One More Day

One more day, and it’s March. That used to mean a whole month of spring training, but, now, you can throw in Opening Day, too, depending on weather conditions. Nothing says spring baseball in the Midwest like snow flurries across the infield. What do I want? Well, I read where White Sox head groundskeeper Roger Bossard said team owner Jerry Reinsdorf told him he wants to stay on the scene until he’s 99. So, definitely not that. But the makings of a good, young team would be a start. Think what ex-GM Larry Himes did back in the day with Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura and Jack McDowell. When Himes got the axe in September of 1990 for insufficient loyalty, his successor Ron Schueler did a decent job of keeping the team young; think Mike Cameron (later traded for an even younger Paul Konerko); Aaron Rowand and Mark Buehrle. Schueler also had a scouting department that knew to sign the likes of Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez. Then came Kenny Williams, and the Sox would never be that interested in young players again. So, what do I want? Reinsdorf into retirement sooner than later. And a roster full of prospects that will allow me to dream and compare: You know, he reminds me of…

Just Wondering

The McCaskeys finally found themselves a chump in the state of Indiana, which passed legislation yesterday creating a stadium authority to bring the Munsters over the state line. This is no longer a news story for Chicago media, but a tug-of-war with local bragging rights on the line. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: How sad. One thing I’d like to know, though, is would the cost of a personal seat license vary state to state? For some reason, nobody in McCaskeyland seems interested in bringing the subject up. Maybe the answer is hidden away in one of those blob buildings that make up so much of the stadium-complex renderings.

Hidden Treasure

The White Sox play the Dodgers today, so this should be a good test, given that LA has started spring training with a 5-0 record. The Dodgers’ lineup includes ex-Sox farmhand Alex Call, a third-round pick in the 2016 draft. The right-handed hitting outfielder was traded to Cleveland in 2018 for first baseman Yonder Alonso. Bad trade, that. Call is a nice glove and bat off the bench. Playing for the Dodgers is a testament both to his ability and the acumen of the Sox scout(s) who identified his talent. The same holds for current Sox Brooks Baldwin, a twelfth-round selection in 2022. The switch-hitting Baldwin struggled through the first half of his first real season last year (he also had 114 at-bats in 2024). Then, something clicked in early July with a pinch-hit homerun against these same Dodgers. Baldwin batted .253 in the second half of the season vs. .227 in the first half. He also hit eleven homers overall in 300 at-bats. Guess who’s 4-for-7 with a homerun this spring? Yup, the twelfth rounder. Again, a testament both to the player and the scout(s) who found him. It’s almost enough to make me think the Sox know what they’re doing. But I don’t want to get ahead of myself quite yet.

Clueless, and not the Movie

The Bulls lost their tenth game in a row last night , rolling over 131-99 to the visiting Hornets. Wait, there’s more, or less, depending on how you view things. Despite their embrace of tanking, the Bulls have only the seventh worst record in the league. Shame on you, Billy Donovan, for taking a blah roster and making it competitive, at least until the injuries started piling up. So, if the Bulls can’t win the race to the bottom, what can they accomplish? Outside of showing that Patrick Williams will never develop beyond a journeyman—if that—no matter how many minutes he plays, I’m not sure. Arturas Karnisovas acquired some guys who, once upon a time, were promising, but they were slowed by injuries. Guess what? They’re injured again. I’m looking at you, Jaden Ivey and Anfernee Simons. And let’s not forget big man Zach Collins, out for the season with a big-toe injury that limited him to ten games. Wait, there’s more. Tank time is when you let young talent develop, only in the Bulls’ case, it’s questionable talent, or the talent merits questioning with more playing time. Last night, Josh Giddey had eight points with five assists…and five turnovers. In his last ten games, Giddey has scored in the single digits four times while tallying eleven or fewer points six times. Plus he’s turned the ball over four or more times in five of those games. And Matas Buzelis, even more of a building block than Giddey? The second-year forward is nothing if not a human roller coaster. Last night’s 32-point performance was nice but hardly enough to erase recent two- and four-point performances. Like Giddey, you never know what Buzelis is going to show up on any given night. Long story short, this is a team that stinks too much and not enough all at the same time.

