Burris may learn his long-term fate in the Senate by the end of Wednesday

I happened to be talking to someone on the telephone Tuesday morning when the cable news channels decided the best way to serve the public good was to give us “live” pictures of Roland Burris approaching the Capitol building, only to be turned away when he tried to enter the Senate chambers.

“It’s so fascinating,” she told me, finding interest in the ludicrous entourage that surrounded Burris as he went through the motions of trying to claim his seat as junior senator from Illinois. But because his credentials from Gov. Rod Blagojevich do not contain the official state seal (controlled by Secretary of State Jesse White), the Senate bureaucrats refused to let him in.

“FASCINATING” IS NOT the word I would have used to describe that moment. “Predictable” and “pointless” more accurately describe the show that took place on Tuesday.

For those people with interest in figuring out who will actually wind up representing Illinois along with Richard Durbin in the U.S. Senate for the next two years, Wednesday’s activity is much more important.

For today is the day that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., (the man whom Blagojevich tried to portray as anti-black when it comes to picking a replacement senator) is scheduled to meet with Burris.

Wednesday is the day that the two will quit posturing and engaging in political role-playing. They will have to talk to each other to see if Burris will go along with some procedural move that will allow Reid to “save face.”

TECHNICALLY, REID HAS engaged in rhetoric in recent weeks that would forbid Burris from getting the Senate appointment under any circumstances. Allowing Roland to become Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., would have the potential to be humiliating for Reid, since it would show he either did not understand legal procedure for political replacements or just didn’t care.

In short, Burris is probably going to have to agree to some conditions that will constitute him backing down from the rhetoric that Blagojevich has every right – until the moment he is both impeached and convicted – to make whatever appointments he chooses.

Some have speculated as I originally suspected; that Burris is going to have to accept the fact that all he gets is two years in the U.S. Senate. He’s not going to be the Democratic candidate for the post come the 2010 elections.

And when his two years on Capitol Hill are over, Burris will have to return to his home in the Gresham neighborhood (that mini-mansion once owned by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson) with the knowledge that his days in public service are complete.

NO MORE POLITICAL comebacks. No more token bids for Illinois governor or Chicago mayor or anything else.

One would think this is a small concession for Burris to make, since at age 71 he really isn’t in a position to guarantee he would still be alive at the end of a six-year Senate term. And even if he was, he could wind up becoming an Illinois version of what Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was during his last couple of terms in the Senate.

But Burris, the first black person elected to a statewide Illinois government post, has his ego.

Having to make such concessions might appear to be a public humiliation for him. He may want something that allows him to decide in the future that retirement from politics has finally arrived (even though the reality of things is that he has been “retired” for the past 14 years. In some ways, Jane Byrne would be just as logical a choice for the U.S. Senate seat as Burris).

MY POINT IN making this diatribe is to say that all the activity on Tuesday was rehearsed. Everybody went along with their lines, and the outcome was known way back when Blagojevich delivered his “Drop Dead!” to everybody in sight when making the Burris appointment last week.

Wednesday’s meeting is where we really don’t know whether either Reid or Burris will “give” a little. Or will they both remain stubborn?

If they do, then Burris might as well return to Chicago immediately thereafter. His continued presence in the District of Columbia would make him a pathetic figure (and I don’t want to hear wisecracks about him already achieving that status).

Of course, Burris accepting the ability to enter the Senate chamber with restrictions on his powers and with a Senate Rules and Administration committee taking its sweet time to investigate Burris’ status out of hopes that a future governor would pick a different replacement for Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate might be equally pathetic – except that such a scenario could make the Senate itself seem as petty and pathetic as the Illinois Legislature has been in recent weeks with its eagerness to impeach.

THAT’S THE HARD part for Blagojevich bashers to accept.

If one follows the letter of the law, then they have to accept the fact that the rules were followed and that the Burris appointment to the Senate is legitimate.

There’s also the fact that Democrats in Minnesota appear to have successfully put their candidate, entertainer and pundit Al Franken, in the Senate by the slimmest of vote margins. But Republicans are not going to give up on their candidate without a court battle or two.

To allow Franken entrance to the Senate while taking such a hard-line on Burris could wind up making the Democratic caucus of the U.S. Senate look even more ridiculous. In short, to be able to have a former writer for Saturday Night Live in the U.S. Senate, they may have to also accept the concept of “Roland, Roland, Roland” ridin’ his way into their ranks for a spell.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Al Franken also likely will get a meeting with Harry Reid, although no sessions (http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003002988) have yet been scheduled beyond Wednesday’s one-on-one with Roland Burris.

