What’s New

Glenbard West’s Braden Huff (34) dunks against Yorkville Christian. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

All the hype sold out Yorkville Christian’s gym on Friday, where more than 1,000 fans crammed into The Canyon to see the home team and Duke recruit Jaden Schutt host No. 1 Glenbard West and Gonzaga recruit Jaden Schutt.

When the top-ranked recruits in the senior class meet on the court during the high school basketball season it is a noteworthy event. It doesn’t always happen and the players are rarely signed with colleges as impressive as Duke and Gonzaga.

All that hype sold out Yorkville Christian’s gym on Friday, where more than 1,000 fans crammed into The Canyon to see the home team and Duke recruit Jaden Schutt host No. 1 Glenbard West and Gonzaga recruit Jaden Schutt.

The Hilltoppers (8-0) were just too tall and too good for Yorkville Christian from the start and coasted to a 93-68 win.

Huff, who is 6-11, finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds. The Mustangs entire team managed 10 rebounds.

Schutt had 21 points. He scored 15 in the second quarter as Yorkville Christian (5-4) managed to cut Glenbard West’s lead to seven at one point.

Most recruiting analysts have Schutt as the top recruit in the class and Huff at number two.

“At the end of the day it doesn’t matter to me,” Huff said. “I’m happy with where I am committed and all that. But I think just getting a win is good for our team and we’re in a really good place.”

Bobby Durkin, a 6-7 Army recruit, finished with 23 points and seven rebounds and senior Paxton Warden scored 18 for the Hilltoppers.

“It was definitely different,” Durkin said. “We hadn’t really played a game yet where other teams had a student section and they were talking to us. We knew it would be different but just kind of experiencing it getting loud and stuff was a good test to start the season.”

Schutt, who set the state record for three-pointers in a game when he was a sophomore, was 3-for-14 from three-point range.

Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
Yorkville Christian’s Jaden Schutt (2) works to keep Glenbard West’s Braden Huff (34) away from getting a rebound.

“We haven’t played a team that tall,” Schutt said. “So it was just getting used to that and adjusting to it.”

Schutt and Huff are club basketball teammates on the Illinois Wolves and friends. There wasn’t any trash talk before, during or after the game.

“It’s my team vs. his team and they were the better team tonight,” Schutt said. “It was a fun game, getting to play against people I know and have been in the gym working out with.”

Senior KJ Vasser scored 20 points for the Mustangs, who will have another major test on Saturday at the Team Rose Classic against Hyde Park.

The Hilltoppers will also be at Mount Carmel for the Team Rose Classic on Saturday. They will face undefeated Hillcrest.

Read More

Gov. J.B. Pritzker holds a bill that he just signed during a press conference at the Washington Park Fieldhouse in the Washington Park neighborhood, Friday afternoon, Dec. 10, 2021. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Pritzker wants much of that money to be distributed by next spring and summer, when shootings typically increase in Chicago.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed legislation paving the way for $250 million in state funding to community groups that are working to reduce gun violence in Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods and other parts of Illinois suffering the ripple effects of a nationwide crime spike.

The Reimagine Public Safety Act, which created a new state office for firearm violence prevention, was part of the budget Pritzker signed in the spring.

The trailer bill that was signed Friday — which state lawmakers advanced during the fall veto session — gives officials in the Illinois Department of Human Services more leeway in issuing the millions in grant funding and expands eligibility for groups already working to “interrupt” violence, according to Pritzker’s office.

Before signing the bill at a Washington Park news conference, Pritzker outlined Chicago’s most recent spate of fatal shootings — including that of a 71-year-old Chinatown resident who was apparently targeted at random earlier this week — and committed to investing in “neighborhoods that have been truly forgotten.”

“There are the countless children who have been taken from us far, far too soon. Too much tragedy. Too much loss. We are all here to say enough is enough,” Pritzker said, noting “the scourge of rising violence” has extended well beyond Chicago.

At least 756 murders had been committed citywide this year through Dec. 5, an increase of 4% compared to 2020 and a 60% jump from 2019, according to Chicago Police data. It’s on pace to be one of the city’s deadliest years since the mid-1990s.

The vast majority of those homicides have been gun deaths. Overall, city police have investigated more than 3,300 shootings this year, a 9% increase from last year and 67% higher than 2019.

Last month, Pritzker declared gun violence a “public health crisis” while pledging the $250 million in funding to anti-violence groups over the next three years.

That money will be available by application to community organizations focused on street-based violence interruption, trauma-related therapy, after-school and summer programming, among other anti-violence measures.

Sponsoring state Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, called the latest effort the third prong of the effort — after police and sentencing reform — to rethink a criminal justice system that has disproportionately harmed Black and Brown communities.

“It’s absolutely critical that we not entertain the option of turning back the clock, to employ the old failed policies of the past that amount to ‘lock them up, throw away the key’ approaches,” Slaughter said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot — who did not attend the bill-signing — hailed the legislation in a written statement, saying “[c]reating partnerships across all levels of government with our community stakeholders must continue in order to holistically and effectively prevent and reduce crime.”

