Chicago Sports

R. Kelly’s former business manager — and co-defendant in his latest trial — is expected to take the stand Wednesday as the proceedings resume for a fourth week following a one-day delay caused by a “operational issue” at the Dirksen Federal Building.

Derrel McDavid, who faces charges alongside Kelly for allegedly helping coordinate payoffs to witnesses and allegedly rounding up incriminating sex tapes ahead of the singer’s 2008 trial on child pornography charges, will offer up “substantial” testimony, his lawyers have said.

McDavid can be expected to spend considerable time on the witness stand, facing cross-examination from federal prosecutors, as well as from lawyers for Kelly and fellow co-defendant Milton “June” Brown, a former assistant in Kelly’s entourage.

First, U.S. DistrictJudge Harry Leinenweber is expected to hear arguments to quash a subpoena for former Sun-Times journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis, who McDavid’s attorneys want to call as a witness.

In 2002, DeRogatis received a VHS cassette of Kelly performing sex acts with an alleged 14-year-old girl from an anonymous sender, which he turned over to authorities and became key evidence in Kelly’s 2008 trial. DeRogatis, whose reporting alongside fellow Sun-Times reporter Abdon Pallasch, documented numerous lawsuits against Kelly that seemed to substantiate rumors swirling around the singer in the early 2000s.

Witnesses have testified that McDavid handled payments for recovering Kelly’s stolen videotapes that allegedly showed the singer sexually abusing an underage girl.

McDavid’s lawyers have said that he was merely doing his job as Kelly’s business manager.

Kelly’s trial was expected to resume Tuesday, but was delayed when U.S. District Clerk of Court Thomas Bruton announced that an “operational issue” at the Dirksen Federal Building would cause the courthouse to remain closed for an additional day after the holiday weekend. Officials later said the courthouse would reopen on Wednesday.

The trial was expected to end this week, but due to the delay could now enter a fifth week.

Kelly, 55, already has been convicted of child trafficking and racketeering in federal court in New York and been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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Justin Fields looks to redeem himself this season

Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields struggled as a rookie. He wasn’t the only quarterback to struggle in Matt Nagy’s offense with the Bears. Fields is expected to improve this season in a new scheme with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy.

Fields will have challenges with a weak wide receivers corps and a suspect offensive line. Fields must use his athleticism to keep the ball alive and make plays in the passing game or on the run. He did that well in the preseason.

One prediction model isn’t sold on Fields getting much better this season. FiveThirtyEight recently released its predictions for the 2022 NFL season at the quarterback position. The model uses “Elo” points to rank quarterbacks:

The top quarterbacks for each team and their value in Elo points, which are used in our quarterback-adjusted model. Our ratings are a rolling average of recent performances and incorporate both passing and running. Initial rookie ratings are based on draft position; undrafted rookies begin their careers with an Elo value of zero, while a first overall draft pick starts with an Elo value of 113.

If that reads like gibberish to you, where it ranks Fields will make sense.

Fields ranks low on the model

Bears backup quarterback Trevor Siemian is ranked higher than Fields by seven Elo points. Justin Fields is also well behind former Bears quarterback and Pittsburgh Steelers captain Mitch Trubisky. Here’s a list of the rankings.

Here are this year’s official 538 QB ratings.

Thoughts?https://t.co/tGA40G6IWn https://t.co/DqKR1uNbxg pic.twitter.com/FGRfOgUu9s

— Computer Cowboy (@benbbaldwin) September 7, 2022

FiveThirtyEight has a flawed model

Justin Fields is not the 43rd-best quarterback in the NFL. It’s a ridiculous list that sees Colt McCoy over Carson Wentz. It’s not too surprising, coming from a property of Nate Silver that failed so poorly in the 2016 presidential election. Fields doesn’t even have to have a good season to beat this prediction.

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Bears get no love from the experts in their 2022 NFL predictions.

