Chicago Sports

Does “Chicago” still have that old razzle-dazzle?

That’s the crucial question on which the 25th anniversary tour of the nearly 50-year-old musical hangs its Fossefied hat, through Jan. 29 at the CIBC Theatre.

Inarguably, the show with a score by legendary composer John Kander, book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse, and lyrics by Ebb, has remarkable staying power.

The anniversary tour production is based on a 1996 Broadway reboot of the show’s original staging, directed and choreographed by Fosse in 1975. Fosse’s work looms large here, in director Tania Nardini’s and choreographer Gary Chryst’s “recreation,” just as it did over that reboot by the director/choreographer team of Walter Bobbie and Ann Reinking.

Still, this “Chicago” is more facsimile than replica of its quarter-century-old inspiration. It’s looking a bit frayed around its sleek, sinewy edges. It remains an entertaining rendition of a brilliant show, but the razzle-dazzle is a few sequins short.

More than anything, the decadent story of “Chicago” (based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins) is a satire on pop culture’s endlessly lurid with fascination with, per the show’s opening line, “murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery and treachery — all those things we hold near and dear to our hearts.”

The plot follows aspiring showgirls and celebrity murderesses Velma Kelly (Logan Floyd) and Roxie Hart (Katie Frieden) through bedrooms, dance halls, gin joints, courtrooms, jails and press conferences, as they navigate the fickle hand of fate, angling for fame and fortune in Roaring ’20s Chicago.

Velma and Roxie become archrivals in the hoosegow, each competing to curry the favor of Matron “Mama” Morton (Christina Wells) and smooth-talking lawyer Billy Flynn (Jeff Brooks).

The Sidney Sheldon-worthy plot is a fine showcase for Kander’s wickedly delightful score, which features deservedly iconic standards including “Mr. Cellophane” (delivered with real pathos by Brian Kalinowski as Roxie’s hapless husband Amos), the ever-popular “Cell Block Tango,” “Razzle Dazzle,” and “When You’re Good to Mama,” which on opening night suffered an audio cut-out; after a seven-minute hold, Wells got a do-over and belted it out with aplomb.

The moral of “Chicago”? Money can buy you freedom and fame; guilt and innocence are beside the point. It’s a lesson another accused murderess, the Hungarian immigrant Hunyak (Liz Lester), learns in the show’s singularly harrowing scene, when her sentence to hang for her crime puts an abrupt — if not unjust — end to her passionate claims of “Not Guilty” and her insistence that Uncle Sam never harms the innocent.

That said, the current crop of headline-hungry, merry murderesses acquit themselves fairly well. Frieden’s Roxie is appropriately bubbly and thirsty, a flapper willing to take on any role — convent schoolgirl, hapless victim, ventriloquist’s dummy, doting mother-to-be — to reach celebrity status. Floyd’s Velma is a hardened sophisticate by comparison, an ill-fated gig in Cicero having opened her eyes to the world’s cruel faithlessness. Both actors are fine if not unforgettable in the long pantheon of Velmas and Roxies.

The ensemble numbers are the showstoppers here, never so much as in “Razzle Dazzle,” which turns a Chicago courtroom into a circus complete with lions, acrobats and clowns. Vocally it’s not impeccable — Billy Flynn’s smooth tenor needs to be velvet and Brooks’ voice is more velour, but the ensemble of glittery grifters drives the point home beautifully.

The choreography for “Chicago” has ever been defined by slick, seamless sensuality and joyful debauchery. Here, the seams sometimes show and the glee seems less than spontaneous. It is workmanlike delivery, solid but not exceptional.

In the end, this “Chicago” isn’t a replica so much as a mimeograph of the original — you can see still the brilliance of the original, but it’s lost some luster and sharpness in translation.

Read More

The old movie place on 79th Street in Avalon Park has sat mostly vacant since 2003, but the theater still looks like something out of a movie set.

“It’s ornate, it’s got beautiful tilework,” says Eleanor Truex, who lives in Flossmoor and occasionally, when traffic is bad, gets off the expressway and drives past the old Avalon Regal Theater, which was built in the 1920s as an eclectic entertainment venue.

This theater has had many names and many incarnations. It opened with live performances, but less than a decade later, shifted to mostly showing films.

Later, it became a church — before coming full circle as a live performing space in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting mostly African American artists, including Ray Charles, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Patti LaBelle and Tupac.

The Avalon Regal Theater closed to the public in 2003 for reasons including low attendance and high maintenance costs.

Since then, there have been a few notable events in the theater, like President Barack Obama’s first Election Night presidential victory celebration. And it’s a regular stop on the Chicago Architecture Center’s annual Open House Chicago tours.

Several owners have tried to restore the building to its past grandeur, including its current owner, Jerald Gary of Community Capital Investment. Gary’s dream is to transform the space into a hub of art and culture on 79th Street.

“I’m taken aback every time I enter the building, and I notice something new every time I walk in to the building,” says Gary, who grew up near the theater.

But getting the Avalon Regal to reopen has been a real saga. His ownership of the theater is hanging by a thread.

‘Atmospheric’ design

Built in 1927, the theater was originally called the Avalon Theater. Architect John Eberson, a leader of “atmospheric” theater style, designed the building to make people feel like they were immersed in a magical place. It was inspired by something he found at an antique store.

“He comes across an incense burner from Persia, and he’s looking at this intricate metal work and all of the geometry and detail in this artifact,” says Adam Rubin, director of interpretation at the Chicago Architecture Center. “That was part of the inspiration.”

The floor-to-ceiling mosaics and decorative latticework offer glamorous touches. The ceiling in the main lobby looks like a flying carpet with embedded colorful rocks that sparkle, giving people the impression they are on a movie set.

“It’s kind of something that has a kitsch factor before we use the term kitsch factor,” Rubin says.

