Chicago Sports

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

CATHOLIC LEAGUE – CROSSOVER

DePaul at Providence, 7:00

Loyola at Montini, 7:00

Mount Carmel at Providence-St. Mel, 7:00

St. Ignatius at St. Laurence, 7:00

St. Rita at De La Salle, 6:30

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC

Benet at St. Viator, 7:00

Marian Catholic at Carmel, 7:00

Notre Dame at Joliet Catholic, 7:00

St. Patrick at Nazareth, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Crystal Lake South, 7:00

Crystal Lake Central at Huntley, 7:00

Dundee-Crown at McHenry, 7:00

Jacobs at Hampshire, 7:00

Prairie Ridge at Cary-Grove, 7:00

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Coal City at Peotone, 6:45

Herscher at Reed-Custer, 6:45

Streator at Lisle, 6:45

Wilmington at Manteno, 7:00

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

North Shore at Morgan Park Academy, 4:30

INTERSTATE EIGHT

LaSalle-Peru at Plano, 7:00

Ottawa at Morris, 7:00

Rochelle at Kaneland, 7:00

Sandwich at Sycamore, 7:00

LAKE SHORE ATHLETIC

Horizon-McKinley at Roycemore, 5:30

LITTLE TEN

DePue at Newark, 7:00

Earlville at Leland, 5:30

Hinckley-Big Rock at Indian Creek, 6:45

LaMoille at Hiawatha, 5:30

Serena at Somonauk, 7:00

METRO PREP

Hinsdale Adventist at Islamic Foundation, 5:30

NOBLE LEAGUE – BLUE

Baker at Golder, 7:00

NOBLE LEAGUE – GOLD

Comer at Butler, 7:00

Noble Academy at Bulls Prep, 7:00

Rowe-Clark at Johnson, 7:00

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Alden-Hebron at Harvest Christian, 7:30

Christian Life at Schaumburg Christian, 7:30

Mooseheart at Our Lady Sacred Heart, 5:30

Westminster Christian at Mooseheart, 7:30

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grant at Round Lake, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED-SOUTH / CENTRAL

Brooks at Phillips, 5:00

Hyde Park at Curie, 5:00

Kenwood at Perspectives-Lead, 6:30

Lindblom at Morgan Park, 6:30

Longwood at Simeon, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-CENTRAL

Catalyst-Maria at Urban Prep-Englewood, 5:00

DuSable at Richards (Chgo), 5:00

Hubbard at Dunbar, 5:00

Kennedy at Bogan, 5:00

King at Englewood STEM, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-SOUTH

Agricultural Science at South Shore 5:00

Corliss at Fenger, 5:00

UC-Woodlawn at ACE Amandla, 5:00

Urban Prep-Bronzeville at Harlan, 5:00

Vocational at Dyett, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-CENTRAL

ACERO-Soto at Instituto Health, 5:00

Back of the Yards at Gage Park, 5:00

Hancock at ACERO-Garcia, 5:00

Kelly at Horizon-Southwest, 5:00

Solorio at Tilden, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-SOUTH

Bowen at Chicago Military, 5:00

Carver at EPIC, 5:00

Excel-Woodlawn at Air Force, 5:00

Julian at Goode, 6:30

Washington at Hirsch, 5:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – BLUE

Hillcrest at Lemont, 7:00

Oak Forest at Bremen, 6:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – RED

Argo at Eisenhower, 6:30

Shepard at Richards, 6:30

SOUTH SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Evergreen Park at Thornton Fr. North, 6:30

Thornton Fr. South at Oak Lawn, 6:30

Tinley Park at Reavis, 6:00

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – BLUE

Bolingbrook at Lincoln-Way East, 6:30

Sandburg at Lockport, 6:30

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – RED

Bradley-Bourbonnais at Stagg, 6:30

Lincoln-Way West at Andrew, 6:00

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Lincoln-Way Central at Homewood-Flossmoor, 6:0