The Bears are consensus picks to finish dead last in the NFC North (and possibly the league) in 2022. If it weren’t for the Lions, that sentiment might be unanimous everywhere outside of Chicago. Hell, it’s the prevailing sentiment in Chicago that the Bears will win only a handful of games this season.

Personally? I take all that as a good sign.

That’s because the so-called experts really suck at making predictions. Or, to be more charitable, the NFL is a very unpredictable animal. Look at last year. Sure, heading into the 2021 season the Rams were a very popular pick to win the Super Bowl, but lets take a look at the predictions about their eventual big-game opponent, the Bengals:

This was the entire CBS Sports online expert panel. They couldn’t agree on the Steelers. They couldn’t agree on the Browns. They couldn’t agree on the Ravens. The consensus, though, was that the Browns would make the playoffs, the Ravens might make the playoffs, and the Steelers were probably the third-best team in the division. But there was complete, unanimous, unequivocal agreement on one thing: the Bengals were the worst team in the AFC North.

So of course the Steelers and the Bengals made the playoffs. And of course the Bengals came one play away from winning the Super Bowl.

Were the CBS Sports experts roundly criticized for naysaying the Bengals’ hopes in 2021? Of course not. There was near-universal agreement that the Bengals would suck. But someone forgot to tell the Bengals. They went 10-7 in the regular season before steamrolling through the playoffs and nearly snatching the Lombardi Trophy away from the LA Rams.

So what does this mean for the Bears?

It means there’s hope for the Bears, and not just before the season starts. In case you’ve forgotten, the outlook for the Bengals didn’t look much better than the experts had forecast after their Week 2 loss to the Bears. Joe Burrow threw 3 straight interceptions in that game, and Ja’Marr Chase had yet to emerge as God incarnate as a wide receiver. (In fact, of the seven losses on the Bengals’ schedule, five of them came at the hands of teams that failed to make the playoffs. Yet the Bengals lost only three games to playoff teams all year, one of which was the Super Bowl. The NFL doesn’t always make sense.)

The only prediction Bears fans should really care about is the one all the experts made about the Bengals last year, because predictions mean absolutely nothing, especially in the NFL. And if the Bears don’t come storming out of the gates against the 49ers, or if they have missteps along the way against teams we know they can beat, that still doesn’t mean they can’t improve every week of the 2022-2023 NFL season. (Even if Justin Fields throws three straight interceptions in a game.)

So should Bears fans expect this team to go to the Super Bowl? No, expect is the wrong word entirely. Our expectations should remain low. We don’t even really know who this team is other than the fact that it’s a roster made up entirely of guys with a whole lot to prove.

The right word is hope. Bears fans have every right and every reason to hope that this team goes to the playoffs and then some this season and postseason. You’re not an idiot for hoping. It is, quite realistically, more ridiculous to believe the predictions than it is to hope they’re absolutely wrong.

This Bears team has a coaching staff that appears to know what they’re doing, but they’re unproven. They have a GM who appears to see things in players no one else has the courage to act on . . . but his methods are unproven. This Bears franchise has a potential franchise quarterback with a golden arm, but a decision-making arsenal that is unproven. Defense, offense, special teams . . . everybody is unproven. But they are unproven in either direction, good or bad.

Before you give up hope on this Bears season, let them prove who they are.

And just one more thing. Here’s the only Bears hype video I’m watching heading into Week 1 against the Niners.

Bear down.

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Receiver Darnell Mooney said last week that Bears quarterback Justin Fields had the 49ers circled because they drafted quarterback Trey Lance No. 3 overall last year when they could have had Fields, whom the Bears eventually took No. 11.

But on Wednesday, Fields said he didn’t take it personally.

“We’re not worried about last year’s draft — ‘Oh, this team passed on me,'” he said.

The Bears face the 49ers in their opener Sunday.

Fields faced the 49ers last year and went 19-for-27 for 175 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He ran 10 times for 103 yards. The Bears played two other teams last year that passed on Fields in Picks 1-10 –the Bengals and Lions — though only Detroit was in actual need of a quarterback.

