Chicago Sports

A boy was among three people hospitalized after an East Beverly house fire Saturday morning on the Far South Side, according to Chicago fire officials.

Officials responded to the blaze in the 1600 block of West 107th Street before 3 a.m., according to fire spokesperson Larry Merritt.

A “pre-teen” boy and a man in his 60s were hospitalized in fair condition, Merritt said, adding that another man in his 20s was hospitalized and was in good condition.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

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Teachers at the Old Town School of Folk Music have a tentative contract agreement with the school’s board of directors after more than two years of negotiations.

The deal, reached Thursday night, will cover the more than 200 teaching artists at the school represented by the Old Town Teachers Organization.

Few details were released, pending ratification, but the new contract does include a 4% pay raise. Teachers also had wanted four seats on the board of directors, but it was not known Friday if that is part of the contract.

Dozens of people working in the Chicago music industry had backed the teachers in their fight, including Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco, who was among 70 people who signing a letter of support released in March 2021.

“The road has been long and, at times, incredibly challenging for many of us,” said Jessica Martino, co-president of the Old Town Teachers Organization.

The teachers “have been nothing if not wholeheartedly committed to shared governance and bringing home a fair contract,” Martino added. “We organized so that we could have a seat at the table. We organized to ensure that we’re fairly compensated, with access to benefits eligibility and job security. We organized because we care about each other, our students, and the Old Town School of Folk Music.”

The Old Town Teachers Organization, formed in 2019, is affiliated with the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

The bargaining team is set to meet next Monday to go over the terms of the contract. No date has been set on a ratification vote. The tentative deal is for five years.

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Cubs manager David Ross was coy when asked prior to Friday’s game against the Cardinals if pitching prospect Caleb Kilian would be called up to pitch in Saturday’s doubleheader at Wrigley Field.

“I do [know who it will be]. I just don’t want to tell you guys yet,” Ross said. “I’ll tell you after the game.”

Ross was well aware of the anticipation of a hot prospect coming to the major leagues in the middle of a rebuild. And that anticipation only grew when veteran right-hander Marcus Stroman was strafed for nine runs on 10 hits in a 14-5 loss to the Cardinals on Friday before 32,482 at Wrigley Field.

As expected, Kilian indeed was called up and will make his major-league debut against the Cardinals in the second game of the doubleheader. It’s not quite a turning point in the rebuild, but a significant step. The right-hander, who turned 25 on Thursday, is the first of the top-rated prospects the Cubs acquired in last year’s sell-off of 2016 World Series stalwarts Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javy Baez and veterans Yu Darvish and Joc Pederson to reach the big leagues.

“I got to interact with him a little bit [in spring training]. Seems like a hard worker,” Ross said after the game when asked for a scouting report on the 6-4, 180-pound Kilian. “Good makeup. Real chance to be everyday-big-league-starter type of stuff and continue to get better every day. I know he wants to grow, wants to learn. Pretty good energy about him. Got a nice fastball and he’s been pitching really well.”

Kilian, acquired from the Giants for Bryant, has been in the spotlight since he pitched six perfect innings in the Arizona Fall League championship game last Nov. 21. He has been stellar at Class AAA Iowa this season — 2-0 with a 2.06 ERA, with 41 strikeouts in 39 1/3 innings. Iowa was 8-1 in his nine starts — and Kilian left with a 5-1 lead in the only loss.

Cubs catcher P.J. Higgins played with Kilian at Iowa, but has caught him only in spring training. But he’s seen enough to be excited about Kilian’s promotion.

“Kil’s got the full package of pitches,” Higgins said. “He’s got a live fastball. He’s got a good two-seam curveball, cutter and change-up. He’s got a good mix of both sides of the plate.”

At 22-30 after their three-game winning streak was snapped Friday, the Cubs still appear to be in the early stages of their rebuild. And following the template that produced Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Jake Arrieta, Kyle Hendricks, et al. as the Cubs went from 96 losses in 2013 to the World Series in 2016 seems like a daunting challenge at this point.

