Bob Weir (pictured in 2018 in Los Angeles) and the rest of Dead & Company will perform at Wrigley Field on Sept. 17-18 as part of their 2021 tour. | Getty Images
The band’s 2021 trek includes a two-night stand at Wrigley Field, Sept. 17-18.
Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, John Mayer and Bob Weir, with Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Chimenti — a k a Dead & Company — are on the road this summer/fall with a 31-date tour kicking off Aug. 16 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 2021 trek includes a two-night stand at Wrigley Field, Sept. 17-18.
Verified Fan Registration for the Wrigley shows is available here until midnight May 16 with a limited presale beginning at 10 a.m. May 19.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public at noon May 21 via Ticketmaster.
Other concerts slated for Wrigley Field this year include:Chris Stapleton (July 17, rescheduled from Aug. 29, 2020); Guns N’ Roses (July 21, rescheduled from July 26, 2020); The Hella Mega Tour, featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer (Aug. 15, rescheduled from Aug. 13, 2020); Lady Gaga (Aug. 27, rescheduled from Aug. 14, 2020); Def Leppard & Mötley Crüe (Aug. 29, rescheduled from Aug. 28 2020); and Maroon 5 (Aug. 30, rescheduled from June 13, 2020). Ticket information/sales for these concerts are available here.
Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges related to a failed Bridgeport bank during an unusually contentious arraignment today.
Lawyers argued during the hearing — held by telephone before U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama — about whether Thompson should have to turn his passport over to the government while awaiting trial.
The condition is routine for defendants charged in federal court. But defense attorney Chris Gair called it “just punitive.”
Gair also asked the judge about a trial date after repeatedly saying he wants to clear Thompson’s name.
Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols told the judge Thompson had declined to be interviewed by court personnel ahead of the hearing, telling the judge the alderman “doesn’t want to participate in the process” and “made your job more difficult.”
Gair retorted: “We’re the ones who want a trial, and want it now.”
One of Mayor Lightfoot’s closest allies wants to know why there have been no health guidelines released, no applications processed and no block party permits issued with just over two weeks to go before Memorial Day. It’s “frickin’ almost summer,” Ald. Tom Tunney said.
Say hello to Chicago’s newest fuzzy friends. Two Magellanic penguin chicks just came to town, and the Shedd Aquarium is giving everyone a first look at how the little guys are doing so far.
Earlier this spring, Magellanic and rockhopper penguins started their annual breeding season in the Polar Play Zone exhibit. The first hatchling arrived on April 29, and the second hatched on May 5.
Shedd Aquarium/ Brenna HernandezMagellanic penguin chicks are full-grown after two to three months, but until then, the animal care team said they will be looking to monitor activity, hydration levels and more. | Shedd Aquarium/ Brenna Hernandez
Though the Shedd Aquarium has been back open since January, these penguins are staying behind the scenes for now. The two are being reared by adult pairs who will keep the chicks warm and fed as they continue to grow, the aquarium said.
The animal care team is keeping an eye on the chicks, collecting weights and monitoring for any developmental milestones, but otherwise, they are keeping their distance to let the hatchlings bond with the adults.
The Cubs and White Sox will increase fan capacity at their stadiums to 60% this month after getting the green light from city and state officials. The Sox are also offering a $25 gift card for in-stadium use to fans who get vaccinated at Guaranteed Rate Field before games.
Where is your favorite place to see springtime flowers in the city?
Email us (please include your first name and where you live) and we might include your answer in the next Afternoon Edition.