Tuesday’s activity with Burris on Capitol Hill was preferred by television “newscasts” because it (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2009/01/06/senate_rejects_burris_in_spect.html?wprss=the-trail) was entirely predictable. In short, none of it was “news.”

Burris, as perceived in South Africa (http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2449378,00.html) and in mainland China (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/07/content_10614945.htm), just to name a couple of places around the world.

It’s replacement season in Illinois

The Illinois Senate has a new member, and people who live in Illinois’ 5th Congressional district (the northwest side and some surrounding suburbs) now have a clue as to when they will get a new member of Congress.

But we still don’t know who is going to replace Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, as District of Columbia bureaucrats put would-be Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., through the motions of showing up on Capitol Hill – only so they could turn him away.

HOW THAT SITUATION will ultimately be resolved has yet to be determined, although I would expect Burris will need a court or two to intervene on his behalf to pressure political people to accept the one-time Illinois attorney general.

Political people took the actions Monday required by law to fill vacancies caused by two government officials who are moving up the ranks of Washington politics.

Democratic officials from south suburban Cook and Will counties, along with rural Kankakee and Iroquois counties, picked a replacement for Rep.-elect Debbie D. Halvorson, D-Ill., who gave up her seat in the Illinois Senate in Springfield to move up to Washington.

It would appear that the party officials decided to go along with the wishes of Halvorson, as they chose her former chief of staff, Toi Hutchinson, to be the new Democratic state senator.

THE KANKAKEE DAILY Journal newspaper reported that Hutchinson got a unanimous vote of support over two other officials – one of whom is a member of the Will County Board. Officials claim that Hutchinson’s knowledge of the Statehouse Scene is what gave her the edge.

In one respect, the suburban and rural folks are a notch ahead of their city-based political counterparts. Halvorson formally resigned her state Senate seat on Monday, and a replacement was picked promptly.

Hutchinson literally took the oath that made her state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, by noon of the same day.

Approving a replacement so quickly provides a sense of confidence for the residents of that legislative district, in that they know there was no gap in political representation and that the local officials who pick the replacement had a sense of what they were doing.

BY COMPARISON, THE rest of us are living in a clueless era.

All of Illinois has no clue who its junior senator will be. And those people who live in the Illinois 5th Congressional know they have some dozen or so people who want to represent them in Congress.

But president-elect chief of staff Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to promptly resign his seat in Congress created a situation where nothing could be done to fill the vacancy.

Seriously, we have known for two months that a new member of Congress from Chicago was needed. Yet it is only now that the dates are being set for special elections.

IT IS BECAUSE of that delay that there will be some extra expense in coordinating the campaigns.

For 2009 in Cook County, elections are being held Feb. 24 and April 7. Those elections will be dominated by suburban communities that will be picking their local mayors/village presidents, along with clerks and trustees/aldermen.

Had Emanuel acted promptly (instead of behaving in a manner that gave the appearance he was scheming to keep his congressional post along with his White House job), it would have been possible to hold the special elections on those same dates.

That would have resulted in a certain convenience for local elections officials who already are gearing up for the casting and counting of ballots on those dates. It would have made Chicago’s wards in the Illinois 5th just a few more election precincts that needed to be counted.

YET THERE ISN’T enough time between now and Feb. 24 to schedule a primary election (which is the one that actually matters, the Cook County GOP isn’t strong enough to actually have a shot at taking that Congressional seat) that will coincide with other elections.

So Chicago and the surrounding suburbs that are included in the Congressional district will have to have their own primary election on March 3.

Those people who think of individual neighborhoods as separate entities and can’t appreciate the big picture will probably not get this. But we’re literally going to get cases of suburbs that will have one set of elections on Feb. 24, then another a week later on March 3, then a final general election on April 7 (which does coincide with the general elections to be held throughout the rest of Cook County).

I’m glad I don’t live in any of those suburban communities to the northwest of Chicago that are in the Illinois 5th Congressional. With that many elections to have to endure, I think I would go batty. I definitely don’t know if I would be in the mood for showing up to cast votes in each and every one of them.

