Chicago Sports

Oh, boy, we can’t wait to see superstar shortstop Carlos Correa in blue pinstripes at Wrigley Field.

It’s going to happen, isn’t it?

Uh-oh.

In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we led with that very question about that very coveted free agent. Alas, about three-quarters of voters said no.

“Cody Bellinger will be their top signing,” @JTurco60 commented. “The false hope never ends with this ownership.”

At least the Cubs made a little noise at the winter meetings in San Diego. The White Sox? Ugh. We asked if the Sox will make any major acquisitions this offseason, a question that went over like a lead balloon.

“Remember,” @KaboomLip wrote, “fiscal responsibility is more important than winning championships. That doesn’t change until the owner does.”

Last, we asked about Willson Contreras and Jose Abreu. You remember those guys, don’t you? Anyway, the real question: Which departed free agent will have a better go of it post-Chicago?

On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Will the Cubs sign free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa?

Upshot: Well, let’s see, the Cubs didn’t sign Trea Turner. At last check, they didn’t sign Xander Bogaerts, either. Anybody seen Dansby Swanson? It might be Correa or bust, if the Cubs’ intention is to reel in a star shortstop. Does this organization have the stomach for paying what that could cost? And, if not, how are fans supposed to take that?

Poll No. 2: Will the White Sox make any major acquisitions this offseason?

Upshot: Sox fans’ skepticism is so thick nowadays, you can cut it with a knife. “They won’t, and we knew they wouldn’t,” @SultanofClout surmised. “Been this way my whole life, and it won’t change until ownership does.” Hey, that sounds kind of familiar. For what it’s worth, general manager Rick Hahn indicates the Sox will look to be active in the trade market.

Poll No. 3: Who will have bigger post-Chicago success, Willson Contreras (Cardinals) or Jose Abreu (Astros)?

Upshot: Contreras joins Paul Goldschmist and Nolan Arenado in one heck of a Cardinals lineup. We’re sure he won’t torment the Cubs at all. Abreu — five years older — has taken his talents to the World Series champs in Houston, where he has the bat and the work ethic to fit in more than fine. And the Sox are supposed to catch the Astros how, exactly?

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The Heisman Trophy presentation is Saturday, which always makes this a delicate time to be writing about college football. Why? Because the rules are explicit: If I reveal my ballot before the winner is called to the stage on ESPN, I’ll lose my vote. And we absolutely, positively can’t have that.

OK, fine, three hints: My No. 1 guy plays west of the Mississippi, wears an odd number and shares a surname with a previous winner. Stumped? Of course you are. That was such a good job of keeping things shrouded in mystery, I should get the Disguiseman Trophy.

Ha! What a wise guy. And speaking of which, here’s a whole list of college football awards that — like so many untelevised Emmys categories — won’t be part of any glitzy show. These, folks, are the 2022 Wiseman Trophies.

Fliesman: It goes to the Northwestern Wildcats, who traveled nearly 4,000 miles — all the way to Dublin, Ireland — to find their only win in the Week Zero opener of a 1-11 campaign that, from September on, was a real bunch of blarney.

Sizeman: Get a load of you, Desmond Watson. The 6-5, 415-pound Florida defensive tackle punishes the scale like no pro prospect since former Bears offensive tackle Aaron Gibson, the NFL record-holder at 410. Only a sophomore, Watson, who can bench-press over 500 pounds and squat more than 700, started nine games for the Gators and — wearing No. 21, somehow enhancing the spectacle — flashed outsized potential.

Thighsman: As a 17-year-old freshman, Wisconsin running back Braelon Allen, who has legs like sequoias, publicly challenged Packers powerhouse AJ Dillon to a squat contest. As a sophomore, Allen poked fun in a tweet at Giants star Saquon Barkley, referring to the superstar’s tree-trunk legs as “cute.” He talks the talk and, with 100-plus yards per game for the second year in a row, definitely walks the walk.

Tiesman: We should’ve known Houston and UTSA would end up sharing this one when their season opener wasn’t settled until a third overtime. A week later, Houston went to OT again and UTSA went to double OT, and each team would have yet another OT game after that. That’s a whole lot of stress.

Sighsman: Another shared honor, this one by Chandler Morris and Gary Patterson. Morris, who beat out Max Duggan for TCU’s starting quarterback job, got hurt in the opener, watched Duggan go in and crush it, and the rest was Heisman-finalist history. Patterson, the winningest coach in TCU history, watched first-year successor Sonny Dykes step in and lead the Horned Frogs to the College Football Playoff. Together now: Sigh.

