Earlier today, word broke that Prince had died at the age of 57. He was found unresponsive in an elevator at his Paisley Park estate outside Minneapolis. His publicist confirmed the news without giving any further details. Just last week, his plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, after which he was rushed to a local hospital.
My favorite Prince-related memory is from my trip to Belfast back in 2012. We were spending the night in one of the local pubs when Purple Rain came over the speakers. Drunk Jeff decided it was necessary for him to sing along, thanks to some encouragement from the rest of the group.
My second favorite Prince-related memory would be Charlie Murphy’s recollections of playing basketball and having pancakes with him back in the day on the Chappelle Show.
Last week, we looked at the first two regions of memories the White Sox had selected to celebrate the 25th anniversary of US Cellular Field. Today, we finish the job by looking at the last 2 brackets: Records and Milestones and Honors and More.
The Records and Milestones region spans the gamut of the 25 years the Comiskey Park II/US Cellular Field has been in service. Unlike the last 2 regions, I only attended 2 of these 8 games.
We start with the most recent game, from last October, where Chris Sale set the franchise’s single season strikeout total, doing battle against a July 2000 matchup between the Sox and Cardinals, where Frank Thomas surpassed Luke Appling as the franchise’s all time RBI leader with a first inning home run. I’ll select Thomas’ mark, as it represents a career mark over Sale’s single season record.
The second match-up is between Carlton Fisk breaking Bob Boone’s career record for games caught on June 22, 1991 against Bobby Jenks tying the MLB record for consecutive batters retires with 41, a mark that would be broken by teammate Mark Buehrle 2 years later.
Next, we have the first interleague game between the White Sox and the Cubs on June 16, 1997 versus Jim Thome’s 500th home run, a walk-off against the Angels on September 16, 2007, which just so happened to also be Jim Thome bobblehead day. How can you beat that kind of drama?
The final battle is between Jack McDowell, picking up his 20th win of the year on September 8, 1992, against Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on July 23, 2009. Buehrle easily takes this one.
Finally, we have the Honors and More region, where I’ve attended at least 5 of the events in the running.
The first match-up is the afternoon in 2010 when Frank Thomas’ #35 was retired going up against the dedication of the Harold Baines statue in 2008.
Next, we have the dedication of the Luis Aparicio and Nellie Fox statues in 2006 versus the Minnie Minoso statue dedication in 2004.
The next match-up is the August 2010 game where the city’s world champions were honored following the Blackhawks winning the Stanley Cup battling the Rolling Stones concert that took place in September of 2002, the last concert to date at the ballpark.
Finally, we have the dedication of Championship Plaza in April 2008 going up against the All Star game in 2003.
None of these match-ups have anything to do with something on the field, so I don’t know how you choose one statue dedication over another.
An overall good week, as I managed to surpass my goal 6 out of the 7 days, even if just barely. Things got off to a not-so-great start on Sunday, where a rained-out Sox game combined with Michael’s birthday dinner left me 650 steps below my goal. Things picked up considerably on Monday, as I headed to Wrigley Field after work for the Cubs home opener. I parked further away than normal, which led to my 9th highest step total. The remainder of the week was marked by diminishing steps every day, concluding with Saturday just barely getting above the 6000 step mark.
3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.
Today, we continue with the next grouping of 10 songs tied for 79th place with 21 plays apiece since late 2007.
#79: Mexican Cheerleader – American Nice
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 9/12/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
The song that serves as a ringtone for the band’s singer on my phone.
#79: Me First And The Gimme Gimmes – Rainbow Connection
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 8/9/2014
Previous ranking: #58
A punk cover of the quintessential Muppets hit.
#79: The Lonely Island – Dick In A Box (ft. Justin Timberlake)
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 8/21/2015
Previous ranking: #76
The SNL Digital Short premiered on December 16, 2006 and became a viral hit when the uncensored version was posted online the following day.
#79: John Williams – Prelude and Main Title March
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 12/18/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
The iconic theme song to the original set of Superman films.
#79: Hole – Doll Parts
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 8/16/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked
The hit from Courtney Love and company also appeared on Volume 16 of my mix tapes.
A few weeks back, I headed out on a road trip to Florida and Disney World by way of Virginia. To say things did not go as planned would be an understatement. This is the story of that trip.
Friday
The plan was to leave work around noon, thanks to a meeting I had with the fine folks in AF. Our first stop was across the street at Mariano’s, to get lunch, snacks for the trip, and a opaque container that would allow Jeff to drink during the drive outside the view of law enforcement. An hour later, we were on the road, with Val behind the wheel, me in the passenger seat, and Jeff and a case of Blue Moon in the back. Our destination, Roanoke, Virginia, lay 700 miles away, with an estimated arrival time of 11:30 PM. Jeff, thinking this road trip was taking place in the early 2000s, had brought along a collection of CDs for us to listen to, which lasted through much of the Illinois portion of the trip. Eventually, though, we switched to the playlist I had put together, which led to the first amusing tale of the trip.
