We had a nice spit take while drinking our morning coffee and reading the front-page headline of the Sun-Times. The headline accompanying Fran Spielman's story about His Elective Majesty's advice to Senator Barack Obama in the wake of his win in the Iowa Caucuses was to "always be the underdog." "He's the underdog. He has to be always the underdog. ... Even though he won this, he still is the underdog. That's a great position......

We find that after doing scads of last-minute shopping, the best way to ensure "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men" is to avoid the general public altogether. So one of our favorite parts of Christmastime involves shutting ourselves off from the outside world and gorging on movies. This time of year there's plenty of stuff to watch on Ye Old Yule Tube. TCM is getting into the Santa act by presenting "Sweet Home......

One Adrian Peterson ran for 78 yards on 20 carries while scoring two touchdowns. The other Adrian Peterson ran for 26 on 9 carries. You can probably guess which AP belongs to the Bears. While the Vikings' budding superstar had nowhere near the game he had against the Bears in Week 5 (224 yards/3 TDs), his output was more than enough for the Vikes to win the game 20-13 — helping put Minnesota in the......

Tonight, as the Bears take the field against the Minnesota Vikings, we get to witness the beginning of the second reign of Kyle Orton as Bears starting quarterback. In 2005, Orton lead the Bears to a 10-5 record in his starts as a rookie. Much like a father handing over only the valet key when his teenage son wants to borrow the Porsche, the Bears turned over only a portion of the offensive playbook to......

Every time we think the state's government can't get any worse, they somehow find a way to surprise us. Unable to reach a deal that'll adequately fund the CTA and its crumbling infrastructure, they think they want to buy yet another fixer-upper piece of property. The State of Illinois is supposedly interested in buying Wrigley Field, which is for sale along with the Cubs following billionaire Sam Zell's takeover of the Tribune Co. The Illinois......

Wow, it's been hours since Al Sharpton was in the news, so here we are today with a new round of Sharpton headlines. He held a press conference outside the Mayor's office this morning demanding that the City effectively treat its police brutality issues--or Sharpton will campaign against Chicago's Olympic bid. He also urged aldermen to reject Daley's nominee for police superintendent Jody Weis's because Daley selected Weis without input from the black community. Psst,......

Chicagoist knew there'd be plenty of surprises during Sunday's college football Bowl Championship Series selections, given the losses by the two top-ranked team on Saturday and then general tumult among the top ranked teams all season long. Among the biggest surprises was the Rose Bowl's selection of the Fighting Illini to play against the USC Trojans on New Year's Day. The Illini did knock off Wisconsin when they were ranked fifth, and they handed Ohio......

Well that should just about do it for any talk of the Bears making the playoffs. After leading for the first 53 minutes of the game, the Bears allowed the New York Giants to score two late touchdowns, resulting in 21-16 loss. The game began with a promising drive in which Rex Grossman drove the Bears down the field with ease, resulting in a touchdown and 7-0 lead just minutes into the game. But that......

Two Cubs pitchers, linked by their unfulfilled promise due to injuries, may finally become uncoupled. While Kerry Wood will have an opportunity to resurrect his career with the Cubs, Mark Prior's time in Cubby blue may be finished. Wood inked a one-year deal worth $4.2 million, while becoming the front runner to become the Cubs closer -- Ryan Dempster, after three years in that role, will return to the starting rotation in 2008. Wood pitched......

Chicagoist almost turned off the TV when the Denver Broncos scored to go up 34-20 on the Bears on Sunday, and we're willing to bet a fair share of the Bears fans at Soldier Field fled the cold rain about then as well. Fortunately, we decided to stick it out and saw a most improbable win, as the Bears scored two late touchdowns to tie the game and Robbie Gould kicked a field goal in......

It's all gray and misty out, and today's essentially just a waiting day until vacation time, plus people are on edge about traveling and family and blahblahblah, we know what we need to do. Brace yourself. Get ready. Gird your loins. Did you? Time for some things that are awesome! This weird old TV from the 50s! It costs $500, which puts it out of our price range, but still, the TV itself is......

For the first time in a long while, Chicago is seeing success from both the Chicago Blackhawks (NHL) and the Chicago Wolves (AHL). The Wolves are off to a 13-1-1 start, giving them the best winning percentage in the league--which should come as no surprise to their faithful fans. On the other hand, it is a surprise that after a quarter of the season, the Blackhawks aren't breaking their fans' hearts. The Hawks have skated......

The Bears headed out Seattle, a place where they hadn't won since 1976. They returned to Chicago still having not won out there since the Ford Administration, falling 30-23. What went wrong this time? Amazingly, perhaps it was not giving Cedric Benson the ball enough! A week after he gained 73 yards on 28 carries, Benson ran for 63 on just his first two carries on Sunday. Or at least somebody wearing his jersey on......

I'm bringin' Rexy back That other boy threw just as many picks I think Rexy's special... he's my quarterback He can turn around our team or I'll take the flack So maybe Lovie Smith didn't perform a parody of Justin Timberlake's hit song, but the Bears' head coach did announce to the press on Wednesday that he was changing quarterbacks again and that Rex Grossman will start when the Bears face the Seattle Seahawks on......

