What I Salvaged from Sunday
By Dan on Mar 29, 2009 in Beer, Blog, Local, News
For the second time this month, WordPress’ autosave feature has failed me and denied you an insightful and uproariously funny post, unlike what I’ve salvaged here. If it happens again, I’m through blogging forever.
Just Like the Monks Used to Do
In this week’s Heartland, I wrote a story on local homebrewers. These men are doing the Lord’s work and deserve our admiration and support. Please send them money.
How Dare They Exploit Our Incompetence
I agree that this whole business with AIG using bail-out money to fund bonuses is despicable. However, the bipartisan outrage from politicians is threatening to make me ill.
First of all, they could and should have seen to it that this wouldn’t happen, then they wouldn’t have had to pretend they didn’t know anything about it.
Second, the remedy they propose to correct their incompetence, a retroactive and punitive tax, reeks of desperation and is possibly unconstitutional.
And then there is this.
The reason the government decided to float these billions to AIG was because they were deemed "too big to fail" and their demise would cause great harm to the economy. Our leaders determined that it is imperative that they prosper. So they respond by taking to the airwaves to scream about how corrupt and morally bankrupt AIG is. Yep, that should guarantee the kind of consumer confidence that a business needs to succeed.
I think Obama eventually grasped this, but many others were more concerned with looking bulldogish than being pragmatic about the whole unfortunate affair.
The Irish Really, Really Like Me (as far as you know)
I forgot to mention that, unless proven otherwise, I proudly served as the Grand Marshal at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin, which is bigger than Killarney, and thus a much bigger honor, if indeed I was the Grand Marshal, which I was, unless my brother says differently.
I’m also fairly certain that I’m a college graduate.
My Favorite Song This Week
Regina Spektor singing That Time. What is it with these chick’s with guitars?
A Tower By Any Other Name, Is Just a Tall Building
Forgive the untimeliness (see item 1, above), but I want to comment on the Sears Tower hubbub.
I can understand when people get upset when a university changes the name of their football stadium from that of a legendary coach to a cellular company, but in the case of the Sears Tower, isn’t it simply a case of one business taking over for another?
Let’s say that Moshe’s Pizza has been operating at the same location for 30 years. Everyone loves Moshe and his Yiddish take on the Italian favorite. But then Moshe and his wife, Traci, decide to retire and get a place in Spaulding. If you buy his building to house your new Segway parts and service center, should you be required to leave Moshe’s name on the canopy just because people are used to it and have treasured memories?
Honor the Curb or Die
Also untimely is this harangue about people’s behavior at the St. Pat’s Parade. Where we were viewing, people were standing almost to the green line that ran down the center of 5th Street, so desperate were they for candy and trinkets. Some even brazenly parked their chairs in the roadway. Every now and again, a flatfoot would come by and tell everyone to move back. They wouldn’t, and he’d walk on, defeated.
If the Springfield Police Department ever hopes to regain my respect, they better break out the water canon and rubber bullets next year.
I’m Sorry Michael
I must conclude that 30 Rock is now funnier than the Office. I probably would have realized this sooner, but I was thinking about how weird it is that we eat birds.
On Pain
Unlike James Dalton, I believe that pain does hurt. But I also believe that it should be proportionate to the injury incurred. So when I slightly bump my elbow on the boys’ bunk beds while putting on a comforter, it should be a fleeting pang, not sting like the dickens for 30 seconds. The pain I endured was totally excessive and obnoxious and unnecessary.
Trivia
Who is this James Dalton who philosophized contradictorily on pain?
Well that’s it for now. I’ll return again, unless WordPress keeps messing with me.
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Got to agree with you that 30 Rock is now funnier than The Office. The show lost its soul when Jim and Pam got together.
shoo | Mar 29, 2009 | Reply
I liked your first version much better.
Why anyone would go to any parade is beyond my comprehension. I gave them up many years ago having being victimized and disgusted by the going’s on at the State Fair parade. As for the police officers’ actions or in this case, inaction. I can just see the hatchet job in the editorial section of the SJ-R by King Dietrich and his minion if the officers actually made people do as they were instructed. That is truely a no-win situation for the officers.
Which allows me to segway into the fact that the SJ-R’s editorials are so disgustingly self-serving since Dietrich took over that they are practically unreadable. Their weekly rant on “freedom of information” issues along with their knee-jerk criticisms that seemingly have had zero background investigation are juvenile at best.
I feel better now.
