Chicago Sports

Liam Hendriks has his own opinion about the White Sox clubhouse

Liam Hendriks was ready to talk all things Chicago White Sox this week. And he’s not down on the team even if many fans and the media are. Hendricks has a different opinion about the state of the White Sox clubhouse than the report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale suggested was the case.

The White Sox are struggling here at the midseason. As of Friday afternoon, the White Sox trail the Minnesota Twins by four games. The White Sox won the first of their four-game series with the Twins Thursday after Luis Robert hit a grand slam.

Hendricks was a guest on ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy podcast. The White Sox are united as a group, he told the podcast.

“Yeah, I’d love to know what his source is, Hendriks said. “I want to know if it’s a former player who is currently not with us but still in the league from this year. So I’d be interested to see where that comes from.

But yeah, obviously if you talk to anyone in this clubhouse, they’re going to give you the same answer,” he said. “And it’s not exactly the same verbatim answer because we all have our own feelings on it. So it’s not a scripted thing that the front office has given us.

It’s something that we actually truly believe in this clubhouse is the fact that we’re united. We go to bat out there every single day for each other,” Hendriks said. “This is a clubhouse that has no flaws. It’s not a clubbouse where everyone is going in and kind of hating each other or anything like that. It’s your normal clubhouse. You’re going to have days where you’re testy and days where you’re great.”

Did Liam Hendriks out former White Sox player Dallas Keuchel?

It wasn’t long after Liam Hendriks made those comments that people started putting together the clues he was giving. Dallas Keuchel started the season with the White Sox before they designated him from the roster after having a horrid 7.88 ERA for the team in 2022.

That would make a lot of sense if the source came from a disgruntled former member of the White Sox. Although it would hurt Nightingale’s credibility because Keuchel, as a current Arizona Diamondback, wouldn’t be a solid source for the recent report.

Let’s just hope the White Sox can start winning and put this drama behind them. Liam Hendriks can currently help with that. His 2.43 ERA this season is beating his career average by over a run.

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As published in the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times:

If Alice Cooper ever announced that he’d be playing a concert in a church, most fans would probably think he was kidding or wanted to make some kind of statement. So what would fans of gospel singer Mavis Staples think if she and her family group, the Staples Singers, announced a performance at Chicago’s Vic Theater?

Staples, born this week on July 10, 1939, and her family proved once and for all that they could feel at home in any Chicago church or venue when the performers prepared to play the Vic on Nov. 22, 1985. In the lead-up to the concert, Chicago Sun-Times pop music critic Don McLeese caught up with the singer to ask about the venue — plus plenty more.

Of course, fans would go anywhere to hear Staples belt out “I’ll Take You There,” but the Vic represented a major deviation for the gospel group. Constructed in 1913, the former vaudeville theater remade itself several times over the years and had operated as an X-rated movie house in the 1970s, according to reporter Chris Mutert for 14 East magazine.

After it was sold and repaired in 1984, its new owners planned for it to become a rock n’ roll concert venue, Murtert said, and since its opening, David Bowie, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Bob Dylan himself have played there.

As McLeese put it in his interview with Staples, “there’ll be a lot of people in the audience drinking. Some might even be dancing. Whatever the message of the music, this is territory where many gospel performers would fear to tread.”

None of that phased Staples.

“I don’t feel that the devil has any music,” she told McLeese on Nov. 17, 1985. “Devil don’t make no music, because music keeps us happy, music keeps us going. Whether it’s the blues, whether it’s gospel, rock, whatever, it’s going to do something for somebody — lift them up. And that can’t be nobody but God. The birds, the wind, all that’s music.”

The Vic performance wouldn’t have been the first time Staples stepped out from the church pew. In an interview with Curtis Mayfield published in the Chicago Daily News, the famed producer explained why he loved working with Staples on several songs written for the Sidney Poitier film, “A Piece of the Action.”

