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Allen Robinson celebrates a win against the Raiders in October. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

A return to health — and healthy production — would help the veteran, who’s in the last year of his contract and in the midst of his most disappointing season with the franchise.

Allen Robinson had been waiting all season for a play like this: a 39-yard gain on a slot fade with about two minutes to play Nov. 8 in Pittsburgh. As the Bears receiver was pushed out of bounds, though, Robinson collapsed to the ground and felt his hamstring overextend.

He knew he’d miss games.

Wednesday — a month to the day after he was hurt — Robinson practiced for the first time. Thursday, he did so again — and was again limited. He said he plans to face the Packers on Sunday night.

“Everything is trending in the right direction,” he said. “We’ll just continue to see how this week goes.”

A return to health — and healthy production — would help the veteran, who’s in the last year of his contract and in the midst of his most disappointing season with the franchise. Robinson, who has been dogged by ankle and hamstring injuries this season, has only 30 catches for 339 yards.

“Going out there and maximizing, capitalizing on the opportunities that are given to me –. that’s really all I can set out for,” he said. “And then on top of that from the team aspect, for us trying to finish strong and win these last games, see what happens. …

“Whatever the opportunities I’m given are, just capitalize and try to make the best of those.”

Odds are, it will be a hitch route. Robinson was asked about a chart posted on social media this week that showed he ran more of the 5-yard routes — which some receivers can interpret as grunt work — than anyone in football.

“For me it’s about maximizing all the things and opportunities that I had,” he said. “So if that’s a thousand hitches, I want to catch a thousand.”

Montgomery, Santos back

The Bears got two of their top three points leaders back in practice.

Running back David Montgomery, who missed Wednesday’s practice with what the team called injuries to his glute, shoulder and groin, was limited Thursday. That improvement bodes well for him playing Sunday night.

Kicker Cairo Santos was a full participant after missing the previous day with an illness.

Hicks practices again

For the second-straight day, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks was limited. Hicks hasn’t played since hurting his ankle against the Steelers — and hadn’t practiced until Wednesday.

“Quite frankly, he’s enduring through his ailments — and our guys have played with good energy and good juice,” defensive coordinator Sean Desai said. “Anytime you get anybody back from injury it just adds a little bit.”

This and that

Backup quarterback Andy Dalton did not practice for the second-straight day because of an injury to his left, non-throwing hand. Outside linebacker Trevis Gipson remained out, too, with an illness.
Fellow defensive lineman Mario Edwards [ribs] was upgraded from limited to a full participant Thursday. So was linebacker Christian Jones [back].
After returning from a foot injury Wednesday, receiver Marquise Goodwin sat out Thursday.
Tight end Jimmy Graham practiced after taking a vet day Wednesday.

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Dylan Strome (left) was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks again Thursday. | Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

“Right now, we’re just not trusting each other,” Hawks interim coach Derek King said about scratching Strome on Thursday against the Canadiens.

MONTREAL — Dylan Strome’s rollercoaster of a season dropped into another rapid descent Thursday.

After interim coach Derek King talked animatedly with him at center ice during morning skate, Strome’s shoulders dropped as he slid aimlessly around the ice; it was clear what had occurred. King later confirmed Strome was a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks against the Canadiens.

“We keep pounding it in him — the big thing with him is, he’s going to have to change his game a little bit to play,” King said.

Just last week, Strome appeared to be ascending again. King slotted him in a role — on the second line alongside Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat — that properly fit his offensive abilities.

He then put forth four seemingly solid, consistent performances. He scored a big goal Sunday against the Islanders, tallied an assist Tuesday against the Rangers and generated a 58.1% scoring chance ratio during his even-strength ice time, third-best on the Hawks during that span. He looked increasingly comfortable and noticeable on the ice.

Even that evidently wasn’t enough to retain that spot, though. Newly recalled Philipp Kurashev essentially took it from him Thursday.

