By Roger Wallenstein

Sitting at a Sox game a couple of weeks ago with my friend Dave, he remarked, “Part of this team’s problem is they don’t know how to win.”
This charge often is leveled at losing teams, yet defining its meaning is an abstruse exercise at best. However, in this particular game, a 4-3 loss to Detroit, the first of a three-game weekend sweep against a team that would then embark on an 11-game losing streak that just ended on Sunday, the White Sox managed to provide as good a definition as any.

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Posted on July 2, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Knockout round couldn’t come fast enough after hot start to tourney stepped in mud. Plus: LeBron Opts Out Of Bulls; Fuck Yu; Mystery Cubs Defy Evaluation; Bosio Balooza; White Sox: Come For The Dollar Dogs, Stay For The Game; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on June 29, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

One of the most fun days of my life occurred a few years ago at Team Demolition Derby – Tournament of Destruction – at the Route 66 Raceway Dirt Oval in Joliet.
A woman I was dating at the time introduced it to me, and it came with almost every ingredient you could wish for when it comes to having a good time: beer, rock ‘n’ roll, friends, gambling, summer, a cornfield, and cars smashing into each other. What’s not to like?!

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Posted on June 28, 2018

Emerges Victorious At Chicago Theatre Professional Fighters League Event

“After a night of slick submissions, some brutal knockouts and a bizarre/heated/controversial finish, [Thursday’s] PFL 2 event concluded with a bit of a grind-fest,” MMAjunkie reports.
“In the end, after three hard-fought rounds, Will Brooks (19-4) emerged victorious via unanimous decision over fellow UFC vet Luis Firmino (20-9).
“The fight concluded the NBCSN-televised event at Chicago Theatre, which followed early fights on Facebook.”

Chicago’s Hometown Hero! Will Brooks defeats Luiz Firmino by Decision in Round 3 earning 3 points. #PFL2 #MMA #PFLmma #WhatDoYouFightFor #Chicago pic.twitter.com/eIjapzjceP

— #PFLmma (@ProFightLeague) June 22, 2018

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Posted on June 26, 2018

By Roger Wallenstein

When the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees each surpassed 50 wins last week, it marked the earliest date ever that three teams from the same league reached that plateau.
So it goes to reason that with all that winning, there’s gotta be a big dose of losing to balance the thriving members of the American League. Lo and behold, the White Sox and Royals stepped up last week to join Baltimore in accommodating those 150-plus triumphs. All three of those teams now have lost at least 50 games.

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Posted on June 25, 2018

Had Just Finished A European Tour With Shellac

“Steve Albini has earned his first World Series of Poker gold bracelet in the 2018 WSOP’s Event #31, $1,500 Seven Card Stud. Albini’s victory over a 310-entrant field was worth $105,629,” WSOP says.
“Albini, 55, a recording engineer from Chicago, pulled off an unusual double at the final table. Albini busted six-time bracelet winner Chris Ferguson in fourth, then outlasted another six-time bracelet winner, Jeff Lisandro, to seal the victory.”
Here’s Albini talking to Card Player TV about his title run:

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Posted on June 25, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Not the right year for sexy. Plus: Neymar Is Back!; Super Eagles vs. Our Boys; New Three Favorites; Cubs’ Blue Wave; The Ex-Cub Factor; Ricky’s Boys Don’t Quit Clowning; Joe Maddon Is A Lousy Art Critic; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on June 22, 2018

By Steve Rhodes

One in an occasional series tracking the movements of those who have worn Cubbie blue
1. Rafael Palmeiro.
“Long removed from the national spotlight after seeing a 20-year major league career end unceremoniously shortly after a 10-game suspension due to steroids, the 53-year-old Palmeiro is attempting a comeback with the Cleburne Railroaders of the American Association,” the Times of Northwest Indiana reports.

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Posted on June 21, 2018

By Jim Coffman

Everyone has now played at least one game. I think Cristiano Ronaldo just scored again, and maybe again. The World Cup is off and soccering. And then some.
At this point, I defy anyone to step up and say with any sort of certainty that this favored team or that favored team is more likely to win than anyone else. Other than host Russia, which has benefited from one of the easiest draws in World Cup history, no team – not Brazil, not France, definitely not Germany – has stepped up and said this tournament is theirs. And Russia finally has to play a real team – Uruguay – next time around.
We are, of course, only one game in for the majority of teams played over a two-week stretch. Senegal and Poland were the last teams to play their first game and they did so on Tuesday. (Everyone starts the event with three pool-play games – the teams that post the best results in those games advance to the round of 16.)
But there has been a heaping helping of extraordinary stuff.

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Posted on June 20, 2018

By Olatunbosun Olaniyan/The Conversation

You may have noticed something different in the 2018 World Cup. For the first time ever, the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR) system is being used to help make decisions during games. And already we are seeing it cause controversy.
It’s no surprise that VAR has caused debate, considering the furor that surrounded VAR in the English FA Cup and the Bundesliga. But although VAR receives huge attention, we should not forget that it is only the most visible example of the digitalization of soccer, where data and technology are used to improve performance and decision-making. And digitization is already transforming the game of soccer. But it is also leading many people to fear that the game is changing too fast and leaving fans behind.

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Posted on June 20, 2018