With the weather slowly warming up and swimmers already taking to Lake Michigan, yesterday we asked you: When is the lake warm enough for you to swim? Here’s some of what you said…
“When I was little, my grandparents used to take the grandkids to Lake Michigan in Two Rivers, Wisconsin on the first day of summer every year. And we swam. Now, I never think it’s warm enough but I’m old.” — Kristl Laux
“After a week solid of 90s.” — Maria Vazquez Ramos
“As long as the shelf ice isn’t in the way, it’s always a good time for a dip.” — Erik Angyus
“65-plus degree water.” — Jeff Hornstein
“Late June. My dog loves the dog beach. Since it was closed last year, we can’t wait to go this summer.” — Angela Goffrier Valentin
“When it runs from my hot water heater to my faucet into my bathtub.” — Phyllis Hahn
Thanks for reading the Chicago Afternoon Edition. Got a story you think we missed? Email us here.
Kristine Thatcher and the late Larry Shue’s Waiting for Tina Meyer celebrates barfly connections.
Playwright Kristine Thatcher picked up where she and actor-playwright Larry Shue (The Nerd, The Foreigner) left off 30 years ago with the world premiere of Waiting for Tina Meyer, a romantic comedy that the pair began cowriting decades ago and that reads in its completed form like William Inge crossed with Samuel Beckett, mixed with a hefty dollop of When Harry Met Sally.
The two-author, 65-minute romcom runs through May 23 in a streaming Zoom production from Oak Brook’s First Folio Theatre. The plot is minimal: A group of strangers gather in a dive bar in New Haven on New Year’s Eve.…Read More
Former baseball star Alex Rodriguez and business partner Marc Lore will buy the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx for $1.5 billion. | Lynne Sladky/AP
Owner Glen Taylor has reached agreement on his $1.5 billion sale of the club to e-commerce mogul Marc Lore and Rodriguez.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor has reached agreement on his $1.5 billion sale of the club to e-commerce mogul Marc Lore and former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, a person with knowledge of the negotiation told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because league approval was still pending and neither side had publicly announced an agreement.
The deal, which Taylor previously said was contingent on Lore and Rodriguez keeping the team in Minnesota, was first reported by The Athletic. The two sides entered an exclusive negotiating window on April 10. Lore and Rodriguez are 50-50 partners. They tried to buy the New York Mets last year but were beaten out for the Major League Baseball club by hedge fund manager Steve Cohen.
Any sale of an NBA club must ultimately approved by the league’s Board of Governors, which could come later Thursday. The Timberwolves would then become the second NBA franchise sold this season. Gail Miller and her family struck an agreement in October to sell the Utah Jazz to Ryan Smith, a deal that was finalized after Board of Governors’ approval in December.
The 80-year-old Taylor, a lifelong Minnesotan who bought the Wolves in 1994 for $88 million to save them from moving to New Orleans, has said he will continue to run the club for two more seasons until a handover in 2023. The Minnesota Lynx WNBA team is included in the sale.
“They’ve asked that I would be there for any decisions that would need to be made. I would enjoy that. I love teaching people. These are a couple of very bright guys, and I think it could be helpful to the club and I think I could be helpful to them so that they feel confident once they take over 100%,” Taylor said an interview last month.
Lore became Walmart’s e-commerce chief in 2016, when the retail giant bought his Jet.com startup in an attempt to boost online business. Lore notified Walmart on Jan. 31 of his intent to leave the company. The 49-year-old Lore will continue to serve in a consulting role as a strategic adviser through September.
The 45-year-old Rodriguez hit 696 home runs over 22 major league seasons, with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. His last season on the field was 2016, marking the end of marvelous career that was tainted by performance-enhancing drug use he later admitted to. Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season for violating MLB policy.
The Raging Bull rollercoaster when it first opened at Six Flags Great America, Gurnee, in 1999. | Tom Cruze/Sun-Times archives
The state’s latest effort in incentivize COVID-19 shots comes as kids as young as 12 become eligible to receive them — and as overall vaccine demand continues to dip.
A shot in the arm will soon give thousands of Illinoisans a fluttery feeling in the pits of their stomachs, a disorienting sensation of flight and a rush of adrenaline.