“She’s a very sexy singer,” he told reporter Patrick Goldstein on Nov. 18, 1977, “but she’s very much a child of the church, too. She’ll say, ‘Curtis, I’m from the church, and you’ve got to let me study the words to make sure I’m not confused. I want to feel the spirit of the song.'”

But truthfully, anyone would have a “devil of a time” trying to fit the Staples Singers into one musical category, McLeese observed. Roebuck “Pops” Staples and his children started out singing in churches on the South Side of Chicago and signed their first record deal in 1952. Their first pivot away from the genre came in the 1960s as the civil rights movement heated up.

“What really happened when we made the first transition was Dr. [Martin Luther] King,” Staples explained. “We felt if he could preach it, we could sing it. So we started writing songs on what he was preaching.”

As the group’s popularity grew, Staples clearly stood out as the best singer among her siblings, but she never sought the spotlight.

“Pops almost had to whup me to make me sing lead,” the singer said with a laugh. “[My brother] Pervis’s voice changed overnight. For some reason, with my voice being heavy, I can reach both highs and lows. I was so shy. I’d have rather stayed in the background. But Pops got that strap.”

So the Staples Singers had no problem playing the Vic, McLeese concluded, and in her interview about the performance and the group’s new contemporary sound, Staples also opened up about her relationship with fellow Vic performer Dylan.

“He asked pops could he marry me,” Staples recalled. “And Pops said, ‘Don’t ask me, ask Mavis.’ But he was too bashful to ask me. I cared about him, but I was mixed up about it. And Bobby was a little bitty skinny guy. One time he dove into the swimming pool, and he was so little that his trunks came off. My brother had to go under water, they had to get those trunks back on, before he could come back up.”

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The probability of three-time National League All-Star Willson Contreras getting traded by the Aug. 2 deadline remains chilling for Cubs fans, but there is some catching help in the future.

Moises Ballesteros, 18, who signed for a $1.5 million bonus last summer on the first day of the international signing period, has hit five homers with an .938 OPS in 24 games in the Arizona Complex League.

The left-handed hitting Ballesteros, a native of Venezuela, has 14 RBIs to go with a .379 on-base percentage.

“His feel for understanding the strike zone at such a young age is impressive,” Jared Banner, the Cubs’ vice president of player personnel, wrote in an email. “He’s a power hitter who doesn’t strike out much, a great combination. He has a bright future ahead.”

Miguel Amaya, who was touted as a potential successor to Contreras before missing nearly the entire 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery,could return to Double-A Tennessee before the end of the season.

Amaya, 23, has been relegated to designated hitter duties in his first 10 games for the Cubs in the Arizona league but has yet to be cleared to catch, Banner wrote.

Hudson on the horizon

The Cubs have used six left-handed relievers this season, and Bryan Hudson might have pitched himself into consideration for a promotion later this year.

The 6-foot-8, 220-pound Hudson, 25, whom former team President Theo Epstein scouted before he was selected in the third round of the 2015 draft out of Alton High School and signed for a $1.1 million bonus, has struck out 48 in 352/3 innings at Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa.

“Whenever you perform as well as he is, you put yourself on the Major League radar,” Banner wrote. “He has unique size and a unique arm angle,so he makes hitters uncomfortable. That, in combination with throwing a lot of strikes and missing a lot of bats, has been an excellent recipe for success this year.”

Starting remains in Devers’ future

Luis Devers, the organization’s pitcher of the month for May, will continue to be projected as a starter despite two scoreless relief appearances since his promotion to Class-A South Bend.

Banner said the Cubs want to monitor Devers’ innings. Devers, 22, already has pitched a season-high 72 innings between South Bend and Class-A Myrtle Beach, where he was 9-3 with 75 strikeouts in 661/3 innings to go with a 2.58 ERA.

Let’s play two Saturday

Friday’s game between the Cubs and Mets was postponed three hours before its scheduled starting time because of inclement weather and was rescheduled for Saturday as part of a split doubleheader.

Marcus Stroman (2-5, 4.91) will oppose Taijuan Walker (7-2, 2.63) in the regularly scheduled game at 1:20 p.m. Left-hander Drew Smyly (2-5, 4.43) will face Max Scherzer (6-1, 2.15) in the makeup game at 7:05 p.m.

Gates for the make-up game will open approximately 60 minutes before first pitch.Separate tickets are required for each game. Fans must leave the park immediately after the end of the first game.

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For the first hour of the NHL draft, the Nazar family had no idea they were sitting right in front of the Blackhawks’ executive suite at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

So when they all sang along to “Chelsea Dagger” before the Hawks’ seventh overall pick –“Our family is pretty loud and proud,” father Frank Nazar Jr. explained –they weren’t aware they had an audience.

And when they erupted with emotion when son Frank Nazar III’s name was called for the Hawks’ 13th overall pick, their heartwarming reaction and celebration was not only captured on TV but also by the leaders of their new franchise.

“When we got up to the suite afterward, they were all laughing like, ‘When you guys started singing that, we wanted so badly just to tell you, ‘Don’t worry, 13 is coming around, we’re going to get you,'” Frank Nazar Jr. said. “They said, ‘We knew we picked the right one.’ It ended up being perfect. You couldn’t ask for a better night.”

It has barely been a week since that night, yet Frank Nazar III has already made an impact on the Hawks.

He was the clear star of the prospect development camp-concluding scrimmage Friday, dominating while centering a line with Landon Slaggert and sixth-round pick Dominic James.

“We had some good chemistry,” Nazar III said. “There were some plays we could’ve buried a little more. … We only had one but we could’ve easily scored four.”

His ability to dictate any given play is remarkable. His awareness of where the puck, his teammates and his opponents are all going –thanks to his head being up at all times –make his soft hands, good stick skills and elite skating doubly effective.

Nazar III immediately rivals Lukas Reichel as the best forward prospect in the Hawks’ system.

“He can absolutely fly,” Hawks scouting director Mike Doneghey said. “He makes quick plays under pressure. And he’s not afraid todrive themiddle of the ice on the rush. [He can] bring people with him and then bounce the puck out left or right.”

Added general manager Kyle Davidson: “Frank is just an absolute pistol. He competes like nobody else. He skates like nobody else. He’s just full speed, all the time, and all-out effort. He’s the kind of forward that will drag people into the fight with him. He’s a character guy and a culture guy, and add that to some pretty good offensive dynamics, we’re pretty happy with what we came away with.”

A native of the Detroit suburb of Mt. Clemens, Michigan, Nazar III will likely be a homegrown freshman star at the University of Michigan next season.

Future pro success seems almost inevitable, and Nazar III is navigating this fast track with the right combination of confidence –such as comparing himself to Lightning star Brayden Point — and humility.

“Seeing the jerseys [this week], and realizing this is the NHL and I’m almost there, it set in like, ‘Wow, this is what I’ve always been looking forward to,'” he said.

The rate at which hype is growing still feels unbelievable for Nazar Jr., though.

Neither he nor his wife, Gina, played sports; none of their three older daughters do, either. Before this, their closest connection to hockey was owning a parking garage across the street from the Red Wings’ old Joe Louis Arena.

“[We] had a lot of fun with that, with the parades and the people,” Nazar Jr. said. “But back then, [thinking] what would come in the future never even crossed my mind.

“We never really thought ‘NHL’ until this year. We were always thinking, ‘Get some free college.’ … It’s still hard to explain. It was that surreal. People talk about life-changing things, and you hear people’s stories. But things like this, it’s just weird.”

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After becoming a proud father Monday, Cubs left-hander Justin Steele is looking forward to seeing his infant son Beau grow.

As for Steele’s development with the Cubs this season, there were some growing pains that he can stand to learn from in the second half.

Specifically, Steele seeks to gain more consistency against right-handed hitters.

“That’s my main focus,” said Steele, who concluded the first half of the season with a 7-1 loss to the Orioles.

The score didn’t exactly reflect Steele’s performance, but it mirrored his snippets of success offset by his struggles — particularly against right-handed hitters.

His improvement against right-handers will be one of the measuring sticks used by the Cubs as they assess his progress as a starting pitcher. Steele, 27, needs only 161/3 innings to match his professional high in innings (982/3) set in 2017 at Class-A Myrtle Beach.

Right-handed hitters are batting .243 against Steele — 24 points lower than lefties. But right-handers’ slugging percentage (.358) is considerably higher than left-handers (.293).

Steele, like Keegan Thompson, will be watched closely due to their increased workload. That will be a delicate matter, considering left-hander Wade Miley has been sidelined for most of the season because of a left shoulder strain, and ace Kyle Hendricks could be sidelined through August because of a similar ailment.

But Steele’s mission appears more narrow and essential because of the abundance of right-handed batters he faces and his lack of a dominating fastball.

Nevertheless, Steele isn’t afraid to pitch inside to right-handers, and improved pinpoint control can help him achieve that mission.

“Just pitching up and down and popping it away as well with the sinker and the changeup off of it,” Steele said. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Steele retired the final 11 Orioles batters and pitched at least six innings for the third consecutive time and for the fifth time in his last eight starts.

But that came well after he failed to put away right-handed hitter Ryan Mountcastle in an 11-pitch at-bat that led to a single and set up a three-run first that the Cubs never recovered from.

Steele was admittedly rusty after eight days between starts due to the birth of his son, but he understands there is no room for error. The four runs allowed in the first two innings equaled what Steele allowed in the first two innings of his previous 16 starts.

“It’s always important to be consistent,” Steele said. “It’s important to get better with each start and learn, as well as pay attention to the guys you’re facing.”

There have been other starts, such as his seven-inning outing June 13 against the Padres, in which Steele was able to locate his fastball effectively while allowing only one run.

In a sport that has placed an increasingly larger premium on power, Steele has adjusted nicely. He has allowed only five homers — seven fewer than he allowed in 57 innings in 2021.

Steele’s strikeout rate has dipped from 23.8% in 2021 to 21.9%, but manager David Ross has been pleased with the soft contact Steele has induced to right-handers and attacking them with his fastball and slider aimed at their back foot.

“When he’s in the strike zone and attacking the zone, he’s really hard to hit,” Ross said.

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After becoming a proud father Monday, Cubs left-hander Justin Steele is looking forward to seeing his infant son Beau grow.

As for Steele’s development with the Cubs this season, there were some growing pains that he can stand to learn from in the second half.

Specifically, Steele seeks to gain more consistency against right-handed hitters.

“That’s my main focus,” said Steele, who concluded the first half of the season with a 7-1 loss to the Orioles.

The score didn’t exactly reflect Steele’s performance, but it mirrored his snippets of success offset by his struggles — particularly against right-handed hitters.

His improvement against right-handers will be one of the measuring sticks used by the Cubs as they assess his progress as a starting pitcher. Steele, 27, needs only 161/3 innings to match his professional high in innings (982/3) set in 2017 at Class-A Myrtle Beach.

Right-handed hitters are batting .243 against Steele — 24 points lower than lefties. But right-handers’ slugging percentage (.358) is considerably higher than left-handers (.293).

Steele, like Keegan Thompson, will be watched closely due to their increased workload. That will be a delicate matter, considering left-hander Wade Miley has been sidelined for most of the season because of a left shoulder strain, and ace Kyle Hendricks could be sidelined through August because of a similar ailment.

But Steele’s mission appears more narrow and essential because of the abundance of right-handed batters he faces and his lack of a dominating fastball.

Nevertheless, Steele isn’t afraid to pitch inside to right-handers, and improved pinpoint control can help him achieve that mission.

“Just pitching up and down and popping it away as well with the sinker and the changeup off of it,” Steele said. “There’s always room for improvement.”

Steele retired the final 11 Orioles batters and pitched at least six innings for the third consecutive time and for the fifth time in his last eight starts.

But that came well after he failed to put away right-handed hitter Ryan Mountcastle in an 11-pitch at-bat that led to a single and set up a three-run first that the Cubs never recovered from.

Steele was admittedly rusty after eight days between starts due to the birth of his son, but he understands there is no room for error. The four runs allowed in the first two innings equaled what Steele allowed in the first two innings of his previous 16 starts.

“It’s always important to be consistent,” Steele said. “It’s important to get better with each start and learn, as well as pay attention to the guys you’re facing.”

There have been other starts, such as his seven-inning outing June 13 against the Padres, in which Steele was able to locate his fastball effectively while allowing only one run.

In a sport that has placed an increasingly larger premium on power, Steele has adjusted nicely. He has allowed only five homers — seven fewer than he allowed in 57 innings in 2021.

Steele’s strikeout rate has dipped from 23.8% in 2021 to 21.9%, but manager David Ross has been pleased with the soft contact Steele has induced to right-handers and attacking them with his fastball and slider aimed at their back foot.

“When he’s in the strike zone and attacking the zone, he’s really hard to hit,” Ross said.

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The latest target on the Cubs’ “Let’s Alienate Everybody Tour” is a group that apparently has had a free ride for too long: wheelchair users. This a bold move, one that few business entities are willing to make, but when you’re hellbent on getting everyone to hate you, as the Cubs seem to be, you do what you have to do.

We need to point out right from the start that, just because the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago has sued the Cubs for a failure to remedy Americans with Disabilities Act violations at Wrigley Field, it doesn’t make the Cubs guilty of the accusations. The team might be the victim of an overzealous prosecutor. The renovated ballpark might have exceptional accessibility for the physically disabled.

At best, though, one can reasonably assert that the Cubs have a very bad habit of hacking off their faithful fans. At worst, one can imagine the Cubs being willing to relocate a convent of nuns if it meant an extra dollar. Either way, one ends up shaking one’s head at this franchise.

The government’s suit says that when the Cubs renovated Wrigley Field last decade, they removed the best wheelchair seating and shuffled the disabled to less desirable areas of the stadium, where sight lines aren’t good and standing patrons block views of the action.

If you’re a betting person, you might be tempted to wager that the franchise is trying to see how far it can go to disaffect its fan base. If you’re a betting person, you’re in luck: DraftKings is building a two-story sportsbook at Addison and Sheffield streets that will allow fans to wager on sporting events to their heart’s desire.

The $100 million the Cubs are making from that deal hasn’t been going into the pockets of talented baseball players, a fact that has angered the team’s fans. The Cubs are going through their second rebuild in 10 years while still raking in massive amounts of revenue. They might be lacking in a lot of areas, including onfield victories, but not in gall.

In the broadest sense, that’s really what this is about. At every turn, the Cubs seem intent on making money and ignoring fans, and if they can do both with one swing, all the better. It remains to be seen if the government’s suit has merit, but everything about it smells like the team from the North Side. New premium seats pushing wheelchair users elsewhere in the ballpark? Smells about right.

“The whole enterprise with regard to ADA seating was pure greed over the rights of ADA patrons,” said David Alberto Cerda, who filed a 2017 lawsuit against the team on behalf of his son, a Cubs fan who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.

Since winning the World Series in 2016, the franchise’s focus has been on making oceans of cash. The Rickettses built a hotel across the street from Wrigley, started its own subscription TV network and gotten into the gambling business. They’re not much into the baseball business anymore, but let’s not quibble.

In ownership’s eyes, the organization’s most valuable player is club moneyman Crane Kenney, who is in charge of filling coffers and pockets. Kenney once famously promised “wheelbarrows” of money for the baseball side of the operation, but in the end, Crane’s Chicago business turned out to be about earning profits for the Ricketts family.

