Because I am easily influenced by college bowl game food tie-ins, I bought Pop-Tarts and Cheez-Its this week. The former, while good for making jokes directed toward South Bend, were sorta meh. But the latter, in the smoked gouda variety, holy cow. Really good in tomato soup.

Perfect 90s album

will also add - yes, this is my personal crusade - that turning podcasts into videos implicitly asks women to once again make more effort than men, as the bar for "camera-ready" for one gender is obviously higher than for the other

The Christmas Day baseball tour tradition continues with @shoelesspodcast.bsky.social and @pulhitzherprize.bsky.social! Today we paid our respects to my Internet namesake for the past quarter-century with a visit to Buck Weaver’s grave.

The Great 2025 Chicago Tribune holiday news quiz trib.al/76pK4id

Soccer jobs alert:

The only known photographs of mathematician and computing pioneer Ada Lovelace have been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery just before they were expected to be sold to a private buyer. www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/nat...

The PWHL Takeover Tour came to Allstate Arena for the first time, giving local fans a first-hand look at the women’s professional hockey league. 📝 @kalenalumpkins.bsky.social 📸 Eileen T. Meslar

Did we not get any college mascot reveals among the December grads this year? I always love those videos. Cap, gown, giant fuzzy feet.

Back on my winter bullshit.

In 1910, the original Comiskey Park hosted the first night baseball game ever played in Chicago, between semipro teams from Rogers Park and Logan Square. (My new article includes a cameo by the feline Nixey Callahan, cc: @pulhitzherprize.bsky.social): sabr.org/research/bla...

This makes me so sad. Means is one of the good guys.

OH in my Living Room: Person 1 touches something they don’t need to, after repeatedly being warned. Turns out it’s gross. Makes a “this is gross” face at Person 2. Person 2: “You can put a stop to this, Smokey Bear.”

so I broke out the Nambé menorah and it occurs to me that some of you may not know about Nambé which is one of the most American stories I know

The PWHL's Takeover Tour will make a stop at Allstate Arena in Rosemont on Sunday, the league's first game in the Chicago area. @kalenalumpkins.bsky.social spoke to Kendall Coyne Schofield, a Palos Heights native, about what the game means.

WHAT HAPPENS IF A FOOTBALL HITS A PIGEON? Great mailbag question. Great mailbag answer. ⬇️

A few photos from an immigration enforcement action as Border Patrol agents detained several people in a Home Depot parking lot Wednesday in Evanston and Niles.

The Chicago Bears are considering a move to northwest Indiana amid growing concerns that Illinois lawmakers will not approve the financial incentives needed to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, a top team official told the Tribune.

Journalists — is your digital security ready for 2026? See how you do in our checklist:

Baseball will now centralize all in-game data & tech at minor league level as they have with Statcast at the major league level. This will bring the bottom up, but critics say it's anti-spending, anti-innovation, and punitive to the teams that have invested in the future of the game. t.co/0UuQei8EtW

Everyone think warm thoughts for folks who have to work on the sidelines today. Not players but photographers, camera operators and their crews, chain gang, medical staff, groundskeepers, security staff, etc.

OH at the Roller Rink: #Whamageddon, Dominick the Donkey, and apparently there is a “6-7 Christmas Song” now? cc: @buckweaver.bsky.social @hollyanderson.bsky.social

Sports Reference’s 2026 Summer Internship applications are officially open! Want to learn more about what you might be working on? Check out our internship page, and sign up for reminders and tips to make your application stand out: www.sports-reference.com/internships....

This picture makes me so happy ⚾️❤️

Happy Rule 5 Draft Day @melissalockard.bsky.social !

“The Pavias Take Manhattan”

“In the parking lot” … sounds like Clark Lea has absorbed a lot of New Mexico ganas in the last two years.

Operation Midway Blitz flooded Chicago with federal immigration agents, fueled frequent protests and — to policing experts — offered something else. The operation showed how not to police.

Another win for the Fox Sports bumper music selection crew.

Folks who cover ASU football, enjoy the Sun Bowl. Best press box food and hospitality I’ve ever had.

Today we celebrate! Nixey turns 19 years old — and @pulhitzherprize.bsky.social and I deserve some cake for taking care of her for so long through all of her adventures. She’s been with us for five moves in three states. This mighty tank is still rolling along. Happy Caturday, Nixey!

Please help a journalist:

The Chicago Tribune filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Thursday against Perplexity AI, alleging the startup has been unlawfully profiting off the newspaper’s content.

Supermoon surf's up 🌝🏄 Montrose Beach

Inbound Santa Wednesday commute 🎅🚋 CTA Holiday Train, approaching Merchandise Mart at 2x speed

Chicago hockey fans, please welcome our Hawks beat reporter @kalenalumpkins.bsky.social to BlueSky!

I love this story, for so many reasons.

Also known as the “Auto E” or the “Medill F.” I received them as a student. I gave them as an instructor. We are all better for the (awful) experience.

Time to make “to Pavia” a verb. And it’s going to mean “to have underestimated a kid from New Mexico at your own peril.” 💛❤️💛

Get ready for more free hot dogs, Chicago. Ben Johnson delivered. After Johnson's shirtless celebration, The Wieners Circle said it once again will be giving out free hot dogs Tuesday. @seanhammond.bsky.social's story.

Missing: Black women coaches. www.cbssports.com/wnba/news/wn...

A few photos of two snowy owls near Montrose Beach Monday evening in Chicago.

NEW: UMass jumped to FBS in 2012 with big expectations. The experiment has gone so poorly that even prof emeritus Nelson Lacey — once an important backer of the move — now thinks the school should consider dropping back down. w/ @ebennovywilliams.bsky.social www.sportico.com/leagues/coll...

Art Briles has been hired as the head football coach at a D2 school and so is back in the news. If you want to understand why this hire is upsetting for many, here's the long piece @dansolomon.com and I wrote back in 2019 about How Baylor Happened: web.archive.org/web/20190208...

Chicago folks, which place makes a good smoked turkey sandwich? I still daydream about the smoked turkey at Arthur Bryant’s in Kansas City.

US Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Chicago native, denounces immigration raids in return home. A good read from Andrew Carter www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/21/s...

New Mexico is among several states passing laws to address the role of private equity in health care.

Little surprise here: Kelsie Whitmore, who helped make history when she debuted with the Sonoma Stompers in 2016 before going on to play for the FerryHawks, Ballers, and Savannah Bananas, is first off the board. She'll rep SF next year.

It is a routine part of ordinary travel in southern New Mexico: Traffic filtered through Border Patrol checkpoints with surveillance equipment including license plate readers and facial ID and x-rays of the car. Motorists may be passed along or directed to secondary inspection of the vehicle.

OMG I remember this being in our house. I’m not saying it inspired me to get a master’s degree in magazine publishing, but I’m not saying it didn’t …