By Natasha Julius

I’m totally torn about this year’s halftime show. On the one hand, it’s Beyoncé Fucking Knowles. For the first time since Nipplegate, we’re actually getting a relevant, contemporary superstar who’s had a #1 single in the last five years. Oh fine, I guess the Black Eyed Peas count but . . . come ON.
On the other hand, despite Beyoncé’s cultural influence the back catalog is not particularly rich. And while Queen Bey hasn’t pulled a full Roger Daltrey and leaked the whole set list, a lot of details have already been announced. Here’s what we know:

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Posted on January 30, 2013

By Jim Coffman

The rooftops across the street have long since ceased being part of Wrigley Field’s charm.
Once the first occupant of a particularly cool Lakeview apartment on Waveland or Sheffield was denied entry onto his or her building’s roof because there was money to be made charging outsiders, the wonder that was watching the Cubs from a decent seat outside the ballpark started fading.
And once the last cheap folding chair was broken down and put away after the final three-flat with a view was replaced by a “club” expressly constructed to do business based on views of something going on across the street, the charm was completely gone.
Those chairs were what people sat on back when roof-sitting was a delightful little deal enjoyed by a handful of ballpark neighbors.
It is hard to describe those ridiculous clubs, owned and operated by wealthy Wrigleyville bar and club owners, as anything other than parasites.

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Posted on January 28, 2013

By The United States of America

Whether your favorite team made into the Super Bowl this year, Super Bowl Sunday is always a fun day to get together with friends and family, eat lots of good food and cheer for good old fashioned American football. While eating all those delicious finger foods is easy, sometimes keeping food bacteria-free isn’t. USA.gov makes sure you keep your guests healthy with these food safety tips:

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Posted on January 22, 2013

By Jim Coffman

How are we going to stay pissed at hockey if the Blackhawks are going to go around piling up goals and immediately winning road games against the teams that lorded over the Western Conference in the playoffs last year?
The Hawks kicked off the lockout-shortened NHL season by jumping all over the defending Stanley Cup champ Kings in Los Angeles on Saturday, scoring three goals in the first period on the way to a 5-2 victory. Then they traveled down to Phoenix late last night to face the team the Kings beat in the Western Conference finals and all they did at the Jobing.com Arena in suburban Glendale was rally from a pair of early deficits to defeat the Coyotes 6-4.

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Posted on January 21, 2013

By Mike Luce

Heisman runner-up Manti Te’o may or may not have been complicit in faking the death of his cancer-stricken, nonexistent, online girlfriend. As reported by Deadspin this week, the tragic story of Lennay Kekua, her romance with Te’o, the serious car accident that led doctors to discover her leukemia, and her death were all entirely fabricated. The Deadspin article reads like the screenplay of The Usual Suspects 2. There is no Lennay Kekua.
As the story has unraveled, the rest of the country has been clued in to what seems to have been common knowledge in South Bend. In an interview with ESPN, one Notre Dame teammate stopped just short of accusing Te’o for participating in the hoax, but instead believes Te’o “played along” with the dead-girlfriend story.

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Posted on January 18, 2013

By Dinah Party/Windy City Rollers

For their 2013 home season, the Windy City Rollers are once again teaming up with a few hand-picked charities, this year through their Charity Round-Robin Bout. This bout pairs the Hell’s Belles, Manic Attackers, Double Crossers, and The Fury each with a charity which they will support throughout the entire home season.
The Windy City Rollers are strong proponents of community outreach and engagement both on and off the track. Chicago’s premier roller derby league has a history of spotlighting a local charitable organization at each one of its bouts to support their mission and values through public awareness, while offering each of these charities a financial donation.

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Posted on January 16, 2013

By Jim Coffman

Hey Bulls, any time you want to stop with this deal where you turn in your by far worst performances at home against the dregs of the league, that would be great. It has been hard enough to build up excitement about this season what with a certain superstar still sidelined.
The loss at the United Center against the terrible Suns (13-26 overall, tied for the second fewest wins in the Western Conference) over the weekend was the third in the last two weeks to opponents the home team should have handled easily.

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Posted on January 14, 2013

By Mike Luce

The college football season is over, but not the College Football Report. There is much to talk about, at least enough for a few weeks of wrap-up. This week, we offer our obligatory analysis of the one-sided affair that was the BCS National Championship Game.
Mess With The Elephant, Get The Tusks
Outclassed. Outgunned. Overmatched. Overwhelmed. Notre Dame was out- and over-everythinged.
Despite what Steve Spurrier would have you believe, the Crimson Tide couldn’t compete in the NFL. But against Notre Dame, ‘Bama looked like a Super Bowl contender.
In what was the final nail of the coffin for the BCS system, the #1 Irish took a 42-14 drubbing from #2 Alabama.

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Posted on January 11, 2013

Tide Rolled Early And Often

“The only suspense for the national TV audience was how many times Brent Musburger would reference Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron’s girlfriend,” David Haugh, who predicted a Notre Dame victory, writes for the Tribune
“As Crimson Tide players and coaches celebrated the rout Notre Dame skeptics predicted, the elephant in the room wasn’t that goofy Alabama mascot. The elephant in the room was the idea that perhaps Notre Dame’s unbeaten season indeed was the product of fluky plays, that the outcome confirmed Notre Dame was lucky and Alabama simply too good.”
As chronicled aptly, as usual, on Twitter. Let’s take a look.

Who knows how a team will perform after 44 days off? But NO WAY Irish should be 10-pt dog. ND’s D too good, Bama’s too vulnerable.

— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) January 7, 2013

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Posted on January 8, 2013

By Jim Coffman

My nephew Isaac is a huge Washington (D.C.) sports fan. When the announcement came through that there would be a hockey season this winter, he came to mind because as happy as I am for my fellow Blackhawks fans, I’m even happier that an especially bleak winter sports season has been averted. My nephew will be able to root for a team other than the atrocious Wizards for the next three-and-a-half months.
But when my son and I talked to Isaac Sunday evening about the pending return of the Capitals in general and Alex Ovechkin in particular, you could practically hear him shrug long distance. And this is a kid who owns multiple Capitals sweaters with several player autographs scribbled on the back of each one.

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Posted on January 7, 2013