I think we can agree that, although it is standing in for a wildly corrupt city overrun with violence, Chicago has never looked better on film than it does in "The Dark Knight."

It was a little bit a of a thrill to see the city digitally bestowed with a monorail in "Batman Begins," but it's downright adrenalizing to see it pure and unadulterated in "TDK." Thanks to Christopher Nolan's desire to bring more than a touch of authenticity to his comic-book movie, Gotham City looks and feels real for the first time -- even if everyone who lives around here knows it's not Gotham.

Bears first-round draft pick Chris Williams agreed to a five-year contract around noon Wednesday, just hours before the start of the first practice of training camp at 3 p.m. Williams was the 14th overall pick in the draft, and the Bears now have all 12 draft picks signed. Williams is expected to be the opening day starter at left tackle but he must prove in training camp and the preseason that he's a better option than veteran John St. Clair, who is currently No. 1 in the depth chart.

Rex Grossman won an early-morning coin flip for the right to work with the first team in this afternoon's opening training camp practice. Kyle Orton called tails, but the coin came up heads, so he won't direct the No. 1 offense until Thursday's noon practice. Coach Lovie Smith has insisted all along that the quarterback battle will be an even competition with no favoritism shown to either player, and both contestants are convinced that will be the case when the duel commences at 3 p.m. “It's been extremely fair through OTAs and I don't see any reason why that would change,'' Orton said. Grossman has gone to camp the past four years as the starter, but he says he's looking forward to the challenge of having to win the job.

The following video makes me feel utterly worthless. I've been wasting the last few years of my life playing fake instruments with five buttons, and this woman is playing an entire orchestra with all four of her limbs.

The White Sox crushed the Rangers Tuesday night, and they're a great team again. In their previous three games, all losses, they were bums. Get used to it. As the pennant race heats up, the White Sox are going to be on top of the world one day and flat on their backs the next. It's just the nature of the game, and all contending teams have to deal with it. In Chicago, the emotions run much higher on a day-to-day basis, and it's fun to watch a new player like Nick Swisher deal with all of the ebbs and flows. Speaking of fun, the final 62 games of the regular season should be overflowing with entertainment.

Six-time Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher rolled onto the Olivet Nazarene University campus in Bourbonnais shortly before 9 p.m. and said he was relieved to have his one-year extension finalized. He's also clearly pleased with the $18 million in new money that the deal will bring him if he plays until it expres after the 2012 season. "They didn’t have to do anything," Urlacger said of the Bears. "That was obviously a nice deal they offered me. We ended up getting it worked out." Urlacher said his neck feels fine and he's been cleared to play after arthroscopic surgery early in the off-season. Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton alternated days working with the first-team offense throughout the off-season, and that will be the plan during training camp practices.

It is for the D'Backs, anyway, as a few of them are out for a little early hitting this afternoon. Cubs manager Lou Piniella has forbidden b.p. for these last two days in Arizona. Apparently, Lou feels his boys have taken great delight in swinging for the fences both here and in Houston during b.p. and have forgotten how to hit during the games. We'll see how it works. During this road trip, the numbers have been ugly for a few of the Cubs: Derrek Lee: 3-for-17 Aramis Ramirez: 0-for-17 Geovany Soto: 1-for-15 What's more, Lee enters tonight's game having grounded into 20 double plays. That puts him atop the NL leaderboard by 2. We'll see what the boys do to pass the time during b.p. time. Maybe the clubhouse guys have run off extra copies of the USA Today crossword.

Again, beware of "Dark Knight" spoilers.

• All right, I just couldn't wait until the weekend: I saw "The Dark Knight" for a third time this afternoon at the Regal Lincolnshire IMAX, and I must be a lone voice of dissent by saying it's not worth the extra cash to see it in the super-large format. The movie keeps leaping from widescreen to fullscreen to some aspect ratio in between, sometimes within the same scene. I found the whole thing to be annoying, quite honestly. That being said, Bruce's high-dive in Hong Kong is quite a sight on a 70-foot-tall screen -- it just didn't add $7 worth of entertainment to my ticket.

Even though first-round draft pick Chris Williams had not agreed to contract terms by the time Bears coach Lovie Smith addressed the media mid-afternoon Tuesday at Olivet Nazarene University on Bourbonnais, it seemed obvious that the Vanderbilt product is being counted on to start at left tackle soon. When Smith discussed the unsettled left guard position, he mentioned Terrence Metcalf, Josh Beekman and John St. Clair, who started at left tackle throughout the off-season practices and will line up there with the first team Wednesday afternoon for the first practice of camp. Smith made it clear that Williams would have to earn the starting job, but as long as he signs soon, it's not expected to be long before he takes over for St. Clair.

We interrupt this two week vacation to bring you this tidbit ... OK, for years I've heard downstate lawmakers living near the state's borders complain about how high Illinois gas prices are compared to those neighboring states and how their constituents drive over those borders to fill up on cheap gas. Well, this past weekend we loaded up the Animal Farm Vanagon and headed to St. Louis to take the little ones to the zoo, City Museum, Union Station, etc., etc. There was easily enough gas to make a round trip, but, hey, I'm in Missouri, I might as well take advantage of this cheap gas I'm always hearing about. Looky here, gas for $3.98 a gallon. I'll top off the tank and save a couple bucks.