By The Las Vegas Review-Journal
Tip: Always bet John Fox against the spread on the road.
Featuring Chicago native Chuck Esposito, Station Casino sportsbook director.
Posted on August 23, 2016
With Skateboarding’s Inclusion In Tokyo 2020, A Once-Marginalized Subculture Enters The Spotlight
By Neftalie Williams/The Conversation
On Aug. 6, skateboarding was added to the list of new sports for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Now six million skateboarders in the United States – plus millions abroad – will have a global platform to promote skateboarding as a cross-cultural community that possesses a set of shared values.
Though skateboarding culture has often been thought of as the home of unruly, unlawful, anti-establishment youth, the sport may actually communicate the Olympic ideal to millions of millennials who haven’t been tuning into the Olympic Games.
Posted on August 23, 2016
Marty’s Hate List
By Marty Gangler
It appears the Cubs have shifted into “Yeah, it’s pretty much over” mode.
In seemingly precautionary moves, they put John Lackey, Hector Rondon and Chris Coghlan on the DL and gave starts to Trevor Cahill and Mike Montgomery.
That’s playoff prep, not stretch drive.
Posted on August 22, 2016
Rick’s Picks
By Roger Wallenstein
To rebuild or not to rebuild? That is the question.
If the White Sox do rebuild – or whatever you wish to call it – the experience will be a new one for a franchise which has had other sub-.500 stretches that are very reminiscent of the current situation. A fourth consecutive losing season seems likely even after the Sox won two-of-three over the weekend against the Oakland A’s, a club even more in limbo than the local contingent. Losing twice in a three-game set earlier in the week in Cleveland resulted in another 3-3 week, not exactly what’s needed as the fellows hope to at least break even for the season.
Perhaps the closest the franchise has come to sacrificing the present for the future occurred at the trade deadline in 1989, when fan favorite and 10-year Sox veteran Harold Baines was traded to Texas for infielder Scott Fletcher, minor league pitcher Wilson Alvarez, and a skinny rookie named Sammy Sosa.
Posted on August 22, 2016
TrackNotes: Turf Meets Surf, Borel’s Back & Inverted Arlington
By Thomas Chambers
If you’ve opened your souls to the sermons of this summer racing season, the question put to us, as always, is “What is the meaning of it all?”
We do know where it’s going, the Breeders’ Cup. (Race) pace does not kill, it guides. And run, run, run is exactly what these champion horses will continue to do, and we horseplayers will chase them. But we are glad you asked.
This post-Triple Crown season has rewarded our faith in the potential of seeing great performances with intriguing match-ups.
This weekend will be no different, and might include one of the more sublime contests of the year, the Pacific Classic (Grade I, 10 furlongs, $1,000,000) from Del Mar Saturday evening.
Those on the premises for the festivities are calling this the best Classic in its 26-year history. There’s drama already, but more on that later.
Posted on August 20, 2016
Sexism In Olympics Coverage
By Natalia V. Osipova and Katie Rogers/New York Times
“Words to describe men include fastest and strongest,” the New York Times reports, citing scholars. “For women, related words reference their ages or marital status.”
Posted on August 20, 2016
The 2016 Fantasy Fix Football Draft Guide Pt. 3: Embrace The Targets
Wide receivers are leading the overall fantasy rankings for the first time I can remember, and it’s all about opportunity.
Think about what traditionally has made workhorse RBs such valuable fantasy commodities – the fact they were getting 20-30 touches per game, sometime more.
Now, so many backfield time-shares bring that number down to 15-20, and a lot of those plays could be three- or four-yard grinds, with fewer opportunities to break big runs for big fantasy points.
Meanwhile, WR-1s on several teams are averaging more than 10 targets per game, six or more catches on those targets, and in many cases 12 or more yards per catch. Though the WR-1 still may not touch the ball as often as an RB-1, there are as many or more opportunities to score many more fantasy points.
That’s why, for the most part, history and expectation of numerous targets is what defines my WR rankings this season:
Posted on August 18, 2016
How The IOC Effectively Maintains A Gag Order On Nonsponsors Of The Olympics
By Shontavia Johnson/The Conversation
If you’re one of the billions of people around the world following the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in any form, you’re probably aware of at least some of its most talked about sports moments: Simone Biles of the United States (with dual Belizean citizenship) confirming her spot as the world’s best gymnast; the Fiji men’s rugby team’s emotional gold medal win – the first in their country’s history; French gymnast Samir Ait Said’s horrible leg injury during the men’s qualifying rounds.
You may also have noticed a flood of social media posts using hashtags like #Rio2016, #Olympics or #TeamUSA. Given that the 2016 Olympic Games have been dubbed the “most watched and discussed Games on social media yet,” this isn’t surprising. What may be, though, is the silence of most companies regarding the Games.
Posted on August 18, 2016
When USA Gymnastics Turned A Blind Eye To Sexual Abuse
By Heather Vogell/ProPublica
With the summer Olympics in full swing, three reporters at the Indianapolis Star have been investigating painful secrets kept by some of the nation’s young gymnasts-in-training.
I talked with Marisa Kwiatkowski, Mark Alesia and Tim Evans about their incredible report on sexual misconduct by coaches affiliated with USA Gymnastics, the nonprofit responsible for developing the United States’ gymnastics team for the Olympics and training thousands more children and young adults.
What the reporters discovered was that the organization had policies on reporting sexual abuse that were likely to discourage people from speaking up.
Posted on August 17, 2016
Four Faces Of Premier League Management
By Jonathan Lord/The Conversation
The Premier League is about to kick off and it is hotly tipped to be one of the most competitive in years. Interestingly, the talk has not centered on the star players, but instead on the raft of new managers appointed to win what is probably the most prized football league in the world.
The appointments of Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte, as well as Jürgen Klopp in the previous season, means that the Premier League now has four of the best coaches in Europe. And of course, they all have very different management styles.
Posted on August 16, 2016