Joe Posnanski got the same reaction when he played Lane Meyer in a high school play.

Cusack should never have thrown that World Series in 1919.

in the comments more than one person points out that there was a train that stopped nearby, fwiw ...

Somebody needs to do a statistical analysis to catch the howlers in Joe Morgan, I mean, John Cusack's remembrances.

As far as I can tell, the "backlash" is a Beachwood Reporter article/blog that was picked up by the New York Post and SFGate.

I used to live on Sheridan Road as well, though I lived in the part that was in Wisconsin. Right on the water, great view, one long as road. That an Ogden Ave. seem to go on forever.

also, he mentions an 'el' in his article, but that could have been a simple mixup since the train under discussion was the L train.
what people should be upset about is that it isn't much of an article, just a bunch of stuff strung together.
not nearly up to the stringent standards of BTF.
:)

Beat me to it. If Repoz has linked to the original Cusack article SFgate would probably be using us as his source.

I knew that guy was dirty. Something about the way he asked for the Pina Colada in Hot Pursuit. It was a dead giveaway.

But readers have accused Cusack of misspelling the names of three Cubs players, as well as famed playwright Eugene O’Neill, and making a variety of factual errors.

In Your Eyes, maybe.

The Bartman curse ends and the Cusack curse begins.

Billy Beane should never have written this article.

Meathead actor makes #### up. Film at 11.

I don't see anything incongruous with having to "scrape together" $2.50 and living in a nice house. Just because he grew up with well-off parents doesn't mean they showered him with money. I had to earn money with summer jobs etc to pay for things like baseball tickets that my parents easily could have afforded. It's not like he claimed he was on welfare or anything. Sheesh.

el(evated) or L is no big deal.

I believe there was a Evanston Express at one time.

Evanston to Howard and get on the Red Line to Addison makes sense.

The Metra train (Union Pacific ?) which went through the North Shore to Ogilive, walk a few blocks east to the Red Line was also a option for Cusack.

Evanston to Howard get on the Skokie Swift to Dempster---get a bagel mmmmmmm

and his love of the local baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox.

He only started loving the White Sox in October of 2005.

I believe there was a Evanston Express at one time.

Here's an article that might help.

He only started loving the White Sox in October of 2005.

No, Cusack was the one who didn't fix the 1919 World Series.

For what it's worth, this is the same SF Chronicle blog that irresponsibly and incorrectly reported that Alyssa Milano dated Tom Glavine.

He only started loving the White Sox in October of 2005.

Didn't Reinsdorf refuse to give him tickets?

Its the El, not the L.

I agree that being middle class doesn't mean your parents give you a crisp 20 dollar bill every morning to go blow on crap.

Can we get less articles from gossip columns? There was one just the other day.

All this talk about money, and no reference to Better Off Dead???

"I want my 2 dollars!"

All this talk about money, and no reference to Better Off Dead???

"I want my 2 dollars!"

But that still leaves the paperboy 50 cents short.

This does not rank in the top 5 John Cusack-related scandals. If you really wanted to mess up his image, you should have got to him earlier.

I think Cusack is scheduled to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" on the North Side this weekend. Wonder what kind of reaction he'll get.

And isn't Joan a Sox fan?

And isn't Joan a Sox fan?

Not that I know of, but she is the spokesperson for U.S. Cellular.

Why is Cusack getting backlash? Is his article not up to the exacting standards that typify Huffington Post's baseball coverage?

GREAT flick #24.

I believe there was a Evanston Express at one time.

Evanston to Howard and get on the Red Line to Addison makes sense.

The Evanston Express ran from Howard all the way downtown and around the Loop. It didn't stop between Howard and something like Randolph, so you couldn't take that to Wrigley.

I used to take that train home, and look out for the W or L flag flying at the ballpark as you rolled past. Do they still do that?

I will say this for John...

About 10 years ago, I was out with friends at a Lincoln Park establishment (Mickey's, I think). We had started there in the early afternoon, and were pretty well toasted by the time it got dark... This was maybe a year or two after we graduated college - you know the phase, you can still toss down drinks like a collegian, but now you actually have a job, you're no longer the well camel piss buying shelf, but have moved up to shelf and call, and you think you're hot ####.

In walks John Cusack, with another guy and 4 gorgeous women. They sit down at a table -- and me and a friend decide they'd like some company... or their fault for having two empty seats at their table... or whatever and strike up a conversation, more with eye on his company than John.

We were in pretty bad shape - I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally one of the girls John was with trying to light her cigarette with his own. Inane drunken conversation with John (So you're an actor, huh? What's that like... do you happen to have Alyssa Milano's number?), etc...

I will say this for Mr. Cusack - patience of Jobe. He gave us about 10 minutes, and then actually politely, and I do mean politely, asked us to vacate the table.

Had I been him - I doubt I would have been as patient or polite.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally one of the girls John was with trying to light her cigarette with his own.

I'm intrigued about what this was supposed to say he accidentally did.

I'm going with, "I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally burning one of the girls with John while he was trying to light her cigarette with his own."

Any other guesses? Make it a Mad-Lib.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally came on one of the girls; John was trying to light her cigarette and lit his own.

Is that "method writing" or something where you replicate the mental state you're describing.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally becoming one of the girls John was with trying to light her cigarette with his own.

Actually quote from his article:

Ride the El up from Evanston, change on the Howard line and take the train to Wrigley

Maybe they fixed it after the fact, but that's exactly the way I used to do it. He may have mistakenly referred to what is now the Purple Line as "The Evanston Express" -- sue him.

