Chicago Sports

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Country music singer and songwriter Jeff Carson, who scored hits with “Not On Your Love,” and “The Car” before becoming a police officer, has died in Tennessee, his publicist said. Carson was 58.

Carson died of a heart attack at a hospital in Franklin, said Jeremy Westby of 2911 Media.

Carson was born Jeffrey Lee Herndon in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1963, Westby said in a news release. Carson sang in church and formed a band in Rogers, Arkansas, before moving to Branson, Missouri, where he wrote songs and played locally, the news release said.

Carson moved to Nashville and recorded demos for Tracy Lawrence, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and other country stars.

Carson received a recording contract at Curb Records in 1995 and released a single, “Yeah Buddy.” He then recorded the singles “Not On Your Love” and “The Car,” which won Carson his first Academy of Country Music award for video of the year.

Carson’s career had 14 singles on the Billboard chart in his career, Westby said.

Carson retired from music to become a police officer in Franklin, where he remained on the police force.

Carson returned to music in 2019 and released a previously recorded song, “God Save The World.”

Carson had been in the studio with Buddy Hyatt recording an album to be released later this year with duets with Michael Ray, Darryl Worley and others, Westby said.

Singer Bryan White said on Twitter that he was saddened to hear of his friend’s death.

“He was a tremendous singer and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met … I’ll see you on the good side buddy,” White said.

On Twitter, the Franklin Police Department thanked Carson for his “life of service & song” and said Carson “changed everyone he met, all of us, for the better!”

“It’s hard to believe he’s gone,” the department said on Twitter.

Read More

PALM BEACH, Fla. — This will be the closest Ryan Poles comes to taking a break in the two months since taking the most high-pressure job in Chicago sports: fixing the wayward Bears.

Decades of mediocrity cloud the sky above Halas Hall, but Poles is a world away from that at the NFL’s annual meeting. He’s got an ocean view at the palatial, 1920s-styled Breakers resort, and while it’s a business trip, it’s the best possible business trip.

Another meeting just ended, and walking into a room full of head coaches and fellow general managers knowing he’s now their peer felt surreal to Poles. He’s a little dazed that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin knew his name and stopped to say hi.

There are many adjustments like this when you’re 36 and have spent your career working in the background.

The work, though, is nothing new. Studying film, crunching salary-cap numbers and debating personnel are in Poles’ comfort zone. Still, he’s been at it nonstop since late January and could use a few days out of the office.

“It is good to relax a little bit, but your brain’s always going,” Poles told the Sun-Times, leaning forward in his chair in the lobby. “Free agency is still going on… We have all of our scouts on the road doing pro days, feeding me information.

“So your brain never stops. It is good to slow down just for a minute, but there’s a lot going on.”

He’s not as busy as his wife Katie, he admits.

She’s been back in Kansas City balancing their two children’s school and sports schedules. She’s more than earned a vacation. She’s free all day — a luxury more lavish than The Breakers itself. As the surest sign yet that Poles has sound judgment, they left the kids with his parents and sister.

As his family finishes the school year, Poles is absorbed in a task that appears to be a demolition of the flawed structure he inherited. The boldest part of his teardown so far was trading star Khalil Mack for draft picks. Once he’s done cleaning up, he aspires to build something magnificent with the enticing supply of cap space and draft picks awaiting him next year.

He hired Eagles executive Ian Cunningham as assistant general manager, and they rented a place together. The alarm goes off at 5:15 a.m., they’re out the door within 15 minutes and they hit Starbucks on the way to work. After a quick workout, they parse their plans for the Bears until about 11 p.m.

“It’s stressful, not a lot of sleep, but I often stop the meetings and make sure everyone realizes this is what we call ‘work,’ and it’s enjoyable,” he said. “I never go to work feeling like it’s work… I’m having a blast.”

That’s partly because he has yet to feel the furnace blast of pressure that will come if things go poorly as they usually do for the Bears.

Their recent futility isn’t Poles’ fault, but it lingers nonetheless. He hit that head-on Day 1, when he announced his intent to wrest the NFC North from the Packers.

“The big thing for me, and everyone will get to know this over time: I care,” he said. “I know how much the Bears mean to Chicago. It’s a lot of responsibility.

