We're not sure than the 2008 White Sox will be any more tolerable to watch than last year's team, but they'll no doubt be easier to listen to -- at least on the radio. That's because Steve Stone will be replacing Chris Singleton alongside Ed Farmer, the team announced on Tuesday. more ›

Fresh Dill, for garnish (optional) more ›

The title says it all, folks. Meet up at Sheffield’s this Thursday at 8 p.m. to wage an intellectual war on those commenters that have been peeving you all these months. One of our lovely commenters will provide the game, and Sheffield’s will provide the booze. more ›

This is not a lie – we rock at Scrabble. We even played Scrabble using French words once; kind of a pretentious pursuit, but fun nonetheless. Here in Chicago, you can still get your Scrabble on even if you don’t own the game; lots of bars and coffee shops have Scrabble and other board games on their shelves, available for play. And in our opinion, there is no better way to impress a girl on a date than whipping her ass in Scrabble (or Connect Four, or Battleship). more ›

Cubs third baseman Aramis Remirez finally arrived at Spring Training on Tuesday, but when asked by reporters what he did on his winter vacation, he refused to answer. In fact, he wouldn't even allow for the reporter to finish asking the question. more ›

Earlier in the week we extolled the merits of local ad agencies gearing their work up for the game - now the Tribune has put up a preview of a handful of the spots. Instant impressions? Diet Pepsi plus Justin Timberlake = meh. Coke plus political punditry = surprisingly funny. GoDaddy plus a tease of cleavage? Been there, done that two years ago. But, as earlier, we still miss the Bud Bowl something fierce. Why? We don't know. Some things just are. more ›

The NBA finalized the All-Star game rosters, announcing the reserves on Thursday. It should come as no surprise that the Bulls will not represented. Again. more ›

Some events in the next seven days to consider saving your freshly shoveled parking space with a few chairs. more ›

What's the best part about the Monday after the Super Bowl? Why it's heading into the office and listening to Mr. Hilarious Co-Worker re-enact all of his favorite Super Bowl ads of course. more ›

We are now just days away from that day which rivals Thanksgiving as few can in the annals of American gluttony: Super Bowl Sunday. Whether we're parked on a couch in front of our friend's new 60 inch plasma TV or watching the game at a sports bar that's stumbling distance from home, the food and drink often take precedence over the game itself - especially when our Bears aren't in it this year. more ›

Since 1940, two Major League Baseball teams have been honored each year with an invitation to play in the Hall of Fame Game -- an in-season exhibition game held in Cooperstown, New York. But because of the increasing complexity of fitting the "off day" game into teams' schedules, the 2008 game will be the final one. more ›

Belle Diablo, Windy City Roller more ›

With Wednesday night's win over the Indiana Pacers, the Bulls reached the half way point in their season on a high. Not only did they win the game, but they did so without Luol Deng, Chris Duhon and Ben Gordon, who are all currently injured. more ›

In a day packed with college football bowl games, the coolest televised sporting event on New Year's Day had to be watching the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins play an NHL game outside in Buffalo, in front of over 71,000 fans. It brought the game back to its roots, played outside on frozen ponds and lakes throughout the Midwest and Canada. Now imagine that same game outside, only featuring two of the NHL's "Original Six." With the Black Hawks roaring back from the brink of irrelevance in the months after Bill Wirtz's passing, playing hockey in a sold-out Soldier Field, for example, would be the capper on an impressive resurrection. more ›

Only the biggest of dreamers gave Illinois a chance of beating the semi-professional USC Trojans in yesterday's 94th annual Rose Bowl. Unfortunately, USC beat the Illini like the proverbial red-headed stepchild 49-17. The academic conclusion to the game also led to some wonderful entendre-laden headlines in the dailies: "Case of California Creamin'", "Too Much Booty Puts Illini on the Defensive", and "Trojans Pull Out All the Stops" are some of our favorites. The loss also provided Jay "the Joke" Mariotti with another opportunity to pen his now-patented "sports in this state really suck" columns, complete with desperate stabs at modern cultural relevance and creating lame-ass nicknames, this time referencing "Knocked Up" and calling Illini head coach Ron Zook "Zooker." more ›

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. more ›

Certain holiday cookies evoke memories of childhood. Chocolate Crinkles are one particular cookie that does that for Chicagoist. They're kind of like a cookie brownie, if you can imagine. [Ed note: Oh, can I.] Join us, won't you, as we whip up a batch. What You Need 1 cup cocoa 1/2 cup vegetable oil 2 cups granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 2 teaspoons vanilla 1/2 teaspoon salt Combine ingredients,... more ›

Uck. Grey crappy icy Sunday afternoon. No Bears game - just the memories of Thursday's injury plagued horror. If only it were 1940 - it was during this weekend of that year that the most lopsided NFL games ever played took place - and the Bears whooped the Redskins' ass 73-0. The below video from that game is titled The Greatest Block in NFL History - it might not be the absolute greatest of all... more ›

There were some — certainly not here — who thought that the Bears' playoff hopes were still alive heading into Thursday night's game against the Washington Redskins. Returning to Chicago after losing 24-16 in D.C., they're not quite mathematically eliminated, but their hopes are undeniably dead. In addition to losing any hopes for making the playoffs, the Bears also lost quarterback Rex Grossman in the second quarter. While we await the official diagnosis, the replays... more ›

Last week, that majority of football fans were unable to see what was perhaps the best NFC game of the year -- Chicagoist included. In the Thursday Night Football -- which airs on the NFL Network -- match-up of two one-loss teams, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers 37-27. With the Bears playing in this week's Thursday Night prime time game however, the NFL Network's broadcasts will be carried locally. For those of... more ›

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... more ›

The NFL already has fans pretty pissed off because tonight, when the best game in the NFC all season is played, most of us will be stuck watching The Office and Scrubs instead. Why? Because the game will only be carried by the NFL Network, which is available only to those who have satellite or pay an extra fee for the channel. Those of us trying to keep our cable bill in double digits will... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

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... more ›

Expanding on a program already used by over 2,000 companies in the Chicago area, the IRS is increasing breaks offered to income tax payers on commuting costs. more ›

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,... more ›

We're not very good at this rah-rah patriotism stuff sometimes. Especially when it seems like there's so very little to be patriotic about. Day in and day out, we're bombarded with information about our dysfunctional County Board, our crumbling mass-transit system, a stumbling economy, a dismal federal government and a long-term embroilment in a far-away sandbox, so on and so forth, fill in your own blank here: _________________ more ›

We first witnessed the cockamamie genius of Jon Brion at the second Intonation Festival. Pouring rain be damned, the guy captivated 15,000 people that day, many of whom knew him only as “the guy who worked on Kanye’s records.” Chicagoist left the festival grounds that day with that rare inspiration feeling that reminds you of just how powerful it is to witness true musical aptitude when it meets unbridled creativity. Fast forward to the winter... more ›