Trophy for bragging rights? How lame!

I used to think that the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk was just about the lamest athletic trophy in existence.

It was the token given to the winner each year of the football game played between Northwestern University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. That strikes me as getting all worked up over which team finishes 10th place and which one winds up in 11th place in the Big Ten Conference.

WHOOP-DEE-DO!

Of course, we no longer have the tomahawk, which was retired a couple of years ago after more than a half-century of service. We now get the Land of Lincoln Trophy, which replaced the tomahawk in terms of lameness – at least until this week.

For now, we local sports fans can get ourselves worked up into an athletic frenzy over the very notion of the BP Crosstown Cup.

The what?!???

I WISH I were kidding. But that is the new prize announced Monday that will be given to the Chicago professional baseball team that manages to win the most games in head-to-head competition each season.

In short, we’re talking about the City Series, the Crosstown Classic, the Sox versus Flubs, or whatever tag you use to describe those six games each year (out of 162 overall) when the Chicago White Sox take on the Chicago Cubs.

The Chicago Tribune used its website Monday to report about the creation of the cup, which supposedly will be a three-foot-tall trophy that will be given to the team that wins the most games each season. If, by chance, each team manages to win three games (which does happen quite often), then there will supposedly be tie-breaker factors meant to put one ballclub ahead of the other.

In short, we’re now going to get the sight of an official trophy presentation each year – even in years when both of Chicago’s ballclubs are managing to stink up the joint even moreso than the Union Stockyards ever did and there isn’t anything else to brag about.

THAT COULD VERY well be this season, since the White Sox who some think have a shot to contend for a division title and playoff spot were as of Monday the team with a record of 8-11. Shut up, Cubs fans. Your preferred ballclub was only one game better at 9-10.

Excuse me for thinking this is too gimicky to take seriously. The whole idea of a serious athletic rivalry is that it happens, and usually is long-lasting enough that it can span across generations.

Trying to jump-start it by creation of trophies or other nonsensical rhetoric is little more than absurd.

If anything, Sox/Cubs is one of those aspects of our Chicago society, tying in closely with the whole South Side versus North Side that does determine a lot of our cultural aspects (I have known people who consider themselves devoted Chicagoans who have never set foot south of Roosevelt Road or north of Fullerton Avenue (and then only to check out DePaul University as a possible college to attend, before determining the place to be too “North Side-ish” to consider).

EVEN IN THE cases of people living outside the respective ballclub’s “region,” it usually becomes a sign that a person wants to adopt some sort of sympathy with the other.

Northwest Siders rooting for the Sox are merely displaced South Siders, while Southwest Siders rooting for the Cubs are self-hating nitwits (just kidding, they’re merely lost, and deserve our sympathy for being so misguided).

This kind of thing can’t be bolstered with a “Cup,” which I’m sure will wind up becoming the subject of ridicule by fans of both ballclubs. Could that be the reason that the cup’s creation was announced without a mockup of what it could possibly look like?

Somebody knew that hard-core Sox fans would find something to mock about it, no matter what it looks like.

THESE ARE THE people, after all, who took to calling their favorite ballclub’s stadium, “The Cell” (as in prison) because they didn’t want to have to continually give reference to the corporate entity that back in 2003 bought the naming rights to the building – which, surprisingly, remains in business, so the structure at 35th Street and Bill Veeck Drive hasn’t gone through multi-corporate names during its two decades of existence.

Which is why I find it hilarious that even the new cup that supposedly will pay tribute to the winner of Sox/Cubs each year has a corporate name.

For the record, it is the one-time British Petroleum Co., whose green-and-yellow BP signs can be seen on non-discount gas stations throughout the Chicago area. So now, we can say that the best of Chicago baseball each year gives us gas.

Somehow, that seems all to appropriate – particularly for the South Side ballclub that some people are still holding out hope can turn things around and not be completely embarrassing (that’s what kind of thoughts a three-game sweep against Seattle will put in one’s head).

