EXTRA: Just a thought

As seen in suburban Homewood. Photo by Gregory Tejeda

Weather extremes; or Dog Days in Chi

Remember the polar vortex?

That period of a few days back in January when the shift in weather traits actually gave in Chicago a taste of what things normally are like around the Arctic Circle!

Rocco (left) and Carmelo back in the winter months. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

IT WAS COLD. Particularly that one day where I got an assignment that actually required me to go outside and walk around the neighborhood in search of some colorful tidbits for a newspaper story.

Which I managed to accomplish in record time. No point in getting frost-bite for the free-lance pay rate I take in these days.

I also remember having to take the dogs outside during those days so they could “do their business,” so to speak. They’re not paper-trained, so their reaction to bathroom-type functions is to want to go outside – no matter what the weather is like.

While Rocco and Carmelo usually manage to linger out in the back yard for a few minutes before doing their “duty,” on those days they managed to run outside, complete their business them come charging back to the house.

LITERALLY CLAWING AWAY at the back door in desperate need of somebody to let them inside. Because it’s cold out here!!!

Anyway, these are the memories popping into my head on Friday as we’re enduring a heat spell that some are saying will be record-setting for the Chicago area.

The National Weather Service issued warnings for northern Illinois and Indiana, along with southern Wisconsin, going from Friday at 10 a.m. and supposed to last until about 7 p.m. Saturday.

It’s going to be hot and humid and people were advised to stay indoors as much as possible during that time period.

Rocco prefers the snow from indoors

FOR WHAT IT’S worth, I took the doggies out for a walk Friday morning and they managed to complete their business. But the walk didn’t last that long – pretty soon the dogs were panting heavily as they were hot.

They couldn’t wait to get back inside, and it was a good move that I refilled their water dishes before the walk. For they immediately went for the water and began gulping it down once we got back to shelter.

Now there have been some reports these days reminiscing back into history and 1919, when the heat of that summer was considered a cause of boosting tensions that ultimately resulted in race riots that left many people dead.

Although I suspect many more people had 1995 come to their minds. Much more recent – although even that is a quarter-of-a-century in the past.

I WAS FORTUNATE enough to not actually be in Chicago that summer – I was living in Springfield, Ill., at the time, although I got to hear the horror stories from my mother and brother of just how ridiculously hot it became and the extremes they had to go through to remain cool.

I recall the reports ultimately said the intense heat was because of a shift that, for a couple of weeks, caused Chicago to become something along the lines of Saudi Arabia.

And while those who actually live in the desert perhaps are capable of coping with such conditions, we managed to get caught off-guard. Causing the hundreds of deaths from that summer due to intense heat.

Carmelo wanted the water!

All I know is that if this is what other parts of the world feel like, it makes me all the more thankful to be a Chicagoan. The rest of the world can keep their weather extremes.

BUT I MUST admit to being uncertain about which extreme is more uanbearable. Polar vortex or Arab desert?

All I know is that I take one look at Rocco and Carmelo in heavy pant and know they were about as miserable as they were back in January when they virtually froze their paws off.

  -30-

How long until somebody whacks the fiberglass goose with a home run ball?

We got to see for ourselves in the Midwestern U.S. exactly why Major League Baseball schedules for teams to have an off-day the day after Opening Day.

How long 'til Honkers Ale goose takes a home run shot off the head?

The nasty weather conditions that show us winter chill isn’t quite ready to loosen its grip on us caused both the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals to have to postpone what was supposed to be their first home games of the 2019 season on Thursday.

WHICH COULD HAVE caused a significant scheduling pile-up later in the season. But instead merely meant the first game of the season will be played on Friday.

By which time the chill and constant rainfall we got hit with on Thursday will be gone, and the weather forecasts for Friday call for partly-sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s (of degrees).

Compared to the wet and sloppy rain we had on Thursday, with temperatures peaking at about 44 degrees.

Not exactly torrential storms or the chill of snowfall (which have occurred on Opening Days of the past). But still, not exactly pleasant weather conditions to have to endure while watching a ballgame.

