Chicago Sports

If you’re old enough to recall the last Major League Baseball work stoppage — the big one in 1995 — you’re old enough to remember what purportedly saved the game from itself.

Steroids!

Yes, sir, baby!

Shoot ’em up like the big boys!

Get swollen, strong and huge like Sammy, Mark and Barry because, as we all know, chicks dig the long ball! And dudes will follow chicks!

I’m out of exclamation points at this juncture, but you see where I’m going. I’m trying for emphasis. Like hitting a donkey with a two-by-four.

Baseball has a career stupidity gene, and some kind of intervention from outside forces seems to be the only thing that can save it from its Darwinian self-extinction march.

Remember brontosauruses and T-Rexes? Well, not in the flesh. Maybe you saw ”Jurassic Park” or visited Sue at the Field Museum. There they are.

Those gigantic creatures once reigned supreme on our planet, then came that disrupter thing called an asteroid. The big lizards didn’t adapt well to the ensuing Ice Age.

MLB seems to be in the same place as those pea-brained, cold-blooded creatures once were. There’s no asteroid in sight, but there are lots of little shock waves building strength.

Memo to MLB: We have the internet, streaming services, movies galore, new games to play and watch, tons of other distractions to keep us from caring about your boring follies.

The owners’ lockout of the players was in its 89th day Monday, threatening Opening Day. We already have missed a lot of spring training, which is the casual, fun part of the game, good for vacationers, diehard fans and leather-skinned old geezers languishing — like dinosaurs? — in the Southern sun.

The players have valid beefs. Their share of revenue hasn’t gone up recently. In fact, it has gone down for four years, dropping 4.6% from a record-high payroll of $4.25 billion in 2017.

And there are other unfairnesses, such as the way management can mess with a player’s call-ups and overall career earnings. Remember when the Cubs didn’t call up rookie sensation Kris Bryant from the minors for 12 days in 2015, just to keep him from getting a full year’s worth of credit toward free agency?

Then again, it’s hard to get upset about millionaires’ paychecks from billionaires.

According to the Associated Press, the players would lose around $20.5 million each day the season is delayed. That’s grim. And Mets pitcher Max Scherzer, a leader on the union’s executive committee, would lose almost $232,000 per game missed.

But then you think: How in the hell can any human being get paid nearly a quarter-million dollars each time he plays a freaking game? When you see Padres 23-year old shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. with a 14-year, $340 million deal, you kind of lose interest in labor disputes for these guys.

Those big deals are the outliers, true. But baseball is supposed to be entertainment for us, not economics class.

Kids don’t care as much about the game these days, and TV ratings are dipping. Four-hour games are becoming the norm, which is ridiculous.

Me, I can’t bear watching pitchers looking all around, studying their gloves, nodding to their catchers, pondering their first basemen, doing everything but throwing the damn ball.

And batters stepping out of the box, calling time, scratching, spitting, tightening their Velcro straps, doing practice swings, adjusting their cups. My God, it’s like being forced to watch a camera feed into an obsessive-compulsive treatment ward.

Hence, steroids!

Bring back the days of juicing, of former singles hitters suddenly developing ”mature power.” Let’s have the ”country-strong,” performance-enhancing-drug-using big ol’ farm boys kissing their biceps and blowing kisses to the outfield wall once again. More Jose Cansecos. Some Rafael Palmeiros. Maybe a Ken Caminiti or two. And lots of Sammy Sosas and Mark McGwires dressed in togas on the cover of sports magazines. (Or on websites because these are post-literacy times.)

The heck with weaklings. The two league leaders in home runs last season hit 48 and 42. Let’s get back to the 70, 65 and 73 homers from 1998 to 2001, when McGwire, Sosa and Bonds did their freak show.

Sure, it’s illegal to juice. Using stuff such as defunct BALCO’s ”the clear” and ”the cream” might get you a prison term. But MLB needs something that’s big and risky from the outside to save it.

It’s obviously too dumb to save itself.

Read More

MIAMI – The steps remained small on Monday, but what mattered most to coach Billy Donovan was the direction they were moving – forward.

Alex Caruso (right wrist surgery) and Patrick Williams (left wrist surgery) both worked out after the morning shootaround, getting a full-court run in at the FTX Arena with passing and some shooting. And while Williams looked a bit more ahead of Caruso, Donovan said don’t read too much into it.

“I don’t know who is closer than who,” Donovan said.

Caruso was obviously favoring his injury more than Williams, shooting and passing more with his left hand in the drills, but he’s also more recently out of the cast and then the splint than Williams was.

