What’s New

The Bears will play at the Rams in a “Sunday Night Football” season opener.

The NFL will officially announce its schedule Wednesday night, but some dates have leaked around the league. A look at the NFL’s first-ever 17-game regular season schedule:

Week 1, Sun., Sept. 12: at Rams, 7:20 p.m.
Week 2, Sept. 16-20:
Week 3, Sept. 23-27:
Week 4, Sept. 30-Oct. 4:
Week 5, Oct. 7-11:
Week 6, Oct. 14-18:
Week 7, Oct. 21-25:
Week 8, Oct. 28-Nov. 1:
Week 9, Nov. 4-8:
Week 10, Nov. 11-15:
Week 11, Nov. 18-22:
Week 12, Thu., Nov. 25: at Lions, TBD (report: Sirius XM)
Week 13, Dec. 2-6:
Week 14, Dec. 9-13:
Week 15, Dec. 16-20:
Week 16, Dec. 23-27:
Week 17, Dec. 30-Jan. 3:
Week 18, Jan. 9:

The Bears are opening their season on Sunday Night Football at the Rams.

In addition to home and road games against members of the NFC North — the Packers, Vikings and Lions — the Bears will play home games against the Cardinals, 49ers, Ravens, Bengals and Giants.

Their road games will be against the Rams, Seahawks, Browns, Steelers, Buccaneers and Raiders. The Raiders game was added earlier this offseason when the NFL officially agreed to add a 17th game.

The Bears will play eight home games this season and nine road games, though they’ll host two of the three preseason games.

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Glenbard North’s all-freshman girls team is headed to the state finals in IHSA’s bass fishing, where they will be joined by the Goreville’s sisters team.

Kayla Summins, Mikaela Quinn and Pheona Phillips bring girl power to the Illinois High School Association’s state finals for bass fishing.

They won’t be the only ones.

‘‘It would be really cool if they went down there and put a limit together and made some noise as an all-girl freshman team,’’ Glenbard North coach Eric Stark said.

The Panthers reached the finals by taking second place at the Busse Woods Reservoir (Main Pool) Sectional on Thursday with five largemouth bass weighing 8 pounds, 3 ounces.

‘‘It felt really good, and an all-freshmen team, too,’’ Quinn said. ‘‘So we could compete against the boys.’’

Each boat in IHSA events may weigh its five heaviest black bass (largemouth, smallmouth or spotted), 12 inches or longer.

Quinn learned fishing when she was younger, primarily at the Minnesota cabin of her grandfather Vito San Filippo.

The Panthers fit the history of the IHSA’s coed finals for bass fishing. The finals are scheduled May 21-22 at Carlyle Lake.

In the first year of the finals in 2009, Regina Dominican sent the first all-female team of Christine Brown and Natalie Hogan.

Dale Bowman

Nichole Mara set the record for the then-largest bass caught by a girl at the finals — a 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth — as a senior at Hinsdale Central in 2012.

Mara became a social-media influencer in fishing. She assists Jim Bondi with coaching and boat-driving for Hinsdale South, which reached the finals with a third-place finish at the Busse South Sectional.

Goreville’s Kaeden Albright and brother Landon finished second in 2019 at the finals. Now a senior, Kaeden and younger sister Reice won the Lake of Egypt Sectional with their brother driving. They go to state as an all-girl team and a team to watch.

Dale Bowman

Glenbard North should be a team to watch, too.

‘‘I knew they would be able to fish when it was time, and they came out and stuck them,’’ Stark said Thursday of Quinn and Summins, both of whom he knew.

Quinn played sports with his daughter. Summins came to his summer fishing camps.

‘‘I didn’t think we would catch much,’’ said Quinn, who caught two of their keepers in the sectional.

She primarily was casting shorelines with a wacky-rigged Senko.

Phillips was the wild card.

‘‘Mr. Burgoni, he was the one who found her,’’ Stark said. ‘‘She is a full remote student, and she hasn’t been to school much. Everything is off-kilter with COVID.’’

Mike Burgoni was the driver for the all-girls boat. Each boat in IHSA tournaments has an adult driver and two students fishing. Each school may enter two boats.

