Missing My Bric-a-Brac Brick!

My old laboratory staff did many nice things for me when I retired. One of the most thoughtful presents from those gifted laboratorians was a commemorative brick to be placed outside Guaranteed Rate Field, a brick with my name on it. For those of you not from The City of Broad shoulders, GFR is the current name of the home stadium of my beloved Chicago White Sox.

Though the Cubs get all the national media attention, the Sox are here too, and I have been a Sox fan since 1961. Since then we have won exactly as many World Series Titles (one) as our better-publicized crosstown rivals. Even though memories of that one title have blurred through the mists of the many disappointing seasons since the 2005 victory parade, I was still excited to have my name on a brick in the commemorative plaza.

Yesterday was a beautiful day, the Sox were playing a rare midweek day game, and my friend Ira and I had bought tickets weeks ago (midweek baseball, a retirement benefit.) So with Ira driving and me navigating, we fought Chicago’s insane construction traffic and made our way to the South Side.

We got to the ballpark a good 45 minutes before game time and found the spot where commemorative bricks were laid; a plaza just outside of the stadium. Ira and I scurried over the many bricks, looking for mine, but quickly realized we would never find it without a road map.

I flagged down a Customer Relations person, who directed me to an online app that would help me locate my personal brick. This proved to be one more stumbling block in my quest. For the app to tell me in which section of the plaza I could find my brick, it required that I enter not my name, but the name of the person who had ordered the brick.

When the lab told me about the gift, and presented me with a replica (see pic above), I didn’t think to say, “Hey, this is great! Who paid for it?” So I was stumped. I didn’t know who to enter into the locator app.

I spent the next ten minutes keying in the names of everyone from the lab–my pathology associates, the techs, the lab assistants, and the administrative team. With each name, the app replied that it had no record of a brick purchased by that person. Getting frustrated, and with the first pitch rapidly approaching, I gave the lab a call.

After a warm phone welcome, my question was passed around to a person or two. I got my answer when Marcella told me she was the person who placed the order.

“Hmm,” I said. “I know I tried your name in the app, but it still won’t find my brick.”

“Maybe that’s because when I bought it they said it could take a few months for it to be installed,” Marcella told me. “I am still waiting for an email to let me know it was laid.”

No brick yet! What a disappointment. And, oh yeah, the White Sox lost. But on a bright sunny day, you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark!

Hey! Can you do me a favor? If you are a subscriber and enjoy my blogs, please email them to friends and contacts. And if you read my blogs on Facebook, please share them! We are always looking for new readers.

You can always get a hold of me at chidoc@post.com Look forward to hearing from you.

Mr. Reinsdorf, It Is Time. This Pathologist Says So.

Loyalty. Forgiveness. Redemption

I rarely write about sports, but today I am compelled to do so, feeling a parallel in my life to something happening with my beloved Chicago White Sox.

In 1986 Tony La Russa was fired as manager of the White Sox. He went on to have a wonderful managerial career for other teams, winning three World Series and being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Before last year’s baseball season, Jerry Reinsdorf, the long-time owner of the White Sox (and Chicago Bulls) stated that firing La Russa was the biggest mistake of his career. In an effort to do a “make-good” and turn back the clock, Reinsdorf made an unpopular choice and rehired La Russa to manage the team.

For those who don’t follow the fortunes of the Sox, the team is populated by several young stars. Going into this season the Pale Hose were considered a strong competitor for their first World Series championship since 2005. But so far, this season has been mired in mediocrity.

Injuries have played a big part in this season’s disappointing results, but much of the blame needs be laid at the feet of La Russa. In the fairly unanimous opinion of fans and sportscasters, both local and national, many of his managerial decisions have been wrong, bizarre, and have cost the Sox victories.

Mr. Reinsdorf’s loyalty and desire to right what he perceives as an almost 40 year ago mistake have kept La Russa in his job, despite an outcry from most of us to dismiss him, hire a better manager, and give the team a chance to fulfill its destiny.

So where is the parallel to me? Almost twenty years ago shifting loyalties and relationships led to the ending of my partnership with a large pathology group. I went on to create and direct the UroPartners Laboratory, and while I may not be in any Hall of Fame, I think I have done a pretty, pretty, pretty good job.

And since then two of the principals in the group that “divorced” me have told me it was the biggest mistake of their careers. Just like Reinsdorf’s comment about La Russa.

But you know what? Neither of my former partners had any inclination to bring me back. Nor would I have wanted to. My time with them was in the past, and I would have had no business looking at a brain or bone biopsy after my years immersed in prostates and bladders. They told me they were wrong, I appreciated it, and that was that.

So, Mr. Reinsdorf, I understand you are trying to make up for what you perceive as your past mistake. But you have made your apology. La Russa’s time as an effective manager has passed. Now it is time to move on…and that means moving on without Tony La Russa managing the White Sox.

I am waiting.

The above is the opinion of the author and not UroPartners LLC.

