Chicagoist

Cubs, Sox Register A Few Blips For Post-Season Awards

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-24T16:40:00-06:00

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

Neither the Cubs or the Sox had particularly awful seasons, but they weren't great and both teams were left on the outside of the playoff race looking in. Fitting, then, that some of their better performing players made distant blips in some post-season award voting. The Cubs' first basemen, Derek Lee - who had a monster year with 35 HR, 111RBI, and a .306 avg - finished ninth in the voting for this year's NL MVP, the highest finish in either league's voting for a Chicago player. The Cardinals' Albert Pujols was the unanimous winner. Last week, Sox infielder Gordon Beckham finished fifth in AL Rookie of the Year voting and the Cubs' Randy Wells finished sixth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. As the saying goes, wait til next year...

Tuesday Afternoon Diversion: Muppets Do Queen

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-24T15:00:00-06:00

Yesterday, we watched a Yip Yips-Busta Rhymes mash-up. Today? We watch this glorious piece of genius, the Muppets covering Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Sorry, Wayne and Garth, this one's better. [via]

Al Gore Swings Through Town For Climate Change

Staff — 2009-11-24T14:20:00-06:00

Former Vice President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore was back in town today, stopping by a local Borders to promote his newest book, Our Choice: A Plan To Solve The Climate Crisis. But before he shook some hands, he made a stop by WBEZ where he talked with 848 about the book and his plan. It's all well and good and a cause we can get behind, but we still prefer the below call to action over either of those other options.

Around Town

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-24T12:00:00-06:00

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Notre Dame Fan Takes It Too Far, Allegedly Punches Clausen

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-24T09:20:00-06:00

Clausen talks with one of his offensive linemen, who apparently wasn't around later that night to protect his QB; AP Photo/Darron Cummings

Reports surfaced yesterday that Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen got a black eye after being punched Saturday night. Details are slowly trickling out and, if some of allegations are true, it leaves us shaking our head. It seems just hours after Notre Dame's loss to UConn in South Bend, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Clausen was allegedly involved in an "altercation" outside CJ's Pub that resulted in Clausen receiving, according to a source to the Trib, "at least one black eye."

Even worse is the claim that Clausen was essentially sucker punched by a pissed off fan. The junior QB was apparently at CJ's with friends and family following the game, which was Senior Day for some of Clausen's teammates (and perhaps Clausen's last game in South Bend as well). The incident occurred as Clausen was leaving the bar. A source told ESPN the injury wouldn't keep Clausen out of Saturday's game at Stanford. Still, let this be a lesson to the thousands of pissed off Bears fans out there: if you see Jay Cutler out at a club, no matter how angry you are with him about all those interceptions, just leave him be.

Today's Weather: Morose

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-24T08:00:00-06:00

Photo by VtotheendL

Just what we needed during this travel heavy week: dense fog and rain. The fog that's spread throughout the area is already burning off and will clear up by around 10 a.m. and then we can turn our focus towards potential rain. There's a sixty percent chance of showers as the day moves on but that will increase as we move into the overnight hours. Highs today will probably hit around 50; tonight, with the rain, it'll drop to the mid 40s. And that's that, for the week. We'll see similar weather through Friday, expect mix in the chance of a few flakes with the raindrops, so travel safe everyone.

The Return of The Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up

Chuck Sudo — 2009-11-23T15:20:00-06:00

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Back in the early days of this-little-website-that-could we used to make it a practice of actually trying to meet our readers at a pre-arranged location to have some drinks, have a good time away from the flat-screen glow, get to know each other and (most important) thank you for choosing to spend a portion of your day reading Chicagoist. As you can see from this Flickr set, these "Reader Happy Hours" were very fun.

With the holidays upon us we thought that there's no time like the present to bring back this long-standing tradition. We'll hope you'll join us from 7-10 p.m. on December 10 for the next chapter. Ric Hess, Phil Kuhl and the fine folks at Sheffield's (3258 N. Sheffield, 773-281-4989) have graciously allowed us the use of their Beer School bar for the occasion. We're working on drink specials as of post time, but don't be surprised if Kuhl breaks out his "bobbing for cheap bottles of beer" tank for the occasion.

We're also using the meet-and-greet as an opportunity to give back during the holidays. With last week's USDA report on Household Food Security still making headlines, we're using this meet-and-greet as an opportunity to hold a canned food drive benefiting the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is seeing a greater demand for its services in this recession. So if you come, please bring a can or two of food along with you to donate. The Beer School bar is pretty spacious, so we're making it a point of pride to try to fill it with current and former staff, fans of the site, friends of the site and people who could be up for the challenge of dunking their heads into a tub full of ice water and coming up with a bottle of Huber Bock in their mouths.

Chicagoist Reader Meet-Up/Canned Food Drive, Thursday, December 10, 7 p.m. - 10 p.m., Sheffield's, 3258 N. Sheffield

Monday Afternoon Diversion: Yip Yips Ante Up

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-23T15:00:00-06:00

The famous Sesame Street aliens meet Busta Rhymes. Awesomness ensues. [via]

Lunchtime Diversion: The Hazards Of Thanksgiving Travel

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-23T12:40:00-06:00

As members of our staff scatter to the winds for the holiday week, we hope their (and your) trips go much more smoothly than this one. (Beware if you're still in the office, use your headphones; the language gets salty)

Around Town

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-23T12:00:00-06:00

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Monday Morning Oprah Diversion

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-23T09:40:00-06:00

Okay, we've long since reached Oprah Overload but we couldn't pass up one more link: this great compilation of Oprah yelling celebrity names.

Today's Weather: Sufficient

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-23T08:00:00-06:00

Photo by Marc McGowan

We begin the holiday week with warm(er) weather. But the sad part is that it won't last, so get outside while you can. Partly sunny skies will be overhead eventually and highs will be above normal into the mid-50s. Overnight, clouds thicken, though and lows drop to around 40. And later in the week...well, it'll start to feel like late November. But for now, we'll take advantage of the (relatively) warm weather while we have it.

Weekend Diversion: Carl Sagan, Remixed

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-22T15:00:00-06:00

Proving you can auto-tune anything. [via]

Around Town

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-22T12:00:00-06:00

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Today's Weather: Resplendent

Marcus Gilmer — 2009-11-22T10:00:00-06:00

Photo by Mark Mullis

Today looks like a lot like yesterday and that's pretty okay in our book. Sunny skies and highs in the lower 50s is a nice Sunday in late November as far as we're concerned, especially with "chance of snow" in the forecast for a few days from now. Tonight, lows drop to the mid 40s under partly cloudy skies.