TRI-COUNTY

Marquette at Lowpoint-Washburn, 7:30

UPSTATE EIGHT

Fenton at Elgin, 7:00

Glenbard East at Larkin, 7:00

South Elgin at Glenbard South, 7:00

Streamwood at East Aurora, 6:30

West Chicago at Bartlett, 7:00

WEST SUBURBAN – GOLD

Downers Grove South at Addison Trail, 7:30

Leyden at Proviso East, 6:00

Willowbrook at Hinsdale South, 7:30

WEST SUBURBAN – SILVER

Hinsdale Central at Glenbard West, 5:00

NON CONFERENCE

Aurora Central at Timothy Christian, 7:30

Beacon at Cristo Rey-St. Martin, 7:00

Brother Rice at Marist, 7:00

Buffalo Grove at Glenbrook South, 7:00

Dixon at Princeton, 7:00

Donovan at Momence, 6:30

Elmwood Park at Aurora Christian, 7:00

Farragut at New Trier, 6:30

Gardner-So. Wilmington at Iroquois West, 6:45

Intrinsic-Belmont at Northtown, 6:30

ITW-Speer vs. Steinmertz, 11:35

MCC Academy at CPSA, 5:00

Orangeville at Byron, 7:00

Ridgewood at St. Francis, 7:00

Roanoke-Benson at Quest (Peoria), 7:30

Southland at Grant Park, 7:00

St. Francis de Sales at Fenwick, 7:00

Watseka at St. Anne, 7:00

Westmont at IC Catholic, 7:30

Wheaton North at Downers Grove North, 7:30

Woodland at Tri-Point, 7:00

Read More

The pressure just got turned up on Bears general manager Ryan Poles, and he’s fine with that.

As Poles enters a pivotal offseason in which he has the No. 1 pick and by far the most salary-cap space in the NFL, he also has a new boss with high standards. When the Bears hired new president Kevin Warren, they made clear Poles would report to him rather than chairman George McCaskey.

And Warren doesn’t sound like he’ll be calling any consultants to help him judge whether Poles has the Bears on course to win a Super Bowl.

“I’ll be involved,” Warren said. “Our offices are right next door to each other. I guarantee you we’re gonna be communicating every single day on it, but I’m not a micromanager. That’s not my style. But we’ll be there and work through it.

“The things I’ve seen where people have fallen short is because they’re not comfortable with each other and don’t trust that they can be real with each other. One thing about Ryan and I: We will be real with each other. That’s the best thing you can do.”

Warren referred to his time with the then-St. Louis Rams, who won Super Bowl XXXIV during his time as a vice president from 1997 through 2000. He recalled the debate going into the ’99 season on whether Kurt Warner should take over at quarterback and noted that coach Dick Vermeil settled it by relying on facts over feelings. He said it’ll be the same between him and Poles.

When Poles took the job nearly a year ago, he anticipated that president Ted Phillips might be stepping down soon and once the Bears found a replacement, they’d revert to this more conventional structure.

The Bears went 3-14 in Poles’ first season — worse than they expected even in a rebuild. Warren said he joined the Bears with winning championships as his top goal — ahead of stadium construction or increasing the franchise value — will be as eager as anyone to turn them around.

The Bears brought Poles into their president search and wanted him to sit down with finalists to see how well they could work together. He was confident that he and Warren saw things similarly.

“A lot of things that we’re saying, it’s the same,” Poles said. “It’s the same mentality. It’s the same process to get this organization to a place where we can sustain success over a period of time.”

As Warren acclimates, he plans to begin official business in April. Poles has plenty to do before that.

His most likely course with the top draft pick is to trade it for more picks, but he said he hasn’t heard much from around the league yet. He figures his phone will start buzzing next month when teams zero in on specific prospects.

He and his staff were halfway evaluating the upcoming free-agent class Tuesday. Once the Bears line up their top targets, likely by mid-February, Poles will lay out the plan for McCaskey and Warren to get their input.

If there’s ever a disagreement, Warren said it’s Poles’ call.

“He’s the expert,” he said.

Poles also is waiting to see if he must rearrange his staff as assistant general manager Ian Cunningham emerges as a general manager candidate around the league. He was a finalist for the Titans’ vacancy before they hired Ran Carthon on Tuesday.

“It’d be a big loss, but at the same time, I was prepared for this,” Poles said. “Did I think it was gonna be less than 12 months? No. But I’m not shocked at all.

“I have a plan for it and I feel good about it. I didn’t expect he would be here long. He’s a really, really good person, and then his ability to lead and really get an organization on track, I think it’s going to be excellent when he gets that opportunity.”

Read More

Chicago’s storied music history, from the home of the blues to a modern-day hip-hop launching pad, and everything in between, is headed for the national spotlight in a new edition of NPR’s World Caf? “Sense of Place” series, debuting on Jan. 18. (In Chicago, listeners can tune in to “Sense of Place: Chicago” online at worldcafe.org.)