Like what you read here? Add your name to our subscription list below. No spam, I promise! ___

#mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; }
/* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block.
We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name

//s3.amazonaws.com/downloads.mailchimp.com/js/mc-validate.js(function($) {window.fnames = new Array(); window.ftypes = new Array();fnames[0]=’EMAIL’;ftypes[0]=’email’;fnames[1]=’FNAME’;ftypes[1]=’text’;fnames[2]=’LNAME’;ftypes[2]=’text’;}(jQuery));var $mcj = jQuery.noConflict(true); ———————————–

FACT: I DO Like the Beatles!

The most famous album cover of all time?

OK, boomers. I admit it. I blew it. I didn’t exactly diss the Beatles, I just said I couldn’t name a favorite song. Boy, did that piss some of you off!

I heard it from old friends, new friends, unaffiliated blog readers, and even my wife Barb, whom I thought only musically cared about Neil Diamond. “What do you mean you don’t like the Beatles????”

I do like the Beatles.

Fact: I have always preferred the Beatles to the Rolling Stones. Although I do love the Stones jam at the end of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking.

Fact: A Hard Day’s Night is right next to Goldfinger as my favorite movie of 1964.

Fact: I am not a CD collector but I do own one Beatles CD. In fact, the name of the CD is One. That’s only three less than the four U2 CDs I treasure.

Fact: Instead of watching Paul Konerko hit a grand slam in Game 2 of the White Sox sweep of the Astros in the 2005 World Series, I was sitting at a Paul McCartney concert in Milwaukee.

Fact: I saw Paul McCartney a second time, on a rainy evening at Wrigley Field. Believe me, it takes something special to get this Sox fan into the North Side’s Friendly Confines.

So I apologize to all of you Beatles ~~snowflakes~~ fans whom I might have offended. I promise to listen to Hey Jude, Yesterday, Eleanor Rigby, I Saw Her Standing There, and all the other songs you guys and gals recommended as the greatest Beatle song of all time. I am sure I will love each and every one of them.

As someone (I can’t remember who) once said, “in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

Like what you read here? Add your name to our subscription list below. No spam, I promise! ___

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Last Name

Virtual Prizes for Virtual Contests-White Sox, WXRT and Donald Trump

Feelin’ Groovy!

59th St. Bridge Song

Simon and Garfunkle-1966

Remember Sarah Palin’s “Bridge to Nowhere”? It was a convoluted tale that garnered a lot of attention when the Alaska Governor was selected as John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 Presidential election. Since than Madame Palin has had the career to nowhere, but that is a story for another day. But do bridges to nowhere lead to “contests to nothing?” Two of my favorite local media outlets have gone that route.

Even though I grew up on the North Side (Rogers Park to be precise), I have spent my life a diehard White Sox fan. And like many White Sox fans, the past few years have been dreary, dreary, dreary. Whether the fault has been lackadaisical players, a too laid back manager, or too many Ken Harrelson “Hawkisms”, watching the beloved Pale Hose on the tube has been a type of torture specifically outlawed by the Geneva Convention. This year has been a breath of fresh air as new players Todd Frazier and Brett Lawrie have had a spring in their step, Robin Ventura has suddenly remembered to manage, and most importantly, there has been a new voice in the White Sox TV booth. Jason Benetti is now the Sox play-by-play man for home games. Paired with color announcer Steve Stone, Benetti has brought a lively new spirit to the broadcast. They have also brought a new contest, the aptly named “White Sox Math”. It’s a daily contest with problems such as “Multiply Jose Abreu’s uniform number by Jimmy Rollin’ s strikeouts in 2005 and then add Chris Sales career saves.” If you are a total stats geek or happen to have the Baseball Almanac handy, you will of course quickly arrive at the answer of 5621. And your prize for having all that information rattling around in your brain? A trip to the “Virtual Prize Shelf”. That’s virtually–nothing!

Not to be outdone, or perhaps underdone, my favorite radio station WXRT has a contest of its own. Every morning at about 6:40 Lin Brehmer and Mary Dixon host “Three for Free.” Tweet in the correct answer to their audio quiz about the celebrity of the day and you can win exactly…nothing!

Yet somehow there I am watching the White Sox with my calculator in hand, or intently listening to Lin and Mary’s musical clues. And since there is a winner every day, I suppose I am not the only one willing to put out all that effort for nothing. So I suggest a few more contests with prizes of questionable value:

Volkswagen will give a new diesel car to the first correct answer in their “Predict Our Next Estimated Mileage Report” challenge.
Elon Musk will present a hyperloop ride from Wrigley Field to the Cell to the winner of the “Who Can Predict How Long the Tesla Model 3 Will Be Delayed” contest.
The Department of Transportation will give a TSA job to the first person who–well, basically to anyone. No contest entry needed.
The Republican National Committee wants to award the Vice Presidential nomination to the first voter to provide Donald Trump with a foreign policy. Send the RNC your plan, single spaced, with a self addresses, stamped envelope and prepare to go to Cleveland.

And of course, just by reading this, you are entered into my contest to win–nada. Happy trails!

———————————————————————-
You never know what you will find here. To subscribe, type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. It is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

photo credit: Footbridge via photopin (license)