Life 2.0

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Yesterday, the budget axe fell on the careers of nine on-air personnel at WGN-TV, including notable names like long-time entertainment critic Dean Richards and sports anchor Chris Boden, along with stalwart news anchors Ray Cortopassi, Sean Lewis, and Judy Wang. Reporters Julian Crews & Bronagh Tumulty, as well as meteorologist Mike Janssen and political analyst Paul Lisnek, have all been given pink slips.

I can tell you from the inside out, that the inner workings of the media is often built around the good, the bad and the ugly and cutting out trusted names, is a real blow to the community they serve and only benefits the shareholders. I remember my time at WGN Radio and when my ID stopped working...so did I.

Jenniffer Weigel

She's one of my favorite gal-pals, and a true force of nature for all things good in the world. After leaving the "If it bleeds, it leads" media world (with a few awards in hand), Jen Weigel decided to turn her talents to creating content that lifts people up, not pushes them down. As always, it's a rousing conversation about the human condition and how each of us can make a difference in our own lives, which is where all real change starts. With the Olympics taking center stage, I was moved to include a song by John Denver that he wrote for the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo called "The Gold and Beyond." This particular version was recorded in the former Soviet Union, by Roger "The Immortal" Nichols in 1985.

Music used by permission of the Denver Estate.

The Wednesday Rant-Goodwill Hunting

Three days a week, I watch the ebb and flow of discarded items get dropped off at the local Goodwill Store. From my perch on the treadmill at the gym, I have a ringside view of this $6.1 billion industry that takes in discarded items, slaps a price tag on them, and the re-sells it to people who wait in line for 30 minutes for the doors to open. But it wasn't until I inadvertently dropped off an item that was buried in a bag with other stuff, and went back to retrieve it, that the sticker shock of the mini-fridge I donated for free wasn't worth it. 

The bottom line? We're all estate sales, garage sales, or yard sales in the making. Or, Goodwill inventory contributors.

A little musical backup from the great David Stoddard on this one.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Once again, we are out buying cards, candies, and roses for our beloveds. But how did this all start? Why is it celebrated on February 14th? Beyond all that, this is the date that I remember when a bunch of 2nd graders helped me find my heart again, during a very turbulent time in my life, and how the power of love triumphs over all.

Super Bowl I with Jerry Kramer

The first AFL–NFL World Championship football game was played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The National Football League champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American Football League champion Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 35–10, winning their tenth championship and becoming the first NFL team to win double-digit championships. It wouldn't officially become the "Super Bowl" until the 2nd matchup of the Packers vs. the Raiders in 1968. Jerry Kramer is one of a handful of men who are still alive from both SBI & SBII and now at the age of 90, we take a look back 60 years with the Hall of Famer Green Bay Packer legend. 

Throwback Thursday-Chuck Negron

In 1967, singer Danny Hutton invited Chuck Negron to join him and Cory Wells to form the band Three Dog Night. The group became one of the most successful bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s, selling approximately 60 million records and earning Gold records for singles that featured Negron as lead vocalist, including "Joy to the World", "One", "Mama Told Me Not to Come", "Old Fashioned Love Song", and "Easy to Be Hard".

Back in 2001, Chuck joined me to talk about his book "Three Dog Nightmare," in which he described his life as a high school athlete and a member of a successful rock band. He talked about his descent into drug abuse and attributes his recovery from heroin addiction to his turning to God in desperation after dropping out of more than thirty drug treatment facilities.

Chuck Negron passed away on February 2nd, 2026 at the age of 83-clean and sober.

Godspeed.

 

Saturday Rewind-Jerry Kramer

He's one of a handful of men who played in Super Bowls I & II, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018, and is the author of five best-selling books, including Run to Win, written with Bob Fox in 2023. Jerry Kramer turned 90 yesterday (and shares a birthday with my son, Andy). This Saturday Rewind was an easy choice, with another look back at the glory days of pro football, when it was more of a game than a business, with the best guard who ever strapped it up and stepped on the gridiron...and then shared his story with the world.

The Wednesday Rant-Tribal Warfare

I had to wait a few days to mourn the Bears' loss to the Rams and gather my thoughts (not really), but once again, I am reminded that football (really all sports) is tribal warfare and is based on the woulda, coulda, shoulda game plan. That means that if we woulda changed a play, or coulda caused a turnover, or shoulda kicked a field goal, somehow we'd reach the promised land. I've got about 20 years in the game as both a player and coach, and I am here to tell ya that you can play your heart out and still lose, and conversely, play like shit and win. To me, it's just a game, but for way too many humans, it's an obsession that borders on insanity, like the 4-year-old kid who's getting death threats because people are losing money on her NFL picks. Wow. Get a grip, and get a life. 

Saturday Rewind-Remembering Pete

During his lifetime, Pete Huttlinger became widely known as one of the most awe-inspiring acoustic guitar players in the world. His unique arrangements and spell-binding musicality and precision entertained audiences from Nashville to Los Angeles to Milan. He toured with such major acts as LeAnn Rimes and John Oates of Hall & Oates and became John Denver's lead guitar player in 1994. 

Born with a rare heart defect, Pete underwent a series of operations, beginning as a teenager, that ultimately failed to normalize the heart’s functions. In 2010, he suffered a stroke that his doctors initially thought would permanently immobilize him. But with characteristic determination, he returned to playing guitar within three weeks. His first performance was for his incredulous doctors.

Soon after, he suffered a heart failure so catastrophic that it kept him at the Texas Heart Institute in Houston for four months in 2011. Again, he worked his way back, first to proficiency and then to mastery of his instrument. He and his wife and manager, Erin Morris, chronicled his ordeal and recovery in their 2015 memoir, Joined at the Heart: A Story of Love, Guitars, Resilience and Marigolds.

Pete Huttlinger passed away ten years ago, on January 15th, 2026, at the age of 54.

My conversation with Pete and Erin, just about a month before he passed, in December of 2015, once again proves that your cause of death isn't nearly as important as your cause in life and Pete's mantra of "Don't just live, live well"...lives on.

Reality Check

I had thought about taking the easy route today, as Da Bears are hosting the Packers tonight in the first playoff round and chatting up that decades-old rivalry. But then, the events of the past week wouldn't leave me alone, and I literally sat for an hour before turning on the mic this morning, arguing with myself if I had anything at all worth sharing as it pertained to making sense of the senseless. Three things came to mind, and for better or for worse, I've once again attempted to find the obvious in the absurd. Music speaks where words fail, and I kept hearing the lyrics of Stone Haven Sunrise in my mind.."For the needs of the many, are the sins of a few, and the day is forthcoming when accounting is due."

Music used by permissIon of the John Denver Estate.