Broadway posters hang outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre during Covid-19 lockdown in New York last May. | Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
The lifting of all capacity restrictions has long been considered by the industry as crucial to any reopening plan since Broadway economics demand full venue capacity. Some off-Broadway shows have already reopened with limited capacity.
NEW YORK — Many Broadway productions are scrambling to resume ticket sales in the coming days to welcome theater-goers this fall after city and state leaders have green-lit a reopening of the Great White Way at full capacity by mid-September.
“We remain cautiously optimistic about Broadway’s ability to resume performances this fall and are happy that fans can start buying tickets again,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said in a statement Wednesday.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Broadway theaters can reopen Sept. 14 and will be allowed to decide their own entry requirements, like whether people must prove they’ve been vaccinated to attend a show. Selling tickets will allow theaters to gauge interest before stages open, said Robert Mujica, Cuomo’s budget director.
Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in live theater, said the news meant the theater community is “one step closer to the safe reopening” of Broadway.
“We look forward to continuing our conversations with the Broadway League about a safe reopening and know that soon the time will come when members can go back to doing what they do best, creating world-class theater,” said Mary McColl, executive director of Actors’ Equity.
The Broadway that reopens will look different. In May, the big budget Disney musical “Frozen” decided not to reopen when Broadway theaters restart, marking the first time an established show had been felled by the coronavirus pandemic. Producers of “Mean Girls” also decided not to restart.
But there will be new shows, including Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu’s “Pass Over” that is slated to reopen the August Wilson Theatre, the same venue “Mean Girls” has vacated. And a Shubert theater has been promised for playwright Keenan Scott II’s play “Thoughts of a Colored Man.”
The lifting of all capacity restrictions has long been considered by the industry as crucial to any reopening plan since Broadway economics demand full venue capacity. Some off-Broadway shows have already reopened with limited capacity.
All city theaters abruptly closed on March 12, 2020, knocking out all shows, including 16 that were still scheduled to open.
Some scheduled spring 2020 shows — like a musical about Michael Jackson and a revival of Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite” starring Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker — pushed their productions to 2021. But others abandoned their plans, including “Hangmen” and a revival of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. | Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
Jennifer Coleman “traditionally” would have reviewed any high-profile proffer read in court but she didn’t go over the one prosecutor James Murphy read in court detailing the allegations against 21-year-old Ruben Roman, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said.
First Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Coleman was forced to resign after an internal investigation revealed she did not review an in-court statement a fellow Cook County prosecutor made about 13-year-old Adam Toledo holding a gun before he was shot and killed by Chicago police in Little Village.
Adam was holding a gun on March 29 but within less than a second, he threw it on the ground, turned around and put his hands up in the air when an officer fired, Civilian Office of Police Accountability footage shows.
Coleman “traditionally” would have reviewed any high-profile proffer read in court by her underlings but she didn’t go over the one prosecutor James Murphy read in court on April 10 when detailing the allegations against 21-year-old Ruben Roman, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx told the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday.
Roman was arrested at the scene of Adam’s shooting, which Murphy described at Roman’s bond hearing for reckless discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, child endangerment and violating probation.
“The officer tells [Adam] to drop it as [Adam] turns towards the officer. [Adam] has a gun in his right hand,” Murphy had told Judge Susana Ortiz last month.
“The officer fires one shot at [Adam], striking him in the chest. The gun that [Adam] was holding landed against the fence a few feet away.”
The proffer did not mention Adam throwing his weapon or him not having it in his hand when he was shot.
A source told the Sun-Times, the child endangerment charge wasn’t approved by Coleman until hours before Roman’s bond hearing, leaving Murphy little time to adjust his statement, which required detailing Adam’s shooting to make a case for that charge.
Five days after Roman’s bond hearing — and hours before COPA released footage of Adam’s shooting — Foxx approved a statement, saying Murphy “failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court,” and described the omission about the weapon as an error.
Cook County state’s attorney’s officeJennifer Coleman
On Wednesday, the state’s attorney’s office said Murphy “did not intend to give the impression that Adam Toledo was holding a gun when shot” and the “investigation revealed that the language the attorney used in court was inartful, leaving an unintended impression.”
