By Rev. Jesse Jackson

President Donald Trump is an admirer of “strong men” and dictatorships and has little regard for democracy.
Dictatorships don’t spring up overnight – they’re cultivated and marched forward in a systematic manner with a similar formula: dictators undermine society’s institutions of democracy, like constitutions, customs and mores, including the right to protest.
Dictators divide people and pit them against one another, using race, religion and class. Dictators undermine the rule of law and disregard justice, and do it all in the name of “law and order;” dictators systematically lie to their people and have no regard for facts, science or the truth; dictators systematically attack freedom of the press; and rich oligarchs do dictators’ bidding, e.g., NFL owners. Many of them gave millions of dollars to Trump’s election and inauguration.

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Posted on June 5, 2018

By Jim Coffman

Was baseball watching? Did it appreciate the most exciting play in the game executed perfectly by Willson Contreras and, of course, the incomparable Javy Baez on Sunday in New York? And did it remember how great the game can be when played with intelligence and aggression?

Because that theft of home, even though it happened in the middle of a game, was as thrilling as just about any walk-off home run.

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Posted on June 4, 2018

By Roger Wallenstein

In the interest of being helpful to fans during this season in which the team has lost 38 of 56 games, perhaps a manual of Tips for Watching the White Sox would come in handy at this juncture. So here goes.
Tip Number One. Don’t go out to the ballpark or tune in on TV or radio to see whether the team will win or lose. The final outcome is of no consequence. Be not disappointed if Ricky’s Boys do, in fact, Quit, or at the very least get outscored by a bunch of runs. When all is decided four months from now, the losses very well may be in triple digits, so what’s another setback? If you have not figured out by now that Rebuilds are not about wins and losses, be hereby informed.

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Posted on June 3, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Exposed as a deceptively high-strung, arrogant, patronizing bullshitter. Plus: National Boner Association; Hit Me On The Burner, Prepaid Wireless; The NHL’s Medieval Times On Ice; Bears OTAs: Over The Adoration; James Shields Is An Asset, Lucas Giolito Is A Disappointment And Michael Kopech Is In The Major League Witness Protection Program Or Something; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on June 1, 2018

By Rev. Jesse Jackson

A century later, a deserving man has been pardoned and his memory and reputation set free.
Thanks to all of those who worked so hard for this day to come, the day Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion of the world, was pardoned for the crime of defying the laws and taboos of Jim Crow and American apartheid.
Johnson was convicted in 1913 of transporting a white woman – his girlfriend, whom he married – across state lines “for immoral purposes.”
He eventually served 10 months in federal prison. His spirit, however, stayed forever free.

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Posted on May 30, 2018

By Jim Coffman

There ya go Cubbies. Oh, and Clint Hurdle sucks.
About 18 hours after Tyler Chatwood screamed at himself when it became clear he was going to have another rocky night on Sunday (and that was right after the first inning and therefore before he walked the Giants’ pitcher twice in the next two innings), the North Siders had bounced back as well as a team can bounce back to wrap up a highly satisfying Memorial Day Weekend of baseball fun.

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Posted on May 29, 2018

By Roger Wallenstein

Since Major League Baseball established a drug policy in 2004, 59 major league players, including six who got caught more than once, have been suspended anywhere from 10 days to a lifetime. Hundreds more minor leaguers also have been benched for violating the policy.
But none has hurt the White Sox as much as the 80-game ban handed down last week to catcher Welington Castillo.
Make no mistake. Castillo is not on the level of the game’s elite catchers like Yadier Molina and a few others. However, the lack of his veteran presence behind the plate, guiding young pitchers such as Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Carson Fulmer, certainly won’t help their progress especially, since the catching corps now is comprised of the bumbling Omar Narvaez and the unknown Alfredo Gonzalez.

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Posted on May 28, 2018

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Overmanaging, defensiveness and arrogance at all-time high. Plus: Honoring Hossa; Golden Knight Moves; Bulls Blew Bell; Golden State’s Non-Indigenous Warriors; The Boston Irish; This Is Why They Kneel; Chicago Bears (And Their Toadying Media) Offensive To Bears; Say It Ain’t So, Welington Castillo; and Schweinsteiger!

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Posted on May 25, 2018

By AP

“Olympic swimmer Ariana Kukors Smith sued USA Swimming, alleging the sport’s national governing body knew her former coach sexually abused her as a minor and covered it up.”

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Posted on May 22, 2018

By Jim Coffman

Joe is gonna Joe.
The Cubs manager will do things his way. Maddon will sit down a hot Kris Bryant on Sunday despite the fact that he has the next day off and another one three days later. He’ll bring in reliever Steve Cishek to pitch the ninth up 10-0 in the second game of a doubleheader on Saturday after Cishek also pitched in the first.
He’ll do it his way and if his players bail him out, like his hitters did during his mismanagement of the last three games of the 2016 World Series, everything will be fine. And after a good week last, the Cubs turn their attention to a two-game series with Cleveland starting Tuesday with a 25-19 record. They are a game-and-a-half behind the Brewers in the NL Central but only because the Brewers have played (and won) three more games.

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Posted on May 21, 2018