The weekend was off the hook!

That was a fast coupla days, Of Couse Saturday was the day everyone was waiting for , Luke Bryan, The Blackhawks, The B-96 Summer bash and of course my niece Rachelle's Graduation. all on Saturday, all events that I had to attend.

That Luke is a Handsome man, big time fun, and his bus resembles a million dollar deer hunting stand, I can honestly say that that was one of the most rocking shows I have been to in a while, Now mind you the last big show I was at was the Stones at the UC so it was good to see the more lively, and certainly better looking US99.5 crowd! We do have awesome listeners, backstage I had a chance to hang with half the Notre Dame football team, Trust me they are tired of Manti Tao jokes.....Too bad!

On to the UC, Just about everyone on Saturday was full on in Hawks gear. Usually I always wear my Hawks jersey-sweater, However when its 85 and humid I need to go to some type of tee shirt so I went to Dicks, bad idea on a Stanley cup game day. To add to the craziness, Jeremy Roneck was there signing autographs. This town is Hawks crazy.

I did make it up for the second and third periods, another overtime game. From my vantage point that WAS a goal that was taken away from the beloved, But the NHL  rules are once a ref loses sight of the puck the play stops. Oh well, On to Bean town tonight. Need to gain home ice advantage again.

Yesterday.......it was a small party at the house, Intermingled throughout the day was my crazy sons watching of the Animal Planet channel and Eric Young's "Off the Hook" fishing show, we also watched the new episodes of "Turtle Man" last night Turtle man had to rescue a deer from a resale show somewhere down in Kentucky, It was a huge 8 point buck with a widespread, For once I was actually impressed with the T man. Although I would never get in a pond and search out turtle that could sanp my foot off. Guys insane. Best question came from my daughter who said "dad this guy gets paid for this show right? then why cant he afford to fix his teeth"....

Dads day was fun, never need any big gifts and really the best gift a guy can get is the homemade card from Cassidy, when you get a Cassie card it means that she spent the better part of a day crafting, and making a card so awesome that no amount of money could ever buy!

Today it's Cheryl Crow in studio and the 99 and 1/2 days of Lisa and Rays summer roll on....Enjoy!

The Greatest man I will ever know.

I can honestly say I never have met anyone who didn't like "Big Ray" The story's of this man and where he comes from are stuff legends are made of.

He was an all star Basketball player at Riverside Brookfield high school, That's where he met my Mom, over 65 years ago a stud. 6'3" tall, blue eyes, really a guy who's looks would make Paul Newman blush.

His story's of the things he did as a kid were fun and funny from greasing the tracks for the street cars (so they would get stuck) to sneaking into the zoo by swimming down the Salt creek (when it was clean enough for that) he would end up right near the lions den.

My favorite though is when he became a gang member with the "Berwyn Barron's" I guess the bad boys thought it would be cool to wear ball caps and go out and find trouble, dad was in the "gang" for a day when they ran into some kids from Cicero, Dad was the biggest so he took the first punch. I think that was the last time he was ever in a fight, He said he took off the hat (the symbol of these rough and tumble kids and ran home)

He is a decorated Korean vet and wears his 25th infantry hat with pride, He was a smart as could be, back in the day he could figure out any math problem in his head, To my sisters he is the smartest, loving example of a man there could ever be.

To me, He's the guy I would like to be, He is what the American dream is about a hard worker, a self made man, a guy who could take a 4x8 piece of sheet metal and make anything from the simplest fitting to the tank he once made for the neighbor kids.

He put up with me, a herculean task at best, I worked for him from the time I was in 3rd grade in his sheet metal shop, I did construction for him as I made it through college. I even went back for a stint when I was out of radio for a bit back in 2001, He never let me down. ever. We built houses, decks, garages, and we built the house he lives in now.  We have caught millions of fish, (and counting) we have shot deer, drank beer (although he stopped drinking some time ago) we have done it all.

Fast forward to now, Dads memory is not what it used to be, So now its my turn to take care of him and Mom. I drive to see them most every other weekend when I can, some time every weekend. He waits for me to get there, We take walks we fish we sometimes still break out the tools and get stuff done.

