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Fitbit 12 – Week 36

Still another great week as I surpassed my daily goal twice and came within 200 steps of it another two times while finishing above 40,000 steps for the fifteenth straight week.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday as a rainy day limited me to 4300 steps. Things picked back up on Monday, finishing with 8000 steps.  A small drop on Tuesday left me just 3 steps shy of 5600.  Wednesday jumped back up a bit, ending with 6100 steps.  A trip to the Athenaeum Center on Thursday to see Taylor Tomlinson discuss her new book pushed me back up to 8300 steps.  The final Friday of the regular season brought me back to Rate Field, leaving me 40 steps shy of 7400.  A long walk on Saturday finished the week with 7300 steps.

Total steps: 47,079

Daily average: 6725.6

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Playoff Pitching Leaders

As the calendar turns to October, one Chicago team remains alive in the postseason, and it is not the one anyone would have expected when the season kicked off back in March.  The White Sox took care of business yesterday, dispatching the Astros to win their Wild Card series and will be heading to the ALDS against the Guardians this weekend.  Meanwhile, the Cubs once again fell to the Padres, ending their season.  While we wait for the next round, it’s time to take our updated look at the pitching leaders from the now 35 post-season games I’ve attended since the White Sox won the AL Central in 2000.

Wins

Name Total
Mark Buehrle 2
Jon Lester 2
Jake Arrieta 2
29 tied with 1

Losses

Name Total
Matt Clement 2
33 tied with 1

ERA (> 6 IP)

Name Total
Aroldis Chapman 0.00
Stephen Strasburg 0.00
Kyle Freeland 0.00
Johnny Cueto 1.13
Chad Billingsley 1.35

Strikeouts

Name Total
Jon Lester 25
Jake Arrieta 22
Mark Buehrle 13
Continue reading →
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Playoff Batting Leaders

A mixed bag for the local teams following the start of their respective Wild Card Series yesterday, with the White Sox taking a one game lead against the Astros while the Cubs were blown out by the Padres.  With both series potentially wrapping up today, it’s time to take an updated look at the offensive leaders from the now 35 post-season games I have attended since 2000.  So, without further ado, we start off with:

Home Runs

Name Total
Kris Bryant 4
Javier Baez 3
Paul Konerko 3
B.J. Upton 3
Dexter Fowler 3
Enrique Hernandez 3

Hits

Name Total
Kris Bryant 11
Javier Baez 11
Dexter Fowler 10
Anthony Rizzo 10
Moises Alou 9
Jason Heyward 9

Runs

Name Total
Dexter Fowler 7
Kyle Tucker 7
Paul Konerko 6
Daniel Murphy 6
A.J. Pierzynski 5
Kris Bryant 5
Javier Baez 5
Continue reading →
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All Time Playoff Team Records

We’ve made it through 162 games and, for the first time since 2020, both the White Sox and the Cubs are in the post-season.  After faltering down the stretch, however, both teams open up on the road in the Wild Card series, with the White Sox headed to Houston to face the Astros, their foe in the 2021 ALDS, while the Cubs go west to San Diego in a rematch of last year’s series against the Padres.

It’s time to take an updated look at the team records for the now 35 playoff contests I have attended. These contests come from the 2018 Wild Card game, the ALDS in 2000, 2005, 2008, and 2021, the NLDS in 2003, 2007, 2008, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2025, the NLCS in 2003, 2015, 2016, and 2017, the ALCS in 2005, and, of course, the 2005 and 2016 World Series.

Post-Season Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Florida Marlins 3 0 1.000
Seattle Mariners 2 0 1.000
New York Mets 2 0 1.000
Colorado Rockies 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago White Sox 6 5 0.545
Los Angeles Dodgers 3 3 0.500
Atlanta Braves 1 1 0.500
Cleveland Indians 1 1 0.500
Los Angeles Angels 1 1 0.500
Washington Nationals 1 1 0.500
Tampa Bay Rays 1 1 0.500
Chicago Cubs 11 13 0.458
Houston Astros 1 2 0.333
Milwaukee Brewers 0 2 0.000
San Francisco Giants 0 2 0.000
St. Louis Cardinals 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 2 0.000
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You Ought To Be In (17) Pictures

Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  Given those guidelines, it is time once again to look at the now 111 actors that have starred in at least 10 films that I have seen, as of August 1.

