Chicago -
By Thomas Chambers
What is it with old people?
And it’s the classic: I can say that because I’m (pick one from categories religion/ethnicity/home state/CubsSoxBears fan).
I can say that because both the government and disappointing individuals I know have classified me as old, senior, geriatric, half dead.
Let’s keep with the comedy rule of three. And a half, in the case of the lanky QB.
Jack Nicklaus/Jay Cutler.
Try to unsee that photo from the Reichstag.
Posted on October 30, 2020
By Roger Wallenstein
You’d have thought Blago had just announced he’s running for governor again. Or maybe Paul Anka is getting a primetime special. The White Sox need a DH. Why not Harold Baines?
The White Sox rehiring Tony LaRussa on Thursday received a reaction along the lines of those three hypotheticals. Our current president, although he has no chance in Illinois, would love this one. COVID has temporarily been placed on the back burner. At least for devotees of the South Side franchise.
Posted on October 29, 2020
By Rawlings
Rawlings Sporting Goods Company, Inc., the originator of the iconic Rawlings Gold Glove Award® recognizing superior defense at each position, has now expanded the platform to award the best team defense over the course of the regular season. Two teams will receive the newly created award – one in both the American and National Leagues.
Posted on October 29, 2020
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Someone told you so. Plus: Door Matt; Running By A Committee Of One; Meet Sam Mustipher!; Honey, They Shrunk Allen Robinson; Demetrius Harris vs. Kamala Harris; Ginn Din; Nick Foles Plays To The Level Of His Colleagues; DerpFENSE; The Notorious RRH; Biggs Time; and Run Less.
Posted on October 27, 2020
By Roger Wallenstein
This year twenty-twenty,
I’m awaiting its end.
Too bad it’s not e-mail
I could just hit “send.”
Our lives have been changed
By the raging pandemic.
When will we be safe?
The answer is academic.
Amidst all the turmoil
Came a baseball season.
Only 60 games played
I thought they were teasing.
Let’s give credit
Where credit is due.
MLB pulled it off
With a few rules new.
Posted on October 26, 2020
By The Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) reported Friday that Hulu has decided to drop Sinclair’s 21 regional sports network brands (RSN), YES Network and Marquee, depriving its subscribers of the excitement of watching their favorite local sports teams.
While Sinclair attempted to come to an amicable and fair agreement, Hulu was not willing to provide the RSNs reasonable compensation for their valuable local sports content.
Posted on October 23, 2020
By Tony Naar and Murray Phillips/The Conversation
In sport, timing can be everything. The 2000 Sydney Paralympic Games, which started 20 years ago this week, came at a time when the Paralympic movement was growing and becoming more visible.
And the Sydney Games left a legacy that has forever changed the way the games are run and how Paralympic athletes train and prepare.
Posted on October 22, 2020
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
If his title was offensive coordinator, that’s exactly what everyone would be saying right now. Plus: Stop Lying, Rick Hahn; A Just World Series; Sick Saad World; and Chicago Fire Locking It Down!
Posted on October 19, 2020
By Roger Wallenstein
The news that the White Sox are considering Tony La Russa for their vacant manager’s position resulted in near panic last week from some Sox fans and writers. You’d have thought that the ballclub was doing something as dangerous as holding a public rally at The Grate so kids could run the bases sans masks or social distancing.
The responses came quickly. “He’s too old. He hasn’t managed since 2011. He wouldn’t be able to relate to the players. He couldn’t work well with the front office. I repeat, he’s too old.”
These are challenging times for all of us, but especially for folks who were born in the 1940s, of which La Russa and this writer are guilty. People who know about deadly viruses have warned us for months that we are most susceptible to COVID-19. Much about our lives has changed. Like our vocabulary. Words such as “morbidity” have entered into daily conversation right alongside launch angle and exit velocity.
Suggestions are not uncommon that our perceived frail condition dictates that we are expendable. A few particularly uncaring, heartless and ignorant individuals have reasoned that older folks, being closer to our demise than the general population, should not prohibit others from pursuing their regular routines.
If you’re thinking that I’m sensitive to the ageism slur, then we’re on the same page. Substitute “Black” or “Brown” or “gay” rather than “old” into the equation and you’d rightfully be confronted with anger and outrage along with a tidy lawsuit.
Posted on October 19, 2020
By Chris Lamb/The Conversation
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America recently announced that it would remove former Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s name from the plaques awarded to the American and National League MVPs.
The decision came after a number of former MVPs, including Black award winners Barry Larkin and Terry Pendleton, voiced their displeasure with their plaques being named for Landis, who kept the game segregated during the 24 years he served as commissioner from 1920 until his death in 1944. The Brooklyn Dodgers ended the color line when they signed Jackie Robinson to a contract in October 1945, less than a year after Landis’s death.
Posted on October 16, 2020
