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?

Comings and Going

The White Sox announced their spring-training invites yesterday, with first baseman Tim Elko among them. How odd and decent. If Elko had managed fifteen homeruns in 200 or so at-bats last season, he’d be going into camp as the odds-on starter and Munetaka Murakami never would’ve been signed, but that didn’t happen. Instead, Elko struck out too much and suffered a torn ACL at the end of the season and was DFA’d in November. The Sox very quietly signed him to a minor-league contract in December and made the invite public yesterday. The odds of the 27-year old making the team range between slim and none, with none having the inside track, and that’s even assuming he’s healthy enough to play. My guess is he gets sent to Triple-A Charlotte with a chance to put up numbers that could interest a team like the Rockies. Oh, could the big guy launch some moon shots at Coors Field. The Sox also announced they were DFAing third baseman Bryan Ramos. If GM Chris Getz seemed reluctant to give Elko much of a chance, he looked downright intent on burying Ramos. What the 24-year old ever did to deserve such treatment is beyond me. All I know is that I watched him pass out U.S. flags during a pregame naturalization ceremony in 2024, and acted like a kid on Christmas morning. Two months later, Ramos did in fact become a U.S. citizen. I just checked, and the Rockies are thin at the corners. There are two guys who tried their best for the Sox and deserve a second chance somewhere. Why not Colorado?

All The News That's Fit to Print

Chicago news outlets are all agog over the Indiana legislature pushing stadium stuff to lure the Bears to their beautiful armpit just across the state line. It’s what the stories omit that bothers me. Last year, Hoosier state senator Ryan Mishler led an assault on Medicaid, under the guise of, in Mishler’s words, “right-sizing” the program. [https://indianapublicradio.org/news/2025/02/indiana-senate-passes-medicaid-hip-overhaul-despite-concerns-about-access-coverage/] Guess who was one of the sponsors for the stadium authority bill? Now, guess what the bill omits. If you said participation levels for minority- and women-owned businesses, you’d be right. The Bears love showing how committed they are to their community. Either they employ the most socially-conscious 25-year olds on the face of the earth, or their marketing department does a good job of getting those players to the right hospitals and schools, the ones where the TV cameras are waiting to show them handing out gifts and whatnot. Also consider that Virginia McCaskey was known for her philanthropic efforts. Seems to me that playing in a publicly-funded stadium in Indiana kind of defeats all that, makes the Bears into a bunch of hypocrites. But that’s just my opinion.

Super Sad

Forty years ago Monday, the Bears beat the Patriots 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. They have not won a Superbowl since and have appeared in only one other, a 29-17 loss to the Colts on February 4, 2007. Clare was a high school freshman waiting to start her first year on varsity softball. She’s now a mother of two and waiting to start her first year as a t-ball coach. Also on Monday, WGN/Channel Nine sportscaster Jarrett Payton called the ’85 Bears the best football team ever, or words to that effect. Payton won’t deny his bias; his father was Walter Payton, a force of nature who played on that team. But other people without that kind of connection pretty much say the same thing. The ’85 Bears receive recognition even today that the 2005 White Sox or 2016 Cubs never will attain. How sad, and weird the way Chicago media buys in to the McCaskey nostalgia machine. The Seahawks will be making their fourth Super Bowl appearance since 2006, to the Bears’ one. The Patriots, well, do you really want to know? This will be the eleventh time…since that 1986 beatdown. Oh, and they have six championships, with a possible number seven to be determined a week from Sunday. So, please, don’t confuse greatness with lightning in a bottle.

That's Why

The Bulls gave it the old college try, so to speak, last night against the visiting Lakers, even pulling to within seven points with just over five minutes remaining. But the third straight pretty-good opponent proved one too many. Lakers 129 Bulls 118. Luka Doncic scored six of his 46 points in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls had no answer either for the big guy—a 6’8”, 230 pound point guard—defensively or offensively. That’s why most teams try to build around a superstar. Get it right, and you can win a game like last night going away. The best the Bulls could counter with was Coby White with 23 points. Did I mention White’s four turnovers? Doncic had three, half of the Lakers’ total. The Bulls turned the ball over fifteen god-awful times. You can’t do that, especially without a superstar to bail you out. Did I mention that Doncic scored 46?

