Chicago Sports

The Ricketts family, which owns the Cubs, is reportedly looking into making a bid for Chelsea FC.

Sky News reported the Ricketts family’s interest in the English Premier League club over the weekend.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is asking for GBP3 billion, or close to $4 billion, for the club, multiple outlets have reported. Last week, Abramovich announced his intention to sell, saying the decision was “in the best interest of the club, the fans, the employees, as well as the club’s sponsors and partners.”

Abramovich, a Russian oligarch, was expected to face sanctions from the British government following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He first distanced himself from Chelsea before putting the club up for sale.

Abramovich announced plans for a charitable foundation “for the benefit of all victims of the war in Ukraine,” saying he’d donate all the net proceeds from the sale to the foundation.

The Ricketts family has been in the market for a top-tier European soccer team before. In 2018, it expressed interest in buying the controlling stake of AC Milan, the storied Italian club.

The optics are different this time around. The Cubs just broke up their 2016 championship core last summer, saying they couldn’t re-sign all of their stars who were facing free agency – Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred just last week came under fire for claiming that owning an MLB team has a worse return on investment than the stock market, when taking into account “the purchase price of franchises, the cash that’s put in during the period of ownership and then what they’ve sold for.”

Most teams’ financial books aren’t open to verify Manfred’s claim. But the point stands: fans are especially aware of MLB owners’ financial dealings as the MLB lockout continues.

Sky Sports reported that up to 10 parties are considering making bids for Chelsea, including Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly – who is expected to submit a proposal as part of a potential ownership group – and MMA fighter Conor McGregor.

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Billy Donovan was still searching.

Rightfully so, as the Bulls coach knew that what’s been rolled out the last few weeks just wasn’t good enough.

That’s why Donovan and his staff have been in the lab experimenting with new-look lineups and rotations, trying to hold down the fort until players like Lonzo Ball (knee), Alex Caruso (wrist) and Patrick Williams (wrist) are given the green light to return.

For all three it’s not if, but when, but it’s the when that remained a mystery.

According to Donovan, Caruso and Williams are waiting to be scanned again – possibly in the next week or so – so that they can be cleared for contact as long as everything healed up. Once they start practicing, it becomes days not weeks for a return.

Ball was still a work in progress, running both forward and laterally, but also having to be backed off of both whenever there’s been soreness. According to Donovan, Ball is not ahead of schedule, but he’s not behind. That means the point guard was still a mid-to-late March return, with the hope of getting him in a rhythm the last eight-to-10 games of the regular season.

Until then, Donovan continued preaching embracing the adversity, as well as looking for personnel answers with the players that aren’t in street clothes.

That’s why the “Bruise Brothers” has been a topic of discussion, as Donovan continues to try and see if the pairing of Nikola Vucevic and Tristan Thompson on the court at the same time has staying power.

There were a few good moments for the two in Atlanta, but not so much against the Bucks on Friday, as the two bigs – who actually started that game – seemed to clog up the driving lanes on offense, didn’t help with spacing, and then on the defensive end had matchup issues.

That’s why Donovan went away from it pretty quickly, as Vucevic finished the game a plus-11 in the plus/minus category, while Thompson was a minus-25.

“It’s not fair to those guys because they haven’t really been able to be together a lot on the floor working on it,” Donovan said of those two playing together. “I’m kind of going on the fly here a little bit. I liked the idea of having Tristan start the game. It could be something we’re going to have to build out because I do think some of our spacing challenges offensively have needed to be better. It’s the lack of time that we’ve had together.”

Not that Donovan should scrap that look all together because styles do make the fight, and there are some teams – like a Cleveland – where the “Bruise Brothers” might have more success against a frontcourt that starts three seven-footers.

Monday against Philadelphia?

Vucevic and Thompson starting might not be the best idea, especially with the pick-and-roll machine that is James Harden and Joel Embiid. The coach would be better served to have Javonte Green starting, just so he has physical/athletic wings to throw at Harden.