The auditorium, where the main stage is, has about 2,300 velvet seats in rows across the first floor and balcony. The awning above the stage evokes a circus tent, giving people the impression they are camped out under the stars.

When Eberson was designing the building, people were moving to big cities like Chicago from the South and Europe. The surrounding area was predominantly German, Swedish and Irish.

Rubin says that Americans who fought in Europe in World War I had seen the destruction of Gothic churches and other historic architecture and that creating theaters like the Avalon was, in part, a way for architects and builders to process trauma from the war.

From animal acts to Westerns (1920s-1960s)

“Because the big theaters were so important, the major companies made them opulent to attract patrons, not simply through the films being shown but through the promise of an exciting moviegoing experience,” Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell write in their book “Film History: An Introduction.””The architecture of the picture palaces gave working- and middle-class patrons an unaccustomed taste of luxury.”

According to advertisements in the Chicago Daily Tribune, the theater showed films and live performances in its early years. An ad from 1929 announced a screening of the Western film “In Old Arizona,” with stage performances by singer Roy Detrich and vaudeville performer Charlie Crafts.

In 1935, the theater hosted vaudeville entertainer “Little Jackie” Heller, an animal act featuring Proske’s Royal Bengal Tigers and a screening of the film “Imitation of Life” starring Lana Turner, according to an ad.

By the 1940s, the theater shifted almost exclusively to showing movies, from musical comedies to adventure war films.

Regal rebirth (1980s-2000s)

After a brief stint as a church in the early 1980s, the theater took on a new life once again.

That’s when Soft Sheen business owners Edward Gardner and Bettiann Gardner bought it and poured money into the theater to revive it as a cultural gathering space. The neighborhood around 79th Street then was largely African American.

“We spent a lot of money there, but it was to bring art entertainment into the inner city,” Edward Gardner said in a 1993 interview archived by The History Makers website. “It’s certainly not a money-maker.”

The Gardners renamed the venue the New Regal Theater in honor of a popular music spot in Bronzeville that had been torn down. The building was designated a Chicago landmark in 1992.

Robert Howell, who is in his 50s and is the theater’s current caretaker, grew up in this area and remembers the thrill of attending events there, including seeing Tyler Perry and George Clinton perform.

“Every time we came here was a new adventure,” Howell says. “Every time I came here was somebody iconic that I wanted to see.”

After 18 years of live shows, the Gardners closed the theater in 2003. Attendance had been dwindling for years as people moved away from the neighborhood and businesses closed. Since then, the building largely has sat dormant.

Uncertain future

Jerald Gary has been on a mission to reopen the Avalon Regal Theater since he purchased it for $100,000 in 2014. He says he believes the closing of the theater played a big role in the decline of the neighborhood.

“The area was bustling when the theater was open,” he says. “As you can imagine, there were a number of different businesses that rely on the building being in operation. And, at this time on the block, the only business that is open is a liquor store.”

Gary’s vision is to help turn 79th Street into a version of Beale Street, the entertainment district in Memphis known as the home of the blues. He wants the theater to be an arts community center.

But buying the building and dreaming about the possibilities is the easy part.

Gary has been tackling issues including renovations, repairs and meeting building code requirements.

It’s a lot more difficult to restore an old theater than it is to build a new one, says Jerry Mickelson, who runs the Riviera and Vic theaters. Mickelson has been trying for years to reopen the Uptown Theatre, a 1920s jewel.

In general, rehabbing old theaters is complicated, Mickelson says. First, there are all of the costs for electrical, plumbing, elevators, air conditioning and heat. Then comes the city’s permitting process. And then you have to raise all of the money, he says.

“It’s very expensive,” Mickelson says. “I just spent last year $5 million on the Riviera Theatre to do some work, and I’m not done.”

Gary has had a similar experience at the Avalon Regal Theater. He’s been working to raise money for years with some success, including getting about $600,000 from rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. He’s also received federal money under the Payment Protection Program and rental fees from production companies that have filmed there.

But he says that isn’t enough to pay for upkeep or the investments the building requires. Also, he owes about $650,000 to Cook County in back property taxes, with a payment due in March to avoid the possibility of losing the building.

He says funding is difficult to get, especially in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

“I think the stigma is … a negative perception that people have on investing in Black communities, except for Black people themselves,” Gary says. “And even, at times, there are folks who live in the community that, because of the despair they see … and all of the boarded-up businesses, want to give up.”

The corridor on 79th Street that Gary wants to help revitalize has been selected by the city as an area for investment. But that hasn’t proved to be a boon to the theater. The city has turned down several applications from Gary for assistance.

Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner of the city Department of Planning and Development, says, “Priority is given to proposals that demonstrate a high level of project readiness, ownership experience, private financing and other factors.”

Mickelson says there should be more support for old theaters like the Avalon Regal.

“Our buildings are the art that we’re trying to preserve,” Mickelson says. “And it’s not art hanging on a wall. It’s art in a ceiling, it’s art in a floor. It’s art in the way the washrooms are designed. It’s art in any aspect of these beautiful, old movie palaces.”

Read More

The old movie place on 79th Street in South Shore has sat mostly vacant since 2003, but the theater still looks like something out of a movie set.

“It’s ornate, it’s got beautiful tilework,” says Eleanor Truex, who lives in Flossmoor and occasionally, when traffic is bad, gets off the expressway and drives past the old Avalon Regal Theater, which was built in the 1920s as an eclectic entertainment venue.

This theater has had many names and many incarnations. It opened with live performances but, less than a decade later, shifted to mostly showing films.

Later, it became a church — before coming full circle as a live performing space in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting mostly African American artists including Ray Charles, B.B. King, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Patti LaBelle and Tupac.

The Avalon Regal Theater closed to the public in 2003 for reasons including low attendance and high maintenance costs.