There have been times when the Evanston Express stopped at various places between Howard and downtown, but probably not when Cusack was talking about. If I wanted to go somewhere north of downtown, perhaps as far as Fullerton, I occasionally used to take an express train all the way downtown and switch to a northbound Howard train, but doing that to Wrigley would have been a bit much.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally came on one of the girls

Wow, she must have been really hot if he just up and did it right there.

Wow, she must have been really hot if he just up and did it right there.

He should have his id taken away.

She'd have probably prefered jism to a cigarette burn.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally killed one of the girls John was with trying to light her cigarette with his own.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally licked one of the girls John was with trying to light her cigarette with his own

hey .. they were pretty drunk.

Cusack: "Do you really believe that there's some stored up conflict that exists between us? There is no us. We don't exist. So who do you wanna hit, man? It's not me..... now what do you wanna do here, man?"

Blog Commenter: (pulls out a crumpled-up piece of paper)

Cusack: "I don't know what that is."

Blog Commenter: "These are my words."

Cusack: "It's a poem? See, that's the problem. Express yourself, blog commenter! Go for it."

My Top 8 Cusack Films in no particular order.

1 - Grifters
2 - Say Anything
3 - Better off Dead
4 - High Fidelity
5 - Eight Men Out
6 - Being John Malcovich
7 - Grosse Point Blank
8 - Bullets Over Broadway

#### he has made some crap as well....who doesn't?

Cusack should never have thrown that World Series in 1919.

He didn't throw the 1919 World Series. He didn't tell Fay Vincent he knew about the conspiracy.

Next we're going to find out it wasn't Peter Gabriel on the boom box, it was a K-Tel soundalike.

"High Fidelity" definitely in my all-time Top 5.

The purple line runs from Linden Street in Wilmette to Howard Street on the border of Chicago and Evanston making 7 stops in Evanston on the way. During rush hours it continues as the "Evanston Express" running non-stop to Belmont (the stop after Wrigley Field) and then making stops throughout the loop. On game days if the timing is right, it will stop at Addison (Wrigley Field) as a service to Cubs fans. It is very possible he did take the "Evanston Express" to Cubs games, or he took the purple line to Howard and switched to the red line. I know it's our thing, but lets not get too nit-picky here.

Cusack did not have a poverty-stricken up-bringing, but he does have about 45 brothers and sisters. I can imagine the money was not free-flowing around the Cusack household. As for misspelling names and misremembering facts, he was a kid and it's baseball memories in the Huffington Post.

I will say this for Mr. Cusack - patience of Jobe. He gave us about 10 minutes, and then actually politely, and I do mean politely, asked us to vacate the table.

Had I been him - I doubt I would have been as patient or polite.

I know a guy who met Cusack once and while his story is not humorous like yours, this guy also says Cusack was a very nice, down-to-earth guy and was patient with people talking to him, asking him for autographs, etc.

Cusack didn't throw that World Series = Beane shouldn't have written that book, for those who think I'm misremembering. If it'd make it more clear, I'll suggest that he should never have given his baseball hat to John "Ace" Merrill instead of his brother, Gordie.

And isn't Joan a Sox fan?

Not that I know of, but she is the spokesperson for U.S. Cellular.

In the mid-'90s she did commercials for the White Sox. With George Wendt.

Of course, when Cusack was a lad, what is now the Red Line was the Green Line. I ran into him in a North Side watering hole (The Old Town Ale House) twenty some years ago, didn't approach him, and observed him being a jerk. We were all (well, many of us) young, wasted, and obnoxious at some point. But he had a hotter date than most.

I ran into him in a North Side watering hole (The Old Town Ale House) twenty some years ago, didn't approach him, and observed him being a jerk.

An old friend's mother is one of the faces on the wall there. It was odd going into that bar with the friend. The bartender was practically a surrogate mother to her growing up, and made sure that she and anyone she was with got out of there toasted, but safely.

Of course, when Cusack was a lad, what is now the Red Line was the Green Line.

When Cusack was a lad there were no Red Lines or any other color lines. There was the Howard-Jackson Park/Englewood (the one he'd've ridden to Wiggley or the Loop), the O'Hare-Congress/Douglas, etc. Which I much preferred, but I guess that was hard for tourists to handle.

Of course, given the tone of the article, he probably actually rode in a limo instead of taking the el, and to the Drake Hotel instead of the ballpark.

I ran into him in a North Side watering hole (The Old Town Ale House) twenty some years ago, didn't approach him, and observed him being a jerk.

He was probably over-compensating because you made him feel insignificant by not approaching him. Movie stars are people too, you know.

I distinctly recall my buddy accidentally got his arm stuck in the microwave so one of the girls had to take him to the hospital and John's grandmother dropped acid that morning, and she freaked out and hijacked a busload of penguins while trying to light her cigarette with his own.

So it was sort of a family crisis.

Of course, when Cusack was a lad, what is now the Red Line was the Green Line.

IT WAS NOT!!

When Cusack was a kid, which is basically when I was a kid, you had the A train (which had a reddish sign) and the B train (which had a greenish sign) both running on the Howard line. Addison was a B stop. The B train went to Jackson Park and the A-train went to Englewood. That bit's been switched around so it runs on the Dan Ryan now.

And the Evanston Express didn't start stopping at Belmont until fairly recently but, for a while, it did stop at Wilson (of all places) on that funny little side station they have (had?) there. And its first downtown stop was, of course, the Merchandise Mart.

And it's the Ravenswood line dammit and it always will be!! :-)