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NBC Upfronts

Earlier this month, NBC presented their upfront presentation in the guise of a 30 Rock reunion episode.  Jack McBrayer’s Kenneth, who had been put in charge of NBC in the series finale, continues in that role in the special, putting together the fall lineup for the real NBC that will air… sometime.  The week will get off to a familiar start with The Voice returning for another round on Mondays, followed by another season of Manifest.  Tuesday stays static, leading off with more of The Voice, followed by This Is Us and New Amsterdam.

Wednesday also stays the same, with Dick Wolf’s 3 Chicago series running back to back to back.  Thursday starts with a small comedy block, with Superstore followed by Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Law & Order: SVU moves up an hour for its 22nd season, followed by a new spin-off series, Law & Order: Organized Crime, bringing Christopher Meloni back to the L&O fold.  The Blacklist returns on Friday, followed by 2 hours of Dateline NBC.  Sunday remains filled with the NFL.

New shows on tap for midseason include The Keenan Show, a family comedy starring Kenan Thompson, Mr. Mayor, a comedy starring Ted Danson as a wealthy businessman who runs for mayor of Los Angeles for all the wrong reasons, and Young Rock, inspired by and starring Dwayne Johnson.

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Fitbit 6: Week 26

Week 19 of working from home due to the corona virus was again still below my weekly goal, but, following up from last week, is again much more in line with what I would put up while going to work.  For the second straight week, I posted my best numbers since November.  The week got off to a slower start on Sunday, finishing with only 4300 steps.  Monday saw a marked improvement, coming in over 7100 steps.  Tuesday saw a slight downgrade due to meetings, coming in at 5100 steps.  Things picked up on Wednesday, surpassing my daily goal for the first time this week with 7600 steps.  Thursday I managed my first 10,000 step day since April, finishing with 10,100 steps thanks to an afternoon walk around the Lockport Park District while waiting for Michael to finish swim practice.  Friday was another successful day, coming in over 8300 steps and giving me 3 straight days over goal for the first time since the end of January.  I was in position to try to meet my weekly goal on Saturday, but I fell off again, finishing with only 4800 steps.

Total steps: 47,595

Daily average: 6799.3

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You Ought To Be In (10) Pictures

Movie_Reel_22

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  So, given those guidelines, and thanks to a corona virus inspired uptick to my movie watching this year, it is time to look at the 100 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of July 1.

Today, we start with the 27 actors that have starred in 10 movies that I have seen, a slight increase from the 22 at this level 3 years ago.

Jessica Alba

After a string of 8 films in 6 years in the mid 2000s, there has been nothing new for Jessica Alba since I saw her in 2010’s Valentine’s Day in 2011.

Dan Aykroyd

No change in Aykroyd’s total, with it going on 18 years since I last saw one of his starring roles.

Elizabeth Banks

Our first new entry, Banks first graced my screen in a starring role in 2006 thanks to The Baxter.  After a dry spell in the early 2010s, she bounced back with 7 films in 5 years, finishing up with 2018’s The Happytime Murders, which I saw in 2019.

Kate Beckinsale

It’s been a quiet 3 years for Beckinsale, who I last saw in Underworld: Blood Wars in early 2017.

Halle Berry

Another newcomer, who has racked up starring roles in 4 different decades now.  I first saw Berry in 1992’s Boomerang, which I saw in a screening at Stewart Center at school.  After notching 5 films during the 2000’s, she had been pretty quiet until returning to my screen earlier this year in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.

Chevy Chase Continue reading →

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Hall Of Fame Batting Leaders


 

In normal times, today would have been the day former Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was joined by Expos and Rockies legend Larry Walker, Cardinal and Brewer backstop Ted Simmons, and union boss Marvin Miller in taking their place in Cooperstown.  However, thanks to the corona virus, the Hall of Fame Class of 2020 will need to wait until next year for induction.  But, with two new hitters who would have been joining the list of Hall of Famers I’ve seen play live, let’s check back in anyway with the new leaders on the offensive side of the ball amongst Hall of Famers for all of the games I’ve attended between 1984 and 2020.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jim Thome 35
Frank Thomas 15
Vladimir Guerrero 6
Ivan Rodriguez 4
Chipper Jones 3
Harold Baines 3
Carlton Fisk 3

Hits

Name Total
Jim Thome 110
Frank Thomas 54
Ken Griffey Jr 32
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A Deal Is Made

Less than 12 hours before the first pitch of the 2020 season for the Cubs, the Marquee Network showed up on Comcast systems in the Chicago area, signaling a carriage deal had finally been reached.  Crane Kenney, president of business operations for the Cubs, confirmed a multiyear deal in multiple media interviews yesterday, but details were not disclosed and Comcast has yet to release a statement.  It’s still unclear how much Comcast will charge subscribers for the addition of Marquee to their service.

In related news, Sinclair Broadcasting, the partner of the Cubs in the Marquee Network, is using their local television stations to push a conspiracy theory this weekend that suggests Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top expert on infectious diseases in the US, was responsible for the creation of the corona virus.  Between the Ricketts family’s relationship with Donald Trump and their dealings with Sinclair, it is getting harder and harder to support the organization.