Marking Time

In January, time just doesn’t stand still. It’ll go in the wrong direction when you’re not looking. Today is yesterday, and tomorrow never comes. Except, maybe, on the coattails of football. Yesterday was the league championships, and, so far, no repeat today of the Patriots or Seahawks winning. I must be enough of a Bears’ fan to note that, not only did the Rams lose, but the Seahawks allowed them more points (27) in regulation than the Bears did in overtime (20). Wait till next year, or whenever. If I can make it through the arctic chill the rest of the week, again, assuming time doesn’t go backwards, SoxFest starts on Friday. That should be good for a few stories, force the Bears to share media coverage, if only for a weekend. Then, another week and it’s Superbowl Sunday, February 8. Pitchers and catchers report to White Sox camp two days later. With that, time should start moving in the right direction again.

Curioser and Curioser

Thursday night, the Bulls reached .500 with a road win against a pretty good (27-18) Minnesota team. Last night, they climbed one game over with a home victory against an equally good (28-17) Boston team. Kevin Huerter hit the game-winning three with .2 seconds left on the clock. Bulls 114 Celtics 111. The thing is, Huerter might’ve been sitting on the bench if not for Tre Jones’ hamstring injury, suffered against the T-Wolves. Yup, another injury for another Bulls’ guard. At first, it looked like Jones would be out two-plus weeks, but now it’s looking more like two weeks. What a difference a day makes. It was another all-hands-on-deck performance by the home team, with eight of the nine Bulls who saw action scoring in double figures and, instead of ten or more points, Josh Giddey managing ten assists in 23 minutes of play. How often does a team commit fifteen turnovers to the opposition’s six and still win a game? Maybe it helps to hit 21 three-pointers. Again, the question becomes, who do you trade? Coby White hit five of those three-pointers on his way to a team-high 22 points. Jalen Smith impressed again, and his pairing with Nikola Vucevic seems to have energized Vucevic. Did I see a couple of defensive stops from the big guy? So, decisions to make before the February 5 trade deadline. As to Derrick Rose having his number retired in postgame ceremonies, Rose didn’t talk about altered grades in high school or suspicious SAT scores, so I won’t talk about him.

Everything New is Old Again

Yesterday, the Tribune printed a listing of organizational job titles for the White Sox and the people filling them in the upcoming season. By my count, of the hundred or so listed, no more than eight went to women, and not one of those was in coaching or the GM-track in the front office, unless “education coordinator” or “nutritionist” qualifies. Apparently, the person hired for “player development biomechanist” just had to be a guy.

How Long Can This Go On?

The Bulls travelled to the Great North Woods, where they vanquished the Timberwolves, 120-115. Think David over Goliath or, better yet, the wee folk toppling a roster full of Paul Bunyans. Trust me when I say Nikola Vucevic looked kind of puny matched up against the T-Wolves’ frontcourt. So, great win, and Josh Giddey is back (fingers crossed, prayers going out for his hamstring). Now what? Does Billy Donovan spend the rest of the season playing the hand Arturas Karnisovas has dealt him, or does Karnisovas start moving some of those expiring contracts and bevy of guards he’s accumulated? You tell me. I do know that I love guard Tre Jones, a cleaner version of the late, great Norm Van Lier. What Jones lacks as a defender (and he he’s OK) compared to Stormin’ Norman, he more than makes up as a playmaker. Last night, with just 31 seconds left in the game, Jones—all 6’ 1” of him—drove the lane, Bunyans be damned, for what proved to be the game-winning basket. This is not a player to be undervalued. Ditto center/forward Jalen Smith, who contributed seventeen points in a starting role. If Vucevic gets dealt, Smith steps in as center, with Zach Collins as backup, assuming Collins’ big toe ever heals. As with Jones, Smith is a talent worth keeping. Who, if anyone, should go, then? My vote would be Coby White, who’ll be testing free agency come the offseason. You have to appreciate White for his determination; this is someone who willed himself into an offensive force. Only he doesn’t play much defense, and he’s prone to the big turnover. Giddey and Jonest make more sense. With Ayo Dosunmu spelling either of them off the bench? Yes, but Dosunmu will be joining White in the free-agent ranks. It’s all so complicated. Best just to sit back, watch (tomorrow the Celtics come to town), and wait.