AND THEN PEOPLE wonder why some don’t think it worth the hassle to show up at their polling place to vote. Of course, compared to the mess that has become the replacement process for a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois, it is downright coordinated.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich scheduled the dates for the Illinois 5th Congressional elections without hassle from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, unlike the legal battle that White instigated when he refused to certify the proclamation making Blagojevich’s choice of Burris official.

White claims that his approval of documents setting election dates is just a bureaucratic procedure. Some would argue that all he was asked to do with regards to a Senate proclamation was engage in the same act of bureaucracy.

But that would be too easy. It is what allowed officials on Capitol Hill to turn away Burris on Monday. How hard-line an approach Congressional leaders continue to take with Burris will provide the political “entertainment” of coming days – much to the embarrassment of Illinois.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Officials in the south suburbs acted promptly in filling a political vacancy (http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=433459). It’s too bad their counterparts in other parts of Illinois couldn’t learn from their example.

Chicago elections officials will have to spend about $3.8 million this year to accommodate the special elections needed to pick a new member of Congress (http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003002877) from the Northwest Side.

No matter what Pat Quinn or other Illinois officials eager to impeach the governor want to believe, Rod Blagojevich (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-illinois-governor-quinn,0,7501589.story) is not the only reason Illinois has become an “international laughingstock.”

A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Cardinals’ win reminiscent of ‘47 champs

I can’t help but notice the rhetorical hype used in sports stories all weekend reporting the fact that that Arizona Cardinals football team managed Saturday to win their first home field “playoff” game since 1947.

What it really means is that the Cardinals have been so awful during their time in the greater Phoenix area that this is their first playoff victory at home ever. For that 1947 game constantly referred to wasn’t really a playoff game.

IT WAS A National Football League championship game when the Cardinals franchise (one of the oldest in the NFL) won its only league title ever. And those were back in the days when the White Sox weren’t the only team that “marketed” itself as representing Chicago’s South Side.

It was Dec. 28, 1947, when the Chicago Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21, with Cardinals players wearing tennis shoes to help them cope with the frozen and tattered turf of Comiskey Park – the same site that now provides parking for White Sox fans attending games at U.S. Cellular Field.

All four Cardinals touchdowns came on long runs of 44, 70, 70 and 75 yards.

I wonder at times if people remember that Chicago used to be a two-team town in the NFL, or if they think it is the natural order of things for us to get “stupid” for the Bears. The Cardinals were one of the league’s original teams and were in Chicago for four decades.

OF COURSE, DURING that time span, they only won that one championship in 1947. They’re the football equivalent of the St. Louis Browns, the major league baseball team whose only league title came in 1944 during the Second World War. Only the Cardinals never employed the equivalent of a dwarf or a one-armed outfielder, like the Browns did.

Compared to the nine championships the Chicago Bears took during those same years, it was no wonder that the Cardinals suffered from attendance deficits that caused their owners to eventually look to other cities – St. Louis, then the Phoenix area.

Not that the old owners ever gave up the team. The Bidwell family that continues to own Sportsmans’ Park ran the team back in that championship year of ’47, and still has the football team to this day, where it plays in a new stadium in Glendale, Ariz., the same city where the White Sox plan to shift their spring training operations for future years.

What else was noteworthy about the news in recent days?

WHO’S PLAYING WHAT GAME WITH RACE?: Is the U.S. Senate really in the hands of a man who thinks black people are unelectable? That is the impression the Chicago Sun-Times tried to create with its Sunday paper editions illustrated with a doctored photograph of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., holding up a list of names, with those of black people crossed out.

Or is Gov. Rod Blagojevich giving reporter-types an overly selective interpretation of the conversations the two men had last week about what (if anything) Blagojevich should do to try to fill the Senate vacancy created by Barack Obama’s rise to president.

The odd part is that I have no problem believing both interpretations, even though Reid used a "Meet the Press" appearance Sunday to backpedal from such statements. It certainly wouldn’t be out of character for Blagojevich to twist the conversation the two had by telephone into a tall tale meant to make him appear sympathetic. Ever since the criminal complaint issued nearly a month ago, Rod needs all the “love” he can find.

Yet the fact that some would automatically look at a list of Illinois political people and presume the Anglos on the list are more appealing to the state’s electorate is not out of character. It is evidence that we as a society are not yet at the point where race ceases to be a factor – despite those who want to believe the election of Obama is the end of the civil rights battle.

REPLACING THE REPLACEMENT SYSTEM: Rep.-elect Debbie D. Halvorson, D-Ill., is leaving the Illinois Senate, and the local party bigwigs in the south suburbs down to Kankakee will gather Monday to pick her legislative replacement.