Since 2011, the radio series (produced by the NPR affiliate WXPN out of Philadelphia) has set out to spotlight the music impact of cities across the world. Episodes include exclusive interviews, field recording and studio sessions with bit names and buzzy up-and-comers who have helped shape local music scenes.

“Chicago is a huge, major city but it has a very different flavor and vibe than New York or Los Angeles, and I think we were all interested in exploring that,” says World Caf? host Raina Douris. “Chicago has had this very strong underground punk and rock scene. It was a big part of blues and jazz, and house music. There’s all these deep roots in Chicago and it felt like we could go back 10 more times and still not get everything.”

Douris, contributing host (and Chicago native) Stephen Kallao, and a team of producers spent a week in the city last October gathering the soundbites and recorded performances that make up much of the 13-part series, which also features interviews pulled from WXPN’s archives.

Each episode of the 13-part series centers on a specific music genre, from the Jan. 18 pop-music focus featuring an interview with Chicago (and a performance recorded last fall for the show), to the final episode on Feb. 3, which offers up the story of the birthplace of gospel music, Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church, and “quintessential Chicago albums” from “Sound Opinions” hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot.

In between will be episodes featuring ’90s mainstays Liz Phair (Jan. 19) and Billy Corgan (Jan. 24), the influential producer and engineer Steve Albini (Jan. 20) and his Electrical Audio studios, gospel legend Mavis Staples (Jan. 26), indie pioneers Wilco (Jan. 31), blues icon Buddy Guy (Feb. 2), Latinx quintet Dos Santos (Jan. 23), new artists Kaina and Dehd (Jan. 25), DIY muse Eli Schmitt and hip-hop maven Pinqy Ring (Jan. 27) and visits to the Chicago Music Exchange (Jan. 30) and Martin Atkins’ Museum of Post Punk and Industrial Music (Jan. 20).

There was one thing that came up in all the interviews, says Douris, beyond the commonality of the location that ties all the artists together: it was a constant idea of giving back.

“Steve Albini is a great example. He stayed in Chicago, he stuck around and made this his place. He said many times in our piece, he’s a technician, he wants to help make records, and he’s there to give back to this community of musicians. That kept coming up over and over again with everybody that I talked to,” says Douris. “A lot of people said because it’s not L.A., because it’s not New York, the sense of cutthroat competition isn’t as strong [here] and it’s much more collaborative and the community is stronger.”

Rather than going after some of the more mainstream names in Chicago’s hip-hop scene, the “Sense of Place” team opted for Pinqy Ring, the indie artist behind works like “Little Hearts,” who was once a hip-hop cultural ambassador for the U.S. and a two-time recipient of Chicago’s Individual Artist Program grant.

“One of our objectives is to talk to people that maybe aren’t already on the mainstream radar in the same way, that can give us a little more insight into what working and living is like in Chicago,” says Douris who recorded the session while going on a walk with the rapper and teacher in Humboldt Park and visiting her alma mater, Lane Tech.

With Latin-fused psych rock band Dos Santos, Douris says she also discovered how influential Chicago’s diversity can be to developing a distinct sound.

“They’re a group of guys from all over; some were born and raised in Chicago, some in Central or South America. One of them who was raised in Panama said that it wasn’t until Chicago that he started playing Latin music. [The] diversity in the city has influenced a lot of the sounds,” says Douris.

But it was her chat with 20-year-old Eli Schmitt that really stuck with her, Douris says. The Radio DePaul host, creator of the “New Now” YouTube series and indie concert booker (who often holds shows in his own apartment) is propelling the local Gen Z DIY scene.

“Where I felt like I was the luckiest to be in the room was in Eli’s apartment; it really feels like the beginning of a scene,” recalls Douris. “He said to me, ‘You can have all these friends on Instagram but it’s not real unless you see each other in real life,’ and I thought it was so powerful. I love that he’s nurturing this in-person DIY indie rock scene in Chicago and carries the spirit on. You can feel the through lines of all that music history and that it’s still very much alive.”

NOTE: Chicago NPR fans can tune in to “Sense of Place: Chicago” online at worldcafe.org on the dates listed above.

Read More

Patrick Finley, Jason Lieser and Mark Potash break down new president/CEO Kevin Warren’s introductory press conference and what it means for the Bears’ new stadium, ownership and the product on the field.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify and Stitcher.