Prizeman: This goes to whichever NFL team gets to draft Alabama QB Bryce Young, last season’s Heisman winner and, if we’re being honest, still the best player in the country. Young gets an assist for opting out of the Sugar Bowl.

Baptizeman: Tennessee fans swim away with the honors for celebrating an incredible 52-49 win against Alabama by carrying the goal posts right out of Neyland Stadium and heaving them into the Tennessee River.

Riseman: Unknown nationally heading into the Alabama game, Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt caught an amazing five touchdown passes against the Tide, the launching point of a Biletnikoff Award season. Vols fans should’ve given Hyatt a ride on their shoulders along with those goal posts (before gently setting him down at the river’s edge, needless to say).

Friesman: Congrats, Potato Bowl. Are you a football game or an appetizer at Beef O’Brady’s?

Spiesman: It can go only to coach Scott Satterfield, who resigned at Louisville to take the Cincinnati job less than two weeks before the Fenway Bowl pitting Louisville against — yep — Cincinnati. Satterfield won’t be helping either team in this game … or so he says.

Criesman: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is the richly deserving recipient for running a godawful offense — coordinated by in-over-his-head son Brian — onto the field all season, pausing only to lash out babyishly at the media for, you know, noticing it.

Triesman: A tip of the helmet to Northwestern tackle Peter Skoronski, maybe the best offensive lineman in the country. On a truly terrible team never more than one false step from disaster, this big fella somehow gave up zero sacks and graded out — for the third year in a row — as an absolute superstar.

Surpriseman: Coach Lance Leipold wins it twice, once for leading Kansas to its first bowl berth in 14 years and again for signing a contract extension to stay when he easily could’ve gotten out of Dodge and found a comfier gig.

Repriseman: Remember Jim Mora? That’s right, the younger one. A coach fired so many times eventually comes down — if he’s lucky — to his very final chance, and for Mora that was UConn, the absolute bottom of the FBS barrel. Guess who else is going bowling?

Whysman: Lastly, we honor Wake Forest’s prolific quarterback, Sam Hartman, who missed the first week of the season after having a rib removed to ease pressure on a vein. Where the heck is this going? Well, that rib has spent the rest of the season in Hartman’s refrigerator. And after one final game, he plans to have it made into — what else? — a necklace. No ribbing.

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Emil Richards, the famed percussionist, vibraphone specialist and L.A. session musician (the fabled Wrecking Crew), died at the age of 87 in December 2019. If the name is unfamiliar to you, Richards performed with Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Judy Garland, Charles Mingus, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, The Monkees and dozens more.

Yet you are very familiar with his work. Really. Because Emil Richards played the xylophone parts on the opening theme of ”The Simpsons,” did the finger-snapping on the theme song for ”The Addams Family” and beat the bongos on the ”Mission: Impossible” theme song.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do your best on this quiz. As always, should you or any of your quiz forces be caught or killed, the Quizmaster will disavow any knowledge of your actions. Have fun and learn a lot.

1. Reader Bernie M. suggested Feb. 7 for a question. It is indeed an interesting offseason date. On that date in 1940, Walt Disney’s ”Pinocchio” was released (and you can tell by the nose on my face, that’s no lie). On that date in 1949, Joe DiMaggio signed with the Yankees for $100,000, the first six-figure contract in the major leagues. On Feb. 7, 1958, the Dodgers officially became the ”Los Angeles Dodgers Inc.,” a move that changed baseball history. The next year, 1959, in a move that changed Chicago baseball history, White Sox president Mrs. Dorothy Rigney agreed to sell the team for a reported $2.7 million. Who was the buyer?

a. Bill Rigney

b.Bill Veeck

c. Charles O. Finley

d. Charles Comiskey

2. Reader Ed S. points out that in June 1972, Sammy Davis Jr. had a No. 1 hit with the song ”Candy Man,” written for the film ”Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” The 1972 White Sox hit 108 homers, with Dick Allen, Carlos May and Ed Herrmann leading the way, and went 17-11 in June. The Cubs hit 133 homers, with Ron Santo, Billy Williams, Jim Hickman and Jose Cardenal at the plate, and also went 17-11 in June. Which team hit the most homers in June?

