There’s so much news in June that it deserves to be a two-parter. How about we start with sports and entertainment news?
The Chicago Cubs had an unveiling ceremony for the statue of their Hall of Fame player Ryan Sandberg. It was more poignant than usual because Sandberg has been fighting Prostate Cancer. Later that night the Sandberg family sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. It was an emotionally moving day—until the Cubs lost to the Mets. What else did anyone expect?
We lost two sports legends in June. Jerry West and Willie Mays. Both remind me of moments as a child.
In Chicago, we didn't have pro basketball for many years. We had to find our heroes in that sport from other city’s teams. Mine was Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers. I would go to a park, find a basketball hoop, and pretend to shoot like Jerry. I developed a decent shot but nothing like him. The NBA didn't make Jerry West the logo for no reason
Willie Mays is still the most exciting baseball player I’ve ever seen. Whether it was hitting, fielding or running, Mays did it all with style. After one Cubs-Giants game at Wrigley Field, I wanted to get his autograph. Willie has a different idea. He took off running down Addison Street. I followed him. I figured a twelve-year-old boy had to be faster than a mid-thirty-year-old man. It took less than a block before I couldn't see him.
Rest easy to both of my childhood heroes.
Phil Mickelson is/was my favorite golfer ever. More than Jack, Arnie, Tiger—everyone. I liked his style and how he related to the golf fans. But he took a hit, at least in my opinion, when he joined the LIV Golf tour. Money became more important to him than his legacy when he decided to take more than $200 million of Saudi dollars—even if it was blood money.
This week on Twitter, he endorsed a discredited study that not only does the sun not cause deadly skin diseases but instead keeps people from getting various kinds of cancers. This kind of disinformation/lie is not only disrespectful to people who have suffered from skin cancers but can cause injury to people who believe it because they see Phil’s name attached to this and think Phil would never do us wrong.
The NBA held its annual draft last night. In the second round, the Lakers drafted Brony James, the son of their legendary player Lebron James. If Brony makes the team, they will be the league’s first father-son combination. As the draft progressed, word broke out that Brony’s agent was calling teams to tell them if they drafted him, he would go play in Australia. I would have liked to see someone do it and then try to trade him to L.A. I doubt this gets the Lakers any closer to winning another title, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out—especially with a new, inexperienced coach.
Now on to the entertainment portion of our program:
Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters are hitting the road for another tour. He somewhat jokingly called it the “Errors Tour” because they play live and make mistakes. It was a shot at Taylor Swift and her long-running “Eras Tour.” I love Dave and the band but this was unnecessary and beneath him.
More touring news:
The Rolling Stones continue their tour, which is sponsored by AARP—pretty damn clever, right. They played at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Thursday for the first of two nights. How do these guys keep doing it? I don’t think they’re done either. They definitely have found the fountain of youth. Hmm…maybe Mick or Keith should be our next President?
On the other end of the spectrum, Neil Young was on tour with Crazy Horse this Spring when he suddenly canceled a show in Chicago. He then canceled two more shows in Texas. The word was someone in the band was ill. Yesterday, it was announced that the rest of the tour had been canceled. No makeup dates have been announced. There’s still no word on who has been ill. Sadly, this was the group’s first tour together in a decade. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll hear from them.
Finally, Clint Eastwood and his family made some interesting news. His youngest daughter Morgan, age 27, got married in Carmel, California. Among the attendees were all of her siblings, including the eldest Laurie, who is age 70. Doing the math, there’s a forty-three-year age difference between the two sisters. Wow, Clint—-you and Mick Jagger have something in common. Please stop—-please.
That’s it for part one of the Month in Review. Be back on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.
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The Sports and Entertainment Edition of The June Month in Review
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There’s so much news in June that it deserves to be a two-parter. How about we start with sports and entertainment news?
The Chicago Cubs had an unveiling ceremony for the statue of their Hall of Fame player Ryan Sandberg. It was more poignant than usual because Sandberg has been fighting Prostate Cancer. Later that night the Sandberg family sang Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. It was an emotionally moving day—until the Cubs lost to the Mets. What else did anyone expect?
We lost two sports legends in June. Jerry West and Willie Mays. Both remind me of moments as a child.
In Chicago, we didn't have pro basketball for many years. We had to find our heroes in that sport from other city’s teams. Mine was Jerry West of the Los Angeles Lakers. I would go to a park, find a basketball hoop, and pretend to shoot like Jerry. I developed a decent shot but nothing like him. The NBA didn't make Jerry West the logo for no reason
Willie Mays is still the most exciting baseball player I’ve ever seen. Whether it was hitting, fielding or running, Mays did it all with style. After one Cubs-Giants game at Wrigley Field, I wanted to get his autograph. Willie has a different idea. He took off running down Addison Street. I followed him. I figured a twelve-year-old boy had to be faster than a mid-thirty-year-old man. It took less than a block before I couldn't see him.
Rest easy to both of my childhood heroes.
Phil Mickelson is/was my favorite golfer ever. More than Jack, Arnie, Tiger—everyone. I liked his style and how he related to the golf fans. But he took a hit, at least in my opinion, when he joined the LIV Golf tour. Money became more important to him than his legacy when he decided to take more than $200 million of Saudi dollars—even if it was blood money.
This week on Twitter, he endorsed a discredited study that not only does the sun not cause deadly skin diseases but instead keeps people from getting various kinds of cancers. This kind of disinformation/lie is not only disrespectful to people who have suffered from skin cancers but can cause injury to people who believe it because they see Phil’s name attached to this and think Phil would never do us wrong.
The NBA held its annual draft last night. In the second round, the Lakers drafted Brony James, the son of their legendary player Lebron James. If Brony makes the team, they will be the league’s first father-son combination. As the draft progressed, word broke out that Brony’s agent was calling teams to tell them if they drafted him, he would go play in Australia. I would have liked to see someone do it and then try to trade him to L.A. I doubt this gets the Lakers any closer to winning another title, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out—especially with a new, inexperienced coach.
Now on to the entertainment portion of our program:
Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters are hitting the road for another tour. He somewhat jokingly called it the “Errors Tour” because they play live and make mistakes. It was a shot at Taylor Swift and her long-running “Eras Tour.” I love Dave and the band but this was unnecessary and beneath him.
More touring news:
The Rolling Stones continue their tour, which is sponsored by AARP—pretty damn clever, right. They played at Chicago’s Soldier Field on Thursday for the first of two nights. How do these guys keep doing it? I don’t think they’re done either. They definitely have found the fountain of youth. Hmm…maybe Mick or Keith should be our next President?
On the other end of the spectrum, Neil Young was on tour with Crazy Horse this Spring when he suddenly canceled a show in Chicago. He then canceled two more shows in Texas. The word was someone in the band was ill. Yesterday, it was announced that the rest of the tour had been canceled. No makeup dates have been announced. There’s still no word on who has been ill. Sadly, this was the group’s first tour together in a decade. Hopefully, this isn’t the last we’ll hear from them.
Finally, Clint Eastwood and his family made some interesting news. His youngest daughter Morgan, age 27, got married in Carmel, California. Among the attendees were all of her siblings, including the eldest Laurie, who is age 70. Doing the math, there’s a forty-three-year age difference between the two sisters. Wow, Clint—-you and Mick Jagger have something in common. Please stop—-please.
That’s it for part one of the Month in Review. Be back on Monday. Enjoy the weekend.