Chicago Sports

Six Years Ago Today The Cubs Broke the Curse

November 2, 2016 may go down as the best day in Cubs history for fans. The Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians, in Cleveland to seal the first World Series in franchise history 108 years. The game was a roller coaster of emotions that included a two run wild pitch, multiple comebacks, four home runs, and career defining moments.

The Indians started Cy Young winner Corey Kluber on short rest, but it immediately backfired, as Dexter Fowler started the game with a solo homer.

Carlos Santana tied the game in the third, but that only got the Cubs motivated. They scored two runs in the fourth and fifth, highlighted by a Javy Baéz home run.

The Cubs then brought in now Chicago legend Jon Lester for the middle innings. While he looked fine, that move backfired as well. With runners on second and third and 13 outs from a World Series win, a breaking ball hit the mask of David Ross and allowed both runs to score on the scramble.

To make up for the blunder, in what would be his last major league hit, now Cubs manager David Ross hit a home run off Andrew Miller, who had carried the Cleveland bullpen thus far.

Lester then found his groove into the bottom of the eighth. With the Cubs four outs away manager Joe Maddon chose to put in Aroldis Chapman. Chapman was clearly tired from pitching a ton throughout the series, and it showed right away. He game up a single to make it 6-4. Then, maybe the most famous home run in a loss in baseball history. Rajai Davis tied the game with a line drive into the camera well just over the bullpen.

The game was set to go into extras with all the momentum in Cleveland’s favor. Then, mother nature decided to unleash some rain, and the Cleveland grounds crew decided to tarp the field. Pulling the tarp meant a longer delay than the projected 10 minute stoppage, so the teams headed to the club house. Jason Heyward gathered the team to calm down the nerves. Bleacher Report was able to get some insight into what he said:

Seeing a few downcast faces, Heyward gathered them, players only, and began talking.

“You guys should all look in the mirror and understand we can get it done,” he told them with a dash of anger, a pinch of passion and much love. “I don’t care who it is. There are a lot of [things that happen] over the season. You’re not going to be happy about some things, and some are easier to swallow. Just be happy in this moment, in this situation, because you can come through.”

After the break, the Cubs came out with a profound energy. Bryan Shaw was on to pitch for the Tribe. While he had great stuff, he did not have much trust from Cleveland fans. Schwarber led off with a single and was pinch ran for. After a Kris Bryant fly out moved a runner to second and Anthony Rizzo was intentionally walked, MLB journeyman and utility man Ben Zobrist delivered the hit of his life.

Cubs fans rejoiced, but nobody was comfortable. Jesus Montero was able to add an insurance run with a single to score Rizzo, and the Cubs were three outs away from breaking the Billy Goat Curse.

Another two out RBI from Rajai Davis put the game back to one run, and the fanbase heartbeat elevated to new levels. But finally, it happened:

The Cubs would break the 108 year curse, and Cleveland’s World Series drought would continue. With so many players now gone, it can be bittersweet to look back at the legendary moments of heroes like Ross, Rizzo, Bryant, Zobrist, Schwarber, and Lester. However, every November 2nd will belong to the city of Chicago, flying the W, and Go Cubs Go blaring in the streets.

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The Chicago Bears’ offensive line should be better soon

Offensive line play has been a problem for the Chicago Bears all season. Recently, several significant injuries to the unit have caused problems for the offense. Cody Whitehair had to be placed on the injured reserve in early October. Lucas Patrick suffered a toe injury on MNF against the New England Patriots in Week 7. He was also placed on the injured reserve. With a concussion, Larry Borom was ruled out of the Bears’ Week 8 game against the Dallas Cowboys.

According to a statement by the Bears Wednesday afternoon, the team has designated Whitehair to return from the injured reserve.

This is an excellent sign for the Bears. The Bears pretty much punted away their season after making trades that have dismantled the defense. However, the addition of wide receiver Chase Claypool will allow quarterback Justin Fields to progress with the nine games left on the schedule. The better the offensive line play to protect him, the more offensive coordinator Luke Getsy can dial up some passing plays and let Fields toss it to the newly acquired wide receiver.

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The Bears undoubtedly had quarterback Justin Fields’ recent uptick in mind when they traded for wide receiver Chase Claypool, but they view him as a pillar of their future independently of what they decide on Fields.

There’s uncertainty with Claypool, but he has shown enough in two-plus seasons to warrant a bullish outlook. The combined potential of him and Darnell Mooney gives the Bears their most potent wide receiver duo since Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall nearly a decade ago.