Practice What You Preach

Bears’ head-coach Ben Johnson got all Tom Thibodeau-y while addressing the media at Halas Hall yesterday. “We go back to square one,” he informed reporters.” It’s back to the bottom again, and we’ve got to build this thing back up.” Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! [above and following quotes in today’s Tribune] You can’t start next season until the current one ends on February 8. By striking this “let’s get cracking” note, Johnson comes off as Tom Thibodeau 2.0, someone incapable of living in the moment. Thibodeau wore out his players wherever he went, always intent on winning the game at hand, then ignoring the win once it was achieved to focus on the next game on the schedule, November or May, it didn’t matter. Johnson may wear himself down in the same way. Practice what you preach, Coach. Johnson also said he told quarterback Caleb Williams he needed to “get out of football a little bit.” Indeed, Williams has been spotted around town this week at Blackhawks’ and Bulls’ games. Some of that would help Johnson prevent burnout.

Breaking News

I nearly jumped out of my chair last night. You just don’t expect the phone to ring at 10:30. Let me note here we have a landline in the kitchen, a beautiful piece of analog technology from Western Electric, without doubt the nicest-looking red wall phone on the block. Once upon a time, we went with a landline on account of elderly relatives. Now, I’m pretty much that elderly relative. Anyway, Clare called to tell me the White Sox had traded centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. to the Mets for two prospects, second baseman Luisangel Acuña and pitcher Truman Pauley. In other words, a soon-to-be 24-year old infielder and a twelfth-round 2025 draft-pick out of Harvard. Of course, Sox GM Chris Getz is all excited about Acuña and pretty much made him sound like the second coming of Nellie Fox. We’ll see. But it is worth noting Acuña stole sixteen bases over 95 games and 175 at-bats for the Mets last season. The real news here is 2021’s totally in the past. No more Robert or Eloy Jimenez in the outfield. On a more recent note, no more Mike Tauchman and probably not much Andrew Benintendi, at least not in the outfield. A Gold Glover in left for the Royals in 2021, Benintendi now looks more like Eloy out there. So, who’s in the outfield come Opening Day? Don’t know, but it should be interesting. My guess is that Brooks Baldwin will get a long look at one of the corners, and Acuña may get a crack at centerfield, where he’s played some in the minors. Also keep an eye on Sam Antonacci and Braeden Montgomery, both of whom could hit their way onto the team. Speaking of daughters making phone calls, in May of 2017 I was standing in line to get into a Frank Lloyd Wright house when Clare called to tell me the Sox had signed Robert. It was a big deal back then. Things change.

Recognized, Not Imitated

Wilbur Wood must have done something right in a life that ended on Saturday. How many White Sox pitchers merit an obit in the NYT/Athletic? Wood did by performing some pretty incredible feats throwing a knuckleball that he polished with help from HOFer Hoyt Wilhelm. First, Wood excelled as a reliever for the Sox, appearing in as many as 86 games (1968, when he also started two games and posted a 1.87 ERA overall). Then came Chuck Tanner, named manager in 1970, followed by Wood the starter. Wood won 20 or more games four straight seasons, 1971-74. In 1972, he threw an eye-popping 376.2 innings, the most since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1917. Needless to say, nobody has come close to 376.2 innings since. If Alexander belongs to baseball long ago, so does Wood (and me, too, by extension). Consider that between them in 1974, Wood and Jim Kaat combined to start 81 out of 163 games for the Sox, and they both won 20 or more games, Wood with 20 and Kaat 21. In case you’re wondering, some bizarre ground rules led to a 163-game season for the Sox, with three ties. Wood said that his father threw a mean palm ball that he couldn’t master because his hand was too small. But he did fine with the knuckleball. Baseball-reference.com give him a WAR of 50, which might have been considerably higher had he managed to avoid a line drive off the bat of Ron LeFlore that shattered a knee in 1976. By his own admission, he didn’t pitch the same after that, trying to avoid another such injury. Who knows, he might have been good for another 50-100 wins. Did I mention that Felix Hernandez, whom nine Athletic writers saw fit to vote for entry into Cooperstown, has a WAR of 49.8?