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EDITOR’S NOTES: June 11-13 at Wrigley Field, and June 25-27 at U.S. Cellular Field. That is when too many baseball fans will be overserved, and when our city’s two century-plus ballclubs will act as though they are in some sort of collegiate rivalry.

EXTRA: Palin comes (barely) to Cook Co.

It looks like I have to take back a wisecrack I made about a week ago, one where I implied that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wouldn’t have the nerve to set foot in Chicago and probably would’t come any closer to our “Paradise on Earth” than her recent visit to Washington, Ill.

For it seems that the Illinois Republican Party is getting the divisive politico (be honest, do you know anyone who is apathetic about “that woman?”) to agree to make an appearance at a May 12 fundraiser to be held at the Westin O’Hare in Rosemont.

THAT MEANS PALIN will be in Cook County, at least for a couple of hours that night. She even will wind up setting foot briefly in Chicago proper, since I would guess she will arrive at our fine metropolitan area through O’Hare International Airport – which is just a few minutes away from that particular hotel.

Of course, I can’t see her venturing any further into the Second City than necessary – even though the 41st Ward that technically includes the airport is the one that historically has been willing to pick political officials of the GOP in Democratic stronghold Chicago.

Not that I expect to know anybody who will attend. This fundraiser has a $500 per ticket cost ($750 per couples) – if you want to be a tightwad and get the cheap admission with no access. Anybody who wants a picture taken with Palin (or, Heaven forbid, actual physical access and a chance to say “hi”) will have to pay significantly more.

Excuse me for thinking that I have better ways to spend my limited funds these days.

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Are we Cook Co. voters in for the ‘Battle of the Independents’ this election cycle?

I can think of one person who will be absolutely disgusted at the notion of Scott Lee Cohen trying to revamp his political reputation by running a candidacy for electoral office independent of the political parties.

That person would be Forrest Claypool – who himself is running an independent campaign for electoral office come the Nov. 2 elections.

I’M SURE THERE is a part of Claypool who wanted to claim that his independence of any political party in his bid to become Cook County assessor made him high-minded and worthy of our respect. The ultimate goo-goo who would lead a “revolution” of sorts against the Democratic Party hacks and the conservative ideologues who have taken over the Republican Party.

The problem is that Cohen is now also talking about taking the “independent” route – deciding he wants to use it to challenge Gov. Pat Quinn and GOP nominee William Brady.

If he couldn’t have the Democratic Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor, he’s willing to muck up the chances of the two major party nominees who are seeking the office of governor.

Which means we have someone who seems to be more interested in messing with the political people who didn’t back him when he legitimately won the Democratic lieutenant governor nomination.. He may even get a chance to rehabilitate somewhat his reputation – which causes many Illinois residents these days to think of him as nothing more than a pawnbroker or a deadbeat who owes his ex-wife alimony.

WHAT I THINK will happen is that Cohen will add a third label to himself – the highest-profile candidate who made absolutely NO impact on a campaign season.

It also will mess with Claypool in that people will think of the two as an informal pairing of sorts – which will make it harder for the outgoing Cook County Board member to take the high road. Too many people will view them as a pair of political people who didn’t have what it takes to run in the regular elections, so they’re trying to slip into office through the back door – so to speak.

Perhaps I am just a bit cynical, but I would think that if Claypool were serious about wanting to be the county assessor (the office that collects all those property taxes that homeowners pay every year and that local governments and schools rely upon to fund their existence), he would have sought a Democratic nomination during the primary season.

Instead, we got Board of Review Commissioner Joe Berrios managing to win the nomination to replace retiring Assessor James Houlihan – despite the views of many political observers that he is exactly the kind of political party establishment type whom voters are inclined to reject in what some see as a “non-incumbent” trend.

COULD IT BE that Claypool, who tried four years ago to become county board President, became wearied of the electoral process that he’s looking for a short-cut of sorts to get into office? If that is the case, then his “independent” bid ought to be enough reason to vote against him – no matter what one thinks of Berrios.

My guess is that he thinks he has better name recognition than Berrios among Cook County voters, and could thus have a chance of actually winning that campaign.

