Former Boston Bruins center Fred Stanfield, the mild-mannered sidekick to Bobby Orr on the high-scoring teams of the early 1970s, has died. He was 77.
Stanfield died Monday and the Bruins announced his death Tuesday. A cause of death was not given.
A native of Toronto, Stanfield played six seasons in Boston, helping the Bruins win the Stanley Cup in 1970 and 1972 as the No. 2 center behind Phil Esposito. He was acquired from the Blackhawks in 1967 as part of one of the most famous trades in NHL history, swapped along with Esposito and Ken Hodge for Gilles Marotte, Pit Martin and Jack Norris.
Stanfield finished his career with 211 goals and 405 assists for 616 points in 914 games for the Blackhawks, Bruins, Minnesota North Stars and Buffalo Sabres from 1964-1978. He added 21 goals and 35 assists in the playoffs.
Stanfield centered Boston’s second line between Johnny Bucyk and Johnny McKenzie and manned one of the points alongside Orr on the team’s proficient power play.
Stanfield scored 20 or more goals in all six of his seasons with the Bruins, his best showing coming in 1971-72 when he notched 79 points (23 goals, 56 assists) in 78 games. He added seven goals and nine assists during the playoffs to help lead the Bruins to the Cup.
In six seasons playing together, Stanfield, Hodge and Esposito combined for 650 goals and 925 assists for 1,575 points. Stanfield’s totals were 135 goals and 274 assists for 409 points.
A gentlemanly player, Stanfield never accumulated more than 22 penalty minutes in a season and had only 8 penalty minutes in 106 playoff games. He was traded to Minnesota for goalie Gilles Gilbert in May 1973.
The Chicago Bears got trounced by the Los Angeles Rams in the week one opener led by Matthew Stafford. The defense did not have an answer for the explosive passing attack of the Rams as the unit gave up multiple big plays down the field. This should not be a big shock to Bears fans who have been following the team throughout training camp. The secondary was on top of the list of areas that were a concern for the team.
The secondary was the main culprit, specifically the safeties. Neither guy had a great game but all eyes are on Eddie Jackson who continues to not look like the All-Pro we all knew back in 2018.
Once touted as the next Ed Reed after his 2018 season, once that extension was signed the regression clock started. We as fans have witnessed the various stages of Jackson’s career. He was an All-Pro level Free Safety in 2018 and became a below-average defender with a horrible contract currently in 2021.
It has been a huge fall from grace for Jackson and one must wonder if he is playing his way out of Chicago. So could a change in the starting lineup be happening soon? If Jackson continues this year with similar performances, the coaches will need to make a tough decision. Do they put a safety that is currently the fifth highest-paid at his position on the bench?
The Chicago Bears need to do something to make Eddie Jackson good again.
At some point, head coach Matt Nagy will need to hold players that are not performing up to their contracts accountable. If at the very least, his coaches must put him in a better position to make plays. One crazy suggestion is making him the team’s nickel back in their sub-packages. The thinking behind this idea is that it gives him more opportunities to make plays on the football.
If you’re defensive coordinator Sean Desai, knowing you have issues at Nickelback and safety, you could experiment with Jackson as your slot CB and make Tashaun Gipson and Deon Bush your starting two safeties. Of course, they should give this time and see how it all plays out after a few weeks so they can see if Jackson is playing better at his natural position.
However, this position change could further extend Jackson’s career and allow him to play at an elevated level late into his career. In today’s NFL, the nickel position is gradually becoming more premium than the safety position. Considering more than half the time you are closer to the play than at safety, Jackson could be an x-factor from the Nickelback spot.
Tyrann Mathieu is the gold standard of a safety that moved to nickel and excelled. Before they feel tempted to have all that money sitting on the bench, the coaches should call Jackson into the office and propose why this position switch will make him a better player. Otherwise, if Jackson does not improve his play at safety and is not a fan of a position switch, 2021 could be his last in a Bears uniform.
