By David Robson/Mosaic

Few sports are as fast and furious as roller derby. The hour-long game unfolds in frenetic two-minute bursts as two teams race anti-clockwise around an oval track. Each team has a “jammer” aiming to pass four opposing “blockers,” and they score points for each opponent they lap.
Blockers can obstruct the path with their torso or push opponents off course with a swift nudge of their upper legs or upper arms. Jammers “juke” – a sideways dummy move – and “whip” – where a team member grabs their hand and swing them forwards ahead of the pack.
Fans are addicted to the ferocious drama of the competition, but, as you would expect for any contact sport, injuries are commonplace.

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Posted on December 19, 2019

By Jim Coffman

Is Mitch Trubisky closer to Drew Brees or Jacoby Brissett?
Those two quarterbacks faced off on Monday night and not surprisingly the game was essentially over by the end of the first quarter. Future Hall-of-Famer Brees’s Saints blitzed the Colts 34-7. It wasn’t close to that close.
On their first three possession, the Saints drove down and scored to lead 17-0. Brees was on fire all night and finished with a ridiculous 29 completions in 30 attempts! That included four touchdown passes and they enabled Brees to move ahead of Peyton Manning for first on the all-time scoring strike list, 540-539.
Right behind both of them is Tom Brady (538). If he can get the Patriot passing offense cranked back up, he and Brees could alternate possession of the record on a week-to-week basis.

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Posted on December 17, 2019

By Jake Johnson/Common Dreams

Rule changes proposed by the Trump administration last week could let banks classify investments in professional sports stadiums as aid to the poor, and then give the financial institutions a significant tax break for their efforts.
The changes are part of an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plan to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which requires banks to invest in low-income communities.
Both bank regulators are run by appointees of President Donald Trump.

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Posted on December 17, 2019

By Thomas Chambers

I can’t wait for the year-end/decade-end lists to, well, end.
Next month, we’ll be seeing, like clockwork, the Hot Toddy list, and the hard sell disguised as warm, compassionate advice. Mary Schmich was in the bullpen tipping her pitches in November, so it’s a lock she’ll have that slurve dropping off the table by January’s Polar Vortex.
Then there’s the refugees from warm weather whining about how the Chicago winter hit them like 12 rounds with Sugar Ray. You know: “I hate the winters here, but Chicago is such a World Class City.”

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Posted on December 13, 2019

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Cubs call the wahmbulance. Plus: The Bears Are Back – To Playing On Sundays; Noah Not Happy About Nomar; Hawk Harrelson’s Hall Of Shame; Bulls Fans Finally Bailing; Blackhawks Getting Boring Before January; Lovie’s Beard Confirmed For Redbox Bowl; and DePaul Defeated.

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Posted on December 13, 2019

By Steve Rhodes

One in an occasional series tracking the movements of former Cubs.
1. Starlin Castro.
Remember when Starlin was part of the Cubs’ core before there really even was a Cubs core? It was him, Rizzo and a bunch of scrubs. For years.
Castro made three All-Star teams in six seasons on the North Side, but famously had a problem paying attention to the game at hand when there were so many wondrous stars to behold in the night sky. He was eventually dealt to the Yankees (!), where he made another All-Star team. According to Baseball Reference, his nickname is All-Starlin, though there is no proof anyone has ever actually called him that.

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Posted on December 12, 2019

By Carys Egan-Wyer/The Conversation

Endurance running is in. Fitness enthusiasts and elite runners alike spend their weekends pounding the pavement and bounding through the countryside. They are training for and competing in ultra marathons, triathlons and obstacle races.
Runners often claim that they run to escape from the demands of everyday life; to experience freedom; and as a way to meditate.
But in my recently published PhD thesis, I investigate what really motivates people to torture themselves by running hundreds of painful miles in their spare time, no matter the weather. And it paints a rather different picture.

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Posted on December 11, 2019

By Jim Coffman

The Bears will not be participating in the playoffs. I know it is fun to bust out the “So you’re telling me there is a chance” line and remember Jim Carey (his character that is) in Dumb and Dumber making his romantic pitch to Lauren Holly (also not actually her).
But it will not happen.

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Posted on December 9, 2019

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

But we get to dream for another week. Plus: The Blackhawks Just Made Fools Of Us; A Farewell To Mick McCall; Fire Lovie Smith!; Club DubPaul; Boylen vs. LaVine; Cole Hamels Will Be Missed; and Zack Wheeler Chooses Phillies Over Guaranteed Rate.

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Posted on December 6, 2019

By Steve Rhodes

One in an occasional series tracking the movements of former Cubs.
1. Carl Edwards Jr.
After four largely productive seasons on the North Side for the String Bean Slinger, the Cubs lost patience with Edwards last summer after an awful 20 appearances with an 8.47 ERA (5.87 FIP) and an injury to his non-throwing shoulder, sending him to San Diego for Brad Wieck.

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Posted on December 4, 2019