“The biggest issue I think for Alex right now is this is the first time he’s been able to get on the floor with the ball and doing stuff,” Donovan said. “Obviously having his hand in a cast, or a splint as he’s had it, he’s got to get his strength back. He can’t really even pass with that, it doesn’t feel comfortable shooting it. Not pain, it’s just stiff and it’s weak. That’s going to take some time to build that up. Once he gets to that point then he’ll be cleared for contact.”

Before reaching that next step, however, Donovan anticipated at least “a couple weeks” of the basic drills Caruso was doing in Miami, then he’ll get another scan to see where the fracture is. That would put Caruso near mid-March before he can start contact, and then it’s about finding his rhythm.

Conditioning won’t be an issue, especially with how much running and biking Caruso has been doing throughout the rehab process.

As for Williams, he was using both hands a bit more in the drills, but also had a more significant injury that involved the fracture and torn ligaments. He’s still in a stage where he’s strengthening the wrist, and like Caruso would then be scanned again in a few weeks, before being cleared for contact.

“[Williams is] the same thing where because of the nature of the injury and it was such a detailed surgery of what they had to do to get the bone back together when he fractured it, he’s got to go through a pretty extensive ramp-up of strengthening,” Donovan said.

What about Lonzo?

While Williams and Caruso were each getting a sweat in, Lonzo Ball was still in street clothes, recovering from his knee surgery.

That doesn’t mean the Bulls point guard wasn’t progressing, however.

“Lonzo is still doing some straight-ahead running,” Donovan said. “The biggest thing for him is we’ll start to do some change of direction, probably amp up the intensity of his sprints, but he’s progressing. Nothing has changed with his time schedule.”

Ball was given the six-to-eight week window, so like Williams and Caruso that mid-March time period will tell a lot more.

What Donovan did know for sure?

“I don’t think anyone is behind schedule,” the coach said.

The Thompson effect

It was only three games and a few practices, but veteran Nikola Vucevic was already thrilled with the impact that new-comer Tristan Thompson has made, not only on the court but off of it.

“He’s been a great addition for us,” Vucevic said. “A player with a lot of experience, he’s played in meaningful games, the playoffs, and just knowing what it takes to win. A physical player, a good rebounder, a good defender. Offensively, he just makes life easier for everybody with his screen and rolling.”

Read More

The Blackhawks are expected to name Kyle Davidson their permanent general manager Tuesday, per a Monday report by Frank Seravalli of the Daily Faceoff.

Davidson — the Hawks’ interim GM since Stan Bowman’s exit in October — will become the 10th GM in franchise history and, at age 33, the youngest GM in the NHL.

After a year of scandal, disgrace and exodus that has decimated the Hawks’ off-ice reputation and esteem, dropping it to a level below even that of the poor on-ice product, Tuesday should represent the first significant, positive step forward into the next era of the franchise.

But one step forward unveils the just how long and difficult the 1,000-step climb back to the mountaintop will be.

Davidson is a bold thinker who may well be equipped to handle the challenge, but he’ll be tested in his first couple years on the job arguably more than any of his nine Hawks GM predecessors ever were. Even with business president Jaime Faulkner and CEO Danny Wirtz taking the reins on the off-ice side, the team and hockey operations department Davidson inherits desperately needs just as much of a makeover.

A former intern with the Hawks right out of college, Davidson has gradually worked his way all the way up the organization’s hockey operations ladder over the past decade, eventually ascending to assistant GM in 2020.

His wide-ranging experience on the way up — from contract negotiations to salary-cap management to player scouting to analytics — made him qualified for the interim GM job, and his experience gained over the past five months make him qualified for the permanent GM job.

But those things also make him an “internal” candidate, something that will only make the Hawks’ already frustrated and jaded fan base even more skeptical of him. The same can be said for his relative youth, considering how disastrously the Hawks’ “young coach” experiment with Jeremy Colliton fared.

Davidson’s first challenge, starting Tuesday morning, will be to win over the fan base, and he’ll need to walk a delicate line to do so. He’ll simultaneously need to establish his legitimacy and respectability, making fans believe in his ability to stand up to the other 31 GMs, while also showing off his personable side, relating to fans who felt ignored or demeaned by Bowman and his stubbornness.

Davidson’s second challenge, starting perhaps as soon as Tuesday afternoon, will be to intensify trade negotiations in earnest ahead of the March 21 deadline.

