Over

What to say about the Super Bowl LX, other than it’s over with the Seahawks hardly breaking a sweat against the Patriots? A 29-13 score does not exactly make for must-see TV, even with 30 of those points coming in the fourth quarter. If you’re a Bears’ fan, you have to come away thinking Caleb Williams could’ve done better than the Patriots’ Drake Maye (27-of-43, 295 yards, two touchdown and two interceptions, one a pick-six). Williams went number-one in the 2024 draft, with Maye two picks behind. Given my overall lukewarm Bear fandom, it says something that I think Williams has a higher ceiling than Maye. The whole game was so underwhelming I couldn’t help shake the feeling neither the Seahawks nor Patriots will go far in the postseason next year; we’ll see. Thank heaven Clare had good food and my grandchildren were happy to see me.

No Kidding

Tribune architecture critic Edward Keegan used his column today to rip the various stadium proposals the Bears have generated here, there and in Indiana. If only words mattered. As for the three Gary sites, Keegan found “there’s no there there,” with officials “proposing a series of soulless and placeless places.” No kidding. Keegan went on to ask “whether architecture or urban design is even part of the equation that the Bears are considering. The schemes we’ve seen so far for the stadium itself—and this includes Arlington Heights and the area adjacent to Soldier Field—are placeless and unlikely to change much regardless of the site eventually chosen.” That could be why so many of the site illustrations show buildings as geometric shapes devoid of detail. A very long time ago, Chicago architect Louis Sullivan argued that a building’s design must adhere to the idea that “form ever follows function. This is the law.” In which case, the new Bears stadium complex should be in the form of a giant cash register.

Lucky Him

Bulls’ chief exec Arturas Karnisovas indicated this week that’s he checked with Jerry Reinsdorf and his son Michael, and they approve of his decision to pursue a non-rebuild rebuild. Lucky him. I don’t know about the younger Reinsdorf, but his dad asks only for loyalty, along with healthy doses of owner-worship. Just look at Kenny Williams, who got to be real or de facto GM for just under a quarter of a century. Five years in, he won a World Series, and then nothing. It took a historically bad team with 121 losses before Jerry Reinsdorf would fire Williams and “Is he the GM or not?” Rick Hahn in late August of 2024. Now, consider Larry Himes, who served as Sox GM from 1986 to 1990. In that short time, Himes drafted the likes of Alex Fernandez; Jack McDowell; Frank Thomas; and Robin Ventura while trading for Lance Johnson; Tim Raines; Sammy Sosa; and Wilson Alvarez. Himes also hired Jeff Torborg as manager. But Himes was bad at owner-worship and had a short run on the South Side. I could bring up Jerry Krause, only it would hurt too much.

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?