Pritzker said he wants the grant money to be distributed before temperatures rise next spring and summer, when gun violence typically increases.

Groups interested in applying for grants can do so via the state Human Services website.

Contributing: David Struett

Read More

Glenbrook South fans cheer during the game against New Trier. | Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

All the scores from around the area.

Please send scores and corrections to [email protected]

Friday, December 10, 2021

BIG NORTHERN

Dixon at Rockford Lutheran, 7:00

Oregon at Genoa-Kingston, 7:15

Winnebago at Byron, 7:00

CATHOLIC – CROSSOVER

De La Salle at Fenwick, 7:00

Marmion at St. Rita, 7:15

Montini at DePaul, 7:00

Providence at Leo, 7:00

Providence-St. Mel at Mount Carmel, 7:00

St. Francis de Sales at Brother Rice, 7:00

St. Ignatius at St. Laurence, 7:00

CENTRAL SUBURBAN – NORTH

Maine West at Maine East, 7:00

Niles North at Deerfield, 7:00

Vernon Hills at Highland Park, 7:00

CENTRAL SUBURBAN – SOUTH

Glenbrook North at Evanston, 7:00

Maine South at Niles West, 7:00

DU PAGE VALLEY

Metea Valley at Waubonsie Valley, 7:00

Naperville Central at Neuqua Valley, 7:00

Naperville North at DeKalb, 7:00

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC

Benet at St. Viator, PPD

Marian Catholic at Carmel, 7:00

Marian Central at Marist, 7:00

Notre Dame at Joliet Catholic, 7:00

St. Patrick at Nazareth, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Prairie Ridge, 7:30

Crystal Lake South at Jacobs, 7:30

Dundee-Crown at Crystal Lake Central, 7:30

Hampshire at Huntley, 7:30

McHenry at Cary-Grove, 7:30

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Manteno at Coal City, PPD

Peotone at Herscher, 7:00

Reed-Custer at Lisle, 6:45

Streator at Wilmington, 7:00

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL

Latin vs. Francis Parker, at De Paul University, 7:30

North Shore at Northridge, 6:00

INTERSTATE EIGHT

Kaneland at Sandwich, 7:00

Plano at Ottawa, 7:00

Sycamore at Rochelle, 7:00

LAKE SHORE ATHLETIC

ACERO-Cruz at Wolcott, 6:00

LITTLE TEN

Hiawatha at IMSA, 7:00

Indian Creek at Earlville, 7:00

LaMoille at DePue, 7:00

Newark at Serena, 7:00

Somonauk at Leland, PPD

METRO PREP

Horizon-McKinley at Chesterton Holy Family, 7:00

METRO SUBURBAN – BLUE

Riverside-Brookfield at Chicago Christian, 7:30

St. Francis at Aurora Christian, PPD

METRO SUBURBAN – RED

Aurora Central at Westmont, 7:30

MID-SUBURBAN – EAST

Buffalo Grove at Rolling Meadows, 7:30

Prospect at Elk Grove, 7:30

Wheeling at Hersey, 7:30

MID-SUBURBAN – WEST

Barrington at Schaumburg, 7:30

Fremd at Hoffman Estates, 7:30

Palatine at Conant, 7:30

NIC – 10

Belvidere at Rockford East, 7:00

Belvidere North at Boylan, 7:15

Freeport at Auburn, 7:30

Hononegah at Guilford, 7:00

Jefferson at Harlem, 7:30

NORTHEASTERN ATHLETIC

Mooseheart at Christian Life, 7:30

South Beloit at Alden-Hebron, 7:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE RED-WEST / NORTH

Lane at Schurz, 5:00

North Lawndale at Marshall, 5:00

Orr at Clark, PPD

Westinghouse at Lincoln Park, 5:00

Young at Farragut, CNL

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-NORTH

Lake View at Foreman, 5:00

Mather at Senn, 7:00

Northside at Taft, 7:00

Prosser at Uplift, 5:00

Von Steuben at Sullivan, 6:15

PUBLIC LEAGUE WHITE-WEST

Austin at Crane, 5:00

Clemente at Payton, 6:30

Jones at Perspectives-MSA, PPD

Legal Prep at Raby, 5:00

Wells at Collins, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-NORTH

Alcott at Disney, 5:00

Chicago Academy at ASPIRA-Bus&Fin , 5:00

Chicago Math & Science at Roosevelt, 5:00

North Grand at Amundsen, 5:00

Rickover at Steinmetz, 5:00

PUBLIC LEAGUE BLUE-WEST

Chicago Collegiate at Douglass, 5:00

Chicago Tech at Manley, 5:00

Little Village at Kelvyn Park, 5:00

Ogden at Phoenix, 5:00

Spry at Juarez, 5:00

RIVER VALLEY

Beecher at Grant Park, 7:00

Clifton Central at St. Anne, 7:00

Gardner-So. Wilmington at Donovan, 7:00

Momence at Grace Christian, PPD

Tri-Point at Illinois Lutheran, 7:00

SOUTH SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Argo at Hillcrest, 6:30