The coming three weeks are a vital time for the Hawks to jumpstart their rebuild as quickly and aggressively as possible, because they can’t afford to waste time when the timeline back to contention already looks so lengthy.

This story will be updated.

Read More

GENEVA — Russian teams were suspended Monday from all international soccer, including qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, as Moscow was pushed toward pariah status in sports for its invasion of Ukraine.

World soccer body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and clubs teams from their competitions “until further notice.” Russia’s men’s national team had been scheduled to play in World Cup qualifying playoffs in just three weeks’ time.

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.

The high-level punishment involving sports and politics — something not seen for decades — came after the International Olympic Committee pushed dozens of sports governing bodies to exclude Russian athletes and officials from international events.

The IOC said this action was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”

Denying Russia a place on the international stage could deliver a financial and psychological blow to the country, along with tarnishing its image as an elite sports powerhouse.

FIFA’s move excluded Russia from the World Cup ahead of qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already had refused to play its scheduled game against Russia.

UEFA also took the last remaining Russians in European club competitions this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the second-tier Europa League. Spartak’s scheduled opponent on March 10 and 17, Leipzig of Germany, advances directly to the quarterfinals, UEFA said.

Russia now faces the kind of isolation suffered by Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after war broke out in the Balkans and by South African teams and athletes during the apartheid era of racial segregation and discrimination.

South Africa was suspended by FIFA in 1964 and expelled in 1976 over apartheid, then reinstated in 1992. Yugoslavia was dropped from the 1992 European Championship on short notice, a day after the U.N. approved sanctions against the war-torn country. It was barred from 1994 World Cup qualifying, before emerging as separate nations.

Decisions by FIFA and UEFA can typically be challenged on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. The Football Union of Russia said in a statement that it would “reserve the right to challenge” the decision.

“I feel sorry for my boys,” said Russia coach Valery Karpin. “They were dreaming about playing at the World Cup. Now their hope is gone.”

Hockey followed suit, with international and NHL officials also punishing Russia.

The International Ice Hockey Federation banned Russia and close ally Belarus from competitions at all age levels and said it was moving the 2023 world junior championship out of Siberia.

The NHL also condemned the invasion, suspending all business dealings in Russia and ruling out the possibility of holding events there in the near future.

“We also remain concerned about the well-being of the players from Russia, who play in the NHL on behalf of their NHL clubs, and not on behalf of Russia,” the league said. “We understand they and their families are being placed in an extremely difficult position.”

It was not immediately clear how the decisions would affect Russian tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.

The IOC also went directly after President Vladimir Putin, who turned the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics into a personal project. Putin’s golden Olympic Order, which was awarded in 2001, has been withdrawn, the IOC said in a statement.

The Olympic body’s call also applied to athletes and official from Belarus, which has abetted Russia’s invasion by allowing its territory to be used to station troops and launch military attacks.

The IOC said it acted “with a heavy heart,” but noted that the impact of war on Ukrainian sports and athletes who cannot now take part in competitions outweighed the potential damage done to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

It was not a total blanket ban by the IOC, which also did not specifically suspend the national Olympic committees of Russia and Belarus.

Where exclusion was “not possible on short notice for organizational or legal reasons,” then teams from Russia and Belarus should compete as neutral athletes with no national flag, anthem or symbols, including at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the IOC said.

Russian Olympic committee leader Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in a statement “there is only one comment to make — we categorically disagree,” adding it would help national federations to challenge “discriminatory rulings.”

Sports bodies across Europe already had moved against Russia on Monday by refusing to host or play against its teams.

Finland wants the Russian hockey team banned from the men’s world championships it will host in May, the Swiss soccer federation said its women’s team will not play Russia in July at the European Championship, and German soccer club Schalke said it had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Gazprom.

In the World Cup, Russia’s potential future opponents Sweden and the Czech Republic had joined Poland saying they would refuse to take the field. The World Cup is scheduled to begin Nov. 21 in Qatar.

FIFA had tried to compromise Sunday by suggesting Russia play at neutral venues without its flag and anthem and under the “Football Union of Russia” name.

That aligned with sanctions imposed by CAS in December 2020 to punish Russia for state-backed doping and cover-ups of cheating, and applied at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Winter Games in Beijing.

Polish soccer federation president Cezary Kulesza said Sunday it was “totally unacceptable” that FIFA had not immediately expelled Russia from World Cup qualifying and said Poland is “not interested in participating in this game of appearances.”