“It could be super dynamic,” Claypool said Wednesday before his first practice. “We’re different receivers — in a good way… It’s going to open the offense up even more so.”

That’s why it’s the best thing the Bears have done for Fields since he arrived.

While Mooney is 5-foot-11, 173 pounds with top-tier speed, Claypool is linebacker-sized at 6-foot-4, 238. His skillset should significantly help Fields on third downs and in the red zone.

There isn’t much projecting necessary with Claypool at 24. He proved what he can bring to an offense with 121 catches for 1,733 yards and 11 touchdowns, plus 24 rushes for 112 yards and two touchdowns, over his first two seasons.

He did that predominantly playing on the outside, which figures to be where the Bears will use him.

Claypool’s numbers are down this season — he has 32 catches for 311 yards and a touchdown — and that’s probably partly due to the Steelers moving him to the slot, which he said, “wasn’t quite the best fit.” The quarterback downgrade from Ben Roethlisberger to Mitch Trubisky and Kenny Pickett surely factored into it as well.

“I didn’t have the full opportunity to show what I can do this year, but I think I’ve been able to show that in the past,” Claypool said. “I’m excited to be able to gain that trust with Justin, where he knows if he needs a play he can come to me.”

By the way, dig those No. 10 jerseys out of the basement and break out the duct tape. Claypool will wear Trubisky’s old number when he debuts Sunday against the Dolphins.

The only caution is that the Bears think they know something the Steelers don’t.The Steelers are a model of organizational prudence, and when they move on from a player, there’s usually a reason.

They drafted and developed Claypool, got production from him, then flipped him for a higher draft pick. They took him at No. 49 overall, and the Bears’ second-round pick they got in the trade is currently slotted for No. 39. That’s a curious sequence.

The Bears weren’t the only team in on Claypool, by the way. The Packers also offered a second-rounder, but the Steelers chose the Bears because they believed they’d have a higher selection, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Regardless, when asked what the Bears see in him that the Steelers didn’t, Claypool said, “They see where I can provide them a lot of value. I think they want to utilize that.”

CBS reported the Steelers had been looking to move Claypool for weeks, in part because he was causing issues behind the scenes. Coach Matt Eberflus was confident Claypool would be a good fit based on conversations with former Notre Dame teammates tight end Cole Kmet, center Sam Mustipher and wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown.

“Everything was really good, and that’s where you get your information: Guys who have spent time with him,” Eberflus said.

Claypool said he didn’t have “any bad blood with anyone” in Pittsburgh and wasn’t hurt by the Steelers unloading him. He wasn’t hoping to get out, but seemed happy with the move.

He was enthusiastic when asked about playing for a contract extension with the Bears, which will be in play in the upcoming offseason. Claypool’s rookie deal runs through 2023.

In the meantime, he mustshow that he and the Bears really did see something the Steelers missed.

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Justin Fields thinks the Bears’ offensive success over the last month has shown his bosses that he can be the franchise quarterback over the next 5 or 10 years.

Not that he’s worried about it.

“Yeah, for sure,” he said. “But I’m just gonna keep getting better. I’m not worried about the next 5, 10 years. I’m worried about this week.”

This week might be tough — the Dolphins are among the NFL’s best teams — but the rest of the season should be easier on the offensive side after general manager Ryan Poles traded a second-round pick for Steelers receiver Chase Claypool on Tuesday.

“I was excited, of course,” Fields said. “He’s a play-maker, a big body, athletic, fast. A great 50/50 ball catcher. … And just seeing what he can do at practice, the different things that we do at practice, the routes that we give him. Just practicing with him and getting to throw with him a little bit, that will just help me find out what he’s best at doing.”

Fields was asked if it was a sign the Bears were showing faith in him.

“I mean, yeah,” he said. “But anytime when you trade for a player like him you’re just trying to make the team better. Kinda like [head] coach [Matt Eberflus] said. We’re just trying to make the team better overall.”

It might be ready to take off. Of the 26 quarterbacks who attempted at least 100 passes in the month of October, Fields ranked No. 11 in passer rating, seventh in yards per pass attempt and No. 20 in passing yards. Only five quarterbacks threw fewer interceptions. His 329 rushing yards were tops among quarterbacks during that time.

Claypool could help accelerate that growth.