Without mentioning Coleman’s firing, the state’s attorney’s office in its statement also said its investigation “revealed a breakdown of communication in how information was shared, which ultimately did not get elevated to State’s Attorney Foxx before, nor in a timely manner following, the bond court hearing.”
Coleman, who was appointed first assistant in December, was asked to resign for failing to read the proffer and not showing the proper urgency required to correct the record after, the source said.
“She was essentially fired,” the source said.
Foxx, who told staff about Coleman’s firing in an internal email, said “had that proffer been vetted by superiors … I don’t think we would have been in this position.”
The top prosecutor did not say when she was informed about the discrepancy.
Foxx said she was informed by email about the proffer read at Roman’s bond hearing that Saturday, but she said that no one flagged it for her to read that weekend when she may not be as responsive on email compared to a weekday.
“I wasn’t given the opportunity to read [the proffer] beforehand because those who would have been in the position to give it to me hadn’t notified me, hadn’t called me, hadn’t said … you need to read this,” Foxx said. “The ability [for me] to weigh in didn’t happen on this day.”
Murphy, who had been placed on paid leave while the internal investigation took place, will be resuming his duties in the office.
Murphy had not been given all the materials the state’s attorney’s office obtained from COPA, the city oversight agency that investigates officer-involved shootings, Foxx said.
The office’s Law Enforcement Accountability Division had the information from COPA but it wasn’t shared with the Felony Review Unit, which only had information from police. LEAD is “walled off” from other other units and from Foxx until its investigation is complete.
Still Coleman, who reports directly to Foxx and oversees both units, should have reviewed Murphy’s proffer with her knowledge of the materials available to both units, Foxx said.
“I am not directly involved in the investigation of LEAD until they complete their initial work,” Foxx said. “It is by my own design. I think what has been evident in cases involving office-involved shootings, is they’ve become very emotionally and politically charged.
“Politics should not impact how we review these cases. That was the intent of the design. … I have the final say on whether charges are filed or not.”
While Foxx said she was informed “very early on” about the content in the videos showing Adam’s shooting, she did not watch them until April 12.
All assistant state’s attorneys will now have to undergo new training, and new policies and procedures will be put in place as a result of investigation.
Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who turns 90 on May 6, 2021, has been the subject of all sorts of songs over the years. | AP
Music from all genres — rock, pop, folk, country, rap, hip hop — have paid homage to the Hall of Famer.
Willie Mays is turning 90, and no mistaking that number. It strikes with the clarity of a line drive. Mays played in a sport measured by milestones — 3,000 hits, 500 homers, signposts he passed and then some — and now here’s one more.
On Thursday, when baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer is serenaded with renditions of “Happy Birthday to You,” it might be time to expand the playlist. A player of such infinite variety deserves as much.
There’s plenty to choose from. References to the Giants center fielder cut across the years and the genres — rock, pop, folk, country, rap, hip hop.
The two most frequent mentions come in what have become ballpark anthems: John Fogerty’s ”Centerfield” and Terry Cashman’s “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey & The Duke).”
Fogerty grew up in San Francisco, his father a Joe DiMaggio fan. His song, released in 1985, is one of hope on a day when all seems possible: “We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field/A-roundin’ third, I’m headed for home/It’s a brown-eyed handsome man.” The “brown-eyed handsome man” streaking to the plate is a tribute to the 1956 song of the same name by Chuck Berry but may well be the Say Hey Kid himself.
Fogerty goes on to sing of a player riding the bench and dying to get into the game. He summons a pantheon of outfielders: “So say, ‘Hey Willie, tell Ty Cobb and Joe DiMaggio/Don’t say it ain’t so you know the time is now.” Finally, there is the plea and the heart of the song: “So put me in coach, I’m ready to play today/Look at me, I can be centerfield.” Mays, no doubt, would understand.
Eric Miller/APDuke Snider, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle joining hands as they pose at the New York chapter dinner of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America in 1995. The song “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey & The Duke)” honored the trio.
“Talkin’ Baseball” came out during the major league strike of 1981. It’s anchored around talk — fierce arguments across boroughs and barstools — about whether Mays, Mantle or Snider was the better center fielder in New York during the 1950s. Cashman’s vote is clear: “And me, I always loved Willie Mays/Those were the days!” Mays also gets top billing in the title and when the names of the trio are sung in the refrain. And the song ends this way: “… (Say hey, say hey, say hey).”