Either way, after the game in Philadelphia, the Bulls should have a chance to catch their breath, playing winnable games against Detroit, Cleveland and Sacramento.

After those three it’s at Utah, at Phoenix, home to Toronto and then at Milwaukee, so losing streaks need to come to an end as playoff momentum builds.

“The biggest thing for me is when we get into this point of the season, I think you want to be playing really good basketball,” Donovan said. “If you’re not playing well and you have a great seed, to me it really doesn’t make a difference.”

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Going into this offseason the buzz around the NFL was at the quarterback position, specifically with Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson and even Deshaun Watson in terms of the trade market. But with teams needing someone at the position, the big free-agent buzz is centered around former Chicago Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

According to several reports, Trubisky will have a market this offseason and multiple teams should be in pursuit of him to be the starting quarterback. The latest from ESPN reporters Dan Graziano and Jeremy Fowler say that Trubisky could get more than $10M per year from a team in free agency:

Teams are openly discussing whether Trubisky gets $10 million or more annually on a new deal. That his name is a hot one is not manufactured. It’s real. His career reset in Buffalo went very well, and teams that will look to draft a quarterback could sign Trubisky to start this year. A Trubisky pairing with a first-round quarterback such as Malik Willis wouldn’t shock a few teams. The Panthers, Steelers, Commanders, Giants and potential Broncos are believed to be in the mix here.

The former No. 2 overall pick of the Bears signed a one-year deal worth $2.5M with Buffalo last offseason to backup Josh Allen. There he made a connection with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll who is now the head coach in New York. That could play a role in his decision as well.

Trubisky should have a market and a year of patience may have paid off in terms of a big deal coming his way.

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On a typical Sunday I spend a few hours on the rankings. It’s important to make sure all of my records are updated and I know what every good team in the area did over the week.

Then it is time for internal debate. Which teams need to tumble a bit? Which teams deserve to drop out altogether? And based on the number of open spots, which teams should join the rankings?

There was very little debate this week. Clearly, the Super 25 is pretty meaningless right now. Everything is playing out on the court and taking care of itself.

Lemont, Barrington, St. Ignatius, St. Francis and St. Patrick all join this week because they are still alive in the playoffs. Lemont and Iggy have both been in and out of the rankings all season. Barrington made one appearance I believe.

It’s the season debut for St. Francis and St. Patrick. I considered adding St. Francis several weeks, but they never quite picked up a big enough win. St. Patrick is the Cinderalla story of this March, which is a lot of fun.

I covered St. Patrick’s win at Notre Dame in December. The Shamrocks were clearly a good team so it isn’t a huge surprise that they have put things together now that Timaris Brown is playing as well as he did last season. Remember, he was an All-City selection in 2021.

Enjoy the final week of the season.