Next Steps

The Bears this season were a good team blessed with plenty of luck. The luck ran out last night in overtime at a frigid Soldier Field. Rams 20 Bears 17. There were at least two balls tipped by the Bears’ secondary that could’ve turned into an interception; they didn’t. In the second quarter, the Bears’ Montez Sweat sacked and stripped Rams’ quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had the good fortune of falling on top of the football. Again, no luck. Caleb Williams, the future of this franchise if there ever was one, made one extraordinary throw to tight end Cole Kmet that defies description. With fourth-and-four at the Rams’ 14 and his team down seven with 27 seconds left in regulation time, Williams faced a rush that sent him scurrying back, back, to the 40-yard line, from where he found Kmet in the corner of the end zone. Williams also threw three interceptions, though each one of them could’ve been the fault of the receiver or the coach who called the play. No luck. Now comes the hard stuff, starting with what the Bears need to avoid,which includes becoming next season’s version of this season’s Commanders, a team that went from 12-5 in 2024 to 5-12 in 2025. Wait, there’s more. GM Ryan Poles has to keep identifying talent (especially the defensive line and the linebacking corps), which will be harder given improved play translates into a lower place in the draft. And Poles won’t have the same salary-cap space to maneuver that he did this year. So, we’ll see if 2025 was lightning in a bottle or the product of a maturing front office. The same goes for head coach Ben Johnson. Matt Nagy took the 2018 squad to a 12-4 mark, after which it was, look out below. Nagy had Mitch Trubisky as his quarterback; Johnson has Williams. That’s one big advantage. But it’s just too soon to tell what’ll happen. For now, best to watch video of Williams scrambling, scrambling…

Art or Science?

The weather outside is frightful, with the clock ticking down to the Rams-Bears’ kickoff at Soldier Field after nightfall. What better time to talk about baseball? Today’s Sun-Times had an interesting story on White Sox free-agent pickup Jarred Kelenic, a real prospect-to-suspect if there ever was one. According to the Times’ Kyle Williams, Kelenic thinks the Sox have a “clear plan of how they were going to help make me the player that I can be.” In other words, fix him. Williams noted the Sox “have rebuilt their infrastructure, emphasizing player development and improved communication, creating a more efficient process and shifting many game-planning duties from their lead coaches.” Wait, there’s more. “New hitting coach Derek Shomon will lead the batters. But the team has also hired Tony Medina, who will handle practice designs, handle the group’s batting-cage work and a ‘lot of stuff behind the scenes to really help our hitting department,’ according to manager Will Venable.” How telling but sad. Everything points to hitting as a mechanical exercise or just an exercise to be perfected through proper oversight. If Kelenic were a machine, this would be the perfect approach to increase production. Only he’s human, and he’s playing a game that refuses to be subject to the dictates of analytics. For a Christmas present, I once gave Clare a copy of Charley Lau’s The Art of Hitting .300. I was never a big fan of Lau’s take on hitting; it was mechanics-heavy and a harbinger of what was to come. Still, he realized that hitting was an art, and he had honest-to-goodness major-league experience as evidenced by an eleven-year career. Give me Lau over the system the Sox have in place. Better yet, give me Bill Robinson. Robinson was what the 26-year old Kelenic aspires to be, someone who goes from prospect to suspect to solid major-league hitter. Robinson couldn’t hit his way out of a paper bag until the age of 30, when he began hitting 122 of his 166 career homeruns. Before he stopped playing at the age of 40, Robinson had won a World Series ring with the Pirates, helping Pittsburgh top the Orioles with a 5-for-19 performance over all seven games. Robinson the player turned into Robinson the hitting coach. Let’s just say he didn’t hurt the Mets, the team he helped coach to a World Series win in 1986, with a philosophy that emphasized working with players as they were and not turning them into some kind of hitting machine. Or, as Robinson put it, “A good hitting instructor is able to mold his teachings to the individual.” Which meant, “If a guy stands on his head, you perfect that.” The White Sox, like the rest of major-league baseball, has gone in a different direction. Good luck to Kelenic in finding success with it.

Hoosier Holdup

All of a sudden, the state of Indiana is offering to open the bank to get the Bears to move somewhere in the northeast part of the state, traffic nightmares be damned. Oh, and this is a state that wants to “right-size” its Medicaid rolls. In today’s Tribune, the mayor of Arlington Heights said the team’s annual tax bill without the right to PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) would be somewhere between $100-200 million. He envisions something more along the lines of the $9 million tax bill for the Rams’ SoFi Stadium. Good thing figures—and figurers—don’t lie. One question, though. If this is such a transformative project, why shouldn’t it be subject to taxes that reflect all that wealth generated?