In addition to the 49ers, the Bears will play the Jets (who drafted No. 2), Falcons (No. 4), Dolphins (No. 6) and Eagles (No. 10) this season.

Fields smiled and said that Mooney was just showing off his personality when he speculated about his quarterback’s motivation last week.

“That team passed on him,” Mooney said. “So they’re gonna have to pay a little bit for that.”

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Bears coach Matt Eberflus announced the team’s four captains for the upcoming season, which starts Sunday against the 49ers: quarterback Justin Fields, linebacker Roquan Smith, left guard Cody Whitehair and defensive end Robert Quinn.

“It’s a function of leadership,” Eberflus said. “The first rule of leadership is leading yourself… and those guys have done a good job of that.

“That says a lot about those guys and what their peers think of them.”

The team held a vote among players this week for the four permanent captains, and Eberflus will rotate in one additional player per week. He said running back David Montgomery will be the fifth captain this week.

For Fields, the selection continues to cement his standing within the organization. As a rookie, he spent the offseason on second string and felt awkward trying to be a leader with veterans Andy Dalton and Nick Foles on the team.

When the new staff arrived, it was clear immediately that Fields’ stature would be elevated. The team brought him in to speak at the introductory press conference for Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles.

Smith earned a captain spot after sitting out the first 15 practices and two preseason games amid a contract standoff with the team. Eberflus said he agreed with the players picking him as a captain because “he has been A-1” since returning and has been excellent on the practice field and in the locker room.

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2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist could have a bigger role with the Chicago Cubs organization in 2023.

Zobrist is currently serving as an ambassador for the Cubs organization. If the Chicago Cubs front office has its way, he will join the Cubs in a more expanded role.

  According to Jed Hoyer, there’s one big reason why the Cubs want to keep him around in a bigger capacity starting after this season. Hoyer believes Ben Zobrist’s journey as a player gives him a good perspective on the game.

“He’s got a real fresh perspective on baseball, for a lot of reasons,” Hoyer added. “His versatility gives him a really fresh perspective. He was a little bit of an older prospect, a little bit more self-made than some guys; that’s a really nice perspective. And he was a switch-hitter. And I don’t think the game came as easy to him as some; he really grinded and prepared unbelievably well.”

“I think there’s a lot of value in having him around.”

The reaction to this on social media has so far been universally positive. Born in Eureka, Illinois it was a dream come true for Ben Zobrist to play for the Chicago Cubs. Winning the MVP on that 2016 Championship Team made him not only a Cubs legend but an Illinois legend.  I for one think he would bring incredible value to a team that’s trying to build the next championship squad.

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R. Kelly’s former business manager — and co-defendant in his latest trial — is expected to take the stand Wednesday as the proceedings resume for a fourth week following a one-day delay caused by a “operational issue” at the Dirksen Federal Building.

Derrel McDavid, who faces charges alongside Kelly for allegedly helping coordinate payoffs to witnesses and allegedly rounding up incriminating sex tapes ahead of the singer’s 2008 trial on child pornography charges, will offer up “substantial” testimony, his lawyers have said.

McDavid can be expected to spend considerable time on the witness stand, facing cross-examination from federal prosecutors, as well as from lawyers for Kelly and fellow co-defendant Milton “June” Brown, a former assistant in Kelly’s entourage.

First, U.S. DistrictJudge Harry Leinenweber is expected to hear arguments to quash a subpoena for former Sun-Times journalist and music critic Jim DeRogatis, who McDavid’s attorneys want to call as a witness.

In 2002, DeRogatis received a VHS cassette of Kelly performing sex acts with an alleged 14-year-old girl from an anonymous sender, which he turned over to authorities and became key evidence in Kelly’s 2008 trial. DeRogatis, whose reporting alongside fellow Sun-Times reporter Abdon Pallasch, documented numerous lawsuits against Kelly that seemed to substantiate rumors swirling around the singer in the early 2000s.