Even Snider wasn’t about to argue. In 1979, Mays was only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the baseball writers, with Snider finishing second. Snider said at the time, “Willie more or less really deserves to be in by himself.” The Duke joined Mays in Cooperstown the next year.
Just about everyone saw something in Mays. Maybe it was the dash around the bases, his cap flying. Or the slashing hits to all fields. Or those stickball games with kids in Harlem not far from the old Polo Grounds. Or the gentle tap of his glove before a basket catch and his run back to the infield after an inning, carrying the ball as if it were a wounded bird. Or maybe the sheer joyful lyricism of the name “Willie Mays.”
Those running the playlist on Mays’ birthday have options apart from Fogerty and Cashman.
Certainly, Chuck Prophet’s “Willie Mays is Up at Bat” deserves a listen. The song is from the 2012 “Temple Beautiful” album honoring San Francisco, the city Prophet calls home. It begins as a kind of hymn: “I hear the church bells ring, Willie Mays is up at bat/I hear the crowd go wild, all he did was touch his hat.”
A litany of references to Prophet’s city follows, and not all the lyrics passed the smell test of fact-checkers. Even Prophet acknowledges he didn’t get everything right. Like this line: “And the only thing we know for sure is Willie always did swing for the fence.”
So many ways to brush back that assertion. But Game 7 of the 1962 World Series will do. Giants at bat and trailing the Yankees 1-0 in the ninth. Matty Alou is on first with two out. Mays, hardly swinging for the fence, laces a double into the right field corner. Alou, wary of Roger Maris’ arm in right, screeches to a stop at third. That sets up a wrenching finish for the Giants when Willie McCovey lines out to second baseman Bobby Richardson.
Bob Dylan, raised in the Minnesota town where Maris was born, had a soft spot for baseball. He wrote about pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter in the song “Catfish.” Years earlier, in 1963, his “Freewheelin’” album features “I Shall Be Free.” In it, President Kennedy asks a drunk “what we need to make the country grow.” Dylan jumps from one cultural touchstone to another. And right along with bagels, pizza, Sophia Loren and Charles de Gaulle is this line: “What do you do about Willie Mays.”
For Joe Henry, it was tantamount to asking about the soul of the country — “this frightful and this angry land.” Released in 2007, “Our Song” is a meditation on a lost America that opens in his imagination with Willie Mays and his wife looking to buy garage door springs at a Home Depot in Scottsdale, Arizona. Henry is close enough in the aisle to hear Mays say: “This was my country/This was my song.” Mays, in Henry’s telling, is a mythic figure, “Stooped by the burden of endless dreams/His and yours and mine.”
But let’s raise the volume for this birthday shout-out. Run-DMC will do the job, with its 1993 song ”What’s Next.” A couple of bored guys are walking down Broadway in New York with “lots of lovely ladies like a-lookin’ our way.” How to respond? How to summon just the right amount of cool? Easy: “Play like Willie Mays all-star and ‘Say Hey.’”
Wu-Tang Clan did likewise in “For Heaven’s Sake” in 1997. This is someone whose “solar razor burn through shades” and who glides like “hovercrafts on the Everglades.” But when it comes to the arbiter of all that’s hip, Wu-Tang Clan is clear: “Yo, hey yo my rap style swing like Willie Mays.”
But if the birthday honoree wants to recognize a familiar voice there’s ”Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)” by The Treniers. Mays himself was part of the 1955 song, which was included on the soundtrack for the 1994 documentary “Baseball” by Ken Burns:
“He runs the bases like a choo-choo train
Swings around second like an aeroplane
His cap flies off when he passes third
And he heads home like an eagle bird.”
The group The Baseball Project takes listeners on a reverie through the mist of seasons in “Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays”: a father and son at a Dodgers-Giants game at Candlestick Park to watch Mays face Sandy Koufax; a jump to 1973, with Mays now on the New York Mets and letting a ball go through his legs; and then a return to the Polo Grounds and black-and-white footage of Mays’ overhead catch and spinning throw in the 1954 World Series. “Sometimes I dream of Willie Mays,” the lyric goes, “And the sun comes out, and the fog lifts, and he’s there.”
