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The Eloy Canal

By Roger Wallenstein

We saw some really dumb stuff last week. For openers, there was that poor sumbitch who steered his cargo ship – as large as the Empire State Building according to reports – into the bank of the Suez Canal, grounding the behemoth crosswise so that all traffic has been disrupted, affecting commerce throughout the world.
Those photos of the itty-bitty steam shovel – or whatever they’re called today – attempting to free the huge vessel would be like using a soup spoon to dig a swimming pool. Judging from the paltry equipment employed, the time required for the ship to become buoyant could be five or six months.
Which is the predicted time frame for the recovery of White Sox leftfielder Eloy Jiménez, the victim of his own folly last Wednesday in a meaningless spring training game. I never was fully aware that my pectoralis major – what we all know as our “pecs” – have tendons connected to clavicles and sternums and then meeting up at the humerus. Now that Eloy has ruptured his, we can only imagine the resulting misery.

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Posted on March 29, 2021

Wilson Unveils New Official Game Ball Ahead Of WNBA’s 25th Season

By Wilson Sporting Goods

Chicago-based Wilson Sporting Goods Co., in partnership with the Women’s National Basketball Association, unveiled Monday the league’s new official game ball before the start of the milestone 25th WNBA season.
“We are thrilled to be tipping off our partnership with the WNBA in advance of a historic 25th milestone season,” said Amanda Lamb, Global Marketing Director, Team Sports at Wilson. “Introducing the Evo NXT to the pinnacle of the women’s game, and announcing our first WNBA Advisory Staff member, all in the midst of Women’s History Month, is truly a momentous occasion for Wilson.”

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Posted on March 16, 2021

How Mark Giangreco Blew Himself Up

By David Rutter

Everybody has weeks they’d just as soon never happened.
Take ABC 7 sports newsie Mark Giangreco, for example. He is now eligible to teach the Medill Masters Class on how to assassinate your own TV career.
If Giangreco does not return from his imposed vacation on Elba, that week for him might be the last week of January 2021. He’s been off the air for five weeks with no word, or any signal that he’s still among the living.
So much for million-dollar contracts.
Two really bad things happened between Jan. 21 and Jan. 28, and Giangreco caused both of them and will pay for both of them.

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Posted on March 5, 2021

Worst White Sox Trade Ever?

By Roger Wallenstein

Was the trade of Fernando Tatis, Jr. in 2016 for pitcher James “Big Game” Shields the worst deal in White Sox history? The short answer is “yes,” or at least “probably.” However, these puzzlers never are simple. Investigation and hindsight are required.
Upon first glance, the Sox traded a 17-year-old prospect for a pitcher in the twilight of his career. The kid, now 21, just got a historical 14-year contract from the San Diego Padres which will pay him $340 million. The pitcher, Shields, is long gone from the game while the youngster is poised to lead his teammates for more than the next decade as the legitimate challengers to the vaunted Dodgers.
Imagine if general manager Rick Hahn, who has admitted the folly of his ways, hadn’t made this deal almost five years ago. Just think if Tatis was playing alongside Tim Anderson today in the Sox infield, joining the mix of other young athletes like Yoan Moncada, Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Lucas Giolito, Dylan Cease, Michael Kopech, Reynaldo Lopez and Garrett Crochet.
Surely in the 120-year history of the South Side franchise no front office made such a grievous error. Nevertheless, the situation back on June 4, 2016 provides perspective about Hahn’s thinking, which did have a sliver of rationale.

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Posted on March 1, 2021