Stark felt good when Phillips came in handling a baitcaster reel, which is difficult for beginners.

‘‘I just got word two weeks ago she wanted to fish,’’ Stark said. ‘‘She came in as a sub, stuck a 15-incher and about 15 minutes later caught a 16-incher on a square-bill crankbait.’’

Quinn summed up the last 14 months, as well as the sectional, when she said: ‘‘It was just fun to get out and be with people. Just something fun to do.’’

Illinois hunting

Turkey hunting in the north zone ends Thursday.

Wild things

With turkey hunting ending Thursday, the time restriction for hunting morel mushrooms will end at Illinois Department of Natural Resources sites, too.

Stray cast

Watching Luis Robert play the outfield was like watching Lefty Kreh work a fly rod.

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Pitching mounds across Major League Baseball stirred up quite the storm recently that has everyone debating about one thing. The no-hitter. And specifically, when do MLB no-hitters count? The argument stems from a recent game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves where Dbacks lefty, Madison Bumgarner, completed the entire 7-inning game without giving up a hit. The reason behind the shortened game was because it was part of a doubleheader that day. Per a new MLB rule from last season, both games played as part of a doubleheader are shortened to 7 innings each. Which, by MLB rules, means Bumgarner’s “no-hitter” doesn’t receive its official title.

But is that fair to the players? Some say yes, while others say no. We know we don’t have a legitimate say in the rulebook, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be adding our two cents to a debate that’s receiving plenty of attention in the MLB world. However, before we can get to that, when will Chicago baseball see their next no-hitter?

Will The Cubs Throw A No-Hitter in 2021?

It really hasn’t been that long since we’ve seen a Chicago Cubs pitcher throw a no-no. Their last one came right at the end of last season on September 13 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Cubs right hander Alec Mills took the mound in that game where he threw 74/114 strikes in a 12-0 win. It was quite the outing for Mills who overall had a lackluster 2020 season as he finished 5-5 with a home runs per nine innings rate of 1.9.

So will the Cubs throw one this year? It certainly remains to be seen, but we’re only a month into the season. While some Northsiders are concerned about the Cubs getting no-hit themselves, we’re more concerned with them throwing their own. Anything can happen over the course of 162 games, and with guys like Zach Davies, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arrieta, a no-hitter isn’t out of the question for 2021. We could see it as early as this month when the Cubs travel to Detroit to face one of the worst offenses in the Tigers. And who knows, maybe Mills will throw back-to-back no-hitters for the Cubs like Arrieta did in 2015 and 2016.

The White Sox Quest for #2

The White Sox ballclub already saw its first no-hitter thrown earlier this year. Last month, Carlos Rodon threw a near-perfect 9 inning shutout against the Cleveland Indians in an 8-0 win. The no-hitter could’ve turned into a perfect game if it weren’t for a stray pitch that hit Roberto Perez in the foot in the top of the ninth. But regardless, the performance still counted as the second of the MLB no-hitters this season. The Chicago White Sox might be more concerned with staying atop of the league standings than they are with no-hitters and perfect games. As fans though, we wouldn’t hate to see Giolito, Cease, Keuchel, or even Rodon go for another one. Since we like picking on the Tigers offense, the next time these two teams play is at the beginning of June. We just might see #2 happen then!

Our Thoughts on MLB No-Hitters

Now comes the part where we talk about our thoughts on MLB no-hitters counting after a 7-inning game. Remember, regardless of whether you agree or not, we aren’t the MLB rule makers. Throwing 7 hitless innings is nothing to scoff at, just like throwing 9 is. So, with that, here’s our take.

They should count.

Why? Well, there’s a couple reasons we feel this way. First, if we want to get technical about words, the name for the accomplishment is “No-Hitter”. So when a player throws a complete and official game as defined by the MLB rules, where he gives up no hits, he’s thrown a “no-hitter”. And when it comes to these 7-inning double header games that have been deemed official by league rules, where stats count for players, and wins and losses count in the official standings, why shouldn’t the no-hitter count? Sure, it’s a hell of a lot tougher to throw two more hitless innings after the 7th to get that no-hitter. But whether a pitcher tosses one after nine, or after seven, who are we to tell them their “no-hitter” doesn’t count when there’s a 0 in the H column?

