Chicago - A message from the station manager

Hapless Hoyer

By Jim Coffman

I’ve got one more column to write about the Cubs and then I am moving on, in terms of column-writing, for awhile.
Let’s start with a simple question: Do any real baseball fans out there think any of the prospects the Cubs received for the veterans they traded away en masse at the trade deadline will be better than Lucas Giolito? Giolito emerged as an ace last year when he was in the running for the Cy Young Award in the American League. Yes, the season was only two months long and, yes, Giolito has been more up and down this year, but he is an upper echelon starting pitcher in the American League. Period.
The answer to this simple question is, of course, no.

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Posted on August 11, 2021

The Pitching Plan

By Roger Wallenstein

Tony La Russa has been there before. The path has not always been exactly the same, but in the 14 previous seasons when his clubs have made the post-season, there always has been a plan. Even after being absent from the dugout for 10 years, he knows the drill.
Just in case the 76-year-old isn’t quite as sharp as he used to be – not necessarily an accurate assumption based on some of the moves he’s made this season – he has all kinds of data, along with a more than ample coaching staff, to keep him current. After a sweep of the decrepit and depleted Chicago Cubs over the weekend, La Russa finds himself and his team with a 10½-game lead in the American League Central, its biggest margin of the season.

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Posted on August 9, 2021

The Triumph And Tragedy Of The Olympic Refugee Team

By Phyllis Bennis/OtherWords

The Olympic Refugee Team filing into the stadium during Tokyo’s opening ceremonies provided a powerful, moving sight: almost 30 athletes, carrying the Olympic flag, striding alongside the delegations of almost every country in the world.


Instead of their home countries, these refugees represent the millions around the world who’ve been forcibly displaced from their homes. The team is made up of extraordinary individuals who have overcome huge obstacles just to survive – let alone train as world-class athletes.
They are swimmers, cyclists, judoken, wrestlers, runners, and more – from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon, Sudan and South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and beyond.
Several were part of the Olympics’ first Refugee Team five years ago, including Yusra Mardini, a Syrian swimmer and refugee from the country’s civil war.
Her incredible story went viral. When their overloaded dinghy broke down in the Aegean Sea, Yusra and her sister jumped overboard and swam for three hours, pushing it to safety. They saved the lives of dozens desperately trying to reach safety in Greece.

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Posted on August 5, 2021

Canadian Women Rule

By Jane Thornton/The Conversation

Margaret Mac Neil. Kylie Masse. The women’s softball team. Maude Charron. The women’s 4×100-meter freestyle swimming team. Jennifer Abel and Mélissa Citrini-Beaulieu. Jessica Klimkait. Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard. Caileigh Filmer and Hillary Janssens. Penny Oleksiak. The women’s eight rowing crew.
Canadian women are owning the podium at the Tokyo Olympics. But why?

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Posted on August 4, 2021

And So It Goes

By Roger Wallenstein

The old man peered over the top of his newspaper, eyeing his grandchildren and their friends.
“Why did they have to trade Madrigal?” lamented one, “even to get Kimbrel. Nicky was one of my favorite players.”
“Let me tell you a story,” interrupted Grandpa. “When I was about your age, or maybe a few years older, the White Sox had a great, great player. His name was Minnie Miñoso. Just saying his name was exciting. Randy Arozarena would be envious.
“Minnie also was the first Black player in team history which brought him immediate attention. When the Sox traded for him, on the very first pitch he ever saw in a Sox uniform in 1951, he hit a home run. Minnie played for some very good teams in the 1950s, long before even your parents were around. Miñoso was something like José Abreu. No matter how much he was injured and hurting, he played every day.
“Minnie could hit .300. He led the league in triples, and if you think watching a home run is something to see, you should have seen Miñoso slide into third base with a triple. He could steal bases and drive in 100 runs. Oh, did I mention that he was a terrific left fielder? He just never stopped moving, and my friends and I loved him.”
“Did the Sox have a good team then?” asked one of the kids.
“Oh, yes,” replied Gramps. “They won over 90 games a few times because they had other good players like Billy Pierce, Nellie Fox and Luis Aparicio.”
“So they won the World Series?” asked another youngster.
“No, that’s the point of my story,” said the septuagenarian. “There was another team, one with lots of money, the New York Yankees, and they had even better players than the White Sox. And just about every year, they won the pennant and went to the World Series, which they usually won.

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Posted on August 2, 2021

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