Since then, there have been a few notable events in the theater, like President Barack Obama’s first election night presidential victory celebration. And it’s a regular stop on the Chicago Architecture Center’s annual Open House Chicago tours.

Several owners have tried to restore the building to its past grandeur, including its current owner Jerald Gary of Community Capital Investment. Gary’s dream is to transform the space into a hub of art and culture on 79th Street.

“I’m taken aback every time I enter the building, and I notice something new every time I walk in to the building,” says Gary, who grew up near the theater.

But getting the Avalon Regal to reopen has been a real saga. His ownership of the theater is currently hanging by a thread.

‘Atmospheric’ design

Built in 1927, the theater was originally called the Avalon Theater. Architect John Eberson, a leader of “atmospheric” theater style, designed the building to make people feel like they were immersed in a magical place. It was inspired by something he found at an antique store.

“He comes across an incense burner from Persia, and he’s looking at this intricate metal work and all of the geometry and detail in this artifact,” says Adam Rubin, director of interpretation at the Chicago Architecture Center. “That was part of the inspiration.”

The floor-to-ceiling mosaics and decorative latticework offer glamorous touches. The ceiling in the main lobby looks like a flying carpet with embedded colorful rocks that sparkle, giving people the impression they are in a movie set.

“It’s kind of something that has a kitsch factor before we use the term kitsch factor,” Rubin says.

The auditorium, where the main stage is, has about 2,300 velvet seats in rows across the first floor and balcony. The awning above the stage evokes a circus tent, giving people the impression they are camped out under the stars.

When Eberson was designing the building, people were moving to big cities like Chicago from the South and Europe. South Shore was predominantly German, Swedish and Irish.

Rubin says that Americans who fought in Europe in World War I had seen the destruction of Gothic churches and other historic architecture and that creating theaters like the Avalon was, in part, a way for architects and builders to process trauma from the war.

From animal acts to Westerns (1920s-1960s)

“Because the big theaters were so important, the major companies made them opulent to attract patrons, not simply through the films being shown but through the promise of an exciting moviegoing experience,” Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell write in their book “Film History: An Introduction.””The architecture of the picture palaces gave working- and middle-class patrons an unaccustomed taste of luxury.”

According to advertisements in the Chicago Daily Tribune, the theater showed films and live performances in its early years. An ad from 1929 announced a screening of the Western film “In Old Arizona,” with stage performances by singer Roy Detrich and vaudeville performer Charlie Crafts.

In 1935, the theater hosted vaudeville entertainer “Little Jackie” Heller, an animal act featuring Proske’s Royal Bengal Tigers and a screening of the film “Imitation of Life” starring Lana Turner, according to an ad.

By the 1940s, the theater shifted almost exclusively to showing movies, from musical comedies to adventure war films.

Regal rebirth (1980s-2000s)

After a brief stint as a church in the early 1980s, the theater took on a new life once again.

That’s when Soft Sheen business owners Edward Gardner and Bettiann Gardner bought it and poured money into the theater to revive it as a cultural gathering space. The neighborhood around 79th Street then was largely African American.

“We spent a lot of money there, but it was to bring art entertainment into the inner city,” Edward Gardner said in a 1993 interview archived by The History Makers website. “It’s certainly not a money-maker.”

The Gardners renamed the venue the New Regal Theater in honor of a popular music spot in Bronzeville that had been torn down. The building was designated a Chicago landmark in 1992.

Robert Howell, who is in his 50s and is the theater’s current caretaker, grew up in this area and remembers the thrill of attending events there, including seeing Tyler Perry and George Clinton perform.

“Every time we came here was a new adventure,” Howell says. “Every time I came here was somebody iconic that I wanted to see.”

After 18 years of live shows, the Gardners closed the theater in 2003. Attendance had been dwindling for years as people moved away from the neighborhood and businesses closed. Since then, the building largely has sat dormant.

Uncertain future

Jerald Gary has been on a mission to reopen the Avalon Regal Theater since he purchased it for $100,000 in 2014. He says he believes the closing of the theater played a big role in the decline of the neighborhood.

“The area was bustling when the theater was open,” he says. “As you can imagine, there were a number of different businesses that rely on the building being in operation. And, at this time on the block, the only business that is open is a liquor store.”

Gary’s vision is to help turn 79th Street into a version of Beale Street, the entertainment district in Memphis known as the home of the blues. He wants the theater to be an arts community center.

But buying the building and dreaming about the possibilities is the easy part.

These days, Gary’s been tackling issues including renovations, repairs and meeting building code requirements.

It’s a lot more difficult to restore an old theater than it is to build a new one, says Jerry Mickelson, who runs the Riviera and Vic theaters. Mickelson has been trying for years to reopen the Uptown Theatre, a 1920s jewel.

In general, rehabbing old theaters is complicated, Mickelson says. First, there are all of the costs for electrical, plumbing, elevators, air conditioning and heat. Then comes the city’s permitting process. And then you have to raise all of the money, he says.

“It’s very expensive,” Mickelson says. “I just spent last year $5 million on the Riviera Theatre to do some work, and I’m not done.”

Gary has had a similar experience at the Avalon Regal Theater. He’s been working to raise money for years with some success, including getting about $600,000 from rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West. He’s also received federal money under the Payment Protection Program and rental fees from production companies that have filmed there.

But he says that isn’t enough to pay for upkeep or the investments the building requires. Also, he owes about $650,000 to Cook County in back property taxes, with a payment due in March to avoid the possibility of losing the building.

He says funding is difficult to get, especially in predominantly Black neighborhoods.

“I think the stigma is … a negative perception that people have on investing in Black communities, except for Black people themselves,” Gary says. “And even, at times, there are folks who live in the community that, because of the despair they see … and all of the boarded-up businesses, want to give up.”