What It Means, or Should

The Dodgers have gone out and signed free-agent outfielder Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal, with two opt-outs. Listen closely and you can hear the whining. Oh, the Dodgers sign everybody. We can’t compete. It’s the end of baseball as we know it. Not by a longshot, folks. If anything, every other team in baseball should thank the Dodgers for putting a bullseye on their collective backs. Any team facing LA is the underdog, every win against them that much sweeter and every series that much more of a drag on the World Series’ champs. Also consider how close the Dodgers have moved to the edge. I don’t know what the luxury tax will be for them this season, but I bet it’ll be sizable. And their minor-league system will take a hit with the loss of four draft picks and international bonus-pool money for signing Tucker and closer Edwin Diaz. You know what that means, right? First, the loss of draft picks will start to degrade the minor-league system. Second, this will be a veteran team prone to injury, with only two starters in the Opening Day lineup under the age of 30 (centerfielder Andy Pages, 25, and Tucker, 29). Aging bodies plus Southern California heat will at the very least stress the Dodgers’ system, and could very well overwhelm it. Dynasty? Maybe. Or the ’64 Yankees heading into 1965. We’ll see.

Cautionary Tale

According to the Transactions’ notice in today’s Sun-Times, the Blue Jays have signed Eloy Jimenez to a minor league contract, with an invitation to spring training. And suddenly I’m reminded of ex-Sox outfielder Thad Bosley, who, if I’m not mistaken, once said, “I used to be a prospect. Now I’m a suspect.” Whoever said it could’ve been talking about Eloy. As recently as 2023, Jimenez still flashed plenty of potential, as in eighteen homeruns and a .272 BA. Then it all fell apart in 2024. Eloy managed just sixteen RBIs in 229 at-bats with the Sox before being shipped off to Baltimore, where he hit .232 with seven RBIs in 95 at-bats. Last year, he split the season with Triple-A teams for the Rays and the Jays. I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles the problem was Eloy’s lack of seriousness. Gifted with power and a good eye, Jimenez was content to get by on raw talent. His best two years were his first two, when manager Rick Renteria held him accountable, certainly more than Tony La Russa or Mickey Mouse ever did. And now he’s a 29-year old fighting to hang on. Not my problem anymore, though I’m OK with the big guy finally figuring it all out. What I really want, though, is to avoid any repeats of Eloy with the current group of young Sox players. Chris Getz and Mickey Venable need to stress that talent alone will not be enough to make this team; hustle and coachability will matter just as much. With that, players can wave to the TV cameras to their hearts’ content.

Calling Dr. Gump, Calling Dr. Gump

Yesterday, The Atlantic ran its annual head-scratcher column with its writers explaining their Hall of Fame votes. Cooperstown would be better off with chimps deciding. How could twelve voters get it wrong so often? Go no further than the five who voted for David Wright, he of the 1777 hits and 970 RBIs. No votes, though, for Paul Konerko, despite his 2340 hits and 1412 RBIs. Third base/ first base, apples to oranges? OK, if Wright belongs in the HOF, what about Robin Ventura, with 1885 hits and 1182 RBIs? Ventura had six Gold Gloves at third vs. two for Wright, by the way. And then we come to pitching, where ten voters felt the need to cast a ballot for Felix Hernandez, with 169 wins and a 3.42. Mark Buehrle, with 214 wins and a 3.81 ERA? Buehrle mustered all of three votes. The Sox lefthander had 33 complete games and ten shutouts to 25 and eleven for Hernandez. Wait, there’s more. Baseball coverage in The Athletic, normally heavy on analytics, looks the other way with Buehrle, who has a 59 WAR according to baseball-reference.com. Hernandez? Nearly ten points lower, at 49.8. Hernandez had one no-hitter, a perfect game, to Buehrle’s two, including a perfect game. But what do I know?

