seemed to happen in slow motion.

Not that everything isn’t still new and amazing, but it’s certainly not happening in slow motion anymore … Phoebe is growing.

In fact, she broke my heart for the first time a couple weeks ago when I came home from work and Kates broke the sad news that Phoebe had officially grown out of her newborn clothes. My heart seriously sunk … I grabbed a hold on Phoebe’s legs, shook them gently like I do, and -- as she flashed that giggly sweet mischievous smile of hers -- I told her, “No, stop growing!” … Needless to say Phoebe and Kates have been enjoying a lot of mother-daughter time lately -- aka, shopping.

But Phoebe is growing. And we’re convinced she’s the best, most happiest baby ever. She's becoming sort of a ham actually … Which means our next one is probably going to be a terror. Pretty much.

At three months, Phoebe is smiling -- constantly, it seems. Except when she needs to eat or sleep. Or when she tips over and knocks her head on Daddy’s leg, like she did the other night. She didn’t like that at all …

She can hold her head up high. But it still bobs enough sometimes that we’ve taken to calling her “Bobblehead.”

… She’s slept wonderfully from the start, and now she’s giving us a good five to seven hours a night. We’re crossing our fingers that continues.

… She also enjoys herself when we sing to her. And she really likes bouncing on Dad's leg while he sings the “William Tell Overture.” (Speaking of the “William Tell,” have you seen this classic!?)

… And no matter how much we try to play with her on her tummy or her side, she absolutely glows when she’s on her back . She loooooooves to kick and wave her fists. In fact, it's not uncommon for us to put her down for a nap, and from her room we'll begin to hear this thwump, thwump, thwump as she's kicking on her mattress like it's a tom-tom ... She does it so much that we’ve also taken to calling her “Kiki Pee.”

… Speaking of those fists, she enjoys fist bumps too.

Night game

This has been an odd baseball season when it comes to my amateur playing …

Between our rainouts and rescheduled games and running around with Phoebe, a couple weeks between games is starting to become commonplace. Though it looks like we’re finally going to get on a regular schedule for the second half of the summer …

We were back at it tonight …

But it was much of the same for our rag-tag bunch. The mosquitoes had dinner on us. Our pitching was embarrassingly thin. And our starting catcher is getting pretty good at giving demonstrations on giving up rather than being the leader on the field.

Plus, our bats were mostly silent tonight, when we should have been knocking the pitcher all over the field. The guy was throwing a mix of fastballs and change-ups all night and we just couldn’t take advantage of him …

My first time at the plate, I struck out on one of those change-ups after fouling off two pretty good pitches. Then I grounded out to second base my second time up …

On my third try, I blooped a ball into shallow right field, and when everybody chased after it and left second base open I headed for two. I think the third baseman ended up covering the bag as the throw came in, and the next thing I knew I was sliding in and he was tumbling on top of me. I thought I was out, but the umpire ruled I slid under the tag. Good enough for me … I ended up moving to third on a fielder’s choice and then scored on a single.

But my run scored would be our last of the night. We lost the game 9-4, and our season record falls to 2-4.

Goin' to the drive-in

... So it was 10 years ago today that Kates and I decided, hey, we make a good team, let's make a go of it together ... And now we have Phoebe. It hardly seems possible. Like we should still be two college kids running around, pulling shenanigans at camp ...

To celebrate, we made plans to go to the drive-in. "Wall-E" was playing, along with "Get Smart" as the second showing -- if we could make it that long ...

But we almost didn't think we were going to make it at all ... As Kates and I were eating dinner and watching the news tonight, we suddenly heard what sounded like a car racing by our house -- which was odd because we live on an extremely quiet residential street, and there's a stop sign at the intersection in front of our house ...

Kates and I didn't see the suspect car whiz by because our living room window, and our couch, backs up to the road ... Then, at almost the same instant it hit me as to what could be happening, Kates and I heard police sirens, turned around to look out the window and saw a squad car screaming down the road. Then another one. And then a police motorcycle.

There was a high-speed chase going through our neighborhood. Kind of freaky, when we started thinking about the danger of it all ...

To top it off, a few minutes later, my friend Matt called with the stunning climax: The suspect car had crashed into the drive-in theater a few blocks from our house -- the same drive-in we had planned to go to tonight ... It all ended with the cops pulling the driver out of the car at gunpoint.