NOW I ALREADY can hear some rants from Chicago Cubs-type fans, claiming that the Sox and their fan base are being wimps. They can’t endure a little bit of rain.

Mother Nature postponed baseball for a day

Of course, I expect that fan base to always find something to complain about. Perhaps it’s all those years of rooting for a ballclub that thinks it’s cutesy to be called the Cubbies?

Or maybe it’s the fact that, deep down, they’re realizing their window of winning ways likely is over (or is that ovah, to quote the Hawk) and all they got to show for it is one lone World Series win of 2016 – no better than the one World Series win the White Sox got in this century (back in 2005)?

Then again, could it be that the Cubs’ 1-4 record thus far this season actually puts them behind the White Sox’ (with 2-3)?

ALL BOUND TO be material for use in rants by baseball fans of both major league persuasions in Chicago. We’ll have countless quarrels take place during 2019 about this – and many other, points as we try to figure out which ball club is more worthy of our attention.

Life returns to neighborhood near Armour Square ballpark on Friday

And it all begins on Friday, when Opening Day takes place for both the White Sox against the Seattle Mariners AND for the St. Louis Cardinals against the San Diego Padres (who may well be upset they can’t play the game in the anticipated mid-60’s temperatures that Southern California anticipates).

Which actually compares to the Monday anticipated sunny skies and high temperature of 68 degrees we’ll have in Chicago – thereby giving the Cubbie faithful a pleasant day to go to the ballpark.

Anyway, it means baseball is back in Chicago. Many of us will get the chance to check out the new attractions of the ballparks – particularly in the way of concessions.

PERSONALLY, I’M MOST interested in seeing the new Goose Island attraction that will be set up in the right field seats – a special section named for the Goose Island Brewery that likes to think it’s Chicago’s answer to craft beers.

It will be particularly interesting to see the 10-foot-tall fiberglass goose erected in the section. It creates a potential target for home run hitters – and how enticing will it be the first time the goose gets whacked in the head by a home run ball.

Vengeance for Rayner?

Which almost reminds me of Chelveston the Duck from the old Ray Rayner Show when I was a kid. Remember how that duck would become ornery enough that he’d literally attack Rayner, nipping at his heels, during the show?

A part of me can’t help but think that the spirit of Rayner would be extremely pleased at seeing the sight of that goose getting whacked once or twice upside the noggin.

  -30-

EXTRA: Opening Day too early? Nah!

Spring training is ovah! It’s time for the 2019 regular season to begin.

Future super-dooper star? Or a dud?

Sure enough, the Chicago White Sox began their season Thursday (their attempt to redeem themselves from last year’s 100-loss debacle) in Kansas City (where the Royals were even worse in 2018), while the Chicago Cubs were in suburban Dallas/Ft. Worth to take on the Texas Rangers.

FROM HERE ON in, the ballgames count for something. We’ll get to see if that prediction of the Cubs finishing in fifth place this year has any legitimacy to it, while the White Sox’ so-called youthful talents will have the chance to show they really will be stars who can take the Sout’ Side to a championship.

Of course, there are some people who are grousing over the date – this is the earliest that Major League Baseball has even begun its season, which will allow for more off-days during the regular season. But some fans are complaining about the weather.

As though they believe baseball is solely a warm weather sport that should only be played in California or in the Deep South.

So perhaps the Cubs playing in Arlington, Texas isn’t too abhorrent to them. But Kansas City (where the noon-hour temperature was 63 degrees and cloudy skies)? No amount of quality barbecue could make up for the less-than-ideal weather.

PERSONALLY, IT DOESN’T bother me. Mostly because I find the game itself more intriguing than that of any other sport. Particularly the very factor of the pitcher vs. hitter – the constant duel to see which one comes out on top.

Recalling past Sox memories

No amount of football tackles or basketballs being stuffed into hoops overhead can match up to it.

And as for the chill in the air? Well that’s just the reality of weather in the Midwestern U.S. or the East Coast. In short, the places where baseball is a long-standing factor and traditions are built. Unlike places like Phoenix or San Diego, where Major League baseball almost has a fake feel to it.