The splash carried easily across the water at dawn Sunday from the end of the jetty at the mouth of Jackson Park Harbor. Immediately, another angler dipped a big net in the water, then brought up a Chinook of about 10 pounds.
Timing is everything. Few things more so than the ebb and flow of fishing for returning Chinook from shore in the fall.
Saturday a number were caught at Jackson Park. I had an hour Sunday morning and thought, with the southwest winds, odds might be good to see one caught. I guessed right.
Last week, I wondered how many hours a shore angler in Illinois puts in per Chinook caught from shore in the fall.
Charlie Roswell had a partial answer from Illinois Natural History Survey data.
“As [Lake Michigan program manager Vic Santucci] points out, we don’t have a full picture of the fall shore fishery for salmon because our creel survey data are limited past the end of September,” Roswell emailed.
But Roswell, assistant aquatic ecologist for the INHS’s Lake Michigan Biological Station, did find an interesting breakdown.
“We do typically see some salmon anglers (and fish) show up in August, but the month of September might be best for characterizing or describing the most consistent part of the fall salmon `run’ (or the first half),” he emailed. “I took a quick look at the five most recent Septembers with directed effort estimates from our creel survey (2015-2019). Our data show approximately 50 hours, on average, are spent targeting salmonines for each shore Chinook harvested in September (range for these five years: 28-76 hours).”
So my guess I spent 50-plus hours of effort per fall shoreline Chinook caught is about average.
“One thing I should maybe point out is that that number is only for Chinook–we also see coho and rainbows showing up in the fall shore fishery as well, so the time needed to catch any fish is going to average significantly less than 50 hours,” Roswell added.
An angler walks back the jetty right after netting a Chinook at the mouth of Jackson Park Harbor Sunday morning. Dale Bowman
HOF
Brian Drendel of Geneva is one of three to earn induction in the 2022 class of the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame, the Illinois Conservation Foundation announced Friday.
The Batavia High School science teacher pushed for high school bass fishing to recognized by the Illinois High School Association. When the IHSA started bass fishing as an activity in 2008-09, Drendel was ready. After retiring as wrestling coach in 2006, he had started a fishing club.
I can attest to Drendel being most helpful in spreading information and starting events for high school fishing. For good reason, he is president of the Illinois Bass Fishing Coaches Association.
BIG GOODBYE
Ed Bohn, the retired Alsip fireman, put an exclamation point on his last professional bass tournament, catching big bass (5-pound, 11-ounces) in the 2021 Annual Fall Sturgeon Bay Open. He partnered with Jason Julian Sr.
Ed Bohn hoists the big bass of the the 2021 Annual Fall Sturgeon Bay Open, the last pro bass tournament he plans to fish.Provided
WILD THINGS
The racket of dog-day cicadas quieted in the last week and I’ve spotted dead or dying cicadas on the ground and sidewalk while rambling with Lady. . . . Dryness in some areas appears to be accelerating fall color.
STRAY CAST
World Business Chicago is to creative enterprise what the late Tim Grounds was to goose calling.
LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS – JULY 29: Justin Fields #1 of the ChicagoBears throws a pass during training camp at Halas Hall on July 29, 2021 in Lake Forest, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)
The Chicago Bears are not a good football team. It has only been one week but their demolishing on Sunday Night Football was very telling. Andy Dalton wasn’t able to move the football down the field with much regularity and it is so clear that Justin Fields should be the man under center. For some reason, Matt Nagy won’t make the move that seems so obvious.
When is Fields going to get tapped on the shoulder to be the full-time quarterback? Well, there are a lot of options. He is, as he did Sunday, going to take some snaps for certain plays but Dalton is the guy as of right now. There seems to be one spot that may work for Fields if everything works out a specific way.
If the Bengals shock the Bears and win, that should be the final straw. It is almost starting to feel likely after what we saw against the Los Angeles Rams in week one. Week three, in this case, should be when the Bears make the switch to Fields. It would be a big boost for them heading into a very big game.
Justin Fields should be the starter for the Chicago Bears as soon as possible.