Yes, he is. So happy birthday, Willie Mays. Blow out the candles and, like an eagle bird, fly home.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady was among those announcing a new concert series — but attendees must be fully vaccinated. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
City officials hope the Protect Chicago Music Series will encourage vaccinations.
You’ve now got some options. The city on Wednesday announced the Protect Chicago Music Series, which will bring monthly musical events to both indoor and outdoor venues across the city.
“We will never mandate that Chicagoans get a vaccine but this is a creative way to incentivize people to step up and get it, especially younger people,” Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady said in a statement. “If we’re to get out of this pandemic, we need people to get vaccinated. It’s safe, it’s effective, it’s free and it’s the best way to protect yourself, your family and your community.”
The first event is scheduled for Saturday, May 22, in Hyde Park, with DJ Ron Trent and Duane Powell. Tickets for that event and others in the series will be available via Eventbrite, at designated vaccination sites and will call.
Tickets for the Hyde Park event will be released at noon on Monday. For tickets, go to https://thesilverroom.com
Additional dates and artists are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Those planning to attend concerts must bring their CDC vaccination record card and a matching photo ID.
Arwady had hinted just last week that the city was considering a sort of “vaccine pass” program, using the chance to attend certain concerts as an incentive to get young people vaccinated.
The Pivot Arts Festival, Printers Row Lit Fest and the Old Town Art Fair are among some of the in-person, outdoor and indoor events scheduled for this summer and fall.
Summer in the city — there’s much to do and see — in person.
That was the message from Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday announcing “Open Culture,” the next phase in the Open Chicago initiative that will safely and ultimately fully reopen the city to in-person outdoor events and indoor venues.
The announcement of the in-person events was made in conjunction with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and Choose Chicago, the official tourism website for Chicago. The cultural affairs department is reviewing applications for outdoor festivals, street and art/craft fairs, and athletic events.
“Despite the unimaginable challenges that were thrown our way last year, we were still able to persist and come together to slow and stop the spread of this virus and put our city on the right path toward a safe reopening,” Mayor Lightfoot said in a statement. “Open Chicago — including Open Parks, Open Streets and now, Open Culture — is not only the direct result of these efforts, but it also serves as the latest step in our mission to fully restore a sense of normalcy within our city by bringing back and reimagining some of our favorite summer and fall-time activities.”
The Open Culture initiative highlighted many events, including some that had been announced previously:
• “Planting and Maintaining a Perennial Garden: Shrouds by Faheem Majeed,” through July 24, Hyde Park Art Center
• Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band, May 7, Rosa’s Lounge
• Pivot Arts Festival: Reimagining Utopia – A Performance Tour: Live,” a multi-arts experience featuring world premieres in theatre, dance, video, music and puppetry, running May 21 – June 5
• The South Side Jazz Coalition – Jazzin’ On The Steps, May 23
• “Tuesdays on the Terrace,” Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, kicking off June 1
• Old Town Art Fair, June 12-13
• “The Obama Portraits, “ Art Institute of Chicago, June 18 – Aug. 15
(Insert Mariachi band playing here!) Happy Cinco De Mayo! What is Cinco de Mayo anyway, besides a holiday to enjoy as many Margaritas as possible. Cinco de Mayo, (Spanish: “Fifth of May”) also called the Anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, is a holiday celebrated in parts of Mexico and the United States in honor of a military victory in 1862 over the French forces of Napoleon III and YES I had to google that (not ashamed). Celebrate this wonderful holiday this week at one of these amazing Mexican restaurants serving up Chicago’s best Cinco de Mayo margarita.
Tuco and Blondie is no stranger to margaritas. From 5-7 pm TODAY, you can shake your own margarita! They offer 6 different kinds with a variety of tequilas and mezcals that will surely satisfy your Cinco de Mayo craze. And the best part is you don’t have to just have a glass (it’s party time!) because they offer your favorite blends in pitchers too. Can I get a hell yeah?! Some of their staples include the Grande Margarita, served frozen with a Coronita garnish, and the Cadillac made with Don Julio Reposado, Cointreau, lime, agave, and Grand Mariner.