a. The Cubs

b. The White Sox

c. The same

3. Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry recently died. In 1962-83, Perry appeared in 777 games, starting 690 of them for the Giants, Cleveland, the Rangers, the Padres, the Yankees, the Braves, the Mariners and the Royals. He allowed 399 home runs. Which Chicago batter hit the most homers against him?

a. Ron Santo

b.Billy Williams

c. Bill Melton

d. Dick Allen

4. Reader Marysue J. was born on Oct. 8, 1958, the same day that the Yankees drew even in the World Series (3-3) by defeating the Braves in 10 innings when a Moose drove home the winning run. The Yanks won the Series the next day, becoming the first team to come back from being down 3-1. The big Game 7 blow was a three-run home run off Lew Burdette in the eighth inning. The shot was hit by a Moose who soon would find his way to playing first base for the White Sox. Who’s that Moose?

a. Bill Skowron

b.Bob Moose

c. Moose Haas

d. Mike Mussina

5. Since 2014, who led all Chicago players in games played, home runs, extra-base hits, RBI, runs scored and batting average?

a. Jose Abreu

b. Jose Abreu

c. Jose Abreu

d. Jose Abreu

6. On June 8, 1969, the Yankees’ uniformNo. 7 was retired on Mickey Mantle Day. A crowd of 60,096 came to Yankee Stadium to honor Mantle. In that crowd were reader Bruce B. and Bill B., who might have been slightly hung over (what better way to salute The Mick?) while watching the Yankees sweep the White Sox in a twin bill. Don Pavletich wore No. 7 for the Sox that day, and Tim Anderson wears it these days. Which of the following Sox players also wore No. 7?

a. Kenny Williams

b. Steve Sax

c. Mark Kotsay

d. Jorge Orta

e. All of the above

7. The ”Bill James Handbook” is my must-read every offseason (and during the season, as well). The 2023 edition is available right now, and after you have purchased my book, the ”Handbook” is a must. It’s filled with varied items, most of which I never even had considered. I love looking at the various leaderboards for items of interest. For example, Freddie Freeman led the National League with a home batting average of .347 (minimum of 251 at-bats). Which NL shortstop finished second on the list?

a. Dansby Swanson

b.Trea Turner

c. Nico Hoerner

d. Francisco Lindor

8. Congratulations to new Hall of Famer Fred McGriff. The ”Crime Dog” played 19 big-league seasons, including 195 games with the Cubs. He totaled 493 homers and hit 42 for the North Siders. His 493 homers are the same number hit by what other Hall of Famer?

a. Lou Gehrig

b. Al Kaline

c. Stan Musial

d. Willie Stargell

9. ESPN’s Chris Berman gave McGriff the nickname ”Crime Dog” after the cartoon public-service-announcement dog McGruff. The pitcher who was known as ”Barney” or ”The Big Train” died Dec. 10, 1946. Who was he?

a. Eppa Rixey

b. Barney Rubble

c. Walter Johnson

d. James Trainer

ANSWERS

1.Bill Veeck, one of my heroes, was the buyer. Chicago insurance broker Charles O. Finley said that he could match the price. Charles Comiskey would try to stop Veeck from buying the Sox but would be unsuccessful.

2.Each team hit 25 homers in June 1972. The Quizmaster mixes it with love and makes the world taste good.

3. In his fourth big-league appearance (and start), Gaylord Perry allowed his first homer on May 5, 1962, to Billy Williams. Williams hit eight more homers against Perry, the most of any player. And that’s no spit.

4. Bill ”Moose” Skowron, who was born in Chicago on Dec. 18, 1930, attended Archbishop Weber High School. After his playing days, Skowron owned a bar in suburban Cicero.

5.Jose Abreu hit .292 with 243 homers and 863 RBI in a White Sox uniform, trailing only Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko on the team’s all-time homer list. No first baseman in baseball has collected more homers and driven in more runs than Abreu since his first season. His presence at the plate, in the field, in the dugout, in the clubhouse and among fans of great baseball will be missed in Chicago.

6. Jorge Orta wore No. 6; the rest wore No. 7.

7. Nico Hoerner hit .318 at Wrigley Field and .244 on the road. He clearly loves the hometown fans.

8. Fred McGriff hit the same number of homers as Lou Gehrig. Stan Musial and Willie Stargell each hit 475 homers.

9. Sportswriter Grantland Rice gave Walter Johnson his nickname ”The Big Train” because of his size and his fastball. The express train was the fastest vehicle known at the time. He was nicknamed ”Barney” in honor of Barney Oldfield, the race-car driver. Johnson was a brilliant pitcher who had 38 1-0 victories and took 26 1-0 losses.