Not in the Least

Channel 5 did a story yesterday on whether the Bears’ win Sunday will affect their push for a new stadium. If that means public funding from Springfield, it shouldn’t in the least. The win demonstrated that need a new stadium isn’t needed to compete. No, what matters is competence—drafting, hiring, signing the right people, that’s how you win in the NFL. New stadiums don’t affect team budgets in a hard salary-cap sport. New stadiums affect ownership bank accounts and family trust funds, nothing more. There’s one talking head in particular who drives me up a wall, a self-styled sports-business guru who’s all in for spending my last dime on somebody’s stadium plan; he lives to give a quote. Yesterday, he said the “Chicago contingent,” whoever that is, had to realize the Bears weren’t staying in Chicago. Last month, he was on the radio charging it was “irresponsible” for leaders in the General Assembly to say a new Bears’ stadium wouldn’t be a priority in 2026. “Are they out of their minds?” (Marc Ganis on 670 The Score, 12-18-2025) To use this guy and throw in a quote from an Indiana politician that the Hoosier State is ready to help the McCaskeys relocate isn’t so much reporting the news as it is nudging it in a certain direction.

Which Ron?

In signing Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175 million deal, the Cubs are betting they’ll get more Ron Cey than Ron Santo. We’ll see. Bregman turns 32 on March 30. Jed Hoyer obviously thinks, hopes, his new third baseman can put up big numbers through year five. That’s where it gets interesting. Once Santo hit age 32, he managed two more good seasons before hitting the wall at age 34 (with the White Sox, of course). If the same thing happens with Bregman, that turns into $105 million tossed out the window. On the other hand, Bregman as Cey would be a good thing, at least offensively. Cey kept hitting through age 37 and was decent at age 38 (.273 BA with thirteen homeruns and 36 RBIs in 256 AB). Cey was no Santo at third, but he played well enough at a time when the NL had no dh that he wasn’t traded to the AL or shifted to first base. That qualifies as somewhere between faint and high praise. Like I said, we’ll see.

Why? Because

“Why do they wait until the last five minutes to start playing,” asked my wife in the midst of yet another Bears’ comeback. “Because every season has its own logic,” I answered by way of explanation. One year, it could be a bunch of no-hitters or triple plays. Another year, a slew of quadruple-overtime games. Or a record number of homeruns hit, touchdowns thrown, goals scored. It’s just the way of sports. Some combination of fate, God and the odds have dictated that the 2025-26 Bears would come back and win seven games while trailing in the fourth quarter. Last night, they were down 21-9 with fifteen minutes to go before doing what they do to stun the hated Packers 31-27. Nothing like this may ever happen again to an NFL. Fate, God and the odds have a way of deciding things. But what likely won’t change is Caleb Williams’ ability to make big plays; maybe in the years to come he’ll just start doing it earlier. Oh, but in this season of magic/destiny/odds, I particularly enjoyed what he pulled off with 5:37 left on the clock on fourth and eight, Green Bay up by eleven. Williams ran around, as is his wont, and found Rome Odunze for a 27-yard gain deep into Packers’ territory. And he did this as a Green Bay defender sent him to the ground after grabbing at his foot. At least two media types at the game described Soldier Field as literally rocking. I wonder how many of the fans went home thinking, “This would’ve been so much better under a dome” instead of outdoors, the temperature hovering around 32 degrees, a little snow falling before gametime? Kevin Warren should’ve conducted a poll to see how the team might have improved the fan experience.

Silver Lining

What I’ve learned over the last 24 hours: The winner of the Ben Johnson lookalike contest did in fact go topless; the guy who dresses up as Bearman needs close to an hour to get the grease paint and costume just right; and the guy who got a tattoo on top of his head showing the angry Bear logo must have a very high pain tolerance (and given little thought as to how the tattoo will look in another 20-30 years). The silver lining is nobody was quoted saying the Bears needed a new stadium. Sanity hand-in-hand with sanity. What a concept.

Emulation, Not Imitation Bears’ Nation has lost all sanity, fanned on by a local media chasing after ratings and profits. Yesterday, on a local version of the Today Show, I saw a contestant for a Ben Johnson lookalike contest take off his shirt just like the Bears’ head coach did in the team locker room after a win over the Eagles back in November. As my father might say, it’s a good thing imitation didn’t have to include jumping out the window. In the midst of all this insanity came word of the passing of Hall-of-Fame NHL goalie Glenn Hall, who helped the Hawks win the Stanley Cup in 1961. To the best of my knowledge, the 94-year old Hall was never the recipient of a lookalike contest. Not if it meant sitting for the 250 or so stitches Hall received over the course of an eighteen-year career, most of it played without benefit of a mask. Hall was the Lou Gehrig of NHL goalies, starting a record 502 straight regular-season games. A little-remarked fact of that career involved a certain habit—Hall threw up before every game he played. He didn’t keep it a secret. I knew about it in high school. Just something that happened on the way to greatness. What the Bears need is some of that dedication, or courage, if you will. Without the ability to face fear and uncertainty heaed-on, why bother?