Read More

The Cubs are still looking to bolster their bullpen and may look to an old friend to do so.

The Chicago Cubs have made numerous impact free-agent signings this offseason. They’ve added several bats and have greatly renovated their lineup. Now it seems the team’s final focus of this free agency period is their bullpen. 

It has been reported in recent days that the Cubs are showing interest in relief pitchers Andrew Chafin and Matt Moore. The bullpen still appears be a work in progress. On Tuesday evening, the Cubs reportedly added Julian Merryweather off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays. 

Manny Rodriguez will be DFA’d by the Cubs in order to make for Merryweather. Rodriguez pitched in 34 games out of the bullpen for the Cubs over the last 2 seasons. The 26-year-old right-hander never secured solid footing with the Cubs and only managed a 4.88 ERA in his two seasons.

With the Cubs still looking to pin down a left-handed reliever, fans would definitely enjoy seeing the return of former fan favorite Andrew Chafin. Chafin pitched in 47 games with the Cubs across the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He donned an impressive 2.13 ERA during that time. Chafin spent last season with the Detroit Tigers where he managed a 2.83 ERA in 64 appearances.

Last season with the Rangers, LHRP Matt Moore shined in 63 appearances out of the pen. Moore finished the year with an impressive 1.95 ERA. Either of these relievers will likely cost the Cubs quite a bit. MLB Trade Rumors expect Chafin to secure roughly two years and $18 million. Matt Moore likely wouldn’t be too far off. To make room on the 40-man roster, the Cubs may DFA another bullpen arm or possibly a second baseman. 

The team has made plenty of additions this offseason. Acquiring one of these relievers would likely be the final notable move of the Cubs’ offseason. Pitchers and catchers report in less than a month. It will be interesting to see if Chafin or Moore is one of them. 

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

Read More

The new stadium the Bears imagine in Arlington Heights is still just a grand-yet-vague idea, and new team president Kevin Warren didn’t give any of the concrete details everyone has been waiting for since the organization bid on the property in 2021.

Warren will need some definitive answers, though, since this surely will be the biggest undertaking of his new job. And he expects to have them soon.

The top question anyone has about the new stadium is when it will open, and Warren said he’d be able to answer that in six months. By that time, he will have done a full review of where things stand and, presumably, the Bears finally will have closed on the land. They still hope to finish that process by the end of March.

Warren and chairman George McCaskey reiterated the team’s standing line — one it is contractually required to give publicly until it completes the purchase — that it is focused exclusively on developing the 326-acre site of Arlington Park horse track rather than considering any of proposed options to overhaul Soldier Field.

Warren has more than two decades of experience as an NFL executive and brings plenty to the table, but one of the most crucial lines on his resum? is that he was a key figure in the Vikings’ construction of U.S. Bank Stadium, which opened in 2016. That building, a 67,000-seat indoor facility with tons of natural light because of its glass panels, has long been admired within Halas Hall.

“When we finished the stadium, I had all these boxes of binders, and many people said, ‘You can get rid of those; you’ll never use those again,'” Warren said with a smile. “I’m glad I saved them.

“The biggest thing I learned was the fact that you need to plan before you start digging. What makes U.S. Bank Stadium so special [is] we spent almost a year planning. Planning is critical. That’s what I appreciate about the McCaskeys: they support the planning process.”

When McCaskey was pressed for his opinion on U.S. Bank Stadium and how it might inform his wish list for an Arlington Heights stadium, he said, “It was built on time and under budget.”

While Warren didn’t divulge his dreams for the new stadium, there’s no doubt he has some. A self-described “stadium nerd,” he was so intrigued by word that the Bears were trying to buy the property that he drove to Arlington Park last fall purely out of curiosity.

“You don’t get many times to have over 300 acres,” he said. “It is a very attractive, unique stadium site.”

He added, “I’m not letting my mind go through what it looks like too much. I’ve visualized it, yes, but I want to get into the documents, because the documents will dictate what’s feasible.”

There’s almost no shot of the stadium opening any sooner than the 2027 season, and even that would be an extreme best-case scenario. The Bears’ lease on Soldier Field runs through 2033, and while they’ve said they’ll honor its terms, that doesn’t preclude them from buying themselves out of it early.

While it has always been expected that the Bears would look at U.S. Bank Stadium as a model, that’s even more likely now that they hired a man who was “really proud” of how that building turned out when he was the Vikings’ COO and raved about every aspect of it when asked Tuesday.