UNABASHED PLUG: Don’t forget that ”In Scoring Position,” published by Triumph Books, is a great holiday gift for the baseball fan in your life.

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The science of defending a two-on-one rush in the NHL is complicated.

And with the Blackhawks not only conceding too many counterattacks lately but also struggling to defend them, coach Luke Richardson — who faced hundreds himself during his own playing career — has been working closely with his defensemen to break down that science.

In any two-on-one, there are a few key decisions the defenseman must make: where to position himself between the puck carrier and the puck carrier’s teammate, whether to slide and when to slide if he does.

The objective is to force the puck carrier to shoot rather than pass — and to shoot from an angle. Smothering the teammate and giving the carrier a pseudo-breakaway isn’t smart, either, as Hawks veteran defenseman Jack Johnson — who also has faced hundreds of rushes — explained Friday.

“You don’t want the goalie to move,” Johnson said. “You want to try to let the goalie get as set as much as you can. That’s why you try to take away the pass. They might make a pass or two early — by the blue line — but once you get to the top of the [faceoff] circles, you want to try to lock down one side.”

Richardson has suggested his defensemen start equidistant between the two attackers (or slightly closer to the puck carrier) as the rush crosses the blue line, then gradually shift toward the teammate as the rush approaches the net. But the talent of the two opposing players — and their tendencies toward shooting or passing — can factor in, too.

“If the guy on the other side is a 50-goal scorer, I’m going to really shade onto [him],” Johnson said.

And then there’s the question of sliding or not sliding. There’s no correct answer, only personal preference.

Sliding is probably more common league-wide, but Johnson, for example, was taught not to while growing up and has stuck with that approach.

“I tried sliding one time, and the guy just dragged it around me and scored,” Johnson said. “I’m like, ‘I’m never doing that again.’ “

Richardson has been showing the Hawks examples of two-on-one rushes they defended poorly using both approaches. Against the Oilers last week, Seth Jones slid twice in the third period but did so too passively and arguably too early, allowing the Oilers to connect their passes and score both times. Against the Devils on Tuesday, Ian Mitchell didn’t slide during a rush in the first period, but he was too close to the puck carrier and too far from the teammate, allowing the Devils’ pass to connect and forcing goalie Arvid Soderblom to make a big save.

This is the area Richardson has harped on the most. One way or another, the Hawks need to allow fewer passes to get through. And if that’s by sliding, he’d like to see them do it a half-second later and more aggressively.

“If you’re going to slide, you have to slide at the guy, and your body has to be through the passing lane,” he said. “It can’t be your stick [in the lane]. Guys are too skilled in this league. If you have a 1-inch stick to stop a pass, they’re going to thread that through.

“You have to slide at a kind of 45-degree angle [toward] the player with the puck. If your body’s in the passing lane, that means they’ll have to lift the puck, saucer-pass it 2 feet high and land it within 4 feet. That’s pretty hard to do nowadays, especially if it’s later in the period and the ice is bad. As you’re going at the guy, usually the equipment is so big . . . the puck will touch something. It just throws the timing off, and maybe it doesn’t even get through.”

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When he played, no one regularly clocked Michael Vick’s speed using GPS, the way quarterbacks are measured today. Maybe that’s a good thing, Vick joked.

“I was quicker than I was fast,” Vick, a Fox Sports analyst, said this week.

He’s being humble. The all-time rushing leader among quarterbacks also held the NFL’s single-game, regular-season record — until Bears quarterback Justin Fields ran for 178 yards on Nov. 6 against the Dolphins.

Then a star with the Falcons, Vick had 173 rushing yards in a 2002 overtime win against the Vikings that ended with his 46-yard touchdown run. Maybe, Vick said, he’d want to know how fast he ran in that game.

“The anxiety,” he said, “is getting caught from behind.”

It didn’t happen often. And it’s not happening this year with Fields, either.

“He’s faster than everybody thought,” Vick said. “He never had to showcase those skills at Ohio State.”

Technology allows Fields to prove just how rare those skills are. In 2015 — Vick’s last season — the NFL began embedding monitors in shoulder pads at every venue in the league. Teams receive postgame reports with tracking data and measure distances run during practices.

NFL Next Gen Stats has made measuring speed so ubiquitous that Fields was told Sunday, after he said he felt slow, that he reached 20.15 mph on a 55-yard touchdown run against the Packers. Fields responded wryly that he needed to reach 21 or 21.5 mph next time.

