Chicago - A message from the station manager

Big Leagues Balk At Endorsing Vaccination

By Mark Kreidler/Kaiser Health News

Santa Clara County, where the San Francisco 49ers train and play their NFL home games, has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in California. As of July 11, more than 76% of its vaccine-eligible residents were fully vaccinated, partly because the county and the 49ers franchise turned Levi’s Stadium into a mass inoculation site where more than 350,000 doses were administered over four months.
The 49ers themselves, however, are not so enthusiastic about the shots. In June, head coach Kyle Shanahan said that only 53 of the 91 players on the team roster – 58% – were fully vaccinated. The team has issued no updates since.
It’s a familiar story in the world of professional sports. Despite resources that other industries can only dream of, most pro leagues in the U.S. are struggling to get their teams’ vaccination rates to 85%, a threshold considered high enough to protect the locker room or clubhouse from spread of the disease. Only the Women’s National Basketball Association, at 99%, can boast a highly successful campaign to educate and vaccinate its players.

Read More

Posted on July 22, 2021

TrackNotes: The Baffert Stakes

By Thomas Chambers

Saratoga is open for its 2021 meet.
That’s the greatest news. Cards packed with stakes races that have stood the test of decades, including the Test Stakes. Top two-year-olds making their debuts. Where the horses are so good top to bottom, playing the tote board can be exciting and lucrative.
But all sports in this country are so screwed up, it requires fans to compartmentalize like never before if they choose to follow any game. I can’t wait for the huge gambling scandal that we know is coming – unless owners cut in the players on the wagering pimping that major league sports are engaged in – to a big event, like the World Series or Super Bowl.

Read More

Posted on July 20, 2021

That Was Fun – But Not Necessary

By Roger Wallenstein

There now. Feeling better this morning? All that worry about the cheating Houston Astros being far, far superior to the White Sox went for naught. All those knee-jerk tweets about the needs for a second baseman, a right-fielder, a catcher and help for the bullpen seem so silly after the events of the past two days. Now it’s José Altuve, Carlos Correa and their buddies who should have their doubts after Tony La Russa’s squad embarrassed them over the weekend.
In case your wi-fi was on the fritz the past few days, the Astros came to town having swept the White Sox four straight in Houston a month ago. And after the local group waltzed through a 7-1 loss on Friday night in front of 34,000 onlookers, the first of three such crowds at The Grate who showed up to boo and berate the visitors as much as anything else, you might have thought that the front-running Sox were destined to become a second-tier ballclub. Of course, that would have been a big mistake.

Read More

Posted on July 19, 2021

When You Win, You’re English. When You Lose, You’re Black.

By Abby Zimet/Common Dreams

In a flood of vitriol as repugnant as it was predictable, three young Black English soccer players were assailed with racist abuse – to get real, a way-too-genteel term for foul swill like “Go kill yourselves nigger monkeys” – after each missed penalty shots in a tied Euro 2020 final Sunday, effectively handing Italy the victory.
In a sport, country, world still deeply and intractably hierarchical, thus did the supremely accomplished Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka learn again, though they likely know it well, that for many “their perceived Britishness is provisional, dependent upon their ability to kick a ball.”

Read More

Posted on July 15, 2021

England’s Management Lesson

By Andre Spicer/The Conversation

Over the course of England’s journey to the Euro 2020 final, one of the most fascinating plays was happening just off the pitch. Whenever the TV camera cut to the team’s manager Gareth Southgate, he was occasionally seen standing alone on the edge of the field, urging his team on.
But most of the time he was deep in conversation with his assistant Steve Holland. It is regular proof of how Southgate approached key decisions and planning.
Those plans, and England’s progress in the competition, led to Southgate’s style of management and leadership being widely celebrated. Some pointed out his supportive approach to players, his focus on creating a positive atmosphere, and his willingness to listen.
He was also praised for drawing on knowledge and experience from outside the soccer world. Others highlighted his own experiences as a player, and indeed, research does suggest that on the whole, it is ex-players who tend to make the better soccer managers.
Another interesting aspect is that Southgate treats management itself as a team sport. Instead of being the sole authority figure, he is part of a larger team of decision-makers, all of whom have an influence on the squad of players.

Read More

Posted on July 14, 2021

The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams To Avoid Millions In Taxes

By Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Ellis Simani/ProPublica

At a concession stand at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Adelaide Avila was pingponging between pouring beers, wiping down counters and taking out the trash. Her Los Angeles Lakers were playing their hometown rival, the Clippers, but Avila was working too hard to follow the March 2019 game.
When she filed taxes for her previous year’s labors at the arena and her second job driving for Uber, the 50-year-old Avila reported making $44,810. The federal government took a 14.1% cut.
On the court that night, the players were also hard at work. None more so than LeBron James. The Lakers star was suffering through a painful strained groin injury, but he still put up more points and played more minutes than any other player.
In his tax return, James reported making $124 million in 2018. He paid a federal income tax rate of 35.9%. Not surprisingly, it was more than double the rate paid by Avila.
The wealthiest person in the building that night, in all likelihood, was Steve Ballmer, owner of the Clippers. The evening was decidedly less arduous for the billionaire former CEO of Microsoft. He sat courtside, in a pink dress shirt and slacks, surrounded by friends. His legs were outstretched, his shoes almost touching the sideline.
Ballmer had reason to smile: His Clippers won. But even if they hadn’t, his ownership of the team was reaping him massive tax benefits.
For the prior year, Ballmer reported making $656 million. The dollar figure he paid in taxes was large, $78 million; but as a percentage of what he made, it was tiny. Records reviewed by ProPublica show his federal income tax rate was just 12%.
That’s a third of the rate James paid, even though Ballmer made five times as much as the superstar player. Ballmer’s rate was also lower than Avila’s – even though Ballmer’s income was almost 15,000 times greater than the concession worker’s.

Read More

Posted on July 13, 2021

Here Comes October

By Roger Wallenstein

With one swing of the bat by Adam Engel on Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, the White Sox wound up nestled in about as good a position as anyone could have hoped for going into the All-Star break this week.
Engel’s three-run, 10th-inning blast, his fifth homer in just 46 plate appearances due to injury, overcame a rare blown save by closer Liam Hendriks. Once the potential tying run – a fly ball off the bat of DJ Stewart in the bottom of the 10th – settled into Engel’s glove a foot in front of the centerfield wall for the game’s final out, the South Side crew could breathe easily knowing that a four-day respite loomed ahead.
While Hendriks couldn’t nail down the victory in the ninth inning for what would have been his league-leading 24th save, Matt Foster, he of the 6.15 ERA, registered his first ever. Not only was it a 7-5 win over the last-place Orioles, completing a three-game sweep, but coupled with four wins in Chicago at the end of May, the Sox swept all seven games against Baltimore this season. In the entire 120-year history of the franchise, no Sox team had recorded seven straight wins without a loss in a season series against one team.
But wait. There’s more. Lots more.

Read More

Posted on July 12, 2021

1 … 6 7 8 9 10 … 373