“We nailed it,” he said emphatically. “By far.”

There’s little mystery, then, about what Warren will view as the gold standard if the Bears proceed in Arlington Heights.

Read More

Georgia defensive tackle Jalen Carter 2023 NFL Draft scouting report

Jalen Carter has essentially secured himself in the top 10 not only with his dominant play but also being a major contributor to another Georgia football national championship. Taking over the spot of Jordan Davis is a tough task considering he is a freak athlete at his size. Carter filled that spot almost to perfection as he was just as disruptive and dominant like Davis was a year ago. Now declaring for the NFL Draft we will look into why scouts believe he is not only a top 10 pick but could very easily be top 5.

Jalen Carter played in 10 games this season as he missed a decent chunk during the season with an MCL injury. He played in 308 snaps where he recorded 25 total tackles. Carter had 25 total pressures on QB’s, including 17 hurries, 5 hits and 3 sacks on the year. The SEC always has a plethora of offensive lineman that get drafted year in year out but when Carter is out on the field he makes some of these lineman look like high schoolers.

Along with Carter’s two national championships with Georgia he was nominated and honored with different awards. He was an unanimous All-American for 2022, first team All-SEC for 2022, preseason All-America, preseason watch list for the Lott Trophy, Outland Trophy and Bronco Nagurski Trophy.

The Chicago Bears in the case of Jalen Carter could certainly use a player like him. The Bears defense in 2022 ranked 31st in rush yards. They ranked 32nd in rush TD’s. Also ranking 32nd was redzone touchdowns. And another 32nd out of 32 teams ranking was sacks. Although Carter won’t be primarily used for sacks truly any new talent on the defensive line will be a plus for Chicago. As was mentioned the Bears rushing defense was so very poor and a great way to stop the bleeding is to draft a monster from Georgia who stuffs run plays prior to the line of scrimmage.

Let’s get into the scouting report for Jalen Carter where we will look at strengths, weaknesses and if he will be a good fit for the Chicago Bears in 2023 NFL Draft.

Position: Defensive Tackle

Height/Weight: 6 foot 3, 310 pounds

Career Stats: 35 games played, 991 snaps, 71 total tackles, 72 total QB pressures, 50 total QB hurries, 13 QB hits and 9 total sacks.

Via NFL Draft Buzz:

Strengths:

Elite agility and quickness considering Carter’s size. Impressive first step catching blocker off guard.Great change of direction. Super quick twitch athlete leaving slow footed lineman behind.Has excellent lateral speed with ability to shadow half backs in the run game.Immense strength with his hands to control run lanes and shed blocks to fill gaps.Makes impressive bear hug tackles that stop plays from getting started wreaking havoc in the backfield.

Weaknesses:

Doesn’t always play with consistent pad level which leads to blockers getting into his chest.When double teamed can be taken out without an answer to it.His base isn’t well developed and can be taken out of the run game by bigger interior lineman.

How does Jalen Carter fit with the Chicago Bears?

The two snippets above are a glimpse of who Jalen Carter is. Defensive tackles are more and more important these days because they are asked to do so much more than just a handful of years ago. D-tackles need to be sideline to sideline players at times and not only have to eat up space inside but get through the double teams and be agile enough to cut through zone schemes. Jalen Carter has shown the ability to do all of these things at his monster size effectively and sometimes with complete dominance.

The Bears ranked last or next to it in basically every rushing ranking last season. Carter is the first step in rebuilding the Bears defensive line that is basically depleted of young pure talent. Will he be a team changer? Will the Bears become a dominant defensive line right away? No. But starting with Carter and building around him the Bears wouldn’t be far off from being a competent rush defense sooner rather than later.

Is Carter worth the number 1 overall pick. Unfortunately, no because defensive tackles aren’t viewed that highly especially if there is a dominant edge rusher in the draft which there always is. To me though when it comes to rebuilds guys like Jalen Carter are incredibly important. Solidifying the interior to stop teams from bludgeoning you on the ground is a very important step. Although viewed not as a first overall pick, if the Bears can move back to 3,4,5 or somewhere late in the top 10 and Carter is still there, absolutely they should take him.

Projected round:

CBS Mock Draft (No. 4 overall)

Dane Brugler’s The Athletic Mock (No. 4 overall)

Sports Illustrated mock draft (No. 4 overall)

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

Read More

The Big Ten is the best college basketball conference in the country.