This Weekend we will hang with my kids who adore this guy, Especially my oldest who never misses a chance to hug on him and tell him she loves him . That's them in the posted picture on the Oregon coast last year.

I hope your pops is still with you this dads day, if not I hope you can celebrate his memory, I will enjoy my kids as I always do. But I will also strive to be more like him so my kids can have these same memory's somewhere down the road.

Love you dad

RR

Hawks games, Big names!

Wow that was a game! I honestly cant say that I have never  been to a bigger event, and I have been to a few! From the Bartman ball to Super bowls, to the Sox series, and Bulls Championships, But......

I don't think I have ever been to anything like that game one last night, there are no metaphors that can sum it up.

Better than the game was the people, Man the city and states mover and shakers were there. from local politicians to sports stars they were all there.

My favorite of the night was when I was with Mayor Bradley Stevens of Rosemont when he introduces me to John Cullerton the President of the Illinois State senate.

And here is where's there's always the "Ray-est of the story" So I ask this big shot politician , Hey your a Winfield Cullerton aren't you?, That when we took the trip down memory lane, His brothers and I went to school together, and I had some wild "First experiences" at his parents house, I could see my friend Mayor Brad Stephens squirm as he had to wonder what the heck Ramblin' was gonna say. Nice to know that the Winfield guy hasn't forgot where he has come from.

And then there's was "my guys" Kurt, Jamie, Mel, Brian, these are buddies and they run the gamut from body builders to Snowmobile performance workers, and construction guys. I cant imagine a better group of guys to have shared the night with.

But that's Chicago, Big shots and regular folks all there for the love of a sport, For the love of two original six teams. like I said yesterday this town needs a lift, I understand that Boston suffered a horrible terriost act and that town has been hurting, But lost in the shuffle seems to be the horrendous violence that our city goes through every weekend.

Until at least Saturday, This city, and you and me can revel in one of the single greatest games in NHL history, and sporting history every!

Go hawks!

RR

Playoff pits to Radio bits...

Its Stanley cup time in town, The Hawks are the big deal, I vaguely remember a management type at this a certain radio station earlier this year telling me the Hawks aren't that big of a deal. I scoffed at the time, This has become a Hawks town.

With no hopes of October baseball in the next several years, And the Bears lost in the Cutler years we have to understand that this has became a "hawkey" town to quote Jonathon Toews. We should revel in it!

I remember pretending to be the Golden Jet as a kid on the "Cow Pond" in the north woods back in the day, I used to strap the skates on as soon as the ice would freeze. I cant tell you how many times my sister and the Hennessey clan fell in that water, Or how many time we were chased by the Kline farms cows up the dead fall tree that seemed to fall just perfect so the neighborhood kids could break free of the crazy cows that seemed to think of hockey the same way as that certain management type.

The reason for this being "Hawkey" town is two or three fold, As an original six team this town loves its Hawks that's a given.

Now other than Kaner goofing off a little, have you every heard of a Hawks player getting a DUI? Ever hear of a Hawks player doing anything bad? No....that's because of a guy named Jay Blunk. Jay is the guy who keeps the guys in suit and tie and out of trouble. To tell you the truth I could use a guy like that to keep me in line.....

In a town where people are struggling to keep schools open, and the gridlock in Springfield is tighter than the McCaskey's grips on their wallets, Its good to have the Hawks. So let people not cut their grass in the name of playoff lawns, Grow those beards, and lets not forget the women wont shave their pits, Or my kid who hasn't taken off his Shaw jersey in what seems like 2 months, (he loves Shaw) this town needs something to get lost in.

And from a selfish point of view this all makes for fun radio, So you keep the pits, and I promise we will provide the radio bits.

Hawks in 7!

Drop the puck and lets do this.

RR

Fork in the Eye, Harly vs deer, Stage 3, Just beer me

Yesterday was a long day, The night before I was out late at the Charles Tillman bowling event for his Cornerstone foundation charity. For some reason staying out with a group of boys till 1 am seems like a great idea....Till 4am rolls around. that's how you get old fast in this business.