For just short of 57 minutes, it was not a pretty game. We're glad we endured it, however, to see the Bears finally come alive in the final three minutes and turn a 6-3 snoozefest deficit into a 17-6 victory against the Oakland Raiders. Chicagoist almost gave up in the second quarter, when Brian Griese went down with a shoulder injury, Rex Grossman entered the game... and preceded to fumble his first snap! D'oh! Well,......

It only took them five games into the season, but the Bulls finally won a game on Thursday night. After dropping their first four to mediocre teams, they handed the previously undefeated Detroit Pistons their first loss of the season. Nice! Second-year player and new starting power forward Tyrus Thomas had his second monster game of the season, leading the team with 19 points while grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds. Luol Deng added 17 points,......

Yeah, this is exactly what the Bears needed as they're about to start the second half of their season. Already sporting the second worst running game in the NFL, the Bears announced on Thursday that they had put starting guard Ruben Brown on injured reserve -- ending his season. A shoulder injury requiring surgery was the culprit. Ruben Brown joins Mike Brown and Dusty Dvoracek as the third starter lost for the season. The loss......

In the face of month after month (and year after decade after century) of alleged and proven police misconduct making headlines in our fair city, the department has finally started to catch up and react. Residents who use 311 to report a crime can now fill out an online satisfaction survey. The non-emergency number connects you to all kinds of city services, so it's not just for police matters — though they do handle more......

Should Chicagoist be worried that the Bulls have opened their season 0-4 after dropping Tuesday night's game to the L.A. Clippers 97-91? Having watched three of their first four in their entirety, we can certainly say that the Bulls look nothing like a team who we'd predict to win 55 games and finish atop the Eastern Conference. Not only have they yet to enter the win column, but they're not even losing to elite teams.......

We've heard a lot more lately about the importance of hand washing, but we apparently still don’t rank when it comes to overall healthiness. Public-health groups placed Illinois at a mediocre 27th when compared with the rest of the nation. Factors detrimental to our health include binge drinking, violent crime and preventable hospitalizations, which makes us want to drink ourselves into a stupor and talk our friends into starting a fight club. Positive aspects were......

Following their dismal 72-90 season, White Sox GM Kenny Williams has a lot of work to do to return the team to contention for 2008. One rumor that's been heating up in recent days has the Sox sending third baseman Joe Crede to the Yankees for outfielder Johnny Damon. This trade seems to make a lot of sense for both teams. While Crede hit 30 home runs for the Sox in 2006, he missed most......

The Chicago Blackhawks have released a schedule for home televised games for the 2007-2008 season that includes seven dates starting with Sunday's 6pm game against the Detroit Red Wings. All the games will air on Comcast SportsNet and will be available in high-definition. Rocky Wirtz, chairman of the franchise, commented, "It is one of the few sports that it is better live then on television." He plans to use television to help rebuild a fan......

NBC announced on Monday that they are bumping the Bears - Seahawks game that was scheduled for the November 18 Sunday Night Football has been bumped in favor of the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. Chicagoist really can't fault NBC for this move. While we Bears fans feel obligated to watch their games -- no matter how ugly -- we really don't want the rest of the country to see the sorry state of......

The Bulls opened their regular season last night in in New Jersey against the Nets -- with the same results as the last eleven times they've played the Meadowlands. But what does the 109-103 overtime loss mean for the rest of the season? Not too much; it's only one game. There is a good deal of optimism heading into the season -- last year's team advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the......

Had they won on Sunday, and entered their bye week with a 4-4 record, maybe things could work out and the Bears would still make the playoffs. But those of us who endured the Bears' 16-7 loss to the Detroit Lions know that the post-season is not in the cards this year. Where to even begin with what went wrong? How about the offense? Cedric Benson continues to reinforce the perception that he's a bust......

The Red Sox has permeated nearly every facet of Bostonist's lives. When they're not live-blogging the games, waxing poetic about the games, thanking Curt Schilling for his splendid work, or telling Dane Cook to watch his hair, they're watching certain presidential candidates hop on the Red Sox bandwagon (sorry, Gothamist). The Sox are so branded on the local brain that people are using the Series to spice up their sex lives. Speaking of spice, Bostonist......

Following Sunday's 19-16 win in Philadephia, Bears QB Brian Griese seemed to think that because there is an "I" in win, he would take the credit and claimed to have called the plays that resulted in the game winning 97-yard touchdown drive at the end of Sunday's game. He had no choice, he said, because the radio communication in his helmet stopped working just before the drive began. When the season's going as poorly it......

This time, their late comeback attempt worked. For the second week, the Bears drove down the field in the final two minutes to score a critical touchdown. But unlike last week's loss to the Vikings, the Bears put the final points on the board and held on to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 19-16. For the first three quarters, neither team had any success getting the ball into the end zone. Repeated trips into the "red......

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just......

Anyone walking out an about today surely came across the fans of the USC Trojans. The Trojans play Notre Dame today in South Bend, and it seems like many of their fans decided to make a three-day weekend and fit in some shopping in Chicago. While walking down Michigan Avenue, Chicagoist could barely keep count the number of people sporting crimson and gold. The two teams will meet for the 79th time today with Notre......