By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
He’s not going anywhere but the playoffs. Plus: Hot White Sox Screwing Eloy; Fake Bears Finish Fake Pre-Season With Fake Hopes; and NU’s Ridiculous Football Palace On The Lake.
Posted on August 31, 2018
Beto O’Rourke’s NFL Comments Have Gone Viral
By Patrick Svitek/The Texas Tribune
Since 2016, Texas Republicans have been spoiling for a fight over NFL players protesting during the national anthem, confident they have a winning issue on their hands – or at least one that will fire up their voters.
That fight has now arrived in the state’s 2018 U.S. Senate race. A video of the Democratic nominee, Beto O’Rourke, recently voicing support for the protests has gone viral, earning hundreds of thousands of social media shares and garnering praise from Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes. The Republican incumbent, Ted Cruz, and his allies have seized on O’Rourke’s position to press their long-running argument that despite the national fanfare, O’Rourke is out of step with the Texans who will actually decide the election.
Posted on August 28, 2018
SportsMonday: Bears Owe Fans An Apology
By Jim Coffman
Will the Bears even try to make it up to their fans?
They sold them a sham, charging full price (the Bears have adopted a priority pricing structure so fans will pay more this year for Packer tickets for instance but that is just added cost – the fundamental price for a Bears ticket is the one they charged fans on Saturday) for this year’s second-to-last exhibition game. That is the one in which starters play at least a half in their dress rehearsal for the regular season.
And then the starters didn’t play. And the owners of more than 43,000 tickets were screwed.
Posted on August 27, 2018
Mt. Pleasant’s Michael Kopech
By Roger Wallenstein
Perhaps we should be accustomed to the discovery of past transgressions, commonly of the social media variety, like the one last week involving White Sox hotshot pitcher Michael Kopech.
There are many among us involved in more pressing matters than noticing an improving ballclub but one that still remains 28 games under .500. There are family and friends that require our attention. In the local sporting world, the absence of Mitch Trubisky and the Bears offense in the penultimate game of their NFL preseason furrowed the brows of many fans.
Nevertheless, after being excused from further obligations at the minor league level, Kopech’s grand entrance last Tuesday at The Grate attracted more attention on the South Side than witnessed all season.
Posted on August 27, 2018
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #214: The Cubs Are El Mago
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Strap it down for a rough – but possibly glorious – ride. Plus: Daniel Murphy Does Not Agree With The Homosexual Lifestyle; Michael KKKopech; Bears Media Talking About Practice; and Fire Fires Fans.
Posted on August 24, 2018
Why Kopech Now?
By Roger Wallenstein
The tweets began in the midst of a disastrous second inning for Reynaldo Lopez.
“The Sox are calling up Michael Kopech,” declared the woman sitting behind us. Being a non-tweeter, I immediately turned around in my seat to ask where she heard that news. “A friend of mine,” she said.
“Any announcement from the ballclub?” I asked.
“Wait a minute,” she responded, “Here’s a tweet from [NBC Sports Chicago’s] Chuck Garfien,” and the Twitter world lit up.
Posted on August 20, 2018
SportsMonday: Are The Cubs Okay?
By Jim Coffman
Is it okay for Cubs fans to be concerned yet? After four runs scored in four-plus games?
As the Cubs have strolled along at a .500 pace in the month since the All-Star break there has been a sizable segment of the local commentariat that has chastised anyone who expressed consternation about the club’s inconsistency. “This is Theo’s Cubs, managed by Joe Maddon,” they have bleated. “They will obviously start playing better soon and cruise into the playoffs.”
But the standings don’t lie and the standings say the Cubs are a losing streak away from not just falling out of the division lead but falling out of a projected playoff spot. And this weekend in Pittsburgh would have been the start of just that but for some stellar pitching, defense and a little something extra on Thursday and Friday (seven double plays in nine innings is amazing execution . . . and a little luck).
Posted on August 20, 2018
The Ex-Cub Factor
By Steve Rhodes
One in an occasional series tracking the movements of those who have worn Cubbie blue.
1. Fernando Rodney.
Rodney got traded after all, post-deadline, going from the Twins to the A’s, where he’s off to a strong start. The Arrow wasn’t with the Cubs a long time (12 innings in 2015), but he is remembered and (sort of) missed.
Posted on August 16, 2018
Keep ‘Em Down On The Farm
By Roger Wallenstein
“While we can look at a stat line or you can look at a box score and say, ‘This guy looks like he’s doing well, looks like he’s ready,’ our checklist that we want these guys to answer is a little more lengthy than that. And not until they’ve answered all those questions we have for them at the minor league level will we promote them. They know what’s on the list. I’m not going to sit here and tell you things our players can’t do.”
So spoke White Sox general manager Rick Hahn a couple weeks ago when the media applied gentle pressure about the likelihood of top prospects Eloy Jimenez and Michael Kopech arriving soon on the South Side for their major league debuts.
You could excuse Sox fans a week ago for heightened pulses and eager anticipation when Leury Garcia pulled a hamstring and went on the DL. The Yankees were coming to town for a Monday-Wednesday three-game set, which they wound up sweeping. ESPN was televising Monday’s game even though the New Yorkers were on a five-game losing streak including four to the front-running Red Sox to extinguish any hope the Yanks had of overtaking the Boston group. Aaron Judge, the Yankees’ behemoth slugger, wasn’t even going to play because of a chip fracture in his right wrist.
What merited Monday’s game to be nationally televised? Was this to be Eloy Jimenez’s introduction not only to Sox fans but to fans across the country? Did ESPN possess some secret knowledge about Hahn’s master plan?
Posted on August 13, 2018
The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #213: Bears Fail Audition
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
First play says it all. Plus: Our Internet Doppelgangers; Stan Mikita’s Legacy – Including The Donuts; Confirmed: The Cubs Are Weird; Pundits Renew Bryce Harper Takes; David Bote McBoteface; Authentic White Sox Fans; Roquan Smith Stalemate; Chicago Fire Tease; and Dan Bernstein’s Native Ads.
Posted on August 10, 2018