They will donate proceeds of the foot race to local firefighters because they want paramedics to be on-hand … just in case they are needed. If times of the runners are kept, they now are thinking of skipping the need for stopwatches and mulling if perhaps just a calendar may be more appropriate. | Read more Flick

"I also like the idea of perhaps getting a cigarette maker or funeral home to sponsor us," chimes In Chol Chong, the well-known face and manager also known as "Inch" at Central Station downtown.

A forthcoming cataclysmic catastrophe, you ask? A horrifying disaster that is about to unfold? Nah. This is worse.

This is a group of middle-aged downtown Bloomington bar owners who amid an off-handed challenge to see who is the faster runner among them, are poised to find out.

Perhaps the oddest, yet most fun, way to kick off your Thanksgiving celebrating this year?

Jot on your calendar Wednesday (Nov. 26), at 3:30 p.m., at Market and Main to watch nine downtown bar-keeps race (OK, that verb may be a stretch) in a 50-yard dash. All downhill, of course.

The "challenge" already has raised $3,000, with proceeds to Bloomington firefighters and Adopt-A-Family.

The competitors? To include: Butch (of Elroys), Inch (Central Station), Tony (Killarney's), Jay (Mulligans), Tyler (Fat Jacks), Jeff (IBC), Mike (Maguires), Tim (Six Strings) and perhaps even Mama, aka Jan Lancaster (Bistro).

Why, you might ask, is this being done, as if heart-attack-prevention and shortness of breath is not already a worldwide health concern?

What started as idle Sunday afternoon chatter between Butch (Thompson) and Inch (In Chol Chong) as they were ogling an NFL game on TV ("… that guy is so slow, I bet even I could beat him in a race … and in a race I bet even I could beat you … nah, I'd whoop your …") has now blossomed into the premier sporting event of the year.

Or, OK, maybe at least 20 seconds. Paramedics, are you ready?

A star was born: When McLean County Circuit Judge Donald Bernardi steps down next week after a 17-year stint with a gavel and seat up on the fourth floor of the McLean County Law & Justice Center, it also will sever a tie between the local judiciary and Hollywood.

Although perhaps not as widely known for his movie prowess as for the respect he gets from judicial compatriots, lawyers, even defendants on the stand, Bernardi does have big-time movie fame.

Jump online and you can even find his IMDB listing, somewhere between "Benny Hill" and "famous Saint Bernards."

A former Livingston County prosecutor, he landed a small part back in the early '80s as "Randy" in the Jamie Lee Curtis-Patrick Swayze movie, "Grandview U.S.A." (filmed in Pontiac), has his name in the credits and to this day, still occasionally gets a $4.92 residuals check when "Grandview" gets shown somewhere in the world at 3 a.m.

"Grandview," says the judge, tongue fully planted, "just wasn't the right vehicle for me to start it all off. My career in Hollywood seemed to stall after that."

In retirement?

Matt Damon, remain calm.

Rather than star in another blockbuster movie, Bernardi, 57, says he'll stick to hanging around family and maybe teaching a law class or two at ISU.

Today's deep thought

As mulled by Norm Siems, of Melvin:

"These days, if a check is returned and marked 'insufficient funds,' does that mean the bank or the person writing the check?"

Que sera, Sarah!: Like anywhere else, Washington, D.C., has special nicknames for those who toil there, witness a word Sen. Dick Durbin, the popular, ranking Democrat from Illinois, used the other afternoon while visiting a class at Illinois Wesleyan University.

When referring to whom would have potentially replaced Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, recently convicted of fraud, Durbin responded, "Oh, 'Saracuda.'"

Saracuda?

That, of course, would be Sarah Palin, whose nickname back in her high school basketball-playing days was Sarah Barracuda. But it obviously has been shortened now.

Contact Bill Flick at flick@pantagraph.com. The Flick Blog: www.pantagraph.com/blogs.