So this is Madison: Sometimes you have to be 6

Today wasn’t a bad day, but it was the last day before we went home from vacation and back to normal life.

And unlike Edinburgh, when we both knew it was time, I was starting to get that “blah” feeling that comes at the end of vacations.

Then we went to the pool.

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So this is Madison: Old, new and memory

As it turns out, there is actually a place called Madison, Wisconsin, and a university called the University of Wisconsin.

Of course, I knew that — otherwise, my wife Suzi, ESPN and a handful of others would have perpetuated a huge hoax — but until we got there today, it only existed in my wife talking about graduate school and many football and basketball games on TV.

Finally, Chicago: Worth the wait

“You’re not coming back to Mass are you?”

My mate Gardner asked me that on Facebook after seeing the photos I took at the Chicago Sports Museum, but yes, barring anything unexpected, my wife and I will be back home in Massachusetts Saturday.

Our house, cat, families and jobs are there, so we’re not going to pick up stakes and start over in Chicago, but I did give him the cheap answer that it’s “my kind of town.”

Finally, Chicago: Hotel workers are bringing the noise

You can hear them before you can see them, often blocks before you can see them.

Hotel workers are on strike in Chicago, picketing in front of several hotels each day. Plastic buckets used as drums seem to be popular implements, but whatever they use, they are not going about it quietly.

Finally, Chicago: Getting out of downtown

Reading off the back cover, the older gentleman at the University of Chicago Bookstore said I just had to get this book.

The book was Omarosa Manigault Newman’s “Unhinged.”

I don’t have an issue with the guy’s politics, but I have no desire to read that book.

Sorry.

Finally, Chicago: At the end of the day

It was a varied crowd at dinner tonight.

A couple of young women were having drinks at the table next to ours, and older men in suits showed up for dinner.

At one table were a couple guys in Bears jerseys, while a few Seahawks fans were a couple tables away. (The Bears and Seahawks play tonight.)

Meanwhile, we sat back and watched the world go by — commuters and tourists alike.

Finally, Chicago: It’s great to be a baseball fan

Wrigley Field is one of baseball’s crown jewels, and as such, if you’re a baseball fan, you should want to go there.

As my wife and I were planning our vacation to Chicago, I wanted to make sure it included a day the Cubs were playing at home so I could go. Today was that day.

The Cubs lost 2-1 to the Reds, but you can read about that in any number of places (like this one. And regarding the play in question, I was in line for ice cream and only saw it on TV.)

But going to any game is also the story of a day.

So here’s mine.

Finally, Chicago: Just eat the pizza

Being in Chicago puts me on one of the two poles in a great American culture war.

Chicago-style deep-dish pizza versus New York-style thin crust.

Finally, Chicago: “Almost” no more

For several years, my wife and I have referred to Chicago as our “almost vacation.”

My wife has been to the city many times between when she was at the University of Wisconsin or for work trips, but other than being in the airport long enough to make a connecting flight or get a ride to work training in Downers Grove, I had never been to the city.

So after a few years in which we had talked about going to Chicago but something came up or we wound up going somewhere else, we have finally made it to Chicago.

Almost a clean getaway

I believe in jinxes.

Even when I know they’re not actually true — Jake Odorizzi was or wasn’t going to throw a no-hitter against the Yankees the other night regardless of what I said or didn’t say — I still respect them, and still honor them.