The corridor on 79th Street that Gary wants to help revitalize has been selected by the city as an area for investment. But that hasn’t proved to be a boon to the theater. The city has turned down several applications from Gary for assistance.

Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner of the city Department of Planning and Development, says, “Priority is given to proposals that demonstrate a high level of project readiness, ownership experience, private financing and other factors.”

Mickelson says there should be more support for old theaters like the Avalon Regal.

“Our buildings are the art that we’re trying to preserve,” Mickelson says. “And it’s not art hanging on a wall. It’s art in a ceiling, it’s art in a floor. It’s art in the way the washrooms are designed. It’s art in any aspect of these beautiful, old movie palaces.”

Read More

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Iowa men’s basketball game against Northwestern has been rescheduled for Jan. 31 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the schools announced Thursday.

The game originally was to be played Wednesday in Iowa City but was postponed due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols within the Northwestern program.

All distributed tickets for the Northwestern-Iowa contest will be valid for the new date.

Northwestern is scheduled to play at home against Wisconsin on Saturday. Iowa plays at Ohio State on Saturday.

Read More

The annual When Sides Collide Shootout organized by the City/Suburban Hoops Report has provided a platform for players and a big stage for highly-ranked teams for over a decade.

There was the epic Jalen Brunson-Tyler Ulis matchup in 2014 which remains the signature game in the history of this event. Brunson scored 32 to lead Stevenson to a win over Marian Catholic and Ulis (23 points).

There was Naperville North’s stunning come-from-behind, overtime upset over No. 2 ranked Evanston and Nojel Eastern in 2017.

The top two players in their class clashed in 2018. Morgan Park’s Adam Miller put on a memorable show when he buried eight consecutive three-pointers en route to 9 of 11 from beyond the arc in a highly-touted matchup with Fenwick’s DJ Steward as sophomores.

The 2020 event brought together a hyped Max Christie-Bryce Hopkins battle — Hopkins scored 37 and Christie 31 — along with Bloom’s high-flying dunk show vs. Evanston in a crowd-pleasing performance.

Last year the Glenbard West-Young showdown before a standing-room-only crowd was a preview of what would transpire two months later in the Class 4A state championship game.

But on paper, from top to bottom, the 2023 version of When Sides Collide this Saturday at Benet may have the deepest and best lineup it’s ever assembled. The event will bring together each of the top four teams in the Super 25 rankings and seven of the top nine.

When you add Moline, a state-ranked Class 4A program with two Big Ten recruits, it’s a day of basketball where each of the top six teams in the most recent Class 4A AP statewide rankings will be in the gym together. And that list doesn’t even include Simeon, the No. 2 ranked team in Class 3A.

You want big names? The state’s three best senior college prospects, Cameron Christie of Rolling Meadows, Jeremy Fears, Jr., of Joliet West and Darrin “Dai Dai” Ames of Kenwood, will all be on display. In total, eight of the top nine prospects in the Class of 2023 will be playing in the event.

The state’s best uncommitted senior, Young’ Daniel Johnson, will have another opportunity to shine, while fans will get a look at the top-ranked sophomore, Joliet West’s Jeremiah Fears.

Here is a preview of the four games that will take place this Saturday at Benet.

No. 6 Rolling Meadows (19-2) vs. No. 7 Brother Rice (19-2), 2:30 p.m.

The star of the show for Rolling Meadows is Christie. The Minnesota recruit has been sensational, averaging 24 points, six rebounds and four assists a game. He scores every way imaginable and has the size, length and shot mechanics to get his shot off when he wants.

When you combine the 6-6 Christie with 6-8 versatile big man Mark Nikolich-Wilson, who puts up 12 points, eight rebounds and five assists a game, 6-7 shooter Tsvet Sotirov (11 ppg), 6-6 Ian Miletic (9 ppg) and powerful 6-4 Foster Ogbonna (8 ppg), there are a surplus of scoring options.

The offensive potency and efficiency of Rolling Meadows is as dynamic as any team in Illinois. The blowout win over Evanston last weekend is a case in point. The Mustangs shot 59 percent from the three-point line (16 of 27).

Their eFG percentage (effective field goal percentage) was a ridiculous 79 percent; any eFG percentage of 50 percent or higher is considered good.

The shooting, size and experience coach Kevin Katovich’s team plays with is typically a matchup nightmare for opponents. Rolling Meadows has just two losses all season — by a combined three points to two highly-ranked teams. And one loss came without Sotirov playing and the other with Christie having an off night shooting.

Brother Rice hasn’t missed a beat in coach Conte Stamas’ first year on the job. The Crusaders boast an 18-point win over Curie and have beaten Bolingbrook and Bloom.

Brother Rice’s Ahmad Henderson is capable of playing at an extremely high level at the point guard position. That’s a great starting point. The Niagara recruit leads the Crusaders with 16.4 points a game while playing with a moxie that brings comfort in closing out games.

Khalil Ross, a veteran 6-7 senior, averages 11.6 points, while Zavier Fitch (6 ppg) and Cole Cosme (5.7 ppg) have been two younger players who have been more and more instrumental as the season has played out.

The pick: Rolling Meadows 66, Brother Rice 59

No. 3 Young (16-4) vs. No. 9 Joliet West (15-5), 4 p.m.

Young heads into the When Sides Collide Shootout with just one in-state loss — to Kenwood. And that came way back in November. That sounds familiar to past years as the Dolphins play a wealthy list of top-notch out-of-state opponents.

Coach Tyrone Slaughter’s team is playing well. They knocked off St. Rita and took care of Kenwood in a December rematch to win the Proviso West Holiday Tournament. This is their first big test since then.

Joliet West has played a very strong schedule and by now are well prepared for anything thrown its way. The Tigers have wins over Metamora, St. Rita and Rolling Meadows on the r?sum?. But with losses to Kenwood, Benet, Curie and Oswego East, Joliet West is primed and ready for another shot at nabbing a marquee win.

