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They were on the sidewalk about 6 p.m. in the 9800 block of South Lowe Avenue when someone opened fire, Chicago police said.

Two women were shot Saturday in Longwood Manor on the South Side.

They were on the sidewalk about 6 p.m. in the 9800 block of South Lowe Avenue when someone opened fire, Chicago police said.

A 46-year-old woman was shot in the head and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in critical condition, police said. Another woman, 20, was taken to the same hospital in good condition with a gunshot wound to her chest.

Area Two detectives are investigating and no arrests have been made.

The shooting happened steps from Medgar Evers Elementary school. Less than a block away, a group of children cooled themselves off with water guns on the sidewalk.

Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

A high school student who lives in the area said he got a text from a friend asking if he was okay after the shooting. He said he didn’t hear the gunshots, and walked over to see if anybody he knew had been hurt.

“It be cool over here for the most part, but sometimes some things happen,” the boy said. “If I get shot I get shot, you can’t stop it. But I don’t be fearing for my life when I’m outside.”

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The 26-year-old was on the street about 4:50 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Hoyne Avenue when someone fired shots from a vehicle, Chicago police said.

A man was fatally shot Saturday in West Englewood on the South Side.

The 26-year-old was on the street about 4:50 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Hoyne Avenue when someone fired shots from a vehicle, Chicago police said.

The man was struck in the chest, hip and neck, police said. He was pronounced dead at Holy Cross Hospital.

No arrests have been reported. Area One detectives are investigating.

On Friday, Jermaine Sanders, 42, was killed in a shooting blocks away in the 5600 block of South Marshfield Avenue.

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Heyward is slashing .183/.254/.341 with four homers and 13 RBIs this season.

SAN FRANCISCO – The Cubs activated right fielder Jason Heyward from the 10-day injured list before Saturday’s game against the Giants and was back in the lineup, hitting sixth and playing right field. Outfielder Nick Martini was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Heyward has been out since May 20 with a right hamstring strain. The Cubs’ right-fielder is slashing .183/.254/.341 with four homers and 13 RBIs.

Outfielder Jake Marisnick was trending toward returning on Saturday, but after playing in back-to-back games during his rehab stint, his recovery has been a little slower than expected.

Marisnick did some on-field baseball activities before the game under the watch of the team’s medical staff.

“Still some soreness from playing,” manager David Ross said. “We’ll test him and run him pretty diligently today. And then maybe give him one more day off tomorrow, just to see. That recovery process didn’t go quite as smoothly as Jason’s. So we’re gonna give him one more day and then reassess tomorrow. Want to make sure these guys are 100% before we get him back.”

Abbott in, Wieck out

The Cubs also recalled right-hander Cory Abbott from Triple-A Iowa on Saturday and will pitch primarily out of the bullpen. Abbott, who was a starter in Iowa, comes to help supplement the team’s bullpen after a pair of short starts during the first two games of the team’s West Coast swing.

Abbott, 27, was the Cubs’ second-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft and was 1-3 with a 6.39 ERA in five starts this season, but owns a respectable 3.14 ERA over his four minor league seasons.

Left-hander Brad Wieck was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room on the 26-man roster. Wieck has a 0.00 ERA with nine strikeouts in eight games this season.

“We got to see [Cory] in spring training,” Ross said. “I think Cory’s a guy that has been around a little while and on the radar. I’ve heard nothing but good things about his performances of late. We’re in a situation where we’ve used a lot of bullpen guys lately. You hate to send anybody down, Brad Wieck has been really good for us.

“But with the situation we’ve been through with some short outings from the starters, we need some length down there and some protection on the backside. I think Cory gives us that.”

Cubs claim RHP Dakota Chalmers

The Cubs have claimed right-hander Dakota Chalmers off waivers from the Twins. Chalmers is 9-8 with a 4.38 ERA in 52 career starts. He’ll report to Double-A Tennessee.

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Despite the outcome, La Russa didn’t regret the decision to have Danny Mendick sacrifice against struggling Tigers pitcher Derek Holland.

The White Sox finally had their chance. Facing struggling Tigers reliever Derek Holland in the sixth inning, the Sox had already scored twice on a Jake Lamb double and had runners on first and second with nobody out.

But instead of letting Danny Mendick swing away, Sox manager Tony La Russa called for a bunt. With Detroit expecting it, Mendick’s attempt went to first baseman Jonathan Schoop, whose throw to third forced Lamb.

Grounders from Tim Anderson and Nick Madrigal ended the inning, and killed the Sox’ last true threat in their 4-3 loss Saturday to the Tigers.

Even if the bunt had worked, it would’ve given an out to a pitcher who had allowed a single, two doubles and a walk and started the day with a 9.00 ERA in 12 games. The bunt didn’t work, and effectively short-circuited the Sox’ best chance for a big inning.

La Russa, however, didn’t regret the decision.

“What was the score at the time? 4-3?” La Russa said. “Is the tying run on second base and the go-ahead run at first? And if he bunts them over, you’ve got Anderson and Madrigal? I think that’s the play.”

Mendick’s bunt, which came after Zack Collins walked during an at-bat La Russa had him try to sacrifice, wasn’t the only play that left questions.

On the same play Yasmani Grandal struck out looking, Yoan Moncada didn’t slide and was thrown out trying to steal second to end the seventh. Again, La Russa defended his move.

“It’s 3-2 and we started the runner. (Grandal) fouled a couple balls off, and then he took a pitch that he thought was a ball and the guy threw (Moncada) out,” La Russa said. “The bunt is not an aggressive play, and it didn’t work. That was an aggressive play, and it didn’t work. So make of it whatever you want to. That’s one good thing about watching the game, you know what my strategy was.”

La Russa’s strategy and moves have been a constant talking point this year. Saturday will add more to that conversation, while La Russa will have to wait another day to pass John McGraw for second on the all-time managerial wins list.

What the Sox also couldn’t do much of was hit Tigers starter Tarik Skubal. Over five innings, Skubal struck out 11 and got the best of the Sox for most of the day, making their opportunities to score even more precious.

“He landed curveballs when he needed to,” said Madrigal, who drove in the Sox’ opening run with an RBI single in the first. “You could see how much talent he has, and the stuff. Just kept us off balance when he needed to.”

Skubal was helped by a Tigers offense that got three home runs off Sox starter Lucas Giolito, including two from Eric Haase with the other by Miguel Cabrera. Giolito struck out nine over seven innings, but he and the Sox couldn’t overcome the homers.

“The ball flies a bit in warm weather and we have the crazy wind here but the homers today were, I’m facing big league hitters but I need to make better pitches in those situations,” Giolito said. “Three not well-executed pitches that led to three home runs in the loss.”

But Giolito’s outing, the Sox’ hitting against Skubal or even the flashy City Connect uniforms weren’t the main talking point.

“I felt good about sending (Moncada),” La Russa said. “Yaz had been tough all day long. I haven’t seen the pitch, so I don’t know. And I felt really good about bunting them over (in the sixth).”

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Come to think of it, what could go wrong?

The United States Football League is making a comeback?

God bless America.

There might be another pro football team in Chicago?

Make it happen.

“You know what? Give it a shot,” is where Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy stands.

I had to call Levy, a hometown football treasure, and take his temperature on news of a USFL return in the spring of 2022. There will be teams in at least eight cities — all locations to be determined — with the league holding rights to the original names from its 1983-1985 existence. And how great some of those names were: the Houston Gamblers, the Memphis Showboats, the Birmingham Stallions, the Boston Breakers.

Of course, the Chicago Blitz, too.

The Blitz gave it a go for two seasons — sort of — before dying on the vine. Playing games on ABC and ESPN in the spring, they were a winning team in 1983 and drew as many as 32,000 fans to a game at Soldier Field. But then came tomfoolery on the parts of halfhearted owners passing like ships in the night, and before Blitz fans knew it there had been an all-out swap with the less-talented Arizona Wranglers: of full rosters and all other assets, down to the very pompoms.

In 1984, the Blitz were a pathetic lot. Their new ownership ditched them after two games, forcing the league to take over the team. The remaining front office was wiped out to cut costs. Bill Polian — who, like Levy, would be immortalized in Canton, Ohio — was installed to help the team’s first-year coach hold things together. That was Levy, the native South Sider. Somehow, they pulled five victories (in 18 games) out of the whole mess.

“I never even got paid,” said Levy, now 95 and a longtime resident of Lincoln Park. “The owner never paid me. Bill Polian and I had to buy the toilet paper because nobody else would.”

Levy struggled with his rotten luck back then — “live the devil,” he puts it — but now he looks back almost fondly. The Blitz led him to the Buffalo Bills, whose brand-new GM, Polian, hired him in 1986. The rest was four-Super Bowl history.

Chicago Sun Times

The USFL was fun and ridiculous. It poached veteran players from the NFL and paid some college stars more than the NFL would. It vaulted Doug Flutie and Herschel Walker to enormous fame and sprung Jim Kelly, Steve Young, Reggie White, Anthony Carter and others to sudden, dramatic heights. It stacked expansion franchises like hotcakes but went wildly off the rails when the influential owner of the New Jersey Generals, Donald Trump, convinced his cohorts to take on the NFL by moving its season to the fall.

Come to think of it, is a new USFL really a good idea?

“I’m not investing in it, I’ll tell you that,” Levy said. “I think the chances of something like that surviving are slim, but so what? That’s the way many leagues start.”

The new USFL, with Fox Sports as its broadcast partner, is promising “the best football viewing product possible during what is typically a period devoid of professional football,” meaning the spring. But that’s not really accurate. The Alliance of American Football came and went as a spring league in 2019. The XFL came and went as a spring league in 2020, the onset of the pandemic blowing up its season. The XFL also has plans to give spring ball another try in 2022.

Maybe the whole thing is just plain a losing proposition. Just ask the World Football League, which failed to last two seasons in the mid-1970s. Then again, if you ask the American Football League of the 1960s, it’ll remind you that it was such a success, it eventually merged with the NFL.

The point is: Why the heck not? It isn’t our money.

“I would hope Chicago gets a team,” said former Blitz, Wranglers and Bears offensive lineman Tom Thayer. “We have venues here that deserve the opportunities. We have the population. I think that people would go to the games.”

Bigger picture: Thayer would like to see a whole bunch of players get an opportunity to play pro football. A man who had his 1985 couldn’t see the matter differently if he tried. That year, the Joliet native played a full USFL season in Arizona only to join the Bears — two days after his season finale — at training camp, earn a starting spot and win the Super Bowl.

“I was a young guy going to my hometown team,” said Thayer, 59. “It was the biggest thrill of my life.”

Thayer had a Blitz teammate, cornerback Frank Minnifield, who became a four-time Pro Bowler with the Cleveland Browns. Minnifield was one of smallest players at his position in the NFL, much as Sam Mills — a USFLer who became an elite NFL player — was, at 5-9, the shortest linebacker.

“Those are the kind of guys I’m thinking of,” Thayer said, “the guys who just need an opportunity to go somewhere and compete.”

Thayer still has a couple of T-shirts from his Blitz days. Maybe he’ll get to break them out again and go to a game? That sure would be fun.

Fun while it lasts, anyway. Chances are, the new USFL won’t be around for long. But we’ll cross that bridge when it collapses.

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Chicago Cubs: Anthony Rizzo and Willson Contreras have words by Vincent Parise

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Chicago Bulls (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Although Chicago Bulls fans don’t get to see their team in the current playoff action, the future of the team still remains bright.

Last year was defined by change. Chicago hired Vice President Arturas Karnisovas to make a big shift towards winning basketball. Gone were the days of Gar Forman and John Paxson. Karnisovas came to the Bulls in order to take them to the next level.

Right away, he made an impact by hiring Billy Donovan — the most decorated coach the Bulls have hired in quite some time. To take it even further, Karnisovas executed a huge trade during his first year in charge.

Bringing in former Orlando Magic big man Nikola Vucevic, Karnisovas asserted himself as a man who takes winning seriously. Unfortunately, the Bulls saw Zach LaVine miss extended time down the stretch and thus were knocked out of the postseason picture.

This offseason, the Chicago Bulls could make even more moves towards a winning club.

With LaVine and Vucevic, the Bulls now have a strong duo of All Stars to build around. They will also have the potential to work with increased cap space this summer, depending upon what they do with some of their current players.

The Bulls have several impending free agents they must make decisions around. But, more importantly, there are also a couple of players who do not have guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season. These are all players that could not only impact whether or not the Bulls win games sooner than later, but also how Karnisovas will operate in going after other free agents.

This summer’s free agent crop isn’t as loaded as it once was, but the Bulls could still make some noise by pursuing one or two of the more notable names. To do so, though, they’ll need the cap space.

There are three players, in particular, that could greatly impact the team’s cap space for the 2021 offseason.

Next: 1. Tomas Satoransky

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LAS VEGAS — Derek Stevens so covets his Sigma Derby game, the hotel and casino mogul almost makes it seem as if the tiny plastic ponies were living, breathing beasts.

As if they require real hay, real tiny barn assistants with real tiny shovels to scrape away real tiny droppings, tiny jockeys to navigate the tiny oval, and genuine rest.

The Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, runs Saturday in Elmont, New York. For Stevens and certain clientele, though, festive horse races occur many times daily at The D, his downtown property.

Well, make that some days. Very likely, this is the last functioning Sigma Derby in the world. Functioning, however, is applied loosely. These miniequines might be as challenging to maintain as the actual creatures.

Stevens reserves a special place in his soul for this game. It does have a considerable house edge. But he also made his first Vegas bet on Sigma, more than 30 years ago at the now-defunct Dunes.

“It’s a tough game to keep up,” admits Stevens, a Michigan native. “Overall, I’d say we’ve done pretty well. We have ’em runnin’ about 300 days out of the year.”

QUARTERS IN, QUARTERS OUT

A couple rode the escalator up to The D’s second floor last Saturday, strolled around the left side and saw Sigma Derby a dozen steps away.

“Oh, it’s not on!” the woman lamented as she saw a sign which read ”These old horses need a quick rest. Sigma Derby is getting conditioned. Please check back later. Thank you.” Out-of-service tape covered the coin slots at all 10 stations.

A sleek, modern Fortune Cup, made by Konami Gaming, Inc., sits nearby. The legs of its six animals all move, their heads bob. They veer inside and outside, maneuver for position. Ten customers can bet the races, which are “telecast” on a flat-screen.

After every sixth race, the ponies single-file circle around 180 degrees to run six races the other way — six counter-clockwise American style, then six Euro-style clockwise.

Fortune operates Ticket In, Ticket Out; bills or vouchers in, vouchers out. It is digital to Sigma Derby’s mechanical-mess analog. Each of its five horses are of one piece; no moving legs or bobbing necks. One patron thought they were cast-iron. They only move straight, in distinct parallel slots.

Sigma is Quarter In, Quarter Out.

Robert and Laurina Reuter, from Portland, Oregon, relished a recent trip to Vegas to play Sigma. Alas, it was out of service. He had just won a Fortune race for $206 — a two-times multiplier doubled his 103-1 odds on a dollar wager.

There was no screaming or shouting. As they left, they frowned at the roped-off Sigma Derby, where Robert had hit the ballyhooed 4,000-1 odds a few years ago to ignite plenty of exuberance.

A horse was 99-1, he recalls. On a whim he slipped in 20 quarters, picking that courser and another charger. The combination won. Lights blared. Bells and sirens rang. Quarters poured.

An attendant unscrewed the game to loosen coins that had slipped into nooks and crannies. The couple departed with three or four big buckets of quarters, nearly $1,200.

“Nobody could believe it,” says Laurina. “They yelled, ‘You hit it! You hit it!’ Incredible.”

Says Robert, “Quite a thrill. We play it all the time. Fortune Cup is at New York-New York and Cosmo, too, but we’re old school . . . Sigma Derby is a hidden gem, an icon.”

CRAPS-LIKE CAMARADERIE

Japanese lawyer Katsuki Manabe created Sigma Game, Inc., in Japan in 1967, when he was 27. His coin-operated empire exploded, and in 1982 he established U.S. headquarters in Las Vegas.

He hatched Sigma Derby. Manabe catered to Vegas, creating a Luxor version featuring camels. Knights highlighted Excalibur’s.

Chariots first ran at Caesars Palace but soon were replaced by ponies, says a former Caesars executive. “A few drinks, a few coins, lots of cheering!”

Sigma Inc. collapsed in the economic downturn of the late 2000s. Machines broke. Replacement parts became scarce. The D mechanics often fashion parts from scratch.

For a “Pawn Stars” episode, Stevens — hoping the exposure would garner spare parts — even dangled his Derby before show star Rick Harrison and underling Chumlee.

Stevens asked for $80,000, an expert valued it at about $35,000. Stevens declined, saying he values it more on his casino floor.

Indeed, the show approximated Sigma Derby’s “hold,” or fraction of money wagered that the casino keeps, at 15%, “making it one of the worst bets a player can make.”

That hold places Sigma well behind blackjack (house edge of 1 to 2%), craps (1.4%-5%) and roulette (5.2% at a double-zero wheel) in player advantage, according to Casino.Org.

Yet, Sigma Derby — not Fortune Cup — sports a Facebook page. “No question,” says Stevens, “that Sigma Derby is far, far more popular than Fortune Cup.” Some of those 2,100 Facebook followers regularly update Sigma’s status at The D.

Stevens has an idea of its je ne Sigma quoi.

“I understand why people love it,” he says. “It’s like a slot machine but more communal, camaraderie like a craps game. It’s great with friends, or even by yourself and you meet new friends. It’s special, a little connection to the past.”

Maybe this article will even unearth a broken-down machine, to add some longevity to a goofy game of tiny horses that’s a big deal to many people.

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Backyards and patios have been working hard all year because of the pandemic, and this summer they can provide new ways to cool off and have fun in the water.