M.B. | Mar 29, 2009 | Reply
Wasn’t James Dalton played by Patrick Swayze in Roadhouse? He was always getting in fights and had all those stab wounds and bullet holes. I’m sure it’s the wrong spelling, but I think he had a special philosophy about pain.
Looking for Springfield | Mar 30, 2009 | Reply
You are correct, LFS. Road House – a movie so bad you can’t take your eyes off it.
Shoo, I agree. They need that dynamic with Roy and Karen.
MB, I’m starting to agree with you on parades. It’s a shame though because the kids do like them.
I disagree with you on the editorials, which I think are for the most part, sensible. Granted when you write one everyday you’re going to whiff every now and again.
As for FOI, the main culprit in government corruption is administrations operating in the dark. I understand that certain information needs to be kept confidential, but if there isn’t a good reason, then it should be released to the public. “Mind your own business, we know what we’re doing” isn’t a valid reason.
Dan | Mar 30, 2009 | Reply
My beef with the FOI situation is how hard the editorial board pushes for it. And who is going to benefit the most from it? The public? Please! They see their selves going down the tubes and this is one way to prop up their dying industry. Create drama where there really isn’t any. Such as their railing about the fire department’s new contract. The 5% pay spike upon retirement (if done on anniversary or birthday) has been in play for a long time. The SJ-R is portraying it as something new. Shoddy background work and “creating news.” That is the problem as I see it.
M.B. | Mar 30, 2009 | Reply
“but in the case of the Sears Tower, isn’t it simply a case of one business taking over for another?”
In a word, no. “Loyalty” to the Sears Tower should not be confused with loyalty to Sears, the company. The Sears Tower is and has been a recognizable Chicago landmark, one that many Chicagoans, present and former, are proud of. Wrigley Field and the former Busch Stadium (or soon to be former, has it switched yet?) are also company names, but I doubt that the fondness for those stadiums has anything to do with the reputation of the companies and everything to do with an appreciation for tradition.
nancy | Mar 31, 2009 | Reply
Dan-
1. Great article, by the way. I have tremendous respect for homebrewers. I don’t know nearly enough about science (or beer, for that matter) to be able to undertake such an…undertaking. I have at least recently been able to lose the taste for Bud Light, so I have THAT going for me. Which is nice.
2. Shame be upon a respectable writer such as yourself for the heinous misuse of the apostrophe (“What is it with these CHICK’S with guitars?”) Why not just go for it and say “chick’s with guitar’s”?
3. Agreed ref. the “Honor the Curb or Die” part. I refuse to go to another parade until the little urchins (and their kids) stay on the friggin’ sidewalks. (Shame #2: it’s “caNNon”, not “canon”.)
Sorry, Mom was a teacher… it’s in my DNA to correct people’s spelling and grammar mistakes [while overlooking my own and being shocked and appalled when others point them out].
4. Kudos on the obscure “Roadhouse” reference. As you said, a movie so bad you can’t take your eyes off it. Should have included it on my “Pick Your Five Really Bad Movies You Watch Over and Over” on the Facebooks.
5. I agree with you in that it SHOULDN’T matter what the Sears Tower winds up being called, but I also agree with Nancy in the loyalty to the tradition. If they change the name, so be it, but it will always be the Sears Tower to me, and nobody will convince me to call it anything but. Just like UIS will forever be Sangamon State University.
I’m just sayin’.
Johann | Mar 31, 2009 | Reply
I agree with Nancy. If they changed Busch Stadium to “Missouri Electric Switch Company Field” I think you would probably have a problem with it.
And UIS will always be known as SSU to me too.
M.B. | Mar 31, 2009 | Reply
On the Sears Tower
There’s a difference between regretting a name change and saying that it shouldn’t be done, but I know that you know that.
Anytime a well-known property changes hands, the new owners must weigh the potential negative PR hit associated with changing the name, with the positive marketing benefits of having this recognizable asset associated with their company.
I agree, that it would be a slight to tradition to change the name of Busch Stadium. Since the Cardinals are privately owned, I don’t think there is anything to gain by changing the name because Bill DeWitt has no need to market himself; it would merely be an act of vanity. If Schlafly Beer bought the team, however, would you still think they should leave the Busch name attached to the stadium?
When Sangamon State became part of the University of Illinois system, I doubt that they thought twice about changing the name because UIS brings instant credibility and name recognition. I do think that it’s sweet, MB and Johann, that you both have such warm recollections of the former hippie school that didn’t believe in giving grades and produced Ward Churchill. Couple of lefties now, are you?