I have always viewed the wear and tear of going through a political campaign (even enduring the more stupid and trivial moments) as a test of sorts to see how qualified someone is for electoral office. It seems to me that Claypool is trying to short-circuit that process.

I’m only glad that he is not trying to use a short-cut to run against county board President nominees Toni Preckwinkle or Roger Keats. That kind of election would result in his downfall, and rightfully so.

SO WHEN CLAYPOOL – who once was one of the many chiefs of staff who have worked for Mayor Richard M. Daley – tries to portray himself as the ultimate good-government type, I am going to be a bit cynical. As far as I’m concerned, his campaign will be closer in character to that of Cohen than it will be anything even remotely Obama-esque.

As for Cohen, I see his campaign as being little more than creating an alternate “final act” than the one he gave us – that of him bursting into tears while announcing he was withdrawing from the lieutenant governor campaign. That resignation took on a taint of tawdriness as many were offended that he would make the announcement in a tavern (on Super Bowl Sunday) with his young son at his side.

Instead, he wants to take “high-minded” stances on issues, and perhaps give us more of the “job creation” rhetoric that (along with the $2 million of his own money that he spent on campaign advertising) led to his Democratic primary victory.

Some might think he will hurt Democrat Quinn. I doubt it. I think the people who are inclined to not vote for Quinn have already made up their mind to find someone else to cast a ballot for.

NOT THAT I’M saying he’s going to take down the Brady campaign. I think many of the ideologues who are inclined to want to back that campaign are going to take one look at Cohen and be incredibly repulsed.

In short, I don’t think Cohen will have much of an effect on this election cycle. He could wind up being the most prominent candidate ever in Illinois politics who barely gets 1 percent of the vote.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: This is the way Forrest Claypool views himself, while this is how many potential voters view him.

Republicans want to fantasize about Scott Lee Cohen becoming a serious campaign issue, even though he’s more likely to remain an afterthought in this year's gubernatorial campaign.

Hard to feel sorry for Alexi or Bill

Political observers watching Illinois are getting all worked up over the fact that Democratic Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias’ family business officially went under on Friday. Yet a part of me is more offended at the way in which Republican gubernatorial nominee William Brady is trying to make it appear that he’s being open about his own finances.

Friday was the day that the FDIC officially shut down the Edgewater neighborhood’s Broadway Bank, which was unable to come up with $85 million to cover its financial obligations. The bank, when it opens Saturday, will be a branch of M.B. Financial Bank.

PEOPLE WITH ACCOUNTS and deposits there will not lose their money, on account of the guarantees the federal government provides in such situations involving failing banks.

But it adds to the image of Giannoulias, whose father founded the bank that is currently run by his older brother, Demitris, as just another greedy business type whose failings wind up getting bailed out by the taxpayer. In short, the political partisans will say, we wind up paying in order to ensure that the Giannoulias family isn’t bankrupted personally by this situation.

Now I’m not about to go on the defense for Giannoulias. He’s a big boy, and he and his campaign staff had better be capable of getting themselves through this situation. After all, being a United States senator would place him in equally pressured situations.

If anything, his handling of this “crisis” may very well show us once and for all whether he has what it takes to be in such a prominent political position.

BUT THERE IS a part of me that can’t help but think that much of the “outrage” expressed about Giannoulias whenever the subject of the family “bank” comes up is so phony. People whose partisan beliefs are such that they were going to express outrage about Alexi no matter what he had done or what the circumstances are.

Even if his bank were doing well financially, they’d likely be equally outraged and claim that somehow being a “banker” made him incapable of identifying with the public. Of course, many of these same people didn’t have any qualms about voting for a “banker” for the U.S. Senate in 1998 when Peter Fitzgerald was the Republican nominee for that post.

But Fitzgerald was willing to give them the partisan rhetoric they wanted to hear on social issues (abortion, gay rights,etc.), while Giannoulias is not.

I can think of one positive from this. Insofar as the campaign is concerned, I hope Giannoulias realizes he has to quit talking about his family bank as though it were just a tiny business.