Super 25 for March 6, 2022
With record and last week’s ranking

1. Glenbard West (34-1) 1
4A: vs. Larkin

2. Glenbrook South (33-2) 2
4A: vs. Barrington

3. Young (24-9) 3
4A: vs. Kenwood

4. Simeon (27-5) 4
3A: vs. Lemont

5. Kenwood (26-8) 7
4A: vs. Young

6. Leo (25-4) 13
2A: vs. DePaul Prep

7. Bolingbrook (29-6) 15
4A: vs. Quincy

8. Larkin (31-3) 17
4A: vs. Glenbard West

9. Lemont (27-7) NR
3A: vs. Simeon

10. Thornton (23-6) 5
Season complete

11. New Trier (30-4) 9
Season complete

12. Hillcrest (26-5) 8
Season complete

13. Wheaton Warrenville South (32-3) 10
Season complete

14. Hyde Park (23-8) 12
Season complete

15. Oswego East (33-2) 11
Season complete

16. Lyons (26-6) 21
Season complete

17. Curie (26-7) 6
Season complete

18. Barrington (27-4) NR
4A: vs. Glenbrook South

19. Rolling Meadows (28-6) 14
Season complete

20. DePaul Prep (25-5) 22
2A: vs. Leo

21. Yorkville Christian (22-13) 24
1A: vs. Lexington

22. St. Ignatius (22-12) NR
3A: vs. St. Patrick

23. St. Patrick (23-10) NR
3A: vs. St. Ignatius

24. St. Francis (27-8) NR
3A: vs. Metamora

25. St. Rita (23-12) 25
Season complete

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After a whirlwind sectional finals across the state, there are 32 teams still playing basketball in Illinois.

Survive and advance.

From the likely to the unpredictable, every team left standing is one win away from playing in this weekend’s State Finals in Champaign.

Here are previews for the top area supersectionals.

CLASS 4A

Young (24-9) vs. Kenwood (26-8) at UIC, 7

After splitting two regular season games, which team does the pendulum favor in this win-or-go-home showdown?

Kenwood beat Young 69-64 in the title game of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament in December. Young bounced back with a 56-52 win in the city playoffs a month ago.

Kenwood’s backcourt of Trey Pettigrew and Darrin Ames is dynamic. Young has a pair of 6-8 big men in AJ Casey and Xavier Amos that creates mismatches and forces Kenwood to play bigger than it wants personnel wise.

The supporting cast for both teams can be spectacular at times as well.

Kenwood’s Davius Loury is a versatile 6-7 threat who will be needed badly against Young’s size inside, while senior Darius Robinson is a sniper from the three-point line.

Young’s Marcus Pigram was a monster in a sectional semifinal win over Riverside-Brookfield, while Dalen Davis’ point guard play seems to often dictate how well the Dolphins play.

There is superior talent all over the floor for both teams. But Young has shown a way of cranking up the defensive intensity a few notches when it’s time to make a point over the past month.

The pick: Young 63, Kenwood 62

Barrington (27-4) vs. Glenbrook South (33-2) at Forest View, 7

You have to love the senior combos these two teams lean so heavily on and their will to win.

Glenbrook South’s Nick Martinelli and Cooper Noard are built for big moments and generating crunch-time buckets. They form one of the most productive tandems in the state.

Barrington’s unsung duo of Will Grudzinski and Daniel Hong have been clutch and carried the Broncos to their first sectional title in 20 years.

But after playing such a quality schedule and getting through a tough sectional, Glenbrook South is the more battle-tested team — and heavy favorite here.

The pick: Glenbrook South 58, Barrington 49

Glenbard West (34-1) vs. Larkin (31-3) at NIU, 7:30

Glenbard West, the top team in the state all season, hasn’t been challenged yet in the postseason.

And the Hilltoppers weren’t challenged the first time these two met in January, rolling to a 64-43 win. Glenbard West’s 1-3-1 gave Larkin’s guards all kinds of issues in that first meeting. At least Larkin’s fine perimeter trio of Damari Wheeler-Thomas, who is headed to North Dakota State, sophomore Jakob Blakley and Fernando Perez have gotten an up-close look already at Glenbard West’s vaunted defense.

Player of the Year Braden Huff and Company, though, will be a tall task for Larkin which has already set a school record for most wins in a season.

The pick: Glenbard West 68, Larkin 52

CLASS 3A

Simeon (27-5) vs. Lemont (27-7) at UIC, 6

The team with the best postseason story gets a shot at the state’s premier program.

The weighty circumstances of postseason basketball have not been too heavy of a burden for a young Lemont team, featuring the perimeter trio of sophomore Nojus Indrusaitis and junior twin brothers Matas and Rokas Castillo.

Lemont won a tough sectional as a No. 4 seed, beating Marian Catholic, Hillcrest and Thornton in succession to claim its first sectional title since 1975.

Simeon, however, has the pesky defensive guards, including disruptive Aviyon Morris, and a big advantage inside with 6-8 brothers Miles and Wesley Rubin.