Lemont at Oak Lawn, 7:00

Oak Forest at Shepard, 6:30

Reavis at Bremen, 6:00

Richards at Thornton Fr. South, 7:00

Thornton Fr. North at Eisenhower, 6:30

SOUTHLAND

Bloom at Thornton, 6:00

Rich at Crete-Monee, 5:00

Thornwood at Thornridge, 6:30

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE – EAST

Plainfield East at Plainfield South, 6:30

Romeoville at Plainfield Central, 6:30

SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE – WEST

Oswego East at Oswego, 6:30

Plainfield North at West Aurora, 6:30

Yorkville at Minooka, 6:30

SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN – CROSSOVER

Andrew at Lockport, 6:00

Lincoln-Way Central at Bolingbrook, 7:00

Lincoln-Way West at Homewood-Flossmoor, 6:30

Stagg at Sandburg, 6:00

TRI-COUNTY

Henry-Senachwine at Roanoke-Benson, 7:00

Lowpoint-Washburn at Marquette, 7:30

Seneca at Woodland, 7:00

UPSTATE EIGHT

Elgin at Streamwood, 7:00

Fenton at Glenbard South, 7:00

Glenbard East at Bartlett, 7:00

South Elgin at East Aurora, 7:00

West Chicago at Larkin, 7:00

WEST SUBURBAN – SILVER

Lyons at Hinsdale Central, 7:30

NON CONFERENCE

Amboy at Hinckley-Big Rock, 7:00

Bowen at Proviso West, 5:00

Butler at Christ the King, 7:00

Downers Grove South at Ridgewood, 6:30

Elgin Academy at St. Edward, 7:00

Elmwood Park at Walther Christian, 6:30

Glenbard West at Yorkville Christian, 7:00

Golder at Intrinsic, 5:00

Hansberry at Comer, 7:00

Home Run Kids at Cristo Rey-St. Martin, 5:30

Marengo at Timothy Christian, 7:30

Noble Street at Intrinsic-Downtown, 6:30

UIC at Kennedy, 6:30

Westlake Christian at Schaumburg Christian, 7:30

Willowbrook at Lake Park, 7:15

BARTLETT (TN)

Kenwood vs. Richardson (TX), 6:30

HALL

Marquette vs. Mendota, 5:00

Rock Falls vs. Princeton, 6:30

Pontiac vs. LaSalle-Peru, 8:00

MEMPHIS WOODDALE (TN)

Orr vs. Wooddale (TN), 8:00

MISSOURI, UNVERSITY OF

Kankakee vs. South Iron (MO), 12:00a

Read More

Karl Wilson, a retired Chicago pastor, has come up with a program he hopes will help the grief-stricken cope better with their losses during the holidays. It will be held Dec. 19 at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St. | LinkedIn

You don’t ‘get past’ such grief, says Karl Wilson, a retired pastor who’s hosting a program next weekend at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home he hopes will help the grief-stricken cope this time of year.

Death is not something one can get over.

So we carry our grief as bravely as we can.

But a recent headline made me reflect on how nearly impossible it must be for families to hold up against the onslaught of murder that continues to grip our city.

“More than 1,000 people have been murdered in Cook County this year, the most since 1994,” the Sun-Times headline read.

“The youngest person killed was a 1-month-old boy,” the story reported.

These killings mean that thousands of people have had to endure the heart-crushing loss of a loved one whose life was ended prematurely.

More than 1,000 families had to take that long walk to the funeral home and make arrangements.

More than 1,000 families had to pick through photographs of their loved ones, looking for the one that would memorialize them forever.

One thousand homicides in a year is a lot to bear. Where does all that pain and anger go? It makes me wonder how many of us can move forward without a trained professional guiding us.

I spoke with Spencer Leak Sr., co-founder of Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, who lamented the pain of assisting families who must bury children killed by gunfire. He’s been taking care of the bereaved for decades, and he has run out of words that could comfort a grieving parent dealing with such a nightmare.

I also spoke with Karl Wilson, the retired pastor of Bryn Mawr Community Church, as well as a funeral director at A.A. Rayner & Son’s Funeral Home, hospice chaplain and grief counselor.

He is keenly aware more has to be done to help these grieving families, especially during the holidays. So Wilson came up with a program he hopes will help the grief-stricken cope better with their losses.

He’s calling it “Managing Your Grief Through the Holidays.” To be held Dec. 19, it will be an interactive event that aims to help families get beyond anger and the range of emotions often experienced during the holidays, Wilson told me.

“This is an honest and overdue first step to helping people not just to survive the loss but to find a way to live with the loss,” Wilson said. “People often say they want you to get over it or past it. But you don’t get past it. You have to learn how to live with it in a way that inspires rather than destroys. The goal is to find some meaningful purpose for the individual who is surviving the loss,.