In this third game, the Bears will be in Ohio to face the Cleveland Browns. That is right there with the Los Angeles Rams and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the best opponant that the Bears will face this season. It is the perfect game for Justin Fields to make his first career start. Good teams are nothing to be afraid of when you are as good as him. Seeing a pass rusher like Miles Garrett would be good for him and his development.
He will get a lot more out of playing than sitting on the bench watching Andy Dalton. It isn’t like a superstar veteran is there starting over him. Dalton has had a nice career but he isn’t what he once was which was a good Pro Bowl quarterback. It is time for Fields now but that game seems like a possibility based on the way things are shaking out. Hopefully, it just happens sooner than later.
MESA, ARIZONA – MARCH 03: Brennen Davis #94 of the Chicago Cubs in action against the Seattle Mariners in the sixth inning on March 03, 2021 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
The Chicago Cubs aren’t going anywhere this season. Because of that, their 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies is cool but it isn’t the lead story of the night when it comes to their organization. The best part of that game was Patrick Wisdom hitting a home run to tie Kris Bryant’s rookie record for a single season. He should break it in short order. However, Brennen Davis’ big AAA debut is the big story.
This kid has had a sensational season. Great years in AA and the Future’s game (where he won MVP of the game) have allowed him to jump from the Cubs’ number two prospect to their number one prospect. Now, he has been promoted to AAA. In his first game with the Iowa Cubs, he did not disappoint.
The Iowa Cubs won the game by a final score of 8-1. Davis hit a home run in each of his first two at-bats. He spent two months in AA before this moment and it took him one at-bat to show that his promotion was a smart idea.
Davis spent a lot of time at the Cubs’ alternate site in 2020 because of the fact that the Minor League season was canceled due to COVID-19. He seems to have benefitted from that and now he is on his way to a long career. This AAA game was an amazing first step.
Brennen Davis is going to be a great player for the Chicago Cubs one day soon.
Davis is now the number 14 prospect in all of baseball. It is pretty certain that he is going to be a big part of what the Cubs do moving forward. With all of the turnover that they have had in 2021, Davis looks like he is going to be a part of the core going forward. Having a strong finish to this season is a big part of it as he looks to take another step next year.
There are plenty of spots available for a prospect like Davis to take in the near future. With players like Nico Hoerner, Nick Madrigal, and Patrick Wisdom there, don’t be surprised if the Cubs are decent next year and beyond.
Davis getting better as the competition gets harder is a great sign. AAA pitching is a huge difference from AA pinching and he crushed it in his first game. He isn’t going to hit two home runs every game but he clearly belongs there. Hopefully, he is able to keep up this awesome trajectory because the Cubs really need him to be good.
Halfway through the week and essentially on to Week 2, the Chicago Bears now prepare to take on the Cincinnati Bengals for their home opener this weekend.
Week 1 was a rough night in prime time for the Bears, who were embarrassed on national television in a blowout loss to the LA Rams, 34-14. Matthew Stafford’s debut couldn’t have gone any better for the Rams, as he threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns.
On the Bears’ side, there were plenty of question marks. Stafford and company exposed an area which every Bears fan was concerned about going into this season, and only became more apparently weak once the game was underway.
Chicago’s cornerback room is potentially their biggest weakness, and the Rams made it look easy putting them on skates all night long. A pair of 50-plus-yard touchdown passes by Stafford shone the light on the entire Bears secondary as a glaring pain point.
If the Chicago Bears are going to fix their secondary, they must make a move immediately.
Whether it was the safety play or ineffectiveness at corner, the Bears looked atrocious against the pass on Sunday night. Eddie Jackson might have been the worst player on the field for the Bears, but there are clearly more issues than just Jackson’s play.
After training camp and the final cuts, most were worried about the cornerback room as the team’s most needy position group — and they were right.
Jaylon Johnson can’t cover the entire field by himself, and the decision to cut Kyle Fuller several months back is now looking just as foolish as it did the moment it happened. General manager Ryan Pace has put this team in a bind.
