Will Ferrell on SNL means another bad Harry Caray impression
Living in Chicago, it's impossible to go a day or two without hearing a Harry Caray impression, so perhaps I'm not the best person to rate this, but Will Ferrell's latest attempt on Saturday Night Live this weekend was particularly bad. Oh and not to mention they spelled "Harry Carey" wrong.
His impression somehow seems to have worsened through the years and his lines weren't very strong in the first place. He had a golden setup with the Manny Ramirez stuff, but it went south from there. Watch for yourself:
Word on the street is that Nikolai Khabibulin was at Jake Melnick’s (41 E Superior) Wednesday night, doing a number on a plate of XXX hot wings.
Apparently the Hawks goalie asked the chef if he'd name a dish after him if the Hawks made the Finals. The quick-thinking chef brought Khabibulin a "Nikolai Khabi-nero burger." No word if it'll stick on the menu, but the name's rather catchy.
Jake Melnick’s has gone all out for the Blackhawks playoffs this year, adding specials like:
o The Patrick Sharp Cheddar Chili Burger o The Sam Adam Burish Burger o The Coach Q Burger
Also, anyone who comes in with a playoff beard half off an order of “Big Buff Buffalo Wings.”
Guess the Bulin Wall figured he'd go somewhere he'd have a pretty good chance of being recognized ...
Prior to this season, I'd attended a grand total of two Hawks games in the nine years I've lived in Chicago. This year I hit up eight. I'm still 100 percent a novice, but I've learned a ton about the sport, the team and the fans. Here's a sampling.
Pro hockey is way better to watch than pro basketball, especially live There's no comparison between going to a Hawks game and going to a Bulls game. At Bulls games you see players frequently dogging it, constantly complaining to the refs and crap like that. In hockey, players give it their all every second, are always on the verge of a big play and occasionally throw punches. What's not to love?
You gotta get there in time for the National Anthem Yes, Jim Cornelison over-sings something fierce, but every time he starts the game with his stirring rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" the crowd gets fired up. It makes me wonder how awesome it would have been to hear Wayne Messmer sing it back it the day, which brings me to my next point ...
Games at Chicago Stadium were way better than at the United Center Having moved to Chicago in '99, I regrettably never attended a sporting event at Chicago Stadium. But get an old-timer going about watching the Hawks play there and you can just see it. The excitement in their eyes is hard to contain. Other than saying "Yeah, but it was a rathole," they never say anything but great things about watching the Hawks at Chicago Stadium.
300-level seating at the United Center is a far better value than the 100 or 200 level I split a pair of pretty good 100-level season tickets with friends this year. The tix are $85 each. Then I bought a set of four front-row corner uppers for a random Sunday night game with a face of $25 each and couldn't believe how much of a better deal they were. Completely unobstructed sight lines, shorter lines at the concessions, and much more all for about 30 percent of the price. It's no wonder the upper bowl is filled for every Hawks game and random weeknights against Columbus see the lower level at about 85 percent capacity.
The Winter Classic was amazing Regardless how the season winds up for the Blackhawks, the Winter Classic will go down as perhaps the highest point of '08-'09. No one cares that the Wings won in a rout. All that matters is that everyone there had a blast and the NHL had a great event to show off to the entire world. Makes you wonder why they don't have more outdoor games, but I've never proclaimed myself smarter than Little Gary Bettman.
The Hawks should be in the East Other than Detroit and St. Louis, Chicago's natural rivals aren't in the West. They're in Pittsburgh, Philly, Montreal, Toronto, New York and Boston. The Hawks should be duking it out with those teams for a playoff spot and it's a shame Chicago only plays each a couple times a season. Meanwhile Columbus, Nashville and San Jose are on the schedule a ton of times.
Patrick Kane is overrated Yeah, I said it. In addition to the eight games I saw live this year, I watched a bunch on TV. Never once did I see Kane take over a game or even really pull his weight. Instead he gets pushed around all the time and takes up too much of his teammates' energy when they're forced to defend him every time he's on the ice. I know people say he's a finesse player and that Gretzky played the same way, but to them I say that this is a different NHL than Gretzky's day. Players are far more physical than ever before. Finesse doesn't score goals; it gets laid out on the boards.
At the Game: 'Bron, Benny, the Bulls and some short white dudes
I had the chance to see the Bulls in person Saturday night at the UC. We had tight seats, thanks to the folks at (shameless plug alert) TeamWorks Media. Here are some thoughts after watching LeBron James treat the Bulls as his not-so-special lady friend for the second time this week, as the Cavs came back to win 106-97:
-- I didn't realize LeBron does his little powder clap thing before road games in the regular season too. Isn't this a bit presumptuous? I mean, he's making a mess all over in another team's arena, and kinda showing up the other team, if you ask me. And while we're on the subject, wasn't this Kevin Garnett's thing before LeBron was even in the league? Just askin' ...
-- These have to be the two ugliest teams in the league. We all know the Bulls are a team built for radio broadcasts; from Noah's hair to Rose's zits to Del Negro's suits. But the Cavs are right up there, with Varejao's hair and Zydrunas Ilgauskas' lack thereof. And don't get us started about everybody's boy Big Ben Wallace. They ring a bell after every block he gets ... the ugly bell.