Those aren’t side effects of the life-saving COVID-19 vaccines that are readily available to anyone as young as 12 — they’re now being offered as a reward for rolling up your sleeve.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday announced Six Flags Great America is offering up 50,000 free tickets to its amusement parks in Gurnee and Rockford to newly vaccinated residents, the state’s latest effort to incentivize inoculation, especially for the youngsters who became eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine this week.
“Thanks to the life saving power of vaccinations, it feels once again like summer is in the air,” Pritzker said in front of the north suburban park’s famous double-decker carousel. “For many people, the protection from COVID-19 is more than enough reason to get vaccinated … but I also know that other people might need a little bit more of an incentive.”
The $4 million worth of tickets that were donated by Six Flags are geared toward communities of color that “have historically seen less investment” and might be on the fence about getting a shot, the governor said.
Some of the tickets will be given away outside the park itself, where an Illinois National Guard mobile vaccination team will set up shop the first weekend of June. Other tickets will be given out by local health departments in the north suburbs, along with other community groups in Cook County and elsewhere across the Chicago region.
State of Illinois livestreamGov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee on Thursday.
“Especially for 12- to 15-year-olds, it is absolutely an incentive to get to visit the park,” Six Flags president Hank Salemi said. “I am 100% confident this will motivate vaccinations. That’s why we’re doing it at the end of the day.”
Pritzker’s health team has already toyed with a couple of motivating tactics, including free shooting targets to downstate vaccine recipients and free tickets to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield.
Pritzker didn’t rule out a multi-million dollar lottery game like the one announced earlier this week in Ohio.
Jean Lachat/Sun-Times fileSpecial guests and media take a preview ride on the Superman roller coaster at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee in 2003.
“We’re going to use our resources as wisely as we can and incentivize people as best we can,” he said.
That’s becoming increasingly necessary as vaccine demand dwindles across Illinois. About 62% of residents have gotten at least one shot, and about 37% are fully immunized, but the state is averaging barely 76,000 shots administered per day. That rate has fallen by 43% in the last month.
COVID-19 vaccine doses administered by day
Graphic by Jesse Howe and Caroline Hurley | Sun-Times
Just 68,035 shots were given Wednesday, though that figure doesn’t include vaccinations at CVS pharmacies due to a reporting issue, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
And while the state reported 35 more coronavirus deaths, most metrics are at their lowest levels in almost two months. The latest 1,918 cases were diagnosed among almost 89,000 tests, keeping the average statewide positivity rate at 2.7%.
The bridge phase allows most venues — including Six Flags — to expand capacity to 60%. That will soon apply at Cubs and White Sox games, which will have designated sections for vaccinated fans. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also announced vaccinated patrons won’t count against capacity limits at city restaurants.
Barring a surge in cases, all pandemic restrictions will be lifted June 11 across most of the state — though Lightfoot has said the city is aiming more conservatively for July 4.
Almost 1.4 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Illinois since last year, and 22,320 of them have died.
To sign up for a vaccine appointment in Chicago, visit zocdoc.com or call (312) 746-4835.
Dick Kay worked 38 years at WMAQ-Channel 5. He was its longtime political editor. | Sun-Times file
He worked the NBC station for 38 years. Hired as a writer in 1968, he soon was covering the Democratic National Convention, one of the biggest political stories of the century.
Dick Kay, a no-nonsense, incisive inquisitor who had one of the longest political reporting careers in Chicago, died early Thursday at 84.
He had been found unresponsive in his favorite recliner at his St. Charles home on Mother’s Day, according to his son Steve Snodgrass, and taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, where he died. The cause of death was an aneurysm, the son said.
Mr. Kay had a stentorian voice that sliced through the noise at crime scenes and news conferences like a bass baritone in an opera. It seemed to command answers from politicians and public relations people who might have preferred to slink away from a mic.
Mr. Kay worked 38 years for WMAQ-Channel 5, covering countless political conventions, indictments, court trials, aldermen, mayors, governors, senators and presidents. He was hired there as a writer in 1968. Within months, he was covering one of the most tumultuous political stories of the century.