Fortunately, it’s early in the season. The Bears have options to correct their mistakes and fill in the gaps. There is a wide variety of options at cornerback, but these five seem as logical as any.
The Chicago Bears are one of the worst ran organizations in the National Football League. They went into 2021 telling everyone that they believe they can be good. In doing that, they decided to start Andy Dalton in week one over Justin Fields who they drafted in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He wasn’t bad in his first game but there is nothing he did that Justin Fields can’t do. In addition to that, there are plenty of things that Fields can do that Dalton can’t.
Somehow, after the debacle that was Sunday Night Football for the Chicago Bears, they are still committed to Andy Dalton. They are playing his old team in the Cincinnati Bengals this week and he is going to get a chance to face them. Honestly, after all of this horrible decision-making, it is time for Matt Nagy to be fired. There is no excuse for this level of pathetic play by the Bears.
Nagy’s play calling is terrible, the decision-making process is awful, and the team is just lousy. He has a winning record as a football coach because of the 12-4 season they had in 2018. They have been mediocre at best ever since.
For example, the only thing that seemed to be working offensively was the run game for the Bears. David Montgomery had a really nice game but he was only fed the ball 16 times. That is an absolute joke when Andy Dalton is out there not making big plays. He had 108 yards on those 16 carries. He should be fed the ball a lot more than that if he is going to be a 6.8 yards per carry kind of guy.
The Chicago Bears have so many management issues going on right now.
This doesn’t absolve Ryan Pace either. He put together a stinky roster that has no chance of winning many games this year. He should be fired right there with Matt Nagy. It seems like they bought some time with the drafting of Justin Fields but they won’t even play him. This is already looking like a wasted season and it is because of these two.
The biggest fear right now is the development of Justin Fields. He looks like he is capable of being the type of rookie that lights the league on fire. He made a couple of plays in his few snaps (he had a handful of them) that made him look really good on Sunday night.
He had his first career rushing touchdown because of an electric play that he made for the score. He does things that Andy Dalton simply can’t. Because of how poorly this is going, the Chicago Bears would be smart to just fire Matt Nagy right now.
Eight people were shot, one fatally, in citywide gun violence Tuesday.
Early Tuesday, a man was shot to death in Fernwood on the Far South Side.
Brandon Gray, 29, was attacked about 12:45 a.m. while with two other people in the 200 block of West 107th Street, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. A friend told police he was inside a home when he heard the shot and ran out to find him with a gunshot wound to the head.
The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
In nonfatal attacks, a 17-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in South Chicago.
He was standing on a sidewalk about 12:26 p.m. in the 8000 block of South Manistee Avenue when two males fired shots in his direction, police said. The teen was struck in the leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was in good condition.
A 14-year old was shot Tuesday night in East Garfield Park on the West Side.
The teen was on a front porch about 8 p.m. in the 300 block of North Francisco Avenue when two males approached and opened fire, striking him in the arm, police said. He was taken to Norwegian Hospital, where he was listed in good condition.
Hours later, another 14-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in Chatham on the South Side.
The boy was walking on the sidewalk about 10:15 p.m. in the 7600 block of South Wabash Avenue when someone inside a vehicle opened fire, police said. He was struck on the foot and was taken in good condition to the Univesity of Chicago Medical Center.
Late Tuesday night, a teenage boy was shot while driving in Englewood on the South Side.
The 17-year-old was traveling in his vehicle about 11:15 p.m. in the 5500 block of South Morgan Street when someone in a gray car fired shots, police said.
He was shot in the chest and self-transported to St. Bernard Hospital, police said. He was later transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition.
At least three other people were wounded in shootings Tuesday in Chicago.
“Here’s to staying positive and testing negative!” – Toast from Diane Dunbrowski, a.k.a. “Chicago Party Aunt.”
Embrace the cliches, Chicago.
The Netflix animated series “Chicago Party Aunt” is a bawdy, rollicking, farcical, hilarious and surprisingly warmhearted love letter to the Chicago (and the Chicago area) of deep-dish pizza and pictures of “The Fridge” on the fridge, of Wrigley Field and the House of Blues, of Gibson’s and Rosebud, of shots of Malort, of Ribfest and the Chicago Marathon and the CTA holiday train.