Another future opponent, Albania, also said Sunday it would not play against Russia in any sports. Russia and Albania are scheduled to meet twice in June in the UEFA Nations League soccer tournament.

In hockey, the sport’s governing body has come under pressure from Finland and Switzerland to ban Russia and Belarus, both due to play at the world championships in May in Helsinki and Tampere.

Finnish Hockey Association chairman Harri Nummela said in a statement Monday it had talks with the Zurich-based IIHF to exclude the two countries from the sport internationally.

Read More

Blackhawks prospect defenseman Alex Vlasic has never played like most 6-6 defensemen.

His athleticism has, for a long time, developed faster than his physicality. He’s an “elite skater for his size,” in the words of his Boston University coach, and he can contribute some offensively. He has always appreciated his massive frame more for its long reach than for its brute size.

That’s all great, because it makes him more than a one-dimensional defensive defenseman. The 20-year-old Wilmette native is instead a well-rounded weapon who could fill a number of roles at the pro level.

But in order to make it to the pro level, Vlasic needed to start using that height and size more to his advantage. And this year, his junior year, he has.

“When he came out of the [U.S. National Development] Program [in 2019], he was not that physical, to be honest,” BU coach Albie O’Connell said. “We were trying to get him to really engage at the net-front, engage off faceoffs. He was always talented, but some of it was strength, some of it was time, some of it was failure…and he’s really come a long way.

“He has played with a lot more ‘oomph’ to him. He’s starting to figure out how to use his body well, and he has become really tough to deal with for any opponent. He’s arguably one of the best defensemen in our league.”

The Hawks’ 2019 second-round pick — one of many promising defensemen in their system, but boasting one of the highest upsides of all of them — has become the Terriers’ No. 1 defenseman, helping spark their second-half turnaround this season alongside Hawks prospect goalie Drew Commesso.

Vlasic’s weight has gradually increased over the years, from 199 pounds at the draft to 215 pounds last summer, before settling in around 212 pounds in-season. O’Connell estimated his ideal eventual weight might be as high as 225 to 230 pounds.

“He’s got the body that he can carry that weight and still keep up [being] really athletic on his feet,” O’Connell said.

There’s more to strength than just weight, however, and Vlasic points to two momentous games this season which proved that to him — and exemplified his growth in the strength category.

The first was a 6-4 loss to Cornell on Nov. 27.

“I was more used to using my stick and my reach to end plays, with getting my stick in lanes and breaking up pucks,” Vlasic said. “But Cornell had some bigger, stronger forwards and you couldn’t really do that; you had to play more physically and use your body. That’s what [my coaches] saw — they didn’t think I was closing fast enough — and they told me to trust my skating ability and my size and my reach.

“Ever since then, I haven’t looked back. I’ve started to play more physically and with every game that goes by, I gain more and more confidence.”

Vlasic then talked over the holidays to his two primary Hawks contacts — mindset performance manager Vinny Malts and assistant general manager of player development Mark Eaton — about his plan to play more physically. The Hawks were on board.

The second momentous game was a 7-1 win over Arizona State on Jan. 7, during which he added 15 penalty minutes to his stats and learned a unique lesson.

“I got kicked out because I hit this guy,” he said. “I didn’t mean to, but obviously it was from behind — a bad play. But I didn’t think I’d be able to hit him as fast and as hard as I did. I took that as [a sign that], ‘Hey, I can go into the corner against anybody and win any battle.’

“[I’m now] using my strength almost just to manhandle guys at this level. It’s eye-opening to me how much stronger I actually am than I thought I was.”

In addition to his physical maturation, Vlasic has learned a lot about the habits and style he’ll need to succeed in the NHL from longtime former Devils forward Jay Pandolfo, who joined BU this season as an associate head coach.

“He talked about closing earlier in the corners, just taking those few hard strides to end plays,” Vlasic said. “And another thing everyone has been able to learn from him is knowing that mistakes are going to happen — even the best players make mistakes — but it’s just about how you respond to that and what you’re going to do to fix it.”

Vlasic has now tallied eight points and 50 blocks in 31 appearances. BU, which fell to 4-9-2 with that Cornell loss but has gone 14-2-1 since, has only two regular-season games left before the conference tournament. They’re currently on the bubble for the 16-team NCAA tournament.

With the season’s end so near, Vlasic said he’s focusing on enjoying time with his teammates — and trying to bring home a trophy or two — and hasn’t decided yet whether he’ll turn pro this summer (or even for the final month of the NHL and AHL seasons).