“But I just want to do a really good job for the city. I want them to be able to go to their games on Sunday and just have a blast. There’s pressure with that, but that motivates me.”

He got a reminder of the stakes in that meeting Sunday with NFL coaches and general managers. While it felt cool to finally be in that sphere, it struck Poles that those faces change every year.

Getting through the door is one thing. Returning is another.

“There’s people that come and go,” he said soberly. “You want to be one of those fixtures that have been there for a long time. With success and winning, that’s how you stay in the room.”

Read More

The story of Lusia Harris only gets better: It’s now won an Oscar.

And just like his longtime Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant did four years ago in another category, Shaquille O’Neal can say he’s an Oscar winner, as well.

“The Queen of Basketball” — with a pair of basketball legends in O’Neal and Stephen Curry among the executive producers and top promoters of the 22-minute film — won the Academy Award for short subject documentary Sunday.

It comes about two months after the death of Harris, who scored the first basket in Olympic women’s basketball history and was the first woman officially drafted by an NBA team. Ben Proudfoot directed the short, which educated even some ardent basketball fans on the story of the trailblazer.

“If there is anyone out there that still doubts whether there’s an audience for female athletes and questions whether their stories are valuable or entertaining or important … let this Academy Award be the answer,” Proudfoot said at the award ceremony in Los Angeles.

Harris is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as is O’Neal. But even the four-time NBA champion — widely considered one of the greats in the history of the game — wasn’t familiar with her story.

“I didn’t know who she was at first,” O’Neal said earlier this month.

Few did.

But the film and the involvement of O’Neal and Curry — the Golden State star wore sneakers earlier this month emblazoned with the phrase “Queen Lucy” on them — helped her story be told more and more.

Harris helped Delta State University win three straight national championships in the 1970s and earned a silver medal for the United States at the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Harris was drafted by the New Orleans Jazz in the seventh round of the 1977 NBA draft, but she was pregnant at the time and never actually went through with trying to make the team.

Her family was at Sunday’s award ceremony.

Proudfoot also used the winning Oscar moment to call upon President Joe Biden and urge him to obtain the release of two-time Olympic gold medalist and top women’s player Brittney Griner, who has been jailed in Russia. Griner was detained after arriving at a Moscow airport, reportedly in mid-February, after Russian authorities said a search of her luggage revealed vape cartridges allegedly containing oil derived from cannabis.

Griner may face up to 10 years in prison under Russian law.

“President Biden, bring Brittney Griner home,” Proudfoot said.

Read More

MESA, Ariz. – Asked about the Cubs’ pitching puzzle a week and a half from opening day, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy ran with the metaphor.

“It’s like those jigsaw puzzles, every Christmas you break [them] out, there’s pieces missing, you’re trying to find them on the floor,” Hottovy said. “It’s going to come together. To say each piece is going to fit perfectly in the puzzle is still to be determined.”

The Cubs may not have placed any more pieces on Sunday, but they did get a closer look at several of them.

Lefty reliever Daniel Norris and right-hander Robert Gsellman both made their Cubs spring training debuts against the Royals on Sunday. Norris threw two hitless frames. Gsellman, a non-roster invitee, gave up six runs in one-third of an inning.

Starter Wade Miley and reliever Mychal Givens threw their first live batting practice sessions of spring training, each logging a simulated inning.

“Just trying to get my feet wet,” Givens said, “and trying to be able to make pitches and get the ball spinning out of my hand really well. So, today was really good to get out there.”

Cubs reliever David Robertson is scheduled to face hitters Tuesday, for the first time in spring training. He left camp for the birth of his son, Everett, but is expected to return Monday.

The puzzle is especially complicated this year because of the condensed spring training and the number of pitchers the Cubs signed mid-camp. Givens, for example, arrived last Wednesday.

“Sometimes if we take a team approach where, ‘we want this, this and this,’ then you end up rushing the guy too fast, or you’re trying to ask a guy to do more than he probably should,” Hottovy said. “So, what I’m really focused on is what each individual guy is doing right now, how he’s feeling and how he’s recovering. And then once we get to the start of the season, we’ll be able to have a better understanding of what we want to do to piece it together.”

Each starter’s readiness affects the timing of his start and if he’ll need to piggyback. That, in turn, affects how many multi-inning relievers the Cubs will need on the roster, which affects how many one-inning relievers they’ll carry.

The Cubs have picked up the pieces from the floor, but they haven’t finished the puzzle’s border – or any section – quite yet.

Miley is one of the central pieces. His next step is to throw two innings of live batting practice. Then, if all goes well, Miley will be ready to get into a game.

“I’m excited with how that went,” Miley said after his live session Sunday. “A lot closer than I thought it would be when I got done with that, so, stuff’s playing where I want it to. … It’s a step in the right direction.”

Cubs manager David Ross hasn’t announced a rotation order. But if Miley stays on a five-day schedule, he’s lined up with a pair of Cubs off days, one right before opening day and the other in between the Cubs’ first two series.

That off day gives the Cubs flexibility in how they utilize their pitching staff. Hottoy confirmed that the team could leave a pitcher or two in Arizona to keep building up and facing hitters before getting into regular season action.

“We have to look at this in sections,” Hottovy said. “The first section is that first four-game series, and then we technically don’t need a fifth starter until Game 9 of the season. So, taking all those things into consideration.

“But there’s also ways where, because we have that off day, maybe we could throw some piggybacks in there, guys could be at lower volume and throw three innings and still be in a decent spot to schedule all that out.”

With Miley, for example, the Cubs could have him make a short start right after the off day. But the more likely scenario seems to be skipping his turn in the rotation the first time around and having him rejoin the team the second time through. That would give him two more starts in Arizona to ramp up.

Move one other piece, however, and that scenario may no longer fit. The rotation is just one section of the puzzle.

On the opposite side is the back end of the bullpen, which could include some combination of Rowan Wick, Chris Martin, Givens and Robertson. Only two of those pitchers have pitched in a game this spring.

Even the shape of those pieces isn’t clear.

Read More

SOX 9, Dodgers 0

Keuchel posts 4 1/3 scoreless innings

Making the longest start of any Sox starter this spring, left-hander Dallas Keuchel pitched into the fifth inning and held a Dodgers lineup with Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner scoreless.

Keuchel walked two and gave up three hits, throwing 44 of 78 pitches for strikes.

“I could say it was really good but I also didn’t do some things I wanted,” said Keuchel, looking to bounce back from a poor 2021. “But I felt some really good big-league hitters, the body felt great and that’s the main thing. All in all definitely a positive. We’re trending in the right direction.”

Keuchel got early contact, early strikes and made quality pitches behind in count, but wants to be more crisp and “pull that pitch count down a little bit.”

Robert, Anderson power up

Luis Robert clubbed his second and third homers in two days, both shots to right center, and drove in four runs. Tim Anderson was 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBI, raising his spring average to .500.

Right-hander Kendall Graveman and lefty Aaron Bummer remained unscored on with scoreless appearances.

Kimbrel walks 2, but better

La Russa said he liked how right-hander Craig Kimbrel threw in his B game inning of work against the Dodgers even though Kimbrel walked two. Kimbrel struck out one and got two ground-ball outs. It was a better outing than his first when he was charged with five runs against the Rangers four days earlier.

“Good. I thought he threw the ball good,” La Russa said. “Big plus, big smile on his face when he came off.”

The Dodgers are one of the teams that potentially match up with the Sox in a trade for Kimbrel.

On deck

Padres at Sox, Glendale, 3:05 p.m., 1000-AM, Joe Musgrove (0-1, 6.00) vs. Lucas Giolito (1-0, 0.00).

Read More

MESA, Ariz. – Cubs third base coach Willie Harris told third baseman Patrick Wisdom that he’d prepared over the winter for their home run celebration.

“I’ve been working on my jumps this offseason,” Harris said, according to Wisdom, “doing some squats and some other explosive work. So, I’m going to out- jump you.”

When Wisdom launched a three-run homer over Sloan Park’s left field berm on Sunday, Harris performed up to the hype. He flew up the third baseline for a mid-air high five as Wisdom headed home.

