I have sleep apnea. I didn’t think that I did because I never consciously woke up. I knew that I snored like a 747 at take-off which kept The Indignant Wife and Children out of my bedroom (a mixed blessing). But after spending a week in the same room in Disney World last February, my oldest daughter and wife made me promise that I would go to a doctor and have a sleep study.
Well, I stalled for four months, but finally I was called on it, and went and had a sleep study. It was a Friday night, and I went to a medical building, but inside, there were rooms like a modest hotel. The bed was reasonably comfortable; the room had a satellite television, and eventually, I went to sleep.
I won’t go into the night’s travails except that I am now the proud user of a CPAP machine (actually a BiPAP) machine. It sends air into a mask over my nose and mouth and keeps me breathing. It also keeps me from snoring, but every time I put the mask on, I want to sing “Ground Control to Major Tom.” On top of that, I sound like Darth Vader with each inhale and exhale sounding on the machine. Worst of all, when I lie back, I feel like John Hurt in Alien, with the mask over my face and the tube running from the mask to the machine. It has scared the hell out of The Indignant Baby, 9-months old and not sure what to make of Daddy in this get-up.
The machine is supposed to make me rest better, but so far, I have woke up more often to adjust the damn mask. I will get used to it before long, I hope, but I do wonder if something is going to come out of my stomach at breakfast.

While the sale of the cubs is not final, it is obvious that The Tribune Company still owns the underachieving ballclub. Why else would the online Tribune report the following banal situation.
A white flag with a blue “W,” flown when the Cubs win, and is a bone of hatred for White Sox fans, was set on fire last week outside a home in the 700 block of West Bauer Road, in Naperville. The owner reported the incident at 8:30 a.m. July 7, but believes it may have happened around 9 p.m. July 6 because a neighbor told him he smelled smoke then, police said. The owner told police some teenagers driving by earlier in the day made a derogatory comment about the Cubs.
Other than the amusement of us White Sox fans, this is news how? That there are Cub fans who have purchased these stupid flags or the “W” t-shirts” is obvious to all who live here or pay attention to the rivalry between fans of the two teams. Also, it isn’t unusual for White Sox fans to be more demonstrative when they see Cub paraphernalia and do something violent. But it’s not news; just funny.

We have all known people who were on the edge of being fired at any time. To some, it was their own fault – their personality or work habits were deficient. Others just rubbed a boss wrong, and that was always the hardest kind – a good person who does their job, but either coincidence or a very bad malicious boss caused them to walk on eggshells.
Well, I think that may have been how Chicago Blackhawks General Manager Dale Tallon felt. Despite helping to put together a conference finalist after years of mediocrity, Tallon was shockingly fired today, just a couple of days from the annual fan convention.
The reason? The team sent qualifying offers to restricted free agents late, causing them to be delivered after the deadline set by the NHL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Fortunately, the eight players, including Kris Versteeg and Cam Barker, were all quickly signed to contracts, and the NHL Players’ Association withdrew its grievance.
Yes, the snafu may have cost the team some money, but it had room under the salary cap and Versteeg, a finalist for this year’s Calder Cup for best rookie, was going to be rewarded soon anyway.
The winner in all of this is Stan Bowman, the son of legendary NHL coach and current senior adviser for hockey operations Scotty Bowman. There is little that goes on in the Blackhawk organization that does not have the elder Bowman’s stamp on it, and it is apparent that Scotty Bowman was waiting for an opportunity to get his son the big job as he has been with the Hawks’ organization for eight seasons, including the last two as assistant general manager.
Last season’s surprise firing after only 4 regular season games of Hawk legend Denis Savard and his being replaced by Joel Quenneville had Bowman’s hands all over it, especially when the Hall of Fame coach appeared sitting on the dais announcing the firing and hiring. While it appeared that Scotty (“Yoda”) Bowman was going to be a consultant, he wields considerably more power; even more than his son with Rocky Wirtz.
Like Savard, Tallon deserved better. Tallon had been GM of the Hawks since June 21, 2005, and part of the organization for 32 years. Tallon had been a member of the Hawks’ front office since the start of the 1998-99 season, when he was appointed director of player personnel. Before that, he had a 10-year career as a player in the NHL, including a five-year stint with the Hawks from 1973 to ’78. After retiring from the NHL following the 1979-80 season, he served as the Hawks’ color analyst for radio and television broadcasts for 16 seasons.
I am willing to allow the Bowmans to throw Tallon under the bus, but the pressure is definitely higher than ever before. If this team doesn’t win a Stanley Cup within 4 years, the Hawks may be asking Tallon to come back while backing up the truck on the Bowman father-son team.