There is no ignoring the point guard battle that will evolve and be entertaining to watch over 32 minutes. Michigan State recruit Jeremy Fears, Jr. of Joliet West and Young’s Dalen Davis, who has signed with Princeton, are two elite players in the senior class.

But it’s been Johnson, Young’s 6-6 senior, who has been a breakout star this season. Johnson is putting up 19.3 points a game and has been his best in the biggest games. The best unsigned senior in the state, Johnson was MVP of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament.

Slowing down the Fears brothers in the backcourt — Jeremy and Jeremiah combine to average 37 points and 10 assists a game — will be priority No. 1 for the Dolphins. Justus McNair, a 6-3 junior guard, is another double-figure scorer at 11 points a game.

The pick: Young 62, Joliet West 59

No. 2 Simeon (17-1) vs. Moline (18-2), 6 p.m.

The No. 2 team in Class 3A takes on the No. 4 team in Class 4A. Both Simeon and Moline have eyes on a bigger prize: playing for a state championship in Champaign this March. This is a regular season state-level type matchup that will prepare both for long state tournament runs.

Simeon has played a rugged schedule and has just one hiccup through two months — a three-point home loss to now No. 1 Kenwood last week. The Wolverines have received outstanding guard play from Jalen Griffith. He’s been a catalyst in coach Robert Smith’s final season.

While Griffith has been the glue, the combination of 6-9 Loyola recruit Miles Rubin and 6-9 Northern Iowa-bound Wesley Rubin have been the anchors. They are a pair of big men that complement each other so well.

Simeon is loaded with Division I talent — don’t forget about the athletic 6-5 Sam Lewis, who is headed to Toledo, and Stony Brook recruit Kaiden Space in the backcourt — but it’s a team with balance and togetherness.

Moline boasts two Big Ten recruits: point guard Brock Harding and 6-10 Owen Freeman. Both are headed to Iowa and put up numbers.

Harding, who is averaging 18.1 points and 5.1 assists a game, is a table-setter who can get to any spot on the court and oozes confidence. Freeman (18.8 ppg, 9.4 rpg) is a 6-10 rim-runner who puts up regular double-doubles.

Moline is fresh off an eye-opening win over state-ranked East St. Louis last weekend. The Maroons crushed the Flyers 77-53 as the Harding-Freeman tandem combined for 47 points.

Harding and Freeman will need all the support they can get from the supporting cast, including Grant Welch (8.6 ppg) and Trey Taylor (7.8 ppg).

The pick: Simeon 66, Moline 58

No. 1 Kenwood (16-2) vs. No. 4 Benet (20-1), 7:30 p.m.

This has the makings — or at least the potential — of being a special game. Benet and its rowdy, loud crowd will welcome the No. 1 team into its gym. There are contrasting styles to watch and enjoy.

Kenwood averages over 70 points a game; Benet has allowed only one team all season to reach 60 points.

Benet’s No. 4 ranking, the win over Joliet West and the three-point loss to Simeon should help coach Mike Irvin in grabbing the attention of his team. And if that doesn’t, the energy in the gym at the tip surely will.

Kenwood is absolutely loaded. There is size and strength, elite athletes and Division I talent up and down the roster, starting with Kansas State recruit Ames. He teams up with guard Tyler Smith to form a very good backcourt.

Ames is the type of experienced, high-octane guard who can take over a game. But it’s also the exact type of player Benet has historically slowed down over the years with its pinching halfcourt defense.

The margin of error for Benet will be slim because of the size and athletic disadvantage. Can Benet keep the likes of 6-10 Jaden Smith, 6-5 uber-athlete Calvin Robins and 6-7 Solomon Mosley off the glass? Can Benet handle Kenwood’s pressure, athleticism and, particularly, the size and length the Broncos bring to the table? Can Kenwood turn it into a track meet?

A lot will be in the hands of Benet’s steady point guard Brayden Fagbemi. He remains one of the best-kept secrets in the state. Niko Abusara, a Dartmouth recruit and a player who brings size and athleticism to the mix, and hard-nosed Brady Kunka have been rock solid.

Kenwood will win, but in a hostile road environment that will make this team better by who and where they’re playing.

The pick: Kenwood 67, Benet 58

Read More

The Chicago Bears have finally solved the biggest problem in the franchise’s history and finally got the quarterback position right with Justin Fields, haven’t they?

Hub Arkush won’t budge off of his criticism of Justin Fields and doubled down on it Tuesday by calling Fields one of the more overrated players in the league this year.  

“Justin Fields is a really interesting prospect, the problem is after a few years he’s still a prospect. He was one of the more overrated players in the league this year.  You can’t ignore the fact that the two years he’s become the starter the Bears have finished 30th and now 32nd in the league in passing yards, and you’re just not going to win Super Bowls that way.”

Hub went on to talk about the struggles that surround the entire offense with the lack of talent and players around Justin Fields and that also needs to improve but stated emphatically.

“I don’t see an NFL passer yet, he’s not seeing the field the way he needs to, he’s still not making the throws at the right time to the right spot that he needs to.  But he’s not even close to a sure thing.”

Justin Fields is still a massive work in progress, but unfortunately for the Bears, none of the other QBs in the league project as being worth the number one overall pick either.  So what happens?  Will a team trade up to draft Bryce Young ahead of the Texans?  Is Bryce Young that much better than C.J. Stroud or Will Levis that a team won’t sit and wait for them to fall to their draft spot later in the draft ala Fields at 11 or Kenny Pickett a year ago?

If none of the QBs grade out high enough, there might not be a team that trades up with the Bears and gives them the haul of draft picks they need to build up the team around Justin Fields.  If the Bears can’t build up the talent around Fields they’re doomed to more mediocrity.