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just going by what Big Ten coaches tell us approximately 100% of the times microphones are in front of their faces.

The league’s preseason media days event in Minneapolis was one such example.

“It’s the best conference in college basketball,” Michigan’s Juwan Howard said, stating the apparently obvious.

“I believe the Big Ten has been the deepest league in college basketball the last three years,” Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann said, “and I honestly don’t see that changing.”

Illinois’ Brad Underwood concurred, saying he takes “a great deal of pride in being a part of this conference that has been the best basketball league in the country the last few years in particular.”

Northwestern’s Chris Collins called the Big Ten “the very best” and assured it would be “as good as ever” this season. Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, the dean of league coaches, said it “could be the greatest conference in the country in all sports” like it already is, he noted, in men’s basketball.

On and on they went. On and on they continue to go, even as 17-1, No. 3-ranked Purdue has distanced itself from the rest of a league that’s just kind of hanging in there. Illinois has won four straight to get to 13-5, but it’s nowhere to be found in the Top 25. Michigan is a 10-7 afterthought, not to be confused with Ohio State the 10-7 afterthought, Indiana the 11-6 afterthought or Iowa the 12-6 afterthought. Michigan State doesn’t have the kind of talent that sets it apart anymore. Rutgers — the only team to beat the Boilermakers — is in second place, and have we really reached the point where we’re using Rutgers to make the Big Ten’s case?

If we’re going by national championships, the case has long been closed; the Big Ten hasn’t won one since Izzo, then a rising star, beat Billy Donovan’s Florida upstarts in 2000. The ACC has claimed eight titles since then, with Virginia most recently breaking through in 2019. The Big East has won six, four of them coming before that league split apart a decade ago and two of them, both by Villanova, coming since. Donovan’s Gators won two of the SEC’s three titles since the turn of the century, and the Big 12 likewise has three, including Baylor’s in 2021 and Kansas’ in 2022.

Even the American has a title, thanks to UConn (which since has rejoined the Big East) in 2014. The COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 NCAA Tournament.

This is season No. 23 since a giddy Izzo and the Spartans cut down the nets in Indianapolis, so consider this a 23-and-plea: On April 3 in Houston, can the Big Ten finally have the last team standing and end the embarrassment and emptiness that comes with all this best-in-the-country talk?

It might be a Purdue-or-bust scenario. The Boilers have been as serious as any contender since pounding Gonzaga and Duke back-to-back in Portland, Oregon, in November. None of the best teams — not Houston, not Alabama, not even Kansas with Jalen Wilson — has a player who’s close to as dominant as the Boilers’ 7-4 Zach Edey, the runaway favorite for consensus national player of the year.

Iowa center Luka Garza grabbed all the awards in 2021. Wisconsin 7-footer Frank Kaminsky did so in 2015, when the Badgers reached the title game. Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn, Edey-like in many respects, was a two-time All-American. But none of the three could hold sway over a game like Edey, who scored 32 points and grabbed 17 rebounds — and muscled in the winning bucket with three seconds to go — in Monday’s riveting 64-63 win at Michigan State.

Hot take: The Big Ten hasn’t had a player this much better than everybody else since Glenn Robinson, Purdue’s last Wooden Award winner in 1994.

“One guy’s pushing out, one guy’s pushing in,” Izzo said of trying to defend against Edey. “One guy’s 400 pounds, the other’s 150.”

Gonzaga big man Drew Timme, one of the top players in the land, likened Edey to a “moose.”

“You have to put your hands up and just hope he misses it,” Timme said.

And as Duke coach Jon Scheyer put it, “There’s nobody else like him.”

An emailer named Greg Smith writes to me often about all things Purdue. This week, he wanted to know why I’d ranked the Boilers at No. 2 in my AP poll, behind Houston.

“I just love Houston’s athleticism, defense and ferocity,” I replied, all of it true.

But I also balk, frankly, at putting a Big Ten team at the very top. Too many of the best ones since 2000 have fallen short of living up to it.

Big Ten coaches will say the league is a meat grinder, that the competition is unrelentingly strong, the games unrelentingly physical and that it all takes a toll. Some of them will say the NCAA Tournament isn’t officiated in a manner that suits Big Ten teams, another common refrain.

Buy into it if you want to.

But, hey, the Moose is loose. Edey gives his team, and his league, a heck of a chance at 23-and-glee. It would be great to see.

