and he did nothing about turned into water gushing through my laundry room wall today.

so because i wont be able to write very much today as i am watching the repair guy demolish my beautiful 1940s bathroom, i will reprint something that was printed in the Cubs official web site.

they have a good column over there where Carrie Muskat answers questions from the fans.

here was a good question and a good answer today.

Q. How did the Cubs get the name “Cubs”?
— Robert S., Salt Lake City, Utah

A. According to baseball historian Ed Hartig, the real name for the Cubs is the Chicago National League Ball Club Inc. Here’s some history: Following the formation of the American League in 1900, many of the National League’s best players jumped to the AL. Most NL camps in the early 1900s included many, many, many unproven players. This included Frank Selee’s 1902 Chicago NL team. The March 27, 1902, Chicago Daily News noted all the young players in camp referring to the team as “Selee’s Cubs.” An incredible 30 players would make their Cubs debut in 1902.

The name “Cubs” didn’t become official until 1907. Until then, each newspaper used whatever nickname they deemed appropriate. The team was called the White Stockings when the club joined the NL in 1876, the Orphans, the Black Stockings, the Spuds (because of their Irish owner, C.W. Murphy), the Nationals (all NL teams were called this at some point), the Colts, the Panamas, the Cowboys and a host of other nicknames.

Frank Chance preferred Cubs and convinced Charles Murphy to make it official in 1907. Even after the nickname become official, some papers still used unofficial nicknames. For example, during Johnny Evers’ tenure as Cubs manager, the team was often called the Trojans (Evers lived in Troy, N.Y.). And the nickname “Bruins” was commonly used from the 1940s to the 1980s. Rather than running “Cubs notes,” The Sporting News, for example, ran “Bruins Briefs.” Good thing they chose Cubs; otherwise, Ernie Banks would be “Mr. Spud.”

read the rest of the questions + more pics of the destruction + danielle isnt as bad off as she seems

has laker season tickets.

so yesterday as i was driving to lunch i rang him up to see if he went to the game or if he sold his seats.

“tone i went. and not only that, but the Lakers called me up before the game and asked me if i could make it down to Staples a little bit early, and i should bring my camera.”

turned out he had been selected in a daily raffle of season ticket holders who had been loyal to the team for several years. what they wanted to do was upgrade some of the upperdeck tickets to twelfth row jobbers.

first they took pictures with the laker girls, then they brought out some toys and merch for the kids, then they gave everyone better seats for the game.

so not only did my bro chris see the best laker performance he’d ever seen

but he did it in style,

and twelve rows from the court.

and he brought his camera, something he hardly ever does.

and of course we put those pictures up on buzznet for him.

he said the only picture he didnt get was when kobe gave him a high five as he exited the tunnel right before the opening lineup introductions.

chris is a good guy who has been blessed with good fortune so i told him that he should tell the lakers that maybe they should permanently move his seats down there, and in the spirit of keeping the good mojo flowing, perhaps he should remind the lakers what kobe did the other night and make sure to always slap his hand before introductions.

but chris said the magic idol might be his young daughter eliza who was not only there the other night, but also in attendence at the game where robert horry drained that sweet 3pointer to beat sacto back in the day.

and for all those naysayers who want to argue about the Raptors sucking or kobe hogging the ball, may i remind you that the Raptors were up by 15 in the 3rd quarter and it wasnt until the second half, after all the Lakers proved that they sucked, that kobe took over and shot lights out 55 points in those last two quarters.

i can understand how you can think kobe is a spoiled rich kid living in the OC with his flashy wife with her huge diamond rings

but anyone who scores 81 in a game deserves major props. i dont care if its in college highschool or even in the nba.

some of chris’s pics from the famous game

king of snl.

which is saying something when you consider who else was there

bill murray
eddie murphy
dan aykroyd
dana carvey
waynes world
farley, sandler, rock

all of em.

but im old enough to remember when saturday night live was just starting.

i believe i was 92 years old.

back then it was truly live. and weird.

and occassionally a little bit wild.

back in those days the wildest thing that you could find on television was harvey corman cracking up at tim conway and not being able to make it through a line.

so sex and drug jokes on network tv was pretty fascinating and no one in that original cast had that wild spirit that you could see just below the surface.

the samuri dry cleaner, the intolerant greek restaurant owner “no coke. pepsi.”, but particularily the weekend update reporter who could get heart attacks and die showed that dangerous edge which on live tv was riviting.

he was intense as joe cocker and subtle as jake blues.

but my favorite role of his was in Continental Divide when he plays tall skinny mike royko the chicago newspaper columnist.

who wrote one and two sentence paragraphs.

and talked about Chicagoians.

most people dont know that the Blues Brothers toured as a musical group for several years with Paul Schaeffer as the musical director and band leader.

they even opened for the Grateful Dead several times.

if mike royko was a blogger he’d post once a day and never on weekends. thats pretty much one reason idolize him.

when belushi starred in Animal House he was paid $40,000.

during his first season on saturday night live he was paid $750 a week.

i dont know why, but its nice to know the king got paid shit.

kimbalina + vortexia + oceanaria + sexoteric (nsfw)