“As funeral service professionals, we sit down with families, and we help them make arrangements. We sell them merchandise, all of the things associated with a funeral. But one glaring absence is helping families live beyond the events of a funeral. When you add COVID to this equation and the lack of supportive resources, people are feeling more desperate and isolated.

“We not only want to help you do what you have to do as it relates to your loved one but to help you.”

Wilson spoke of once having worked nights in the adult trauma unit at the University of Chicago Hospitals, where he had to sit with families who had gotten the worst news.

“It is impossible to help individuals understand and process their loss in those moments,” he said. “But the problem is there are very few free resources to help individuals face what is for them a catastrophic loss.

“I envision this as a small beginning of doing that follow-up.”

“Managing Your Grief Through the Holidays” will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 19 at A.A. Rayner & Sons Funeral Home, 318 E. 71st St. It’s free, but space is limited to the first 40 who register by calling (773) 846-6133. Face coverings required. Bring a ribbon or ornament in memory of a loved one to decorate the tree.

Read More

State Comptroller Suzana Mendoza and her brother, Chicago Police Det. Joachin Mendoza, who suffers from long COVID. | Provided/Erik Unger

Chicago Police Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza thought he wasn’t going to live to see his 57th birthday after he spent more than 2 months in the hospital. But he not only survived but was the toast of honor at a party last month in the West Loop emceed by the Illinois state comptroller.

It was a Copacabana sparkle at the end of a cautionary tale.

The celebration of an amazing soul that persevered despite serious, life-threatening complications from one birthday to the next.

Here’s what happened:

In early November of last year, CPD Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza requested a rare day off in a 33-year career at the Chicago Police department.

It was his birthday but he wasn’t feeling well.

“I had no idea I had been hit [with COVID-19], although there was no vaccine available then,” said Mendoza, who was working the midnight shift at the Area 5 detective division at Grand and Central avenues.

Mendoza, brother of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, said it was his partner, now Lt. Christine Blauel, who worried about how her sick co-worker sounded over the phone, saved his life by calling an ambulance, which rushed him to the hospital.

“I went down pretty fast,” he tells Sneed now. “I was out of it pretty quickly and not making much sense.”

What followed was a long haul COVID-19 fight that included nearly two and a half months in the hospital and has continued more than a year later.

“I have zero recollection of the first 30 days,” he said.

The virus “caused five or at least six strokes in my brain; cost me both my kidneys; and hit me with a number of vascular and renal issues while being hospitalized for 72 days, including 41 days at the [intensive care unit] at Northwestern Memorial Hospital,” he added.

His sister tells Sneed that family members feared the worst.

“We thought we were going to lose him over and over again. He spent the rest of his conscious time in the hospital vomiting and dealing with blood pressure going wild in both directions,” she recalls.

Even though he is out of the hospital, he still has short-term memory loss and needs to “GPS” everything to get to where he wants to go, he says. He is still not back to work and has applied for federal disability.

There was also a serious emotional component to his ailment.

“One of my strokes hit a part of my brain … leading to uncontrollable [crying] … so I can’t watch ‘Sponge Bob’ or ‘Homestead Rescue’ on TV without crying,” he said with a chuckle.

But he then slid into sadness in our interview, saying, “I’m a guy who has seen a lot of hateful stuff for years as a detective and was able to keep things inside.

“So this is all new,” he added, tearing up.

A bachelor who treasured a job he made his life; Mendoza now lives with his mom and his sister — who he calls “Suzie” — along with her husband and the couple’s son. (“He’s the only one I permit to call me ‘Suzie,'” the comptroller points out!)

Provided/Erik Unger
Susana Mendoza and her son appear at the Copa Carnivale last month, where she toasted her brother, CPD Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza, who has faced a long battle with COVID-19.

So last month, when former state Sen. Bill Marovitz, asked her to emcee a Copacabana-style event at his West Loop eatery, Carnivale, she initially declined because it was to take place on her brother’s 57th birthday.

“Then he countered with a suggestion I couldn’t refuse: to showcase the birthday with a toast while I emceed the event,” she said. Marovitz also personally invited her brother, their family and Joaquin’s close CPD friends to attend the $125 a ticket event for free.

“I then jumped at the chance to toast my brother,” she said.

Sgt. Mendoza, whose birthday last year incorporated a nightmare, now got to celebrate with a night of sizzling Latino music; strutting tapsters; feathered Mambo flutterers; pulsating Salsa and the Samba dancers; and an aerialist who flipped upside down while pouring champagne.

“When the room roared with applause during my toast, it was the magic my brother needed for the journey ahead of him,” Susana Mendoza said.

“I truly never thought I’d live long enough to see that night,” said Sgt. Mendoza. “I’d never seen anything like that before.”

He added: “I’m still the luckiest guy in the world. To have Suzie in my life is a miracle.”

Thank you for your service, Joaquin.

And may the sizzle of the Salsa in your life never stop.

