By Marty Gangler

It was Terence Mann in Field of Dreams who said, “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it’s a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again.”
This quote rang true for me this week, and it wasn’t anything the Cubs did. It was something that my son Mitchell did – or, rather, didn’t do. He didn’t make the All-Star team in his baseball league. An 8-year-old looked reality in the face and said, “I don’t think I’m going to get picked.” And he was right, he didn’t get picked. And he, um, well, didn’t get “snubbed.”
Mitchell is the kid going through the motions out there just happy to hang with the guys in the dugout and just show up and see what happens. When asked about playing catch and taking some swings he just was never interested on off-baseball days. But that All-Star team deal, well, that sparked a little something. And I’m happy to see it. Because baseball is really on the radar. And I was a little worried that it never would be.

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Posted on June 13, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

Let’s get rid of the rote stuff first. You know, where you simply have to tweak the numbers, bring them up-to-date and move on. And so, after losing two of three to the Nationals and Royals each at home last week, the White Sox have now lost nine of their last ten series’, accounting for a record of 8-22.
Forget about the ERAs of the starting pitchers or the bullpen. Not much has changed. Nor has their efficiency with men on base. Outside of a few home runs, there’s no guarantee that this team can score regardless of how many men are on base with less than two outs.
On Sunday, down 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth with runners at first and third and no outs, a strikeout and double play left the Sox scoreless. Trying to break on top against the Royals on Saturday in the bottom of the first, the Sox had runners at second and third with one out and failed to capitalize. These are just two examples. Pathetic is a generous description.
So let’s move ahead to the new kid at shortstop.

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Posted on June 13, 2016

By Thomas Chambers

There’s no Triple Crown on the line. It has all the biorhythms of the big exhale, settling in for the summer dog days and the long, real season ahead. None of these Thoroughbreds gives you the goosebumps of the, say, “one to watch” or a horse of the year type. All we do now is watch and wager.
But wait a minute! Wake up!
It’s Belmont Stakes Day Saturday and if you dig the ponies, you gotta be there. You’ll learn about some of the most steeped horse races we have, tradition-wise. The toughest race of the year, furlongs-wise. And the prospect of improving yourself, wagering-wise.
With this 148th running – six more than the Kentucky Derby – during what is now called the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, we should see a competitive, bettable race when 13 runners answer the 5:37 p.m. Central school bell.
Preakness winner Exaggerator is your 9-5 morning line favorite, but more on him later.

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Posted on June 11, 2016

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

The White Sox are or aren’t like the Cubs. Plus: Groupthink is Poopthink!; Warriors Will Win Wonderfully; Sharks On Ice; COPA!; About Alshon; and Sammy & The Donald Sittin’ In A Tree.

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Posted on June 10, 2016

By Dan O’Shea

The calendar says it’s June, so it’s no surprise that a fresh group of prospects has begun to make its way to the majors. What say we weigh the fantasy prospects of these prospects?
Albert Almora, Jr., OF, CUBS: The locals might be in a frothy lather over this call-up, but at his best, Almora is more of a real-world nice-to-have than a fantasy gotta-have. If he stays at the big league level, the fantasy-relevant stats he’s most likely to offer are batting average and SBs, but hard to see how he starts regularly even with Jorge Soler on the DL. Fittingly, he is available in about 95% of Yahoo! leagues at the moment.

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Posted on June 9, 2016

By The AP With The Beachwood Added Value Affairs Desk

“Climbing is on the precipice of becoming an Olympic sport, raising the profile of a recreational activity that is seeing a surge in young participants.”

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Posted on June 8, 2016

By Steve Rhodes

“Through more recent friendships with Puffy Combs, Sammy Sosa and others, I’ve had the chance to learn firsthand about the diversity of American culture.” – Donald Trump in his book The America We Deserve
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This passage is getting quoted a lot these days in light of Trump’s racist statements on the campaign trail. I thought I’d document the public record on Trump’s friendship with Sosa.
December 10, 1998, Tribune:
“One night after hitting the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, jet- setting Sammy Sosa was in New York, having dinner with Donald Trump, who said, ‘Sammy told me he thinks he can equal or surpass what he did last year.'”

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Posted on June 7, 2016

By Jim Coffman

Really, Cavaliers? That’s all you have?
The team’s 110-77 loss Sunday night to the Golden State Warriors put them in a 2-0 hole in the NBA finals and in danger of being swept. And I was left rooting for Shaun Livingston to pile up some points in garbage time to improve his case for a possible Finals MVP.
Local angle (kind of!) Livingston is the pride of Peoria, a proud graduate of Central High School. How cool would it be if Livingston won the Finals MVP a year after teammate Andre Iguodola, the pride of Springfield (Lanphier), Illinois, brought home that trophy?

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Posted on June 6, 2016

By Marty Gangler

The weirdest thing about this historic Cubs season is dealing with the losses. Every loss makes you think, well, how the heck did that happen? These guys lose a series to the Giants two weeks ago and then win 10 of 11 games going in to Sunday. And then they lose the Jake Arrieta game to make it a 10-2 stretch of games. Really? The Jake Arrieta a start? And sure, 10-2 is super awesome and impressive, but really, how the heck does that happen?
And then you think, you know, this same ridiculous thing could happen in the playoffs. And that makes you crap your pants. Because what else is there worry about right now? The Cubs are up 9 1/2 games over the Pirates and it’s the first week in June. It could be a 15-game lead by July.
Well, it could be a 3-game lead as well, but are we really worried about that right now? No. Not really, and why should anyone be? According to the nerds, the Cubs have actually won fewer games than they should have. They’ve actually been UNLUCKY this year.

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Posted on June 6, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

He’s tough, durable, consistent, an innings-eater. He’s back in the American League playing for a contender. He’s a presence in the clubhouse.
These labels and descriptions all have been applied to James Shields the past two days since he became the newest member of the White Sox on Saturday. All general manager Rick Hahn had to barter were pitcher Erik Johnson – owner of a 7-6 record and a 4.50 ERA in 18 big league starts – and 17-year-old prospect Fernando Tatis, Jr. Such a deal!
From the early reaction and reviews, it sounds like the second coming of Jack McDowell, not Jeff Samardzija.

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Posted on June 5, 2016