Chicago -
When the season started it seemed as if John Danks – he of the huge new contract and implicit designation as staff ace – would be one of the major keys down the stretch if this team (implausibly) found itself in contention.
Instead, it’s baby brother Jordan – at 26, he’s 17 months the younger – who, at least for a week, proved pivotal while John was riding out the season on the DL.
Posted on August 13, 2012
By Thomas Chambers
My intensifying moral and ethical dilemma between enjoying one of the world’s greatest of sports and rejecting it outright as the multilayered cesspool it has become is well documented here.
It’s such a tangled mess that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to know where to start. And then comes along a blockbuster like the one from Michael E. Miller of Miami’s New Times documenting the utter corruption at Calder Casino and Race Course in Miami Gardens, Florida, located between Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, and you just want to give up.
Activities so heinous, not even Undercover Boss can handle the truth.
Keep in mind Calder is owned by Churchill Downs Inc., also the owner of our beloved Arlington Park.
Posted on August 9, 2012
By Dan O’Shea
This is a little bit later in the summer than I usually take a crack at my fantasy football preseason top 20, and I think I’ve spent more time mentally preparing for this year’s unveiling than in any previous season. I don’t say this because I’m that proud of my effort, but because with so many questions surrounding some of the top players, it’s been that much harder to figure out where to place everyone.
We have at least three top running backs who are potential injury concerns, another who as of this writing was still a contract holdout, and still another who held out for part of the season last year and never quite regained form.
Meanwhile, there’s a second-year quarterback I’d really like to rank higher, and now fewer than two tight ends in my top 20, which I think must be a first.
One other note: Matt Forte has made many preseason fantasy top 20 lists, but backup Michael Bush has great sleeper potential, and Jay Cutler will pass deep early and often.
See if you can figure out who’s who:
Posted on August 7, 2012
By Marty Gangler
Well, that didn’t take long.
The slashing of the roster has had an immediate impact on the Cubs.
As Cub vets were moved at the trading deadline for a look to the future, the present started to really stink up the joint again.
And for a season that started with let’s-see-what-we-have-now, to boy-we-don’t-have-too-much, to now-that-Rizzo-is-here-they-aren’t-horrendous, it has moved back to let’s-see-what-we-have-here.
But it’s already close to we-don’t-have-too much and could turn into, sheesh-what-else-is-on?
With this in mind we here at The Cub Factor would like to provide some pointers to watching the rest of the season.
Posted on August 6, 2012
He pitched 18 seasons in the big leagues, winning 211 games of which 189 came in a White Sox uniform. A 20-game winner both in 1956 and 1957, much of the time Billy Pierce finished what he started.
“When they gave us the ball, they expected us to pitch nine innings,” Pierce said last week when I called him. “[If] we had a bad day, then somebody would come in in relief. Very rarely did they have someone [come in] for the eighth or ninth inning. Usually you finished.”
He did just that to the tune of 193 complete games in his career, including three straight years (1956-58) when he led the American League.
Tonight the Sox are simply encouraged that Chris Sale will start – let alone finish – against the Kansas City Royals. The kid is being treated with kid gloves, having last pitched 10 days ago. On that occasion he wasn’t as sharp as usual, yielding five runs to the Texas Rangers. However, Sale did get into the seventh inning to earn his 12th win.
I’m no anthropologist, but I do know that 55 years ago when Billy Pierce was pitching, the human anatomy wasn’t much different than today. Homo sapiens sure weren’t ambulating on all fours. Yet the approach to pitching has radically changed.
Posted on August 6, 2012
Cubs Still A Joke
The only place better to be for a fan on trade deadline than MLB Trade Rumors is Twitter. Start with #cubs and wait to see who trends for additional hijinks.
Our favorites so far.
Wow.. Cubsmageddon tonight.
#cubs— Garrett Vermaat (@GRunner198) July 31, 2012
Posted on July 31, 2012
By Jim Coffman
There we sat at the pizzeria, transfixed by badminton.
A group of us were having lunch at a big ol’ suburban pizza place (Jerseys on Barrington Road just north of I-90) Sunday with our kids after they scored a big win in a youth baseball tournament (thereby validating their parents – time to celebrate!).
And the match was playing out on a big screen mounted in a wall over the large bar in the middle of the place. There were four or six smaller screens arrayed around the big one – this would be a heck of a place to take in a football game or seven on a fall Sunday.
The main thing I know about badminton is that it is the answer to a favorite trivia question, one of the few that I can remember off the top of my head when a random conversation turns to the exchange of clever little sports facts. The question is: What is the second-most popular participatory sport in the world?
Posted on July 30, 2012
By Marty Gangler
So, did you see that this happened last week? The Cubs dressed up like superheroes. Who knew?
We here at The Cub Factor think this is just too good to pass up. So while the Cubs did their best to be funny and hero-y, we have a few ideas for personas they should have adopted.
Geovany Soto: Made a weak attempt to be a Ghostbuster. But we think he should have gone as the Buffett Buster. From coast-to-coast no Old Country Buffett is safe!
Posted on July 30, 2012
By Roger Wallenstein
Sorry, folks, but I just can’t get too excited about the arrival of Francisco Liriano.
I also wouldn’t have popped any corks had the White Sox obtained the services of Zach Greinke, who pitched well yesterday but lost his debut with the Angels.
If anyone accuses me of refusing to cop to the frenzy of the Trade Deadline, I plead guilty. That’s because more often than not, these late-season acquisitions appear promising but fail to bear fruit.
Posted on July 30, 2012
By Cora Currier and Suevon Lee/ProPublica
The 30th Summer Olympics officially opened today in London. In honor of the Games, we’ve rounded up some great sports muckreads, from college sports to racetracks.
Jumping Through Hoops, Vanity Fair, June 2012: There’s still disagreement about whether the Olympic games are an economic boon or a boondoggle for the cities that host them. This article looks at the lead-up to the London games, and the long – and sometimes shady – process by which cities court the International Olympic Committee.
Posted on July 27, 2012
