By Lisa Newcomb/Common Dreams

Following a multi-team strike protesting police brutality and systemic racism in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake, players and league officials reached a deal Friday not only to resume the NBA playoffs, but to use the league’s stadiums as voting locations for the November general election.

Why strike, a lot of people asked? The players have used their leverage with the owners to turn the NBA into a get-out-the-vote organization, aiming to use stadiums as polling places, among other things. https://t.co/gnWHKU61n5

— Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) August 28, 2020

In a statement, National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts and NBA commissioner Adam Silver listed three developments that resulted from talks with players and league leaders last week.

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Posted on September 1, 2020

By Jim Coffman

Did you say it? Did you say something along the lines of, “Just when I think I’ve seen everything in baseball . . . ?” Because just when you think you’ve seen everything in baseball, the Cubs played a game (a 10-1 victory over the Reds) on Sunday in which each of their outfielders hit two home runs. Ian Happ, Jason Heyward and Kyle Schwarber’s blasts added up to a major league first.
It was also a game in which after six innings the Cubs had hit five home runs but had only six runs. That is not easy to do.
But most of all it was a game that gave the Cubs a needed series split in Cincinnati a little more than two-thirds of the way through a long road trip. If they take two-of-three in the upcoming series in last-place Pittsburgh, they break even over their previous 10 games on the road. Breaking even on the road the rest of the way probably puts them in position to hang on to the top spot in the Central.

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Posted on August 31, 2020

By Roger Wallenstein

We called it Running Bases. Other kids might have known the game as Hot Box. Whatever its name, as few as three kids could play, and the game could go on for hours.
Two bases, maybe 60 or 70 feet apart, could be anything from squares drawn with a stick in the dirt or a couple of those orange floppy rubber bases common to our PE classes. Two basemen and one runner. The object was to get caught off base as the fielders tossed the ball back and forth and then to reach either base safely. If you were tagged out, you traded places with a defender. Advancing to the base where you didn’t start would earn you a point.
This could be exhausting because the runner’s stops and starts, feints and dodging required stamina, creativity and dexterity. The game frequently was interrupted when one or more participants wound up writhing on the ground, gasping for air, and laughing uncontrollably.
Which was similar to my reaction Friday evening as the White Sox botched a game-tying rundown in the ninth inning against the Royals.

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Posted on August 31, 2020

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Made us look. Plus: The Giolito Shuffle; Cubs Hit Rough Patch – Except Financially; Bears’ Broken Backfield; Crow Dough; Chicago Skyward; Fire Torch Orange & Blue; Gold Stars For Red Stars; and The NU/ND Report.

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Posted on August 28, 2020

By The Harlem Globetrotters

In partnership with developer Cosi Games and publisher Gamejam Company, the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters have announced the release of a new iOS and Android game called Harlem Globetrotters Basketball.
The Harlem Globetrotters are worldwide icons, synonymous with family entertainment and great basketball skills, and represent 90-plus years of breaking down barriers, acts of goodwill, and a commitment to fans that goes beyond the game.
The Globetrotters on the court feature some of the best athletes on the planet, unmatched fan interaction, incredible ball-handling wizardly, rim-rattling dunks, and laugh out loud family entertainment. The Harlem Globetrotters Basketball mobile game brings the excitement of a Globetrotters experience to millions of consumers through their mobile devices.

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Posted on August 27, 2020

By David Rutter

Meet the future.
His name is Sebastian Cheeks.
He has played four varsity high school games as a linebacker at Evanston High, and won’t play another until spring when Illinois resumes prep sports.
He won’t be a collegian until 2023. He is a hope for someone’s future, including his own.
Want a sure future bet in a business where there are none? He’s the most likely kid on Chicago’s North Shore to be a college star.

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Posted on August 25, 2020

By Jim Coffman

Maybe those comments about lineup changes feeling like panic in the clubhouse weren’t exactly the right thing to say there, Mr. Manager.
David Ross made an obvious, rookie mistake when he floated that theory last week. And now, when at the very least Willson Contreras must be moved up in the lineup and Javy Baez back, Ross has boxed himself in. How can he make a change when he has forecast such a dire outcome?

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Posted on August 24, 2020

By Roger Wallenstein

You look and listen for the smallest signs, the indicators that provide a speck of hope that we’re turning the corner. Rarely can you find them on TV or the newspaper where information about vaccines and remedies for this monster virus are slow to develop and are months, if not years, away.
So the other day when I looked from my fifth-floor balcony at the basketball court across the street, I stopped and made sure I wasn’t being deceived. But there they were. After being summarily removed months ago along with all the other hoops around the city, the rims and nets hung conspicuously from the backboards. It was as though they had reappeared by magic, clandestinely in the night or certainly at a time when no one was watching.
There was no announcement. A crowd didn’t gather. If the mayor had made any proclamation, I hadn’t heard it. But there was no mistaking what I saw.
Was this a sign? Did this mean that social distancing protocols could be relaxed? In the few days since the rims were reinstalled, the sounds of bouncing basketballs, though far fewer than in recent summers, had filtered into the air. Can normalcy be far behind?
Answers are scarce these days, and if you were depending on the weekend’s intercity series – the Crosstown Classic or whatever you want to call it – between the Cubs and Sox, the cupboard was bare.

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Posted on August 24, 2020

By David Rutter

Are you sorry? I sure am sorry. Sorry as all get-out.
We say we’re sorry a lot.
But don’t worry. We don’t mean it. Not at all. We’re just required to say “I’m sorry” because there are rules invented by others who have nothing else to do with their time. We don’t believe in the rules. Or thinking deep thoughts. Or any thoughts.
Dignity? Respect? Human solidarity? Self-accountability? Nah.
But we’re really sorry for using all those words. We probably could be better people if we didn’t and knew why, but it’s hard work to be a decent person. So we won’t.

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Posted on August 23, 2020

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Chicago baseball is having a moment. Plus: Blackhawks Bleak; Boylen-Free Bulls Begin; Breaking News From Bears Training Camp: Everybody Looks Great!; College Football Collapse; Sky High; Fire Below; and more!

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Posted on August 21, 2020