Read More

At the Blackhawks’ soccer event with Petr Cech earlier this month, veteran goaltender Alex Stalock proved to be unquestionably the worst soccer player of the bunch. He blasted almost every kick over the net.

But he was also unquestionably the life of the party. He joked around with the Hawks teammates he knew well, and he joked around just as much with Cech and other team employees whom he didn’t know at all.

That’s just the kind of person Stalock is, and the Hawks love it. In a season with few tangible reasons for happiness, the unrestrained joy and humor that Stalock’s personality naturally spreads has made a big difference in the locker room.

“He’s a guy that if you want a laugh out of, you just ask him a question, and you’re bound to be laughing a couple seconds later,” Patrick Kane said recently. “He has been great.”

Stalock has been great on the ice, too. His 6-6-1 record, .918 save percentage and plus-9.5 goals saved above average (GSAA) are extremely impressive in context. Entering Tuesday, all other Hawks goalies combined were 5-20-3 with an .885 save percentage and minus-9.5 GSAA.

So for those reasons, the news Tuesday that Stalock had re-entered concussion protocol — for the second time this season — was equal parts concerning and demoralizing.

The 35-year-old Minnesotan has dealt with terrible health luck for years now. Just when he had established his reputation as a stellar backup and sometimes even “1B” goalie for the Wild from 2017 to 2020, myocarditis — the COVID-19-connected heart condition — nearly ended his career and kept him out of the NHL for almost two full seasons.

And just when he’d rejuvenated his career and become arguably a “1A” goalie this season with the Hawks, these concussion issues — the first in his lifetime — popped up.

Stalock missed seven weeks after suffering the initial head injury during a Nov. 1 collision with Islanders forward Casey Cizikas. He returned just before Christmas and made five starts, then missed a couple games last week with an illness before entering Saturday’s contest in relief of Petr Mrazek.

Then on Monday, minutes into his first full practice since recovering from the illness, an unintentional collision with defenseman Jarred Tinordi knocked him down hard. He bounced right back up and finished practice, but evidently later felt concussion symptoms return.

Hawks coach Luke Richardson said Stalock would be checked out closely by doctors Tuesday night.

“You never know how things react with people, but we’re just going to take precaution and…hopefully it settles down quicker than last time,” Richardson added.

Stalock struggled with recurring setbacks in November, which sometimes left him unable to get off his couch. He clearly worried about the potential long-term implications of his concussion, something not every NHL player seems to do.

“The Internet is good for some stuff, but there’s some stuff it’s not great for, and concussions [are] one not-ideal thing to go diving into,” he said Dec. 20. “You end up [reading] some stuff you probably don’t want to read.

“Anybody with a concussion nowadays obviously knows what can happen and the studies that have been out. Medically, we take it day by day.”

How he fares health-wise this time might not be known for a while. The Hawks, though, will probably fare poorly.

With Arvid Soderblom still sidelined in Rockford by a groin injury, the Hawks’ current goalie duo consists of Mrazek and prospect Jaxson Stauber, who has never played an NHL game.

Not having Stalock’s puckhandling and passing abilities — which made him resemble at times a soccer-style “sweeper keeper,” even if his actual soccer skills were subpar — could make life harder for Hawks defensemen. And yet again not having Stalock’s larger-than-life personality livening up the room could be deflating, as well.

Read More

The future of Aaron Rodgers is unknown and it could help the Chicago Bears

After a disappointing 8-9 record and missing the playoffs, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers’ future are both up in the air. Rodgers signed a 3-year, 150 million dollar contract back in March of last off-season, with everyone presuming he would finish his career in Green Bay. Now, with Rodgers oddly walking off the field in their season finale loss to the Detroit Lions, fans are speculating whether Rodgers has played his last down as a Packer.

Is Rodgers open to another team?

Appearing on the Pat Mcafee Show Tuesday afternoon, Rodgers spoke candidly about his uncertain future. Rodgers still believes he can play at a high level, no matter what team he’s on.

Rodgers has been known to use the off-season to drag out what he wants to do with his career, and 2023 seems to be no different. I would be shocked if he does decide to retire, however, the possibility of him not playing for the Packers feels more realistic than him hanging it up.

Bears Fans won’t miss him

If Rodgers ends up leaving the NFC North, it’s safe to say none of us will miss him. Rodgers has compiled a 24-5 record versus Chicago since taking over as the starter in 2008. The Packers could use a fresh start anyway, right? RIGHT?

Time will tell to see where Rodgers ends up.

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE

Read More