“They sent me out on the street, a green kid. The Democratic Convention, in the middle of it! I was stunned,” he once said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
He began appearing on air two years later, rising to be political editor.
He grew up in New Dellrose, Tennessee, a self-described “country boy” who was born in a log cabin. He was just 3 when his sharecropper-father died. His mother worked as a seamstress or cook all her life, he said in the Sun-Times interview. At 14, he dropped out of school so he could make money digging ditches, picking cotton and washing dishes.
At 17, he joined the Navy, serving on the USS Magoffin as a radio man, helping the amphibious “ducks” landing craft and also got his high school equivalency diploma. He went on to Bradley University, where he got a bachelor’s degree in speech education and performed in summer stock with the Peoria Players. He worked his way through college delivering mail.
“He was a man that came from nothing, I mean nothing,” Steve Snodgrass said.
His break in broadcasting came with a job downstate at a radio station in Pekin. He moved from there to take a job in Peoria, where he met his future wife Kay on a blind date.
Her name inspired his new surname, thought to be better for a broadcasting career. He’d been Richard Snodgrass at birth but changed it to Dick Kay. His nickname was “Doogie.”
After Peoria, he was the news director at WFRV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1965, where one of his favorite stories was a 30-minute interview with Richard Nixon, then running for president.
After Green Bay, he landed at Channel 5, where, in addition to being “a student of politics,” he “was a bulldog,”said Jim Stricklin, his longtime photographer there. Stricklin recalled a time Fire Cmsr. Robert J. Quinn angrily confronted Mr. Kay in a City Hall elevator over a story he didn’t like. “Dick never backed down, never,” Strickin said.
Mr. Kay also was a union steward and later Chicago president and a national vice president of what is now SAG-AFTRA — the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. He was proud of his work to curb “no-compete” limits that prevent broadcast talents from moving to different stations.
“He was absolutely fearless about going toe-to-toe with management,” said former WMAQ colleague Joan Esposito, who now has a radio show on WCPT-AM. “People who worked with him adored and respected him. . . . He was big and burly and had this gruff sort of manner, but, if something wasn’t going on right in your life, you could just flop down in his office and just vent.”
He loved going out on his sailboat. He played the harmonica and enjoyed country music, especially songs by Hank Williams, Esposito said.
She said that, about once a week, “He and his buddies would go to this cigar store, sit around and talk” while enjoying a good cigar.
Mr. Kay received the Peabody Award — one of broadcast journalism’s highest honors — for a 1984 investigation of the Illinois Legislature called “Political Parasites.” The Peabody judges credited the reports on “ ‘dead-wood’ committees and meaningless commissions that were costing the taxpayers of Illinois millions of dollars” with prompting reforms and saving money.
His work also garnered a National Headliner Award and honors from the Chicago Headline Club. He’d won 11 local Emmy Awards when he was inducted in 2001 into the Silver Circle of the Chicago/Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
After retiring, he worked for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s administration, promoting the governor’s healthcare plan. As part of that effort, in an opinion piece for the Sun-Times, he wrote: “In my 38 years of reporting for NBC 5 Chicago, I was known as a curmudgeon, but I was also considered objective. . . . Access to health care or the lack of it might be a matter of life and death.”
He loved what he did, but he warned newcomers about the “grind.”
“It’s glamorous until you’re out there on the expressway doing a traffic report in 20 degree below zero with a blizzard,” he said in a 2012 interview with Tom Szydlo, “or until you’re covering a tragedy like an airplane crash.”
In addition to his son Steve, Mr. Kay is survived by sons Eric and Brett and one grandchild.
“What he stood for his whole life, whether it was a union issue or a political issue or a fact-finding mission, he was always fighting for the truth,” Steve Snodgrass said. “And he did it with integrity.”