-- Ilgauskas looks so ugly out there, and his shorts are a good three inches above his knees (possibly the only player on the court to have them come up above the knees), but he is still a surprisingly effective player. Drago (I call him Drago. He's Lithuanian. Close enough.) absolutely abused Aaron Gray every time the two matched up. Yeah, I know. Aaron Gray is slower than Fox News calling an Obama election. But still, the ol' Russkie's still got some ICBMs left in the silo, if you know what I mean.
-- Is it me or are the Luvabulls sluttier than ever? Love the kneepads they occasionally sport. Not sure what you're doing girls, but just keep on doin' it!
-- My boy Bill compared Vinny Del Negro to Sarah Palin. They're both pretty faces. Neither has any experience doing the job asked of them. And they'll both fail miserably. Hey man, I'm not sayin' nothin', just relaying what I hear.
-- A group called Benny and the Elevators came out to do trampoline dunks after the third quarter, which consisted of Benny and a bunch of 5-foot-5 white dudes that were probably team managers at their respective Division II schools. Anyway, they made about 40 percent of their dunks and looked entirely like, well, a bunch of 5-foot-5 white dudes.
-- Finally, I saw Cavs fan wearing a Varejao wig. You really know you've made it when people are wearing replications of you hair. Am I wrong here?
On the Town: Brent Seabrook's charity bowling event draws a crowd
I was lucky enough to join several hundred Hawks fans Saturday afternoon at Brent Seabrook's first-ever Celebrity Ice Bowl at 10pin lounge downtown. The event raised money for the Inner-City Education (ICE) Program, which is a really cool non-profit I had not heard of before.
Seabrook was joined by teammates like Jonathon Toews, Brian Campbell, Adam Burish, Troy Brouwer and Ben Eager and media personalities ABc-7's Mark Giangreco, WGN's Pat Tomasulo, Comcast's Pat Boyle and Jen Patterson from the Mike North Show. The Blackhawks Ice Crew girls and Mascot Tommy Hawk were there too.
A couple observations before running some pics:
- All the Hawks players there seemed super nice and approachable. We'll see if that changes as the team's star continues to rise. Either way, fans should enjoy it now.
- Going out on a limb here, but Toews seems to do especially well with the ladies.
- Not sure how Seabrook got affiliated with this event, but I hope for his sake it continues for years to come. Stuff like this help breed a superstar (just ask Kerry Wood who does similar programs).
- Mark Giangreco seems like a really nice guy. His tan is a little eery-looking in person.
- Kids love Tommy Hawk. Not as much as the 13-year-old boys love the Ice Crew girls, who, by the way, are pretty easy on the eyes.
I was lucky (depending on whom you ask) to attend UFC 90 Saturday night at Allstate Arena. Also in attendance was Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija. I know this because the big screen flashed a clip of him in attendance, and he was booed loudly.
I figure there are two reasons for this:
1. UFC fans aren't your typical baseball fans, much less Cubs fans. I hate to generalize here, but those in attendance who did care about baseball most likely were Sox fans.
2. There's a pretty strong anti-Cub sentiment around town right now. Who can blame Cubs fans for that after the egg the team laid this October? Cubs brass better hope that turns around by spring and my guess is that it definitely will.
Daley Plaza Cubs rally manages to bring out a few haters
I took a jaunt down to Daley Plaza for the big Cubs playoff rally Tuesday, and I gotta tell ya, I think this team might just be for real. At least, that’s what everyone told me.
Amazingly, Billy (Williams), Ronny (Santo), Ernie (Banks) and Craney (Kenney) all picked the Cubs to win the World Series in their speeches to the raving masses. With prognostication like that, how can they not win it all?
Indeed, it was one big love fest. Even Da Mayor himself was sporting a Cubs hat – although he probably wasn’t any happier about it than this guy.
Rough translation of the conversation I had with this guy:
Me: Hey, you mind if I get a picture of you? Guy: Mmphmrph Me: So, who you rooting for? Guy: The Sox Me: OK then
Alas, all the Cubby love was a little too much for me, and I left after a half hour or so. I headed just a few blocks down to the Macy’s building to check out the new Marc Burger that everyone’s been talking about. Final verdict (for those who care): Not a bad burger, but for 12 bucks, there really ought to be some booze involved.
-- Is it me or are the Luvabulls sluttier than ever? Love the kneepads they occasionally sport. Not sure what you're doing girls, but just keep on doin' it!
-- My boy Bill compared Vinny Del Negro to Sarah Palin. They're both pretty faces. Neither has any experience doing the job asked of them. And they'll both fail miserably. Hey man, I'm not sayin' nothin', just relaying what I hear.
I figure there are two reasons for this:
Amazingly, Billy (Williams), Ronny (Santo), Ernie (Banks) and Craney (Kenney) all picked the Cubs to win the World Series in their speeches to the raving masses. With prognostication like that, how can they not win it all?