Among those in the running for the post in Springfield are Halvorson’s former chief of staff and a member of the Will County board. This replacement is about as close as we will come to filling any political vacancies these days.

We’re still waiting for dates to be scheduled for special elections to pick a replacement for Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., who became President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff. Then, there’s always the need for a replacement for Obama himself in the U.S. Senate. According to Illinois law, the governor addresses those issues.

But Rod Blagojevich still has people worked up with his attempt to replace Obama, and I don’t know how would-be Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., will actually be received in Washington when he shows up this week. The only thing I know for sure is that the public will have another outcry of disgust if Blagojevich proceeds with his duties to schedule election dates. So we’re going to have quite a few vacancies in this state for some time.

“SOUTH SIDE” CELEBRATION FOR D.C. EVENT: The banquet hall that has been the site of many wedding receptions and other public events will be the site for celebration for those who want to bask in the glow of Barack Obama becoming president, yet are too cheap to travel to Washington for the inauguration.

Coordinators of the Jan. 20 evening event at the Alsip-based Condesa del Mar say they expect about 1,000 people to show up for their Chicago-area Inauguration Night party.

Don’t expect to be able to just wander in off the street. Tickets are being sold, with the cheapest “seats” going for $90. And for that price, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to see anything on the video screens being erected that are meant to give people a sense of what is happening in Washington while they’re partying (http://www.obamachicagoball.com/) in suburban Chicago.

And yes, there will be vendors peddling all the Obama-related merchandise one could want – for a fee.

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ROLAND, ROLAND, ROLAND: Booting Burris based on batch of technicalities

A lot of people want to believe that the political effort these days to keep Gov. Rod Blagojevich from naming Roland Burris as Illinois’ junior senator is some moral crusade consisting of righteous behavior against a tyrant who is deserving of every bad thing that happens to him.

I’m sorry, but that (to paraphrase first lady Patti Blagojevich on the state’s proposed Wrigley Field deal) is a bunch of “f*%#@ng s#!t.”

THERE IS VERY little about the political procedures taking place that is legitimate in the sense that it is based on well-tested legal procedures guaranteed to be upheld by a court in the future.

If Illinois political people are successful in their desire to keep Burris from Washington and boot Blagojevich from office (perhaps it’s a good thing he never moved into the Executive Mansion), it will be largely because they could, not because they were right.

Now this commentary is not necessarily meant to be a defense of Milorod or his behavior in office. It is meant more to clarify some misunderstandings many people seem to have about the process that is now taking place.

For example, there’s the fact that the Illinois secretary of state’s office has refused to certify the letter on official (and rather ornate) gubernatorial stationery that was meant to be would-be Sen. Burris’ credential to get into the U.S. Senate chambers when the newly elected body takes office in Washington on Tuesday.

AFTER PUBLICLY ANNOUNCING that he intends to make retired politico (and one-time Illinois attorney general) Burris a senator, Blagojevich went through the ritual of having one of his staffers take the official state document downstairs from his Thompson Center office on the building’s 16th floor down to the 12th floor – where Secretary of State Jesse White maintains his offices.

There, aides to White formally refused to accept the letter. Some people seem to think this means the Illinois secretary of state has the authority to veto gubernatorial appointments.

He does not.

All that was involved with White’s action is that his staff controls the mechanism that applies the state seal (that tough lookin’ eagle that adorns the state flag) to all official documents.

IN SHORT, BLAGOJEVICH could write the letter confirming Burris’ appointment, but without a state seal, it would not be considered “official.” White, in applying the seal, is saying that the document is not a counterfeit. It really was written by the governor and implies the decision that the governor meant to make.

My point in stating this is to say that state law never meant to give Jesse White (or any secretary of state) oversight to who gets gubernatorial appointments.

So it would not be the greatest miscarriage of justice if the Supreme Court of Illinois were to rule that White overstepped his bounds by trying to interfere with Blagojevich’s appointment of Burris to fill the vacancy in the U.S. Senate created when Barack Obama became the first U.S. president from Chicago.

Am I saying Illinois’ high court ought to rule in Burris’ favor with regard to the legal action he filed with that court earlier this week? I’m not sure.

ALL I AM saying is that there could be legitimate legal grounds for Burris to stand upon. People should not let their personal animosity for Blagojevich make them think the lawsuit is nothing more than Burris having a legal temper tantrum.