Team management’s continued pattern of giving Strome opportunities, then abruptly taking them away, is difficult to understand. Ex-coach Jeremy Colliton had completely soured on him by the time of his firing, but King seemed to be following a more patient approach — until Thursday.

It seems the Hawks might have now conclusively decided Strome’s only path forward with the organization is to repurpose himself as a defense-first, bottom-six grinder.

“You can’t base everything on points, right?” King elaborated. “It’s [about] the trust factor. When we’re late in the game and I need to go to three lines, is he going to be that guy on one of those three lines that I can trust on a ‘D’-zone faceoff, or when trapped in our end? And right now, we’re just not trusting each other to that extent.

“He has a lot more to give, and he realizes that. Has he been playing better? For sure, he has. But it’s those little details of the game.”

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Nicole Kidman plays Lucille Ball alongside Javier Bardem as her husband and sitcom co-star Desi Arnaz in “Being the Ricardos.” | Amazon Studios

In typical Aaron Sorkin style, the whip-smart drama packs years of turmoil into one compelling week in the lives of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The prolific and uniquely talented writer-director-producer Aaron Sorkin is fascinated with the inner workings of television, as evidenced by the TV series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, “Sports Night” and “The Newsroom” and even a stage production of his unproduced screenplay “The Farnsworth Invention,” which was about one Philo Farnsworth, an early pioneer who developed the technology that allowed for some of the very first TV transmissions.

Whereas as the aforementioned dramatic series were inspired by real-life networks and shows but were purely fictional, Sorkin employs his trademark stylized and “Sorkin-ized” approach to the real-life foundation of material in “Being the Ricardos,” a whip-smart, cheeky, sepia-toned re-imagination of the story of Lucille Ball and her husband Desi Arnaz, whose groundbreaking 1950s sitcom “I Love Lucy” averaged an astounding 60 million viewers a week and to this day is hailed as one of the best and most influential TV comedies of all time.

There was a lot of clucking on Twitter about the casting of Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman in the lead roles, but Bardem does a solid job of capturing Arnaz’ charismatic stage presence, business acumen and duplicitous ways with the ladies, while Kidman is outstanding at reminding us there were two Lucys: the comedic genius who knew how to get maximum laughs out the simplest line of dialogue or some perfectly crafted bit of physical shtick, and the hard-nosed, independent-minded woman who took guff from no one and would fight tooth and nail for what she believed in. It’s not an impersonation so much as it is a fully realized characterization.

Flashbacks take us back to the 1940s, when Lucy was a secondary player under contract at RKO studios and could never quite break through to the A-list. (The film insinuates the male hierarchy felt Ball was talented but didn’t have the movie-star looks to become a leading lady.) Lucy meets Desi on the set of a lousy musical called “Too Many Girls,” sees through his playboy persona and believes there’s something deeper there — and off they go on a whirlwind romance in which they always seemed to “tearing each other’s head’s off or tearing each other’s clothes off,” as a writer on “I Love Lucy” recalls. The back-story sequences are well-filmed and add context to the story, but “Being the Ricardos” is much more compelling in the sequences set during a week that starts off with a tense table read, as a contentious Lucille butts heads with her head writer Jess Oppenheimer (Tony Hale) and staff writers Madelyn Pugh (Alia Shawkat) and Bob Carroll (Jake Lacy).

In that same week, a gossip rag does a cover story about Desi’s alleged philandering, and although Desi is a master at explaining away everything, Lucille knows the truth deep down. In any case, confronting Desi will have to wait until later in the week, because there’s a much bigger scandal looming after a gossip columnist drops a bombshell implying Lucille is a Communist, much to the horror of the CBS network execs and the even more powerful board members of Phillip Morris, the sponsor of the show. Oh, and let’s not forget Lucille has just learned she’s having a baby — and rather than engage in the cliched moves of having Lucy hide behind laundry baskets and furniture through the duration of the pregnancy, Lucille is demanding rewrites for the rest of the season that will make her pregnancy Lucy’s pregnancy.