When Lily Allen’s hit song Fuck You came up on the playlist in Indianapolis, a not-so-slightly inebriated Jeff instantly took to its charms, seeing it as an anthem against his perceived work antagonists. As the song played, he dialed it up in the iTunes store on his phone, passed it up front to make sure it was the right one, and then purchased it. More on this later.
Speaking of drunk Jeff, his plan on drinking throughout the drive had an unintended consequence: our estimated arrival time. He made the cardinal sin of breaking the seal, after which we needed to stop for him to use the bathroom practically ever hour. Once you added in his smoking time, we spent approximately 20 minutes of every hour standing still, which pushed our expected arrival in Virginia well past midnight. During one of these stops, in the lovely town of New Castle, Indiana, we even had to find a WalMart in order to replenish the supply of Blue Moon. Eventually, we made it out of Indiana and into Ohio with Val still behind the wheel. However, around 7 PM, things started to go wrong.
We were starting to go through some mountainous terrain when Val suddenly started to feel sick. She pulled off at the next exit, found a driveway next to what appeared to be a trailer park, and stopped to walk around and catch her breath. Meanwhile, Jeff, claiming he was now sober (but lying through his teeth) decided he would drive once we got back on the road. I tried to stop him, but he had the keys, it was his car, and Val was in no position to back either one of us, so he won out. Eventually, we tried to get going again, but had to pull off again at a gas station before we made any real progress.
While Jeff and Val came in and out of the gas station, I started looking for local hotels. It was obvious at this point that we would not be making it to Virginia, so this was as good a spot as any to stop for the night. The closest Hampton Inn was about 10 miles back in the other direction, so, after purchasing some Pepto-Bismal, we slowly reversed our course and found the hotel, where Jeff decided he and he alone could help Val, leaving me to babysit the car which he had left in front of the door. Unfortunately for us, the hotel did not have any double rooms, so, after a bit of finagling, we ended up with 3 rooms for the night in Chillicothe, Ohio, a mere 300 miles short of our intended destination.
Saturday
Waking up in beautiful Chillicothe, I showered and headed down for the free breakfast in the hotel lobby, where I ran into a now sober Jeff. The day was off to a great start, as he had thoughts about this Hampton Inn and how it did not live up to his expectations for the chain. I had a bed to sleep in and was able to make my own Belgian waffle, so I was content. Neither one of us had heard from Val since the night before, so we were both anxious to see how she was holding up, hoping, of course, for the best.
The White Sox first traded for Jake Peavy on May 21, 2009, but Peavy invoked his no-trade clause to block the deal. The next day, in a game against his soon-to-be cross town rival Cubs, Peavy injured his ankle running the bases and headed to the disabled list. When the White Sox came around again at the trade deadline despite the lingering ankle injury, Peavy agreed to the deal and left the Padres to join the White Sox in exchange for Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Adam Russell and Dexter Carter. Peavy eventually managed to make 3 starts for the White Sox, winning all 3 and giving fans hope for the 2010 season.
After getting off to a rough start in 2010, Peavy got on a roll and strung together five consecutive victories until July 6, when he suffered a detached latissimus dorsi muscle, a rare injury that ended his season. Peavy worked his way back to the White Sox rotation in 2011, but he needed time to adjust to his reattached muscle and rebuild his strength.
In 2012, Peavy led the surprising White Sox to a summer in first place and was named to the All Star team. Unfortunately, the team faded down the stretch and finished behind the Tigers for the AL Central crown. After the season, he avoided free agency by reupping with the White Sox, signing a two year, $29 million dollar extension with a vesting option for 2015. Unfortunately, the late season collapse that doomed the White Sox in September of 2012 continued into 2013, as the team fell into the cellar and saw an opportunity to improve themselves by moving Peavy to the Red Sox in a three-way deal that would send Jose Iglesias to the Tigers and Avisail Garcia and three low level prospects to the White Sox.
Peavy’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of US Cellular Field, the White Sox are asking fans to vote for the top moment in US Cellular Field history, broken down into 4 brackets: Postseason Perks, Memorable Moments, Records and Milestones, and Honors and More. Today, we shall take a look at the first 2 groupings of these moments and decide which is the best.
The Postseason Peaks region boasts 6 entries from or related to the 2005 World Series champions plus another 2 from the team’s last division winner in 2008. The disappointing post-season appearances from 1993 and 2000 are left out altogether. As an added plus, I attended all of the games in this region.
The first match-up is a no-brainer, with Scott Podsednik’s walk-off home run to win Game 2 of the World Series pitted against Alexei Ramirez’s grand slam against the Tigers to force game 163 against the Twins for the division crown. With all due respect to Alexei, Podsednik takes this with ease.