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In the fall of 2021, Alice Childress’ play “Trouble in Mind” finally made its Broadway debut, which would have happened more than six decades earlier if not for the Black playwright’s decision to keep her vision for the insightful work intact.

Critically acclaimed in its Tony Award-nominated Roundabout Theatre revival earlier this year, the play, which paints a realistic portrait of what it was like to be Black in the theater industry in the 1950s, debuted Off Broadway in 1955 at the Greenwich Mews Theatre. It was quickly optioned for Broadway — the caveat being Childress was asked to make changes that would make the script more palatable for commercial audiences. Translation: white audiences.

After several years of rewrites and attempts to appease producers over the course of the process, Childress walked away and negotiations for the Broadway transfer broke down. When the play was eventually published as part of an anthology in 1971, she had restored the drama to its original form.

Now considered a classic of Black theater, the once rarely produced “Trouble in Mind” is being staged at theaters around the country including at TimeLine Theatre, under the direction of Ron OJ Parson, who last season helmed a critically acclaimed TimeLine production of Tyla Abercrombie’s new play “Relentless.”

“I came up during the Black theater movement and I was interested in plays by the Black playwrights,” recalls Parson, who directed a 2014 student production of the “Trouble in Mind” at Northwestern University. “They were the writers that led the way for us, and Childress was among them. She’s been a part of my history in the theater for a long time.”

Childress’ play is a backstage comedy-drama about a group of Black actors (the play-within-a play’s writer and director are white) who gather to rehearse a new anti-lynching drama called “Chaos in Belleville.”

The lead character, a middle-aged Black actress named Wiletta Mayer, is only now getting her first chance at a Broadway role after years of playing maids and kindly country folk. But she finds the play filled with cliches and as her frustrations grows, she clashes with the play’s director.

Childress started out as an actor but turned to playwriting to create roles representative of the people she encountered in her life in order to counter the multitude of stereotypes of Black people prevalent in theater at the time.

Childress is “a woman and a Black woman and you can hear that in her writing,” Parson says. “You can hear the strength of the Black woman in America through her plays.” As for Wiletta, he adds, “It’s a strong character, a role a Black actress can sink her teeth into.”

Shariba Rivers, who stars as Wiletta and is making her TimeLine debut, says, “It feels like Wiletta and I are walking in lockstep even though this is 2022. It’s empowering to step into those shoes and go on this journey with her.”

Rivers adds: “Wiletta puts this face on until she can’t do it anymore and she’s like hell no, absolutely not. Thinking about the ’50s and what it would take for a Black woman to say that to a white director — she’s putting it all on the line.”

One of the ways the play remains relevant today is the idea of the Black experience being reflected through the lens of whiteness, says Tim Decker, who portrays Al Manners, the unseeing director Wiletta goes up against.

“That is just the air that he breathes, and he cannot understand what she’s talking about or where her anger and frustration are coming from,” Decker says. “He doesn’t have the wherewithal to process any of that or understand her point of view.”

While Childress did not make history as the first female Black playwright on Broadway, that honor would eventually go to Lorraine Hansberry for another classic of Black theater — “A Raisin in the Sun,” which debuted in 1959.

But Childress, who wrote more than a dozen plays and five novels, will be remembered for fighting against stereotypes and penning plays that continued to honor true portrayals of Black people

For Rivers, Childress’ message in “Trouble in Mind” remains vital today.

“What’s interesting for me is how relevant the play still is,” says Rivers. “Black people particularly are still fighting this battle over identity, over being able to name themselves and speak for themselves and define themselves without interference or without commentary.

“Movements like Black Lives Matter are created because we’re still saying: Stop seeing us this way and understand we are deserving of respect and dignity just like everybody else.”

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The Chicago Bulls head home to the United Center to battle the Charlotte Hornets as betting favorites following Tuesday’s win in Brooklyn.

The Chicago Bulls will look to build off of Tuesday’s win in Brooklyn, as they face the Charlotte Hornets for the first time this season. Last night’s win saw Zach LaVine score 20 points in the fourth quarter to outpace Brooklyn in a 108-99 win. LaVine has been listed out for tonight’s game, as the team eases him back from his knee ailments and continues to avoid playing him on back-to-back nights.

With Zach LaVine out of the lineup tonight, the Chicago Bulls will have to find other avenues of offense as the team currently stands 1-2 without his efforts. I mentioned in yesterday’s blog the differences in Demar Derozan’s output with LaVine in or out of the lineup, and while I do agree he could be in line for another nice evening, I have my eyes set elsewhere in the Bulls lineup.