Witnesses have testified that McDavid handled payments for recovering Kelly’s stolen videotapes that allegedly showed the singer sexually abusing an underage girl.

McDavid’s lawyers have said that he was merely doing his job as Kelly’s business manager.

Kelly’s trial was expected to resume Tuesday, but was delayed when U.S. District Clerk of Court Thomas Bruton announced that an “operational issue” at the Dirksen Federal Building would cause the courthouse to remain closed for an additional day after the holiday weekend. Officials later said the courthouse would reopen on Wednesday.

The trial was expected to end this week, but due to the delay could now enter a fifth week.

Kelly, 55, already has been convicted of child trafficking and racketeering in federal court in New York and been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

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Young’s Skylar Jones shakes her head when she thinks about her basketball journey.

The 6-foot wing is one of the premier senior prospects in the country, a four-star recruit ranked 96th in the espnW/HoopGurlz national rankings. The returning Associated Press second-team all-stater is the leader of the defending Public League champion Dolphins, who also won a Class 4A sectional.

And she just narrowed her college choices to a final five of — in no particular order — Syracuse, Missouri, Mississippi State, Illinois and Rutgers.

But she wasn’t always a hoops star.

”I was a cheerleader till fourth grade,” Jones said. ”I did not think I was going to play basketball at all.”

But then older sister Kristin Moore became the coach at a Public League program — since-closed Hope — and invited Jones to come and hang around practice.

”I picked up the ball and didn’t look back,” Jones said.

That’s not to say everything was smooth sailing from her early days playing Small Fry Biddy Ball.

”I was just dribbling and shooting,” Jones said. ”I had no fundamentals. I was pretty bad.”

She also was the only girl on the team.

”I was so scared,” Jones said. ”That’s what made me as tough as I am right now. . . . I actually liked it. Just playing with the boys shocked me.”

A year later, she started playing AAU ball for the Chicago Hoops Express Flash before moving on to the Mac Irvin Lady Fire.

Like a lot of athletes, Jones found recruiting a little bumpy coming out of the pandemic. She did have an offer from DePaul before COVID-19 scrambled everyone’s playing and recruiting calendar. Gradually, other interest picked up.

”I think I really had to trust the process,” she said. ”Last year I felt like I didn’t get all [the offers] that I really wanted to.”

But a good summer helped give her the range of options she was looking for from Power Five schools with solid academics.

Staying positive paid off.

”I didn’t mope my head and sulk,” she said.

Now her plan is to take visits this fall with the goal of committing by the end of October.

”I do think the recruiting process is stressful,” Jones said. ”You have to realize your path is not going to be the same as others’.”

In any case, that’s a timeline that would allow her to focus exclusively on her senior season, which she expects to be memorable.

”I think the team we have now has the ability to make a real run,” Jones said.

The biggest difference from last season to now in her game?

”I think it’s my confidence,” said Jones, who averaged 18 points, five rebounds, five steals and three assists as a junior. ”My confidence is boosted from last year, for sure, which allowed me to play strong.”

Stronger than her start all those years ago in biddy ball.

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Chicago Bears HC Matt Eberflus requested new sod at Soldier Field for the 2022 season

As the Chicago Bears prepare for their Week 1 matchup with the San Francisco 49ers, head coach Matt Eberflus wants to make sure everything is right not only with his team but the place they currently call home as well.

It’s no secret that the playing surface at Soldier Field isn’t the best. It hasn’t been for years now as current and former players as well as fans have expressed their displeasure with the field. With the city of Chicago owning Soldier Field, it’s allowed them to use the venue for other things in addition to football games.

But with Week 1 here, the field is getting re-sodded and Eberflus has put in a special request.

Per Jarrett Payton of WGN Sports, Eberflus made the request to switch the sod from Kentucky bluegrass to Bermuda grass, something he had on the practice fields in Indianapolis:

But, this year, Matt Eberflus did something no Bears coach has ever done before. He asked to switch up the sod.