I’ll take a good White Sox/Royals brawl on Thursday, as two teams are desperate to show they’re not as worthless as some fans would try to dismiss them as. Particularly those Chicago Cubs fans who just can’t handle the thought that anybody root, root, roots for anybody other than the Cubbies.

ANYWAY, IT’S SPRINGTIME (it became official last week). And the first game to be played in Chicago comes April 4 – with the White Sox taking on the Seattle Mariners.

Wrigley faithful to convene again for 2019. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

With Chicagoans getting their first chance to see the alleged youthful star Eloy Jimenez playing in left field. We’ll get to see if he’s worth the six-year (with two option years) contract worth just over $70 million – more than any other ballplayer has ever received before even playing his first major league game.

We’ll have to wait a few days longer before the Wrigley Field faithful can pack their way into the ballpark – for which they’ll grossly overpay for the privilege of tickets to the ol’ ball game.

For as the old Harry Simone Songsters told us all those years ago, “It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame.” Even if the temperatures Thursday were only in the mid-50s.

  -30-

We’re back to ‘baseball’ time, but not everybody’s satisfied about change

I happened to wake up in the middle of the night early Sunday, and when I looked over at my clock, it was 1:59 a.m. Just one minute before the time we’re supposed to re-set our clocks to take into account the change to daylight savings time.

So I literally got to see the instant that my digital clock skipped over the 2 a.m. hour and it officially became 3 a.m.

WE ‘LOST’ AN hour of time (which we’ll get back come November 3 when we go back to standard time). Everybody’s body clock felt a little bit funky Sunday morning because they got one less hour of sleep. Unless, by chance, they were totally lazy slugs and decided to sleep until about the noon hour to make up for the loss.

We make the change in time that, as a child, I was taught in school was meant to give farmers extra time periods with sunlight so they could tend to crops.

Of course, the current trend is to tell stories totally debunking the idea that farmers care in the least. Just this morning, I saw a broadcast report that attributed the idea of Daylight Savings Time to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany during the First World War effort.

Something about needing to burn less coal for fuel if there was more time during the daylight. Who knows what kind of tales future generations of schoolchildren will be taught?

PERSONALLY, I ALWAYS think of the time change as further evidence that we’re awfully close to the return of baseball. Because if you look at the dates for Daylight Savings Time, Opening Day will soon take place.

And the World Series will just have ended right about the time we switch back to Standard Time. I still remember reading a magazine feature about baseball during the off-season – with the writer pointing out that the scoreboard clock of old Comiskey Park was never re-set for the winter.

They’d leave it to Daylight Savings Time year round – figuring that baseball fans would never know the difference because nobody would be sitting in the seats some December or January!

Of course, some people like to play their own ideological games. I remember in college one of my fellow students (who happened to be a Hoosier native) would talk it up as a major selling point the fact that he never changed time.

IN HIS PART of the state, it remained on Standard Time year round – which put a large swath of the state out of sync with the rest of the country. And even with the rest of Indiana – as the far northwest corner sets its clocks in conjunction with the time here in Chicago.

Clock never needed resetting. And the Cubs were losing -- what else is new!

Perhaps that’s part of what gives Indiana a split personality that leaves so much of the Hoosier State out-of-touch with the rest of the world (particularly the civilized part that calls itself “Chicago”). Either that, or maybe it’s from the “shame” of having to think of oneself as a “Hoosier.”

Who’s to say?

It does intrigue me that several states are trying to pass measures that would make Daylight Savings Time the official standard for time year-round.

AS IN THOSE people would have changed their clocks Sunday, and would never do so again. They’d get an extra hour or so of daylight – although we should realize that the winter months will naturally have shorter days because of the tilt of Planet Earth and the way it rotates around its axis.

It will be interesting to see how (or if) these legislative maneuvers succeed. Because I’ve also heard from people who try to claim that Standard Time is “natural” time – and that any effort to alter the clock is somehow unseemly.

Almost as though we’re risking the “Wrath of God” himself by tinkering with the time clock. Even though if you want to be downright honest, things such as clocks and calendars themselves are man-made creations.

All I know about the issue at large is two things – we’re even closer to the return of baseball AND we’re a few steps farther away from the most dreadful time of year. As in that mid-December period when we get sundown by about 4:30 p.m!