Wisdom broke out of a spring slump in a big way Sunday, hitting home runs in both his at-bats in the Cubs’ 13-12 win against the Royals. Wisdom had logged just one hit before Sunday.

“I was, honestly, probably more excited by my defense today,” he said. “I love when [Kyle Hendricks] is pitching. I know I’m going to get a lot of ground balls. And just to get that momentum going was good for me. I love that.

“The at-bats were nice, too. I’ll take them.”

Happ back in the outfield

Ian Happ played in the outfield for the first time this spring, after undergoing an elbow procedure in February. Happ entered camp on a throwing program.

“He’s coming along,” Cubs manager Davis Ross said before the game Sunday. “I don’t think there’ll be any plays at the plate. He’s throwing into second today.”

With just a week and a half left in spring training, Ross felt it was important to get Happ some game reps. Happ served as the designated hitter in two Cactus League games before Sunday, and that will be an option in the regular season if the Cubs are still managing the stress on Happ’s arm.

Schwindel returns

Cubs first baseman Frank Schwindel returned to the lineup Sunday. He’d been sidelined by back tightness for a week, as the team took a cautious approach to his recovery.

Sunday was his first game without a hit, going 0-for-2. Schwindel is batting .400 through three games this season.

Read More

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It was a year ago this time when it happened, all so unnecessarily, it seemed.

White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez leaped up on the warning track, stretching his glove over the fence at Camelback Ranch during a Cactus League game with no chance of catching a home run sailing well over his head. Jimenez’ tore his left pectoral muscle and missed the first 99 games of the season.

Jimenez wants to do well in left field. Luis Robert wants to do great in center. The competitive athlete in them prevents them from being overly cautious. On Sunday, right fielder Andrew Vaughn was injured making a diving catch in right-center field, laying out and hitting the turf with a hard flop.

In games this spring, Robert has banged into a wall attempting to make a catch and dived head-first trying to snatch a sinking line drive. There have been sliding attempts, too. If Robert gets up slowly and brushes himself off, all eyes are on a player some view as an MVP candidate, if not this year sometime soon.

“It’s really difficult to hold back a little bit, especially in the outfield,” Robert said Sunday through translator Billy Russo. “I think I can do it running the bases, but in the outfield when you have to react, it’s tough. It’s very very difficult for me to manage that reaction. That’s something I have to learn, but it’s difficult to do.”

Jimenez played 55 games last season and Robert, who tore his right hip flexor running out a ground ball in May, played in 68. Yasmani Grandal [knee] played 93, and those were just the longest injured list casualties the Sox overcame toward a 93-win, division winning season. Now it looks like Vaughn will be sidelined.

With eight spring games left before Opening Day April 8, the thing general manager Rick Hahn and manager Tony La Russa care about most is that the Sox manage to stay healthy. Until Vaughn went off on a cart, the Sox had done it.

Jimenez has flopped his 6-4, 240-pound frame into nets and into the first row of seats at Guaranteed Rate Field. In April 2019 he sprained his right ankle colliding with the wall in a game against the Tigers. The following July he got tangled up with center fielder Charlie Tilson and sprained his right elbow. Jimenez is far from the Gold Glover Robert is, but not for lack of trying.

“Being smarter, but not stopping playing hard,” he said last week. “Because if I stop playing hard, I’m going to be a DH, and that’s what I don’t want. So I think I learned more about taking care of me, but [I’ll be] playing hard like always.”

There have been no risky attempts by Jimenez in the field this spring, and Jimenez shouldn’t have to worry about Robert charging into his space with over-the-top aggressive catches on routine fly balls as he’s done in the past.

“At that time I was trying to catch every fly ball in the outfield and probably went a little bit crazy doing that,” Robert said, “but I’ve learned that you have to let the other guys play, too, and just adjust. It’s fun they’re making that bobblehead.”

That would be a bobblehead of Jimenez stopping in his tracks in left field and crossing his hands as Robert steps in front and makes a catch. “I GOT THIS, ELOY” is inscribed on the bobblehead.

Before Sunday’s Cactus League game, Robert wasn’t ready to say “I got this” when it came to his feel at the plate this spring. But he hit two homers to right center field Sunday, his second and third homers in two games, against left-handers Andrew Heaney and Garrett Cleavinger, so maybe he is now.

