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TrackNotes: Punditry As A Handicapping Tool

By Thomas Chambers

There’s an old joke in horse racing.
“Who’s going to win (the Derby)?”
“Nobody.”
The 2021 Road to the Roses has been more like Halsted Street on a Saturday morning. Where you also try to weave your way around the slow drivers.
Few horses have hit two green lights in a row and favorites have gotten stuck behind the guy with no guts in making the left turn.
This 147th running of the Kentucky Derby (Grade I, 10 furlongs, 1-1/4 miles, $3,000,000, post 5:57 p.m. Central) will have a winner, but none of these horses, except for maybe one or two, has distinguished himself. Those runners considered leaders of the 3-year-olds just weeks ago, have either regressed or dropped out completely.

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Posted on April 30, 2021

The Beachwood Radio Sports Hour #354: Bears Turn The Beat Around

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

After miracle move, Matt Nagy now on the clock. Plus: Tony La Russa’s Apology Tour; Cubs’ Giggly Garbage; Thank You, Andrew Shaw; Blackhawks, Bulls Going Out With Whimpers; Loyola’s Leavers; Ramblers Women Score First Tourney Goal; Red Stars Lose Challenge; Fire May Or May Not Have Played Since Last Time We Talked; Broadcast Blues; and Aiding And Abetting.

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Posted on April 30, 2021

Why We Hated Ali – And Then Loved Him

By David Rutter

Memories can be an enemy. Their distortions often defeat us.
We ended the Vietnam War because America rose up to hate it. We all know that. Except that’s not exactly true. Many Americans loved that war – or at least supported it – through much of its duration. Just as many of us still loved Richard Nixon on the day he boarded Marine I and flew away into permanent disgrace.
Even as the Founding Fathers were expelling the British in 1776, just as many colonists were Tories who backed the king. Eighty thousand fled to Canada to escape the Patriots’ outrage and murderous mobs.
We are a nation of too many murderous mobs.
But Tories did not get to write the history books.

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Posted on April 28, 2021

Superleague Failure Good For The Women’s Game

By Beth Clarkson, Alex Culvin and Ali Bowes/The Conversation

Within 72 hours of announcement, the European Super League (ESL) was killed. It was a testament to the power of fans and a reminder that soccer isn’t just about the interest of owners but a game for all.
While much talk has centered on the men’s game, in the breakaway league’s initial statement it was announced that “As soon as practicable after the start of the men’s competition, a corresponding women’s league will also be launched, helping to advance and develop the women’s game.”
The failure of the ESL and its women’s game is a lucky swerve. If it had gone ahead, women’s football would have been being caught up in global football politics and ultimately being held back in its development, contrary to the ESL’s statement.

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Posted on April 27, 2021

Catching Fire

By Roger Wallenstein

By the time the White Sox’ $54 million closer Liam Hendriks strode to the mound in the top of the ninth inning last Saturday on a chilly night at The Grate, the contest between the local club and the Texas Rangers displayed the kind of drama that makes the game so compelling.
Sox starter Dallas Keuchel had pitched into the seventh inning, allowing seven hits. Two runners got as far as third base but advanced no further. Keuchel fanned just two batters, but the key to his success was that he walked no one. When he departed, his teammates led 1-0.
The lone run had scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth after two outs and no one on base. A couple of base hits and a walk followed before catcher Jose Trevino was unable to corral a breaking ball from Kyle Gibson as Yoan Moncada raced home. The wild one was one of six Texas misfires during the weekend series in which the Rangers were swept by Tony La Russa’s surging forces.
Last season with Oakland, Hendriks gave up a home run in the first of his 24 appearances. It was the lone round-tripper he yielded over 25⅓ innings in the entire COVID-shortened season.

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Posted on April 26, 2021

Where Quarterbacks Don’t Die

By David Rutter

Former Bears quarterback Jim McMahon at least has the efficiency not to launch himself 240,000 miles to the moon as Neil Armstrong did only to say the wrong profound quote when he got there.
So when McMahon last week spit insultingly across the ethernet chasm at the Bears, Bears quarterbacks, Bears fans, and Bears management and owners – plus virtually the entirety of Chicago and Bozo The Clown – at least he didn’t have to travel off-planet to send his missive.
Chicago is “where quarterbacks go to die,” he told the Fat Mike Chicago Sports podcast show this week. Yes, another reason you just love to hate podcasts.
As for the bodies of dead quarterbacks, you see them everywhere. Their corpses are buried under Michigan Avenue and Bronzeville and Streeterville – and maybe a few in Winnetka and Minooka – and some are left floating in Lake Michigan like marker buoys. The bodies of these deceased Bears pocket gassers and gimpy scramblers are everywhere.

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Posted on April 20, 2021

A Box Of No-Hitters

By Roger Wallenstein

No-hitters come along about two a season, and they come in a variety of shapes and forms. Sort of like a box of chocolates. You bite into one hoping for something sweet like caramel or strawberry, but occasionally you get an unknown foreign substance which requires the nearest trashcan for relief.

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Posted on April 19, 2021

Not To Worry, White Sox Fans

By Roger Wallenstein

Had we been told before the White Sox season began that after nine games the starting pitchers would have covered 47-plus innings with a 3.02 ERA, we’d have burst with optimism, assuming that the club had six or seven wins.
We knew that Lucas Giolito, Dallas Keuchel and Lance Lynn were solid, whereas Dylan Cease and Carlos Rodon needed to prove that they could fortify the end of the rotation. So the good news 12 days into the season is that those five hurlers, who have fanned 60 batters while walking just 19, compose one of the better starting staffs in either league.
Included in those numbers, of course, was the complete game masterpiece spun by Lynn last Thursday, blanking the Kansas City Royals 6-0 in the home opener at The Grate. Lynn walked no one while striking out 10 – only the ninth time in team history that a pitcher has recorded double digits in strikeouts without walking anyone in pitching a shutout. Hall of Famer Ed Walsh was the first to do it in 1910, and Giolito accomplished the feat in 2019 against the Twins.
This is all fine and dandy news. So what is the explanation that instead of racking up lots of wins in this young season, the ballclub has struggled to post a disappointing 4-5 record? The answers are not at all complicated.

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Posted on April 12, 2021

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