We continue today with the two actors that have starred in exactly 17 movies that I have seen, a level that was bare just three years ago.

Cameron Diaz

I first encountered Cameron Diaz back in 1996, when I saw her in a little indie film called The Last Supper.  She managed to get two films on my list in four different years, most recently in 2010.  She has mostly retired from acting, although she did return in 2025 for Back In Action.

Reese Witherspoon

Reese Witherspoon crashed into my movie going consciousness in 1996 with two entries, Fear and Freeway.  A six-year streak started in 1999 and finished in 2004 with the sequel to Legally Blonde.  She last crossed my path, at least on the silver screen, in 2023, when I saw her in both that year’s Your Place or Mine and again in 2010’s How Do You Know.

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Book 51 (of 52) – It Could Have Been Her

It Could Have Been Her – Lisa Jewell

When a found dog puts her on the trail of a missing young woman, Jane Trevally, finding herself with nothing else really to do, starts to investigate, digging into the girl’s identity and the people who live in the mysterious house where she once had a traumatic encounter.  Through her network of old friends and some actual private investigative work, Jane is able to put much of the story together.  But, to get to the bottom of the mystery, she will have to go back to Thornwood and face the demons of her past.

Lisa Jewell’s latest, It Could Have Been Her, recovers some from the last work of hers I read.  She plays well with the creepy family in the scary house at the end of the road trope, mixing in enough doubt as to who the bad actors are along the way that you are never quite sure who to feel for or whether something bad has happened to the missing girl.  I’m sure I will be revisiting her work in the not-too-distant future.

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Fitbit 12 – Week 35

Another great week as I surpassed my daily goal three times and finished above 40,000 steps for the fourteenth straight week.  Things got off to a nice start on Sunday thanks to a morning walk, which left me with 7400 steps, just 16 away from my daily goal. I picked up those extra steps and then some on Monday, finishing 17 steps shy of 8000.  Another good day on Tuesday, despite travel north for a shiva, ended with 7700 steps.  Wednesday saw a slight slowdown, coming 36 steps away from 6300.  A trip to the Salt Shed on Thursday to see Liz Phair pushed me back up to 7800 steps.  Things slowed down on Friday, ending 13 steps shy of 5600.  A return to Rate Field on a rainy Saturday wrapped up the week just 5 steps away from 5700.

Total steps: 48,528

Daily average: 6932.6

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Clinched

With their 9-1 victory over the Royals in Kansas City yesterday, the White Sox clinched a postseason berth, their first since 2021.  They became just the fourth team to make the playoffs a year after losing 100+ games and the first to ever do so after two straight years of 100+ losses.  They also became the first team in MLB history to notch a winning record following two 100+ loss seasons.  With three games to go in the regular season, they remain one game behind the Guardians for the AL Central title and hold the tiebreaker.

Mere minutes later, the Cubs followed suit, officially wrapping up their spot in the postseason with a 2-1 win over the Marlins at Wrigley Field.  The Cubs currently sit one game behind the Padres for the top Wild Card seed in the NL and face a tough weekend in Boston (and maybe Tampa?) to wrap up the season.

This is just the fourth time both Chicago teams have made the postseason in the same year and the first, with fans allowed in the stands, since 2008.

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2026 New Fall Season – Thursdays

Thursday night was traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits but has fallen off over the past couple of years.  This year is no exception.  Here’s what’s on the slate for this season.

7:00

9-1-1 – Returning for its tenth season, and its fourth on ABC.

Scrabble – The board game-based show returns for another go-around.

8:00

Trivial Pursuit – LeVar Burton returns for a third season hosting the show based on the classic board game.

9:00

Cupertino – A Silicon Valley law drama that has some interesting stars, so I may give it a shot.

Grey’s Anatomy – The medical drama enters its 23rd season.