“I still have enough time to get ready for Opening Day and my swing, my real swing,” he said. “My A swing is going to be ready by Opening Day.”

Sounds good, Sox fans everywhere said. In louder voice they’re saying “No more injuries before Opening Day.”

Read More

GLENDALE, Ariz. — White Sox right fielder Andrew Vaughn was taken off the field on a cart Sunday after making a diving catch in right-center field.

Vaughn stood up after the catch and gave a little high five to center fielder Luis Robert, but after taking a couple of steps signaled to the Sox dugout. Vaughn was helped onto the cart and sat up, accompanied by Sox training staff.

There was no immediate word on specifics of Vaughn’s injury.

Vaughn was replaced by Micker Adolfo.

Last spring, left fielder outfielder Eloy Jimenez suffered a torn pectoral muscle and outfielder Adam Engel tore a hamstring, prompting the Sox to convert Vaughn, a first baseman, into a left fielder.

Vaughn adapted and played well defensively and batted .235/.309/.396 with 15 homers and 48 RBI in 127 games last season.

Kimbrel walks 2, but better

La Russa said he liked how right-hander Craig Kimbrel threw in his B game inning of work against the Dodgers even though Kimbrel walked two. Kimbrel struck out one and got two ground-ball outs. It was a better outing than his first when he was charged with five runs on two walks and two hits against the Rangers four days earlier.

“Good. I thought he threw the ball good,” La Russa said. “Big plus, big smile on his face when he came off.”

The Dodgers are one of the teams that potentially match up with the Sox in a trade for Kimbrel.

Yoelqui homers off Buehler

Yoelqui Cespedes added a homer against Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler to the pair of Cactus League homers he has this spring. Cespedes hit a two-strike breaking ball that Buehler left up in the zone.

“He can do anything on the field right? La Russa said. “Hit, throw, yeah.

“[Buehler’s] not just a major leaguer. He’s an elite Major Leaguer.”

The Sox’ other top Cuban outfield prospect, Oscar Colas, is batting .270 with three homers in minor league games this spring. Colas was 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in a split-squad opening game against the Cubs but has played in minor league games since.

Broadcast news

Radio voice Len Kasper is doing five national broadcasts for FOX this season, including four Sox games: Braves at Padres April 16 (FS1), Angels at Sox April 30 (FS1), Cubs at Sox May 28 (FOX), Cleveland at Sox July 23 (FOX), Athletics at Sox July 23 (FOX).

Read More

Dominik Kubalik’s best skill, by far, is his shot.

But in the dog days of an extremely frustrating individual season — his shaky confidence compiled by swirling, and very real, trade rumors — Kubalik had gotten away from making it the focal point of his game, as it should be.

Perhaps Thursday night, when Kubalik was made a healthy scratch for the first time since his rookie season when the Blackhawks faced the Kings, reminded him of the fact.

On Saturday, the Czech sniper came out firing and terrorized Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson with a steady barrage of heavy shots all afternoon.

After averaging just 2.2 even-strength shot attempts per game after the All-Star break before Thursday, he took eight shots during even-strength play Saturday to match his season high. Five were on goal. One — a first-period one-timer from the point — deflected off a Knights defenseman, past Thompson and into the net for Kubalik’s second goal since Jan. 28.

“[As] a player, you don’t want to be in that situation [as a scratch],” he said. “You want to be out there, you want to play — even though I know I have to be better, that’s for sure. There’s nothing else to say. Today, finally, I felt like my old self when I was getting chances. I was in the right areas, and I just need to keep building on that.”

Others noticed, too.

“That’s one of the best games he’s had for opportunities to shoot the puck,” interim coach Derek King said.

“We’ve all seen how well he can score goals, so hopefully he can ride this little hot streak and keep going,” Dylan Strome added. “He had tons of chances tonight.”

Getting through the trade deadline Monday likely helped Kubalik start rediscovering himself, too. He admitted he was “nervous with what was going to happen,” and he wasn’t able to escape the subject because his wife’s parents — visiting from the Czech Republic — kept asking about it.

