Chicago -
By Thomas Chambers
If you think TrackNotes has been in hibernation, you’d be about right.
But real bears are never totally unaware of the goings-on around the den. So as Spring sprungs, we can declare that the new Thoroughbred horse racing season has just now taken on a personality of its own, with some interesting and even exciting races so far.
Posted on March 26, 2016
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
United Center curse. Plus: Reminder: Ricky Renteria Is The White Sox Bench Coach; The Joe Maddon Show Has Jumped The Shark; Illinois Team Secretly Makes Sweet 16; Triton Lays An Egg; Finding Value In Vegas, Baby; The Everton Minute; and The New York Times Smokes Out The NFL.
Posted on March 24, 2016
It takes months – okay, weeks – to compile a fantasy baseball draft guide, and between the end of January and the opening of the regular season, I often start to re-evaluate some of my rankings. Some of this is based on spring training performance of various players and some of the more detailed news and analysis you start hearing once spring training starts (though I don’t need to tell you it’s never advisable to build a draft strategy entirely around spring training performance, right?).
Overall, the rethinking is more a reflection of ongoing thought about what I’ve compiled. With that in mind, here are some players whose draft rankings I’ve been thinking about a lot lately:
Posted on March 24, 2016
Another Beachwood Thought Experiment
“Donald Trump has threatened to run attack ads against the Ricketts family after the Cubs owners contributed money to a super PAC opposing the GOP candidate,” Sports Illustrated notes.
“In an interview with the Washington Post, Trump laid out exactly what he meant last month when he said the Ricketts ‘better watch out‘ when spending against him.
“Well, it means that I’ll start spending on them,” Trump said. “I’ll start taking ads telling them all what a rotten job they’re doing with the Chicago Cubs.
As many have pointed out, it’s an odd thing to say at a time when the Cubs are the darlings of Major League Baseball and the favorites to win the World Series.
But it got us to thinking: What if Trump ran the Cubs?
Posted on March 23, 2016
By Triton Athletics
The resurgence of the Triton College women’s basketball team was a great source of pride for the school and the community this season. The Trojans finished with a 23-10 record, their first 20-plus win season since 2003. The team’s great play earned them a berth in the Region IV District D championship game at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove earlier this month.
One of the driving forces behind the Trojans’ turnaround season was the presence of first-year head coach Kellee Robertson. Under her watch, the program improved by 18 wins from the previous season. Robertson was unanimously named North Central Community College Conference (N4C) Coach of the Year.
Posted on March 22, 2016
By Jim Coffman
People have been complaining about sports sections not covering women’s sports for a long time. Some of those complaints have merit, some don’t.
But this morning was ridiculous.
You wouldn’t know it from either the Sun-Times website (which I was actually able to scroll through relatively smoothly – have they actually, finally managed to achieve basic operational competence with that thing? It’s a technological miracle!), or its printed sports section this morning, but there was a team from Chicago that had a thrilling weekend at its top tier NCAA basketball tournament.
Posted on March 21, 2016
By Roger Wallenstein
Being a single dad 35 years ago living on a school teacher’s salary, my second job was hawking concessions at Comiskey Park and Wrigley Field in the summer and at Soldier Field and the old Stadium in the winter.
In those days Chicago’s soccer team, the Sting of Karl-Heinz Granitza, played indoors at the Stadium where I was climbing the aisles one frigid January afternoon selling my load of popcorn. Sales were slow, and my two young boys were back at my apartment on the North Side with a sitter to whom I was paying more than the commission I was making. So early in the second half I decided to check out at the concession’s cashier window.
Turned out that this might not have been the wisest choice since the union steward – we vendors were SEIU members – spied me as I headed for the exit.
Posted on March 21, 2016
By Triton Athletics
DANVILLE, Ill. – What the Triton College men’s basketball team accomplished this season may be tough to duplicate. For the past three months the Trojans played with the pressure of being the No. 1 ranked National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II team in the country, answering every challenge presented to them.
Triton won an astounding 30 games in a row entering Saturday’s NJCAA Division II national championship game against Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa). But the hopes of a storybook ending and the team’s first ever national title were dashed by the Eagles as the Trojans’ historic season ended with an 83-76 loss.
Posted on March 20, 2016
DANVILLE, Ill. – For the first time in school history, the Triton College men’s basketball team will compete in the national championship game. The Trojans held off South Suburban College 82-77 Friday night in an epic National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II semifinal that featured the top two teams in the nation.
Triton, ranked No. 1 overall, has now won 30 consecutive games, improving to 34-2 overall. The Trojans will meet Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) for the NJCAA Division II crown tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Danville. The Eagles (30-4) are ranked sixth in the nation. Kirkwood rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to stun Essex County (NJ) 77-66 in the other semifinal contest.
Posted on March 19, 2016
Plenty of children in the White Sox locker room, it turns out. And they all have lockers. Plus: We Will Miss Martellus Bennett; The Bulls Are Just Boring Now; The Blackhawks (Temporarily) Stink; March Madness Moolah – Who Gets It; Triton Advance To Final Four; and The Everton Minute: Next Six Matches Crucial!
Posted on March 18, 2016