If you want an authentic Cinco de Mayo, then you’re in the right place. The owner of Las Fuentes is Originally from Guerrero, Mexico, and moved to Acapulco at 18. Following this journey, he moved to Chicago and opened this gem in February of 1982. The Cinco de Mayo celebration is not one to miss, lasting the entire week. With an extensive list of margaritas, there is something for everyone (21+ of course). And just like the previous restaurant, they offer glasses and pitchers. Fun fact! Las Fuentes has been serving margaritas for 40 years! Some staples include the Especial Margarita (Premium Jose Cuervo Reposado Tequila, Grand Marnier Orange Cognac, Fresh Lime Juice, and Agave Sweetener) and the Smoked Sombra Mezcal Margarita (Sombra Premium Mezcal, Jose Cuervo Reposado Tequila, Grand Marnier, Fresh Lime, and Agave Sweetener).
Hoem of the (yep you guessed it) Killer Margaritas, Cesar’s needs to be on your Margarita crawl list! Their menu comes from generational family recipes dating back almost three decades. With over 16 Margarita flavors, Cesar’s is the place to be. If you like the traditional style Margaritas (no fanciness here), you’ll love this place. You can choose to have it over ice or frozen, add salt, chile salt, or sugar, and flavor. Highly recommend it if you’re new to the Margarita life!
Mayan Palace is known for its Mayan Gold Margaritas. You can choose from 20 different tequilas and whether or not you want a glass, small pitcher, or a large pitcher. And if you’re looking to spice it up a little bit, they have Gold Margarita Hornitos, Skinny Margaritas (for those watching their figure), House Margaritas, and the Casamigos Mezcal Margarita.
Tequila! With one other location in Chicago, El Mariachi is the place to be this Cinco de Mayo. Established in 1996, a father and his 2 sons opened a small 10-table restaurant in the East Lakeview community and gradually grew over the years by following a strict policy of only serving top quality, authentic dishes and the best margaritas in town. El Mariachi offers 13 kinds of Margaritas! My two favorites are the Premium Margarita, made from scratch with fresh lime juice, agave nectar, and their Ultra Premium Maestro Dobel Silver tequila, and the La Mamacita Margarita made with fresh hibiscus infused Gran Centenario Plata, fresh lime juice, agave nectar, ginger beer, all topped with hibiscus salt.
Cinco de Mayo Margarita Featured Image Credit: Pexels
The Bears will begin selling single-game tickets for the 2021 regular-season May 12 at 8:30 p.m., following the release of the 2021 NFL schedule, the team announced Wednesday.
The availability of tickets will be subject to city, state and league coronavirus policies. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster through the Bears’ website, chicagobears.com/tickets.
A limited number or single-game, private suites for parties of 10 or more — “dynamically priced” — also will be available for the 2021 regular season.
Entry to Bears games and events at Soldier Field will be via mobile tickets only. Fans with tickets to games cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic will receive full refunds within 30 days.
The Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers will visit Soldier Field during the upcoming season. The Bears’ preseason schedule, which will include two home games, will be released with the regular-season schedule.
TAMPA, Fla. — It took just four batters at George Steinbrenner Field before a fan yelled “C’mon, blue!” toward home plate umpire Kaleb Devier after two consecutive close pitches were called balls.
Never mind that a computer was making the calls.
Didn’t matter on Tuesday night as the Tampa Tarpons took on the Dunedin Blue Jays. Because from Omaha to San Jose to the Jersey Shore, minor league baseball was back after a lost season, with fans, crazy promotions and even those robot umpires.
The Tarpons found themselves already in the dog days on opening day. They hosted the Dunedin Blue Jays on “Tail Waggin’ $2 Tuesday” where fans could bring their pooches to the park for two bucks.
New York Yankees vice president Vance Smith greeted and talked with fans as they entered the ballpark to see the Class A affiliate, calling it a homecoming after a minor league season wiped out by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Excited, but also hesitation,” Smith said. “We’re following some protocols, but we’re happy to have baseball back. That’s the one thing I’m excited about because it’s been 18 months since we’ve Tarpons baseball and minor league baseball.”
