This Kid Knows How To Spell

Spelling bee:

Adult: "How do you spell the word 'panic?'"

Child: "C-H-I-C-A-G-O C-U-B-S."

Perfect answer, kid.

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The sports news out of St. Louis says Cubs manager Lou Piniella [pictured at the left] flew into a rege, or tried to anyway, after his team lost [again] in the ninth inning of a game last night.

This time it was the St. Louis Cardinals who rallied to whip the Cubs, 4-3.

Everybody is doing that to the Chicagos these days. They could lose in the ninth inning to the School of Ditch-Digging amateur team.

Last night's loss was Chicago's eighth in its last nine games, and it further tightened the noose around the players' necks.

You'd never know that the Cubs have a 4 1/2-game lead in the National League Central.
That's because second-place Milwaukee is also not only choking on all the big ones, but the little ones as well.

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"We're playing like we're waiting to get beat," Piniella told reporters loudly after the game at Busch Stadium.

I guess Lou wanted his players to be able to hear what he said. The trouble was, most of them had already cleared out of the clubhouse.

Today's managers -- Piniella included -- have difficulty getting messages across to players who are paid many millions of dollars more than they're paid.

When players lose a game now, it's always, "Well, we'll try to win tomorrow."

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Tomorrow has arrived.

And the black cat that walked past Cubs third baseman Ron Santo in a September game at Shea Stadium in New York in 1969 [pictured at the top] has been given a new life.

These Cubs of 2008 are just as dead as Santo's Cubs were in 1969.

For me, the official end to the season can't come soon enough.

Unofficially, it's already over for me.

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My good friend Walt Shotwell [pictured at the right] called attention to the guest commentary he has written for this week's edition of Cityview at http://www.dmcityview.com/guest.shtml.

After reading it, here's what I wrote to Shotwell, a retired reporter/columnist at the Register:

"Walt, thanks for sending me a link to your guest commentary in Cityview. It's very good reading, but that's what I'd expect from a veteran reporter/columnist like you. I like your idea of "Breakfast with Barack," and I like it that you tied my friend and yours Bob Ray into the column. Keep up the great work."

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By the way, I'm picking Iowa to slip past Iowa State, 24-21, in Saturday's game at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City.

I picked the Hawkeyes to win last summer -- even when most of us still thought Jake Christensen would be the No. 1 quarterback -- and I haven't changed my mind. With Ricky Stanzi now the Hawkeyes' quarterback, I continue to favor Iowa.

But not by the 13 1/2 points Las Vegas says.

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The Gannett Co. is eliminating 100 executive jobs at its newspapers.

Unfortunately, the Des Moines Register isn't one of those affected, according to the paper.

There's a bus loading at the Greyhound terminal here now, and a few Register folks deserve to be on it.