  -30-

Commuter trains wonderful; that is, until they don’t work on schedule

I’m a native of what’s  thought of these days as the greater Sout’ Side part of Chicago (having lived both city and suburb), and I’m actually someone who often uses the commuter trains in order to get around.

Commutes through the Hegewisch neighborhood were among those tampered with Tuesday by Mother Nature. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

It’s largely because I don’t have an automobile these days; enjoy the notion of not having a monthly car payment to make and also detest the idea of paying for parking – particularly on those occasions when I have to travel downtown.

THE ONE TIME in my life I shelled out some $35 to park a car for about two hours in a downtown garage is a horrid memory – and an experience I never want to repeat again during my lifetime.

So let’s just say that the hardest part of the crummy winter weather we’ve experienced in recent weeks is what it has done to my commute.

I’m actually one of those individuals who was impacted by the commuter trains being totally thrown off schedule – if not shut down outright. Of course, the wintry weather also significantly reduced my desire to make any sort of trip unless absolutely necessary.

Which is why Tuesday was particularly depressing during the morning hours.

Weather tampered w/ overhead cables

THAT WAS THE time when the Metra commuter railroad’s “Electric” line was out of commission, as was the South Shore line that takes people from downtown Chicago into Indiana all the way out to South Bend.

I’ve almost never made the trip all the way to the home town of Notre Dame. But there are times when I do have to venture into Hoosierland and rely on a combination of the two trains (usually making the transition in the Hyde Park neighborhood) to get there.

Learning that such a trip was impossible put quite a damper on my morning mood.

Fortunately for me, the travel I had to do on Tuesday didn’t come until later in the day by which time the trains were up and running again (with the icy conditions having been overcome, for the time being). And also, I was able to borrow use of a car for the day.

WHICH MADE ME a commuter braving the icy roads and hoping that I neither lost control of someone else’s automobile – or no one else driving around me lost control of their car and came crashing into me!

Many fewer commuters passing through Millennium station these days

Being able to rely on the commuter trains (and the CTA ‘el’ within the city limits proper) is such a convenience. One of the advantages of urban life.

That is, until the weather manages to take the system down in whatever way possible so that the ability to transport oneself from place to place becomes a near impossibility.

Then, one can feel so incredibly isolated even within a massive urban area. Almost as though Mother Nature is feeing the need to remind us all that none of us are above the impact of her quirks and how she, not we, are the ones ultimately in control of our environs.

Anxiously awaiting summer days

I’LL ADMIT IT was worse a couple of weeks ago at the peak of the polar vortex – remember those days of 50-below wind chill temperatures and railroad people literally were igniting the train tracks aflame so as to keep them from freezing over and it was all the commuter train lines throughout the Chicago area that were impacted?

This is a lesser scale inconvenience, but it has me hoping for springtime weather. With the fact that springtime-like weather conditions in Arizona made it possible for both the White Sox and Cubs to begin spring training camps was little concession.

I will admit I was pleased to learn that Metra is considering this weekend free train rides (as to the usual $10 fare for a weekend pass) come Saturday and Sunday. It has me pondering a trip downtown so as to take advantage of the discount perk.

It would, however, be just my luck that the free fare comes at a time when the train (which has a commuter stop just a couple of blocks from my current humble abode) isn’t any guarantee to be operating, or running anywhere near to on schedule.

  -30-

Fulfilling the public’s “right to know” caused me to freeze my fingers numb

Just about everybody who could find an excuse to justify it made a point Wednesday

Bogart's 'editor' never warned … 

of staying inside, not going anywhere and basically behaving themselves like a lazy slug.

I, however, was running around in the sub-zero freezing temperatures that, when combined with wind chill, felt something more like 50-below – all because of my work going about the business of trying to inform the general public.

… of winter weather reporting hazards

I AM A reporter-type person, willing to go out and seek the truth on a wide variety of issues; all with the thought and belief that I am somehow performing a sacred duty – letting the general public know what is happening in the world around them.

Wednesday’s temperatures, of course, dove down to such historically low levels that – for once – the weather was a legitimate news story.

