Gene Siskel died ten years ago tomorrow, and his partner in thumb deployment still remembers him, more fondly than you might have expected. “Gene Siskel and I were like tuning forks,” Ebert writes on his blog. “Strike one, and the other would pick up the same frequency. When we were in a group together, we were always intensely aware of one another. Sometimes this took the form of camaraderie, sometimes shared opinions, sometimes hostility. But we were aware. If something happened that we both thought was funny but weren't supposed to, God help us if one caught the other's eye. We almost always thought the same things were funny. That may be the best sign of intellectual communion.”

“Once Gene and I were involved in a joint appearance with another Chicago media couple, Steve Dahl and Garry Meier. It was a tribute to us or a tribute to them, I can't remember. They were pioneers of free-form radio. Gene and I were known for our rages against each other, and Steve and Garry were remarkable for their accord. They gave us advice about how to work together as a successful team. The reason I remember that is because soon afterward Steve and Garry had an angry public falling-out that has lasted until this day. Gene and I would never, ever, have had that happen to us. Unthinkable…‘You may be an asshole," Gene would say, "but you're my asshole.’”

What follows is a free-flowing reminiscence, touching on Siskel’s skill at poker, his passion for the Chicago Bulls, and his college days, when he was known “for wearing a Batman costume and dropping out of trees.” Ebert describes the tension of their early television tapings. “It would take eight hours to get one show in the can, with breaks for lunch, dinner and fights. I would break down, or he would break down, or one of us would do something different and throw the other off, or the accumulating angst would make our exchanges seem simply bizarre.”

Here are some of those bizarre exchanges, presented as our own little tribute to Gene Siskel: