Chicago -
By Roger Wallenstein
“The only thing this circus is missing is a top on it.”
So said Matt Underwood, the Indians’ play-by-play TV voice, amid the devastation Saturday during the second inning in Cleveland as the Tribe took a 7-0 lead. The seventh run crossed the plate in the person of ex-Sox favorite Juan Uribe, who had singled to chase current Sox non-favorite James Shields, who retired just five of the 15 hitters he faced prior to his departure.
Posted on June 20, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Milkshakes at the Tastee Freez to soothe another painful Blackhawks departure. Plus: It’s Silver’s Series Now; Hollywood Butler Going Minnesota?; The Welcome Willson Wagon; #FreeRickHahn; and KOPA Kabana.
Posted on June 17, 2016
By Jim Coffman
Leave it to the NBA to come with a make-up call three-and-a-half weeks later.
That’s what Draymond Green’s one-game suspension was last night – the make-up call for not suspending Green when he kicked Oklahoma City center Steven Adams in the balls during the Western Conference Finals way back when.
Otherwise, it was an extraordinarily ridiculous disciplinary action (more on that later) handed down against the Warriors forward. And that is saying something, given the NBA’s penchant for getting this sort of thing wrong.
In the aftermath of all that, and of the Cavaliers’ 112-97 victory over the Warriors (they now trail three games to two with a Game 6 coming up Wednesday night), it is up to fans to decide how much they care that the NBA believes two such wrongs make a right. It also gives all the teams in the league a nice little revenue boost by extending the Finals.
Posted on June 14, 2016
By Eric Emery
Original Blue & Orange Kool-Aid Report writer Eric Emery has given up American football and is now devoted to the real kind. As such, he begins today a new column called Breakfast in America, with the goal of spreading interest in the beautiful game – satisfying his wife’s wishes that he “write more” in exchange for watching more footy.
Which EPL team should you support?
This a multifaceted decision that takes careful consideration. It took me five months of careful research and meditation before settling on the Cherries of AFC Bournemouth. One way to proceed is to think about which presidential candidate you support, because that tells you a lot about which teams you should consider.
Candidate: Donald Trump
Teams: Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea
Why: Like Trump, these teams talk about the past (like it was better) and making football great by revising football structures like the Champions League, but they are really about lining their own pockets. Unsurprisingly, their fans have little grasp of reality. Look to YouTube for examples.
Posted on June 13, 2016
By Marty Gangler
It was Terence Mann in Field of Dreams who said, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”
This quote rang true for me this week, and it wasn’t anything the Cubs did. It was something that my son Mitchell did – or, rather, didn’t do. He didn’t make the All-Star team in his baseball league. An 8-year-old looked reality in the face and said, “I don’t think I’m going to get picked.” And he was right, he didn’t get picked. And he, um, well, didn’t get “snubbed.”
Mitchell is the kid going through the motions out there just happy to hang with the guys in the dugout and just show up and see what happens. When asked about playing catch and taking some swings he just was never interested on off-baseball days. But that All-Star team deal, well, that sparked a little something. And I’m happy to see it. Because baseball is really on the radar. And I was a little worried that it never would be.
Posted on June 13, 2016
By Roger Wallenstein
Let’s get rid of the rote stuff first. You know, where you simply have to tweak the numbers, bring them up-to-date and move on. And so, after losing two of three to the Nationals and Royals each at home last week, the White Sox have now lost nine of their last ten series’, accounting for a record of 8-22.
Forget about the ERAs of the starting pitchers or the bullpen. Not much has changed. Nor has their efficiency with men on base. Outside of a few home runs, there’s no guarantee that this team can score regardless of how many men are on base with less than two outs.
On Sunday, down 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth with runners at first and third and no outs, a strikeout and double play left the Sox scoreless. Trying to break on top against the Royals on Saturday in the bottom of the first, the Sox had runners at second and third with one out and failed to capitalize. These are just two examples. Pathetic is a generous description.
So let’s move ahead to the new kid at shortstop.
Posted on June 13, 2016
By Thomas Chambers
There’s no Triple Crown on the line. It has all the biorhythms of the big exhale, settling in for the summer dog days and the long, real season ahead. None of these Thoroughbreds gives you the goosebumps of the, say, “one to watch” or a horse of the year type. All we do now is watch and wager.
But wait a minute! Wake up!
It’s Belmont Stakes Day Saturday and if you dig the ponies, you gotta be there. You’ll learn about some of the most steeped horse races we have, tradition-wise. The toughest race of the year, furlongs-wise. And the prospect of improving yourself, wagering-wise.
With this 148th running – six more than the Kentucky Derby – during what is now called the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, we should see a competitive, bettable race when 13 runners answer the 5:37 p.m. Central school bell.
Preakness winner Exaggerator is your 9-5 morning line favorite, but more on him later.
Posted on June 11, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
The White Sox are or aren’t like the Cubs. Plus: Groupthink is Poopthink!; Warriors Will Win Wonderfully; Sharks On Ice; COPA!; About Alshon; and Sammy & The Donald Sittin’ In A Tree.
Posted on June 10, 2016
By Dan O’Shea
The calendar says it’s June, so it’s no surprise that a fresh group of prospects has begun to make its way to the majors. What say we weigh the fantasy prospects of these prospects?
Albert Almora, Jr., OF, CUBS: The locals might be in a frothy lather over this call-up, but at his best, Almora is more of a real-world nice-to-have than a fantasy gotta-have. If he stays at the big league level, the fantasy-relevant stats he’s most likely to offer are batting average and SBs, but hard to see how he starts regularly even with Jorge Soler on the DL. Fittingly, he is available in about 95% of Yahoo! leagues at the moment.
Posted on June 9, 2016
By The AP With The Beachwood Added Value Affairs Desk
“Climbing is on the precipice of becoming an Olympic sport, raising the profile of a recreational activity that is seeing a surge in young participants.”
Posted on June 8, 2016
