Sonny Jurgensen

According to the NYT, former Washington Redskins’ quarterback Sonny Jurgensen died today at the age of 91. How I loved to watch Jurgensen play. Growing up a White Sox fan, I didn’t care much about a team like the Dodgers. They had pitching, we had pitching. No, it was the hitting teams that drew me, the Braves and Red Sox in particular. Oh, for a Mack Jones or a Tony Conigliaro or… It was the same thing with the Bears. This is a franchise over a century old that’s had maybe five quarterbacks of note. George Halas got ticked at Mike Ditka for wanting a raise, so he traded him in 1967 for a quarterback. Jurgensen with his laser arm? Are you kidding? Halas thought more along the lines of Jack Concannon. Jurgensen was traded from the Eagles to the Redskins for Norm Snead and Claude Crabb three years earlier, in case you were wondering. Watching Jurgensen play was a rare treat for anyone in Chicago; it was a different time, different broadcast priorities. Jurgensen threw 255 touchdown in his career, of which maybe I saw ten on TV. That’s where Strat-O-Matic came in. The game of games, which allowed me to play the likes of Jones and Conigliaro every summer, came out with a football version in 1967. I filled the air with passes from Jurgensen to Charley Taylor and Bobby Mitchell and Jerry Smith while mixing in the occasional run by A.D. Whitfield; never did a board game levitate above the table more than when I played Sonny Jurgensen in Strat-O football. George Halas wouldn’t know a quarterback if…

Shut Up and Show Up

The Bulls have just sent swingman Ayo Dosunmu to the Timberwolves for more of what they’ve gotten from other trades, a mix of players and draft picks. Look out below. By all accounts, the mass tradeoff of “talent” was long overdue given the team’s inability to break the .500 mark these past three-plus seasons. The problem with any teardown is who gets to do the tearing down. By giving the honors to Arturas Karnisovas, Bulls’ ownership is rewarding the front office that created the problem in the first place. Not my problem. The other thing about tank jobs, regardless the team or sport, is the disrespect shown fans; “shut up and show up” is pretty much the message. That and “don’t expect any refunds just because the roster is more bush league than pro.” No, the next time something like that happens—by a Wirtz or a McCaskey or a Reinsdorf or a Ricketts—will be a first. Don’t hold your breath.

Arturas Hahn?

Lo and behold, the Bulls have bowed to the inevitable and are starting a rebuild. Yesterday, they traded center Nikola Vucevic and guard Kevin Huerter for people and picks. The people most likely won’t be around long. It’s the picks that matter, along with possible trades involving Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. This had to happen. The only way for last week’s roster to stay intact through the end of the season was if it continued to overperform and stay healthy, neither of which happened on a consistent basis. Here an injury, there a brutal turnover, it all added up to yet more mediocrity. Speaking of team v.p. in charge of looking out the window Arturas Karnisovas, lucky him to be allowed to start on a rebuild two years or so after everyone else thought it should’ve happened. Unlucky Bulls’ fans, though. Keeping Karnisovas would be like keeping Rick Hahn after he hired Mickey Mouse to manage the White Sox and then letting him hire Mickey’s replacement after his epic crash and burn. Didn’t happen. And it shouldn’t here.

Priorities

The White Sox website has steered clear of the “Frank Thomas, who he?” Black History Month fiasco. No surprise there. But bidet news? Seems that free-agent acquisition Munetaka Murakami would like a bidet in the Sox clubhouse. What’s a bidet, you might ask? Think combination toilet-shower for a quick rinse of the private parts after doing your business. Obviously, this is the kind of story Sox fans want to read. Again, Frank who?

A Bottomless Well of Stupid

Well, the White Sox have stepped in it again. On Friday, the team tweeted out a timeline in “celebration of Black History Month, [during which] we reflect upon momentous firsts for the White Sox organization.” Kenny Williams and Jerry Manual rate two photos, Bo Jackson and Charles Johnson (?!?) one apiece. And Frank Thomas, the Big Hurt who holds just about every team offensive record? If you look hard enough, he’s mentioned after Dick Allen, “the first Black player in White Sox history to win AL MVP honors.” Now, wait for it: “Frank Thomas joined Allen as MVP in 1993-94.” That’s it. No other mention, and certainly no photo. To which Thomas replied, “I Guess the black player who made you rich over there and holds all your records is forgettable! Don’t worry I’m taking Receipts!” I’m not sure what that last sentence means, but I’m pretty sure the big guy is ticked. Did I mention two photos of Jerry Manuel? Sherlock Holmes didn’t believe in coincidences, and neither do I. This has Jerry Reinsdorf’s fingerprints all over it. Anybody doing a deep dive into White Sox history and coming up with Danny Goodwin being the first African American picked first in the draft (1971, Sox) would have a sense of who Thomas is and why he’s important. Somebody with clout felt the need to hurt the Hurt. Thomas was a sometimes-immature player, little different than Ted Williams on that score. Like Williams, Thomas mellowed. In my own personal encounters with the man, he still wore his Sox allegiance on his sleeve, which he showed repeatedly when doing postgame commentary on cable with Ozzie Guillen (though not last season). I suspect the affection only travelled in one direction. How stupid.

Chicken and Egg, Not

With age comes wisdom. I finally realize that all Chicago sports starts and ends with the Bears, holy be the Halas/McCaskey name. I honestly can’t remember a time when the Bears didn’t suck up coverage, in season and out. Their season ended two weeks ago in a game they could’ve won but didn’t? No matter. Here’s all the available space we have. Tell us if you want more. SoxFest ran Friday and Saturday; I caught glimpses, hints. The Tribune, bless them, ran two page-one stories in Sunday Sports today. You know what that meant? That got as much coverage as the Bears. Let me repeat, the team whose season just ended received as much space as the team that starts training for the new season in nine days. Go figure. And, while you’re at it, try to find any Sox news in today’s Sun-Times’ special weekend sports’ pullout. Oh, it’s there, after four football stories; Blackhawks’ and Winter Olympics’ coverage; a story on the Bulls beating the Heat; and a piece on preps sports. Wait, we’re not there yet, not until you turn the page on who the Sky might draft this year. After that, your 2026 White Sox. I could—and do—complain about the amount of coverage the Cubs get. What bothers me, and probably most Sox fans, is how every celebrity this side of Pope Leo and the late, great Bernie Mac goes through the motions of being a Cubs’ fan. But, if I’m being honest, much of this is the Sox fault. They tore down their classic ballpark where the Cubs renovated theirs, and their billionaire owner has spent decades acting like he exists in a small market. That said, the Cubs would kill to get the offseason coverage the Bears do. Maybe five straight World Series wins would change things. Then again, maybe not.

Austin Flipper

To keep the hot stove stoked over SoxFest weekend, the White Sox are expected to announce the signing of outfielder Austin Hays to a one-year deal. GM Chris Getz must like his Austins. Last year, Getz went out and got outfielder Austin Slater and then flipped him to the Yankees at the trade deadline for minor-league pitcher Gage Ziehl. Now, here’s how you can measure progress. Slater had eleven RBIs for the Sox while Hays hit fifteen homeruns with 64 RBIs for the Reds last season. Bigger signing, bigger flip, most likely. This can go one of three ways—Slater does really well on a really surprising team and stays; he does really well on a blah team and gets traded; or he stinks, and it doesn’t matter. I’m hoping for number one, though I wouldn’t mind if Slater had to fight for at-bats because of the emergence of Brooks Baldwin, Braden Montgomery and Sam Antonacci. Hey, it’s almost February. A guy can dream, can’t he?