Not Again

What, do the Marlins have dirt on both baseball front offices in Chicago? Magic dust? The ability to cast spells? Whatever the answer, Miami has another hitter from these part in exchange for a pitcher with a whole lot question marks attached. First, it was the Whites Sox sending Jake Burger in August of 2023 to the Marlins in exchange for minor-league hurler Jake Eder, a trade that may or may not have signaled the end of the Kenny Williams-Rick Hahn partnership. In his one full season at Double-A Birmingham in 2024, Eder went 2-5 with a 5.09 ERA in fifteen starts. We sold him to the Angels at the end of spring training last year, and the Angels traded him to the Nationals in July. Burger has hit 54 homeruns in the 2-1/2 seasons since. And now the Cubs have gotten into the act by sending outfielder Owen Caissie and two other prospects to Miami for starter Edward Cabrera. The 27-year old had a career year last season, going 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA in 25 starts. The righthander notched 150 strikeouts in 137.2 innings. Both those numbers are career highs. Did I mention he’s also gone on the IL eleven times since turning pro in 2016? The 23-year old, lefthanded-hitting Caissie was seen as having first crack in right field with Kyle Tucker leaving in free agency. (Of course, Tucker could resign with the Cubs, just like Elon Musk could take a vow of silence.) All the guy has ever done in five minor-league seasons—he was drafted out of high school by the Padres in 2020 and traded to the Cubs in the Yu Darvish deal—is hit, and he certainly look relaxed at the plate in a late-season callup to the North Side. It looks like Seiya Suzuki is back in right field, certainly good news for any opposing team; Of course, Suzuki could always win a Gold Glove, just like Elon Musk….On top of that, the 31-year old Suzuki will be entering his walk year. Ditto Ian Happ. What’s the plan here, trade the young guys (remember, they traded Cam Smith for one year of Tucker), resign the old guys? In all honesty, I think the reason I’m ticked is that I would’ve loved to see Caissie starting in right for the Sox. Apparently, Chris Getz doesn’t excel at blackmail the way the Marlins’ front office does.

Treading Water

I try not to get too excited when the temperature breaks 40 degrees on January 6. No matter how warm it feels, it’s still January 6, too early for much baseball. Get impatient, and the gods will send a blizzard in punishment. So, I follow the Bulls, now back to their losing ways, two in a row and counting after falling last night to the Celtics 115-101. The Bears I take in small doses because getting hooked on Kool-Aid is a dangerous thing. They win on Saturday, great. That gets January into double digits. Still, old habits die hard. I peaked at “Transactions” in the Sun-Times to find the Brewers hired Daniel Vogelbach as one of their hitting coaches. The onetime Cubs’ farmhand managed 81 homeruns with a .219 BA over nine seasons. Well, he did have a career .340 OBP. SoxFest is the end of January. I’ll have to see if my daughter can score us some free tickets. But best not to get ahead of ourselves. You never know when it’ll snow.

