Chicago -
By Playbooked
A historic first in collegiate sports occurred last week when Aquinas College volleyball player Chloe Mitchell became the first collegiate athlete to capitalize off of NAIA NIL legislation. She created this sponsored social post where she identified herself as a student and volleyball player at AQ:
View this post on Instagram
Posted on December 30, 2020
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Only the Packers can tell us what’s real now. Including: Is Matt Nagy All Growns Up?; Trubinsky; Jets Sweep. Plus: Bullskill, Blackhawks Camping, and Evanston vs. Champaign.
Posted on December 28, 2020
By Human Rights Watch
The Chinese government’s heightened repression from Xinjiang to Hong Kong threatens its hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics, Human Rights Watch said this week in a letter to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. The Beijing Winter Olympics are scheduled to begin on February 4, 2022.
Human Rights Watch has detailed extensive concerns about the human rights climate for hosting the games in China. These include the lack of media and internet freedom, the incarceration of more than a million Turkic Muslims in “political education” camps in Xinjiang, the lack of transparency in labor supply chains, and increasing free speech restrictions in Hong Kong.
The IOC should immediately conduct robust human rights due diligence around the preparations for the 2022 Beijing Olympics and explain its efforts to manage human rights risks connected to the Games by February 2021, one year ahead of the Games.
Posted on December 24, 2020
By Roger Wallenstein
I never saw a Negro League game. By the time I was old enough to have more than a passing interest in baseball, there already were a number of Black stars sprinkled onto the rosters of Major League teams, and the Negro Leagues were defunct. While we never articulated the obvious, we inherently knew the Black guys could play. We saw that for ourselves.
Being a White Sox devotee, Miñoso was our man. Not only were his statistics among the American League’s elite, but he lit up the field with his electric energy, devout rapture for the game, and boundless enthusiasm. Miñoso getting hit by a pitch could be just as exciting as a teammate legging out a triple. Minnie, a right-handed hitter, stood inches from the inside corner of the plate, not exactly a secure position for a Black, multi-talented ballplayer in those days. Not surprisingly, Miñoso led the league 10 seasons in getting hit.
Posted on December 23, 2020
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
From winning ugly to winning wrong. Including: Lazor Tag; Jennings A Joke; Low Bar, Everybody Down; Miller Lite Matt and more! Plus: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Fitzmas; Bulls Time; Zippy Cubs, and more!
Posted on December 21, 2020
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Jesus Christ, people. The previous six-plus years still happened. Plus: Lovie Claus Fired; The White Sox Have Some Good News And Some Bad; Remembering Jimmy Collins; Go Spiders!; and Illini Men vs. DePaul Women.
Posted on December 14, 2020
By Roger Wallenstein
Ozzie Guillen says everyone hates the man. He had his worst year in 2020. Greater prizes continue to remain on the free agent market. Injuries, including a horrific tear of an ACL, have slowed him down the past few seasons. Social media reaction has been, to put it mildly, underwhelming.
So don’t expect a bright, big, red welcome mat to be rolled out in Arizona for Adam Eaton once spring training begins, whenever that may be.
Of course, many of the same fans who are angry about the White Sox signing Eaton – one year at $7 million with a club option for 2022 at $8.5 million – also were grousing all summer about Nomar Mazara, whom the up-and-coming South Siders obtained in a trade exactly one year prior to bringing Eaton back to town to fill the void in right field. Mazara was an abject failure, hitting one lonely home run while posting an OPS of .589, compared to .754 over four years with the Rangers. Even the amateur gamblers likely would take the Over that Eaton can top those numbers.
Posted on December 14, 2020
By Alexi Pappas/The New York Times
“What if athletes and coaches were trained to look for depression just as vigilantly as they’d be watching for a hamstring pull?”
Posted on December 12, 2020
By Richard Baka/The Conversation
Surfing, skateboarding, karate and sport climbing will be the new sports included in the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, with BMX freestyle (think halfpipe snowboarding but on bikes) and 3×3 basketball (teams of three playing on a half court with on basket) added as disciplines in existing sports.
The Beijing 2022 Winter Games will feature seven new events – freestyle skiing big air (men’s and women’s), women’s monobob (solo bobsledding) and mixed team events in short-track speed skating, ski jumping, freestyle skiing aerials and snowboard cross.
The latest Olympic sport added to the 2024 Paris Games is “breaking,” which started as a form of dancing associated with hip hop culture and has morphed into a well-organized competitive sport governed by the World DanceSport Federation.
Posted on December 10, 2020
By David Rutter
Now that the Chicago Bears seem to be hunting for new head coach – and aren’t they always? – their eyes have fallen on Northwestern’s Pat “Mr. Chicago” Fitzgerald.
I know a guy who knows a guy.
Matt Nagy seems to be on the endangered species list for the same flaws that doomed his immediate predecessors.
Fitz wouldn’t even have to move. He already owns a $2.5 million mansion in Northfield.
Posted on December 8, 2020