Fun.

But the movies went on ...

We packed up Phoebe and loaded the car. And sure enough, there at the entrance, still surrounded by a couple police cars and a rescue squad was the car pressed up against the back side of the movie screen, with concrete and rubble littered around it ... And for good reason, the drive-in wasn't allowing any cars to park in the first two rows ...

We did see "Wall-E" and we enjoyed it. Although, after falling so deep in love with the trailer and hearing such rave reviews about it, I think perhaps my expectations were a little too high going in ...

Still, it is pretty amazing what a few good storytellers and computer animators can do with such a simple story about a couple of robots who only speak a few words in their journey to save the Earth ...

We also gave Phoebe her first driving lesson ...

'Stars and Stripes' forever? Not so much

There was a good editorial in the Tribune today about the city's July 3 fireworks and the pop music playlist that WTMX supplied ...

What made it more amusing was that the city and the radio station should have seen this coming ...

As we were looking over the fireworks playlist -- which had been published on the Taste of Chicago Web site -- in our office a couple weeks, our mouths were agape. WTMX had put absolutely no thought into the music; there wasn't a single patriotic song on it ...

Instead, it was a random mix containing some of the junk from Rihanna and Gwen Stefani that the radio station plays a gazillion times every day! Seriously, what about Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" goes with Fourth of July fireworks ...

The end

I badly wanted to get to Summerfest once more tonight. It's closing night, and I wanted to see Lady Antebellum, of whom I've become a fan during the last few weeks -- thanks to an interview with member Charles Kelley ...

But after the tournament this weekend, and an exhausting run last week, I'm done. I spent most of the afternoon flat on the couch, and I'm done ... Kates and Phoebe left the house to get supper, and I was so far out I didn't even flinch.

And so ends my tour ...
a Thursday: Stevie Wonder
a Saturday: Dashboard Confessional
a Sunday: Polyphonic Spree
a Monday: Gin Blossoms | Performer Passes Out On Stage
a Tuesday: O.A.R. | Interview with Chris Culos
a Interview with Marty Stuart
a Thursday: Ingrid Michaelson | Interview with Ingrid Michaelson

Here's a piece I had in Friday's News about Lady Antebellum ...

Two years ago Charles Kelley was down and out on music, wondering if he’d ever do it again. He had graduated from Georgia University and was trying to find something worthwhile. “I was just hating it and not having a good time,” he says.

Then his older brother Josh — whom pop fans might recognize as the singer/songwriter of hits like “Amazing”and “Just Say The Word” and the new husband of actress Katherine Heigl — called him to Nashville. Josh let Charles live at his place for free and took him under his wing. They began writing songs and Charles began to get reacquainted with his musical aspirations.

“I‘d put it to the side for awhile, and I owe him a lot,” Charles said during a phone interview last month. “He introduced me around to a lot of people in the industry.”

Country music fans owe Josh Kelley a lot too. Without him encouraging Charles to come back to music, Lady Antebellum — whose name came out of a random photo shoot in front of some old Antebellum-styled homes — might not have been born.

The country trio, consisting of Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, have wowed the country music world this spring, taking this year’s Academy of Country Music award for Top New Vocal Group. They’ve watched their first single “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” race up the country radio charts, and the video has become a staple on CMT and GAC.

Their wildly popular self-titled debut album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and Nashville Lifestyles magazine simply dubbed them “the next big thing.”

Now, Lady A, as their nicknamed, is coming to the Big Gig. They’re scheduled to help close down this year’s Summerfest at 9:30 p.m. Sunday at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard.

It’s one of 25 shows they have scheduled in the month of July alone. They are scheduled to appear at Country Thunder on July 16.

“For us, all this stuff is so brand new and we’re just getting out there,” Kelley said. “People know the first single so much now, it’s a different feel now. Before we were tying to win over people and now we’re having a lot of fans come out to the shows. We’re just trying to soak it up.”
Though Haywood and Kelley have known and played together since their days at Riverside Middle School in Augusta, Ga., it was a chance meeting with Scott at a Nashville-area nightspot that brought the group together.

“We just hit it off and asked her if she wanted to come over and write some songs,” Kelley said. “Almost immediately there was this chemistry, as artists and as friends.”