Balls and Strikes

MLB will start using its Automated Ball-Strike system come Opening Day, and I’m wondering about consequences. I mean, what if Angel Hernandez was still around? A team starts with two challenges and can keep going until and if the challenges prove unsuccessful. With Hernandez behind the plate, teams would probably be right challenging each and every pitch. At some point in the season, I think umpires will start complaining that they’re being shown up; I’m looking at you, C.B. Bucknor. Either someone like Bucknor cleans up his act, which is doubtful given that he’s been around since 1996, or they’re going to be driven from the game courtesy of ABS. I don’t like the pitch clock because it should be unnecessary, and was up until Mike Hargrove, “the Human Rain Delay,” started doing his shtick back in the 1970s; that’s when umpires needed to step in. And don’t get me started on extra innings or the pitcher only getting three throws to a base per at-bat to try to catch a runner. But ABS I see as necessary. See Hernandez, Bucknor above. With luck, the great majority of umpires will get with the program. If not, they can always resign, at which point MLB might consider another fundamental change, as in women umpires.

Gold Glove

Pirates’ HOF second baseman Bill Mazeroski died last week at the age of 89. It only seems like he earned three of his eight Gold Gloves against me. I started playing Strat-O-Matic Baseball in the spring of 1966. I was the American League, a sad person I knew from St. Gall was the National League. The game is based on a complete season’s worth of stats, so it’s always a year behind. The sad person especially liked to play the Dodgers (Koufax and Drysdale); the Giants (Willie Mays with 52 homeruns); and the Pirates. If Roberto Clemente wasn’t hitting homers against me, Mazeroski was turning double plays. The best fielding rating in Strat-O-Matic is a one, and that was Mazeroski. I’m guessing that at some point the Pirates faced off against the White Sox, a 90-win team against a 95-win team. The Pirates scored 675 runs with a .265 BA to 647 runs for the Sox and a.246 BA. Pittsburgh had a team ERA of 3.01 to 2.99 for Chicago. We would’ve played on somebody’s front- or back-porch, rolling dice and yelling just short of an adult telling us to “Quiet down!”. Clemente homers, Mazeroski turns two but Johnny Romano goes deep in the eighth for a 3-2 Sox win. Really, 89 seems awfully young.

Still Early, But...

I’ll try not to buy World Series’ tickets just yet. A 2-0 start by the White Sox in spring training is nice, but I don’t want to go overboard quite yet. Still, an 11-2 win over the A’s beats an 11-2 loss. In ascending order, Brooks Baldwin homered; Miguel Vargas had a hit and two runs scored; William Bergolla Jr. went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI; and Edgar Quero collected two two-run singles as part of a 3-for-3 day. What’s not to like? I mean, outside of the A’s using nine pitchers and the Sox seven?

It's a Start

The White Sox kicked off spring training Friday with a 8-1 win over the Cubs, which is always nice. I’m especially happy with who did what, and not just Munetaka Murkami with two hits. It’s the rookies. Second baseman Sam Antonacci connected for a two-run homerun off of starter Jameson Taillon; always nice to go long on an established pitcher. Fellow infielder William Bergolla Jr. went 2-for-2 with two doubles and a run scored. Antonacci is ranked the eleventh-best prospect in the system, with Bergolla right behind at twelfth. Let me count the ways I want them to succeed. First off, they’re smallish, Antonacci standing an even 6’ and Bergolla 5’9”. Second, they’re fast. Antonacci stole 48 bases across three levels while last year, and Bergolla swiped 40 bases for Double-A Birmingham. It doesn’t get any more old school than a speed-first White Sox infielder. And from all accounts, they’re smart, and smart people are the ones who find a way to get to the majors. Yeah, I know, the first day of spring training. But you have to start somewhere.

Chicken Little

The Bears announced yesterday they intend to focus stadium efforts on Hammond, Indiana, an April Fool of a location if there ever was one. But Lou Canellis of NBC 5 Sports went full Chicken Little. Oh, how his family has held season tickets since the Munsters—hey, why not a location in that Hoosier burg?—played at Wrigley Field, in addition to Soldier Field. Apparently, now the Canellis Clans will fire up the GPS to find the new place. Oh, please. The McCaskeys spent how much to buy 326 acres in Arlington? Oh, right, just north of $197 million. Along the way, they’ve jerked the chain of just about every local official from the Loop to the northwest suburb in question, not to mention Gov. JB Pritzker and members of the General Assembly and some school districts in and around Arlington Heights. Way to make friends, guys. I seriously question if the McCaskeys have ever driven to Hammond; they’d remember, because of traffic (and industrial odors). Let me put it this way—the interstates that cross northwest Indiana have the worst truck traffic I’ve ever had the misfortune of driving in. It ain’t gonna get better on a Sunday night in November. But, hey, it’s the Bears, and stupid is their game. With lemmings like Lou Canellis in tow, they can do whatever they want.