When he does sign with the Hawks, he’ll join a crowded pool of defensemen that he’ll need to leapfrog in the pecking order. But at his current rate of development, that seems very doable, if not likely.

“Getting him in the second round is a credit to the [Hawks’] scouting staff, because he looks like a first-round pick all day,” O’Connell said. “The sky is the limit for him. I don’t want to say he’s a unicorn, but he’s very different than a lot of other guys.”

Read More

GENEVA — Russian teams were suspended Monday from all international soccer, including qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, as Moscow was pushed toward pariah status in sports for its invasion of Ukraine.

World soccer body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and clubs teams from their competitions “until further notice.” Russia’s men’s national team had been scheduled to play in World Cup qualifying playoffs in just three weeks’ time.

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.

The high-level punishment involving sports and politics — something not seen for decades — came after the International Olympic Committee pushed dozens of sports governing bodies to exclude Russian athletes and officials from international events.

The IOC said this action was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”

Denying Russia a place on the international stage could deliver a financial and psychological blow to the country, along with tarnishing its image as an elite sports powerhouse.

FIFA’s move excluded Russia from the World Cup ahead of qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already had refused to play its scheduled game against Russia.

UEFA also took the last remaining Russians in European club competitions this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the second-tier Europa League. Spartak’s scheduled opponent on March 10 and March 17, Leipzig of Germany, advances directly to the quarterfinals, UEFA said.

Russia now faces the kind of isolation suffered by Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after war broke out in the Balkans and by South African teams and athletes during the apartheid era of racial segregation and discrimination.

South Africa was suspended by FIFA in 1964 and expelled in 1976 over apartheid, then reinstated in 1992. Yugoslavia was dropped from the 1992 European Championship on short notice, a day after the U.N. approved sanctions against the war-torn country. It was barred from 1994 World Cup qualifying, before emerging as separate nations.

Decisions by FIFA and UEFA can typically be challenged on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

“We reserve the right to challenge the decision of FIFA and UEFA in accordance with international sports law,” the Football Union of Russia said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how the IOC’s request to sports bodies will affect Russian hockey players in the NHL and tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.

The IOC also went directly after President Vladimir Putin, who turned the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics into a personal project. Putin’s golden Olympic Order, which was awarded in 2001, has been withdrawn, the IOC said in a statement.

The Olympic body’s call also applied to athletes and official from Belarus, which has abetted Russia’s invasion by allowing its territory to be used to station troops and launch military attacks.

The IOC said it acted “with a heavy heart,” but noted that the impact of war on Ukrainian sports and athletes who cannot now take part in competitions outweighed the potential damage done to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

It was not a total blanket ban by the IOC, which also did not specifically suspend the national Olympic committees of Russia and Belarus.

Where exclusion was “not possible on short notice for organizational or legal reasons,” then teams from Russia and Belarus should compete as neutral athletes with no national flag, anthem or symbols, including at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the IOC said.

Russian Olympic committee leader Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in a statement “there is only one comment to make — we categorically disagree,” adding it would help national federations to challenge “discriminatory rulings.”

Sports bodies across Europe already had moved against Russia on Monday by refusing to host or play against its teams.

Finland wants the Russian hockey team banned from the men’s world championships it will host in May, the Swiss soccer federation said its women’s team will not play Russia in July at the European Championship, and German soccer club Schalke said it had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Gazprom.

In the World Cup, Russia’s potential future opponents Sweden and the Czech Republic had joined Poland saying they would refuse to take the field. The World Cup is scheduled to begin Nov. 21 in Qatar.

FIFA had tried to compromise Sunday by suggesting Russia play at neutral venues without its flag and anthem and under the “Football Union of Russia” name.

That aligned with sanctions imposed by CAS in December 2020 to punish Russia for state-backed doping and cover-ups of cheating, and applied at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Winter Games in Beijing.

Polish soccer federation president Cezary Kulesza said Sunday it was “totally unacceptable” that FIFA had not immediately expelled Russia from World Cup qualifying and said Poland is “not interested in participating in this game of appearances.”

Another future opponent, Albania, also said Sunday it would not play against Russia in any sports. Russia and Albania are scheduled to meet twice in June in the UEFA Nations League soccer tournament.

In hockey, the sport’s governing body has come under pressure from Finland and Switzerland to ban Russia and Belarus, both due to play at the world championships in May in Helsinki and Tampere.

Finnish Hockey Association chairman Harri Nummela said in a statement Monday it had talks with the Zurich-based IIHF to exclude the two countries from the sport internationally.