The pick: Simeon 55, Lemont 50

St. Ignatius (22-12) vs. St. Patrick (23-10) at Hoffman Estates, 7

While St. Ignatius was expected to be here, St. Patrick is somewhat a surprise. But the Shamrocks’ 53-52 upset win over top-seed Lake Forest has longtime coach Mike Bailey on the cusp of his first-ever trip to the State Finals.

Standing in the way is St. Ignatius and Bailey’s former assistant for eight years, Matt Monroe.

St. Pat’s has won 10 of its last 11 games behind the play of productive veteran Timaris Brown. The 6-4 senior is a big reason why St. Patrick has the look of a team that could be playing in Champaign this weekend.

Plus, the Shamrocks have this sky-high momentum — or a charmed postseason presence — following a triple overtime win over Carmel in the sectional semis and a one-point win over Lake Forest in the sectional title game.

The general consensus when the season began was this is exactly where St. Ignatius would be at this point in time. There is experienced talent, led by senior guard AJ Redd, and bonafide weapons, which includes 6-4 junior Richard Barron.

The pick: St. Ignatius 51, St. Patrick 48

CLASS 2A

DePaul (25-5) vs. Leo (25-4) at Joliet Central, 7

These two battled for a Catholic League championship. While Leo won a league title, DePaul did beat the Lions 48-38 a month ago. The stakes are raised in this rematch with the winner emerging as the Class 2A favorite this weekend in Champaign.

Led by Catholic League Player of the Year Jakeem Cole and Cam Cleveland, few teams impose their will more or as consistently as Leo.

DePaul is once again gritty and defensive-minded with a matchup problem inside for opponents in 6-9 Dylan Arnett.

The pick: DePaul 44, Leo 42

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PHILADELPHIA — A battle between Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews’ body and his soul is raging.

Toews’ health issues in the last two years — and how they’ve taken a toll on his abilities even when he has been healthy — are impossible to ignore. But his determined, tenacious mindset hasn’t changed at all.

After returning from a five-week concussion absence Thursday, having now missed 59 of the Hawks’ last 104 games, Toews opened up about how those conflicting forces are playing tug-of-war in his mind.

”I still don’t like to believe that, you know, [the end is near],” he said. ”I should say these last few years have been frustrating. That saying goes in hockey, ‘You’re only as good as your last game.’ It’s tough to not think that way sometimes.

”In my heart, I feel like I haven’t played my best hockey in my career. At this age . . . your experience really adds to how you play the game, how you approach it, how you prepare off the ice. [I’m] just fighting for my health and to find a way to get my body to cooperate and get back to that level I know I can play at. [I’m] trying to push that sort of thing off a little bit longer and keep enjoying the game.”

Given Toews’ personality, he probably still will be saying his best days are yet to come when he’s 70. It’s that drive that has powered him to the precipice of the 1,000-game milestone, which he’s on track to reach March 31.

But are they really yet to come? That’s difficult to believe. Toews’ remarkable daily preparation — he often is seen in arena hallways hours before games, stretching or puck-handling by himself — seemingly can take him only so far. His body can tolerate only so much.

With just more than a year left on his contract, the retirement speculation already has begun. Although he’s trying to block it out, reality starts sinking in when he sees so many longtime contemporaries now in different stages of life, such as Duncan Keith with the Oilers and Niklas Hjalmarsson in retirement.

And then there’s the question of how the Hawks’ rebuild will affect him. Will new general manager Kyle Davidson eventually approach Toews about the possibility of a trade? And, if not, is this much effort — this much risk to his long-term health — really worth it on a team that’s not trying to win?

Toews said Thursday he doesn’t have any specific answers in those regards, but he praised Davidson’s assertiveness with the rebuilding plan while not-so-subtly roasting former GM Stan Bowman.