Sneedlings…

Spigot celebration: Congrats to Chicago’s kitchen designer extraordinaire Mick De Giulio on winning a 2021 Grand Prix International Award for kitchen and faucet designs … Yum. Did you know Chicago’s historic Palmer House, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, invented the original Brownie recipe? Now you do. … Saturday birthdays: Rita “West Side Story,” Moreno, 90; singer Brenda Lee, 77; Jermaine Jackson, 67; Greg Thompson, 60 and priceless. … Sunday birthday: Dionne Warwick, 81.

Read More

Montgomery had 141 yards of total offense and two touchdowns against the Cardinals last week. | AP Photos

Montgomery remains a pillar for the Bears, who have endured a steady stream of frustration this season.

David Montgomery is tough to figure out.

The Bears’ dysfunctional offense has clouded the view of how valuable he is at running back as coach Matt Nagy veered from having minimal interest in the ground game to making it the priority. The offensive line has been shaky throughout his career, and quarterback play has been a problem, too.

It’s equally difficult to get a read on Montgomery’s personality. He showed up as a soft-spoken third-round pick from Iowa State who appeared nervous and said very little to the media, then blossomed into one of the team’s best talkers.

Just a few days ago, after another dispiriting Bears loss, he delivered a passionate post-game press conference highlighted by the line, “I ain’t got no quit in my blood,” and a vow that he’d keep the rest of the team equally determined.

But after practice Friday, with his sights on the game against the Packers on Sunday, Montgomery had almost nothing to say.

When asked about a challenging week in which he missed practice time because of shoulder, gluteal muscle and groin injuries, Montgomery replied smugly, “Felt good,” and looked around for the next question.

That was how it began, and it pretty much stayed that way. Here’s a sampling of Montgomery’s comments:

— On how quarterback Justin Fields looked in practice despite a rib injury: “Good.”

— On the Packers’ run defense: “They’re good.”

— On how much treatment he needed for the injuries this week: “A lot.”

— On wide receiver Darnell Mooney’s approach to the job: “He happens to be really good.”

— On what he loves most about his job: “I get to play football.”

Montgomery wrapped his five minutes by chiding reporters with, “You all got to give me better questions than that. Thank you all. Next time I’m gonna ask you all the questions.”

Like everything else with Montgomery, the scene was enigmatic.

The media has mostly praised his powerful, relentless running style as well as his candor. Before the season, he enjoyed a rollicking press conference in which he challenged one reporter to bowling and humorously gave instructions on the proper way to eat a donut.

He even went so far as to thank the media for how it has treated him.

“You showed me the utmost respect, so what would it be like for me not to do the same for y’all?” he said heading into the season opener. “That’s kind of how I look at it.”

It’s unclear what changed, but little has gone right for the Bears since then and perhaps those stumbles have hardened Montgomery.

They got blown out twice in the first three weeks, Montgomery suffered a significant knee injury in Week 4 and now they sit 4-8 with playoff elimination looming.

Montgomery missed four games with a sprained knee, which dampened his chances of a repeat 1,000-yard season. He had two 100-yard games before the injury, but none since — though he did put up 90 yards rushing and 51 yards receiving and two touchdowns against the Cardinals.

He now has seven 100-yard rushing performances in 39 games, which ranks 13th in the NFL since he entered the league. He also has 20 games in which he averaged fewer than 3.6 yards per carry.

The rushing attack requires many contributions beyond the running back himself, so it’s difficult to ascertain how great of an opportunity Montgomery has had. Surely his stats would be much more impressive had he been drafted by the Cowboys or Patriots.

But Montgomery would be the last one to use that as an excuse. Quirkiness aside, the consensus within the Bears is that he embodies accountability, leadership and grit.

It’s why Nagy picked him as a captain for the opener and for this momentous game. Amid a season of turmoil and ongoing offensive struggles, the mysterious Montgomery is still one of the Bears’ most dependable players.

Read More

Bears defensive tackle Akiem Hicks rushes against the Packers in October. | Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

‘I would challenge you to find another person on this team that has bled and fought and lived and died with this team the way that I have,’ Hicks said.

Defensive tackle Akiem Hicks is staring down his final few weeks with the Bears.

He hesitates to say it out loud, but he speaks with a sense of finality. Hicks is in the final year of his contract, and the Bears have shown little interest in re-signing the 32-year-old.

“I’m going to revisit that in January, but what I can tell you now is, I’ve appreciated these last six years playing here in Chicago,” Hicks said Friday. “I would challenge you to find another person on this team that has bled and fought and lived and died with this team the way that I have. Whatever comes from that, I accept.

“But as far as right now, I’m just ready to play some more football.”

There’s no one he’d rather face Sunday than the rival Packers. And he will.

After a week in which he was limited in practice, Hicks expects to play for the first time since he sprained his ankle Nov. 8 against the Steelers.

He’s done this before. In October, he rushed back from a groin injury and played 41 percent of the Bears’ snaps against the Packers. He sacked Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but his groin hurt even as he celebrated. In 2019, he returned from a grisly dislocated elbow to face his rivals. In both instances, Hicks admits he came back too soon. But the alternative was worse — missing the Packers game.