Read More

GENEVA — Russian teams were suspended Monday from all international soccer, including qualifying matches for the 2022 World Cup, as Moscow was pushed toward pariah status in sports for its invasion of Ukraine.

World soccer body FIFA and European authority UEFA banned Russian national and clubs teams from their competitions “until further notice.” Russia’s men’s national team had been scheduled to play in World Cup qualifying playoffs in just three weeks’ time.

“Football is fully united here and in full solidarity with all the people affected in Ukraine,” FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.

The high-level punishment involving sports and politics — something not seen for decades — came after the International Olympic Committee pushed dozens of sports governing bodies to exclude Russian athletes and officials from international events.

The IOC said this action was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”

Denying Russia a place on the international stage could deliver a financial and psychological blow to the country, along with tarnishing its image as an elite sports powerhouse.

FIFA’s move excluded Russia from the World Cup ahead of qualifying playoff on March 24. Poland already had refused to play its scheduled game against Russia.

UEFA also took the last remaining Russians in European club competitions this season, Spartak Moscow, out of the second-tier Europa League. Spartak’s scheduled opponent on March 10 and March 17, Leipzig of Germany, advances directly to the quarterfinals, UEFA said.

Russia now faces the kind of isolation suffered by Yugoslavian teams in 1992 after war broke out in the Balkans and by South African teams and athletes during the apartheid era of racial segregation and discrimination.

South Africa was suspended by FIFA in 1964 and expelled in 1976 over apartheid, then reinstated in 1992. Yugoslavia was dropped from the 1992 European Championship on short notice, a day after the U.N. approved sanctions against the war-torn country. It was barred from 1994 World Cup qualifying, before emerging as separate nations.

Decisions by FIFA and UEFA can typically be challenged on appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

“We reserve the right to challenge the decision of FIFA and UEFA in accordance with international sports law,” the Football Union of Russia said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how the IOC’s request to sports bodies will affect Russian hockey players in the NHL and tennis players, including top-ranked Daniil Medvedev, in Grand Slam, ATP and WTA tournaments outside the authority of the International Tennis Federation.

The IOC also went directly after President Vladimir Putin, who turned the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics into a personal project. Putin’s golden Olympic Order, which was awarded in 2001, has been withdrawn, the IOC said in a statement.

The Olympic body’s call also applied to athletes and official from Belarus, which has abetted Russia’s invasion by allowing its territory to be used to station troops and launch military attacks.

The IOC said it acted “with a heavy heart,” but noted that the impact of war on Ukrainian sports and athletes who cannot now take part in competitions outweighed the potential damage done to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

It was not a total blanket ban by the IOC, which also did not specifically suspend the national Olympic committees of Russia and Belarus.

Where exclusion was “not possible on short notice for organizational or legal reasons,” then teams from Russia and Belarus should compete as neutral athletes with no national flag, anthem or symbols, including at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing, the IOC said.

Russian Olympic committee leader Stanislav Pozdnyakov said in a statement “there is only one comment to make — we categorically disagree,” adding it would help national federations to challenge “discriminatory rulings.”

Sports bodies across Europe already had moved against Russia on Monday by refusing to host or play against its teams.

Finland wants the Russian hockey team banned from the men’s world championships it will host in May, the Swiss soccer federation said its women’s team will not play Russia in July at the European Championship, and German soccer club Schalke said it had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Gazprom.

In the World Cup, Russia’s potential future opponents Sweden and the Czech Republic had joined Poland saying they would refuse to take the field. The World Cup is scheduled to begin Nov. 21 in Qatar.

FIFA had tried to compromise Sunday by suggesting Russia play at neutral venues without its flag and anthem and under the “Football Union of Russia” name.

That aligned with sanctions imposed by CAS in December 2020 to punish Russia for state-backed doping and cover-ups of cheating, and applied at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Winter Games in Beijing.

Polish soccer federation president Cezary Kulesza said Sunday it was “totally unacceptable” that FIFA had not immediately expelled Russia from World Cup qualifying and said Poland is “not interested in participating in this game of appearances.”

Another future opponent, Albania, also said Sunday it would not play against Russia in any sports. Russia and Albania are scheduled to meet twice in June in the UEFA Nations League soccer tournament.

In hockey, the sport’s governing body has come under pressure from Finland and Switzerland to ban Russia and Belarus, both due to play at the world championships in May in Helsinki and Tampere.

Finnish Hockey Association chairman Harri Nummela said in a statement Monday it had talks with the Zurich-based IIHF to exclude the two countries from the sport internationally.