In fact, I woke up Wednesday to learn that I was amongst the many thousands of people who had lost access to electricity during the overnight hours. Which is when I got a call from an editor-type person – ordering me to check out a tip about power outages.

Artsy images such as this … 

In this particular case, I was able to tell him from first-hand experience that there were places where there was no power.

ME, AND MANY of my neighbors, actually.

Which led me to getting into the car and driving around my neighborhood for a few blocks – looking for evidence that I wasn’t alone in being without power and no one could legitimately write me off as a financial deadbeat who fell behind on the electric bill.

I eventually found a good-samaritan type of person who was outside walking over to check on an elderly neighbor, while his own wife and child were resorting to using the fireplace to keep warm.

It made for a nice anecdote that eventually was contributed to a larger story about wintry weather conditions throughout Chicago on Wednesday.

… and scientific graphs don't adequately convey how cold Wednesday was

BUT I HAVE to confess, I was only out of the car and exposed to the elements for less than five minutes. I wore nice leather gloves that usually keep my hands warm.

When I was through, my fingertips were numbed. It actually took me about a half-hour for my digits to warm up to the point where I was physically capable of typing anything up that resembled news copy.

As I write this, I’m fine physically. There’s no lasting damage – although I wonder how much longer it would have taken before I had suffered some sort of lasting physical damage to my being. And if I could have mentally justified it.

I happen to know that when my father found out what I had done, he let it be known he thought his son was stupid (and didn’t get paid enough) for enduring such a brief moment.

BUT IT IS something I justify doing on the grounds that I’m trying to get the details, no matter how minute, about this historic day in Chicago history. Literally one in which our minus-50 degree figure will be regarded as the coldest ever in city history.

Also one where I lost count of the number of wiseacres who felt compelled to post blurbs on Facebook saying that Chicago was colder than both the North AND South poles. Even though news reports indicate we'll be back up to about 40 degrees by Monday.

Carmelo (left) and Rocco had enough sense Wednesday to 'do their business' within a minute, before racing back inside for the warmth of home

That may be factually true. But it doesn’t change much about the reality that I felt compelled to be outdoors (even though for just several five-minute bursts of time throughout the day) on this day when people who think they’re more sensible than myself made a day of doing as little as possible – and enjoying the likelihood that their employers told them to take the day off.

One final thought; will we remember this day come the summertime when we have one of those 100 degree-plus days and we’re complaining about how much we’re roasting – while thinking that a quickie blast of air from the polar vortex would somehow be a shot of relief.

  -30-

EXTRA: Some things never change

Just in case you're delusional enough to think Monday, or anything anticipated for this week, is at all unusual or historic, just remember!

This is Chicago in wintertime. Mother Nature is making us appreciate just how wonderful this city is during the rest of the year.

AND IN CASE you think this is some ancient phenomenon, realize that many of us were alive and thriving back in 1967 (although I was a mere 2-year-old back then) or 1979 when these storms hit the Windy City and made their argument that the long-time city moniker was not purely motivated by the wind-bags amongst our political people.

So here's a thought that may, or may not, help you keep warm and dry during the next few days -- they may produce some intriguing video that could turn up on the Internet someday. Some 50 years from now, your offspring's offspring could get the cheap thrill of recognizing you in some snippet documenting just how ridiculously absurd the weather will get during the upcoming week.

Enjoy!

  -30-

Baseball in the snow, rain, heat or gloom of night? Not exactly

It seems Major League Baseball would like to think of itself as the equivalent of the United States Postal Service.

Would Chicago baseball really be better if this monstrosity had been built nearly 30 years ago? Image provided by StadiumPage.com

You know, that jazz about snow, rain, heat or gloom of night not keeping the postman from fulfilling his rounds? Professional baseball teams began their 2018 season back on March 29 with the same theory that they weren’t going to let inclement weather prevent them from playing their games.

THAT’S NOT QUITE the reality of this season, which is now about two-and-a-half weeks old.

All throughout the East coast and Midwest – whose ball clubs are the heart-and-soul of professional baseball – there have been reports of teams playing in crummy weather (rain and snow) on occasion. Although the inclement weather has been more likely to cancel ballgames.

