By Thomas Chambers

In this horse racing thing, we’ve always known it’s a double life.
You either suppress the reality of the game and go along merrily, enjoying all the horses of their different colors. Or you catch the Emerald City parade and then look behind the wizards’ curtains and see and understand the chicanery, hypocrisy and outright deceit. Either way, it is very stressful, I will attest.
We have a very deep, serious dilemma here at TrackNotes. How on earth do we square the heart-raising jubilation and tears of joy for Secretariat’s final romp against the heart-stabbing pain, disgust and tears of the other kind for what man is doing to these nonpareil creatures of this earth?

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Posted on June 30, 2019

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Cubs continuing conundrums. Plus: Cubs To Be Well Represented In All-Star Game If You Include Alumni; The Unprecedented Nature Of Kris Bryant; The NL Central Actually Sucks; All-Star Catcher Willson Contreras Is Actually Worse Than We Thought; Tim Anderson’s Got An Ankle; Yonder DFAlonso; I’m Going To A White Sox Game; Stan Bowman Rolls Draft Dice; and Rapinoe, France & Eric Trump’s Spitter.

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Posted on June 28, 2019

By Jim Coffman

Team USA may face the toughest match of the Women’s World Cup on Friday. Or it may have already played it on Monday.
Against a Spanish team that played physical and skilled soccer all game long, the US team was fortunate to pull out a 2-1 regulation victory. A questionable penalty call in the 71st minute during a play in which the Americans had lost control of the ball up high in the box a moment earlier gave the US team a second penalty kick.

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Posted on June 25, 2019

By Gambling.com

Fourteen winners were recognized for their leadership in the regulated, online U.S. gambling industry at a party hosted by ESPN+ host and fantasy sports analyst Matthew Berry last week at Monmouth Park Racetrack in New Jersey.
Each winner received a custom-designed Golden Eagle trophy – an American-made, 11-inch, gold-plated, cast-pewter statuette of an American Bald Eagle.

The inaugural awards featured more than 70 finalists, with a panel of more than 25 expert judges evaluating the nominations. To ensure the highest possible integrity, votes were tallied by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The 2019 American Gambling Awards winners are:

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Posted on June 24, 2019

Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf
Guaranteed Rate Field
35th and Shields
Chicago, IL
Dear Chairman Reinsdorf:
So far this season your decisions and patience clearly are paying dividends as the White Sox are a vastly improved team. No doubt you feel a sense of accomplishment and optimism for the first time since trading away your star players for a group of prospects like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Lucas Giolito and many others. You took risks that are beginning to bear fruit for years to come.
At Wrigley Field last Tuesday night Jimenez, who most assuredly is destined for stardom, launched his ninth-inning home run to beat the Cubs in what will occupy a prominent place in White Sox history for years to come. Being there to feel the exhilaration and excitement was a unique experience. We all know the depths to which the crosstown Cubs sunk before righting their ship through a rebuilding process much like the Sox are presently enduring.
However, aside from wins and losses and real and potential championships, the comparison of the two sides of town are as different as oatmeal and huevos rancheros. I sincerely hope that a few years from now, the differences will remain as visible as they are now.

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Posted on June 23, 2019

By Rob Book/The Conversation

When University of Southern California freshman Kevin Porter, Jr., became a first-round NBA draft pick Thursday, he spoke about the hardships he’d faced.
“I been battling through adversity all my life. Still am,” Porter told ESPN after he became the final first-round draft pick.

Porter explained that he wore No. 4 j at USC to honor his father, who was shot and killed when Porter was just 4 years old.
In many ways, Porter’s story reflects the collective experience of 10 professional athletes I interviewed to learn more about how they overcame their difficult childhoods. I was interested as a researcher in sports psychology, and because I have a decade of teaching and coaching experience in a community in Atlanta.

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Posted on June 22, 2019

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Pace and space – too late. Plus: Cy Alzolay; Confounding Contreras And His Balls; Cubs Lineup Limits; Who Hurt Hendricks?: Don’t Sleep On The Reds; Questioning Cardinals; Here Comes Kimbrel; White Sox Pledge Nets; The Bears Did Have A Bad Offseason, and USWNT Manages Not To Embarrass Us This Week.

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Posted on June 21, 2019

Well, Bridgeview.
Also, I always want to write “lacrosse” the sports like “La Crosse” Wisconsin, only without the space, but I digress.
Some fun highlights from last weekend . . .
Every Goal From Week 3 In Chicago.

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Posted on June 19, 2019

By Jim Coffman

After a rough seven-game stretch (2-5) on the road, the Cubs can settle in at home this week against below average teams from the AL Central and the NL East. Then one of the hottest teams in the National League, the Atlanta Braves, heads this way a week from Monday.
There is every reason to believe better times are ahead.

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Posted on June 18, 2019

By Roger Wallenstein

So what’s up with Lucas Giolito? How did last season’s least effective starting pitcher become one of baseball’s best in less than a year?
Regardless of the answer, this has been great fun. Giolito is the first White Sox pitcher since Chris Sale who represents a legitimate chance for a win every time he takes the mound.

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Posted on June 17, 2019