But with Kilian, the Cubs are at least giving themselves a chance to build the foundation with pitchers from the farm system, with Keegan Thompson (6-0, 1.99) and to a lesser degree, Justin Steele (1-5, 5.40).

Even Ross doesn’t know if Kilian is ready for this.

“I don’t think we know that until we get him [here],” he said.

But it appears that Kilian will determine his fate, as outfielder Christopher Morel is doing after coming up from Class AA Tennessee as a fill-in player.

“I think you take it for what it’s worth,” Ross said. “Morel came up and got a chance to play a little bit. Good things happen to guys who take advantage of opportunities. I think that’s just wait-and-see.”

Fairly or unfairly, Kilian arrives amid some anticipation and excitement.

“For sure,” Higgins said. “It’s awesome for the organization. Everybody wants to see him. I want to see him, too, because I was able to watch him — not necessarily back there [catching him] as much as I was in spring training. But it’s going to be a big day for him. I’m happy for him. I expect him to do pretty well.”

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Right-hander Kendall Graveman, who was missing from the White Sox bullpen for three games while the White Sox were getting swept in Toronto this week, expressed gratitude to the organization Friday for supporting his decision to not get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Back with the team along with starter Dylan Cease, who starts against the Rays Saturday, Graveman is a key piece in the back of the Sox bullpen who wasn’t available against a tough Blue Jays team that swept the Sox in three games. The Sox signed him to a three-year, $24 million contract as a free agent in the offseason.

General manager Rick Hahn said last week the Sox respected Cease and Graveman for “exercising their right to make that choice.” Graveman said the organization “has a ton of class and that’s been something that I’ve really appreciated.”

The Canadian government requires entrants to be vaccinated for COVID-19 at least 14 days prior to entry. The Sox lined up Cease with extra rest to start against the Cubs last Sunday, keeping him out of the rotation for the Blue Jays, who faced Lucas Giolito, Michael Kopech and Johnny Cueto.

“I’d like to say thank you to the organization because they’ve really been supportive of allowing me to make a decision and that was a route they didn’t have to take,” Graveman said. “But they did and I really respect our organization as a whole, from the time that they were trying to get me as a free agent to spring training to up close to the time to go to Toronto.”

The Sox returned right-handers Kyle Crick and Jimmy Lambert to Triple-A Charlotte, where Graveman went to throw a bullpen, work on his slider, and be around the Knights.

“There was no question about penalizing Graveman for making his choice,” La Russa said. “The way the three losses came out, there really wasn’t a lead late. Wish there would have. He’s ready to go in there [Friday].”

Graveman and Cease did not get paid or accrue service time.

“Moving forward I hopefully help us win this series and I love each and every one of these guys in this clubhouse, our coaching staff,” Graveman said. “Tough series for us [in Toronto], but moving forward we have three more left to go before we go home.”

This and that

Lance Lynn (knee) made his second start on his rehabilitation assignment for Charlotte Friday. He is expected to make one more in another five days.

*Eloy Jimenez (hamstring) played in the fourth game of his assignment with Charlotte.

“He’s very impatient,” La Russa said. “Just has to make sure he understands ‘get back, stay back.’ We’re as impatient as he is, believe me, but we’re not the ones going through this so we have to be patient. Stick him in the middle of the lineup things will be different. Then the lineup changes.”

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Outfielder Brennen Davis, rated the top prospect in the Cubs’ farm system, is out for the 2022 season after undergoing back surgery Thursday, a source confirmed.

Davis, 22, a second-round pick in the 2018 draft, had not played at Class AAA Iowa since May 3 because of back soreness and was put on the injured list on May 12. He had the procedure on a vascular malformation, but without structural damage, a source said. The Cubs are optimistic Davis will not suffer any long-term effects of the injury.

After a standout 2021 season in which he jumped from Class A South Bend to Class AAA Iowa and was the MVP of the All-Star Futures Game, Davis was hitting .195 (15-for-77) and a .584 OPS at Iowa, with two home runs and seven RBIs and 31 strikeouts in 22 games when he was sidelined by the back injury.

Contributing: Maddie Lee

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The White Sox recalled right-handed pitcher Davis Martin from Triple-A Charlotte and announced he will start Friday night’s game against the Rays.

The team also reinstated right-handed pitchers Dylan Cease and Kendall Graveman from the restricted list. The two did not travel with the team to Toronto for this week’s series against the Blue Jays. The Canadian government requires entrants to be vaccinated for COVID-19 at least 14 days prior to entry.

Martin pitched five innings of one-run ball and struck out seven, allowing five hits and one walk in a 2-1 loss to the Royals in his major-league debut on May 17. He is 5-2 with a 3.80 ERA over 45 innings in nine minor-league starts this season.

The Sox also placed RHP Vince Velasquez on the 15-day injured list retroactive to May 31 with left groin strain and returned RHPs Kyle Crick and Jimmy Lambert to Charlotte.

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Roquan Smith is expected to be the leader of the Chicago Bears’ defense

Roquan Smith has been a beast since entering the NFL in 2018. One national analyst has the Chicago Bears linebacker on their list of best players under 25-years of age. For a good reason, as Smith has amassed 524 total tackles in his four seasons with the Bears. 43 of those tackles have been for a loss. He’s also racked up 14 sacks in that time.

With the departure of Khalil Mack this offseason, Smith will be looked to as the leader of the defense. How the defense gels in the 4-3 will depend on how well he’s able to command the new defense. The stat lines have put Smith at 13 on Cody Benjamin’s list of Top 25 NFL players 25 and under. Here’s what Benjamin wrote of Smith:

Maybe it’s the Bears’ recent struggles that have hidden his elite impact at the heart of Chicago’s “D,” but Smith deserves even more recognition than a pair of All-Pro nods. He’s always been a heat-seeking tackling machine, but the last two years, he’s emerged even more as a presence in opposing backfields, totaling 30 tackles for loss since 2020.

Bears fans would like to see more Smith in the opponent’s backfield

The list presented by Benjamin was as solid as Smith raging through an offensive line to grab a running back before the line of scrimmage. This puts him in the company of former 2nd overall pick defensive end Chase Young and star wide receiver, A.J. Brown. This is right where Smith should be when he was selected as the number 8 overall pick in 2018 by the Bears.

Averaging 15 tackles for loss per season would be a great trend to see continue for Smith. Bears fans should be excited to see what Smith paired with a Matt Eberflus defense can bring. If Smith can handle the transition to the new system smoothly, he and the Bears’ defense should continue to be a challenge to opposing offenses this season—even with the departure of elite talent on the defensive line. In a linebacker-friendly system such as the 4-3, Smith could have an even better stat line.

Make sure to check out our Bears forum for the latest on the team.

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Ballet choreographers have long drawn inspiration from “Don Quixote,” Miguel Cervantes’ beloved 17th-century novel about a low-level Spanish nobleman who imagines himself a knight-errant and embarks on a series of fanciful adventures.

The most famous of these adaptations was created by the celebrated French ballet master Marius Petipa to a score by Ludwig Minkus and unveiled at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet in 1869. It was later remounted and expanded, including an influential 1900 revival by Alexander Gorsky.

In the first of 10 performances Thursday evening at the Lyric Opera House, the Joffrey Ballet presented a return of Russian-born choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s take on “Don Quixote,” which the company premiered in 2011.

With an expansive cast of 52 dancers, this production, postponed from earlier this year because of a COVID-19 surge, delivers abundant spectacle and high-voltage dancing while simultaneously conveying the core of Don Quixote’s heartwarming and timeless story.

Unlike Possokhov’s 2019 adaptation of “Anna Karenina,” which brought together a mix of conventional and startlingly innovative choreography, this production is very much rooted in Petipa’s original and hews to tradition.

Although there are a few elements that feel a little uncomfortable in 2022, like the tired comedic trope of the bumbling, dandyish, rich older man trying to win the hand of much younger woman with his money, there is a reason why this story is a classic: It still resonates with audiences.

But that is not to say that there are not some contemporary touches. Conventional set pieces, such as constructed storefronts and pieces of furniture, are nicely integrated with tech-savvy projections designed by Wendall Harrington.

A wonderful scenic moment comes early on when Don Quixote is lying in bed and dreaming of valorous exploits as projected images of knights and horses taken from period artworks circle on the backdrop above him.

Projections are also effectively used to suggest the windmills at the beginning of Act 2 that Don Quixote imagines as monsters and dragons during a thunderstorm. As he is charging one of the windmills, he appears to be thrown into the air by its blades as a suspended harness zips him upward in dandy piece of stagecraft.

Also deserving of mention is Don Quixote’s horse, Rocinante, which was designed by VonOrthal Puppets of Evanston to striking and clever effect. It is a kind of constructed costume with a flexible, hinged head and neck and cloth strips lining the back that fits over the top of two dancer-puppeteers.

The rough essentials of Cervantes’ story are contained in this balletic adaptation, with the title role ably portrayed by Miguel Angel Blanco, and Derrick Agnoletti (one of five dancers retiring from the company after this season) milking the comic potential of Don Quixote’s hapless, potbellied sidekick, Sancho Panza.

The novel’s central message of imagining big and following one’s dreams comes through, but there is nothing profound about this ballet and it’s not meant to be. In the end, the story is really just a framework for an abundant series of colorful, high-energy pas de deux and ensemble dances.

Highlights of the latter include a high-stepping, folk-tinged tambourine and fan dance at the end of Act 1 and the beautiful Act 2 dream realm of the Dryads who are led by the Dryad Queen, smartly performed by Gayeon Jung.

Nearly stealing the show are Stefan Goncalvez as Espada, a famous toreador, and Brooke Linford as Mercedes, a street dancer, who offer some of the production’s most athletic and sensual dancing. Especially memorable is their flamenco-suffused pas de deux in Act 2, with Linford swirling her long, flowing dress in a heart-pounding, fiery solo.

Taking centerstage are Victoria Jaiani, the innkeeper’s daughter, Kitri, and Dylan Gutierrez as Basilio, the barber. In a crowning act of valor, Don Quixote shields their love from Gamache, the monied dandy, and persuades Kitri’s father to give the couple his blessing.

A few of Gutierrez’s gestures and steps can be a bit stiff, but he delivers some thrilling leaps and serves as impeccable partner with the two dancers teaming for one seamless, seemingly effortless lift after another.

Jaiani was arguably the evening’s star, conveying Kitri’s youthful exuberance, handling every step with self-confident polish and precision and topping her grand pas de deux in Act 2 with a dazzling set of superbly executed fouett? turns.

Also deserving note are Miu Tanaka as the perky, high-stepping Amore and Amanda Assucena and Valeria Chaykina, who portray Kitri’s friends and make repeated appearances, often interspersed with the central couple.

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Have you ever read a novel that wants to be a film? Where you couldn’t shake the feeling that a movie deal was the author’s intent all along?

Too often it feels that way with the Cubs. Too often they feel like a baseball club that wants to be a real estate mogul or a TV network owner or the operator of an English Premier League franchise. They won a World Series in 2016, then built a hotel across from Wrigley Field, launched Marquee Sports Network and tried to buy Chelsea F.C. Is there a potential Marvel movie in any of that?

The Cubs are playing the Cardinals at Wrigley this weekend, a timely reminder that they should want to be the Cards when they grow up but in reality don’t. The Cardinals are where they usually are in the standings, near the top of the National League Central, and the Cubs are going through their second rebuild in 10 years, which explains all the losing.

The last time the Cardinals finished under .500 was 2007 and before that 1999. Since the Ricketts family bought the franchise in 2009, the Cubs have finished under .500 six times. This season will be the seventh.

Just to be clear, Chicago is the third-largest city in the United States, and St. Louis is the 72nd, smaller than Durham, N.C., Lincoln, Neb., and Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Cubs’ player payroll ranks 14th out of 30 teams at $148.5 million, a billion miles from the payrolls of the teams in the two bigger cities by population. The Mets lead the majors at $260.2 million, the Dodgers are second at $259.5 million and the Yankees are third at $249.7 million.

The Cardinals are 12th at $158.5 million. Did I mention that St. Louis is smaller than Greensboro, N.C., Lexington, Ky., and Bakersfield, Calif.?

There’s a reason for all of this: The Cardinals know that their fans expect greatness. There’s no explanation for what the Cubs are doing other than they’ve chosen making money over winning titles. And if you follow this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, you realize that the Cubs don’t think their fans expect greatness. If they did, they’d be pumping money into the product on the field.

The Cardinals know what their fans expect.

The Cubs think they know what their fans will swallow.

One more comparison, the only comparison that really matters, to illustrate the difference between the two franchises: The Cubs have won one World Series since 1908 (perhaps you’ve heard), and the Cardinals have won 11 in the same span. Now that’s a team culture.

Four years ago, I asked then-interim Cards manager Mike Shildt if he could ever envision the organization going through the painful losing of a rebuild in the hope of winning a World Series down the road, the way the Cubs had before they built up to their 2016 title..

“No,” he said. “That’s not what the Cardinals organization represents.”

At the time, the Cards were two games over .500 and struggling. It was mid-July. They went on to finish 88-74 – much better but not nearly good enough by their standards. The next three years, they lost an N.L. Championship Series after winning the division, lost a wild-card series and lost a wild-card game. Pretty good, right? It got Shildt canned.

The most damning thing you can say about the Cubs is that they should be the Cardinals – damning because the Cards are their purported archrivals and damning because there’s no reason a major-market club should be taking the rebuild route again. Dealing stars Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant at the trade deadline last year was a baseball decision. Not taking the money from those players’ contracts and investing it in the major-league product was a baseball sin.

Perpetual reinvestment is what people in a big city should expect from a big-city team. It’s not just about money and payrolls, though. If it were, the Cardinals wouldn’t be where they usually are. They don’t spend like the Yankees or Dodgers, but they know baseball. The big-market Cubs think the only way to win a World Series is by blowing up a team, starting from scratch and charging fans full price while losing scads of games.

When the family that owns the franchise is worth several billion, a rebuild shouldn’t be the first instinct. It shouldn’t be an instinct at all.

But the 13-year history of the Rickettses as owners is of a family more interested in turning Wrigleyville into an amusement park, buying rooftops buildings and bidding for a soccer team, even though they say they don’t have money to spend on baseball players. Yes, there was that 2016 World Series, and for more than a few Cubs fans, it was the highlight of their lives. But it wasn’t the end of their lives. They’d like more. Why is that so hard for ownership to understand? Because ownership only seems to care about what Cubs fans are willing to put up with.

Chicago, city of rubes. That’s what the Cubs think. Is there any other conclusion?

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With the 2022 NBA draft just a few weeks away, the Chicago Bulls are hoping they can find a steal with the No. 18 overall pick.

The franchise is entering a critical offseason in which there is a big decision to make on Zach LaVine and potential additions to the roster to get them over the hump. They also have the draft, where they can try to find someone to make an impact right away. Without a 2023 first-round pick, this is an important pick for the franchise in a few different ways.

And on Tuesday, the team brought in a former Ohio State standout for a pre-draft workout. Per multiple reports, the Bulls had Ohio State’s E.J. Liddell in for a workout ahead of the draft:

The 21-year-old Liddell is an Illinois native that spent three seasons at Ohio State. As a forward, Liddell averaged 19.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last season. He was one of the Buckeyes’ best players and improved in each season with the program.

Chicago has been linked to Liddell already this offseason including in a few different mock drafts as we enter June. But Liddell is also drawing interest from other teams that are picking in the middle of the draft or in the 20’s. He’s visited with other teams including Denver most recently.

It appears certain that Liddell will be a first round pick in a few weeks but will he be the Bulls’ choice when it’s their turn on the clock at No. 18?

Make sure to check out our Bulls forum for the latest on the team.

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