Amazon Studios
Nina Arianda and J.K. Simmons play “I Love Lucy” supporting players Vivian Vance and William Frawley.

In classic Sorkin fashion, “Being the Ricardos” makes room for some juicy supporting player opportunities, and J.K. Simmons and Nina Arianda are sensational as William Frawley and Vivian Vance, who played the Ricardos’ landlords and best friends Fred and Ethel Mertz. As played by Simmons, the old-school vaudevillian actor Frawley was even crabbier and more emotionally constipated than his onscreen counterpart — but in a key scene late in the story, when the walls are closing in on Lucille, we see the human side of Frawley, and we also come to appreciate how seriously he takes his craft, despite the drinking and the cynical off-camera wisecracks. Arianda brings great humanity to the character of Vivian Vance, who was playing the least interesting of the four main characters on the show and found herself torn between loyalty to Lucille and the realization Lucille didn’t want her to lose too much weight or become too attractive, lest she steal some of the spotlight.

We also get small but valuable contributions from John Rubinstein, Linda Lavin and Ronny Cox, who play older versions of Oppenheimer, Pugh and Carroll, respectively, giving talking-head interviews as they share recollections of that one crazy week. It should hardly come as a surprise that the true-story timeline doesn’t match the dramatic license on display in “Being the Ricardos” — that the reveal of Lucille’s pregnancy and the twin tabloid controversies and Lucille confronting Desi about his philandering and the fights over this particular script didn’t all transpire over the course of five days but were in fact spaced out over a few years. There’s life, there’s TV — and there are movies about TV, and though “Being the Ricardos” is a work of drama, it has the essence of truth.

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Supporters of gun control and firearm safety protest outside the Supreme Court in 2019 during oral arguments in gun rights case. | Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Most school shooters get their guns from their home or the homes of friends or family. The SMART program on how to safely store guns could help save lives.

The school shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan is a tragedy that cost four young people their lives and made survivors of countless others. Yet it is a story that plays by the school violence playbook. Approximately 80% of school shooters get their guns from their homes or the homes of friends or family. The shooter at Oxford High obtained his weapon from his home.

We can feel helpless, but we are not. We can advocate for and educate about the safe storage of firearms. Education programs like Moms Demand Action’s Be SMART program (www.besmartforkids.org) educate on the specifics of secure firearm storage. Becoming familiar with this simple program can save lives.

The S in Be SMART stands for Secure Guns in Your Home and Vehicle. If you have children, you know they are likely to find anything and everything that isn’t securely stored.

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. We want to hear from our readers. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 350 words.

The M stands for Model Responsible Behavior Around Guns. Talk to your children about firearms, even if you don’t own one. This should be part of safety conversations, just like “Stranger Danger,” drugs and alcohol.

A stands for Ask About Firearms in Other People’s Homes. Don’t make assumptions. Simply ask: “If you have firearms, can you tell me if they are securely stored?” The Be SMART website gives tips on these conversations.

The R stands for Recognize the Role Guns Play in Suicide. Every 23 minutes, someone in Illinois dies by suicide by gun. Securing guns and preventing access during a crisis can save lives.

And lastly, the T stands for Tell Your Peers to Be SMART. As a former teacher and now a mom of three, I am determined to see change. I’m talking to others about secure storage. I encourage you to do the same.

Megan Kivarkis, Glenview

Bob Dole’s cancer-fighting legacy

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, 98, died last weekend from advanced lung cancer. But most obituaries overlooked that 30 years ago Dole made breakthroughs in prostate cancer, the second most deadly cancer in American men.

Dr. William Catalona, a pioneering urologist at Northwestern University, who was a friend of Dole’s, told me the senator “was the first celebrity to go public about his prostate cancer and discuss the concerns men have about possible incontinence and erectile dysfunction with surgery.”

Dole also was the first viable candidate with acknowledged cancer to run for the presidency.

