Spring continues to spring surprises on us. Last week, I lavished praise on Trea Turner, 2B/OF, WAS, who is entering his second season with huge hype. The hype will only get bigger now that he is probably going to play SS for the Nats.
That position eligibility won’t be reflected on fantasy rosters until a week or two into the season, but the triple eligibility makes Turner that much more valuable as the No. 2 SS and arguably as high as No. 11 overall. Since the addition isn’t yet official for fantasy, and I do things by the book, you might want to make a note of it. In other words, as you print out my rankings, as I’m sure you all do with religious devotion, slot in Turner as the No. 2 SS between Manny Machado and Corey Seager, and bump everyone else down a spot.
Now, where were we?

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Posted on March 8, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

I love greasy, juicy hamburgers along with an abundant mound of generously salted french fries. I’d eat them a couple of times a week except for the fact that I’m not interested in gaining 40 or 50 pounds while diminishing my life expectancy. I lost a full head of hair years ago, and I wouldn’t mind getting it back, but not at the risk of popping pills that have multitudes of side effects that those TV ads warn us about.
No, I can’t have it both ways, but apparently major league baseball thinks it can.
Three years ago in a move that slows down ballgames MLB introduced replay review – an innovation requiring an average of about a 2 1/2 minutes per review – in order to ensure that plays on the field would be accurately called. Last season fans waited through approximately 1,500 reviews, or about five every eight games.
So last week it was time to speed up things. In a laughable countermove, the four-pitch intentional walk, which occurred in about one-third of games last season, took its place in baseball history.
So which is it, fellas? Slower or faster? You can’t have it both ways.

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Posted on March 6, 2017

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Big win signifies nothing. Plus: How Oduya?; Follow The Bears’ Money; Don’t Sleep On Illinois; and Putting The Spring In Spring Training.

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Posted on March 3, 2017

By Roger Wallenstein

Standing at the fence on the berm above the White Sox bullpen in right field last Saturday in Arizona, my eight-year-old granddaughter Ava got a nice surprise. Blake Smith, a non-roster invitee who made four less-than-stellar appearances in relief for the White Sox last September, had been warming up as the game ended with the Sox on the short end of a 5-3 score against the Dodgers.
Smith looked up, singled out Ava, and instead of returning the ball to the bag resting beside him, tossed it up to the kid. She fumbled it. Might have been her genes. Smith flipped it up to her again. Same thing. Not to be deterred, Smith gave her a third chance, and my outstanding young grandkid snagged it. From my point of view, Smith will never make a better pitch, which was just one of many warm, friendly gestures that one finds on a typical spring training day.
During a time of executive orders, confrontation, hate, anger, and aggression all communicated by confounding, breaking, fake, and real news, the pace and mood of baseball’s annual six-week spring training ritual is a welcome antidote. Things tend to operate in slow motion as the ballclubs take their time getting prepared for the long season ahead.

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Posted on February 28, 2017

By Jim Coffman

Hey NHL, a little help!
The Hawks are taking care of business. They just keep winning, pulling within a point of the division-leading Wild with their 4-2 victory over the Blues last night. But now Minnesota has piled up the games in hand again. They have played three fewer games than the glorious locals who have won nine of their last 10.
So of course what needs to happen now is the rest of the NHL needs to start knocking off the Wild with considerably more consistency. First up? The Los Angeles Kings travel to the Twin Cities tomorrow evening. Let’s go LA!

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Posted on February 27, 2017

Baseball draft time again, and here’s me getting a late start. Over the next few weeks, I’ll lay out my top 100 players in four installments that also provide their positional rankings.
Fans of a certain Cubs bromance will find much to love in the top 10, so here we go . . .
Rankings 1-25:
1) Mike Trout, Of, LAA; OF Rank: 1 – The only player last year with at least 100 runs, 100 walks, 100 RBI and 30 SBs, and fell just one HR short of 30. HRs dropped dramatically from 41 in 2015 to 29, but every other stat rebounded. Led MLB in walks (116) and runs (123), and he’s just 25.

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Posted on February 24, 2017

By Jaime Schultz/The Conversation

Is cheerleading a sport?
The International Olympic Committee thinks so. In December, the IOC’s executive board voted to provisionally recognize cheerleading.
This means that for the next three years, the IOC will provide the International Cheer Union with at least $25,000 annually to promote the sport.
During that time, the ICU can apply for full Olympic recognition in the Summer Olympic Games.
ICU president Jeff Webb called the decision a “monumental milestone for cheerleading” and “the culmination of my life’s work.”
I study the history of women’s sport, which makes me curious about Webb’s enthusiasm for the IOC’s decision. In the past, he has argued against classifying cheerleading as a sport. So why the sudden reversal?

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Posted on February 21, 2017

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Butler or Bust? Plus: Blackhawks Bye, Blame Barnwell, Joe Maddoning, and Coach Is Only Half-In On The White Sox Rebuild, Too.

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Posted on February 17, 2017

By Ben Hirschler/Reuters

LONDON – Scientists have found signs of brain damage that could cause dementia in a handful of former soccer players, fueling worries about the danger of frequent knocks from heading the ball or colliding with others on the field.
The small study was the first of its kind, involving post-mortems on six men who died with dementia after long careers playing soccer. All were skilled headers of the ball.

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Posted on February 15, 2017

By Jim Coffman

That probably did it.
Northwestern’s 66-59 victory at Wisconsin on Sunday night means they will almost certainly go to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
The Wildcats are 19-6 overall and 8-4 in the B1G (I prefer this designation to the one that requires the writer to call a 14-team league the Big Ten). They have six more regular season games and at least one conference tournament game to score that magical 20th victory and make sure they at least finish at .500 in the conference (minimum nine wins). One more win during those last six regular-season games makes an invitation a probability. Two just about guarantees it.

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Posted on February 13, 2017