Just got finished watching the Cubs put the big hurt (pun intended, Sox fans!) on the our crosstown rivals. I’m a baseball purist so I hate interleague play, but I have to admit I love watching my beloved Cubbies beat the hated White Sox. A nine-run fourth inning is just gravy. And a come-from-behind, walk-off homer yesterday? Man, it doesn’t get any better than that.

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Some of you might be wondering what inspired my blog’s name. It’s an homage to my days as a wire service reporter at City News Bureau of Chicago. We didn’t get bylines back then, and anyway we did things old-school. For instance, instead of having a staff full of reporter-writers, we had a staff of reporters and a separate staff of writers — known in industry parlance as “rewrites.”

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Yesterday I got a call from someone looking for an article from the Orange County Register. Now, I have to admit I get a little annoyed with that, but, hey, many readers don’t really understand the competitive nature of our relationship with the Register. All they know is they’re trying to track down some article and they call a “newspaperman” to help them. I’m pretty much a sap when it comes to helping people anyway so I put aside my ultra-competitive nature when they call. For some odd reason, though, I’ve noticed that more people are calling us for the sort of information folks used to call a library’s reference desk for.

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