Grievances from O'Hare Airport

1. The seating for the public in O'Hare Airport is too metallic. It's not welcoming. It's harsh. People, don't be harsh.

2. For an airport this size, the eating options don't have enormous variety or appeal. Chili's, McDonald's, Quizno's ... There are a few exceptions, but not many.

That's all.

The home-opener for the Chicago Cubs means a little less in O'Hare than it does, say, Wrigleyville. I'm typing this from a bar that's connected to a Quizno's. That's right, I ate at Quizno's. It's not the worst fast food in the world.

The bar has a television that is airing the Chicago Cubs' home-opener against the Milwaukee Brewers. Two people are sitting at the bar (My back is to it, and to the world, for that matter). They don't seem all that interested in the ballgame. Neither am I.

I covered a few Cubs home-openers at Wrigley for The Gazette. Now I wonder why. It was a different time.

People seem interested in one thing in airports: Themselves, and flight information. OK, that's two things. But it's really one. Or two. I'm conflicted.

A week ago today, I passed through this same airport while the Tiger Woods press conference from Augusta National was in progress. I was surprised to see how few people as much as looked at it on various airport televisions. Wasn't Tiger Woods and his transgressions supposed to be one of the big stories of our age?

On my flight from Charlotte to Chicago, I opened a newspaper. The woman next to me saw the headlines about Phil Mickelson's win and said, "Oh, did Mickelson win?"

Good for her.

Saturday night, I was driving from Augusta to my hotel in Barnwell, S.C. and had a phone conversation with my wife. She told me about the plane crash in Poland that killed 96 people including the nation's president, Lech Kaczynski. I'd known nothing about it.

Not good for me.

Lots of people are in here eating Quizno's. It's not the worst fast food available here, I'm telling you.