Chicago -
These Hardly Seem Sufficient . . .
“Coaches with the Southeast Polk Youth Football League in Des Moines said recent findings on brain damage linked to player-on-player hits have hurt numbers out here on the turf,” KCCI-TV reports.
“To stop the shortages, league organizers are using alternatives like ‘tackle rings’ to reduce the risk.”
Posted on August 30, 2017
By SIU Press
Southern Illinois Salukis Football, the first book to focus solely on the program and its history at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, details the organization’s greatest moments, from its origins around the beginning of the 20th century through the extraordinary leadership of head coaches William McAndrew, Rey Dempsey and Jerry Kill, to the present-day team and its coach, local hero Nick Hill.
Dan Verdun draws on more than 100 interviews with coaches, players, sports historians and sports reporters, as well as newspaper and magazine archives and other sources, to give readers an in-depth look at Saluki players, coaches and teams from all eras.
Posted on August 29, 2017
By Roger Wallenstein
Goal-setting wasn’t supposed to be part of this rebuilding season. Ricky Renteria’s vague notion of playing “clean” baseball is about as close to a stated goal as anything we’ve heard, but judging from all of the unclean games we’ve witnessed, Ricky’s fellows have fallen short of their skipper’s objective.
Winning ugly would be a welcome respite because losing ugly is exactly that.
But with a homestand last week that saw the White Sox take three of five from the Twins before winning a three-game series against the embattled Tigers, there is one convoluted goal for this team: Not losing 100 games. And it just might be reachable.
Posted on August 28, 2017
By Jim Coffman
It may not have mattered in general, but it mattered to the Titans.
Most years, at about this time in the NFL preseason, we remind ourselves that It Just Doesn’t Matter. What happens in the Bears preseason has so little to do with what happens once the real games start in another two weeks.
The “IJDM” mantra is always true, even after a game in which two Bears quarterbacks performed well. Two! So many more than usual. I refer of course to the Bears’ 19-7 thrashing of the Tennessee Titans in Nashville on Sunday.
Posted on August 28, 2017
By Thomas Chambers
Fearless Leader has always said that if you’re doing the same things journalistically in years two through nine as you did in year one, you don’t really have 10 years’ experience.
It’s easy to feel that way in Thoroughbred horse racing, as you annually go through the same races on nearly identical dates at the same tracks across the land.
But one difference between racing and, say, the Super Bowl is that the horses and competitive complexions and resultant wagering possibilities are so varied year to year in a particular big race. It’s not no stinkin’ New England Patriots every year. Even Super Bowl betting is monotonous.
But once again, August 26, 2017, I’ve got great news and good news. It’s Travers Stakes Day! It’s going to be as memorable a Travers card as we’ve seen. Or is it that we can remember? That’s the great news. The good news is that I’m not going to repeat today the history or the many reasons I love this big summer day from Saratoga. But if you’re interested, it’s all here, so I’ll save you the search.
With one helluva race day looming, this is a good time to reflect on the racing season so far. One reason, as you’ll see, is that it’s all sorta coming together in this Travers.
Posted on August 25, 2017
By Karin Kamp and Jessica R. Calderón/BillMoyers.com
A BillMoyers.com post this week on the significance of Colin Kaepernick’s on-field protest and the fallout it has created for the quarterback hit a nerve with our readers, leading to more than 6,000 comments on Facebook (and counting).
During the 2016 football season, Kaepernick knelt during the national anthem to express his concerns about racial issues in America. In “Why Colin Kaepernick Matters,” columnist Samuel G. Freedman describes how Kaepernick, who is now a free agent after six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, has been essentially blacklisted by the NFL for his nonviolent political protest.
Here’s a sampling of the (lighted edited) comments that we received after asking our Facebook community what they thought of Kaepernick’s protest.
Posted on August 23, 2017
By USA Table Tennis
“The Edgeball Chicago International Open is a table tennis festival, fun-filled weekend with music, cheerleaders, dancers, magician, games and raffles.”
The event was held in Libertyville earlier this month.
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Highlights of the open singles final of the 2017 Edgeball Chicago International Table Tennis Open between Joao Monteiro (POR) and Thiago Monteiro (BRA).
Posted on August 22, 2017
By Roger Wallenstein
It’s just baseball, but I take these weekly communications fairly seriously. Over the course of seven seasons, regardless of whether I’m here in Chicago, California, in Seattle visiting grandkids, or in Northern Wisconsin enjoying the north woods, I have managed to string together enough information, facts, history and stories pertaining to our White Sox in order to entertain whoever chooses to read these words.
This week is different. The insidious, gnawing thoughts in the back of my mind as I write this, and as I tune into Sox games, stir an uneasiness which was foreign to me just seven days ago.
These feelings have little to do with baseball. Instead I’ve been asking myself, “Should I feel guilty if I become wrapped up watching a ballgame after a band of despicable people chant ‘Jews will not replace us’ half a continent away? How can I ignore what happened in Virginia in order to see if the White Sox can win a road game?”
The fact is I can’t.
Posted on August 21, 2017
By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes
Apparently all is forgiven. Plus: This Just Does Not Seem Like The Cubs’ Year; Kenny, Ozzie, Jerry & Ricky; Chicago’s Best Sports Columnist Somehow Under The Radar After Long, Distinguished Career; and Schweinsteiger!
Posted on August 19, 2017
By Samuel G. Freedman/BillMoyers.com
Every year at about this time, I veer away from most of the liberal aesthetes with whom I mingle in the chattering classes. My newspaper reading and smart-phone clicking takes an unexpected detour from politics, opinion and arts. The pro football season is approaching, and my guilty pleasure, my second religion, must be indulged.
By now, into my early 60s, I know all the logical reasons why my usual comrades refuse to share my passion. Football uses strategies and lexicon straight out of the military. Going back to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, conservative politicians have appropriated the sport as their own. Elaborate presentations of the national colors by honor guards and flyovers by fighter jets have long been standard parts of pregame festivities. And now an epidemic of dementia and other brain injures among former players has left the National Football League with a medical scandal on its hands and a massive financial settlement on its balance sheet. Hardly any young parents of my acquaintance would let their child play organized tackle football, as I did in middle school.
So I don’t expect that the name Colin Kaepernick will mean a great deal to a great deal of you reading this essay. Or perhaps it will provoke some head-scratching, a game of charades with yourself, as you wait for that next clue that will lead you to the answer. But you ought to care about Colin Kaepernick. Colin Kaepernick matters, for reasons that have everything and nothing to do with football.
Posted on August 16, 2017