Lawyers argued about whether Thompson must surrender his passport while awaiting trial. It’s a routine request, but his attorney called it “just punitive.” The judge gave Thompson a week to turn in his passport — and his FOID card.
Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson pleaded not guilty to federal criminal charges related to a failed Bridgeport bank during an unusually contentious arraignment Thursday.
Lawyers argued during the hearing — held by telephone before U.S. District Judge Franklin Valderrama — about whether Thompson should have to turn his passport over to the government while awaiting trial.
The condition is routine for defendants charged in federal court. But defense attorney Chris Gair called it “just punitive.”
Gair also asked the judge about a trial date after repeatedly saying he wants to clear Thompson’s name.
Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Netols told the judge Thompson had declined to be interviewed by court personnel ahead of the hearing, telling the judge the alderman “doesn’t want to participate in the process” and “made your job more difficult.”
Gair retorted: “We’re the ones who want a trial, and want it now.”
Valderrama ruled Thompson must turn over his passport and firearm owner’s identification card by May 20. He also told the lawyers to be ready to discuss trial dates at the next status hearing, set for June 10.
Thompson was accused in a bombshell indictment late last month of lying to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and filing false income tax returns in which he lied about paying more than $170,000 in mortgage interest over five years.
The indictment made him the highest-profile figure to face criminal charges in connection with the clout-heavy Washington Federal Bank for Savings in Bridgeport, which was shut down in 2017 over what authorities say was a massive fraud scheme.
Prosecutors have said three people charged in connection with that alleged fraud are expected to testify against Thompson.
The grandson and nephew of Chicago’s two longest-serving mayors, Thompson is also the only member of the Daley family ever charged with a federal crime. Thompson denied the accusations after his indictment on April 29.
“My conscience is clear,” Thompson said in a statement. “I did not commit any crime, I am innocent, and I will prove it at trial.”
Thompson is charged with five counts of filing false tax returns and two counts of lying to the FDIC. The indictment alleges he received $219,000 from the bank between 2011 and 2014 — before he was elected to the Chicago City Council in 2015 — through a purported loan and other unsecured payments.
The indictment alleges Thompson made only one payment on a loan but failed to pay any interest. Then, after federal regulators shut down the bank in December 2017, the FDIC tried to collect the money from Thompson. The alderman allegedly said he only owed around $110,000 and that he’d used the money for home improvements.
But Thompson knew he received $219,000 and “$110,000 was paid to a law firm” as Thompson’s capital contribution, according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleged that Thompson claimed in federal tax returns for the years 2013 through 2017 to have paid more than $170,000 in mortgage interest. Washington Federal, founded back in 1913, allegedly sent IRS forms to Thompson that falsely accounted for the mortgage interest payments.
Copies of such forms are sent to the IRS, the indictment noted.
Federal regulators shut down Washington Federal less than two weeks after John F. Gembara — its president, chief executive officer and major shareholder — was found dead, seated in a chair, a rope around his neck, in the master bedroom of the $1 million Park Ridge home of his bank customer and friend, Marek Matczuk.
In his statement, Thompson said he had been indicted over “inadvertent tax preparation errors and my incorrect memory about the amount of a personal bank loan.”
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, was set to announce the new guidance on Thursday afternoon at a White House briefing. | AP
The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools, and other venues.
WASHINGTON — In a striking move to send the country back toward pre-pandemic life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday eased indoor mask-wearing guidance for fully vaccinated people, allowing them to safely stop wearing masks inside in most places.
The new guidance still calls for wearing masks in crowded indoor settings like buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters, but will help clear the way for reopening workplaces, schools, and other venues — even removing the need for masks or social distancing for those who are fully vaccinated.
The CDC will also no longer recommend that fully vaccinated people wear masks outdoors in crowds. The announcement comes as the CDC and the Biden administration have faced pressure to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated people — people who are two weeks past their last required COVID-19 vaccine dose — in part to highlight the benefits of getting the shot.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, announced the new guidance on Thursday afternoon at a White House briefing, saying the long-awaited change is thanks to millions of people getting vaccinated — and based on the latest science about how well those shots are working.
“Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities – large or small — without wearing a mask or physically distancing,” Walensky said. “If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.”
The new guidance comes as the aggressive U.S. vaccination campaign begins to pay off. U.S. virus cases are at their lowest rate since September, deaths are at their lowest point since last April and the test positivity rate is at the lowest point since the pandemic began.
To date about 154 million Americans, more than 46% of the population, have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines and more than 117 million are fully vaccinated. The rate of new vaccinations has slowed in recent weeks, but with the authorization Wednesday of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12-15, a new burst of doses is expected in the coming days.
Just two weeks ago, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated people continue to wear masks indoors in all settings and outdoors in large crowds.
During a virtual meeting Tuesday on vaccinations with a bipartisan group of governors, President Joe Biden appeared to acknowledge that his administration had to do more to model the benefits of vaccination.
“I would like to say that we have fully vaccinated people; we should start acting like it,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, told Biden. “And that’s a big motivation get the unvaccinated to want to to get vaccinated.”
“Good point,” Biden responded. He added, “we’re going to be moving on that in the next little bit.”
The easing guidance could open the door to confusion, as there is no surefire way for businesses or others to distinguish between those fully vaccinated and those who are not.
Walensky said the evidence from the U.S. and Israel shows the vaccines are as strongly protective in real-world use as they were in earlier studies, and that so far they continue to work even though some worrying mutated versions of the virus are spreading.
The more people continue to get vaccinated, the faster infections will drop — and the harder it will be for the virus to mutate enough to escape vaccines, she stressed, urging everyone 12 and older who’s not yet vaccinated to sign up.
And while some people still get COVID-19 despite vaccination, Walensky said that’s rare and cited evidence that those infections tend to be milder, shorter and harder to spread to others. If someone who’s vaccinated does develop COVID-19 symptoms, they should immediately re-mask and get tested, she said.
There are some caveats. Walensky encouraged people who have weak immune systems, such as from organ transplants or cancer treatment, to talk with their doctors before shedding their masks. That’s because of continued uncertainty about whether the vaccines can rev up a weakened immune system as well as they do normal, healthy ones.
Beginning May 24, the White Sox will allow approximately 24,300 fans into Guaranteed Rate Field. | Victor Hilitski/For the Sun-Times
The White Sox will increase capacity to approximately 24,300 fans beginning May 24. The Cubs will go to 60% on May 28.
The White Sox and Cubs announced they will increase fan capacity at their stadiums to 60% this month.
The White Sox will increase capacity to approximately 24,300 fans at Guaranteed Rate Field beginning May 24 against the St. Louis Cardinals. The stadium can normally accommodate 40,615 fans.
Approval from city and state leadership and public health officials provided the green light.
The Cubs will begin 60% capacity — or about 25,000 fans — at Wrigley Field on May 28 against the Cincinnati Reds. Wrigley’s normal capacity is over 41,000.
“We have been working toward this moment and have always looked forward to welcoming more fans back to Guaranteed Rate Field in a safe and responsible way,” Brooks Boyer, White Sox chief revenue and marketing officer said in a statement. “We have seen great success providing a safe and enjoyable gameday experience for guests in April, and as we see more people get vaccinated, we are thrilled to bring more fans into the ballpark to experience White Sox baseball in person and cheer on our first-place team on the field.”
The Sox will have two vaccinated-only sections for four games this weekend. Beginning with Game 1 of the doubleheader against Kansas City on Friday at 2:10 p.m., fans who purchase tickets in the designated vaccinated-only sections located in Sections 108-109 will present their vaccination cards or other proof that they have been fully vaccinated along with a photo ID upon entering the ballpark.
Fans holding tickets in these sections will be seated without physical distancing.