A Different Approach

I see where the Mets are taking a go-slow approach with centerfielder Luis Robert Jr. They think—or hope—that a gradual gear-up during spring training will allow Robert to avoid the injuries that plagued him throughout his years on the South Side. Good luck with that. I’m serious. If they can find a way to help Robert avoid the hamstring and hip issues he’s been prone to, then everyone else in baseball should take note. If only they mentioned what kind of program the training staff was going to implement. Instead, it sounds like they’re borrowing a page from the Tony La Russa playbook, ca. late 2021. That’s when La Russa announced his players weren’t going to go 100 percent in order to save themselves for the playoffs. We lost to the Astros anyway. Analytics have turned baseball into a function of size and muscle, an approach that practically guarantees injury; Robert is just susceptible sooner than others. Less muscle, more flexibility, I say, but what do I know?

Rain or Shine, Win or Lose

After the Bears went 5-12 in 2024, they still found a way to raise season-ticket prices by an average of ten percent. What do you think happened after they went 11-5 last season and actually won a playoff game? How about 13.5 percent, on average? Good ol’ Kevin Warren announced the news in a letter to season-ticket holders. If the team president mentioned the disparity between the increase and annual rate of inflation (2.7), I missed it. I keep thinking of the character in “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” who, when asked to show his badge, responds. Well, you know what he said.

“For Smart Fans”

Who says there’s no reward for taking your 94-year old mother-in-law grocery shopping? I found Lindy’s Baseball 2026 Preview on the magazine rack at Jewel. Oh, and my mother-in-law’s an angel, pretty much. After a quick look through Lindy’s, I was impressed. They’re against a salary cap, and they see the White Sox headed in the right decision. That’s all I ask. OK, not really. I want a lot, starting with a new owner and…

Obsolete?

The NBA had its All-Star game yesterday, or was it three? No, four? Who knows, who cares? It doesn’t matter the sport. All-Star games just don’t matter anymore. It’s reached the point where NFL Pro Bowlers play a game of flag football. Whoopee, and no, thanks. Baseball is a little different. The NBA has its slam-dunk contest, MLB Home Run Derby, which is probably the more popular. Still, the game doesn’t generate the interest it once did. Again, regardless the sport, players basically don’t want to risk injury for an exhibition contest. In the olden days before free agency, the respective sports had distinct personalities, e.g., AL vs. NL or NFL vs. AFL. American Leaguers really disliked National Leaguers and vice versa. The one non-stupid move Bud Selig made during his time as MLB commissioner was to give homefield advantage in the World Series to the league that won the All-Star Game. No more. I don’t blame the players for wanting to protect themselves. That said, I miss the intensity of the old MLB All-Star games. Maybe next life.

Priorities

In a world I’m not part of, Casey Wasserman is a big deal, or he was until a few days ago when he announced he was selling the talent agency he named and headed. Wasserman acted before his business turned to ashes after his name was connected to sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein in the latest Epstein documents’ release. According to emails Wasserman sent, he—how to put this politely?—expressed a keen interest in Epstein procurer-of-underaged-females Ghislaine Maxwell. People don’t want to be represented by people who associate with the likes of Epstein and Maxwell. Or, maybe I should say, they don’t anymore. Though Wasserman is selling his agency, he’s staying on in his capacity as chair of the authority for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The board’s executive committee found no indication that Wasserman had any dealings with Maxwell other than what was spelled out in the emails, which were sent years before Epstein’s and Maxwell’s convictions. So, the board is saying one of two things, that Wasserman is too important to be sacked or that it’s only sports. It looks bad for all involved either way.

Cap This

Evan Drellich did a story in The Athletic the other day about a possible salary cap in baseball. The crocodile tears shed by owners is nothing short of hilarious: Good of the game, competitive balance, blah, blah, blah. If small- and mid-market teams were starved for revenue, they would be dusting off blueprints of the old Yankee Stadium, which early on after its 1923 opening could seat over 80,000 fans. Instead, the A’s are building a stadium in Las Vegas with a capacity of just 33,000. Why not go after those extra fans as a way to close the revenue gap with the big guys? Because a salary cap is so much easier for the lazy set, that’s why. Drellich quotes Rockies’ owner Dick Monfort, who told the Denver Gazette last season, “The only way to fix baseball is to do a salary cap and a floor. Something’s got to happen. The competitive imbalance in baseball has gotten to the point of ludicrosity now. It’s an unregulated industry.” Beware rich people calling for regulation of their business. Forget for a moment that the Rockies are a terrible organization and have been for a long time; they last finished over .500 in 2018. What I really find amazing is how owners think they bring something of value to the game, that fans go to the ball park to see the people in the owners’ suite and not the players on the field. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. No salary cap in baseball without a windfall profits’ tax on the sale of teams, with that money going to the players.