What is absolutely clear however most long-time NFL observers (myself included) all agree that Justin Fields isn’t the QB of the future for the Bears, and may never be.

Read More

PARIS – DeMar DeRozan wouldn’t trade the experience he’s had with his four daughters and son in Paris the last week for anything.

At the same time, however, it’s also had him thinking about his basketball mortality and how much longer he wants to play in the NBA.

Drafted in 2009, the 33-year-old DeRozan was informed on Thursday that he’s played in more NBA games than anyone else in that class, and played in the fifth-most games overall in that span.

“I did not know that,” DeRozan said. “I mean, I just said it without knowing: I always pride myself on that. I was a kid who always wanted to play every recess at school, every AAU game when you play five games in a day. I just always wanted to hoop. That’s always been my mentality. That speaks for itself when you give me that stat because I had no idea about that. That’s definitely crazy.”

Which led to DeRozan being asked how much longer he wanted to play the game?

“For me, as I get older -if you had asked me this five or eight years ago, it probably would’ve been a different response – you start to realize you miss so much with your kids,” DeRozan said. “My oldest is nine. I was having a conversation one day and I was like, ‘I only got three more summers until she’s in high school. And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ You put it in that perspective and it becomes scary. Because it’s like, ‘Damn, my oldest daughter is almost a teenager.’

“With them being in so many activities and doing so much stuff and you miss so much, that kind of takes a toll on you. Four years from now, whatever it may be, you look up and you start to put things in perspective of like, ‘Do I want to be there for the kids a little bit more?’ A lot of those things come into play more than anything, even if I have the drive to still want to do it.

“We miss so much time sacrificing that we’ll never be able to get back with our kids. I want to be there for them, my daughters and my son. Give them everything that I went through. That will play a factor more than anything.”

DeRozan has just one more season left on his current Bulls deal, scheduled to make $28.6 million next season before he hits free agency if an extension does not come his way.

Read More

CHICAGO — WHEN THE Chicago Bulls first came to Paris for a pair of exhibition games in the 1997 McDonald’s Championship, they were on top of the basketball world.

Fans lined up outside the team hotel to catch a glimpse of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and the other Bulls, who were coming off a second consecutive NBA championship and about to embark on a season that would come to be known as The Last Dance.

Wherever the Bulls traveled that season, whether it was Paris, Los Angeles or Indianapolis, they were not just basketball royalty, but among the planet’s biggest stars.

During the October preseason trip to Paris, fans showed up in droves when the team arrived and left the practice court, and when they visited the Louvre and other Parisian must-see sights, simply yearning for a glimpse of Jordan.

Editor’s Picks

2 Related

Nearly 1,000 media members were credentialed for the games. Current Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas played for Olympiacos in the championship game — which Chicago won 104-78 — and remembers his teammates in the locker room before the game debating who would be the one to guard Jordan. At the top of their minds: the opportunity to be in a photo matched up with an icon.

“It was everywhere, everyone wanted to see Michael, Scottie and Dennis,” Bill Wennington, a center on the 1997-98 Bulls and current team radio announcer, told ESPN. “The fans were screaming, yelling, everywhere the team went as a whole. There were large crowds following just wanting to see.”

Jordan scored 27 points in the game against Olympiacos, but Pippen and Rodman were both out, as were a slew of other Bulls. Still, the fan response in Paris proved the Bulls had conquered not just Chicago, but the adoration of fans from around the globe.

“It was fantastic. It was so much fun,” said Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who played for the Bulls in 1997-98 and scored 10 points in the game against Olympiacos. “I think we were hit pretty hard with injuries. It was Michael and a bunch of scrubs.

“To go to Paris at the height of the Bulls heyday was pretty fun.”

Michael Jordan was the center of attention when the Bulls visited Paris in October 1997. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Now, 25 seasons later, the Bulls return to Paris for a regular-season game, facing the rival Detroit Pistons Thursday at 3 p.m. ET (NBA TV). But this version of the Bulls is far from Jordan & Co. against the Bad Boys, and Chicago is not the same dynastic force that swept through Paris in the fall of 1997. At 20-24, the Bulls are clinging to the final spot of the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, and the All-Star trio of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic has yielded mixed results.

And yet, despite the dip in on-court results, the Bulls return to Paris as one of the NBA’s biggest international draws.

Tickets for Thursday’s game at the 20,300-seat Accor Arena are sold out and a single ticket on the resale market is going for a minimum of $200. Despite years of mediocrity and one playoff trip since 2017, Chicago is the third-most popular team in international merchandise sales and among the top five most popular teams on NBA League Pass outside the U.S., according to recent figures provided by the NBA. While Jordan’s shadow looms over everything the Bulls do in Chicago, it’s his long-lasting legacy that has made the franchise one of the most popular American sports teams across the globe.

“Chicago Bulls is one of the biggest brands, franchises in the world,” said LaVine, who has been with the team since 2017, making him the longest tenured player on the roster. “You play on the road, sometimes it’s a home game for us on the road. It’s great seeing that you have that fanbase. Not just here in Chicago, but wherever we go to.”

Zach LaVine and the Bulls are a major draw in Paris, despite sitting near the bottom of the East standings. Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images

THE SUCCESS OF the documentary series “The Last Dance” was perhaps the clearest example of the love the world still has for the Jordan dynasty.

The 10-part series about the 1997-98 Bulls season, which resulted in their sixth and final championship, premiered in April 2020 and was ESPN’s most-watched documentary ever, averaging more than 12.8 million viewers per episode. For five straight Sundays, the documentary was the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter.

Still, the Jordan legacy is something of a double-edged sword for Chicago. Current Bulls chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf, the son of team owner Jerry Reinsdorf, said the Bulls have had internal debates for years about whether the franchise should continue to lean on the success of the ’90s team or spend more time marketing the current roster comprised of multiple All-Stars and a young core of potential.

