Chicago -
By Roger Wallenstein
During the White Sox’ recent road trip to Seattle, Hawk Harrelson lamented that Jose Abreu has swung at more pitches outside the strike zone this season than any other major league batter.
Then on Thursday right, before Abreu hit his first home run since June 23rd, a two-run shot in the second inning to help the Sox beat Detroit 6-3, Harrelson and Steve Stone had this exchange.
Posted on August 8, 2016
By Mikhail Batuev/The Conversation
Surfing, skateboarding, climbing and karate will become Olympic sports for the first time at the Tokyo 2020 Games after a long-anticipated decision was confirmed by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday. Baseball/softball has also been let back into the games for the first time since 2008.
But how did these sports end up on top? Why were they the chosen ones, and not squash, roller sports or wushu, a Chinese martial art?
Posted on August 7, 2016
By Joshua Schneyer/Reuters
Like thousands of Olympics fans worldwide, Matthew Rose started planning his family trip to the Rio Games many months in advance.
The Atlanta-based sports trainer knew it wouldn’t be cheap, but in January he grew concerned when he looked into buying the event tickets.
CoSport, a firm that holds exclusive rights to sell Games access to the U.S. public, was pricing its tickets at an old exchange rate that was about 40 percent less favorable than the market rate and also adding 20 percent handling fees.
In addition, almost none of the tickets Rose wanted, for popular events like swimming and beach volleyball, were available at any price.
It wasn’t that CoSport lacked inventory. On its website, it was still offering many seats at marquee Games events to certain customers: those ready to buy its “hospitality packages.”
Posted on August 6, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
He’s a magic man, mama. Plus: Oh, Puig; The Bennett Brothers Vs. Everyone; Elena Delle Donne Is Gay, Engaged And In Rio; and The I Told You So Olympics.
Posted on August 5, 2016
By David Epstein/ProPublica
In a blistering public critique on the eve of the Olympics, the former chief investigator for the World Anti-Doping Agency claims his efforts to investigate Russian doping were repeatedly delayed by WADA’s president, who preferred to privately settle matters with Russian officials.
Jack Robertson, who left the agency in January, said he was forced to leak information to the media in order to pressure WADA president Sir Craig Reedie to act and, even then, he says, the agency sat on credible allegations that suggested Russian doping extended far beyond track and field.
Ultimately, Robertson says, the investigation delays have allowed the president of the International Olympic Committee – who has reportedly been supported by Vladimir Putin – to claim that the committee didn’t have enough time to determine whether it should ban all Russian teams. The result is that Russia may still have one of the largest delegations in Rio.
Posted on August 4, 2016
By AP
“Ping pong prodigy Kanak Jha is the first American born in the 2000s to qualify for the Olympics. At an event to promote the squad in San Francisco, Jha and his table tennis teammates said they hope to become the first Americans to ever medal in the sport in Rio.”
Posted on August 2, 2016
By Marty Gangler
As the weeks go by and the calendar turns to August ,I keep finding myself thinking: Sure these guys are good, like really good as far as the Cubs go, but I’m still not sure the roster is where it should be. Are you supposed to have five left fielders in one game?
Posted on August 1, 2016
By Jim Coffman
Hey Jon Lester, you just laid down a perfect, two-strike squeeze bunt to drive in the winning run in the 12th inning! Let’s celebrate! Here’s a faceful and mouthful of, what was that, talcum powder?
Posted on August 1, 2016
By Roger Wallenstein
The Crosstown Classic, Cup, Showdown or whatever you want to call it garnered plenty of attention last week as the Cubs and Sox split the four games, each team winning a pair in their home park. Despite the fact that the games count in the standings thanks to interleague play, the stakes were arguably higher when the teams met many years ago.
From 1903 until 1942, the Cubs and Sox participated in what was known as the City Series, usually a best-of-seven confrontation played parallel to the World Series. If either Chicago team won its league pennant to advance to the World Series, the local showdown wasn’t played, like in 1917 and 1919 when the Sox won pennants. And in 1906 when both clubs were league champions, they met in the World Series with the Sox emerging victorious four games to two.
Posted on August 1, 2016