Tonight, we’re hoping to have consecutive winning nights both in the Bulls win column, and right here on the best bet of the day. Last night’s win put the Bulls at 4-4 on the season, and Zach LaVine’s fourth quarter efforts pushed the best bet of the day to 6-2! Strap in for another battle, good luck, see some red, and GO BULLS!!

2022 Bulls Best Bet Record: 6-2

Nikola Vucevic Over 18.5 Points (Sportsbook odds may vary)

The Bulls’ big man through the first eight games of the season has seemingly found a boost in a confidence, and in my opinion appears to look more like the imposing center from Orlando that the Bulls and their fans have been waiting for. That is not to trash or disrespect what he did over his first season and a half in Chicago, but I and many others would argue that something was missing.

Now in his second full season with the Bulls, the confidence and aggressiveness has appeared to rise to a higher level. Field goal percentage and his point output could certainly increase from where they are now, but his rebounding numbers are the highest of his career, along with his free throw attempts and percentage. My biggest critique right now would be finishing some “easier” buckets on smaller defenders, but I think that will figure itself out.

In tonight’s case, it looks like Vooch will have a great opportunity to be the focal point, or co-focal point alongside Derozan tonight. Without LaMelo Ball to open the season, this Charlotte defense has been surprisingly formidable, at least in comparison to their expectations and previous history.

Charlotte currently ranks 10th in defensive efficiency under new head coach Steve Clifford, and have been really tough on 3-point shooters. The Hornets currently rank first in the NBA in 3-point percentage allowed, forcing teams to beat them inside the perimeter. In contrast, they rank 22nd in 2-point percentage allowed, drawing optimism that the Bulls leading scorers in tonight’s game could find success.

I have two reasons why I prefer Vucevic’s point total tonight over Derozan’s. On one hand, the pricing for Derozan is finally a closer reflection of his point output when LaVine is out of the lineup. The other important defensive trend to mention that pushed me over the edge and could be a better illustration of why Charlotte’s 2-point percentage has suffered, is Charlotte’s points per game allowed in the paint.

The Hornets rank 27th in the NBA with 54.9 points allowed in the paint this season, and on the road that number climbs to 60 per game and dead last in the league. If the Chicago Bulls can exploit their issues inside with Vooch, the big man should have no issues getting over this number, and could potentially be the x-factor in deciding this game.

Give me a 20-plus point outing for Vooch tonight to get us to 7-2!! GO BULLS!!

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I don’t know anything about Pedro Grifol. Had never heard of him before Tuesday, when news broke that the White Sox were hiring him as their manager. Had to look up the spelling of his name.

I love that about him.

It’s nice that the Sox dove into the pool of relative obscurity after putting everyone through Tony La Russa, a Hall of Fame manager we knew way too much about. The big concern, of course, was that team chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, who had rediscovered La Russa two years ago while trying to carbon date some cave paintings, would meddle again in the hiring process. And that could have meant anything and or anybody in the dugout, from Harold Baines to Kid Gleason’s ashes.

Instead, the presumption is that general manager Rick Hahn was allowed to do what general managers do. He got his man, whomever he is.

If Hahn had hired a Tibetan monk to replace La Russa, I would have said: “Sure, why not? Rally robes could turn into a thing.”

If Hahn had hired a robot, I would have found comfort in the knowledge that the Sox wouldn’t intentionally walk a batter on a 1-2 count, the way La Russa had.

If Hahn had hired a guy waiting for a bus on 35th Street, I would have liked the odds that it wasn’t 67-year-old Bruce Bochy.

Reinsdorf’s insistence that the Sox hire the 76-year-old La Russa two years ago ruined it this time around for a number of candidates for a number of reasons. Bochy? Take your pick: Too old, too much a retread and therefore too much like La Russa. Interim manager Miguel Cairo? Given Reinsdorf’s predilection for hiring people who have worked for him before, anybody with a connection to the black and white would have carried the taint of Jerry.

An unfortunate consequence of all of this is Ozzie Guillen, one of the smartest baseball people I know. He deserves to be a manager somewhere, and if Reinsdorf hadn’t demanded La Russa’s hiring in 2020, perhaps a Guillen candidacy would have had more legitimacy to it this time around. But Reinsdorf and his saddlebags of allegiance and nostalgia might have been run out of town if he had presented Guillen to Sox fans after the La Russa debacle.