TO LISTEN TO Giannoulias during this campaign, you’d think Broadway Bank was a family-run Greek restaurant – almost as though we could walk in, see a mural on the wall incorporating the Parthenon and order the “Greek chicken” while watching Alexi himself work the cash register.

Perhaps now we can get a more honest accounting of what occurred at Broadway Bank, rather than the constant string of “organized crime” tales that the Republican partisans are eager to spread.

What is really going on here is a bad economy that is hurting many business interests, including the Giannoulias “family business.” Broadway Bank was not the only Chicago-area bank to be closed on Friday, nor was it the biggest. I’m not saying I feel sorry for bankers or for Giannoulias. But I do realize it is ridiculous to demonize them.

I also wonder if Fitzgerald himself feels fortunate that his family sold their suburban Chicago chain of banks way back in 1994 – providing the family with its wealth and putting Peter in a position where he doesn’t have to worry if something will go wrong and his “bank” will be the next to fail.

BUT LIKE I wrote earlier, I am more offended at the way in which Bill Brady conducted himself on Friday. For after realizing that his refusal to provide the basic financial information about himself by releasing his income tax returns (a standard act for aspiring political types) was making him look like a fool, he decided to act in ways meant to create the illusion that he was being open.

If it seems to you like I’m implying we know where Giannoulias stands while we don’t have a full picture of Brady, you’d be correct.

I think that because of the conditions that got placed on Brady’s announcement. It was by one of those telephone conference calls, and restrictions were placed on the number of people who could call in. That is a condition I have never heard applied before.

In all fairness, the Illinois Republican Party sent an e-mail informing me of the telephone number to call if I wanted to have a chance at being one of the “few” to be able to talk with Brady’s attorney (not Brady himself). Of course, I didn’t get it until after the event began. So it was a moot point.

SO I HAVE to settle for the written summary put together by the Republican partisans, where we learn that Brady paid no taxes to the federal or state governments in 2008, and only paid taxes to the state in 2009.

We also learn his adjusted gross income was only one-quarter of the level it was at in 2004 and 2005, which Brady says is because his own business interests have faced economic troubles. Of course, Brady tries to spin this by saying he had to put employees out of work as his business interests shrank.

Excuse me for not being swayed. That line of “spin” strikes me as being the equivalent of Alexi portraying the bank as being yet another family business going broke. There is something about this handling that strikes me as being too secretive. Most political people write up the press release and include a copy of the return, and leave it at that. Nice and simple.

By going to such extremes to control the release of this information, Brady has made such a bigger deal out of this than it ever should have become. That really does bother me as much as, if not more than, anything that happened on Friday on North Broadway.

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Oops!?!

Perhaps it is a sign that I am not technologically curious, but I never would have thought to search for what turned out to be a glitch that makes public many details that federal prosecutors wanted to keep secret in the criminal case of Rod Blagojevich.

Attorneys for the former Illinois governor on Thursday filed the paperwork requesting that President Barack Obama be subpoenaed so as to force him to appear for the defense at Blagojevich’s trial – likely to take place this summer and fall.

WHEN THE U.S. attorney’s office made copies of the motion public, prosecutors went so far as to “black out” several portions so as to make them unreadable. The document includes allegations related to Blagojevich’s criminal case, and claims of why Obama himself would have personal knowledge that would be considered relevant.

Because these are allegations and not fact, they could be considered damaging to personal reputations.

But anybody is now capable of reading these things because of a glitch I don’t quite understand (although I am sure there are technologically-oriented people who could explain it to me in great detail).

But try calling up the document, then defining it and copying the content into a Microsoft Word document. I did just that, and all of a sudden, all of that blanked out copy turned into bold-faced type.

I CAN NOW read every word, including the parts that the U.S. attorney’s office didn’t want me (or anyone) to see. I know I am not alone in doing this, because I became aware of this glitch by reading the website affiliated with the Capitol Fax newsletter.

I am sure that many hundreds of the newsletter’s readers will do exactly what I did, and they are probably scouring every hidden word for all the little tidbits, which Capitol Fax publisher Rich Miller describes on his site as, “the most explosive allegations.”