A Lottery to Get Behind

Eric Koreen had an interesting article in The Athletic today on the practice of tanking by NBA teams. Apparently, the league fined the Jazz $500,000 and the Pacers $100,000 for sitting players without cause. Utah is 18-38 and Indiana 15-40. Team fines are like pulled punches; neither should be confused with the real thing. Want to make a statement? Fine both teams $5-$10 million. But no commissioner, in this case Adam Silver, is going to do that because team owners don’t like their employees—which is what Silver is—levying fines that hurt. Koreen went on to make a suggestion I found interesting, to say the least—abolish the draft and substitute a lottery for all non-playoff teams. My God, that’s brilliant. Not only would this work in the NBA but MLB and the NFL as well. It makes so much sense you know it won’t happen.

Tanking

I took a peek at the Bulls-Celtics’ game just before halftime last night, and hats off to Arturas Karnisovas, whose tank job is working according to plan. Karnisovas’s newly reconstructed team headed into the locker room trailing 72-44. Final score, Boston 124 Chicago 105. This gives Karnisovas just what he wants, a losing streak. Right now, it stands at six, four since the tanking decision was made. One problem, though. In all likelihood, it’s come too late. As late as January 31, the Bulls were within one game of .500, with a whole lot of other teams already in tank-mode. Right now, the Bulls’ record stands at 24-31, way too good to give them anything more than a Hail Mary of a chance to net the top choice in the draft. Why? Because there are five teams with fifteen or fewer wins and another two with nineteen or fewer. In all, nine teams have worse records than the Bulls. How many of them do you think will try to put together a win streak that hurts their draft chances? I mean, other than the Bulls?

Not So Fast

We’re in the extreme feel-good phase of spring training, before a single game has been played or the first injury reported. Off of yesterday, everybody is talking about the balls that new White Sox first baseman Munetaka Murakami launched during batting practice. Not so fast. Hitting soft-toss is no big thing; I seem to remember watching video of Luis Robert Jr. doing it just before or after he signed with the Sox in 2017. It doesn’t count until the pitcher is throwing hard from 60’ 6” and the batter is wearing a helmet. Until then, I’m satisfied with the regular contact.

Of or Like a Gladiator

On occasion, a sportscaster will let slip the comparison of an athlete to a gladiator. It isn’t true, of course, because athletes almost always get to see another day. But the metaphor works as an appeal to our dark sides. Long ago, ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” cleaned it up with the tagline of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” while showing clips of a skier and motorcycle driver wiping out bigtime. In baseball, nobody really watches to see a batter get hit the way Tony Conigliaro did. But in football and boxing, we sit there watching and knowing that the next hit or punch could be fatal. Whatever the sport, athletes know each appearance could be their last, due to injury or age or both. What goes unsaid but understood by athlete and audience adds to the draw of the game, the competition. Beware the blindside and the left hook. Some athletes take a pass on the gladiator gig. Warren Spahn knew when to hang it up; his body at the age of 44 told him, that and his release by the Giants. But Muhammad Ali kept stepping into the ring until it effectively killed him, or set into motion the bodily reactions to constant beatings that did. And now Lindsey Vonn is carried was airlifted off a slope in Italy. Rather than stay retired, Vonn tried a comeback at age 41. Unlike Warren Spahn, Vonn didn’t see herself as a coach or cattle rancher. Nor did she see an athlete diminished by age. Sunday, Vonn clipped a gate seconds into her run, possibly a result of the torn ACL she suffered nine days before. Pinwheels can be pretty, but not when skiers do them down a slope. Vonn reportedly will need multiple surgeries to repair a broken left leg. It’s not that Vonn made a right or wrong decision. It’s simply that she made a decision with consequences. The highest of accolades or a stretcher for a shield. The latter-day gladiator fell, a worldwide audience watched and reacted in a way that defined them as human beings.

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?

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.