Positively Entertaining

A dear friend suggested that the Schloss-Blog do a post about something positive. I agreed. So I began to scour news sources, friends, family and anything and everything else for positive news.

I mean, my usual sarcasm and cynicism is my way of being positive, or at least my way of sending a message to people to be positive. So the hunt was on.

Let's see, Washington - bitterly fighting over rules of impeachment let alone impeachment itself, a trial for which was rigged, openly, from the start.

That's not positive.

Onward.

Back in Chicago, the city is still reeling from the corruption charges against city councilmen, some prominent. The city's budget is a disaster. So is the State of Illinois'.

My last employer, Columbia College Chicago, is also reeling in enrollment losses. Seems media, arts, and entertainment are not the sexy study areas they once were.  Looks like I got out just in time, almost three years ago, but it hurts to see the place I worked at for 23 years as a tenured faculty member being in such dire straits. I was there for the peak years, in enrollment, in cash flow, in ebullient student body participation and a dedicated faculty and staff core.

Search on.

Ah, sports, always happy, the one thing that unites people around televisions, in living rooms, dens and bars everywhere.

But the Cubs' Kris Bryant is unhappy that he was denied credit for a full year's service when one of those years was two weeks short of being a full season - done deliberately by the Cubs. Now he'll likely be traded. Cubs fans are not happy.

Ah, Eli Manning retired. Sixteen glorious years, 210 consecutive starts, 7th all-time in yardage and TDs and two Super Bowl rings denied to Tom Brady. But he was treated like crap his last two years in New York and didn't want to end his career the same way Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath did, among others, trying and failing to carry water for other teams than the ones which they carried to glory.

For the first time in 20 years, someone named Manning will not be playing in the National Football League.

Something wrong with that, except the next Manning is coming. But not until 2023. Maybe.

Hey, the NBA All-Star Game is in Chicago this year. Except, uh, it's going to be a wake for Kobe Bryant and David Stern, one of the greatest players in league history and the man who built the platform on which Bryant displayed his wares.

I never was into All-Star games, too much pageantry and not enough hustle and intensity. Now, the intensity will be in the grieving, no matter the performances the players put on.

Ah, baseball is starting, Spring training. Pitchers and catchers report. And Chicago is more excited about the White Sox this year than the Cubs. Huh? The Mets, Astros and Red Sox have new managers because of cheating scandals.

In baseball. In baseball? There's no cheating in baseball. That's reserved for Bill Belichick and football.

OK, baseball has some work to do. A lot of work to do.

Which brings me around to hunting for good news, something positive, as my friend suggested.

Kobe's dead. Eli's gone. Baseball is rampant with cheaters.

And the coronavirus is spreading. I covered a high school game the other night where kids in the stands were wearing face masks.

Anyway, I'll keep looking. But with lying and cheating being endorsed and employed everywhere from the halls of Congress to the front offices of professional sports franchises, I have a feeling this might be a tough search.

But stay positive. Heidi Schmelter, Ryan Knight, Sara Faye Harvey, you'll all get birthday shout outs on my radio show this weekend on Radio Free Phoenix, and Lauren, you and your growing wolfpack do too. Love you guys.

Staying positive. But it just keeps getting tougher every day.