“I got to do some extra sprints or something,” he said.

What he has done this season is special enough:

o Fields has hit top speed more often than any ballcarrier, be it a running back, receiver, quarterback or tight end. He has more runs of 20-plus mph this season than any player in a season since 2018, per NFL Next Gen Stats and Zebra Technologies.

o He’s the fastest quarterback. Fields posted the fastest run of any quarterback this season when he hit 21.23 mph on a 41-yard run against the Cowboys that was shortened to eight yards by tight end Cole Kmet’s holding penalty. That run made him the 15th-fastest ballcarrier on any play this season. No quarterback has had a run finish a season in the top 20 since Next Gen Stats began publishing regular-season speed figures in 2017.

o He has hit fourth gear more often than anyone else. Fields has reached 15 mph 70 times on 128 carries. That’s tops among all rushers. Packers running back Aaron Jones is second with 52. Fields trails only one player in percentage of runs over 15 mph. Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray has reached that mark on 74.2% of his runs, while Fields has done so 54.7% of the time.

o Fields has made the most out of the least. He leads the NFL with 438 rushing yards over expected, a stat that measures gains contrasted against the GPS location and speed of blockers and defenders. Browns running back Nick Chubb is second with 328 yards. Fields is the only player with three of the league’s top 20 RYOE plays this season.

Technology makes it easy to fetishize Fields’ speed. Still, his runs require subtlety. On his 55-yarder Sunday, Fields planted his foot to escape blitzing cornerback Keisean Nixon before taking off up the right seam, where he was untouched.

“It takes a special person to not get touched running up the middle,” Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson said.

Johnson admits to being “spoiled” by watching Fields run. In training camp, defenders call out when they’re close to the quarterback, whom they cannot hit, and declare it a tackle.

“Then, when you go out there on a Sunday, you’re like, ‘No, they’re not tackling that dude,’ ” Johnson said. “I definitely wouldn’t want to face a quarterback like him with that ability in the air and on the ground. He definitely does some amazing things.

“It’s something we enjoy. And I feel like it’s starting, almost, to become an expectation for him to make those all-star plays.”

Quarterbacks are running more often than at any point since at least 1981, per Football Outsiders. Not counting kneeldowns, quarterbacks have averaged about 3.6 carries per game and 5.9 yards per carry this year.

Fields, meanwhile, is averaging 9.8 carries per game and 7.1 yards per carry.

“When he tucks the ball, you can see a switch flip — he’s a running back now,” said former Bears safety Brock Vereen, an analyst for CBS Sports Network’s “That Other Pregame Show.” “He’s reading his offensive line like a running back. He actually becomes a running back.

“As a defender, it’s terrifying.”

Vereen considers Fields part of a “gigantic wave of running quarterbacks” whose comfort carrying the ball comes from their wide-open college offenses. Even Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow ran for 767 yards over his two years at LSU.

The wave led Vick to joke his records are being toppled more frequently than the other former players he works with at Fox. Two weeks ago, Eagles cornerback Jalen Hurts broke Vick’s franchise record by running for 157 yards against the Packers.

“I’m glad to be in that lineage, and for them to be joining us,” Vick said.

Fields reminds Vick of former Panthers star Cam Newton — the second-leading quarterback rusher of all time — more than himself. Both are long-striding, physical, fast runners. Newton has two inches and 20 pounds on the 6-3, 228-pound Fields. Fields, though, is three inches and 20 pounds bigger than Vick in his prime.

The next step, Vick said, is for Fields to excel in the passing game. When the season began, Vick considered that a week-to-week proposition. He since has admired Fields’ poise in the pocket and thinks no quarterback is ever fully settled in the first year of any scheme.

“That should come more next year when he gets more comfortable in the offense,” Vick said. “I see a guy that you can build around.”

And one whom others can’t catch.

“At some point,” Vick said, “you start to realize, ‘I have talents — and running the football is one of them.’ ”

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Games at Brother Rice almost never disappoint. If you’ve never been to one, get it on your list.

And this would be a great season to check it out, because the Crusaders have a fun team and fun lead guard in Niagara recruit Ahmad Henderson.

He did everything he possibly could to take down St. Rita tonight, scoring 28 points, but the Mustangs just have too many weapons for most high school teams to counter.

I assume there are still St. Rita doubters out there. It may be a long winter for them as the Mustangs continue rounding into shape. Morez Johnson was a monster once again, he plays tremendously hard and is just all over the court.