Rivalries have always had that effect on him. Playing at Del Campo High School in the Sacramento, Calif., area, he targeted El Camino and Bella Vista High Schools. At the University of Regina-Saskatchewan, it was the Calgary Dinos. With the Saints, it was the Falcons.

“No matter where you are,” he said, “you want to beat the bully down the street.”

Injuries have limited Hicks to only 53 percent of the Bears’ snaps this season. But his attitude toward a series that matters more to Bears fans than anything else is more impressive than any stat line he’s put up all year.

“They understand the magnitude of the rivalry,” coach Matt Nagy said. “And so Akiem has been somebody who — you’ve seen over his career — has been able to do everything he can to get out there and play.”

It would be easy for Hicks to protect himself and his future earnings — he wants to play three or four more years — by not returning to the field until he felt completely healthy. The Bears are 4-8, after all, and don’t have Hicks in their long-term plans.

That’s not how he’s wired, though.

“Never been one of those people,” he said. “I think that’s a particular class of person. I was paid to come here and do a job, and I take that very seriously. Not just paid, paid well. So when you step out on the field, you can’t hold anything back.

“When you’re in the locker room and you’re getting ready for the next game, the organization doesn’t deserve that — as well as my teammates. Everything that I can do and everything that’s in my power, it always gets done.”

He felt it against the Steelers — before he hurt his ankle.

“The first three quarters against Pittsburgh, you couldn’t find anybody hotter on the field,” he said. “People were getting hit, people were laying down. I know how to play this game at a high level.”

He didn’t finish the game. By the time the team plane landed in Chicago, Hicks’ ankle had swollen grotesquely. It wasn’t until two weeks ago that it went down, allowing Hicks to begin running.

Sitting out the games in between was “somewhat misery, somewhat very humbling” and “very frustrating,” he said. There’s nothing more maddening, he said, than watching his teammates on television.

“What I’ve broken it down to, though, is, that it’s a football life,” he said. “It’s part of the journey, some of these hurdles and some of these obstacles. Hopefully I’ll look back and remember all the good instead of some of the troubling times and the adversity.

“But I think even then I’ll be able to look at them and say, ‘It was a football life,’ you know?'”

His looming departure from the Bears is also part of that football life. Hicks tried to land a contract extension during training camp but was rebuffed.

“At first it hurt, and then I understood,” he said. “Ultimately, I respect the decisions that are made.”

It hurt then. It hurts now.

“The unfortunate reality of our business sometimes,” he said, “is that no matter what you do, no matter what situation you put yourself in, all good things come to an end.”

Read More

It may feel like a pick-up game out there come Saturday night with some of Billy Donovan’s rotations, but the coach doesn’t have a lot of options. The team did practice on Friday, getting work for new faces like Stanley Johnson and Alfonzo McKinnie, and there’s still hope that Alex Caruso (hamstring) will be a go.

MIAMI – Sunny and 82 goes a long way in helping squash some self-pity.

The Bulls needed every degree of that on Friday, as the team went through a practice at the FTX Arena short-handed, as well as playbook CliffsNotes close in hand for a few participants.

“What’s happening is once something happens with the test, they kind of put them in the protocols, but there’s all this retesting that goes on and other stuff,” coach Billy Donovan said, before he started snickering in disbelief. “So sometimes it gets a little crazy … yeah, it’s been a lot.”

That’s an understatement.

Donovan woke up to yet another phone call he didn’t want to receive on Thursday, told that forward Derrick Jones Jr. would be the fifth Bulls player headed to the NBA’s coronavirus health and safety protocol in the last week.

Jones joined Javonte Green, DeMar DeRozan, Coby White and Matt Thomas in the protocol, and combined with Patrick Williams (wrist surgery) and Alex Caruso (hamstring) that left the Bulls seven players down from the opening day roster.

The NBA did allow two hardship exemptions, with the Bulls signing Stanley Johnson and former Marshall High School player Alfonzo McKinnie. Don’t expect either of them to just sport the warm-up outfit Saturday night when the Bulls play the Heat.

Following the practice, several assistant coaches, as well as a few of the healthy reserves, stayed after with McKinnie and Johnson to go through the offensive sets and what they want to see on defense.

The Bulls had Johnson in camp for the fall and preseason games, so he was going through more of a refresher, but McKinnie had a lot of catching up to do both on Friday, as well as Saturday when he’ll get more of the package fed to him.

“I would envision one, if not both, of them playing,” Donovan said. “The thing we’ve got to do is get them up to speed, especially with the offense. Stanley, after I talked to [executive vice president of basketball operations] Arturas [Karnisovas], I felt comfortable with that one just because he spent fall camp with us and the preseason, so just from a terminology standpoint it’s like, ‘OK, this guy has a little of a handle on it.’

“McKinnie doesn’t have any, so we’re going to have to kind of script those guys. With the power forward position, with Javonte, Patrick and now Derrick we have no one there. We can slide Troy [Brown Jr.] down there, and we’ll be pretty small. Stanley is a big, strong guy, and McKinnie has some length, but how they’re going to fit in, it’s a pick-up game. It’s going to be interesting.”