Just this weekend, the Chicago White Sox traveled to Minneapolis for what was supposed to be a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins – only to have three of the games cancelled due to snow. No word yet on when those games will be made up – other than the fact that having to make up that many games in one shot will be an inconvenience later this season.

Sunday was Jackie Robinson Day across baseball, but ...

In fact, the White Sox have had four of their 16 scheduled games thus far called due to inclement weather. That’s one-quarter of the season.

IT’S NOT JUST the White Sox. The Chicago Cubs had their Opening Day last week delayed due to snow. On Sunday, their Wrigley Field game against the Atlanta Braves was postponed due to this weekend’s heavy rainfall. Which means we won’t get to see either Chicago ball club take part in the annual April 15 tribute to Jackie Robinson and professional baseball’s racial integration where everybody wears uniform number 42.

... since neither Chicago team played, ...

Some people might have rejoiced in the Saturday ballgame in which the Cubs came from behind to win 14-10. But Cubs manager Joe Maddon grumbled about the rain that soaked the playing field so thoroughly he was convinced the ballgame should never have been played.

... No. 42 locally remains with these two

Moments like this get a certain type of person all worked up in saying baseball is stupid for even bothering to play ballgames this time of the year. They should know better than to fight against Mother Nature, because she’s a tough ol’ broad who never loses.

Some argue baseball shouldn’t begin play until sometime in May. While others argue that the first few weeks of the season should all be played in southern or west coast cities – or in places where the locals built stadiums with the retractable roofs that could keep the field (and fans) dry while games take place.

IT’S AN ARGUMENT I really don’t buy into – largely because I could see how it would put teams at a disadvantage if they had to play the first few weeks of the season on the road.

The first ballgame ever in Toronto (1977) saw White Sox infielder Jack Brohamer having to be innovative to get across the snow-covered turf of Exhibition Stadium

Plus, I’m sure those west coast and southern cities with teams would complain about having to stage so many of their home games so early in the season – which would wind up with them being road-bound at season’s end. If they’re actually contending for a league pennant, that would seriously stink.

But why I really don’t get into the idea is the fact that, as I wrote earlier, those Midwestern and Eastern cities are the ones with the long-standing baseball franchises with history and tradition.

Sun-shiny days like this will be with us soon enough

Part of that “tradition” is that fans know if they’re going to attend an early-season game, you bundle up to cope with the weather. It’s part of the reason why baseball attendance goes up come June – that and the coming of summer break means kids attending a game can actually contemplate staying for the whole thing (10:30 p.m. is NOT an uncommon finishing time for a ballgame).

YES, IT WAS kind of freakish last week when on the same day the Cubs’ Opening Day game at Wrigley Field was delayed because of snow, the White Sox managed to play (their home Opening Day had been the week before, so it was just an ordinary ballgame).

Official attendance for that game was just over 10,000 tickets sold (which is probably mostly the season ticket base), although reports indicated only about 900 people showed up – and I saw one broadcast type who said her personal count of people in the stands was about 300.

It’s quirks like this that can make baseball and its fans interesting – far more than those people who think ball clubs are entitled to have 40,000-or-so capacity crowds for all 81 home games.

So no, I’m not for delaying the start of baseball. For I actually get a jolt from seeing regular-season games taking place in the cool of a Midwestern spring. I also see the presence of baseball as evidence that these outbursts of wintry-like weather are merely the final strands of winter – and that we’ll soon move on to complaining about the 100-degree temperatures and how “It’s too hot!” to live here.

  -30-

EXTRA: Snow falls on Chicago – Sox play anyway, while Cubs snooze

So much for the dual day games by both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox played Monday.

The ONLY first pitch Monday afternoon, as I viewed it on television. No, I wasn't up to braving the 35-degree temperatures or the snowfall. Photograph by Gregory Tejeda

It seems the Monday morning snow caused the Cubs to reschedule Monday’s game for Tuesday. Monday was supposed to be the Cubs’ home opener for 2018. But the Cubs tried to make things a little cutesy , with photographs of ballplayers throwing snowballs and taking "selfies" of themselves on the slushy Wrigley Field turf

AS FOR THE White Sox, they were the team that rescheduled their night game Monday to a day game, figuring it would be a little less cold for the fans.