And it was a debacle. The Sox were considered a World Series contender before the 2022 season but were a .500 team almost from start to finish. The next time Reinsdorf decides to sit down for an interview with a friendly face in the media, you can bet he’ll try to spin La Russa’s second stint in Chicago as a positive. Or he’ll blame injuries for the Sox’ failure to make the playoffs this season. That kind of sugarcoating happens when an owner doesn’t have anyone around him willing to speak the truth. The truth is that the Sox wasted two years that could have been devoted to winning instead of Reinsdorf’s preoccupation with the past.

I suppose there’s an outside chance that Grifor is Reinsdorf’s long-lost newspaper carrier. For now, though, let’s assume that he isn’t and that Hahn saw something in the Kansas City bench coach suggesting managerial timber. Internet research tells me that Grifor, 52, was the Royals’ catching coach when they won the World Series in 2015 and has been their bench coach the past three seasons. Maybe there’s a diamond in there somewhere.

The fact he has no ties to the White Sox is a good start. That he’s not like the previous manager (presumably) is even better. More than a few Sox players said during the season that they enjoyed playing for La Russa. Let’s take them at their word, though the next time a player rips a sitting manager will be the first. There’s no arguing that a change was necessary, and there’s no arguing that whomever the Sox chose as a replacement, he needed to be the polar opposite of La Russa.

That’s usually how hiring goes in professional sports. If the previous coach was a disciplinarian, the next coach often is livelier, has a better sense of humor and has whiter teeth. If the previous guy was a “players’ coach,” his replacement often is a drill sergeant. It’s kind of embarrassing how predictable it is.

But this time around, a course reversal made perfect sense. Hahn had to present Sox fans with something fresh and different. That meant someone who wasn’t connected to Reinsdorf, someone who wasn’t wrapped up in the foggy past, someone who wasn’t a magnet for controversy and someone who wasn’t trying to beat back advancing years.

Someone we don’t know. So a warm welcome to WhatsHisName. I love everything about him.

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Public League basketball is unique. There is a reverence for the sport in the city that is unlike maybe any other major metropolitan area in the country.

The history and roots are so deep. The gyms across the city are distinctive. The players produced are a who’s who in basketball. The personalities are legendary. The South Side vs. West Side debate over many decades.

Many of the schools, resources and neighborhoods have changed so dramatically over the years, that the basketball programs have often risen or fallen with those transformations.

Anyone with any prep basketball familiarity knows King basketball has permanent name recognition in this state as a dominating power in the 1980s and into the 1990s. But today it’s a selective enrollment magnet high school toiling in the second-tier White Division.

The talent that Westinghouse churned out for decades was a constant. Mark Aguirre, Eddie Johnson, Hersey Hawkins, Kiwane Garris, DeAndre Thomas, Cedrick Banks and the Bailey brothers are a few.

Westinghouse has changed from an area vocational high school to a college preparatory high school with select enrollment, knocking down the old historical building and opening a new one in 2009. But it’s one people still think has an upside.

Other powers have come and gone — and sometimes returned after a lengthy absence from relevance.

Although Simeon has been the one constant over the past 40 years, today the top, most coveted coaching jobs in the Public League would look a lot different than if you surveyed the landscape in the 1980s, 1990s, or even just 10 years ago.

What was most interesting in this survey in comparison to the one done with the Catholic League and the south suburbs was the importance of principals and overall administration. It was repeatedly cited as the most critical part of having a successful program and, thus, a good basketball job in the Public League.

Coaches throughout the Public League, both past and present, along with others with strong ties to city basketball, were polled. They were to consider several factors in ranking the best basketball coaching jobs, including:

o Winning and tradition.

o Location and access to players.

o Salary/pay for coaches and teachers

o Facilities and resources.

Those surveyed were asked to rank the top five coaching jobs based on the aforementioned criteria. Altogether, 18 individuals submitted votes. First-place votes received 10 points, second-place votes received eight points, third-place votes seven points, fourth-place votes five points and fifth-place votes three points.

The final results were as follows:

Young (165)

Simeon (138)

Kenwood (87)

Curie (73)

Lane (43)

Westinghouse (22)

Lincoln Park (18)

Brooks (11)

Orr (11)

King (8)

North Lawndale (7)

Phillips (5)

Hyde Park (3)

Interesting results from the voting:

Young overwhelmingly had the most first-place votes as 12 of the 18 surveyed said it’s the best basketball job in the city.