Instead of lacing up for the Ducks, Oilers, Jets or another team come Tuesday, however, Kubalik was still donning a red-and-white Hawks sweater, the only jersey he has worn in his NHL career to date. General manager Kyle Davidson, albeit not for a lack of trying, ultimately didn’t sell (very) low on him.

As a pending restricted free agent requiring — similarly to Strome — a sizable $4 million qualifying offer, Kubalik’s future remains up in the air. He has roughly a month to salvage a portion of his disappointing season, though, and more outings like Saturday would indeed accomplish that.

“The pucks were coming, too, which is huge for me,” he said. “Sometimes you’re sitting in the slot and you’re not open — there’s somebody [covering you] — or the other guy makes a different play. Today, I felt that I was in the right moment, in the right spot. I know that’s one of my strengths and I need to do it more often.”

It could’ve been an even better, more memorable day for Kubalik had he buried a golden overtime chance off a pass from Strome. He instead tried to deke Thompson and the puck skittered barely wide. Kubalik said he was “overthinking again” at that moment, referencing King’s explanation Thursday of what had been going wrong in Kubalik’s game.

Consider that another learning moment favoring takeaway No. 1.

“I should just get it and shoot it, but I was trying to make a move, which is not my game, so then I kind of lost it,” he said. “I’ve got to stick with what I’m doing best, and that’s shooting.”

Read More

NEW YORK – Even attempting to play the matchup game at this point would be an exercise in futility.

As of Sunday morning, the Bulls players woke up still firmly nestled in the No. 5 spot in the Eastern Conference, looking up at four teams that will spend the remaining few weeks of the regular season playing musical chairs.

There’s Philadelphia, who have arguably the league’s MVP in Joel Embiid, and also have taken the Bulls to the woodshed in the four meetings this season, beating them by an average of 10 points, and each game getting considerably more one-sided. In the first meeting back in November, the 76ers won by just five. In the last meeting on Mar. 7, it was a beat-down by 15.

How about a first-round showdown with Jimmy Butler and Miami? After all, the Heat culture looks more like a family reunion gone bad lately, losing four straight and feuding like it’s the Jerry Springer Show rebooted. The problem is Miami has also swept the Bulls in the first three games, beating them by an average of 14 points with one game left.

Then Milwaukee, surely they can handle the Bucks? Not really. Three meetings, three losses, and the last one was less than a week ago, and was a 28-point laugher for the defending champions.

That leaves Boston. By the way, the only one of the four that the Bulls have beat this season. One problem. No one wants to play the Celtics these days, as they have wrecked the entire league since the All-Star Break.

That’s why the best approach the Bulls can take over their final eight games was worry about Bulls basketball first, second and third, and come April 10, after the season finale in Minnesota, take a peek at the standings and get the game film out.

“The focus is us,” Bulls guard Alex Caruso said, when asked about looking at possible playoff matchups. “When we get there we’ll get there.

“Where we’re at right now, I don’t think you can worry about matchups. If we worry about us, everything will take care of itself.”

That was the attitude over the last week, as the Bulls had significant wins over Toronto and Cleveland. Two teams that were breathing down their necks in the standings, and two performances that Caruso was wishing he and his teammates could make sustainable.

“We’ve been talking about that for three weeks,” Caruso said of the inconsistencies from game to game. “There’s not much I can say to tell you about what I have to tell guys on what we have to do. It’s about showing up and putting the work in. If we show up and play like we’re supposed to play, we’ll win a lot of games going into the playoffs and be where we need to be. There’s really not many words I can say. Just go out and do it.”

A mentality shared around the locker room.

While big man Nikola Vucevic admitted that it might be difficult for the Bulls to get out of the fifth spot with so little time left, that doesn’t mean that they have to be a quick out.

“I think we have to use these last eight games to work on things we haven’t been doing well, build up our confidence going into the playoffs,” Vucevic said. “That’s going to be very important.

“Some matchups are better than others, but I think we have the talent to play with everybody. It’s just are we willing to do the right things night in and night out? That’s the main thing for us. When we do those things we’re a really good team, and when we don’t we’re not. It’s as simple as that.”

Read More