Imagine

The announced attendance for last night’s Bears-Patriots’ game at Soldier Field was 60,520, which looked to be full house to me. Fans wore their Mike Ditka tribute outfits and/or mustaches and had plenty to cheer about in a 30-24 Bears’ win. Long story short, they’re a good team if Caleb Williams is under center. I wonder what the McCaskeys were thinking when TV cameras showed the crowd. Correct me if I’m wrong, but there were also plenty of shots of the nearby Chicago skyline. Talk about picture-perfect. Does any of that happen with a Bears’ stadium in Arlington Heights or, perish the thought, Hammond? It would be nice to know how many traffic accidents are the result of Bears’ games. Consider what tailgating plus three hours of drinking inside Soldier Field will do to a person. I would like to see projections for the number of accidents with a stadium in Arlington or Hammond vs. Chicago. If the Bears have those numbers, they’re not sharing them, and they should. My guess is either alternative site will have more accidents because access to public transportation will be lower. Right now, fans can either walk from Soldier Field or take an Uber downtown; from there, they can take the subway or Metra home. Arlington and Hammond might each have one rail line, but that’s about it. All those fans who made it home last night, would they driving from Hammond (oh, what skyline shots there would have been, of the steel mills and refineries)? My experience driving home from Valparaiso University after visits to Clare was white-knuckling it until we crossed over into Illinois. Interstate 80 or 90? Pick your poison, and I don’t drink. What did Jonie Mitchell sing, that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone? Last night, Soldier Field looked as close to paradise as Bears’ fans will ever get.

Nothing to See Here

It must be a thing with Reinsdorf teams on the rebound (pardon the pun for team #2). The White Sox started the regular season losing three to the Brewers; things gradually got better after that. Maybe the same will hold true for the Bulls. They copied the Sox by laying an egg for their season opener. The Sox lost 14-2, the Bulls got blown out in Toronto by the Raptors, 135-92. Now, let’s see if they can turn things around. Rookie forward Caleb Wilson, the foundation for this latest rebuild, scored sixteen points, which isn’t bad, unlike the nine turnovers. Yikes. Wilson teamed with Matas Buzelis, who scored seventeen points with six rebounds, so, there’s that at least. I’ve got a whole season to learn what is basically a new roster to with a new coaching staff. Maybe by April it will have been worth the effort.

Failure to Communicate, Contd.

Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts was allowed to play in London on October 11 even though the team knew he had a blood clot in his calf. Back in Philadelphia, Hurst underwent further tests that showed the clot had moved to both lungs. This more-serious condition means he won’t be able to play for the rest of the season. Did the team gamble on a star player’s health? Was it safe to let him fly, either to or from London? There might be any number of relevant questions to ask, not that it would matter. Because neither the Eagles nor the NFL have any intention of answering them. Rather than address the situation head-on, the organization trotted out head coach Nick Sirianni address the media by his lonesome on Monday. This is how he explained things: “I’m not a medical expert. I lean on our guys in all these situations. I’m a football coach. I lean on our medical experts in every situation. I have full trust and full faith in them. It’s not just me that has major care for our players. It’s them as well.” The above quote came from the NFL Notebook in Monday’s Sun-Times. The same quote, minus the “I’m not a medical expert” line, appeared in a story Zach Berman did in Monday’s The Athletic. Why Borman or an editor dropped that sentence from the quote beats me. But the quote in Borman’s story went on to include this line: “And so we are all there, and I’m glad to be part of an organization that cares about the guys the way our guys do.” How pathetic on multiple levels. You send out a person who admits he lacks the training to explain the situation; you don’t make the injured player available for comment; and Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, defends the Eagles’ handling of Hurts’ injury. A fox would show more concern for the occupants of a hen house than the NFL does for its players.

Bye-Bye

So, the Guardians weren’t a team of destiny, after all. And Jose didn’t produce when he was needed him the most. Rays 7 Guardians 3. Tampa Bay takes the ALCS in six games and moves on to the World Series against the Brewers. More on this small-market, small-payroll tilt later. For now, consider how the Guardians made just like the White Sox and lost the same way. Cleveland went with an opener, followed by seven relievers. And, how did that work? See above for score.

What Goes Around

So, Guardians’ fans—36,303, to be exact—finally packed Progressive Field yesterday for game five of the ALCS. And here’s what they learned: A full house by itself can’t will a team to victory. Rays 3 Guardians 1. Cleveland could’ve clinched at home, just like the White Sox. Now, it’s do or die on the road, just like the Sox. If they can take two at Tropicana Field, I’ll tip my cap. But I think they’ll go down in six. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. The Guardians were a team that could’ve been, should’ve been, beat. Oh, well. How ’bout them Bears?

A Good Question

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of the year, when we take part in Open House Chicago. It’s a chance to visit literally hundreds of buildings that ordinarily wouldn’t be open to the public. Our itinerary took us from the West Side to the North Side. The weather was mid-October perfect, clear skies and cool temperatures. So, of course I wore my 1959 White Sox jacket with matching cap. Talk about showing the colors in enemy territory. Though I have to admit nobody seemed to take offense. Two people even shouted, “Go, Sox!” and they sounded sincere. Then, there was the docent at St, Mary of the Lake on Sheridan Road, who asked me, “Are you rooting for Cleveland?” I answered her as best I could. “Yes, and no.” If you’re going to lose, it might as well be to the team that goes on to win the World Series. But I’m still mad enough to think the Sox lost the ALDS more than the Guardians won it. And rooting for Jose Ramirez may be a bridge too far for me. Then again, Cleveland has the smallest payroll in baseball. That has to make the owners uncomfortable on the eve of a lockout, which is fine by me.

What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate

For the first time in nearly a month since suffering his hamstring injury, Bears’ quarterback Caleb Williams addressed the media on Thursday, and, boy, was he steamed. Willimas told reporters he had in fact suffered a “hamstring tear, and a pretty serious one” against the Vikings back on September 20. Until Thursday’s press conference, neither Williams nor coach Ben Johnson had felt the need to offer any clarity on the extent of the injury. Somehow, the inevitable speculation that followed their silence—dare I say collusion of silence?—is the media’s fault. How else to explain Williams’ belief that the sports’ media world was “not deserving” of any clarification? [both quotes from story in yesterday’s Sun-Times] Just so we’re clear here: Williams and Johnson provided zero updates on his condition—remember Johnson even hinting Williams might play the following week—and the resulting confusion is someone else’s fault? Please. Just imagine if Mike Vasil of the White Sox had tried to keep his Tommy John surgery a secret. There wouldn’t have been much “Magic Mike” all summer. A more upfront approach to reporting injuries is just one of the differences between baseball and football. You could probably compile a pretty long list of them.