I regularly go to bookstores and I also visit online bookseller Amazon, and I have been seeing one continuous, disturbing trend over the past few months: almost all the time, “Liberty and Tyranny” by Mark R. Levin has been at the top of the non-fiction best seller lists on The New York Times and on Amazon.
The New York Times describes the book as: “a conservative manifesto from a talk show host and president of Landmark Legal Foundation.” What else is up there? Books from more conservative pundits like Dick Morris and Glenn Beck, and Bill O’Reilly.
What does this say? What does this mean? Do people that read regularly read the conservative propaganda from these uniformly white men? How do we reconcile this with President Obama’s election last November?
I know that many progressives are disappointed with the Obama administration because, despite moving forward on many initiatives, he has been overly cautious in many ways: Gay marriage, health care reform, etc. I haven’t been disappointed because the president did not get 80% of the vote count which would have been an overwhelming affirmation that the country agreed with him. Yes, he moves very cautiously, but because many people in this country are frightened to death of him, of change, he is trying not to make serious mistakes. I understand that.
But what do the constancy of these right-wing tomes on the best-seller list say? Does it say, like they argue, the America is a center-right country? Or do so few non-fiction books sell that a trickle of sales is enough to make these books look like “The DaVinci Code” or “Dark Side of The Moon?”
There was talk that some of these books were being sold en mass to churches and right wing groups, and maybe that explains it. But I firmly believe that the nasty right wing attacks are the death throws of an old, white-dominated United States and this name calling, finger pointing, and foolishness is just preaching to people who refuse to accept the new world order, one with less hatred among groups because there is more interaction, and dare I say it, interbreeding among the races, creeds, cultures, sexes, sexual orientations, etc. These dinosaurs can’t make their way to the tar pits fast enough.

Swim club, Huntington I didn’t get around to this at the end of June/early July when swimming privileges for about 65 children from a Philadelphia area day care center were revoked after one visit to a predominantly white swim club despite the center having paid for it. Some black and Hispanic children said white club members made racist comments to them, asking why black children were there and raising concerns that “they might steal from us.”
The club has been subpoenaed by the state Human Relations Commission, which has begun a fact-finding investigation, but worse, the nationwide press coverage has made this swim club look like the local KKK recruiting office.
So, it wasn’t surprising that the club, also being sued by the day care center, suddenly re-invited the kids to come back to use their pool. Also, it is no surprise that the day care center refused their less-than-generous offer.
The swim club, in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, was originally contracted by the day care center, Creative Steps, to use the pool in return for $1,950, but after one visit, the club canceled the agreement and returned the day care center’s check without explanation. Swim club director John Duesler said last week that safety and crowding, not racism, prompted the cancellation and said that the club had canceled contracts with two other day care centers because of safety and crowding. But day care center workers dispute that claim and the reported comments to the children seem to back a more ominous reality.
Now, I live in a very heterogeneous suburb of Chicago and I have taken the Indignant Wife and Indignant Children to both of the nearby swimming pools, and it is a nice mix of all types of people, races, religions, etc. If I had heard any comments such as what these kids had been subject to, I would be writing this from the local jail. I know that this is not the “post-race” America, but I will not tolerate my girls being subjected to any of this kind of nonsense. It’s good to see the parents and owners of the day care center agreeing with me.

