easyw

Hank Aaron..I bet that one is good... The guy is a hero. A couple other great baseball bios, both by Charles Alexander, are "Ty Cobb" (maybe the best bio I've ever read), and "John McGraw." He also wrote on on Rogers Hornsby, but I haven't read that one... Earlier this summer, I finished the new Woody Guthrie bio - "Ramblin Man" - it was pretty good. I'm looking for a good bio or auto bio on Miles Davis...

The new Ted Leo is great... He's the guy about grab the throne as the "reigning king of rock". and I like the "Best of Rosa Passos." Great Brazilian stuff... Beyond that, not much out there.

Oh s*** and the new George Halas biography, "Papa Bear" by Jeff Davis... Just fanastic... Also, "In the Castle of the Flynns" is a great Chicago novel as well.... But kinda sad.

For anyone who's a Sox Fan, I highly recommend "The Easy Hour" by Leslie Stella - steeped in south side references.... More good south side stuff - "Chicago Stories" which is James Farrell's collection of short stories. You may recognize the name as the author of the "Studs Lonigan" trilogy... I finished up "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow earlier this year and its one of my all time favorites. Bellow can be a bit difficult to read, but this was one of his first novels, and is pretty accessable. Also, "Confederacy of Dunces" is good, though not for everyone. The dialogue is great, but the main character is thoroghly unlikeable. For some great non-fiction, try "Michaeangelo and the Pope's Ceiling" about the Sistine Chapel. Last year I read Paul Theroux travelogue of his recent trip to East Africa - "Dark Star Safari" and it was also really good. I think a lot of people probably read "Devil in the White City", but that was also good, though there was a lot more about Chicago architects than HH Holmes. Curently reading "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens, which is good, but more of a high school level book... Speaking of which, I re-read "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" this summer and thought it was great. I had forgotten how good it is...

With North, what you hear is what you get... or at least that was the case when I knew him better... Murph reveals a little less about himself on-air... I've heard stories that Marotti is a jerk in real life. case in point; I think he attended my alma mater, Ohio University. As an undergrad writer for the student newspaper, I once heard an unconfimred story that he wrote an editoral so critical of the women's field hockey team that they actually showed up at the paper's offices ready to kick his ass... can't confirm that, however... But, yeah, its all bout the benjamins...

As a former Score employee, and a former producer for, and still pal of, both Murph and North, I can assure your that: 1) Though I may not agree with his politics, Mike North is NOT a bigot. 2) Murph has a lot of love for the Sox as well, and tries to be entertaining. Period. You won't hear politics on his show because he's not as vain as North.

I don't know who won, but I know who lost - America.... Evil vs the Lesser of Two Evils, Tweedledumb vs Tweedledumber... The 2-party system is un-American. Vote Socialist!

That's also a great point... No one from my HS went to OU... I didn't need to start over, so to speak, but it was a refreshing change to be inspired by new people coming from different backgrounds. I grew my hair, started working out, studied and partied a lot, and got some nice tail...

Ohio Univeristy in Athens, class of 91... One of oldest (1804) and most beauitiful schools in the nation. Hot girls all over the place, too. Hate to argue but... OU is THE top party school in the nation, hands down... It's also got a Top 20 journalism and broadcasting school, which is the reason I went there. But after spending a decade in broadcasting, mostly producting talk shows, and yes, sports broadcasting in Chicago, I'd advse anyone against going into this field. First, it's not what you know, its who you know. The only reason I was able to walk into my job at the Score in 1991 with no interview is because I knew Ron Gleason and Tom Shaer from my days interning, as a high schooler no less, at WBBM-AM and the Channel 5 sports dept. Also, the hours are terrible, the pay is awful (umless you're Mike North- who never went to college), and all the "talent" and any players you'll deal with are prima donna pussies. You want some advice? Go into finance. Great money, regular hours. Better yet, get fluent in another language, like Spanish/Italian, Arabic or Chinese, and go into international business. You'll have to put in your dues and work the 9 to 5, but the money is crazy... Heed my warnings - I know from experience - sports broadcasting and journalism are dead ends. Just like crack. Also, going to a community college like COD for 2-3 years is not such a bad deal. I had a lot of friends from high school who didn't have the grades to get in anywhere else, but they went to COD for a few years, pulled straight As, and wound up at U of I. It's not where you start, its where you finish, and their diplomas say U of I... even though they did all their grunt work at COD...