Then, there’s the activity that likely will take place next week, when Burris arrives on Capitol Hill – only to learn that the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate and the Capitol Police have been instructed to physically bar him from the Senate chambers. The real question will be to determine how close will they let him get to those “hallowed” halls.

All of this will happen because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has made it clear he will take whatever action he can to prevent anyone supported by Blagojevich from becoming the new junior senator from Illinois.

The Senate does have limited powers to refuse to seat someone in their ranks. But most of the past incidents where such authority has been used (not since 1946, and most were in the early 19th Century) was due to questions over whether the would-be senator had legitimately won his election to the Senate.

THE IDEA WAS that the Senate did not want to appear to be siding with one person when an election challenge was still pending.

But strictly speaking, Illinois law is clear about picking a replacement senator to finish off the remaining two years of Obama’s term. Blagojevich is the incumbent governor, and he has the legal authority to make the appointment.

He did so, and it is questionable that Reid or the rest of the Senate has any real power to refuse Burris. They may get someone to issue a legal opinion in their favor, but that doesn’t make it truly legitimate.

This is exactly why I always thought the political powers-that-be of Illinois should have put their full focus on determining how to replace Obama – rather than trying to figure out how to punish Blagojevich.

I HAVE RECEIVED my fair share of e-mails from people telling me I am being small-minded, and that there is no harm in Illinois going short-staffed in its Congressional representation for part of 2009.

I say there is, and the current circumstances are exactly why.

If the Illinois General Assembly had decided promptly to have a special election, or to require the Legislature to “advise and consent” on any Blagojevich appointment, or to require Blagojevich to turn over authority to someone else (most likely Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn) to pick an Obama replacement, it would have eliminated the current circumstance.

Blagojevich would not be able to accurately claim that he has a legal responsibility to make the appointment (and could be impeached for refusing to do so).

WE, THE ELECTORATE of Illinois, would have a clue as to how an Obama replacement would be chosen (even if we didn’t know exactly who would get the appointment).

Instead, we have the current situation, where the lack of prompt action by the Legislature to figure out how to pick a senator may have given Blagojevich the technical grounds to proceed as he did. The real embarrassment to Illinois in all of this is that the uncertainty is the fault of the General Assembly – not Blagojevich.

Legislators who are obsessed with the “Impeach Blagojevich” theme need to realize that real punishment for Gov. Milorod will come from the U.S. District Court. It should have been the legislative responsibility to ensure that Blagojevich’s legal predicament did not interfere with the business of state government.

Instead, their behavior is ensuring that state government will be perpetually tied up in knots due to our goofball of a governor.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The head of the sergeant-at-arms who will be in charge of restricting Roland Burris’ entry into the Senate chambers (http://www.nwi.com/articles/2009/01/02/ap/headlines/d95f8nbo0.txt) is the same official who was director of the Illinois State Police back when Burris was attorney general.

Burris' ego not limited to his tomb

It is with some amusement that I read about political observers in other parts of the United States being awestruck at the ego of would-be Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., in that he already has erected a tomb for himself and wife Burlean at Oak Woods Cemetery.

For those of us who pay attention to Chicago political people, we have long known of the tomb, which includes a sizable monument detailing all of Burris’ political achievements and “firsts” – and a bench so that people can sit in comfort while taking in the grandeur of all that was Roland Burris.

IF, SOME 10,000 years from now an archeologist stumbles across the site of what was once Chicago and finds Burris’ remains, it is going to be apparent that this was a person of some significance during his life.

Either that, or Roland believes his gravesite is going to be a tourist attraction for the Chicago of the future, just like Graceland is in Memphis.

I use the word “amusement” to describe my reaction to the shock outsiders feel because I have always known that Burris was a political person with an ego.

But anybody who thinks enough of himself to run for public office and think they have enough intelligence to make decisions on behalf of the people is going to be more ego-driven than most people. In short, Burris is far from the most ego-bloated political person in existence.

I DON’T EVEN think the tomb is the most outrageous example of Burris’ feelings toward his self-importance. I have always thought his children were a bigger example.

I still recall an early 1990s press conference held by then-Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris at the then-named State of Illinois Center. Burris was “talkin’ tough” about the credit-reporting agencies and how he thought their carelessness was causing people to suffer because of erroneous information driving down their credit reports.

Burris said he was determined to use his post to penalize the agencies for their mistakes.