Donovan’s biggest anxiety between Saturday morning and tip-off? Another phone call.

The coach did ask Karnisovas and head trainer Chip Schaefer about the possibility of the game being postponed if one or two more players have to go in the protocol, and that doesn’t sound like a scenario that’s in play.

“They didn’t think we were there yet,” Donovan said. “I have not heard anything like, ‘Hey, one more guy goes we’re done.’ I think they’re going to try and get us through. The thing that’s crazy is these guys were all pretty disciplined and diligent about getting vaccinated and doing all that stuff. Chip is dealing with the league, so is Arturas. I just get the feedback from them on what they have to do to get back with our team.”

One positive for the Bulls? Caruso did ramp up his activity in the Friday practice, and if he has no setbacks and gets through Saturday’s workout, he could return to the rotation in some capacity.

“He did all the running stuff with us, the cutting stuff,” Donovan said of Caruso. “I think they’re going to start ramping him up more, but he went from doing nothing to being out there with us [Friday], so I think he’s getting better. I think his decision will be based on what they do [Saturday].”

Read More

Krutwig throws one down for the Antwerp Giants. | Courtesy of Kevin Krutwig

The big lefty is chasing the dream while monitoring the progress of the Ramblers from Antwerp, Belgium.

Look, Cameron Krutwig is the first to admit he’s no Adam Schefter or Peter King. But after the Bears lost their fifth straight game in Week 11, the former Loyola basketball star took it upon himself to tweet — in no uncertain terms — that coach Matt Nagy was “gone.”

But Nagy didn’t get fired, and the Bears won their next game in Detroit on Thanksgiving. On the podcast he co-hosts with Ramblers senior Will Alcock, Krutwig did the honorable thing and owned up to having blown it.

“Sometimes you hear stuff from us that’s right, and sometimes you don’t,” he said. “And this was one of those times when we were not right. … But it’s all [just] feelings.”

“No facts,” Alcock confirmed.

What fun are facts, anyway? There are only about 500 subscribers so far to the “Bears. Blers. Belgium.” pod on Apple Podcasts, but Krutwig isn’t doing it for attention and fanfare. He’s doing it for fun and friendship. Guests have included Clayton Custer and Ben Richardson, stars of Loyola’s 2018 Final Four team. They talk Bears, Krutwig’s favorite team on the planet. They talk ‘Blers. And they talk about the life of a lovable lefty big man who, at 22, is in his first professional season with the Antwerp Giants.

Man, it sure has been strange watching the Ramblers — who were 8-2 entering Friday’s game at Vanderbilt — move on post-Porter Moser and post-Krutwig, who became one hell of a player and the, well, let’s call it charmingly mustached face of the program.

It’s perhaps strangest of all for Krutwig, who has monitored the team’s progress as closely as possible from Antwerp, which is seven hours ahead of Chicago. A group chat with all his old Ramblers teammates helps fill in the blanks.

“I think they’re a classic Loyola team,” he told me in a direct-message exchange that went on throughout the week. “A tough, physical, senior-led, smart basketball team that’s gonna be really tough to [beat] in March. I know these dudes have their expectations set high, and for good reason. And it’s great to see Lucas [Williamson] become more of a scorer, which we knew he could but sometimes last year it was tough for him because we played so much through me. … He’s definitely on [Missouri Valley Conference] player of the year watch.”

I messaged him after Loyola beat DePaul last weekend, wondering if he’d had a longing to be there. We can all imagine what it must be like to be months out of school and so far from home, from friends, from Mom and Dad. Good, bad, exciting, strange … right? We can imagine it, but Krutwig is living it.

“It’s not as fun as high school or college, that’s for sure,” he wrote, “but in a way I think it’s helped me grow up a lot, become self-sufficient, learn how to be a pro. It’s all much different (especially the no class, which I don’t mind).”

Krutwig could’ve returned to Loyola for a “super senior” season, but he knew it would take him a year or two to properly adjust to playing pro ball overseas and didn’t see the sense in prolonging the inevitable. He has found the game in Belgium’s BNXT league to be “way more physical,” which he doesn’t mind. He’s averaging 8.1 point and 5.3 rebounds in league play. His new teammates include guard Jaylen Hands, from UCLA, and forward Phil Cofer, from Florida State, though most of the players are Belgian.

As we messaged, Krutwig and the Giants were in Ukraine as part of FIBA’s Europe Cup. He looked forward to getting back to Antwerp — to his two-bedroom apartment in an area of the city that reminds him of Rogers Park with its array of cuisine choices. He has spots for pasta, for Mediterranean, for varieties of Asian; of course, for Belgian. He pops into McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC, too. Most people there, he finds, speak a good bit of English, which he appreciates.

Also, Jess is there, and thank goodness for her. Krutwig began dating Jessica Mrzlak as a senior at Jacobs High School, where she was a year behind him. She played softball at the University of Missouri-St. Louis before taking a leap to live this European adventure with him.