‘Chicago Party Aunt’: 3 out of 4
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A series available Friday on Netflix.
And oh, the characters you’ll meet! Not since the heyday of Bill Swerski’s Superfans on “Saturday Night Live” have we heard so many folks speaking in such broad Chicago accents and behaving in such stereotypical Chicago ways — but the satire is executed with wit and affection, and we’re too busy laughing and nodding our heads in recognition to even consider being the least bit offended.
Based on the insightfully funny Twitter account created by St. Charles native and former Chicago writer-actor Chris Witaske, “Chicago Party Aunt” gives his alter ego a name: she’s one Diane Dunbrowski (voiced by Lauren Ash in a terrific performance), a middle-aged, part-time hairdresser and full-time party animal who squeezes her “mom bod” into too-tight jeans, treats even a weeknight like it’s New Year’s Eve, is fiercely devoted to all things Chicago sports and is prone to making observations like, “Sucking face with a rando is what Halloween is all about,” and “[Chicago’s] bridges are like gas station Viagra. You have four or five minutes before it actually goes up.”
Diane!
With relatively simple, brightly colored animation setting the tone, “Chicago Party Aunt” follows a sitcom-type format, with each episode running 23 or 24 minutes and featuring self-contained adventures — but there are also some running storylines, and we get to know and like the key players a little bit better with each chapter.
Diane lives in a Wrigleyville loft apartment so close to the Cubs’ home field you can see the stadium lights through her windows. Not that she can afford such a place; she’s there by the grace of her suburban-based and judgmental sister Bonnie (Jill Talley) and Bonnie’s milquetoast husband Mark (Ike Barinholtz), who own the property and are about to sell it when Bonnie has second thoughts and comes up with a proposition: Diane can stay there, but her nephew Daniel (Rory O’Malley), who is gay and shy and uncertain about his future and has decided to put off going to college, will be moving in, and it’s up to Diane to look after Daniel and help him find his way. Oh, Bonnie. Have you learned nothing from being Diane’s sister all these years?
The cast of wacky and lovable supporting players includes Witaske as Diane’s ex-husband Kurt (two times over), who proudly displays a Ditka mustache and works for the TSA at Midway Airport; Jon Barinholtz as Mikey, Diane and Kurt’s refrigerator-sized son, who has been hit in the head with a ball or a puck at virtually every major Chicago sporting venue; Katie Rich and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Diane’s friends and co-workers, and RuPaul as Gideon, a recent arrival from New York City who is transforming the hair salon into something modern and holistic, much to Diane’s horror.
RuPaul provides the voice of Gideon (center), who runs the hair salon where Diane works with two other stylists (voiced by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, left, and Katie Rich).Netflix
Various episodes of “Chicago Party Aunt” are set in such familiar spots as a tailgate party at Soldier Field prior to a Bears-Packers game; the Field Museum, site of the annual awards known as “The Beefys,” honoring Windy City excellence, and Roscoe’s Tavern, where Diane attends a Halloween costume party. Sometimes the puns are borderline corny, but they’re still pretty great, as when Diane mentions “The Ghost of Christmas Pabst,” or when there’s an accident and we’re told, “Looks like a steamroller took him out on Manhattan road,” or when we visit “Osco Jewelers,” LOL. Many of the Chicago references (Styx, Jim Belushi, “Chicago Med”) also have national recognition, but when Diane pulls into the parking lot of Binny’s, or there’s an animated version of a certain local weather forecasting legend, it feels like the jokes are all ours.
Through all of Diane’s madcap adventures, from her penchant for messing things up with her extended family to her refusal to acknowledge it’s no longer 1995, we sometimes cringe at her behavior, and we often understand why she drives everyone crazy — but there’s also something lovable about her as well.
Maybe that’s because just about everyone has a Chicago Party Aunt in their life, whether she’s actually an aunt or not.