I know the downside of sports memorabilia: much of it is fake; people use memorabilia as profit items instead of how they should be used: as a link to your favorite athletes, performers, musicians, etc. However, with all of the writing I’ve been doing lately on older players, especially in tennis, I felt it was time to put my money where my mouth was and try and get autographs of my childhood favorites. (Notice, I didn’t say heroes or role models, because many of these guys weren’t the clean cut type, but they inspired me anyway.)
For a long time, I thought that I should limit my autograph seeking to local ex-players because I could get them myself. When I was writing for “The Sportswriters” and “The Back Table,” I was able to meet many famous individuals: former Illini basketball coach Lou Henson; the legendary Ray Meyer; former Bear safety Dave Duerson among others. When I was unable to attend tapings personally, some of the associate producers would get autographed pictures for me: Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, and the late Walter Payton.
But I was invited to a Sports Illustrated party once when I met one of my greatest inspirations: Dick Butkus. When I was between 5 and 13, Butkus was tearing up the league at middle linebacker, and I wanted to be just like him: tough; tackling guys from sideline to sideline. Once I attended an autograph show because I wanted to meet Ken Stabler, my favorite quarterback from the old Raiders. Both of these guys were very nice to me.
One former Chicago player I was never able to get: the White Sox former first baseman Dick Allen. He was a terrific player: hit for average; hit for power; good fielder; great base runner despite not the speediest player. He only attended one White Sox Fan Convention and I was unable to go that day. Fortunately, a guy on eBay had a picture of Allen in his White Sox uniform. Along with the standard “Certificate of Authenticity” which means absolutely nothing whatsoever, the seller included a picture of Allen back in 2003 when he did a signing at his store in Pennsylvania. It appears legit to me.
So, with he harping over and over about Rod Laver, I went on eBay again, this time getting an autographed picture of the greatest male tennis player of all time (in my estimation) but also included was a picture of a much older Laver signing autographs. I hope this is legit too.
Finally, I went online to search for my favorite tennis player of all time: Bjorn Borg. I was able to see Mr. Borg at the 1997 French Open men’s semi-finals from a distance, but I wasn’t able to get close enough to meet him. So, I am currently awaiting this picture, and I hope it too is legitimate. As you can see however, these are not the average “big money” types of guys that people buy and sell like stocks on the exchange. I have autographs from people I’ve admired on the field/court/ice, etc. I think this is the reason for memorabilia, not profit.

Somewhere in the Great Beyond, Ernest Hemingway is laughing his ass off. Why? Because there are morons who still participate in Pamplona, Spain’s annual running of the bulls. Usually, some slow poke just gets gored by a bull, or suffers scrapes and bruises from the bulls or from one of the other idiot runners as they try to escape the path of the rampaging livestock.
But this year’s event featured the first death in 14 years. This year’s Pamplona entrant in the Darwin Awards finals is Daniel Jimeno Romero, age 27, from the Madrid area vacationing in Pamplona with his family. Romero was gored in the neck by one of the bulls. Romero may not have died from the goring, however; he was taken to a local hospital in cardiac arrest; underwent surgery but died soon after. According to CNN.com, amateur video footage showed the victim falling to the ground toward the end of the race, just before the entrance to the bullring, and apparently being gored in the neck. Including the recent death, 14 people have been killed in the runs since 1924, when record-keeping began.
This event started approximately 400 years ago, but only became popular worldwide after Hemmingway wrote about it in his book “The Sun Also Rises.” The actual event occurs every year in early June, when 6 bulls and a pack of tame steers run from the corrals, through Pamplona’s old town, to the bullring, where the bulls will die later in the day in bullfights. (Bullfights are another throwback to a more barbarous past. I’ve been to a couple in Mexico and I ended up feeling for the poor bull. Never again will I attend one.)
Nine other people have been hurt up to now in the event, which ends next Tuesday; three gored by bulls. I’m sure that more will be injured in that time. Personally, as a big fat guy who can’t run very fast; the only way I would be anywhere near this silliness would be in a nearby pub. One thing is for certain, if I was young again and stupid and wanted to run in the Running of the Bulls, I would be in much better shape; have a position near the front of the people; and would have a baseball bat of some kind to fight off the bulls and other people. It wouldn’t be the gallant BS as written by “Papa” Hemingway, but he’s long dead and we know what kind of “honorable” death he had.