“When you’re around it and you see how much the Bulls in the ’90s have meant to people and how popular they were and how people who never saw Michael Jordan still identify him as the greatest player in the world, I’m happy to embrace it,” Michael Reinsdorf told ESPN.

Friday

Heat-Mavs, 7:30 p.m.Grizzlies-Lakers, 10 p.m.

Wednesday

Nets-76ers, 7:30 p.m. Grizzlies-Warriors, 10 p.m.

*All times Eastern

While the Bulls are constantly trying to find the perfect blend of nostalgia and the future, the impact of “The Last Dance” and seeing things like how many fans line up to come see and take a photo in front of the Michael Jordan statue in the atrium of the United Center — even on non-game days — has made Reinsdorf believe he Bulls should embrace their history.

“You got ‘The Bean,’ you got the Chicago hot dog, you walk along the lake and you get to stop by and take a photo of the Michael Jordan statue,” Reinsdorf said. “Chicago used to be known for Al Capone. Now when you tell people you’re from Chicago, they think of Michael Jordan.”

Thanks to the Jordan-era dynasty, which won six championships in eight seasons right as the NBA was exploding in global popularity under former commissioner David Stern, the Bulls have achieved a level of brand recognition only a select few American sports franchises enjoy around the world. The Bulls were the third-most popular team in Europe, in terms of Google searches, being the most searched in eight countries, according to a study collected by OHBets. The teams ahead of them include the Golden State Warriors, the defending NBA champions who have Stephen Curry — a player Kerr recently called the modern-day Jordan because of the crowds he attracts during road games — and the Milwaukee Bucks, the 2021 NBA champions led by Greek superstar and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

It’s why the Bulls have never changed their logo or had any serious discussions in the post-Jordan era about doing so, according to Reinsdorf. While their jerseys have been tweaked over the years and they’ve introduced alternate looks, their primary white and red jerseys are nearly identical to the ones introduced when Jerry Reinsdorf purchased the team for $16.2 million in 1985, Jordan’s second year in the league. The Bulls’ current starting lineup is still introduced to the sounds of “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project, the same song that became synonymous with Jordan and the Bulls’ success.

ESPN’s NBA Basketball Power Index

Who is No. 1 in the latest NBA Basketball Power Index? Go to Ratings

Thanks in large part to the enduring strength of the brand built during the Jordan years, the Bulls are among the five most popular NBA teams on social media — the No. 2 following on Facebook, No. 4 on Instagram and No. 4 on Twitter. The other NBA teams that occupy the top five are all franchises that have won championships this millennium.

Sales of Bulls merchandise remain strong as well, though even that is built largely on nostalgia. Last season, when the Bulls were in first place in the Eastern Conference for much of the first half of the season, they ranked among the top 10 teams in sales, according to NBAStore.com data, despite not having a single active player rank in the top 15 in jersey sales.

When sports retailer Lids released their list in October of the most popular jerseys sold in the 2022 offseason, three old-school Bulls were on the list: Pippen at No. 2, Jordan at No. 5 and Rodman at No. 10.

“The advantage is their history — you don’t have to explain to people what it is,” Scott Kirkpatrick, a marketing partner and founder at the agency Chicago Sports & Entertainment, told ESPN. “To get people on board if the team is winning, nothing’s easy in this world, but at least it’s manageable because you’re starting with a strong history.

“You always like to build off success. You already have that awareness and credibility, so it’s a little bit easier — but, it’s about winning. Which is really, really hard.”

The Bulls trio of DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic has yet to result in significant success for the team. David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

IN THE 25 seasons since Jordan played his last game with the Bulls, Chicago has undergone many on-court transformations.

There were the “Baby Bulls” of Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler, which transitioned to a team led by Ben Gordon and Luol Deng. Then came the Derrick Rose era, which was cut short by Rose’s injuries. A brief flirtation with “the three Alphas” of Jimmy Butler, Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo fizzled quickly and Butler was traded for LaVine, who is now part of a Big Three with DeRozan and Vucevic — though Vucevic is a free agent this summer, which could mean the end of that trio.

No matter the configuration, the one constant for Chicago in the post-Jordan era has been a lack of on-court success. The Bulls have not made it back to the Finals since Jordan retired and have only reached the conference finals once (2011), one of 10 teams in the NBA with fewer than two conference finals appearances since 1998-99. They haven’t won a playoff series since 2014-15, and their 5-12 record in playoff series in the past 24 seasons is the fourth-worst series record during that span.

And yet, decades since they were at the top of the NBA, without another transcendent star like Jordan, the Bulls have retained their popularity. They’ve led the NBA in home attendance 11 times since 2010 and ranked as the No. 1 road draw last season.

NBA on ESPN+

Get access to exclusive original series, premium articles from our NBA insiders, the full 30 for 30 library and more. Sign up now to unlock everything ESPN+ has to offer.

“We’re really doubling down on the idea that you can build affinity for a team that doesn’t have to win six championships in eight years,” Dan Moriarty, the team’s vice president of marketing, told ESPN. “You can do things that connect with a fanbase and when the team isn’t winning championships, we have to do those things. We can’t just rely on on-court performance to be what’s driving fandom.”

With such a large fanbase, Moriarty sees the team as having a moral responsibility to show up for Bulls fans in whatever way possible.

The team helped one of their most devout French fans secure tickets for the game in Paris. It also launched its first BullsFest during the offseason, blocking off the streets around the United Center and turning the parking lot into a two-day festival with food trucks, a basketball tournament and a stage for live music performances. Already this season, the Bulls say they have hosted more children at youth events than they had the previous season.

