By Steve Rhodes
“Carlos Zambrano pitched the first no-hitter for the Chicago Cubs in 36 years, returning from a sore rotator cuff to shut down the Houston Astros 5-0 Sunday night in a game relocated because of Hurricane Ike,” AP reports.
“‘I guess I’m back!’ Zambrano hollered.”
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Also from the no-hitter files:
– Our very own Jim Coffman writes that his favorite moment of the no-hitter was a pop-up in the eighth. Find out why.
– Cub Factor writer Marty Gangler says Big Z is furious – furiously awesome! He also wonders about hurricanes named after Cubs.
The View From Houston
“Neutral field? Are you kidding me? There’s ridiculous and more ridiculous and whatever this was supposed to be,” writes Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle.
“Commissioner Bud Selig should be embarrassed to have thrown a team in the thick of playoff contention into this situation. If the Astros miss the playoffs by a game, remember this one.”
View From Carolina
“The only way to overcome the wall the Chicago Bears erected to stop the Carolina Panthers’ running game was to bulldoze it,” writes Chris Chandler of the Charlotte Observer
“So, with less than 10 minutes remaining in the third period and the Bears leading by 14 points, Panthers coach John Fox sent rookie running back Jonathan Stewart into the game.”
Stewart is now being described as “Charlotte’s New Rock Star.”
Trib Tool
Deadspin reports that we’ll soon have Jay Mariotti to kick around again.
Obamath
* “Sen. John McCain is sharply increasing his number of campaign aides and offices in Wisconsin, where he has worked his way back into a tight presidential race with Sen. Barack Obama.”
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* “Minnesota has become a battleground in a presidential campaign that has dramatically tightened nationwide. A new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll shows that the race is now a dead heat between Barack Obama and John McCain, each supported by 45 percent of likely voters in the state.”
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“Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is expected to roll out a new ad today that suggests Sen. John McCain is running a dishonorable campaign.”
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I will not take the low road like my lying, dishonorable opponent!
Palin Drone
Eric Zorn’s Sexist Folly.
Stone Cold
One of the worst things Dusty Baker ever did was to help chase Steve Stone out of the Cubs’ broadcast booth. Now he’s returning on the other side of the town, but how in the world will he mix with Hugest Homer Honky Hawk Harrelson?
It’s a bad sign when Stoney calls Harrelson “one of the greatest play-by-play guys doing baseball currently.”
Some might even say it’s a stretch. Stretch.
Lethal Weapons
“The decision by Mayor Richard Daley and Police Superintendent Jody Weis to deploy assault weapons on the streets of Chicago has been made without providing a demonstrable need for the weapon,” Chicago Justice says. “Over the last several weeks, the Chicago Justice Project has made inquiries to find out what information the Chicago Police Department used to make the decision to deploy this weapon. Our inquiries uncovered a dangerous lack of knowledge of past practices that could have informed present decisions.”
Political Footnote
“As of 2003, the rhetoric of the enterprise is fucked. 95 percent of political commentary, whether spoken or written, is now polluted by the very politics it’s supposed to be about. Meaning it’s become totally ideological and reductive: The writer/speaker has certain political convictions or affiliations, and proceeds to filter all reality and spin all assertion according to those convictions and loyalties.”
– David Foster Wallace
Quorom Call
“Aldermen continue to hold committee meetings with as few as two members present, despite concerns raised by a watchdog group that the Chicago City Council is in violation of state law,” a Beachwood/Chicago Talks follow-up investigation has found.
Ald. Patrick O’Connor says the actions city council committees take without quoroms are legal as long as no committee member calls for a quorom.
No, really, he says that.
“That’s called creating your own reality,” says the BGA’s Jay Stewart.
Our Kind of Collider!
Beachwood Labs has determined that the Large Hadron Collider might reveal such mysteries of the universe as who hired Angelo Torres and what the deal is with that guy’s cat.
Foster and Avers
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Sealed for your protection.
Posted on September 15, 2008