Irish Boy wrote: I think that Greg Couch (I think that's his name) is pretty good about that, although he's also a joyless scold that finds misery and dispair in every topic he touches upon.

See Rule #3 above, IB. Does this sentence make the same point if you delete "that" before "Greg Couch"... and by eliminating "he touches upon?" "That" is unnecessary a high percentage of the time.

I'm cool with you teaching composition... just practice what you preach. Good writing should be conversational. Good writing is vivid and colorful. That's what I try to do by adding my own cliches (Mackeyspeak, if you will) to help me accomplish it.

Unearth is an awesome verb. I roll it out once a month and will continue. Pretzel logic is both a musical reference and descriptive.

Valid point about solutions, Spaulding. I'll consider when I next write something for this subculture to overanalyze. As for pompous.... show me a columnist who doesn't have some of that and I'll show you a writer without a big readership. Same with hosting a radio show. Milquetoaste doesn't pack 'em in.

Don't you really mean to say rules don't apply to you?

Irish Boy's review is far more readable than the columns you write. Your attempts to defend your inability to write a solid column are laughable.

Don't read them, SID. Or my posts. Ignore me. Pretend I don't exist. Go ahead... see how long you can go.

OK, but I'm not getting paid to write here and I'm knocking these posts out in a couple of minutes. You are supposed to be a professional writer, and I'm pointing to examples in your commissioned works. If I wrote one 500 word post a week, was paid to do so, and thousands of people were going to read it, I'd make sure those little things were done correctly.

Like I said before, I never meant to come off as too negative because I thought the effort was fairly strong.

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Fire Phil Emery

its gotta be a weird feeling for MAC to be arguing with someone who's avatar is a picture of his face crossed out...thats hilariousl actually

It's far more fun telling you what a pompous prick you have become with so little talent to back it up.

In other words... it is impossible for you to stay away. Thanks. Every time you click on my crap on suntimes.com, it is registered as a hit. Thanks for helping me prove to my Sun-Times' bosses people want to read my crap. You are everything I need, SID.

I appreciate the suggestions, Irish. I don't take it personally. Without consumers, positive or negative, there wouldn't be much of a point to writing a column or putting a radio show on the air.

I blame training with Chet as a mustachioed yout for that Mackey mannerism.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Fair enough. I was thinking more how it can translate to being fake and saying stuff that you don't really believe or over exaggerating just to be controversial. That turns me off. It's Mariottish. You can be right without being an ass.

I try to help out the unskilled. So you are welcome.

Over/under for SID - 5 minutes.

Over/under for Gloopan - 5 minutes plus however long it takes SID to logout and log back in as Gloopan.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

I miss Aparicio...

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This is my signature...

Say what you will about Mariotti Spaulding - like him or love him - you read him. That's why he stuck around for so long.

There is no such thing as bad advertising. I couldn't stand Mariotti, so I never read him, but I feel I was in the small minority in that stance.

Kind of like this web site - certain people profess to hate Mac and everything he does, but yet hardly a thread goes by where you don't see them taking shots at him.

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Does your cat make too much noise? Try KITTEN MITTENS!


Charlie: Oh shit. Look at that door dude. See that door right there? That door marked 'Pirate'? You think a pirate lives in there?
Dennis: I see a door marked 'Private.'

Practice what you preach.

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The problem I had was including Three Doors Down in the same sentence as the Rolling Stones.

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"Tubby? Oh yes, Tubby."

My Great-Grandparents bought the 2 flat at 3833 N. Clark St...across the street from Nuts on Clark, when Nuts on Clark was a dry cleaners. The spot where Wrigley Field was built, was a semenary and Lake Michigan was just a couple blocks away. But they built Wrigley field, brought in tons of fill, to build further and further East and the neighborhood was dramatically changed. Mom sold that 2 flat several years ago so even if I wanted to bitch about more night games, our family lost the right to do so. Unless someone has had their building in their family before Wrigley was built, they have no leg to stand on (insert Santo joke here). II can understand home owners wanting fans to behave as adults and not piss in their gangways and yards, not throw their trash on their lawns, etc...But they really should have no say as to how many night games or concerts may be played at Wrigley Field and the fact that they have been afforded that right to some extent to date, is ridiculous.

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Go Cubs!!!!

Most neighborhoods have a say in what goes on there. Any of you have sub-division covenants? Even in the city I work in Pullman which was voted dry.
I think Mac's article was interesting but his premise is somewhat flawed. Not everyone living in Wrigleyville is a Cubs fan. Many people move there because the neighborhood is filled with nice amenities (restaurants, bars, upscale stores, coffeehouses,...etc.). That's not the same as saying they want a party atmosphere. If the local ordinances dictate the number of nightgames or concerts then I don't blame the residents for standing up for their rights. The Cubs will continually push the envelope because it benefits their bottom line. The residents need to stand up for the same reason that the NRA & Pro-Life groups sometimes support seemingly inarguable points of view. It's a slippery slope. It's only one more concert today, next year it's 2 more and on and on.

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“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”- JD Vance
“My god, what an !diot.”- JD Vance tweet on Trump
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy”- JD Vance