The late TV interviewer Larry King got Dole to open up about his prostate cancer and erectile dysfunction that resulted in Dole becoming a spokesman for Viagra. This conversation made possible open discussion about impotence and those famous “little blue pills.”

Dole served as honorary co-chairman of Chicago-based US TOO, a national support group for prostate-cancer survivors. He even sponsored prostate-cancer screenings at the Kansas State Fair and the 1992 Republican Convention in Houston.

And improbably, Dole came to endorse Viagra as a treatment for his surgical side effects, which led to some good-natured kidding.

Breakthroughs come in many forms.

Howard Wolinsky, Flossmoor

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Woom Sing Tse | Family photo

Today’s update is a 5-minute read that will brief you on the day’s biggest stories.

Good afternoon. Here’s the latest news you need to know in Chicago. It’s about a 5-minute read that will brief you on today’s biggest stories.

This afternoon will be cloudy with a high near 39 degrees and a chance of rain. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low around 31 degrees. Tomorrow will be partly sunny then rainy with a high near 45 degrees.

Top story

‘Sometimes people just do evil things,’ prosecutor tells judge as suspect appears in court for the killing of 71-year-old grandfather

A man accused of gunning down a 71-year-old grandfather in Chinatown appeared in court today as prosecutors said they had no clue why he opened fire, other than “sometimes people just do evil things.”

“That’s what happened here,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said during a bond hearing. “Judge, I can’t give you a motive.”

Alphonso Joyner fired more than 20 times at Woom Sing Tse as he walked down a sidewalk a few blocks from his home Tuesday afternoon, Murphy told Judge Maryam Ahmad.

Ahmad said the “overwhelming” amount of evidence described an “execution” and she denied bail for the 23-year-old Joyner.

Shortly after the shooting, police obtained the plate number of Joyner’s car and used at least 10 license plate reading cameras to track him to the Kennedy Expressway, Murphy said. Joyner was arrested a little over an hour later, alone in the car, around Jackson Boulevard wearing the same clothes as the gunman in the video, Murphy said.

A gun found tucked between the driver’s seat and center console matched the spent shell casings at the murder scene, Murphy said. Joyner’s hands tested positive for gun powder residue, he said.

Joyner refused to talk to investigators, police said. He has a record of gun charges, and Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said police are looking at other apparently random shootings to see if they’re linked to Joyner.

Tse’s family said he moved to the Chicago area from China 50 years ago and worked as a cook until he saved enough money to open a restaurant and then another.

“He was a man who came to this country with just a few dollars in his pockets and through hard work and his spirit, achieved the American dream,” Chicago police Supt. David Brown said Wednesday night. “Mr. Tse built a home and provided for his family. He was a father, a husband, a grandfather, a man of the community, a Chicagoan.”

Sophie Sherry, Clare Spaulding, and David Struett have more on this shooting that has shaken a community here.

More news you need

After receiving “violent threats,” State Rep. Jonathan Carroll, D-Northbrook won’t pursue a proposal requiring unvaccinated Illinoisans to pay their health care expenses — including hospital bills — out of pocket if they contract COVID-19. Northbrook said he decided not to pursue the legislation he filed Monday because of the “unintended divisive nature” of the proposal.

Former state Sen. Rickey Hendon today called for legislation that would create space for minority ownership of sports gambling locations in Chicago. Hendon has also been vocal about ensuring marginalized groups are included in the state’s majority-white cannabis industry.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is asking auto manufacturers to set up 24-hour hotlines to help their customers and police recover carjacked vehicles as the terrifying crimes continue to rise. Dart’s approach comes toward the end of a year that has seen an increase in carjackings in the city.
Cook County sheriff’s official Becky Levin kicked off her campaign to seek the Illinois House seat of outgoing Majority Leader Greg Harris today, calling herself “a crime fighter and a public health expert.” Levin is the first candidate to officially enter next year’s race to fill Harris’ seat.