Lets get right into tonight’s action. There were a lot of fun results from all over the area, setting us up for a major two days at the Team Rose Classic at Mount Carmel.

Friday’s top games

Thornton 49, Rich 44: Well, look at this. I expected it to be kind of a long season for Tai Streets and the Wildcats but maybe not. Vincent Rainey scored 16 points and sophomore Jordan Maple scored 11. I don’t believe there was even a sophomore on the roster when I was out in Harvey on Tuesday night. Perhaps Maple was just called up to varsity.

Andrew 51, Lockport 37: This was a highlight tweet that surprised me It’s the first win against Lockport that the Thunderbolts have had in nine years. Crazy. I had no idea the Porters were dominating this matchup to that extent. Athan Berchos scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter to lead Andrew and Austin Kulig added 10 points.

Kenwood 58, Knoxville Catholic 47: The Broncos beat a Tennessee team in Atlanta. Dai Dai Ames scored 24, Tyler Smith had 13 and Calvin Robins turned in 11 points and 10 rebounds. The Broncos are still unbeaten. Knoxville Catholic was 7-0 heading into this one.

Lincoln-Way East 78, Bradley 46: A big night for the freshman. BJ Powell led the Griffins with 17 points. George Bellevue added 12 and Josh Janowski scored 11.

Naperville North 74, DeKalb 71 3 OT: The game of the night. Junior Luke Williams scored 35 points. He’s a great athlete that impressed me during football season. Looking forward to checking the Huskies out this season. Bryce Welch scored 18. Waubonsie Valley was pretty good on Wednesday…maybe the DVC will wind up to be sneaky solid this season?

Francis Parker 52, Latin 48: This is a game that I always want to see but it’s on a Friday night so it never quite works out. I believe they play it at DePaul every season. Caleb David led the Colonels with 25 points and Payton Pitts added 10 points and five assists.

Romeoville 75, Plainfield Central 45: Meyoh Swansey entered the season as one of those players everyone expected to have a breakout season. Well, it is happening. He had 29 points and five rebounds. Troy Cicero added 10 points and seven assists.

Marian Catholic 73, Joliet Catholic 52: The Spartans bounce back again. Mike Taylor’s group is clearly still figuring things out this season. Quentin Jones scored 15 and James Bullock added 13. Excited to get my first look at Marian this weekend.

Marmion 64, De La Salle 47: An eye-opener here for sure. It might be time to add Marmion to my notebook of teams I’m tracking. This makes them 5-3. Jabe Haith had 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. That’s a game. Collin Wainscott added 21 points and seven assists and Trevon Roots finished with nine points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Bloom 75, Hammond Bishop Noll 41: Rae Harris had 12 points and 10 assists for the Blazing Trojans. Jordan Brown and sophomore Payton Edwards each added 11 points. I’m not an Indiana expert but isn’t this where Jaedin Reyna wound up?

St. Ignatius 48, Leo 42: Closer than expected. Leo’s basically starting from scratch after losing most of its team. Richard Barron scored 12 for the Wolfpack.

Marist 48, St. Viator 43: Brother Rice vs. Marist used to a must-see and it could be again this season. Kaden White scored 17 and Mason Ross added 10 points.

New Trier 52, Glenbrook South 46: Nice win for the Trevians in the Titan Dome. Jake Fiegen scored 20 points. Phil Ralston’s basically brand new squad is playing everyone tough. Keep an eye on them over the next few months.

Lane 67, Perspectives-MSA 54: Parker Williams scored a career-high 18 points and sophomore big Dalton Scantlebury added 15.

Beecher 72, Grant Park 43: The Bobcats played this game in their old gym. Every school with an old gym should do this once a year, seems like a fun idea. Junor Adyn McGinley is on a tear this season, he finished with 24 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Everyone can tell I want to go back to see Momence vs. Beecher again this year, right?

Farragut 86, North Lawndale 80: Obviously the Kenwood-Young thing is fun right now but at this point the Admirals vs. the Phoenix might be one of the best remaining rivalries in the Public League. Jonathan Calmese scored 26 and Eric Powell added 18 points.

Loyola 42, Fenwick 27: Impressive spread for the Ramblers against a solid but very young Friars group.

Metea Valley 60, Waubonsie Valley 54 OT: Whoa, another DVC thriller. Metea Valley returns an awful lot from last year and was a team I had my eye on. Based on what I saw from the Warriors this week I’m confident that Metea Valley is playing well if it grabbed this win.