Fans who receive a vaccination before a game will receive a $25 White Sox gift card for use inside the ballpark. The team will have two vaccination sites at the stadium beginning May 24.
Tickets for the vaccinated-only sections go on sale Thursday on the White Sox website at 3 p.m.
Cubs single-game tickets for the May 28-June 2 games will go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the team website. Tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis in seating pods of up to six people and will have a minimum of one open seat between pods within the same row.
Like the Sox, the Cubs will have a designated area specifically for fully vaccinated fans at Wrigley Field for the four-game series against the Washington Nationals May 17-20 only. The upper section of the center field Budweiser Bleachers will be designated for fully vaccinated fans and will be at full capacity with no physical distancing. Single-game tickets for that area go on sale May 13, at 3 p.m. Proof of vaccination and a photo ID will be required.
Quarterback Justin Fields throws against Alabama on Jan. 11. | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
When quarterback Justin Fields walks onto the practice field Friday at Halas Hall, he’ll be taking the first step toward what the Bears hope is a transcendent NFL career. His coaches, though, will be watching the basics all three days of the Bears’ rookie minicamp.
When quarterback Justin Fields walks onto the practice field Friday at Halas Hall, he’ll be taking the first step toward what the Bears hope is a transcendent NFL career.
His coaches, though, will be watching the basics during all three days of the Bears’ rookie minicamp.
“Show the other 10 guys in that huddle that you have some command and you’ve been working your butt off on the plays,” quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo said. “Knowing the cadence, knowing where to go with the football.
“It’s not going to be a very in-depth installation in terms of the amount of plays, amount of formations, shifts and motions and that sort of thing. But I want to see him. Those building blocks of becoming a starting quarterback in the league — and you start at the lowest of lows.”
So much of Fields’ evaluation — at least this early in his career — will be about what he does before the ball is even snapped.
“You start with the cadence, you start with the huddle,” DeFilippo said. “You start with knowing your first wide vision, which is everything that you have before you get the ball in your hand. Play clock. Are we lined up correctly? What’s the cadence? Is there a kill with the play?”
Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor will look for what he calls basic quarterback intangibles: leadership, communication, a sense of urgency — and, yes, his personality in the huddle.
“Then it just kind of starts — ‘OK, that’s where he is in all these areas,’” Lazor said. “Now we address them and help him get better. And then you also have kind of your list — ‘I’ve seen this guy really throw the ball down the field, let’s see what it looks like in-person.’ You have your list of things that are kind of more personal curiosities.”
One of the best to ever do it struggled with those building blocks. Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes had never huddled regularly until he showed up for the Chiefs’ 2017 rookie minicamp.
“He started screaming the plays, and the defense could hear him on the other side because he had never called a play call in a huddle before,” Bears coach Matt Nagy, who was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator at the time, said earlier this month. “Those are the little things we all think we can get up and do that these kids haven’t done — getting a snap from under center, doing different things there. So those small little processes take time. Once we get that, you can play faster and faster.”
The Bears will pattern Fields’ immersion after that of Mahomes, who didn’t make his first NFL start until the Chiefs’ regular season finale in 2017. They were so confident in Mahomes’ development they agreed to trade starter Alex Smith — who had just led the league with a 104.7 passer rating — a month into the offseason.
Fields — who huddled more than Mahomes did in college — will need time to connect with his new teammates, though. While splitting training-camp reps with both Dalton and Nick Foles could slow that progress, the Bears will have a plan to give the rookie plenty of work.
By then, the Bears hope Fields will have mastered the building blocks.
“It’s not our first time doing it, so we don’t freak out about the really good or the really bad,” Lazor said. “If you see ‘really good’ you might want to react to it. You try to hold that back and just let it play out. …
“Day 1 can look certain ways, but we know what the end is. We know what we’re aiming for. And we know there are a lot of ways to get there. And it’s our job to find the best way to get each guy there. We really won’t treat Justin any differently.”
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