Read More

GENEVA — In a sweeping move to isolate and condemn Russia after invading Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee urged sports bodies on Monday to exclude the country’s athletes and officials from international events.

The IOC said it was needed to “protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all the participants.”

The decision opened the way for FIFA, the governing body of soccer, to exclude Russia from a World Cup qualifying playoff match on March 24. Poland has refused to play the scheduled game against Russia.

The Olympic body’s call also applied to athletes and official from Belarus, which has abetted Russia’s invasion by allowing its territory to be used to station troops and launch military attacks.

The IOC said it acted “with a heavy heart” but the impact of war on Ukrainian sports outweighed the potential damage done to athletes from Russia and Belarus.

It was not a total blanket ban by the IOC. Where exclusion was “not possible on short notice for organizational or legal reasons,” then teams from Russia and Belarus should compete as neutral athletes with no national flag, anthem or symbols, including at the upcoming Winter Paralympics in Beijing.

The IOC also withdrew the Olympic Order it gave Vladimir Putin in 2001, and other Russian officials since.

Sports bodies across Europe had already moved against Russia on Monday by refusing to host or play against teams from the country.

Finland wants the Russian hockey team to be banned from the men’s world championships it will host in May, the Swiss soccer federation said its women’s team will not play Russia in July at the European Championship, and German soccer club Schalke said it had decided to end its longstanding partnership with Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.

FIFA declined to ban Russia from the World Cup over the weekend. Instead, the soccer body said the country’s national team will have to compete as Football Union of Russia as punishment. Besides Poland, both Sweden and the Czech Republic, Russia’s next potential opponents, have said they would refuse to take the field against them.

“The Swedish Football Association is disappointed with FIFA’s decision but is determined to continue to work together with other federations to cancel Russia’s matches in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers,” the body said Monday, citing the “illegal and deeply unjust invasion of Ukraine.”

The World Cup is scheduled to begin on Nov. 21 in Qatar.

In European club soccer, Russian team Spartak Moscow is still scheduled to play next week in the Europa League against German club Leipzig. European governing body UEFA allowed Spartak to take its place in the round of 16 draw on Friday, one day after Putin ordered the invasion to start.

UEFA called a meeting of its executive committee for later Monday and is expected to exclude Russian teams from its competitions based on the IOC’s announcement.

There is precedent for removing Russian teams from sports. In 1992, following United Nations sanctions, FIFA and UEFA expelled Yugoslavia from its competitions when war broke out in the Balkans.

Besides Schalke’s effort to drop Gazprom as a partner, UEFA is also expected to see if it can nullify its sponsorship deals with the company. Gazprom sponsors both the Champions League and the European Championship.

FIFA has attracted the most criticism among sports bodies for allowing Russia to continue competing, at least for now, in the World Cup qualifying playoffs. It has kept open the option of a ban.

FIFA attempted to compromise by ordering Russia to play at neutral venues without its flag and anthem and under the name of its federation — the Football Union of Russia.

That aligns with sanctions imposed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in December 2020 to punish Russia for state-backed doping and cover-ups of cheating, and applied at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Winter Games in Beijing.

The Russian soccer team was already due to play under those conditions if they qualified for the World Cup because of the doping scandals. FIFA’s decision to apply the conditions to a regional sports event — European qualification games — is the only element of punishment for the war.

If Russia were to play Poland as scheduled on March 24 and win, the team would then face either Sweden or the Czech Republic on March 29.

Swedish soccer federation president Karl-Erik Nilsson, who is also the senior vice president at UEFA, said Sunday he expected a “sharper stance” from FIFA.

Polish soccer federation president Cezary Kulesza said Sunday it was “totally unacceptable” that FIFA had not immediately expelled Russia from World Cup qualifying and said Poland is “not interested in participating in this game of appearances.”

Another of Russia’s future opponents, Albania, also said Sunday it would not play against that country in any sports. Russia and Albania are scheduled to meet twice in June in the UEFA Nations League soccer tournament. The group also includes Iceland and Israel.

In hockey, the sport’s governing body has come under pressure from Finland and Switzerland to ban Russia and Belarus, which are both due to play at the world championships in May in Helsinki and Tampere.

Finnish Hockey Association chairman Harri Nummela said in a statement Monday it had talks with the Zurich-based IIHF to exclude the two countries from the sport internationally.

Read More

A 16-year-old boy was fatally shot near the Grand Red Line station on the Near North Side early Monday, and hours later more gunfire rang out inside the station.

