I’m calling this week the “World Series of Government Corruption!!!” Great storylines all week long: Will Blagojevich tick off Judge Zagel by trying to re-litigate his case in sentencing? Will the judge take this half-decade circus story to heart and give Blago a max sentence? Will the Sam Adam father and son duo make a cameo appearance? So many great questions, and so little time left. The judge said this will take a couple days. Even so, that means we should have a sentence in the Blagojevich corruption case by Wednesday or Thursday. I might go down just to see how many freakshows these proceedings produce. Will tin-foil man show up? What about brightly-colored suit guy?

B story: Love this story. Ralph Nader is miffed at the NBA for scheduling a bunch of games on Christmas. He has a point - saying that the slew of NBA games is going to negatively affect the family and traditional aspects of the holiday (like church, candles, putting together the Hot Wheels race track). Nader put up with the NBA adding games to the schedule in the past, but this year’s season-opener and five game spread is too much. His point: Sorry you had labor strife, but don’t force non-basketball fans to have family fights over the Dallas Mavericks.

I kind of agree, since a full day of basketball followed by an NFL football game would probably mean wall-to-wall sports from 10am-10pm. Is that cool for Christmas? Personally, I always end up watching some weird Division II football game by noon on Christmas, so basketball is a better option. But I see his point. This is the ultimate commercialization of the most commercialized holiday on the books.

C story: Today is the day we will find out if Congressman Joe Walsh will switch districts to run against Democrats, instead of running against Republicans.  Due to the proposed redistricting map, Walsh’s current district is being dismantled and reconfigured.  In response, he recently announced that we was planning to move to the 14th to take on fellow freshman Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren.  That angered many in the GOP, especially after Walsh started bashing on Hultgren.  But now we hear Walsh may be changing his tune and deciding to run in the newly configured 8th, where he’d likely face one of two Democratic challengers, including Tammy Duckworth. Call me crazy, but don’t you have to live in a district to run? I guess I don’t know the rules.

D story: Great post by Lee Bey today. Sure, the CPS will shut down schools in an effort to improve education city-wide. But what happens to those buildings, including some that are architectural gems?

Weather: About right.

Sports: That Bears game was easily one of the worst in a decade. I compiled some thoughts, including some AP photos from the game. Don’t worry, I put snarky headlines on them too.

In other sporting news, the bowl games are out and local schools are going far and wide to play for pride and money. Wait, other way around. Northwestern, Illinois, Northern Illinois and Notre Dame are playing over the holidays. The NIU game is against Arkansas State and it will be played on January 8th. January 8th? What, is this a new BCS thing? Sorry, NIU should play Arkansas State on December 27th. The rest of the games should be on New Years and one BCS title match should be the Monday after. January 8th, my tush.

And today, NBA free agent Caron Butler visits the Bulls. Meh.

Kicker: Johnny B. is coming back to mornings. The popular morning zoo DJ (Johnny B. on the loose!) just signed on to be the new morning guy at WGN radio, displacing Greg Jarrett. Feder talks to Brandmeier in today’s post. WGN is hoping that Johnny B. will return the station to the top of the ratings.  And, personally, I’m hoping this Johnny B. will make an appearance. This is an interview from PM Magazine when Johnny was in Phoenix. Thank you, YouTube, for that awesome mustache: