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Why do we panic when hackers shut down oil pipelines, but cheer when protesters do?

“People are the worst,” said my older son, a phrase I kept in my back pocket for frequent reference, as a sort of half explanation, half benediction. He put a little oomph on the last word, “People are the worst!”

Although, in their defense, people can be very indulgent about learning new words. For my entire career, I’ve trotted out five-dollar locutions in this column, sometimes because they’re the most precise term for conveying a particular thought, sometimes just to show off. Either way, readers invariably take the bother of looking them up, occasionally even writing in, grateful to learn a new word.

Words like “juxtaposition.” Setting one thing next to another, for comparison and contrast. To clarify a point that otherwise might be elusive.

For instance. Remember in early May, when cybercriminals shut down the east coast’s Colonial Pipeline? Suddenly everyone was panicked about gas shortages and price spikes. That video of some idiot (people … are … the … WORST!) filling a garbage bag with gasoline. Nobody greeted the Colonial crisis with “Hooray for hackers! I hope the pipeline never re-opens.”

Now draw a line from that to this week, and the Keystone XL crude pipeline being finally scuttled after years of fighting environmentalists and Native American protesters. Good news, right? Boo global warming! Three cheers for tribal activism!

Let me ask you this: How is oil supposed to be transported across our enormous country? Because if it doesn’t go by pipeline, it has to move in trucks or train cars, which are even more expensive, more dangerous and worse for the environment. Sure, like everybody else, I’m looking forward to the day when a sleek vehicle that looks like a pale blue bean and runs on a pack of Mentos glides noiselessly up in front of my house and stops; my phone softly pings, and I pad over to the curb as a previously invisible door slides open with a faint pneumatic sigh. I climb in, settle back and addictively scroll through shuffle dance videos on Instagram while the vehicle automatically ferries me where I’m going. Maybe making gasoline more expensive is part of nudging that long-anticipated future toward us. But to jump ahead and stop building pipelines now is premature, like ripping up airport runways in the hope that people will sprout wings and fly — both cheaper and more environmentally sound, if only we could do it.

Unlike you, I’ve been down to the Patoka Oil Tank Farm, about 250 miles south of Chicago, where a dozen major pipelines converge and 50 giant white tanks each hold nine minutes worth of our nation’s oil thirst. Infrastructure we seldom think about, and when we do we insist it both work flawlessly and also go away. People hate pipelines but love cars. See why that phrase is so handy? People ARE the worst.

Correction, etc.:

Print readers had enormous fun with “Wildwife,” the neologism (newly coined word) that somehow appeared in my column Wednesday instead of “Wildfire,” the actual name of the restaurant chain started by Rich Melman. Corrected immediately online, but nothing to do about the newsprint version. So much fun, I could almost take pride in inventing the term. Heck, I should probably quit my job and use it as the title of a novel. “Wildwife: A Natasha Stroganoff Romance” about a man who weds a Russian woman he met on Hinge, only to discover that …

Maybe not. The Sun-Times regrets the error.

While on the topic of mistakes. One astute reader took issue with my saying Rich Melman brought the salad bar over from Hawaii when he opened R.J. Grunts in 1971, pointing out that a Wisconsin supper club claims to have started the practice in the early 1950s. A genesis laid out in an article called, “The Evolution of the American Salad Bar,” that Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises boldly posts on its web site.

Of course both could be true. The existence of a predecessor in the hinterlands of Wisconsin doesn’t negate Melman deserving credit for reviving the culinary feature and starting a trend decades later. Alexander Graham Bell isn’t the man who invented the telephone — dozens of others developed various versions — so much as the guy who made it finally work and then grabbed all the credit for himself. People are the worst.

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The Chicago Bears are continuing the voluntary potion of their off-season program this week and on Thursday, the team secured a pivotal piece to their long-term future. On Thursday, Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields officially signed his contract with the team. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported on Thursday that Fields has signed a […]

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Former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler joined Red Line Radio and gave new Bears quarterback Justin Fields some advice and also discussed why he thinks Fields can succeed in Chicago.

The post Jay Cutler’s Advice to Chicago Bears Quarterback Justin Fields: “Be Patient” first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

The three-time NBA champion takes on a new challenge as game show host.

Chicago native Dwyane Wade won three NBA championships for Miami, but it’s a glass box that’s bringing the heat on his new game show.

TBS’ “The Cube,” premiering Thursday at 8 p.m. Chicago time, is based on a British format in which teams of two attempt to complete a series of deceptively easy games — like emptying a box of balls or counting rapidly moving squares – inside the structure to win a $250,000 prize. They have nine lives to accomplish seven tasks (with one or two players) and can tap Wade to help them once, a “One Shot.”

Wade, who retired from the Miami Heat in 2019, first signed on to the series as an executive producer and was hesitant when approached to host. “But I decided to take the challenge because it was something that I was a little afraid of doing,” he says. “Once I got the chance to know the game, I was like, ‘Oh, we can really do some good here as well. So it was a win-win.’”

Wade, 39, says his interaction with the contestants made hosting the 11-episode season memorable.

“It was actually emotional,” he says. “I went home most nights drained a little bit, not just from the hours but really getting so emotionally invested into each contestant’s story and the reason they were there.”

Wade spoke with USA TODAY this week about his new gig, the pressure of “The Cube,” and how he thinks he and his wife, actress Gabrielle Union, would fare as show contestants. (Spoiler alert: Not great!)

(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

Question: How does it feel when a team calls in their “One Shot”? Are you nervous?

Dwyane Wade: There is so much pressure. I’m sitting there for hours. I’m doing multiple groups per day. I’m getting three or four different (teams) in per day, and then it’s like, in the midst of the heated moment, they like, “OK, Let’s call D in to do it.”

And I haven’t practiced; I can’t go in there and warm up. The only thing I can do is run back and change my outfit, but that’s it. I don’t even go in the back and get a chance to play the game. So it’s definitely a lot of pressure, but it’s real, too. It’s like the contestants. … But I went in there and represented.

Q: Is there one game in particular for which you hoped you weren’t called in?

Wade: There was one game that I could not beat. It was the game where you have to put 25 balls into the glass container in 20 seconds. That was almost impossible for me to do. I tried it the day I was practicing (the games), I tried it over and over and over, and I couldn’t complete it. … So, that was the one I was like, “Don’t call me. I’m not gonna be able to do it.”

Q: In one episode, you deliver a rather inspirational speech to a player who has lost all confidence. Do you feel being a coach is part of your role as host?

Wade: One hundred percent. I think that’s one of the reasons why they wanted me to host it as well. I’m used to being in the locker room. I know how to motivate guys as leaders. Also, too, I have the compassion. In those moments, sometimes I crack jokes and I’m trying to push them, and there’s other moments where I’m in there with them. I want them to feel like we all are in this together.

Q: How do you think that you and Gabrielle would do competing as a team on the show?

Wade: Terrible (laughs). I give couples a lot of credit. You would think that’s who you’re supposed to work best with, your significant other, but I think it’s hard. Me and my wife are both alphas, and sometimes you got two alphas in there, it can mess things up. So I don’t know how well we would do, unless we really both came in very humble, like “If you think you got it, I’mma let you.”

We was on our honeymoon, and we were in there kayaking, and she wanted to go one way, and I wanted to go another way. If you ever want to challenge your relationship, just go kayaking together. And you’ll see that it is not that easy to communicate.

Q: Is your daughter Kaavia James going to watch “The Cube,” and if so, are you worried about what the Shady Baby’s review might be?

Wade: She’s definitely gonna watch. And I just hope she sit down and watch cause she’ll probably just be like, “OK, Dad’s on TV,” and just go and do something else.

Zaya and I — the other night after basketball, (TBS) played “The Cube” (in a sneak preview on Saturday ). And Zaya was sitting there watching it with me, and it was just so cool to see her all into it and her responses. Neither one of us wanted to leave the TV. I was almost late for dinner trying to watch it. She was the same way. It was just so cool, and I cannot wait till the whole family can sit down and sit back and watch at least the first episode together, and then everybody can go off and do what they do.

Read more at usatoday.com

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The Chicago Blackhawks‘ farm system isn’t oozing with young talent but there are some very good players at the top of it. One of those players is Lukas Reichel. The Hawks selected Reichel to an entry-level deal yesterday and that is great news. He is going to come to North America with a chance to […]

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With on-field practices he didn’t get last year that already have given him better “cohesion” with quarterback Andy Dalton, the Bears’ second-year tight end is hoping to be a bigger weapon in the passing game. “We’re all going to see a lot more of him,” coach Matt Nagy said.

As a rookie a year ago, Bears tight end Cole Kmet didn’t need a full offseason program to get acclimated to the NFL.

Even with a virtual introduction instead of an on-field one because of the limitations of the coronavirus and with no preseason games, Kmet was pegged as a likely rookie “hit” just off impressive training camp practices.

Maybe that was more a byproduct of the Bears’ desperation for a productive tight end after the position was a virtual black hole in 2019, but Kmet modestly lived up to the hype.

With 28 receptions for 243 yards and two touchdowns Kmet wasn’t a sensation, but by the eye test he was as good as advertised — a player likely to grow in a more productive offense. Unlike Adam Shaheen, the 2017 second-round pick who never showed the matchup-nightmare, downfield passing-game skills he was purported to have, Kmet at least showed signs of living up to the Bears’ evaluation of him as a big-play offensive weapon.

With on-field OTAs this season, Kmet already is ahead of his rookie learning pace. “What I’ve noticed — not having them last year and having them this year — is being able to get timing and kind of cohesion with Andy [Dalton] and the quarterbacks,” Kmet said. “Things as simple as cadence and how they articulate in the huddle and what they’re seeing and the timing of the throws and the routes are huge. I’ve already seen from Day 1 to now … a gradual increase [that] has been really good for me and I’m sure the other receivers as well.”

Along with fellow 2020 rookie Darnell Mooney, Kmet is one of the keys to a Bears offensive surge, a player poised for a breakthrough season if the offensive pieces come together under coach Matt Nagy and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor. Nagy has been careful to not over-hype Kmet as the Bears’ version of Travis Kelce, whom Nagy coached with the Chiefs. But he is looking forward to growth in Year 2 under tight ends coach Clancy Barone.

“I envision a lot for him,” Nagy said. “He’s very similar to Darnell — he wants more. He wants to do everything he can. He’s so fun to coach. We’re all going to see a lot more of him and that’s important because he’s very talented and can do a lot of things.

“He creates matchups in the pass game and he can hold an edge and dent a defense in the run game, so that’s really exciting for us to be able to use him more. We all saw last year here some stages there, middle-to-end of the year, where he started taking off and doing more things and that’s the expectations and the standards for us this year with him.”

With the Bears’ offense spinning its wheels for most of last season, Kmet was virtually invisible in the passing game. He had just eight receptions for 94 yards and a touchdown in the first 11 games — 37 of those yards on a catch-and-run vs. the Rams in Week 7.

But in the final five games of the regular season, Kmet had 20 receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown on 30 targets. With a busy offseason that included taking online classes toward his degree at Notre Dame, Kmet figures to build off that strong finish — in particular with more production in the downfield passing game.

“After being a year in the offense and kind of understanding what coach Nagy and coach Lazor are doing with this offense, I’m a lot more comfortable with it,” Kmet said. “I’m stronger. I feel quicker and faster. Just a lot of confidence going in with the offense and in myself.”

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Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe Tuesday, which caught Macron’s left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.

VALENCE, France — A 28-year-old Frenchman who described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot” was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for slapping President Emmanuel Macron in the face.

Damien Tarel was also banned from ever holding public office in France and from owning weapons for five years over the swipe Tuesday, which caught Macron’s left cheek with an audible thwack as the French leader was greeting a crowd.

During Thursday’s trial, Tarel testified that the attack was impulsive and unplanned, and prompted by anger at France’s “decline.”

He sat straight and showed no emotion as the court in the southeastern city of Valence convicted him on a charge of violence against a person invested with public authority. He was sentenced to four months in prison and handed an additional 14-month suspended sentence. His girlfriend broke down in tears.

Tarel, who shouted a centuries-old royalist war cry as he hit the president, described himself as a right-wing or extreme-right “patriot” and member of the yellow vest economic protest movement that shook Macron’s presidency in 2018 and 2019.

Poised and calm, he firmly defended his action and his views on Macron, without providing details of what policies he wants France to change.

Tarel acknowledged hitting the president with a “rather violent” slap. “When I saw his friendly, lying look, I felt disgust, and I had a violent reaction,” he told the court. “It was an impulsive reaction… I was surprised myself by the violence.”

While he said he and his friends had considered bringing an egg or a cream pie to throw at the president, he said they dropped the idea — and insisted that the slap wasn’t premeditated.

“I think that Emmanuel Macron represents the decline of our country,” he said, without explaining what he meant.

He told investigators that he held right- or ultra-right political convictions without being a member of a party or group, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The slap called attention to an assortment of ultra-right groups bubbling beneath France’s political landscape, which are considered increasingly dangerous despite their small following.

Macron wouldn’t comment Thursday on the trial, but insisted that “nothing justifies violence in a democratic society, ever.”

“It’s not such a big deal to get a slap when you go toward a crowd to say hello to some people who were waiting for a long time,” he said in an interview with broadcaster BFM-TV. “We must not make that stupid and violent act more important than it is.”

At the same time, the president added, “we must not make it banal, because anyone with public authority is entitled to respect.”

Another man arrested in the ruckus that followed the slap, identified by the prosecutor as Arthur C., will be judged at a later date, in 2022, for illegal possession of weapons.

The prosecutor’s office said as well as finding weapons, police who searched the home of Arthur C. also found books on the art of war, a copy of Adolf Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf,” and two flags, one symbolizing Communists and another of the Russian revolution.

Neither Tarel nor Arthur C., also 28, had police records, the prosecutor said.

Videos showed Macron’s attacker slapping the French leader’s left cheek and his bodyguards pushing the man away during a quick meet-and-greet with members of the public, who were kept back behind traffic barriers in the winemaking town of Tain-l’Hermitage.

The attacker was heard to cry out “Montjoie! Saint Denis!” a centuries-old royalist war cry, before finishing with “A bas la Macronie,” or “Down with Macron.”

___

Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.

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I don’t think I can remember a Chicago Bulls offseason filled with this much excitement since the 2014 recruitment of Carmelo Anthony. New Bulls Vice President of basketball operations, Arturas Karnisovas has made it clear to the fans that his priority is winning at all costs. He isn’t interested in a retool, a rebuild, or […]

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