“Totally surprised,” remarked Soldier Field general manager Tim LeFevour.

So, Kentucky bluegrass is out and Bermuda grass is in, which Eberflus saw firsthand on the practice field in Indianapolis.

“Summer is the most stressful time for Kentucky bluegrass. It’s never really at a weaker point than it is at the end of the summer,” said agronomist and Carolina Green Corp. Field Maintenance Division vice president and superintendent Chris Ecton. “Bermuda grass is a warm season grass, so it just went through its favorite time of year. It’s never going to be stronger than it is right now.”

“It’s so much tighter – the plant and the footing,” LeFevour added. “Players are going to feel that difference. It’s going to be a faster game, I think, you’ll see on this turf. We would have gone to this years ago if we felt we could grow it longer into the fall season.

Payton did a full, exclusive report on the new field sod at Soldier Field with the Carolina Green company who delivered the grass.  I recommend checking that out for some good insight on the process including how it’s grown and delivered.

We don’t know if this will help Matt Ebeflus’ Bears’ team to win anymore games here in 2021, but at least the field has the chance to look nice?

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White Sox outfielder Luis Robert insisted his left wrist felt ”100%” when he returned to the lineup Monday, but he exited in the fifth inning Tuesday. Adam Engel took over in center field.

Robert was hit by a pitch on the left wrist in the second. X-rays were negative, and he’s day-to-day with a bruise. Robert initially stayed in the game, striking out twice. His left hand came off the bat on his final swing, as it had while he was battling soreness in the joint two weeks ago in Baltimore.

”Of course, I want to contribute to what the team is doing here, and I know the way to contribute is being in the lineup,” Robert said before the game. ”That’s what we want to do, to make the playoffs.”

”[Robert] told me that he was fine,” acting manager Miguel Cairo said before the game. ”So I’m going to listen to what he says. We’re going to take it day by day. He says he wants to play, so I’m going to put him in to play. But I’m going to be smart, too. If he’s hurting or if he’s got something that he can take a day, we’re going to give him a day.”

Kopech likely to start today

The Sox likely will get a key piece of their rotation back for their series finale Wednesday against the Mariners. And now that right-hander Michael Kopech is ”rejuvenated” after a stint on the injured list with knee soreness, the hope is that he will be ready for the rest of the season.

Kopech’s return will come at a good time, with the Sox trailing the first-place Guardians by two games in the American League Central entering play Tuesday. Kopech said he expects to be reinstated from the IL and start Wednesday.

Kopech has been sidelined since he left his start Aug. 22 against the Royals in Kansas City with a strained left knee. He had been dealing with soreness in his right knee, too, but ”is feeling quite a bit better” and is ”ready to go.”

Kopech (4-9, 3.58 ERA) has pitched a career high 110? innings, so the break for his arm and body came at a good time. He said that the knee felt good a few days after the injury and that he has ”really cleaned up some things mechanically.”

Kopech pitched a simulated game Friday and a bullpen session Sunday, shaking off some rust. His pitch count will be watched as he builds back up toward deeper starts.

”I’d imagine it would be shortened,” he said. ”I’m going to go out there and give it what I’ve got [Wednesday], and they’ll come get me when they feel it’s ready.”

Moncada returns to lineup

Third baseman Yoan Moncada, who came off the IL on Monday after dealing with a strained hamstring, returned to the lineup and lined a single to center against right-hander Logan Gilbert in the first inning. Moncada has struggled, batting .197/.269/.313 with seven home runs in his first 80 games.

He started the season on the IL with a strained oblique and hasn’t found a rhythm.

”Those are things that you can’t control,” he said of the injuries. ”You prepare and you try to do your best and try to stay on the field as much as you can, but injuries are there. Now I’m feeling good. I’m just trying to stay healthy and help the team as much as I can in this final stretch.”

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