Mayor Lightfoot was accused today of abdicating responsibility for a recent increase in retail crime in Chicago and, instead, pressuring merchants to implement their own costly and unworkable security measures. Illinois Retail Merchants Association President Rob Karr flatly rejected all of the mayor’s ideas, which included merchandise “either chained and roped or put behind glass” and customers being “buzzed into” stores.

The Chicago Opera Theater will become just the second company to present the 2015 family opera, “Becoming Santa Claus,” opening Saturday at the Studebaker Theater in the downtown Fine Arts Building. Composer Mark Adamo says his aim is to entertain both children and adults — Pixar style.

A bright one

Local holiday celebrations in full swing throughout week ahead

Mark Monaghan
“The Nutcracker” by the Hyde Park School of Dance.

The holiday season is here and Chicago has no shortage of jolly things to do in the week ahead.

Whether you’re looking to get into the spirit or keep the celebrations rolling, we’ve got a wide mix of options for you to choose — ranging from theater to dance, music, movies and more.

Here are a few highlights happening tonight through next Wednesday. See our full list of offerings, including some non-holiday choices, here.

Otherworld Theatre presents “Winter in the Wildwood,” an immersive holiday experience where a magical Faun goes on a quest to uncover the truth behind the fading Wildwood lights. The family-friendly walking show takes place in all the nooks and crannies of Otherworld’s unique space and features fairytale stories, magicians and puppetry. From Dec. 9-Jan. 9 at Otherworld Theatre, 3914 N. Clark. Tickets: $40, $20 for children. Visit otherworldtheatre.org.
Hyde Park School of Dance presents its annual production of “The Nutcracker” performed by students and members of the school’s pre-professional Studio Company. The 75-minute narrated production includes a breakdance battle between the mice and soldiers. From Dec. 10-12 at Mandell Hall, University of Chicago, 1131 E. 57th. Tickets: $10-$30, children under 5 free. Visit hydeparkdance.org/tickets.
A cappella giants Pentatonix have released their sixth holiday-themed album, “Evergreen.” The Grammy-winning quintet performs holiday tunes and songs at a concert that’s a partnership with Toy for Tots, a chance for fans to donate new, unwrapped gifts the night of the performance. At 7:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at Allstate Arena, 6920 N. Mannheim, Rosemont. Tickets: $40+. Visit ticketmaster.com.

Mary Houlihan has more on these events in addition to our full lineup of offerings here.

From the press box

Coronavirus concerns continue to hamper the Bulls’ normal activity. As of this afternoon, Derrick Jones Jr. is the fifth player to enter the NBA’s health and safety protocol in the last week, joining Coby White, Javonte Green, DeMar DeRozan and Matt Thomas.
Ahead of Sunday’s Bears-Packers matchup, our experts break down their predictions for the rivalry game at Lambeau Field. Can Justin Fields deliver the epic moment the Bears have been desperate for? The way our Rick Morrissey sees it, the Packers are the good-looking brother the Bears can’t compete with.
In his second small trade within a week’s span, Blackhawks interim GM Kyle Davidson sent defenseman Chad Krys to the Maple Leafs for forward Kurtis Gabriel today.

Your daily question ?

How would you describe the Bears-Packers rivalry to someone who isn’t a sports fan?

Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.

Yesterday, we asked you: Where’s the best place to find holiday decorations in Chicago?

Here’s what some of you said…

“We drove around Sauganash tonight and there were some lovely displays on the houses. Set your GPS for Leroy and Albion and follow the lights on the adjacent streets.” — Tonia Lorenz

“Millennium Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, LondonHouse Chicago’ rooftop, Trump International Hotel and Tower, and Chicago Terrace 16.” — Matt Leisure

“Any corner pub with an Old Style sign out front!” — Kurt Duzan

Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.

Sign up here to get the Afternoon Edition in your inbox every day.

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Jason Benetti, with White Sox analyst Steve Stone, is thrilled to be traveling again. “This is what I’ve been longing for,” he said. | Ron Vesely/White Sox

The White Sox’ TV voice will call the Hawaii and Alamo bowls on TV and the Fiesta Bowl on radio. In between, he’ll squeeze in a Bulls game.