The trio spent time hanging out at Kelley’s home and, in almost no time, they penned the third track on the album, a ballad called “All We’d Ever Need.” A couple months later they were forming the group, which before had been an after thought.

Before their meeting, Kelley had been writing pop songs. But when he started singing with Scott’s sultry alto voice, something clicked and their blissful country rock sound came out. Kelley and Scott, who is the daughter of Grammy-winning country artist Linda Davis and accomplished musician Lang Scott, hit on a combustible chemistry as a vocal duo while Haywood’s instrumental and harmonizing chops rounded out the music. Their emotionally-charged sound blends classic country with a sharp rock edge.

“I started singing lower and found this kind of really neat part of my voice,” Kelley said. “She’s got a more traditional country-sounding voice, and when the two of us blended together it created this country sound. The sound was whatever came out. We didn’t try to force it.”

By April 2007, after drawing an overwhelming response to the demos posted on their MySpace page, the group was signed by Capitol Nashville and began work on their debut album.

The result is an 11-disc album filled with catchy, vibrant country rock songs and traditional ballads, all of which will appeal to even the most unlikely of country music fans. From the irresistible party anthem and second single, “Lookin’ for a Good Time,” to the beautiful “I Run to You,” the album has Kelley and Scott trading vocals and producing sparkling harmonies.

The range of emotion encompasses both the joyfully romantic “Love's Lookin' Good On You” and the desolation of the swelling ballad “All We’d Ever Need.” Between those extremes is the driving “Long Gone,” a display of attitudinal assurance from Hillary.

“It was a fun experience,” Kelley said of the album’s construction. “It was just a blast, every day going to work, being able to go in there and just be creative everyday.”

Kelley said fans at Sunday’s Summerfest show can expect an energetic set filled with crowd interaction.

“We’re excited to get out there,” Kelley said. “It’s been fun just doing a bunch of shows. We’re just hitting the pavement.”

A weekend of its own

What. A. Weekend.

Almost a year’s worth of planning and preparation culminated this weekend as we rededicated what is arguably one of our city‘s most historic sites -- ok, there are a lot of them. We celebrated Simmons Field, and were blessed with a captivating women’s baseball tournament -- that’s right, I said women’s baseball …

It all started about a year ago when my friend Tom connected with a person involved in women’s baseball. Knowing the ballpark was once the home of the Kenosha Comets of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League -- think “A League of Their Own” -- the idea for some sort of a gathering to celebrate the ballpark’s history snowballed …

The idea evolved into a three-day tournament that involved five international women’s baseball teams comprised of some of the best female baseball players in the world. The event was set to coincide with tryouts for USA Baseball and the women’s World Cup team, and the centerpiece of the event was a rededication of the field that would reunite a contingent of about 20 players from the All-American Girls League …

Over the winter, myself and three other men I play with put in some crazy hours trying to organize the thing -- there were many nights we wondered how in the world we’d pull it off. We secured some key corporate sponsors. And some advisers we worked with estimated the tournament could draw thousands to the park, but even then we had no clues to what we could expect …

Now that the weekend is over, I can tell you … it couldn’t have gone off better. Our clearest dreams and visions became a reality ...

* * *

… Throughout last week, there was a buzz that started circulating in the community about the event -- maybe it was just our own excited anticipation … But on Thursday the teams began arriving and took practice at the field. We spent part of the day watching them and taking it in … We were immediately astounded by their play and knew we were about to share in something special …

Friday was the day we’d all been waiting for -- the start of the tournament and the rededication ceremony …We were at the ballpark just after sunrise, working the field, cleaning the clubhouse once more, opening the classic grandstand’s concession area and settling into the press box. Aside from the field, much of the ballpark’s other amenities hadn’t been used in years, but we wanted to show off the entire ballpark and all its glory … In the weeks leading up, we’d cleaned almost every corner, threw out years worth of junk and gave the grandstand a fresh coat of paint.

Eight o'clock came fast and the first game got underway between the Australians and a New England team. At the same time, we were at the main gates, greeting the now elderly All-American players as they arrived.