Whether you have a lot of space or a little, there’s gear ranging from water tables and tubs for kids to floating loungers with drink holders for adults.

One company, Minnidip, makes inflatable “adult kiddie pools” that aim to transport you to some exotic travel destination. Patterns on the Marrakesh pool reference Moroccan architectural details, while the Amalfi is a nod to the blue, yellow and white tile of the Italian coast.

AP

“Because for me, having a pool on our urban Chicago rooftop felt like being transported to another place,” says company founder Emily Vaca. “I wanted to capture that feeling through design and pattern.”

Minnidip also offers inflatable drinks coolers and glam pool balls filled with gold confetti, among other offerings.

Let’s dive in to some other backyard water toys for the summer:

WATER EXPLORATION

A multipurpose picnic table from Best Choice Products has a removable top section with a little sandbox and water tub below; four kids can sit together, and there’s an adjustable umbrella, too.

The only water table that lets you make waves, Little Tikes’ Island Wavemaker has a water wheel, plus cute sea creatures and a wee pirate to send paddling around the waterway or down the waterfall. Toddlers can practice their fine motor skills with Little Tikes’ Spinning Seas Water Table; small balls, a cup, a funnel and a water wheel set up the fun.

Step2’s two-sided Waterfall Discovery Wall has adjustable toggles, spinners and chutes to send the water tumbling in lots of different ways. And Lakeshore Learning’s Watch It Flow water table features three plastic logs that can be configured however you wish. Fill the logs using a hose or bucket; gates control the flow and can close up to make long tubs.

Foamo, also from the folks at Little Tikes, creates mountains of easy-to-clean-up foam when you add the nontoxic, biodegradable foam solution to water.

HOSE HAPPY

Turn on the hose and attach it to West Elm’s inflatable rainbow or giant shark mouth sprinklers. Fat Brain Toy’s Hydro Twist Pipeline Sprinkler has a couple of fountains, plus a bunch of wiggly worm hoses. Or hook up to BigMouth’s giant 6-foot-high unicorn, who shoots water out of her horn. There’s a ginormous ape, giraffe, dinosaur and giraffe here as well.

SWIM AND PADDLE

Giant inflatable water wheels let you find your inner hamster. You can find ones online for toddlers, while Wow Watersports has a grownup version they call the Aqua Treadmill.

Don’t forget the family pets; a nonporous, puncture-resistant floating dog bed at Frontgate comes in a bunch of colors and three sizes.

AP

Chewy has ZippyPaws Floaterz sturdy turtle-shaped water toys for dogs, as well as rope-handled bumpers and a variety of floating balls.

A hard-sided kiddie pool can be a good non-inflatable option for cooling off; just hose it out and stow away. Other pluses: The doggos will also have fun splashing around in it, and it makes a great sand or snow play zone in colder weather. The Sun Squad Wading Kiddie Pool is inexpensive and has an embossed bottom, so it’s less slippery.

SLIDE AND RIDE

A basic heavy-duty plastic water slide or “slip and slide” can be set up in most backyards; if yours doesn’t come with an attached barrier at the bottom, make sure to put something soft there.

Studio 21 Graphix’s slide has a crash pad at the finish line, plus two lanes for racing and a sprinkler curtain to pass thru on the way down. Wow Watersports’ Strike Zone Water Slide is 25-by-6 feet of slipperiness; zigzag sprinkler patterns assure a wet ride, fat pontoons on either side keep riders inside, and two sleds are included. Got a really long yard? Get two; they can be interconnected.

If you’ve got lots of space, consider Costway’s inflatable Bounce House and Water Slide, with a bounce area, water gun, two slides, a basketball hoop and several balls. It comes with a storage bag for easy transport.

POOL STYLE

Marisa Issa of Los Angeles says her family’s favorite pool games are corn hole and a floating basketball hoop, but her favorite is a floating mat from Frontgate “that only mom can use,” she says. The sleek, minimalist white float has a headrest, and is made of marine-grade dense foam, suitable for chlorine or saltwater pools.

If you prefer sitting up a little, Frontgate’s got a floating armchair with attached ottoman. Choose from aqua, blue or flamingo pink. Or splash out on a full-size pool chaise kitted out with drink holders.

Want to hang out with a handful of friends in a backyard pool? Funboy has a 9-foot-wide floating metallic crown with drink holders. Or lounge luxuriously in the company’s Bali Cabana Lounger, with a curved integrated shade, a tropical leaf print, cup holders and handy grab ropes.

BigMouth has some food-related inflatables like a giant ice pop, pizza slice, donut, watermelon slice, cheeseburger and taco.

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