McCaskey, Barnum and Bailey

With a few more games like last night’s 12-7 loss to the Washington Commanders, the Bears’ Justin Fields may go down as the second, right-handed, coming of Bobby Douglass. Where will the pass go, how many yards will he run for in a loss? This is all so fittingly McCaskey. When the White Sox looked to sidle up to the public trough for a new stadium, they made it seem like a good deal because they had so many talented young players, starting with Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura and Jack McDowell. Sox fans could be forgiven to think a necessary deal had been made with the devil, a classic ballpark in exchange for a boatload of talent that would win for a decade or more. They know better now a la Joni Mitchell. And the Bears have what? Right, a young quarterback who doesn’t seem to be improving. But, hey, the McCaskeys want to build a state-of-the-art sports-and-entertainment complex out in Arlington Park. And they say they’ll only ask for public money for the entertainment part. Maybe by the time they move into their new home, they’ll have that quarterback thing figured out. Just kidding. There’s an old Polish saying—not my circus, not my monkeys. Not my Bears.