And as an example of how bad the problem of erroneous information truly was, Burris let us see his own credit reports. They had taken hits because of instances where negative financial data belonging to his son and daughter managed to creep over onto his report.

OF COURSE, WHEN you name your son “Roland Jr.” and your daughter “Rolanda,” it might cause some credit-reporting agency bureaucrats to assume that a mistake was made in entering information into a computer, and that it all is one person.

Now I don’t mean to mock Roland Jr. or Rolanda. I’m sure both of them have received enough grief during their lifetimes, and I don’t want to pile up on it.

But it takes the ultimate in ego to think all of your children need to be named after you. At least in the case of boxer George Foreman and his five sons named George, we can think that perhaps he suffered a harsh blow to the head that caused him to have a lapse in judgment.

But when you consider that, then how can such a gaudy tomb be considered absurd. The only think that surprises me is that Burris did not have a larger structure erected – one that would make it possible for people to be charged admission so they could say they were in the presence of Roland’s earthly remains.

BESIDES THE TOMB is about as elaborate as the mausoleum in which Harold Washington’s remains are kept. That tomb informs anyone in its presence that the man inside was a former Chicago mayor, member of Congress AND state legislator – in case anyone didn’t know.

Washington’s tomb at the very same cemetery sometimes attracts the curious.

I’m sure Roland (the banker who became the first African-American elected to an Illinois state constitutional post – comptroller, then attorney general) thinks he’s just as worthy of public remembrance as Harold.

The ironic thing is that not even Burris’ choice of names for his children is unheard of in Chicago political circles.

TAKE THE LATE Cecil Partee, who was the first African-American to serve as Illinois Senate president, then became Chicago city treasurer and retired from politics after a stint as Cook County state’s attorney. He and wife Paris never had sons. Their daughters got the names “Cecile” and “Paris.”

Does this mean the Partee and Burris kids can commiserate? Or is it no different than George H. Ryan, Jr.? Or any of the Adlai Stevensons who followed the one-time Illinois governor-turned-presidential candidate and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations?

And for those people who think all of this makes Burris an absurd figure, I can’t help but wonder what they’d think if they knew about Burris’ “theme” music (unofficial, of course).

It was the theme from the old television show “Rawhide” (for a younger generation, it’s the song that the Blues Brothers band played at the bar that had “both types” of music, “country and western”), with the opening line “Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’,” changed to “Roland, Roland, Roland.” I remember a judicial group once endorsing Burris for attorney general by having press conference where a group of judges sang the song.

BURRIS LOVED IT so much that he encouraged its use, even after his political career was reduced from being a government official to being a token candidate for Chicago mayor and Illinois governor.

But in all honesty, that gaudy gimmick was what initially popped into my mind when I first learned Tuesday that Rod Blagojevich was likely to pick Burris for a U.S. Senate seat.

Only an egomaniac comes to think of an old TV jingle as his “theme music.” That sense of self-importance is also the answer to the question, “Why would Burris accept an appointment from Blagojevich?” that is being asked by many people.

Considering that Burris has been out of office for 14 years, has run several unsuccessful campaigns but still has space atop the list of achievements on his tomb, he wants a topping line. A couple of years in the Senate would give him that.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: The tombs of Roland Burris (http://flickr.com/photos/southbound_07/2750018934/) and Harold Washington (http://cuip.uchicago.edu/schools/nkocs/AAH/haroldwashington.html) both adorn the same cemetery on Chicago’s South Side.

This is one of the most respectful pieces written recently about Burris’ tomb (http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/12/rip-burriss-tom.html). Other websites have been more sarcastic.

EXTRA: From 3-1, to 6-4 at final

Steve Dahl may be an unemployed radio host these days (http://twitter.com/SteveDahlShow), but he has a possible point about Wrigley Field. Either that, or the Red Wings are just a better team.

Aside from that observation, I stand by my previously posted commentary about Thursday’s game.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Despite the hype, Thursday’s game is nothing more than a (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-090101-chicago-blackhawks-winter-classic,0,2404554.story) regular-season loss (http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/1357878,CST-SPT-hawk01.article) from which the Blackhawks will (hopefully) soon rebound.

One thing I’ll say for the Chicago Blackhawks; they have the best theme song of any (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPBw45ETm7o) Chicago sports franchise – even better than “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.”

Blackhawks gain national attention, but outdoor hockey still a cheap stunt

Perhaps it is the ultimate evidence of how low the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team had sunk in the early years of the 21st Century.