“It’s a super-great bonus to have someone come out here with you,” he wrote, “and my girlfriend has been great. I really respect what she’s done in leaving her family and friends to come with me and experience this together. Because of visas and stuff, she’s not allowed to work in Belgium, so I know it’s been a little tough for her. But I don’t know if I could do it all alone out here. When you’re in a foreign country all alone, it can be lonely, depressing, etc. I appreciate her a ton.”

Mom Lori and dad Kevin have caught a few Ramblers games live to see the players and parents they also still care about. They stream Giants games online and laugh at the announcers’ interspersal of English phrasing within all that Dutch. Or is it Flemish?

“‘Blah, blah, blah, blah, wide-open three!'” imitated Kevin, at home in Algonquin.

Bears, ‘Blers, Belgium and a baby boy. Lori and Kevin haven’t seen theirs since dropping him at the airport in August. They miss him like crazy, but that’s just feelings. He’s taking care of business and living his life, and those are facts.

Read More

Michelle Townsend, a CTA bus driver, says she does not feel safe after 30 years on the job. She spoke at a press conference at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 headquarters Friday. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

“The last few months have been the worst violence I’ve ever seen on operators,” said Keith Hill, a veteran driver and head of the union that represents bus drivers.

CTA bus drivers plan to march down Michigan Avenue Saturday to demand something be done about the seemingly unprecedented amount of violence and aggression shown towards them in recent months.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 President Keith Hill said his members previously demonstrated at City Hall and CTA headquarters — efforts that yielded “no results.”

“We’re going to inconvenience the holiday shoppers … let’s march where they hurt, let’s stop some of this money from flowing,” Hill said at a news conference Friday at the union’s headquarters in the South Loop.

“The last few months have been the worst violence I’ve ever seen on operators,” he said.

“Enough is enough, we’re fed up,” he said.

The drivers plan to meet at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at City Hall and then march to the Christmas tree at Millennium Park.

Hill said it’s gotten so bad that the union is working with a private security company that’s offered to temporarily volunteer about 100 guards who will be stationed at various bus stops along routes that have experienced the most violence to check in with drivers as they pick up and drop off passengers.

“I don’t think they’re angry with bus drivers,” Hill said of the violence. “I think they’re angry with the situation of what’s going on in their environment and the world today. It’s not just bus drivers, we’re just the first person they see, the first person they get to take it out on.”

Hill said CTA leaders and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have pointed to increasing police presence to alleviate aggression against drivers, but it’s not enough.

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Chicago Transit Authority bus drivers and union members attend a press conference at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241 headquarters in the South Loop Friday.

Hill said the Chicago Police Department is “overworked” and “understaffed” and more needs to be done.

“Metra has their own police department. Why can’t we have our own police department? No one can secure us better than us,” he said.

The police department and mayor’s office referred questions to the CTA.

“The safety and security of our employees is our top priority, and we have zero tolerance for anyone seeking to harm them,” CTA spokesman Brian Steele said in an email.

The CTA employs unarmed security guards that patrol the public transit system, and additional guards are being added in 2022, Steele said.

“Whenever a CTA employee is assaulted while discharging his or her duties, the CTA works closely with law enforcement to ensure that felony upgrades are aggressively pursued against the offender,” Steele said.

Elsie Sessions, the wife of a driver who was pulled off a bus and severely beaten in September near 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue, expressed her frustration.

“There has to be a stand in protecting these bus drivers,” she said through tears. “I just hope that this never happens to anybody else.”

In another incident that occurred in September, a man shot a CTA bus driver in the jaw after the driver asked him to step off the bus when it reached the end of the line in the Loop.

Michelle Townsend, a nearly 30-year veteran who drives a bus on the South Side, said the current situation has been weighing on her.

“Every day I go to work I do not feel safe when I’m out there on the streets, but we have to do a job and we’re trying to provide for our family and plus we want to go back home the same way that we came to work,” she said.

“It was so much smoother when the pandemic first started and CTA for a time allowed passengers to enter through the back door to promote social distancing. There was no conversation or interaction,” she said.

Rear boarding resulted in many free rides. Now drivers are again requesting fares.

“We’re doing our job, requesting a fare one time. And we get attacked or spat on. And we’re trying to defuse situations, but we’re not a therapist out there,” she said, noting that unaddressed mental illness seems to play a large role in some encounters.

“It’s like ever since the pandemic it looks like everybody is just losing their mind. It’s sad,” she said, noting that onboard security cameras don’t seem to deter crime.

Some drivers carry weapons, even though it’s agains the rules, acknowledged one driver.

Hill said one thing that would help is to more fully enclose the driver’s area. He said the CTA agreed to do this months ago but has yet to implement the change.

He also acknowledged that the issues driving the violence are deep seeded.

“There’s nothing in the communities for anybody to do anymore,” Hill said. “It’s time for us to really start digging deep and invest in these communities and give the younger generation some other alternatives other than looking to violence or running with a bad crowd.”

Read More