The scent of hot dogs — the kind with mustard, not the mutts — signaled a sense of normalcy. The masking and social distancing showed there was still a way to go.
Side attractions like Speed Pitch are gone and concessions are cashless but the games were back, finally.
“Super excited to be kicking off the minor league season,” Yankees senior director of player development Kevin Reese said. “I was one of many who were not too confident that this was going to happen in a timely fashion.”
There was a cheer when the PA announcer said, “Are you ready? Let’s welcome your 2021 Tampa Tarpons,” as the Yankees prospects took the field.
“It’s a lot of fun going out there and being able to watch these guys do what they love doing,” said Tampa manager David Adams, who played 43 games for the big league Yankees in 2013. “I think everyone will agree with that.”
But there are significant changes since Tampa and the minors last played in September 2019.
A reorganization by Major League Baseball saw the long-standing High-A Florida State League, in which Tampa played for a quarter-century, become the Low-A Southeast League. Some cities lost their teams entirely as the overall number of affiliates was cut from 160 to 120.
And after experiments in the independent Atlantic League and the Arizona Fall League, the Southeast League is the next proving ground for the automatic ball-strike system.
Devier got a roasting after Blue Jays batter Zach Britton took those two pitches for balls.
“I thought it was pretty good,” Tampa catcher Austin Wells said of the automatic system. “There were a couple calls here and there that me and the umpire thought were maybe strikes and balls, but it’s a good opportunity to work on different things.”
Right before the first pitch, Wells helped Devier adjust part of the system on the back of his belt.
“I was rigging it in our favor, actually,” Wells said with a laugh.
Wells, taken by the Yankees in the first round of the 2020 draft, hit a two-run homer and had an RBI double in the Tarpons’ 11-7 win that took almost four hours — long games, some things never change.
The Tarpons did fist-knocks after the victory and left the field with the PA playing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
“It was the best feeling in a long time being able to play under the lights again,” Wells said.
Dunedin is following the lead of its nomadic parent team. With the Toronto Blue Jays playing big league games at TD Ballpark in Dunedin through at least May, the D-Jays are scheduled to play their first 24 games away from home.
That follows the lost 2020 season and the 2019 campaign where they played home games in nearby Clearwater while the Dunedin ballpark underwent a major renovation project.
“The other uniqueness we’re dealing with this year is there is a shortened minor league season,” Blue Jays director of player development Gil Kim said. “There’s a lot of planning and processing that we can do a little bit differently this year.”
The Dunedin Blue Jays’ Twitter site summed things up when posting the lineup:
“First lineup graphic in almost two years! We are so back. Happy Opening Night.”
NOTE: The ball used in the game was the official minor league ball with the signature of former MILB president Pat O’Connor, who retired last year as MLB was working on redoing the minors.
The 2021 NFL Draft proved to be a franchise-altering event for the Chicago Bears, as they came away with one of the draft’s top quarterbacks in Ohio State’s Justin Fields.
General manager Ryan Pace could wait no longer to move up, and decided to strike a deal with the New York Giants at pick no. 11 — and that’s when history began to re-write itself.
No longer were the Bears going to be victim of back-of-the-league quarterback play. No longer were Bears fans going to be constantly harassed about their laughable history of having nothing more than mediocre quarterbacks.
The Fields pick is about to dramatically change things for the Bears.
Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Justin Fields is going to take the league by storm.
Fields is arguably the most highly-touted rookie quarterback in Bears history. Even though Mitchell Trubisky was the second overall pick four years ago, he had no where near the hype that Fields has had this year.
For some reason, Fields fell to the no. 11 pick. To this day, it’s still hard to believe any of the bogus excuses or reasoning behind his fall. But, he’s about to prove a few teams wrong — and in a big way.
The decision to keep Andy Dalton as the starter, for now, seems like a silly one. Head coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace made it abundantly clear that they are building around Fields with the way they went about the rest of the draft. It’s not tough to see him getting his shot a lot sooner rather than later.
When Fields does get the nod, he’s going to be off and running. In fact, as a rookie, he’s going to do some big things. How big? Fields is going to take this league by storm and accomplish five major feats in his first year as a Bear.
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