”I don’t know if I really understand what [‘rebuild’] means yet,” he said. ”Obviously, this has been an underwhelming year. . . . We know, somewhere in there, we have much better than what we’ve shown.

”With Kyle, I think he’s the right person for the job. He’s that kind of guy that knows how to make decisions not based on attachment or ego, and he’s going to do what’s right for the organization. At the same time, there’s still a lot of uncertainty. But it’s exciting to at least know that this team will have some direction in the next little bit here.”

Toews still can make an impact. His assist Saturday gave him a respectable 20 points — although only four are goals — in 45 appearances, and he ranks sixth in the NHL with a 58.4% faceoff percentage.

But the battle is raging.

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No officers were hurt when someone fired shots at their squad car Saturday night in West Pullman, Chicago police said.

The officers were on patrol about 9 p.m. when they spotted a person holding a gun between two buildings in the 11500 block of South Perry Avenue, police said.

When the officers backed up to investigate, the person with the gun fired and stuck the rear passenger tire of the police car, police said. The officers did not return fire.

No one was immediately taken into custody. Area Two detectives are investigating.

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NORMAL, Ill. — Simone Sawyer’s next-to-last game for Stevenson wasn’t one to remember apart from the result.

The last one? She’ll hold onto that memory for the rest of her life.

Sawyer bounced back from a rough performance in the Class 4A semifinals with a dominant one in the Patriots’ 55-43 title-game win over Barrington Saturday at Redbird Arena.

The Penn recruit was everywhere, hitting jumpers, making steals (a 4A title-game record five), and hitting the boards. She led all scorers with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting, a day after missing all eight of her field-goal attempts and finishing with two points in a 36-28 semifinal win over Benet.

“It was a crazy game,” Sawyer said of Friday. “We got in foul trouble, they got in foul trouble. … I personally did not play well so I knew I had to bounce back for this game.”

That showed from the start. The speedy 5-10 guard scored Stevenson’s first 10 points and had 12 as the Patriots (35-2) raced ahead 16-4 after one quarter.

“Going into the game, I knew I was not going to have a repeat of Friday,” Sawyer said. “I knew we needed to win and I needed to play well.”

That helped the Patriots follow coach Ashley Graham’s game plan.

“I wrote on the board tonight when two great teams meet, it’s about imposing your will,” Graham said. “And man, did these kids just [do it] for 32 minutes.”

The Patriots gradually stretched the lead to 21 in the third quarter before Barrington (30-6) got as close as 11, 48-37, with 7:02 left in the game.

But Stevenson pushed the lead back to 17 and slowed down the pace to clinch its third state title and first since going back-to-back in 1995-96.

The Patriots dropped their last regular-season game to 3A runner-up Nazareth. Then they took care of business in the playoffs, avenging their only other loss by beating Loyola in the supersectional.

“Losses are so good for us,” Graham said. “We don’t want too many of them, but they’re good. It gets us back in the film room. A turning point in our season was our loss to Loyola.”

Learning from those mistakes — and using the experience of playing Nazareth’s zone against Barrington’s similar defense — helped put the Patriots over the top.

Senior guard Ava Bardic, an Illinois-Springfield recruit, added 13 points for Stevenson and Kate Arne scored eight.

Junior guard Sophie Swanson, a Purdue commit, led Barrington with 14 points and five steals. Molly O’Riordan added 12 points and seven rebounds.

“I love my kids and they never give up,” Barrington coach Babbi Barreiro said. “We battled, we just didn’t have some things go our way.

“I think a big part of that was that Stevenson just executed offensively pretty well and they hit some shots that they just haven’t been hitting as of late.”

And no one hit more than Sawyer.

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NORMAL, Ill. — Carmel’s Jordan Wood kept her promise.

As the season wound down, the junior center had some conversations with teammate Grace Sullivan, the only senior in the Corsairs’ lineup.

“Jordan and I talked the last couple of weeks,” Sullivan said. “[She said,] ‘We are going to send you out with a win. We are not going to send you out with a loss.'”