Jason Benetti is making up for lost time. More specifically, lost travel.

In a span of nine days, Benetti will call three college football bowl games, two for ESPN TV and one for ESPN Radio. Amid all that, he’ll call a Bulls game to boot.

“When I was talking publicly about not traveling last year, my soul needs to go places,” said Benetti, the White Sox’ TV voice who was confined to Chicago for most of baseball season because of the pandemic. “I missed it, and I missed being around the people. This is what I’ve been longing for.”

Benetti will call the Hawaii Bowl (Memphis-Hawaii) on Dec. 24 and the Alamo Bowl (Oregon-Oklahoma) on Dec. 29 on TV. He’ll call the Fiesta Bowl (Oklahoma State-Notre Dame) on Jan. 1 on radio. He’ll be joined by analyst Andre Ware and sideline reporter Paul Carcaterra on all three broadcasts.

That’s trips to Honolulu, San Antonio and the Phoenix area – but there’s one more.

After calling the Hawaii Bowl, which kicks off at 3 p.m. local time, Benetti will fly to Chicago. He’s scheduled to arrive around 1 p.m. Christmas Day, then spend the holiday with his parents. The next night, he’ll call Pacers-Bulls at the United Center, then head back on the road.

ESPN asks its broadcasters about their willingness to work on holidays. Benetti called the Hawaii Bowl, which mostly has been played on Christmas Eve, two years ago and enjoyed it. So he had no problem going back. ESPN assigned him to the other bowls. Again, fine by him.

“It’s awesome,” Benetti said. “It’s everything I’ve missed since the pandemic hit.”

Remote patrol

Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth will call Bears-Packers on NBC’s “Sunday Night Football,” but sideline reporter Michele Tofoya is off. Kathryn Tappen will fill in. Also, NBC News political correspondent Steve Kornacki returns to “Football Night in America” to analyze NFL playoff probabilities.
Play-by-play voice Mike Monaco has filled in on White Sox and Bulls games this year. Now he’ll fill in for Blackhawks TV voice Pat Foley. Monaco will call games Dec. 15 and 21 and Jan. 1.
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Aaron Rodgers will probably continue his ownership of the Bears on Sunday night. | Stacy Revere/Getty Images

The Bears will try to end Aaron Rogders’ ownership on Sunday night.

Will Aaron Rodgers own the Bears again? Is Justin Fields up for his big moment? Patrick Finley and Jason Lieser preview Sunday night’s Bears-Packers game.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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Rodney Harrison (right) and Jac Collinsworth appear on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” the pregame show to “Sunday Night Football.” | NBC Sports

The Markham product and longtime analyst on “Football Night in America” pulls no punches with his thoughts on Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy and what he’d do next.

The question posed to the man on the phone was: What should the struggling Bears do next?

“I would fire the general manager and head coach, and I would get Eric Bieniemy to work with Justin Fields,” he said. “Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy and that organization have killed all hope. You screw up the draft with Mitchell Trubisky, most general managers don’t get a second opportunity.”

The man wasn’t some raging, raving caller on a postgame show. He was Rodney Harrison, a three-time All-Pro safety, two-time Super Bowl champion and longtime analyst on NBC’s “Football Night in America,” the pregame show to “Sunday Night Football” and most-watched studio show in sports TV.

Harrison doesn’t have a professional stake in the Bears’ success. He played for the Chargers (1994-2002) and Patriots (2003-08). But he does have a personal one. He grew up in south suburban Markham and idolized the Bears as a kid. He ran up hills like Walter Payton did and loved the 1985 Super Bowl champs.

“I was a huge, huge Bears fan – until recently,” Harrison said, “I don’t like the way they’ve done things in that organization.”

Harrison, 48, figures to have a lot more to say about the team Sunday, when he’ll be in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for NBC’s broadcast of Bears-Packers. After 12 seasons in the studio, Harrison is part of “FNIA’s” road show, appearing on the set outside the stadium, amid the fans, with Jac Collinsworth.