But as groundskeeper Roger Bossard said prior to the ballgame, he figured out a way to use lawnmowers as makeshift snowblowers. Between that and turning on the hoses to spray the Guaranteed Rate Field turf with 50-degree water, the White Sox were able to melt and clear away the snow.

Making it likely that the White Sox get in their ballgame with just a little delay (about 1:30 p.m., rather than the reskedded 1:10 p.m.). Which the White Sox thought was a better option than playing two games Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays.

All I know is that in my home neighborhood, I took the dogs for a walk in the morning and they enjoyed the light snowfall that, oddly enough, didn’t accumulate at all on sidewalks or the streets, but only fell on the grass.

BUT THEN QUICKLY melted away everywhere.

Considering that we’re supposed to get temperatures up to about 60 degrees by Wednesday, we can only hope this is the end of winter snowfall – only about three weeks after winter officially ended.

  -30-

Double-header in the snow? Or is it just early-season baseball, the Chicago way

I usually get worked up whenever people complain about professional baseball beginning its season in the part of spring that’s really the tail-end of winter.

Helping Sox fans cope with cold

These are the ninnies who will complain that the season should start with the first games actually played in western or southern cities – or in places like Milwaukee where the local officials erected a stadium with a retractable roof.

AS THOUGH THE Chicago ball clubs, or teams from places like New York, Boston or other eastern or Midwestern municipalities ought to have to start out their seasons with a streak of road games.

Personally, I’d argue those are the franchises with the lengthy histories and cultural existence and where the locals know how to handle a little cold weather.

Just like on Thursday when the Chicago White Sox started out the 2018 season with their first home game a loss to the Detroit Tigers, and there were times one could see the heavy snowfall coming down during the ball game.

An early season freebie giveaway promotion the White Sox offered up? A stocking cap with the Old English “Sox” logo and in the black and grey of Sox colors. Truly an appropriate giveaway, and one that I’m sure many a fan who actually attends Saturday's game will bother to wear.

Will TV-viewing fans get to see ...

OF COURSE, THERE were those who felt compelled to mock – with the observation being that many of the people who theoretically gave the White Sox a capacity crowd by buying tickets somehow managed to disappear by about the fifth inning.

Resulting in many empty seats, particularly in the Sox stadium’s upper deck.

I’m going to be watching the crowds that show up at Wrigley Field come Monday, where the Chicago Cubs will have their Opening Day. Monday’s weather forecasts are for equally-dismal weather conditions.

Temperatures might get as high as 40 degrees, but it will be a cloudy, overcast day with light rainfall (and maybe even snow) expected to hit Chicago. Not ideal conditions for sitting outside in the stands to watch a ball game.

... split-screen, simultaneous home runs?

I DON’T DOUBT that the Cubs have sold the just over 40,000 tickets for Monday’s game against Pittsburgh (another ‘tough’ city that wouldn’t let some inclement weather put a stop to a ballgame) so they’ll be able to claim a capacity crowd. It will be “sold out,” even though I don’t doubt that watching the game on television will reveal many vacant seats.

It also will be interesting to see the White Sox game that same day. Because their game at Guaranteed Rate Field against the Tampa Bay Rays has been rescheduled from 7:10 p.m. to 1:10 p.m.

White Sox officials said they think making it a day game will be more comfortable for fans than having them sit in the stands during the evening hours.

But it also means we’re literally going to have both Chicago ball clubs playing simultaneously Monday afternoon. (The Cubs game is scheduled to start about 10 minutes after the White Sox take the field).

WE IN CHICAGO occasionally get the days when a Cubs game is scheduled for the afternoon, with a White Sox game in the evening. People can literally take the Red Line elevated train from one ballpark to the other to see both games in the same day. Which has its drawback -- a fan gets intoxicated during the day at Wrigley and is so wasted by nightfall at Guaranteed Rate that he acts stupid AND EVERYBODY wants to think it's the Sox' fault!