We had about 20 ladies come for the day, some who actually played for the Comets at Simmons Field, and even an umpire who told us the only ejection he issued during his career came at Simmons … All weekend, I heard golden stories like that from the women. Stories of them playing in the dense fog rolling off Lake Michigan. Stories about them having to go to Cuba for their spring training … My mind is swirling with so many stories, it would be unrealistic to try to retell all of them in this space …

As the opening game of our tournament continued, things got interesting … We had ruled the games would be seven innings long, but we didn’t anticipate the games would move as swiftly as they did. So when we scheduled our rededication ceremony for 11:30 a.m. Friday, and the opening game was in the seventh inning at 10:30 a.m., we started getting nervous that we would have too much dead space before the ceremony; we needed to keep things moving … Then we got a gift when the game went into extra innings -- it went to 12 innings actually! It was perfect, the stands were filling with fans who had come for the ceremony and a hugely entertaining, competitive game was being played on the field. There were some dazzling plays too, including a ball one player launched to deep left field -- The girl tried to stretch it to a triple, but the defense made a perfect relay throw to cut down the batter as she slid into third base …

By the time the New England team won the first game it was going on noon -- which turned out to be perfect timing for our ceremony … We seated the All-Americans and some of our dignitaries at home plate, dressed a local girl in a Comets uniform and I emceed the ceremony … We had “The Natural” theme music playing as I had the privilege of introducing each of the players, and the crowd soaked it in, rising to their feet for a standing ovation when I finished. It was such a moment, I had to step away to catch my breath and stop myself from choking up … Then, we unveiled a new plaque that will be mounted on the ballpark’s grandstand, and I handed off the mic to one of the ladies who led the All-Americans in their song …

Friday morning’s ceremony was one of the most touching and special experiences I’ve ever had in my life. And -- I said it more than once this weekend -- no autograph I could have obtained was worth more to me than the experience of getting close and spending so much one-on-one time with those ladies, just sitting in the stands and talking or walking with them from stop to stop …

As the afternoon went on, we organized an autograph session with fans and catered a picnic, which we capped by serving the women a specially-made cake -- with the AAGPBL logo and all. The women were such troopers and remained enthusiastic through it all …Even that night, as the tournament games continued, I thought for sure they’d want to head back to their hotel to get some rest. But when I mentioned to one of the women that they were staying for the night game, she answered with spunk. “Why are we here?” she asked. “We’re here to watch baseball!”

* * *

On Saturday morning, I got another amazing opportunity and led the All-Americans on a tour of the city. We visited the downtown blocks and the harbor -- which was a sea of factories during their era and has since been developed into parkland and breath-taking lakefront property. We drove through the city’s two college campuses -- which are not only scenic but also held a lot of interest because a large number of the ladies became educators after their playing days. We visited a park outside of town where the ladies often had picnics, and we visited some of the remaining factories that were flourishing in their day …

In the meantime, we had another full slate of games on Saturday, including a couple more extra inning affairs. Throughout the weekend, we couldn’t have asked for closer, more competitive games … And these girls flat out knew how to play baseball. On the field, we had some 70 of the world’s greatest female baseball players, and they reminded us of that repeatedly. They had their fundamentals down, their defense was tight, their throws were crisp, and they could turn double-plays with the best of them …Also, like their predecessors in the AAGPBL, most of them were just teenagers. Some of them have even appeared in Nike commercials and movies … It was something special to be in their presence.

... There were several times during the weekend I thought about the irony of me being so deeply involved in this tournament and learning the culture of women's baseball -- the same year that I became the father of a girl ...

* * *

Today, the games came early once more, with the championship rounds starting at 8 a.m. A Washington state team easily took third place, and then we watched the Australian team beat New England for the championship …

Throughout the weekend, those of us organizing the tournament built such a camaraderie with the All-Americans and some of the girls playing in the tournament that we gathered on the field and conversed for quite a long time afterward. We continued exchanging stories and even laid out ideas for a second tournament next summer. The weekend was so successful, it seems there’s already a lot of support to make the tournament an annual event …

Finally, late this afternoon, the cleanup began one last time … I’ll say this -- After all the trash I picked up and peanut shells we swept from the grandstand and bleachers after each day’s games, I have a newfound respect for the ushers and people that clean up all the Major League ballparks …

Now I’m wiped. And I’ll be flat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon, I’m sure.

No Summerfest for me tonight.