As we sit on the cusp of baseball’s opening day, the time has come for me to discuss our current reigning champions: My Chicago Cubs. I suppose they’re also your Chicago Cubs, if you’re so inclined to claim them. But until quite recently, I was very reluctant to let you have them. This was my…
Remembering Ernie Banks: This Cub Fan’s Experiences With Mr. Cub
This is long overdue, but it's time I write about my experiences with the late Ernie Banks. Mr. Cub passed away after suffering a heart attack exactly one month ago, on January 23 of this year. The national outpouring of remembrances and testimonials to his character were mind boggling. Not only was he recognized as…
Book Review: Dialogues Of A Crime – by John K. Manos
It's taken me two years to finally sit down and write a review of this book. That's far too long. It's too good of a book to have waited that long. I think I was so moved by it and enjoyed it so much, that writing about it was difficult for me. As it happens,…
My John Pinette Story
I need to share my John Pinette story. Somewhere around 10-13 years ago, I was enjoying a night with friends at the Pour House in Chicago, one of my regular hangouts. We became good friends with Al, the owner, and often went to after-hours bars with him. He knew a lot of people. On this…
Nick Swisher Sings: A Swing and A Miss
Nick Swisher of the New York Yankees has released an album. That is to say, he sang a bunch of songs and someone recorded those songs and decided they should be released to the public. He released a CD — a compact disc. You can purchase his stuff on iTunes. I've just listened to it.…
Music Review: The Cars — New Cars quality at a old Cars price
It's been nearly 24 years since The Cars released a studio album — 1987's Door To Door. After four and two score years, yesterday saw the release of Move Like This, the band's latest album. All of the band's original members reconvened for this effort, with the notable exception of bassist and vocalist Benjamin Orr, whose voice…
Duran Duran + Mark Ronson = Newer Wave
Yesterday, March 22, Duran Duran released the packaged version of their 13th studio album, All You Need Is Now. This album was actually originally released for download in December of last year, so it's been out for several months. Without question this is their finest album in the last decade, and probably their best since…
Dance Little Sister (Unless You’re a “Sister” — In Which Case, Please Leave)
For the last few months I've worked as a weekend DJ at a Chicago bowling alley. Last night I was relieved of this duty. Pretty early on I was told that I should avoid playing songs later in the night that might attract the wrong "element." I didn't necessarily agree with this, but I don't…
Earthquakes and Tsunamis and Self-Loathing — oh my.
I was just about to go to bed last night when my Twitter feed informed me that an 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Japan. Naturally I flipped over to CNN right away. For the next five or six hours the only detectable movement on my body was my thumb guiding the TV remote from one news…
5½ Years & 2 Million Hits
Well, it only took five-and-a-half years, but this little blog of mine known as Because the World is Round recently passed the 2,000,000 hits mark. If only I had a dollar for every hit.
Because the World is Round 