Chicago -
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Panic! At The Wrigleyville Disco. Plus: Yoan Machado; Enough About The White Sox, Let’s Talk More About The Cubs; Don’t Sleep On The Rays; Texas Technology; Good Riddance, Chicago Fire; and Blackhawks, Bulls, Blue Demons Still Playing.
Posted on April 5, 2019
By Dennis L. Cogburn/The Conversation
The federal government has long covered about a tenth of the Special Olympics’ budget. This nonprofit that gives athletes with intellectual disabilities a chance to train and compete in a wide variety of sports gets most of the rest of its funding from from foundations, corporations and individuals. It spent a total of roughly $150 million in 2017, the most recent year for which information is available, with the federal government’s portion totaling $15.5 million.
President Donald Trump’s first three proposed budgets, for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 fiscal years, would have broken that formula. Instead of the usual arrangement, his first three draft spending plans called for giving nothing at all to the Special Olympics.
Posted on April 5, 2019
By Steve Rhodes
One in an occasional series tracking the movement of former Cubs.
1. Jason Hammel.
We included Hammel in this feature in February when he signed a minor-league contract with the Rangers. Then, he actually made the Opening Day roster. Then, he actually retired!
“As per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News, Hammel simply ‘decided he needed to go and be with his family, something you could tell was weighing on his mind this spring,'” MLBTradeRumors.com reported.
“Rangers GM Jon Daniels told The Athletic’s Levi Weaver and other media that Hammel ‘was very apologetic about the timing’ of his decision, coming so soon after the team decided to include him on its 25-man roster.”
Posted on April 4, 2019
By Jim Coffman
No one ever thinks it is a good idea to panic in any context. And of course it is especially stupid to panic in the relatively meaningless world of sports.
It is never news that someone is pledging not to panic, especially, again, in frickin’ sports.
And yet in sports media it seems like not a week goes by without some genius headline writer and/or copy writer feeling the need to re-assure fans that “so-and-so won’t panic.”
People, try a little harder. You know that “prominent person pledges not to be an idiot” is not news and yet you still trumpet “not panicking” as news. The Cubs lost a couple games in a row over the weekend and the p-word came out. For gosh sakes enough already.
Posted on April 1, 2019
By Roger Wallenstein
This new, improved edition of Ricky’s Boys provided a glimpse of what could be the future Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. What a delight Lucas Giolito provided us after walking the first batter he faced on four pitches. We could be excused for thinking, “Here we go again.”
But the kid’s Hollywood background immediately kicked into high gear. Not only did he pitch far into the seventh inning without so much as walking another batter, but the Royals couldn’t manage a base hit until Alex Gordon singled with one out in that seventh frame. What drama. So entertaining. We were expecting a rerun, but Giolito produced a creative, successful opening for his 2019 season.
Posted on April 1, 2019