Wakeup Call

The NFL/Bears/Chicago sports’ media complex would have you believe Caleb Williams is a polished quarterback and Ben Johnson is a polished head coach, only they’re not, which was obvious in yesterday’s 19-16 loss to the Lions at home. In truth, Williams is a second-year player whose rookie season was marked by his having to survive being sacked 68 times. Williams has also had three head coaches. That he’s led his team to an 11-6 record, good for the second seed in the NFC, is an extraordinary accomplishment. But Willimas still has a lot of work to do. He scrambles way too much looking for receivers, only to throw off his back foot at the last possible second. Sometimes, those throws are caught, most times not, and sometimes Williams is flagged for intentional grounding. The Bears tied with the Falcons and Commanders for the most such penalties in all of football, with five. Two of those teams are going home. The other one is damn’ lucky to be going to the postseason. Yesterday was another game where the offense went to sleep for three quarters. Going into the fourth, the score was 16-0 Lions. That’s when Williams worked his magic, engineering two scoring drives that tied the game at sixteen. The Bears then managed a turnover to get the ball back with 2:18 left in the game. Guess who got called for intentional grounding on second down? Three-and-out led to a Lions’ game-winning field goal with the clock running down. The intentional-grounding penalty wouldn’t have mattered if the Bears’ defense had held; it didn’t. Yes, the defense managed three sacks on the day, but this is where they needed number four. No pressure on the quarterback translated into a 26-yard completion from Jared Goff to Amon-Ra St. Brown to the Chicago 26. For all intents and purposes, game over. St. Brown racked up 139 yards on eleven receptions. If the defense had a plan to stop him, it didn’t work. Goff threw for 331 yards while the Lions rushed for another 122 yards. Again, if there was a plan, it needed to be shelved. The inability to adjust is on Johnson and his staff as much as it is any defender. I’d also pin a lack of intensity if not focus on the rookie coach. Six straight runs in the Bears’ first possession capped off by an incomplete screen pass? You can’t be serious. At least, Johnson wasn’t. So, things get addressed, pronto, or at the end of Saturday’s game against Green Bay, Cheese Nation is going to claim bragging rights for an awfully long time.

Litmus Test

Patrick Williams came off the bench last night against the blah, now twelve-win Hornets to score…zero points in minutes of “play.” The six-year veteran “shot” the ball seven futile times as the Bulls blew an eight-point halftime lead to lose 112-99. By the end of the game, only Nikola Vucevic (28 points with seven rebounds and eight assists) seemed to care. There’s absolutely no figuring this team out. A days’ late New Year’s resolution: I’m going to stop trying.

What Do I Know?

Three games ago, the Bulls were dead in the water; “listless” would be an understatement. In a 136-101 loss to the Timberwolves, Patrick Williams came off the bench to score all of seven points. Life without Josh Giddey and Coby White looked grim, indeed. Then, Billy Donovan’s team chose to wake up and beat the Pelicans, 134-118. Did I say “wake up”? Williams again came off the bench, only this time he scored twelve. Granted, New Orleans is only good against Chicago (and Zion Williamson healthy), but last night a good Magic team (19-15) came to town, and the Bulls won again, 121-114. Williams had fifteen points, and he didn’t even lead second-unit scorers. That honor fell to guard Kevin Huerter, who had himself a nice night with 20 points, four rebounds and two assists. Tonight, the blah, eleven-win Hornets visit the United Center. A win, and the Bulls climb over .500, which earlier in the week seemed impossible given their injury situation. What do I know?

Maybe This Time

The White Sox this week announced the signing of outfielder Jarred Kelenic to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training. The onetime wunderkind from Waukesha, Wisconsin, has had a tough time of it since being the number-six pick of the 2018 draft. Lots of pop, not enough contact. Though you’d never know from the way mlb.com covered him; he was everywhere and everything to commentators, another Trout or Brett. As a rule, I think this kind of publicity is toxic to a young player, especially one who didn’t get a chance to grow up some while attending college. In three of his five big-league seasons, Kelenic has batted under .182, and a mere .167 in 60 at-bats with the Braves last season. Now, he’s just trying to hold on. As it is, the Sox have Everson Pereira, Tristan Peters and Derek Hill looking to do the same. In all likelihood, only one of those four breaks camp with the team. As ever, Darwin trumps hype.

Treading Water

A Bulls’ win over the eight-win Pelicans hardly seems major, until you realize two of those wins are against the Bulls, who seem to curl into a collective ball whenever Zion Williamson takes the court. Not last night. Bulls134 Pelicans 118. This despite Williamson pouring in 31 points and the Bulls playing without Josh Giddey (at least two weeks, hamstring); Coby White (at least one week, calf); and Zach Collins (maybe a week, big toe). But Billy Donovan was able to get the uninjured to do that swarm thing they’ve worked on occasion this season. All five starters plus three off the bench scored in double figures. Matas Buzelis, at 6’8”, started at guard while Jalen Smith slid over to power forward. Smith posted a double-fourteen, points and rebounds, in what may be a series of starts for him. Anytime Patrick Williams escapes the bench to score twelve points, it’s a good game. The question is, can he do it again tomorrow night at the United Center against the Magic? We’ll see.