The fatal shooting happened around 2 a.m. in the first block of East Grand Avenue, police said.

Vadarrion A. Knight, from the West Lawn neighborhood, was shot twice in his chest and once in the knee, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. A gunman was seen running from the scene.

Hours later, gunfire rang out inside the station during the morning rush. A man was exiting the train platform at 9 a.m. when an argument turned physical, police said. Someone hit the man in the forehead with a firearm and fired two shots, but no one was struck by the bullets, police said.

The man, 30, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and stabilized, police said.

No one was in custody in either incident.

Monday’s shooting was the first murder reported on the Near North Side this year, according to police data.

There have been four other shootings in the community area this year, one of them only a block away from Monday’s shooting. On Feb. 1, a man was shot in the 100 block of East Grand Avenue shortly before 1 a.m., police said.

Read More

After a loss at home to Philadelphia on February 6, DeMar DeRozan was asked about his preference on Chicago’s trade deadline approach.

“We’re missing Lonzo Ball, one of the top point guards in the league. Alex Caruso, one of the best defenders in this league. Patrick Williams, one of the young starts in this league…we don’t need to worry or stress about having nobody else,” DeRozan responded.

As it turned out, executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas must have felt similarly, as the deadline of February 10 came and went without a move from the Bulls.

Although there were no blockbuster trades for Chicago, the Bulls swooped in on Tristan Thompson after he was bought out by Indiana, signing him on February 19 for the remainder of this season. He comes with an impressive resume, including five seasons with playoff appearances and an NBA title with Cleveland in 2016.

When asked about Thompson after the signing, head coach Billy Donovan said, “certainly the size and the physicality and the presence of him in that second unit is gonna really help. He has been a really good rim protector, he’s been a really, really good rebounder, he’s been a really good pick-and-roll defender, he’s been a good screener and roller.”

Chicago has used Tony Bradley in the backup center role for most of the season, with sprinkles of Tyler Cook and Patrick Williams mixed in. Each brought different skillsets to the table, but Thompson should provide a clear upgrade over all three of those options. Listed at 6’9” and 254 pounds, he has never been afraid to throw his weight around and has long been an excellent rebounder in the league, particularly on the offensive end. As recently as the 2019-2020 campaign, Thompson finished third in the NBA with 4.0 offensive rebounds per game, just behind Andre Drummond and Clint Capela.

In his first game with the Bulls against Atlanta on Thursday, Thompson snared a pair of offensive rebounds in just 13 minutes. In the clip below, Trae Young bounces off him before Thompson bullies Onyeka Okongwu under the basket in grabbing DeRozan’s missed jumper, eventually drawing an Okongwu foul and earning a pair of free throws. In contests as tight as Thursday’s meeting with the Hawks, of which the Bulls should expect plenty come playoff time, extra possessions can mean the difference between winning or losing.

As Donovan noted, Thompson can also still get the job done as a screen-and-roll partner as well. Although he is not as quick or explosive as he was earlier in his career, he never relied much on those attributes anyways. He is savvy around the rim, taking his time to carve out space and finish with either hand. And, as he showed Thursday, he can still finish above the basket when he gets enough of a runway.

Defensively, Thompson is not the fleetest of foot but relies on his experience and length (7’1” wingspan) to compensate. He has never been much of a shot blocker, averaging just 0.9 swats per 36 minutes in his career, but is still showing decent ability to deter attempts at the rim. Last year, players shot 7.7% worse than average against him on shots closer than six feet.

Some of Thompson’s biggest contributions, at least according to him, may be some of the little plays that are not reflected in a box score.

““Part of my niche and what’s helped me be part of some really good teams, and some great teams, is my energy… It’s something the team can rely on night in, night out…whether it’s a dunk, or a big offensive rebound, or they call a loose ball foul, or a blocked shot — whatever it may be — whatever can get our team going and get us riled up to go on a run, that’s what I’m about. And I’m all about winning”.

Despite only participating in one practice with Chicago before Thursday’s game, Thompson clearly has Donovan’s trust already, playing 13 minutes in the win against the Hawks, and another 16 against Memphis on Saturday. Bulls’ fans can expect Thompson’s role to continue to increase. He will certainly be on the floor for some crucial minutes in the postseason and, as he has done before, could end up swinging a series in his team’s direction.

Check out our Chicago Bulls forum for the latest on the team as they head into a playoff run.

Make sure to check out our Bulls forum for the latest on the team.

Read More