The next battle is between the aforementioned game 163, the Blackout Game that sent the White Sox to the playoffs, against Joe Crede’s walk-off single against the Angels in Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS. While the Blackout was great fun, it was just a regular season game. Crede’s hit, following the A.J. Pierzynski drama, would have blown the roof off the place, if it had one.
Next, we have the unfair fight of Paul Konerko’s grand slam in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series versus Tadahito Iguchi’s go-ahead home run against the Red Sox in Game 2 of the ALDS. No real contest here.
The final match-up is again from Game 2 of the 2005 ALCS, when Pierzynski struck out and somehow managed to get the umpires to let him take first base, going up against the second game of the 2006 season, when the White Sox received their World Series championship rings. While the ring ceremony was indeed cool, it can’t beat the game action of one of the smartest players in baseball using his wits to outduel the opponent.
We now turn our attention to the Memorable Moments region, a more varied group of games, only 5 of which I managed to attend.
We begin with the second to last day of the 2014 season, when the White Sox honored their retiring captain with a special ceremony, doing battle against the July 7, 1999 contest against the Royals where Chris Singleton hit for the cycle. Once again, I’ll have to give the nod to Konerko.
The next match-up pits Frank Thomas, hitting the first White Sox home run at the then-New Comiskey Park on April 22, 1991 against Bo Jackson’s home run in the division-clinching game on September 27, 1993. You can’t really go wrong with either of these, to be honest.
The next battle is between Mark Buerhle’s kick save followed by a flip between the legs which Paul Konerko barehanded for the putout on Opening Day 2010 and the 10 year reunion of the 2005 champions last summer. I’ll give the nod to Buehrle.
The last match-up features the White Sox game against the Yankees on September 18, 2001, the first game after the tragedy of 9/11 versus Carlos Lee’s 10th inning walk-off grand slam off Courtney Duncan in the June 8, 2001 victory over the Cubs. While Lee’s hit is obviously the better baseball moment, the meaning of the return to the field after the attack on New York and the Pentagon have a greater meaning overall.
Coming out of these brackets, you have either Konerko or Podsednik’s home run from Game 2 of the World Series going up against Buehrle’s play against the Indians on Opening Day 2010. We’ll check out the remaining 2 regions next week.
As of today, actress Judy Greer has 103 credits on IMDB, and chances are you will recognize her from one of them. She just isn’t able to help you identify which one it is. In her memoir, she writes of growing up in Detroit, moving to Chicago to study acting at DePaul, and eventually moving to Los Angeles, becoming a working actor if not a superstar.
I’m not sure the first time I noticed Judy Greer. I think it was the cinematic masterpiece 13 Going On 30. Since then, I’ve come to appreciate her work, whether in roles large or small. Which is why I enjoyed her book, gaining some insight into what makes her tick and what it means to be a working actor, famous but not “famous”. I look forward to enjoying more of her work in the future.
Dewayne Wise signed with the White Sox organization on March 5, 2008. He started the year at Triple A, but was recalled to the big leagues in May when Juan Uribe landed on the disabled list. He returned for good in late July when Paul Konerko got hurt, becoming a defensive replacement for the newly acquired Ken Griffey Jr. and gaining additional playing time when Carlos Quentin broke his wrist in early September. The high point of his season came on September 14, when, with the White Sox battling the Twins for the Central division title, he answered a grand slam in the top of the 8th by Marcus Thames with one of his own in the bottom of the inning, pushing the Sox to an 11-7 victory over the Tigers and retaining their first place standing.
Wise returned to the White Sox in 2009, earning the Opening Day nod in center field. A separated shoulder 7 games into the season put him on the shelf until early June. He made the play of his career on July 23, when he entered the game against the Rays as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning. The first hitter, Gabe Kapler, hit a deep fly ball to center field which Wise first leaped to keep in the ballpark, then juggled the ball as he fell to the ground, finally grasping it with his bare hand. The catch preserved Mark Buehrle’s perfect game, which he wrapped up two batters later.
The remainder of 2009 was uneventful, as the White Sox fell from contention. Wise finished the year with a .225 average, and became a free agent following the season.
Wise returned to the White Sox in 2012, signing a minor league deal on August 3rd. Barely a week later, he was called up to the majors when Paul Konerko landed on the 7 day concussion DL. Wise appeared in 45 games over the final two months of the season, hitting .258 as the White Sox blew their division lead over the last few weeks of September.
Wise re-upped with the White Sox for the 2013 season, but was used sparingly. He appeared in only 30 games, hitting .234, before being released on August 3rd, which drew his major league career to an end.
Wise’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:
A troublesome week got off to a slow start on Sunday, barely surpassing 3000 steps. Things improved throughout the work week, though most days were lower than what we have been used to. Friday was opening day for the White Sox, so I got a big boost from the trip down to US Cellular Field. Saturday’s numbers are truncated, as I somehow managed to lose my Fitbit while at the White Sox game. A trip to Target after the game got me a new one, but the steps I acquired during the game and after are now lost forever.
3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.
Saturday