 

The post MLB No-Hitters: Will Chicago See More In 2021? Does It Count In 7 Innings? appeared first on UrbanMatter.

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He organized the first of what became an annual German Christmas market in 1996, held at Pioneer Court. It moved in 1997 to Daley Plaza, becoming a traditional stop for many.

Ray Lotter, founder of one of Chicago’s most festive celebrations, died Sunday at 83.

He organized the first Christkindlmarket in 1996, when it was at Pioneer Court on North Michigan Avenue. It was moved in 1997 to Daley Plaza and has operated there ever since except for a hiatus last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With its glühwein and tantalizing aromas of roasting nuts, sausages and potato pancakes, the open-air festival and Christmas market has become a tradition that takes the edge off of winter’s encroaching cold and darkness for many Chicagoans.

Mr. Lotter’s death and that of Helmut Jahn mean “Chicago and the Midwest lost two great Germans this week,” said Maren Biester Priebe, chief executive officer of German American Events, which runs Christkindlmarket. “We appreciate their legacies of cultural ties, dedication and accomplishment.”

Mr. Lotter grew up in Würzburg, Germany. At 20, he immigrated to New Jersey, where he had family. He enlisted in the Air Force, spending some of his military service in Colorado, where he loved to ski.

“He and his Air Force buddies helped test out runs at Keystone before Keystone even was a resort,” according to his daughter Monika. “He had us skiing before we could even walk.”

He worked for Montgomery Ward, the old department-store and mail-order chain, in Denver before transferring to Chicago. In Ward’s retailing heyday, he told his family, employees in roller skates would zip around the company’s massive catalog facility to fill orders.

Later, Mr. Lotter worked for a German company, Klafs Sunlight Corporation, which manufactured tanning beds and saunas, and, in 1994, went to work for the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest. He and Peter Flatzek, the business group’s vice president, worked to promote commerce between the United States and Germany.

Part of that was holding a Chicago festival modeled on the famed Christmas market of Nuremberg, Biebe said. Mr. Lotter “ran it, organized and put it together,” he said, inviting merchants from Chicago and Germany to stock the booths at Chicago’s Christkindlmarket with German ornaments, nutcrackers, stollen, pretzels and beer steins.

He was a descendant of the founder of Lotter-Objekt, a German interior design and fabrication company.

“The first Christkindlmarket booths were manufactured by the family company and put together by hand by dad and two uncles who came over from Germany,” his daughter said.

Though other American cities also hold German Christmas markets, “Ours is the largest and most authentic,” said Kate Bleeker, a director of German American Events.

Provided

For his efforts, Mr. Lotter was awarded the Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland — the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany — in 2014.

He met his future wife Dorothea through an outdoorsy sports club at the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center on Western Avenue. At the time, he had a red Porsche that he loved. To pay for the wedding, “He sold it to marry my mom,” their daughter said.

They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in February 2020.

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Before he died on Mother’s Day, “He made sure that I bought flowers for her,” their daughter said.

“I was lucky,” his wife said, “to be with him.”

The Lotters raised their family near Irving Park Road and Central Park Avenue. On Saturdays, the kids attended German language school. The couple did their grocery shopping at Delicatessen Meyer on Lincoln Avenue. And he sang with the Rheinischer Verein men’s chorus.

He died at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, where he remained “charming as hell,” his daughter said. “He would always flirt with the nurses and ask for Bavarian beer.”

Mr. Lotter embraced the German attitude of gemutlichkeit, which roughly translates to enjoying good cheer with friends.

“He loved putting on the lederhosen and the hat, and he could yodel anybody’s ear off,” said his daughter, an event planner. “Dad’s business sense and determination and verve for life were really something he instilled in us.”

His son Klaus, a chef at Weber Grill restaurant in Schaumburg, helped open HofbraüHaus Chicago. Mr. Lotter is also survived by his sister Marlene Haberl and brother Ottmar, and he was opa to two grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Kolssak Funeral Home in Wheeling, where a celebration of his life is planned for 11:30 a.m. Friday.

Provided

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