As for the Sears Tower, if I owned a company that purchased one of the most recognizable buildings in the world, I wouldn’t want it promoting its former owner. I guess I’m just a heartless capitalist.
(And I apologize for the superfluous apostrophe on the Regina Spektor item. You can trust that it was just an inadvertent flick of my right pinkie, and not that I thought that “girls” was possessive of “with.”)
Dan at BFS | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
Dan: “I do think that it’s sweet, MB and Johann, that you both have such warm recollections of the former hippie school that didn’t believe in giving grades and produced Ward Churchill. Couple of lefties now, are you?”
Johann: Not at all. I just don’t see that attaching the name “University of Illinois at Springfield” was anything more than a reason to hike tuition fees by masquerading it as an extension of the ACTUAL University of Illinois in Urbana. Which it isn’t. I mean, it “is”, but it isn’t.
Actually, I think I’d have been a little more receptive to the name change if they hadn’t offered graduates of Sangamon State a certificate that now reads “University of Illinois” to make it look more… prestigious, or whatever. It’s a little like putting a Porsche emblem on a Yugo. Dress it up however you like, it’s still a Yugo. Not to mention the fact that those particular former students neither attended nor graduated from the U of I, but rather Sangamon State.
And I figured that the apostrophe was a pinkie mishap; I just had to point it out. One of my BIG pet peeve’s.
Johann | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
A couple of years after I graduated from Quincy College, they changed the name to Quincy University and offered to print me up a new diploma. I didn’t see the point, although I do use Quincy University on my resume.
I don’t pretend that my MA from UIS is on par with an MA from the U of I, but I do think the school has improved dramatically from its SSU days.
Dan at BFS | Apr 1, 2009 | Reply
OK, I’m a bit late to this party, sorry . . .
In the Sears Tower discussion, you have inferred that ownership of that storied building has changed hands. It has not. The Willis Group Holdings, a London-based insurance broker, will occupy more than 140,000 square feet on multiple floors. They are simply renting the space at a competitive price of $14.50 per square foot, and there is no additional cost to the company associated with renaming the building. So your Moshe’s Pizza reference is a bit off. Of course a property’s owner can call their building whatever they choose – but in this case they are renaming just to please a big client. If we renamed every public landmark (and that is what we are talking about here, a true landmark – based not only on its size but also its design) to reflect the current economics . . . well, many Chicagoans see this as an appalling trend.
Rock-Robster | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
And, as for the parade debate – I agree. But the people bothering me on St. Pats day by wandering too far into the street (and blocking our view from the curb) were ALL adults! A particular guy spent the entire parade standing about 15-20 feet off the curb and was consistently blocking our view!
Rock-Robster | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
I didn’t realize the specifics of the name change, and while that certainly makes a difference and counters my analogy, it’s still a business decision. And while I agree that the Sears Tower is a landmark, it’s also a functioning office building that needs to generate revenue to remain viable. So it’s not the same as selling the naming rights to the Space Needle, Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower.
I’m a fan of nostalgia, and of Chicago, but many of the things you speak of, at least from the perspective I’ve gotten from reading the Sun Times, are also business decisions. Macy’s bought out Marshall’s. The Berghoff closed. Meigs Field was demolished. All of these things can be lamented, but not really condemned. Well, maybe the Meigs thing can be condemned.
I don’t know, maybe I read too much Steinberg.
Dan at BFS | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
I disagree that it’s not the same as renaming the Space Needle, Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower. It is the same, those are landmarks that need revenue to survive as well.
But I agree, things change and that’s a fact. But the minute they rename Anchor Steam Beer to “Chicago Cubs Beer” you may be pissed . . . ;_)
Rock-Robster | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
The Space Needle, Statue of Liberty and Eiffel Tower were created to be landmarks; they’re tourist attractions and their reason for being is almost completely symbolic. I also believe, although I could be mistaken, that they are owned and funded by the government.
The Sears Tower, on the other hand, was built to be a revenue-generating property for its investors. I’m sure that its architect knew that it would be an iconic structure that would merit landmark status, but that isn’t its primary purpose.
I’m not a big fan of Anchor Steam, but even if Sierra Nevada became Nickleback Brewery and they named all of their beers after Adam Sandler movies, I’d still drink it. I’d just tear off the labels first.
Dan at BFS | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
The privately owned Space Needle is managed by Space Needle LLC.
The City of Paris owns the Eiffel Tower, but it is self supporting.
The National Parks Service owns the Statue of Liberty.
How would you feel if they changed the name of Notre Dame Stadium?
Rock-Robster | Apr 2, 2009 | Reply
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