A team that is one of the National Hockey League’s “Original Six” and has been a part of Chicago’s sporting scene since 1926 is having to rely on the novelty of playing a hockey match outdoors, and is trying to pass the event off as some major event in the history of Chicago.

NOW I CAN appreciate this is a novelty.

The idea of placing an ice rink on the grass and infield dirt of Wrigley Field so that roughly 40,000 people can watch the Blackhawks take on their rival Detroit Red Wings is something that likely will never happen again – just like the Chicago Bears once played a football game many decades ago in the same arena where the Blackhawks used to play.

But the reality is that football game was played on an off-sized football grid, and this hockey match will take place in an outdoor stadium whose seats were in no way configured to accommodate a hockey rink.

Just about everybody who braves the winter elements (even if they remain as mild at game time Thursday as they have been in recent days) is going to get a terrible view of the ice.

EITHER THE ANGLE of the seat will be all wrong, or there will be one of those posts (the bane of any baseball fan who watches a game in an old stadium) blocking the view.

Considering the fact that the game did manage to sell out, people who are still trying to get seats will wind up paying exorbitant fees to get into Wrigley Field.

This will really be one occasion where a sports fan would be better off watching the game on television (to be broadcast via WMAQ-TV and NBC affiliates across the country). That way, you will be able to see what is really happening.

When I look at the photographs and diagrams depicting how Wrigley Field is being used to accommodate a hockey rink, I can’t help but think there will be thousands of people who will be able to say “I was there” for the game, but can’t tell you a thing about what happened because they couldn’t see it.

I’M ALSO SKEPTICAL of those people who claim that the staging of this event will give Chicago a rehearsal, of sorts, for the city’s dreams of hosting the summer Olympic games in 2016. It’s not a rehearsal any more than any Cubs or White Sox game would be during the summer months.

I can’t help but think many of us in Chicago are making ourselves look like rubes by getting that worked up over Thursday’s game – which is important to the Blackhawks in that they need a victory over Detroit if they’re to claim that the Red Wings didn’t walk all over them this season.

Aside from that, I don’t see the significance of what could turn out to be a badly-played game on a makeshift ice rink in a building whose seating configuration was so awkward that no one could see what was happening.

Now I will be the first to admit, I have only been to one professional hockey game in my life, and that was several decades ago when I saw the old Chicago Cougars of the now-defunct World Hockey Association play at the now-demolished International Amphitheater.

SO I’M NOT the hard-core hockey junkie who might think that the game played under any circumstances is worth watching.

But much of the hype being tossed on this particular game (which is part of an NHL stunt to make professional hockey in this country seem larger-than-life by playing occasional matches in huge outdoor stadiums) just strikes me as overkill.

Learning from broadcast reports that the Zamboni machine that keeps the ice smooth tipped over upon its arrival at Wrigley Field struck me as journalistic overkill.

Hearing people try to claim that this is the first hockey match played in a baseball park strikes me as being about as relevant as those sports broadcasters who inform us that a ballplayer’s bunt single is the first of the season by a left-handed hitter in the third inning of a Tuesday afternoon baseball game.

BESIDES, THE ARENA in which the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays play was once configured for hockey and was the home stadium of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In fact, about the only aspect of this match that particularly interests me is the team the Blackhawks will play.

Detroit vs. Chicago in any sport always has the potential for an intriguing match-up. There is enough rivalry among the sports fans of the two cities (only about a four-hour drive from each other) that the hardcore fans will care about the game, regardless of the surroundings.

Also, one must consider that both cities have old-line professional hockey teams. Let’s just say that Blackhawks vs. Red Wings sounds a lot more interesting than (Phoenix) Coyotes vs. (Anaheim, Calif.) Ducks.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Richard M. Daley is caught up in the hype surrounding Thursday’s (http://www.suntimes.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/1344482,CST-SPT-wint23.article) outdoor match between the Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings.

The Chicago Tribune managed to offend many of its Internet-based readers (read the comments section) with this story (http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/chi-31-winter-classic-blackhawks-chidec3,0,1637386.story) that tells the hockey-clueless just what the sport is about.

Am I the only one who sees something eerie about a sports team that hasn’t won its championship since 1961 (the Blackhawks and the Stanley Cup) playing a match on the (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3798186&sportCat=nhl) field of the Chicago team with the longest championship draught?