Again, the lawsuit will decide who was right or wrong in the accessibility dispute, but anyone who has been paying attention to the Cubs over the past decade would have to surmise that wheelbarrows have much better views at Wrigley these days than wheelchairs do.

“The renovation of Wrigley Field greatly increased accessibility of the ballpark and was completed in accordance with applicable law and historic preservation standards consistent with the ballpark’s designation as a national and City of Chicago landmark,” the team said in a statement.

The Cubs have lost the benefit of the doubt, and that’s an amazing development. If you had told me in 2016 that, six years after the World Series title, the Ricketts family would have squandered all the goodwill it had built up, I would have called you crazy. Ownership had done the seemingly impossible – it had broken a 108-year championship dry spell. Yet here we are, with a frustrated fan base that feels used.

That might partly be a reflection on our what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, fueled heavily by social media. But mostly it’s the authentic anger of a loyal group that’s tired of commerce, not baseball, being the Cubs’ No. 1 goal.

Try telling those fans that the feds’ case against the team is bogus. The boos drowning you out will tell you all you need to know.

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The latest target on the Cubs’ “Let’s Alienate Everybody Tour” is a group that apparently has had a free ride for too long: wheelchair users. This a bold move, one that few business entities are willing to make, but when you’re hellbent on getting everyone to hate you, as the Cubs seem to be, you do what you have to do.

We need to point out right from the start that, just because the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago has sued the Cubs for a failure to remedy Americans with Disabilities Act violations at Wrigley Field, it doesn’t make the Cubs guilty of the accusations. The team might be the victim of an overzealous prosecutor. The renovated ballpark might have exceptional accessibility for the physically disabled.

At best, though, one can reasonably assert that the Cubs have a very bad habit of hacking off their faithful fans. At worst, one can imagine the Cubs being willing to relocate a convent of nuns if it meant an extra dollar. Either way, one ends up shaking one’s head at this franchise.

The government’s suit says that when the Cubs renovated Wrigley Field last decade, they removed the best wheelchair seating and shuffled the disabled to less desirable areas of the stadium, where sight lines aren’t good and standing patrons block views of the action.

If you’re a betting person, you might be tempted to wager that the franchise is trying to see how far it can go to disaffect its fan base. If you’re a betting person, you’re in luck: DraftKings is building a two-story sportsbook at Addison and Sheffield streets that will allow fans to wager on sporting events to their heart’s desire.

The $100 million the Cubs are making from that deal hasn’t been going into the pockets of talented baseball players, a fact that has angered the team’s fans. The Cubs are going through their second rebuild in 10 years while still raking in massive amounts of revenue. They might be lacking in a lot of areas, including onfield victories, but not in gall.

In the broadest sense, that’s really what this is about. At every turn, the Cubs seem intent on making money and ignoring fans, and if they can do both with one swing, all the better. It remains to be seen if the government’s suit has merit, but everything about it smells like the team from the North Side. New premium seats pushing wheelchair users elsewhere in the ballpark? Smells about right.

“The whole enterprise with regard to ADA seating was pure greed over the rights of ADA patrons,” said David Alberto Cerda, who filed a 2017 lawsuit against the team on behalf of his son, a Cubs fan who has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair.

Since winning the World Series in 2016, the franchise’s focus has been on making oceans of cash. The Rickettses built a hotel across the street from Wrigley, started its own subscription TV network and gotten into the gambling business. They’re not much into the baseball business anymore, but let’s not quibble.

In ownership’s eyes, the organization’s most valuable player is club moneyman Crane Kenney, who is in charge of filling coffers and pockets. Kenney once famously promised “wheelbarrows” of money for the baseball side of the operation, but in the end, Crane’s Chicago business turned out to be about earning profits for the Ricketts family.

Again, the lawsuit will decide who was right or wrong in the accessibility dispute, but anyone who has been paying attention to the Cubs over the past decade would have to surmise that wheelbarrows have much better views at Wrigley these days than wheelchairs do.