Simeon had five first-place votes and Kenwood received one.

Young and Simeon were the only two schools that were placed among the top five in every vote.

Here are a few of the off-the-record quotes from those who were surveyed:

Young

Best job in the city and it’s not even close. … The school has a great academic reputation, it’s located in a gentrified area, the median income of the parents is higher than most CPS schools and the diversity is attractive. … Central location with a desirable academic reputation for families. … Don’t underestimate their culture there and overall success athletically, academically, and socially. Families and parents WANT their kids at Young. … Has an academic center for 7th and 8th-grade students to already get them in their building. … The recent winning tradition is huge. … Has access to all the top academic students due to selective enrollment status. … Access to the top athletes due to a farm system with Meanstreets. … Facilities are above average with the super large gym they have. Terrific facilities for a city school. … There are no parents who will tell a coach “no” when the recruitment begins at Young. … Good gym with two courts. … The administrators love sports and let the coach do his thing. … What people don’t think about it is that good athletics create a good climate in the school. They win state championships there and that does something for that building.

Simeon

There is a reason why this has been the best program now for close to 50 years. No one has Simeon’s track record. That’s today. When Robert Smith leaves? We’ll see. … Tradition and location will keep families wanting to send their kids to Simeon. … The tradition. Second to none in the city. … Another program with great access to the Meanstreets program. … Recent alums with NBA name recognition. … Kids will go there just because. The tradition is amazing. … Doesn’t have the greatest academic reputation, isn’t in the safest neighborhood, and it doesn’t have the best facilities. But thanks to Bob Hambric and Coach Smith, Simeon’s program is among the best and without them their enrollment would suffer like all of the other vocational schools on the South Side.

Curie

Diverse enrollment and a mixture of academic programs that make parents say, “yes.” … The gym was just redone, so that’s going to help. … They win. Year after year they win. The program has established a winning reputation and done so with a certain type of kid. Tough, competitive. Winning tradition that attracts players. … Their location — south and central location — gains access to top athletes from all over the city. Plus, their connection through Team Rose. … Newly renovated gym should only increase their status and use as a valuable resource. … Spacious facilities for a city school. … There are a lot of different programs and the southwest location offers opportunities to attract students from multiple areas. … Neighborhood isn’t as bad as others in the city. … Their new gym a big help for an already successful program.

Kenwood

Has a good academic reputation but, unlike Whitney Young, can be versatile with who they bring in because there are multiple academic programs that kids can be admitted to. You don’t necessarily have to be in the top five percent of your 8th grade class to go to Kenwood. But you can’t be in the lower 25 percent if you aren’t from the attendance area. … They have two gyms and located in Hyde Park, a desirable and relatively safe neighborhood. … Good social scene in area that is safe and teenage boys like. … Admin is eager to win and will work with the coaches. … The talent you can get to Kenwood is endless with its location and access to the school. … Has been and continues to be the sleeping giant in the city. … Desirable school and terrific location for South Side kids. … Sports culture is important to administration there. … Another school with 7th and 8th-grade students to get kids in their building. … The lack of history and success is the downside, but it’s a committed administration and the location is outstanding. Great place with a lot to sell. … The administration there has clearly shown they are going to support athletics there.

Westinghouse

Underrated job today. You can win there. … Their winning tradition for decades still haunts other city schools in comparison. … Legendary coaches in the past. Still some really good things to sell, especially with the rest of the West Side drying up. … Has access to top academic students. … One of the newer schools in the CPS and one that offers great resources.

Lane

Massive school with nice facilities for CPS. … More teaching positions offer more opportunities for coaches. … This should be a powerhouse in the city. The potential is there to be. … Over 4,000 students. Everyone on the North Side of the city tries to go to Lane. If you’re a good student, it’s a good school. It’s a good job. Red-North you can compete in. Pull from a lot of different kids. … I don’t know why it can’t be a bigger factor than it is.

Lincoln Park

Facilities really hurt that program, but it’s one with potential. They should really thrive being one of the lone options on the North Side for basketball.

Brooks

Brooks has been called a sleeper for so long — and they did have their moment — but will it ever become a consistent power? The potential is there. … Such a good job where you can win and get players in that area. … An academic school that’s basically being run by the alderman. As a result, he’s invested in the school and since he’s an avid sports fan, he’s invested in athletics. … Brooks may have the best gym in the CPL. Also, their school is a bonafide campus with a football field and a baseball field. So that tells you that sports matter. … The neighborhood is not good, but the school being gated makes it a little better.

