Follow @sneedlingsThe cardinal’s way . . .
Whispers in the nave: Sneed hears Mayor Rahm Emanuel is planning to attend the investiture in Rome next month of Archbishop Blase Cupich, whom Pope Francis recently named Chicago’s seventh cardinal.
“The mayor is incredibly proud of the archbishop’s elevation to cardinal of the Chicago archdiocese, which is the third-largest in the United States,” a City Hall source said. “The mayor has great respect for him.”
Francis, who personally handpicked Cupich, named 17 new cardinals in all last week, three of whom are Americans. All will be elevated at a ceremony Nov. 19.
Cupich, who was chosen in 2014 to head Chicago’s 2.2 million Catholics from his post as bishop of a small archdiocese in Spokane, Wash., has been asking those since he received the news: “Now pray for me.”
Fly the W . . .
Hillaryville & Wrigleyville: She may be on the campaign trail, but Hillary Clinton — a lifelong Cubs fan because of her Park Ridge roots — is sporting a Cubbies white W flag pin!
OPINION
Follow @sneedlingsA Rose is a Rose . . .
Sneed hears a surprise female witness is expected to be called in the civil rape trial of former Chicago basketball ace Derrick Rose and his two childhood Chicago friends, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton.
Word is the witness, a roommate of the female accuser who is seeking $21 million in damages, is expected to claim she was at the house when the alleged incident occurred, did not hear or see anything, and the men didn’t run when she was there, according to a Sneed source.
Sneed is also told Rose, who is called “Pooh” by his friends, is upset he missed the birthday of his son P.J. (Pooh Jr.) on Oct. 9 because of his appearance at the rape trial in Los Angeles.
The legal fees of Chicago Attorney Michael D. Monico, who represents Allen and Hampton, are being paid by Rose.
Hey! Hey!
It’s magic mojo time again.
And the Cubs are currently 108 outs away from going to the World Series.
Sports impresario Grant DePorter, who has been compiling lists of why 108 is the red hot Cubs’ lucky number, has new reasons why!
• Addition: “So if 27 outs equal 1 game, the National League Championship Series and the World Series both equal 108 outs.
• Multiplication: You need to win 4 games in the series to win. So, 4 x 27 = 108.”
Here are other reasons DePorter feels 108 is the Cubs’ lucky number!
• The biggest 108: Slugger Javier Baez’s game-winning home run on pitch No. 108 from San Francisco Giants Johnny Cueto in game 1 of the National League Division Series.
• NLDS Game 1 starting pitcher Jon Lester was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, the 108th-largest city in America.
• The Cubs won NLDS Game 2 on 10/8.
Holy Mackerel!
Is comedian Bill Murray’s mojo a magic factor?
• Murray, a die-hard Cubs fan who attended NLDS Games 1 and 2, has a historic marker named for him in Illinois, which is at 108 Cass Street in Woodstock, where his hit movie “Groundhog Day” was shot.
•Hat chat: Murray was wearing a Jimmy John’s hat to the games, and, DePorter notes, Jimmy John’s Big John Sandwich on seven-grain bread weighs 10.8 oz.
Hey! Ho! Yo!
Dutchie Caray, widow of legendary Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, and DePorter — have been wearing necklaces containing 108 beads during all games for good luck.
There ya go.
Roll call!
Is the Cubs’ notorious billy goat curse about to rear its ugly head?
Yipes!
After a goat mask popped up in the stands during the NLDS against the Giants, a quick accounting of the area’s main goat habitants netted this result:
The goats were all where they are supposed to be.
• Lambs Farm in Libertyville, 25 goats. Check.
• Brookfield Zoo, 30 goats. Check.
• Lincoln Park Zoo, 10 goats. Check.
“It’s goats as normal here,” Lincoln Park Zoo spokeswoman Jillian Braun said Wednesday.
Whew!
Sneedlings . . .
I spy: Cubs first basemen Anthony Rizzo spotted at Harry Caray’s on Thursday afternoon. . . . Congrats to Anthony and Anna Gattuso on the birth of their first child, Cecilia Frances. . . . Today’s birthdays: Usher, 38; Ralph Lauren, 77, and Stephen A. Smith, 49.
