The New Yorker cartoon of the day:

Good Monday morning!

I took this picture over the weekend because I realized it won't be long before the leaves grow back and obscure the view of the Sears Willis Tower. (I hear it's for sale, by the way -- for $1.5 billion. Maybe the new owner will change the name again.)

Anyway, that's the Columbus statue, of course, on the corner of Loomis and Polk at the far west end of Arrigo Park in Little Italy.

Brian Carman, who...

...cowrote the instrumental surf-rock hit “Pipeline” for his band, the Chantays, died at age 69.

Mr. Carman and four classmates at Santa Ana High School formed the Chantays in the early ’60s. He and his bandmate Bob Pickard wrote “Pipeline” after school one day. The piece "crested" at No. 4 on the Billboard Pop Chart in 1963.

And that reminds me: I still owe you a summary of my recent trip to southern California, including my pilgrimage to Hawthorne, the home of the Beach Boys. It's in the "pipeline."

Daniel Von Bargen, who...

...played Mr. Kruger, George's boss at Kruger Industrial Smoothing, died at age 64.

It was pandemonium...

...last night at St. Ignatius -- twice! First, when the home team Wolfpack "won" the game, 64-61 (above), and second, when they really won the game a few minutes later, 65-64 (below).

Huh?

It all happened very fast and was more than a little confusing (to me).

First of all, the Broncos of Kenwood overcame an eighteen-point deficit at the end of the third quarter to send the contest into overtime. The scrappy South Siders, who were behind since the end of the first quarter, tied the game with about two minutes remaining and again with twelve seconds left. The Kenwood crowd, which really "showed up" for the game, went nuts. Ignatius then had the last shot but regulation play ended in a 57-all tie. It was really exciting!

(I'm no basketball expert, but it seemed like the Broncos turned up the tempo in the fourth quarter and made Ignatius play their game. The momentum shifted -- dramatically -- as Ignatius struggled to regain its composure.)

Kenwood never managed to take the lead, however, and the game appeared to be over as the Wolfpack "prevailed," 64-61. The student section, all clad in green for St. Patrick's Day, stormed the court at Joseph J. Gentile (Class of '42) Gymnasium in a spontaneous display of euphoria. As I was feverishly tweeting the result, Final score: @IgnatiusChicago 64, Kenwood 61!, I was vaguely aware of the Public Address guy pleading with the students to clear the court. Yeah, right, I thought.

But then the most amazing thing happened: the kids actually returned to their seats! My first thought was, Boy, these Ignatius kids are really conditioned to respect authority! But then my second was, What the heck is going on here?

Apparently, the game wasn't over after all. Senior forward Brandon Snower (I think) approached the free-throw line and sunk one of two attempts with less than a second (?) remaining on the clock to make the score, 65-61. And then, after a quick inbound pass, one of the Broncos hit a three-pointer from way, way out to make the final -- final -- score, 65-64. What a game!

I felt happy for Ignatius but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was secretly pulling for Kenwood at the end. I mean, come on, how can you not root for a team that mounted such an incredible comeback? Those kids showed a lot of heart!

But I was also looking forward to the big showdown against Whitney Young that I was sure would take place next Wednesday night at Morton East in Cicero. (I was quite pleased with myself for calling that a week ago.) It was only after I got home that I found out that the Dolphins were defeated by Morton at Whitney Young High School by an identical 65-64 score. I guess either game would have been a good choice!

Now the Wolfpack will take on the Mustangs in what could be another great contest. And I'll be there.

P. S. As I was walking into the game last night I noticed a number of shiny black SUVs parked outside St. Ignatius on Roosevelt Road. Was there some kind of funeral going on at Holy Family Church next door? But then, afterward, while walking out I noticed several big, beefy guys milling about. And, seconds later, out strolled the mayor himself, Rahm Emanuel. Why was Hizzoner at THIS game? Don't know. Oh, well, he saw a good one!

I walk past the UIC Pavilion...

...all the time. (I took these pictures yesterday on my way to Target.)

The Pavilion, which seats almost 10,000 people, is located on the northeast corner of Racine and Harrison, just south of the Eisenhower Expressway on the Near West Side. (I just realized that last sentence contained all four directions.) I was disappointed at how little information there was about the structure on the Internet; all I could find was its Wikipedia page. 

The Pavilion, designed and built by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, opened in 1982 and was renovated in 2001. (I was surprised to read that; doesn't that font look older?)

The famous Chicago-based architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm is responsible for the rest of the UIC campus as well as the John Hancock Center and the Sears Tower. Oh, all right -- the Willis Tower. (You can even see it in the photo at the top of this page.)

Founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings, and later joined in 1939 by John O. Merrill, the firm became known for its use of the modern international-style or "glass box" skyscraper. Due to their faithful following of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe’s ideas, Frank Lloyd Wright nicknamed them "The Three Blind Mies."

If the Pavilion looks and feels different from the rest of the UIC campus, maybe it's because SOM's lead designer for UIC, Walter Netsch,* had left the firm by 1979 when construction began.

The East Campus was designed in the mid-1960s in the brutalist style, which is derived not from the word "brutal," but from the French béton brut, or "raw concrete," a term used by Le Corbusier to describe his choice of material. Since then, "considerable effort has been expended to modify the original Netsch campus plan to create the feel of a traditional college campus."

* If that name sounds familiar, it's because Netsch was married to Dawn Clark Netsch, who ran for governor of Illinois in 1994.

The New Yorker cartoon of the day: