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Weekend wondering: With the Chicago White Sox losing 4-2 to the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night (Sept. 22), their lead over the Detroit Tigers (who defeated visiting Minnesota 8-0) is reduced to one-half game. So by the end of Sunday’s games, the Sox either will be in first place, tied for first place or in a game back in second place. Well, unless there’s a rainout. Wondering how many Sox fans in April would have been thrilled to be a game back on Sept. 23 and how may Sox fans now actually would be thrilled to be a game back on Sept. 24.
Jaime Edmondson did pick the Giants to down Carolina on Thursday.
* Wondering whether Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson was doing some wishful thinking when he said he thought the team would score a lot of runs off Los Angeles starter Dan Haren or merely trying to find a way to pass the time while Carlos Quintana was giving up four runs in the first inning. Well, Haren did yield runs — two in six innings. Not sure that qualifies as “a lot.”
* Speaking of Harrelson, wondering how many tales of former Boston Red Sox star Carl Yastrzemski will “Hawk” recount about the 1967 season, if Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera actually does win the first American League triple crown (batting average, runs batted in, home runs) since Yaz in 1967.
* Wondering if St. Louis Cardinals fans feel any better (and the guess here is that they might a little) with Chicago Cubs closer Carlos Marmol gave up a game-tyining, ninth-inning home run to Carlos Beltran in a game the Cards won 5-4 in 10 innings. Similar to the Cards allowing a two-run, ninth inning homer Friday in a game the Cubs won 5-4 in 11 innings Friday.
* Speaking of the Cubs, they’re actually going to open a restaurant at O’Hare International Airport on Tuesday (Sept. 25). Business should be good — provided that Cubs travelers go there to drown their sorrows.
* Wondering if retired Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood has any regrets about not trying to prolong his career with the 2012. OK, not much to wonder about. Sunday is Kerry Wood appreciation day at Wrigley. In his playing days, from a team’s financial perspective for profit-and-loss purposes, every day was Kerry Wood depreciation day.
Too bad the St. Louis Rams can't bring their cheerleaders to Chicago for Sunday's game vs. the Bears.
* Wondering if there needs to be justification for running a photo of some St. Louis Rams cheer leaders (editor’s note: the word has been split into two because using “cheerleaders” caused a bad break with the type) looking at their swimsuit calendar. Based on past precedent, the answer would be a resounding no. And the photo would be a resounding success. You have no idea how arduous the photo selection for this site can be. OK, maybe you have some idea, but you get the picture — in more ways than one.
Attending the Midwest Championships is what some of us like to think of as work -- even if it might not look that way to some of the more cynical in the audience.
OK, so the Chicago Sky played its last WNBA game of the season Saturday and defeated the Washington Mystics 77-58 at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Courtney Vandersloot led the Sky with 20 points. Fellow Sky guard Ticha Penicheiro closed out her career with two assists and a steal in 10:53 on the court. The Sky finished 14-20 and Washington 5-29.
Your humble reporter was not there because of a previous commitment — to attend the Midwest Championships at Harper College in Palatine.
Categories included bodybuilding (not exactly incentive to attend for some of us), figure, fitness, model, bikini (definite categories that tend to capture a person’s attention — or at least the attention of the person who is typing this at 4 a.m. Sunday).
Congratulations to all those who participated in the event. And a shoutout to fitness competitors Staci Boyer, who took home a trophy as an early birthday present.
Congrats also to promoter Stacy Stengel, who put on another quality show that moved quickly and was entertaining — even if you weren’t a friend or relative of the competitors. Here is some video from the event. And, yes, there will be more in the coming days:
And, yes, if things go according to plan (which they occasionally do around here), there will Sunday’s NFL picks and pics from Playboy Playmate Jaime Edmondson. She predicted the New York Giants would defeat the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night. And she called that one correctly.
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