Harrison’s frustration with his hometown team peaked when Nagy promised quarterback Andy Dalton the starting job well before training camp. Harrison recalled Patriots camps, where coach Bill Belichick annually showed the players a blank depth chart and told them they’d fill it out.

“All my career, all I’ve heard from the best coaches in the world is competition makes us better,” Harrison said. “You have to earn your job. And when Nagy names Dalton the starter, I’m thinking, ‘Are you kidding me? That’s not right.’ When he did that, I knew Nagy wasn’t the right guy.”

Harrison would pursue Bieniemy, the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator and a former teammate with the Chargers. Bieniemy mentored Harrison, then a rookie, and other young players. To Harrison, Bieniemy is a natural leader who would bring instant credibility for his work with quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Truth be told, Nagy worked with Mahomes, too, for a year. But Bieniemy won a Super Bowl with him.

“If I’m Justin Fields and I see Eric Bienemy, I’m excited to work with him,” Harrison said. “That’s the guy that I want coaching my young quarterback. I don’t want Matt Nagy to do anything else to Justin Fields.”

That candor and vigor have helped Harrison carve a career in broadcasting. He always was a media favorite as a player, good for a quote about anything. But he never thought about being on a platform like this for as long as he has.

Before the 2009 season, the Falcons offered Harrison a lucrative contract, but he thought his body wouldn’t hold up. NBC Sports executive producer Sam Flood reached out – Harrison had appeared on the network for a Super Bowl – and offered him an opportunity.

“He told me, if you put the type of effort that you put into football with your studying and prep, you’re gonna be really good at [TV],” Harrison said. “And I took those words of advice. I just grind and watch tape, do what I have to do. And 13 years later, they still have me around.”

“Just as he played, Rodney is direct and fearless as a broadcaster,” Flood said. “In his new role, Rodney feeds off the energy of being on site with the fans and players. You can see the intensity he had as a player come through the screen, and that helps build the excitement leading up to kickoff.”

Harrison said his high-revving motor dates to his childhood. Playing football gave him an outlet for it and showed his personality. At Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, he became an aggressive, physical player, despite his skinny frame, earning all-state honors. But Harrison had some tough times at the predominantly white school.

“Initially, I was a little nervous because I was probably the poorest kid there,” said Harrison, whose parents separated when he was young. “People used to make fun of our car, how slow it went. It was a Chevette with a red door. But it just made me hungrier. I said to myself, my mom will never get laughed at again.”

Harrison went on to star at Western Illinois, where he took a senior’s position as a freshman and became a two-time All-American.

“I told my mom, all I want to do is get out of Markham and go to school so I won’t get in trouble and I can make you proud,” he said. “I didn’t wanna get in trouble with gangs or anything like that. There was always that crowd telling you, come hang with us. But I was too focused on football, on doing what I had to do.”

The Chargers drafted Harrison in the fifth round in 1994, and his aggressive play reached new levels. He developed a reputation for playing dirty, though he worked to redeem himself with the Patriots.

As Flood said, Harrison’s brutal honesty could be construed as an extension of his play. It sounds like he’d agree.

“I hear too much on TV everybody’s kissing butt and trying to befriend people,” he said. “The bottom line is this: If you wanna be good at this job, you’ve gotta be able to compliment people, and you have to be able to be critical of people, as well.”

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Chicago Opera Theater is only the second company to present “Becoming Santa Claus,” which director Kyle Lang (pictured in rehearsal for the show) says “offers something new for people to see at Christmastime.” | Joe Mazza

‘Becoming Santa Claus’ composer aims to entertain both children and adults, Pixar style.

Ballet has “The Nutcracker” as its time-tested Christmas classic, and what yuletide season would be complete without the theater world’s productions of “A Christmas Carol”? But the opera world has never had such a reliable holiday staple.