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LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas suspended Hall of Fame coach Bill Self and top assistant Kurtis Townsend for the first four games of the season Wednesday, along with imposing several recruiting restrictions, as part of the fallout from a lengthy FBI investigation into college basketball corruption.

Norm Roberts will be the acting coach for the defending national champions beginning with their opener Monday night against Omaha. Self and Townsend also will miss games against North Dakota State and Southern Utah along with a high-profile showdown between the No. 5 Jayhawks and No. 7 Duke in the Champions Classic.

Self and Townsend will rejoin the team to face North Carolina State at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas on Nov. 23.

The school already had barred the two coaches from off-campus recruiting this past summer. It will also reduce the number of official visits during the 2023-24 academic year, reduce the total number of scholarships by three over a three-year span and reduce the number of permissible recruiting days during the upcoming year by 13 days.

There were no official visitors this year for Late Night at the Phog, the annual celebration to kick off the season.

“Coach Townsend and I accept and support KU’s decision,” Self said in a statement. “We are in good hands with Coach Roberts, and I am confident that he will do a great job on the bench leading our team. I am proud of the way our guys have handled this situation and I look forward to returning to the bench for our game against N.C. State.”

The infractions case against Kansas stems from a federal investigation in 2017 that led to the conviction of shoe company executives, a middleman who worked with them and several assistant coaches.

Kansas was among the schools named in the case, along with Arizona, LSU, Louisville and N.C. State.

The Kansas case hinged on whether representatives of apparel company Adidas were considered boosters — the school contends they were not — when two of them arranged payments to prospective recruits. The school never disputed that the payments were made, only that it had any knowledge that the inducements were happening.

Auburn received four years of probation through a traditional NCAA infractions process for a similar case, but Kansas joined other schools in appealing its case to an Independent Accountability Review Panel, which was among the proposals made by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2018 to reform the sport.

The panel works outside the purview of the NCAA and was designed to handle particularly complex cases. But its work has been painfully slow — NCAA president Mark Emmert acknowledged the process takes “way too long” — and Kansas decided to self-impose restrictions while continuing to wait for the IARP to announce its decision.

“We are hopeful these difficult self-imposed sanctions will assist in bringing the case to a conclusion,” Kansas athletic director Travis Goff said in a statement, and declining any additional comment. “Until then, we will continue to focus on supporting our outstanding men’s basketball student-athletes and coaches.”

Kansas had already doubled down on Self by signing him to a new contract in April 2021.

Under the terms of the five-year deal, Self gets one additional year after the conclusion of each season — in effect, making it a lifetime contract. It guaranteed him $5.41 million per year with a base salary of $225,000, a professional services contract of $2.75 million and an annual $2.435 million retention bonus.

The contract includes a clause that states the school cannot fire Self for cause “due to any current infractions matter that involves conduct that occurred on or prior to” the signing of the deal. And while he would have to forfeit half of his base salary and professional services pay while serving any Big 12 or NCAA suspension, it’s unclear whether that includes any self-imposed suspensions such as the one handed down Wednesday.

“Throughout this process, we have had ongoing conversations with all the involved parties,” Kansas chancellor Douglas A. Girod said in a statement. “We believe the actions we are announcing today move us closer to resolving this matter.”

Making the Kansas case more complex, though, is the rapidly shifting landscape of college sports. Some of the alleged infractions from the 2017 investigation would no longer be against the rules following name, image and likeness legislation, which has allowed athletes in all sports to begin making money from endorsements and other off-the-field business arrangements.

Meanwhile, the days of postseason bans and crippling scholarship reductions as punishments appear to be ending.

Memphis was placed on three years of probation in August and slapped with a public reprimand and fine for violations in the recruitment of James Wiseman, now with the Golden State Warriors. But the Tigers escaped any scholarship penalties or postseason bans because the IARP said it did not want to punish current athletes.

Even as the IARP continues to work on several cases, the NCAA’s Division I Transformation Committee earlier this year put forth a recommendation to end the process. The proposal was swiftly adopted by the Division I Board of Directors.

“We look forward to commenting further when this process is fully resolved,” Girod said of the IARP process. “Until then, I want to reiterate our unwavering support of Coach Self and our men’s basketball program.”

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