Mike Murphy; CSN Sports Awards/Steve Dahl; Mike North, more

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: FEARLESS FORECAST:: COLD, COLDER, COLDEST : December 18, 2008 : BY ELLIOTT HARRIS Sun-Times Columnist : Judging by recent temperature trends, the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Wrigley Field between the Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings will be a blast -- of the Arctic variety. : * * Mike Murphy will accept ''Tool of the Year'' nominations on his WSCR-AM (670) show Friday at 1 p.m. The winner of the prestigious 17th annual award will join such luminaries as Lovie Smith (last year's recipient), Dusty Baker, Sammy Sosa, Dick Jauron and Bill Wirtz. : * * The 21st annual ''Comcast SportsNet Sports Awards'' to benefit the March of Dimes will be held Feb. 9 at the Hilton Chicago. Tickets will be $300 per person. Stella McMillan will receive the Inspirational Athlete of the Year award. A reception at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 will precede the live awards telecast with radio legend Steve Dahl as emcee. More information and tickets will be available through the March of Dimes at (312) 596-4722. : * * The Web site jaythejoke.com will continue to entertain some of us (and thank you for the recent shout-out, including an unsolicited pitch for Hoodoo: Unraveling the 100-Year Mystery of the Chicago Cubs). : GRITTY AS A PICTURE: Butkus is second to one : Dick Butkus has a photographic memory. : OK, maybe more like a memory for photographs. : Close enough. : The Hall of Fame Bears middle linebacker ranks No. 2 on the list of Chicago's greatest athletes of all time (as determined by voting of a Sun-Times panel). : Appearing on Monday's Mike North webio show at wildfirerestaurant.com, Butkus spoke fondly of the picture of him, his parents and Chicago Vocational football coach Bernie O'Brien that appeared in Sunday's paper and how that picture impacts how he handles the award named after him: : ''I'm thinking, 'What can we [the Butkus Award] do that's different from the rubber chicken, tuxedo?' So I was sitting here and I look and I see this Chicago Sun-Times [photo] from when I won the Sun-Times award. They came to the house to present it [in 1959]. I still have that picture. I remember that almost more than some of the college awards.'' : So Butkus has presented the high school and college awards in person to the recipients. : Oh, and about who might rank ahead of him for the No. 1 spot? : ''Of course I know who it is,'' he said. : But he wouldn't tell North, whose last Web show was Wednesday as he prepares to launch ''Monsters in the Morning'' with Dan Jiggetts on Jan. 12 on Comcast SportsNet. : ''I can't,'' said Butkus, who turned 66 on Dec. 9. ''Legal ramifications.'' : A hint? : ''The guy's not a baseball player. I'm going to give you one clue: It has something to do with me.'' : Tune in to Sunday's Sun-Times and find out.

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