Lincoln-Way West 69, Homewood-Flossmoor 67 OT: This doesn’t happen very often. Not sure it even happened back in the Marco Pettinato days.

Jackson-Reed, D.C. 66, Young 65: The Dolphins lose on the road. Dalen Davis scored 22.

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Few teams have consistently dominated the Blackhawks more than the Jets have in recent years.

That trend did not change Friday. The Jets controlled the majority of the game and Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom could only do so much in a 3-1 Hawks defeat.

The loss marked the Hawks’ 14th in their last 17 meetings against Winnipeg and third in three this season, during which they’ve been outscored by a lopsided 14-3 margin. They’ve now lost 17 of their last 20 games overall.

The Jets’ 7-2 rout at the United Center just a couple weeks ago represented the first time this season the Hawks have “played a little bit apart as a team,” coach Luke Richardson had said pregame.

Their togetherness didn’t crumble to that degree Friday, but they still generated very few reasons to believe in a comeback after yet again falling behind 1-0 in the first period.

Soderblom made “backdoor saves left and right,” defenseman Seth Jones said, but his 29 saves were meaningless when the Hawks scored just their lone goal in a three-game span. Final scoring chances favored the Jets 38-21 (and high-danger chances favored them 18-6).

“It wasn’t all bad. We came out slow in the first, though,” Jones added. “We weren’t very physical. Weren’t forechecking very much. And they took it to us a little bit. In the second period, we started to get more ‘O’-zone time [by] moving our feet.”

Last man back

Tyler Johnson, the only injured Hawk who wasn’t part of the en-masse return to practice Thursday, continued the stretch of encouraging health news by participating in morning skate Friday. It was his first on-ice appearance since suffering a setback in his ankle recovery around Nov. 20.

“He’s kind of back to where he was close [to returning] last time, but he has to try the contact again, which is the hard part,” Richardson said. “[With] the ankle, you never know when you’re going to get hit and you have to flex it. That’s what hurt him last time and set him back, so we have to try it again.”

Sam Lafferty’s return Friday from his back injury slightly bolstered the forward lineup; Lafferty slotted in as the fourth-line center, bumping Boris Katchouk to healthy scratch. But Johnson’s return would bolster it significantly more. He was the Hawks’ leading scorer, with six points in six games, at the time of his injury.

On the defensive side, Jarred Tinordi (hip injury) also unexpectedly returned to the lineup, then missed more time in-game but ultimately returned.

McCabe being heard

Defenseman Jake McCabe has played well recently, pressuring the puck in the defensive zone and getting involved in the offensive zone. But Richardson appreciates McCabe’s talkativeness more than any of his physical skills.

“He’s vocal,” Richardson said Thursday. “The game has gotten quiet — [this is] just a generation of players where they’re not vocal as much as they used to be — and he is. So that’s a real help on the ice. I love how he competes and he doesn’t settle for anything but the best. When things aren’t going well, he’ll let everybody know…it’s not acceptable.”

Richardson paired McCabe with Ian Mitchell against the Jets, believing McCabe’s strong communication would help Mitchell build chemistry with him quickly.

“You get to not just see what [Jake is] doing, but [also] hear what he’s doing,” Richardson said. “And that lets you decide quicker what you…need to do in the ‘D’-zone.”

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Great high school basketball teams don’t fall ready-made off of an assembly line. It takes time and care and chemistry to build something special.

St. Rita has the talent to be a great team and it showed flashes of that in the first three weeks of the season. The Mustangs dominated Joliet West in the third quarter of a loss and they solidly beat a talented Lanier, Ga. team.

But they entered Friday’s Catholic League showdown at No. 6 Brother Rice with a 3-3 record that included a thumping from top-ranked Simeon last weekend at the high-profile Chicago Elite Classic. The Mustangs opened the season in several national rankings, so it’s been a rocky start.

No. 5 St. Rita’s three stars all delivered in different ways as the Mustangs earned a 57-51 win.

“It’s a win,” St. Rita junior Morez Johnson said. “People are saying we are overrated and we are waking them back up.”

Brother Rice is one of the toughest places to play in the area and the gym was loaded with fans to see the hyped Mustangs.

“It’s crazy and hostile, fans going crazy,” Johnson said.

Johnson, a 6-9 Illinois recruit, had 16 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks. He scored in each quarter and was the most consistent force for the Mustangs (4-3, 2-2 CCL Blue).