Now Sullivan heads off to play at Bucknell as a state champion after Carmel avenged two earlier losses and beat Nazareth 43-39 Saturday in the Class 3A state championship game at Redbird Arena.

Sullivan led the way with a double-double of 13 points and 13 rebounds. Wood, a 6-5 junior committed to Michigan State, added 12 points and three assists. Mia Gillis had eight points, seven rebounds, and three assists for the Corsairs (28-7), who won a championship in their first trip to state.

“I’m just very proud of these girls,” Carmel coach Ben Berg said. “They changed the program forever. The expectations are sky-high.”

The outside expectations may have been different going into the final. Carmel had lost the teams’ first two meetings this season, both by double digits.

Berg said he didn’t even watch the film of the first game, which came a day after a loss to Class 4A finalist Barrington. He did watch tape of the second loss, a month to the day before the state final.

“We needed to do three things better,” Berg said. “We had to defend better. We had to take care of the ball better. We had to rebound the ball better.”

Check, check and check.

Nazareth (33-3) missed 12 of its first 13 shots and managed just two points in the game’s first 10:51. After turning the ball over more than 20 times in each of the first two meetings, the Corsairs had just 12 on Saturday. And they controlled the boards by a 28-14 margin.

That didn’t surprise Berg.

“We had some struggles at the middle part of the season,” he said. “We’ve gotten better and better the last four, five weeks.

“I had a good feeling about tonight.”

But after Nazareth’s offense finally started clicking in the second quarter, it was a close game the rest of the way.

Down 27-26, Carmel took the lead for good at 31-27 on a 5-0 spurt at the end of the third quarter. Nazareth got within a point three times down the stretch but couldn’t pull ahead.

Sophomore Ashley Schlabowske hit three of four free throws in the final 28 seconds to seal the win.

Gracie Carstensen hit three three-pointers and finished with 11 points to lead Nazareth, which won its third trophy since 2018. The Corsairs were second that year and third in 2019.

“We played hard,” Roadrunners coach Eddie Stritzel said. “I don’t know if we played well, but that had something to do with Carmel.”

With Wood at 6-5 and Sullivan at 6-4, going into the lane isn’t an attractive option for Carmel opponents.

“Their size always bothered us, even when we won,” Stritzel said. “We struggled offensively tonight.”

That forced the Roadrunners to play at a faster pace than usual.

It got them back in the game, but couldn’t prevent Wood from being true to her word and helping Sullivan go out a winner.

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In a lot of ways, Saturday night’s home opener was what Fire fans hoped for when Joe Mansueto bought the franchise in 2019.

Xherdan Shaqiri, a well-known and big-money Designated Player, suited up as part of a roster that was seemingly improved during a busy offseason when the Fire flexed their financial muscle. Freed from the disaster of the Fire Crown logo and that failed rebrand, the franchise embraced a return to red as its primary color with signage around the field, even if the home jersey won’t be that color until 2024.

The announced crowd of 25,477 – the second largest for a home opener in team history -was engaged and enthusiastic and exuded a palpable sense of anticipation when Shaqiri was on the ball.

Yet the dour 0-0 tie with Orlando City was probably not what anybody wanted to see. In a game with few chances, the closest anybody came to scoring was in the 73rd minute when Orlando’s Junior Orso’s shot deflected off Fire defender Boris Sekulic and past goalie Gabriel Slonina. But after review, it was determined that Orlando’s Ercan Kara handled the ball in the buildup, taking the goal off the scoreboard.

Saturday’s result was the second consecutive scoreless draw for the Fire to begin the season, following their draw last week with Inter Miami.

NOTES: Defender Carlos Teran (right thigh) missed his second straight match and was once again replaced in the starting lineup by Wyatt Omsberg.

* Team legend DaMarcus Beasley led a new flag-waving ceremony before the match. The franchise is aiming to make that a new tradition.

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