And the Bulls have placed inclusion at the forefront of that mission. The team hosted their fifth annual Pride Night earlier this month at the United Center, and the team has been spotlighting several different Black-owned businesses in Chicago at home games for the past three years.

“The strength of our brand is based in the dynasty that the team built in the ’90s, but we talk a lot about how that can’t be the anchor we tie everything to,” Moriarty said. “As a brand, we stand for a lot of things in the ’90s that weren’t necessarily front of mind. One of the things we talk about a lot is the unifying force of our brand. Being inclusive and being innovative whilst honoring our heritage.”

Still, Michael Reinsdorf knows the one thing that will keep the Bulls brand strong for the next 25 years is winning.

“The way I look at it, I believe the Bulls are the first global sports brand, professional sports team in the world,” Reinsdorf says. “And that’s because of Michael Jordan and our success in the ’90s winning championships.

“The NBA does such a great job of promoting the team, especially the teams that do well, so if you win, you’re going to be known throughout the world.”

Read More

The White Sox launched a webpage for fans to show their support forcloser Liam Hendriks as he fights non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Personalized messages, including video submissions and artwork supporting Hendriks’ and wife Kristi’s fight to “Close Out Cancer!” are welcome at whitesox.com/TeamLiam.

Hendriks announced on social media on Jan. 8 that he was diagnosed with cancer and would begin treatment on Jan. 9. General manager Rick Hahn said updates on the two-time American League Reliever of the Year won’t be forthcoming any time before Opening Day, which is March 29.

“It was definitely pretty devastating to hear,” Sox teammate Dylan Cease said Tuesday. “Not even from a baseball standpoint. He obviously is a huge part of what we have going on and you know on the baseball side, it is, it’s a big loss. But to us he’s a friend and almost like family first. So it’s pretty devastating to hear but it sounds like it should be something he’ll be able to overcome and obviously it’s much more important than baseball.

“We are all with him and it’s just one of those things that’s tragic when you hear about it.”

Read More

From the New York Philharmonic to the Golden State Pops Orchestra, it’s commonplace to find a resident ensemble in most major cities across the U.S.

Yet, few boast something as eclectic as the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra. It was formed in 1999, the idea of Michael Orlove, former senior program director for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCASE), to be part of the city’s first World Music Festival.

Though the orchestra later disbanded in 2004, it regrouped in 2019 with a renewed purpose to “provide a platform for musicians in the immigrant community to collectively explore, research, create and perform music encompassing all global musical traditions.” They do so through songbooks and original works, commissions and recordings, as well as live shows such as an upcoming gig at Evanston’s SPACE on Jan. 22.

Featuring everything from the Chinese ruan (a traditional Chinese string instrument) and the Indian veena (a long-necked, pear-shaped lute), to Afro-Peruvian percussion and Mongolian throat singing, the music troupe offers an incredible merging of sounds from across the globe, performed by a rotating cast of 30-plus members who are all bonded by a common experience.

“There’s a unique thing about the Chicago Immigrant Orchestra; it’s a kind of tapestry of the cultures that exist in Chicago. We come from a wide array of backgrounds but there’s something that really connects us, which is our immigrant experience in the city. That’s proved to be a very powerful thing for us,” says the group’s co-director Wanees Zarour.

Zarour, a composer and multi-instrumentalist who was born in Ramallah, Palestine, just outside of Jerusalem, and migrated to the U.S. in the late 1990s, is also behind the 60-person Middle East Music Ensemble out of the University of Chicago and has a touring jazz fusion group called East Loop.

In late 2019, he and fellow Chicago Immigrant Orchestra lead Fareed Haque (a classical and jazz guitar virtuoso) got a call from Carlos Tortolero, DCASE’s cultural affairs coordinator, and World Music Festival curator/producer David Chavez, to re-form the ensemble ahead of a headlining spot at the 2020 edition of the annual fall fest. Those plans were shelved as the festival’s live concerts were canceled due to the pandemic. Fast-forward to late 2020 when the orchestra was contacted to perform at a virtual incarnation of the fest — the next day.

The festival would be the orchestra’s first gig since re-forming, and Zarour recalls it being an organic success.

“Essentially, we formed the orchestra from a large roster of musicians who are within the immigrant community, and picked 12 of these people to put together [that particular concert],” Zarour says, noting it happened very quickly.

“We just met with the musicians the night before the show. So those videos on YouTube and that we have on our website, those were the product of meeting for the first time the night before [a major festival].

“We almost instantly spoke the same language, understood the same challenges, had the same experience within the music scene here in the city, where the musicians in Chicago who perform world music are just top-notch. … We don’t have to think too much before we do things and create and produce.”

Today, the group is an independent 501(c)(3) organization with headquarters in the Tri-Taylor neighborhood. The rotating lineup of 30-plus members meet at least once a month to work on ongoing projects.

“The Chicago Immigrant Orchestra is an amazing ensemble of different cultural representatives and ambassadors, with so many great instrumentalists involved and compositions that are top-grade,” says Tortolero. “The fact that we can highlight so many cultures and celebrate immigrant contributions to society and music is great.”

The concert at SPACE will feature 12 to 14 members of the orchestra and world-renowned Chicago jazz singer Grazyna Auguscik, who will perform songs from her native Poland as well as some Brazilian tunes, says Zarour. The program will also include Hindustani music, Arabic songs and some Persian songs.

“There are a couple original tunes we wrote for the group that we’ll perform as well,” he adds, noting that at least a third of the group’s material now is original works. “Everybody composes for the group.”

Zarour shares that audiences at their concerts are as diverse as the group itself,

The mission of the orchestra is represented visually by a company logo depicting a large tree with deep roots.

Says Zarour, “We wanted to include the roots to say that we do have our roots in our own cultures but we’re growing something new here. … The important consideration for us is how can we carve out a place for this type of music to thrive and grow?”

Read More