So I take a nap, I always try to grab an hour of sleep, then I cringe when I see the text messages, or phone calls that have been volleyed at my smart phone.

Yesterday was a banner day, 21 texts, 15 calls in two hours.

Hi Ray its mom,....your cousin Jim hit a deer on his Harley. He's being air lifted to Marshfield, called me. And why don't you ever answer your phone?

Text from my friend Crazy Eddie Kling, Ray (our old school pals name here) Has Stage Three Brest cancer call me.

Text Three, and this one is from the one I'm closest too. Ray "Say a prayer for my  Charlie he's in eye surgery right now-broke a fork at lunch and a piece punctured his eye. The only thing that claimed him down because he may lose his sight in that eye was when I told him about Jim McMahon  and how it didn't slow him down, and how he became a pro football player.

That was from Trish Biondo, when ever there's something bad in the world it seems her husband is out of town, and I was very calm when I told her that I had a guy and that if she needed anything to just call.

Her Boy is so cute, just the other day we were talking about her little man, Who I can tell has a wild side which I think is our connection, (last year at my kids graduation party I let him drive my go-kart he rammed it into a neighbors car) she told me how her little boy was the man she was destin to one day meet. I thought that was one of the cutest things I have ever heard from a mom extolling the love of her child.

Without giving out too much info I think he's gonna be fine, Just need a few days to make sure the surgery was a success.

Yesterday was a stark reminder that were not in control, We think we are but we are not. I do a lot of things that put me in risk category from mountain biking, Racing sleds, Riding Motorcycles, You never think anything can happen. Yesterday my phone told me otherwise.

Have a great weekend, Stay safe.....time for a beer.

C'mon now Wisconsin, we hope you'll take a joke!

Cuz if it weren't for us in in Illinois your state would just go broke....... That was a line from a song one of my radio hero's wrote a long time ago (Johnny B).

Those were the old days when this state had money, Stop and think about that for a second. This state, the great state of Illinois is broke, we cant get the state assembly to find a way out of our fiscal or pension mess because Mike Madigan cant be reached? He has no cell phone? What a crock of sh!t.

Here's a guy who is the most powerful man in the state, who runs every politician, Dem Or Republican out of his pocket, In this state. and he cant be reached by cell phone?

were closing schools in the toughest neighborhoods in the city, where the poor get poorer, and the kids keep getting shot every day on the way home from the soon to be closed schools.

Then we see that Mayor Rahm is building a new arena new Mc Cormick place, to boast the powerhouse DePaul blue demons basketball team. News flash no one will show up to see these kids play ball, and it wont make money,.... here's why. College kids don't generally have a lot of money to spend , Even rich DePaul kids. Oh and the boosters of De Paul ball, usually live on the North shore and wont travel to the south side to see a lame team, and when they do they usually watch the Bears.

Guess who will pay for this when the new McCormick place arena doesn't  make the allotted money? that's Right you and me.

But who will get the jobs when the construction starts? Keep your eyes open it will be the constituent's of the Mike Madigan,... see how this all works? How do we have the money to build stuff we cant afford?

I just paid a tax bill on a modest house in Kane county, the 6 month bill? 6 grand. How is it possible that you and I continue to pay tolls, taxes, and exorbitant gas prices yet we as a state are broke?

How can Mike Madigan look at himself in a mirror? This is his sh!t mess, and he continues to be elected by a small group in his district, and continues his strangle hold on this state.

Say what you want about our Governors that have been to jail, When Rod writes his book I hope he names names because he was a fall guy.

Hard to believe that when its all said and done that Rod Ba-gone-to jail-a- vitch will be probably look like a saint.

Today be sure of these things, Rahm will continue to tell the Ricketts they cant update their own property with their own money. Yet he will take our money  to build a arena we don't need. Makes sense don't it.

And some where today Mike Madigan and his daughter Lisa want to do what's right for our state, but she's to busy putting a gun law that was PASSED through our legislators. on hold because she disagrees with it. We could call mike and see where his head is at on pension reform, But we cant find him....He has no cell phone.

Wisconsin we are sorry you have to share a border with this state.