“The renovation of Wrigley Field greatly increased accessibility of the ballpark and was completed in accordance with applicable law and historic preservation standards consistent with the ballpark’s designation as a national and City of Chicago landmark,” the team said in a statement.

The Cubs have lost the benefit of the doubt, and that’s an amazing development. If you had told me in 2016 that, six years after the World Series title, the Ricketts family would have squandered all the goodwill it had built up, I would have called you crazy. Ownership had done the seemingly impossible – it had broken a 108-year championship dry spell. Yet here we are, with a frustrated fan base that feels used.

That might partly be a reflection on our what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world, fueled heavily by social media. But mostly it’s the authentic anger of a loyal group that’s tired of commerce, not baseball, being the Cubs’ No. 1 goal.

Try telling those fans that the feds’ case against the team is bogus. The boos drowning you out will tell you all you need to know.

Read More

The Chicago Blackhawks moved so many young pieces but held onto Patrick Kane. So what’s the plan?

The Chicago Blackhawks appear to be in rebuild mode after moving on from young players like Kirby Dach, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik. However, the team still held onto Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, leaving some confused what the plan actually is.

Patrick Kane is the most surprising here since that’s the next big piece that they must move at one point to get something back for.

The cards are in the hands of Kane, as he has a full no-move clause. This could go one of two ways: Kane decides to stay for the entire season and the Blackhawks get nothing for him which would be a disaster for their rebuild, or he is moved at the 2022-23 trade deadline to a contender and the return is even better than it would be now.

The first would be very harmful for the Blackhawks as they want every solid prospect/draft pick they can get so it can all culminate and help them come out of a rebuild in four to five years. Kane will definitely help them get exactly what they want and even more if they were to take on a bad contract to make room.

The offseason is the easiest time for teams to make bigger moves to send over high paid players to another team. This way they have the time to manage their contracts and money while not in the midst of the season.

Does dealing Patrick Kane at the deadline make more sense?

The other way, dealing Patrick Kane at the deadline, could actually work in the Blackhawks’ favor, but could also harm them overall. He is definitely waiting to narrow down the teams he would accept a trade to and see who the real contenders are for the Stanley Cup.

Teams may be desperate and have an important player injured so they would be willing to add Kane and pay more to do so. The way it could harm the Blackhawks is they have the skill and productivity of Kane in their lineup for a significant portion of their season helping them win games. The Blackhawks do not want to win games and finish as low as they can in what is considered an elite 2023 NHL draft.

The 3-time Stanley Cup winner controls his destiny and the team’s, but the hope is that he doesn’t hurt the Blackhawks in the end.

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Chicago Bears fans have a lot of positive social media posts

Chicago Bears fans are a little separated from reality this offseason. And possibly more than any other NFL team’s fanbase if the stats by Betway Insider are any indication. October could be a rough month for Bears boards.

Most analyst projections have the Bears struggling to win many games this season. PFF ranks several Bears units either second to last or dead last. And a cursory look at the Bears roster would suggest fans need to add a tall boy to go with their Sunday six-pack for the 17 weeks from hell starting September 11th.

Betway used Linkfluence to measure the optimism of NFL fanbases. The Bears were first in positive posts during this offseason.

More positive than the Rams or Chiefs?

Chicago Bears fans don’t have too many reasons to be positive

I get Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace are gone and that’s one reason to be positive. But the replacements Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles are unproven. The roster is terrible. And we have no way of knowing if Justin Fields is any good or not.

If those reasons are enough for Bears fans to be positive, the collective trauma of this group might need to be studied to find a new mental disorder. Some posts I’ve seen personally are about hoping 2023 and 2024 are where it’s at. Which is another kind of crazy.

Either way, most Bears fans aren’t putting their money where their mouth is. The Bears and Houston Texans are the only two NFL teams without a $1,000 bet to win the Super Bowl.

I think that says more than what some fans post after a few shots of The Macallan.

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

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

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