Monday not likely to look this idyllic

That won’t be possible on Monday – they’ll be simultaneous events and Chicagoans most definitely will have to pick one ball club or the other to watch. Unless they’re a wishy-washy sort who stays home and watches both games on television.

A split screen feature put to work on that new-fangled huge screen television. Maybe we’ll get the dual sight of Jose Abreu and Kris Bryant hitting home runs simultaneously on both sides of town.

Although knowing our city’s sporting mentality and likely crummy luck, we’re more likely to get two collections of fans suffering frostbite and two more digits in the “loss” column – just what Chicago needs on a dreary day when it seems like not even baseball can make winter go away!

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Brrrrrr! It’s cold outside. Or, only 90 more days till baseball Opening Day

As I write this, it’s 10 degrees outside, with the potential to rise to 14 degrees. Wind chill will create conditions that supposedly will make it feel more like 1 or 2 degrees temperature.

Rocco, Carmelo cope w/ winter weather

In short, this lull of a week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays is friggin’ freezing. This week during which many people will look for any excuse they can find to get out of work is provided with a perfect excuse by Mother Nature.

IT’S COLD OUTSIDE!!!

There’s no reason why human beings should be outdoors if they can possibly avoid it. The perfect time to do as little as is humanly possible.

For some people, it’s the perfect excuse to contemplate finding some other region of the globe to live in – some place where the idea of the temperatures ever dropping below 32 degrees (the official standard point at which water freezes into ice) is just a bad nightmare.

I’m not necessarily talking about some place with sunshine and perpetual 70 degree temperatures. Just some place where taking the dogs out for a walk doesn’t put one at risk for hypothermia.

Even he's shivering

I BRING UP that example because I often do wind up taking my father’s pair of dogs (a Standard Poodle and a mixed-breed Golden Retriever/Poodle) out for their daily walk.

While I have noticed they still get excited at the thought of being able to go outside, all it takes is one blast of the Arctic-like air for them to immediately change their minds.

I’m amused at how quickly the dogs (Rocco and Carmelo) are now capable of doing their “business” before they suddenly give every indication that they want to go back inside. Back home. No more of this aimless wandering that they usually do because “it’s outside.”

It makes me wonder if dogs can have more sense than people, or at least some individuals, based on their public behavior.

With holidays over, we do countdown to spring

YES, I FEEL the cold temperatures, just as much as anybody else. Even my neighbor with the elaborately-decorated front yard came up with something appropriate -- an inflatable snowman that shivers because it's so cold!

Yet I have to confess something – maybe it’s evidence that I’m losing it. But I don’t feel the urge to want to flee Chicago, or the Midwestern U.S., just because it’s cold outside!

I still remember one December I spent in Florida just over three decades ago – the idea of a swimming pool at that time of year just seemed strange. And listening to the locals complain about the cold because for a couple of days the temperatures dipped into the mid-30s?

It elicited the same reaction I get whenever I hear reports of snowfall in the Southern U.S. bringing daily life to a standstill – What a bunch of wimps!!!

IT’S COLD OUTSIDE; I’ll be the first to admit it. But it truly is part of the natural cycle of life on this planet to have the seasons. Finding a place where it never freezes is the extreme of life – just as a place like Antarctica is the opposite end (a land of perpetual winter).

We’re in the cycle of life – about to end the current calendar year. And for what it’s worth, we’ve passed the point where the days are getting shorter and the sun sets about 4:30 p.m. Minute by minute, we’re getting extra daylight and moving toward the time period in which we’ll have the mild temperatures that make life truly sweet and pleasant.

Besides, if we’re to be totally honest, we’ve managed to avoid the most annoying part of winter weather – the slop of snowfall. That downpour we got on Sunday (a.k.a., Christmas Eve) was over by day’s end and wasn’t that hard to clean up.

It won't be long before springtime returns, even to Chicago

It added to the winter ambiance that we’ll be able to remember fondly come May. Besides, it’s only 90 more days ‘til Opening Day for Major League Baseball – a thought to keep in mind if the wintry weather conditions become too unbearable.

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