I am not about to go through what the content was of those blacked-out provisiions of the document that anyone can now read, mainly because anyone who truly cares can “read all about it” elsewhere – and probably from someone who will put their preferred political “spin” on the material instead of my preference, which would be a more rational analysis.

But this moment is going to stick in my mind because it is such a gaffe for “the feds.” What good is it going to do them to “black out” portions of the material when any amateur can undo their “editing” on any computer?

THE QUESTION I have is whether or not someone will wind up losing their job because of this – or will a mere suspension suffice as punishment for the federal employee who is supposed to understand computer technology enough to do such editing, yet couldn’t figure out that the redacting could be undone so easily?

In my time as a reporter-type person, I have come across the occasional gaffe by law enforcement types while in the comission of their jobs. It happens. But none seem so clumsy or awkward as this moment.

This moment alone will put the Blagojevich trial in the ranks of one of the most unusual political corruption cases ever held in Chicago. I’m only hoping that this gaffe doesn’t somehow get construed as tainting the case to the point where any resulting verdict gets overturned – and we would wind up having to go through this whole prosecutorial circus all over again.

Not that I expect Blagojevich would have any problem doing a repeat. Turning these proceedings into a raucous mess would work to his advantage. Anything bizarre might have the effect of making Blagojevich’s behavior during his six years as Illinois governor appear to be the norm – particularly if that jury (likely) will get filled with people whose intellectual curiousity is such that they go out of their way to ignore the activity of state government.

AFTER ALL, MAKING things bizarre is why one would want to drag Obama to the Dirksen Building to be put on the stand and have to testify about what he knew – particularly related to the activities in Illinois to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

Make this a case about Obama, and Blagojevich becomes irrelevant and acquitable. If the prosecutors get their way and are able to zero in on Milorod and define on their own terms what is (and is not) appropriate, then Blagojevich goes down – along with his brother and all the other people facing criminal charges in this case.

If anything, Rob Blagojevich is the one I sort of feel sorry for. He is going to have to go through a trial with his brother and will be such a minute part of the case, yet in the end he probably will be regarded in public as being an equal.

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EDITOR’S NOTES: Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy. Those are the presidents named by Rod Blagojevich as having been defendants in civil cases prior to becoming president. Which attorneys for Rod Blagojevich say justifies their dragging Barack Obama into court to testify in their client’s criminal case.

I stand by my past thoughts that there is nothing Obama could contribute to this criminal case, other than turning the proceedings into a legal freak show.

Roland rails against virtual Wall

Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., is keeping himself busy this week, using his participation in a Senate committee hearing to question whether or not the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on a “virtual wall” along the U.S./Mexico border has been a waste.

Burris and Sen Joe Lieberman of Connecticut were the two most outspoken critics in Washington on the issue. It seems Roland wants to do something to get himself noticed for his partial term in Washington.

I WILL CREDIT Burris for showing a little bit of sense on this particular issue, even though I realize he has nothing to lose by speaking out because the rest of his life is going to be spent in retirement back in Chicago.

This site’s sister weblog, The South Chicagoan (http://southchicagoan.blogspot.com/) offers up more details about Burris’ activity.

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EXTRA: Quinn won’t tax downloads

Broken by the Chicago Sun-Times, and killed off by the Chicago Tribune.

At least that is how it appears on the Internet with regards to Gov. Pat Quinn’s suggestion that downloads of pop music and movies (http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2010/04/quinn-backs-off-itunes-tax.html) could be taxed to raise revenue for government.

IT IS NOT the most ridiculous concept in the world. But it is not about to happen. The Tribune reported Thursday (one day after the Sun-Times played it up big on Page One) that Quinn is now saying the idea was merely a suggestion, and not something he’s committed to backing.

So now, we can focus attention on an increase in the state income tax (the subject of a staged rally outside the Statehouse this week that attracted some 15,000 people), which is an idea that will have even less popularity than getting the financial deadbeats who blow all their spare money on iTunes to fork over a few cents per purchase to the state – which is already done in 19 other states.

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