Sure, there is Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” but it receives only occasional performances. And some companies stage Engelbert Humperdinck’s 19th-century adaption of “Hansel and Gretel,” though how appropriate its grim story line is for such a festive time is open to question.

Indeed, the need for another option popped into composer Mark Adamo’s head while he was watching a rehearsal of “Hansel and Gretel” in 2006 while in residence at the New York City Opera. He wrote in his notebook two words: “Christmas opera,” an idea he returned to in earnest in 2013 in conjunction with the Dallas Opera.

The Chicago Opera Theater will become just the second company to present the resulting 2015 family opera, “Becoming Santa Claus,” with performances Dec. 11, 17 and 19 at the Studebaker Theater in the downtown Fine Arts Building.

“I felt I can’t really do a children’s piece,” Adamo said. “What I can do is something that is pretty close in tone to, say, a Pixar film, in which there are levels that only children will get but there are also levels that adults will get.”

“Becoming Santa Claus” is the fourth opera that Adamo has composed. (He also wrote the libretto based on his own original story.) His most famous work, a 1998 adaptation of Louis May Alcott’s beloved novel, “Little Women,” is one of the most frequently staged operas of the past couple of decades.

Put simply, this latest creation, which runs 85 minutes and incorporates a cast of seven, explains how Santa Claus became Santa Claus. In Adamo’s telling, the future St. Nicholas is a selfish, recalcitrant teenage elfin prince who discovers the joy and meaning of gift-giving.

Chicago Opera Theater
Tenor Martin Bakari stars as the future St. Nicholas in “Becoming Santa Claus.”

“It has a big twist at the end,” said tenor Martin Bakari, who is making his Chicago Opera Theater debut. “It’s like ‘The Sixth Sense’ but not nearly as weird or eerie or scary.”

Bakari never imagined himself portraying Santa Claus before he got an offer to sing the central role. “I started looking in the mirror: Have I gained weight?” he said with a chuckle. But, as a 34-year-old, he portrays not the portly, chimney-jumping icon but a much younger version of the character — no small challenge.

“I’d like to think there is some charm in being able to seeing a person such as myself portraying a 13-year-old,” he said.

“Becoming Santa Claus” touches on such timeless themes as family, love and forgiveness. “There are things,” Bakari said, “that will not only make us laugh but also move us and resonate with us beyond the end of the show, these universal concepts of humanity that we like to highlight and embrace around Christmas.”

Daniel Welch
Mark Adamo, composer of “Becoming Santa Claus,” incorporates a wide stylistic range in the family opera.

Lidiya Yankovskaya, Chicago Opera Theater’s music director, has long admired Adamo, whom she called a “brilliant composer and librettist.” She believes his work has not been featured enough in Chicago, and she saw the fun and touching “Becoming Santa Claus” as an ideal way to help fix that oversight.

“This piece in particular I love, because the orchestrations are just spectacular and the writing is very clever,” said Yankovskaya, who will conduct the production. “Kids will love it. Adults will love it. It’s for anyone from the opera novice to the biggest connoisseur.”

She praised Adamo’s rich, tonally based musical language that incorporates trappings of baroque music as well as such solidly contemporary elements as bitonality, including a pair of pianos, one tuned a quarter-step below the other.

Indeed, Adamo sought to incorporate as wide a stylistic range as possible. That meant writing the role of Queen Sophine, Claus’ mother, in a coloratura or ornamented 18th-century Handelian style, and adding a number during a quartet for the four elves that the composer described as “something between ‘The Music Man’ and ‘Hamilton,’ except in an elfin key.”

So, can “Becoming Santa Claus” become a holiday opera perennial? Director Kyle Lang believes the answer is yes, because the work can appeal to audiences no matter their ages or backgrounds.

“It offers something new for people to see at Christmastime,” Lang said. “I love ‘The Nutcracker’ but I’ve seen a lot of ‘Nutcrackers.’ We find a good, common ground with this piece. It’s truly wonderful.”

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