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200 Things To Do In Illinois – Crosstown Doubleheader

Illinois celebrated its bicentennial as a state in December of 2018.  To celebrate, the Chicago Tribune published the Bicentennial Bucket List: 200 Things To Do In Illinois, celebrating the best the state has to offer in history, food, architecture, culture, sports, nature, drink, and oddities.  Now that the state is starting to open back up following the corona virus outbreak, I figured this was the second-best time to look through this collection and cover the ones I’ve done/eaten/seen.

We conclude things this week with one of the entries from the Sports category: Crosstown Doubleheader, from Chicago, IL.

Usually, at least once during the baseball season, there’s a Cubs home day game followed buy a Sox home night game – or vice versa.  When these scheduling stars align, hop on the Red Line and hit both games for a crosstown day-night doubleheader.

One of the best things about living in a two-team town is the occasional opportunity to take in two games, one at each park, in the same day.  There have been 7 times I’ve watched both the Cubs and the Sox on the same day at their respective homes: first, in 2003 as the Rockies defeated the Cubs and the Mariners throttled the White Sox, and most recently last season, as the Nationals beat the Cubs and the Rangers shut out the White Sox.

There was an 8th instance, in 2004, where I took in games in both parks on the same day, but it didn’t involve the White Sox.  The afternoon tilt that day at US Cellular Field was between the Expos and the Marlins, relocated to Chicago due to Hurricane Ivan. That night, the Cubs slipped past the Pirates at Wrigley Field.

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All Time Team Records

What was planned to be the earliest non-international start in Major League Baseball history turned into the latest, thanks to a combination of the corona virus pandemic and pointless bickering between the MLBPA and team owners.  With the 2020 baseball season finally set to get underway today, although with no fans in the stands, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984.  Thanks to some eBaying of pocket schedules from the 80s, I was able to identify one additional game that I attended in 1988, a California Angels victory at Comiskey Park against the White Sox.

The Cubs look to bounce back from last year’s September collapse that kept them out of the postseason for the first time since 2014, while the White Sox hope their offseason additions push them towards contention as their young talent starts to blossom.  With only 60 games to make their mark, the 2020 season should be an interesting one on both sides of town.

All-Time Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 13 2 0.867
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Colorado Rockies 10 6 0.625
Boston Red Sox 18 13 0.581
Toronto Blue Jays 15 11 0.577
New York Yankees 15 11 0.577
Los Angeles Angels 19 14 0.576
Cleveland Indians 28 24 0.538
Chicago Cubs 219 197 0.526
Philadelphia Phillies 10 9 0.526
Houston Astros 22 20 0.524
Chicago White Sox 306 287 0.516
Continue reading →
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2020 Predictions

After months of delay due to the corona virus, the 2020 baseball season is finally scheduled to kick off today with two games, followed by a full slate of games featuring the remaining teams tomorrow.  For the tenth consecutive year, I’ve looked into the crystal ball to make my picks for the upcoming season.  Although, given the circumstances of this season, this is more of a fool’s errand than usual.

American League

East: Yankees

Central: Twins

West: Astros

Wild Cards: White Sox, Rays

AL Champion: Yankees

Cy Young: Blake Snell

MVP: Yoan Moncada

National League

Continue reading →

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Book 13 (of 52) – Grand

Grand – Sara Schaefer

Comedian Sara Schaefer took a rafting trip into the Grand Canyon with her younger sister to celebrate her 40th birthday.  That trip becomes the framing device for her life story, as she faces her physical fears on the Colorado River and details the emotional fears that have built up over her lifetime, from the announcement from her parents that upended her life as a child, to her mother’s breast cancer battle and eventual death, her failed marriage, and her trials and tribulations in show business.

Of all the comedians I follow on Twitter, Schaefer is the one I’m probably the least familiar with.  I’ve seen her a few times on @Midnight, but, aside from that, there’s not much else.  To be honest, I probably would not have bought this book, but I managed to get an advanced reading copy for free from a Goodreads contest.  When I started the book, I was a little concerned about the framing device of the rafting trip, which alternated chapters with Schaefer’s tales of her younger days.  But, I soon was engrossed by the trip, something I know I would both want to do and never do.

Following up on this experience, I will be looking out for more of her stand-up work.  Maybe even venture out to see her in person, should this pandemic ever make that possible again.

 

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Fitbit 6: Week 25

Now that’s more like it.  Week 18 of working from home due to the corona virus was still below my weekly goal, but is much more inline with what I would put up while going to work and was my best week since November.  The week got off to a nice start on Sunday, finishing over 7600 steps thanks to a trip to the grocery store.  Monday was even better, coming in over 8100 steps, the first time I had back-to-back days over goal since April 6th and 7th.  Tuesday saw a slight downgrade, coming in at exactly 5700 steps.  Wednesday was the low point of the week, where meetings forced me into finishing 14 steps away from 3900.  Thursday bounced back well, back up to 8600 steps, the week’s high point and giving me my first week with 3 days over goal since my last week of going to work in mid-March.  Friday fell back down again to 6300 steps.  Saturday should have been my fourth day over goal for the week, but falling asleep early left me with 7100 steps.

Total steps: 47,464

Daily average: 6780.6