“I’m not going to say it changes everything but we certainly need it,” St. Rita coach Roshawn Russell said. “But our confidence never wavered. We just had to block out all the noise and get locked back in.”

A dunk by Brother Rice’s Khalil Ross pulled the Crusaders within two points with fewer than two minutes to play.

St. Rita was a dismal 9-for-18 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter overall and shot just 5 of 8 in the final two minutes but it was good enough to hold on to the lead.

Junior Nojus Indrusaitis led the Mustangs with 19 points despite sitting out almost the entire second quarter after picking up two fouls. He was 7 of 10 shooting. James Brown, a 6-10 junior, added 10 points and eight rebounds. Brown was on the bench for the entire second quarter after picking up two fouls.

“It’s no secret we are a special team when [Brown] is on the floor,” Russell said. “Our challenge to him is he has to find a way to stay out of foul trouble. There are some things we are working on in practice. But he stepped up big down the stretch.”

Niagara recruit Ahmad Henderson scored a game-high 28 points for the Crusaders (8-1, 2-1). Jimmy Navarette added eight points off the bench and Zavier Fitch scored seven.

Brown and Johnson dominated the boards and limited Brother Rice’s second chances.

Indrusaitis seemed to fit into the flow of St. Rita’s half-court offense better against the Crusaders than in some of the games the first week of the season. The Mustangs are also working in a pair of transfer guards, Nashawn Holmes and Joseph Worthington.

“You have to get used to where people want the ball and learn each other,” Johnson said. “That’s the problem. But we’re doing a great job of that now.”

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LUSAIL, Qatar — Grant Wahl, one of the most well-known soccer writers in the United States, died early Saturday while covering the World Cup match between Argentina and the Netherlands.

U.S. media seated near him said Wahl fell back in his seat in the media tribune at Lusail Iconic Stadium during extra time and reporters adjacent to him called for assistance. Emergency services workers responded very quickly, the reporters said, and the reporters later were told that Wahl had died.

Wahl tweeted on Wednesday that he had celebrated his birthday that day. American reporters who knew Wahl said he was 49.

Wahl was covering his eighth World Cup. He wrote Monday on his website that he had visited a medical clinic while in Qatar.

“My body finally broke down on me. Three weeks of little sleep, high stress and lots of work can do that to you,” Wahl wrote. “What had been a cold over the last 10 days turned into something more severe on the night of the USA-Netherlands game, and I could feel my upper chest take on a new level of pressure and discomfort.”

Wahl wrote that he tested negative for COVID-19 and sought treatment for his symptoms.

“I went into the medical clinic at the main media center today, and they said I probably have bronchitis. They gave me a course of antibiotics and some heavy-duty cough syrup, and I’m already feeling a bit better just a few hours later. But still: No bueno,” he wrote.

During the World Cup, Wahl drew international attention after saying he was briefly stopped from attending the U.S. match against Wales on Nov. 21 over wearing a rainbow-colored T-shirt. Rainbow-colored armbands, shirts and other items have been a focus of attention during the tournament in part over Qatar’s stance on LGBTQ rights. Gay and lesbian sex is criminalized in Qatar, a conservative Muslim nation on the Arabian Peninsula. Wahl said FIFA later apologized to him over the incident.

Wahl wrote this week that he had been among 82 journalists honored by FIFA and the international sports press association AIPS for attending eight or more World Cups.

A 1996 graduate of Princeton, Wahl worked for Sports Illustrated from 1996 to 2021, known primarily for his coverage of soccer and college basketball. He then launched his own website.

Wahl also worked for Fox Sports from 2012-19.

He is survived by his wife, Dr. Celine Gounder, clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, attending physician at Bellevue Hospital Center and CBS News medical news contributor.

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After a six-game absence, Sam Lafferty is returning to the Blackhawks’ line-up.

The Chicago Blackhawks now have the complement of Sam Lafferty as he returns to action , Friday, from a 6-week injury layoff.

The 27 year old is expected to be in the lineup against the Winnipeg Jets Friday, according to Charlie Roumeliotis

Lafferty missed six contests with the injury and coach Luke Richardson said Thursday that Lafferty would play if he got through practice Friday. Lafferty has three goals and seven points in 19 games to date.

Lafferty suffered a back injury on Nov. 23 against the Dallas Stars. The rugged forward saw just 7:07 of ice time before missing the third period of that game.

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