Make your nominations on the ballot below!
Up until the nominating period ends at noon on Friday, December 9th, you can return to your ballot here at chicagoreader.com/best to nominate in additional categories or change your nominations.
Voting on the most nominated finalists will begin on January 18, 2023.
Best of Chicago is presented by
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Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.
Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.
Listen to The Ben Joravsky ShowBen Joravskyon December 9, 2022 at 8:01 am Read More »
Make your nominations on the ballot below!
Up until the nominating period ends at noon on Friday, December 9th, you can return to your ballot here at chicagoreader.com/best to nominate in additional categories or change your nominations.
Voting on the most nominated finalists will begin on January 18, 2023.
Best of Chicago is presented by
Last call for Best of Chicago nominationsChicago Readeron December 9, 2022 at 3:21 pm Read More »
THE BOSTON CELTICS visited the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday in a heavily anticipated showdown between conference leaders a third of the way through the 2022-23 NBA season.
It quickly turned into a statement from the best offense in the league. The Celtics steadily increased their lead from 10 to 20 to 30 to an unfathomable 40 points after Jayson Tatum hit a free throw midway through the third quarter in a 125-98 victory.
And the Suns aren’t alone. The entire league has witnessed Boston’s aggressive offense.
Since the Celtics’ offense sputtered in the team’s 2022 NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, there has been a singular focus on making sure the same fate doesn’t befall them again.
“Guys really came out off of last [year’s] Finals and really came into this season wanting to get better to accomplish our goal,” Celtics forward Grant Williams told ESPN.
So far, the results speak for themselves.
A middling 3-point shooting team early last season has become the NBA’s best this year. The constant turnovers that plagued the Celtics deep into the playoffs have stopped, with Boston averaging the sixth fewest in the league. A constant refrain of daily questions about when, or if, Boston would ever become adept at sharing the ball has turned into daily praise from opponents for its unselfish play.
This season’s version is lapping the field with an offensive rating of 119.9 — the best offense in NBA history statistically. And as Boston prepares for Saturday’s Finals rematch with the Warriors (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), the Celtics hope their offensive explosion is here to stay.
“It’s night and day,” Tatum said last month. “The way we are playing at the start of this season compared to the start of last season.
“I just feel like we haven’t looked back.”
THE CELTICS’ TRANSFORMATION failed them during their six-game Finals loss to the Warriors — Boston’s offensive rating fell more than six points compared to the first three rounds of the playoffs — as Finals MVP Stephen Curry snatched away a chance for the Celtics to raise banner No. 18.
Those struggles ate at Joe Mazzulla all offseason. Revamping the offense was the main focus as he and the rest of the Celtics coaching staff prepared for this season — even before he was elevated to interim head coach when Ime Udoka was suspended for the season for violating team rules.
“The one thing we looked at was: What were the best clutch offensive teams running?” Mazzulla told ESPN. “We just tried to find the best clutch offenses and what they did and kind of studied that.”
2 Related
And, as Mazzulla spoke to various coaches about different ways Boston could improve its offense, those discussions often revealed similar principles: more spacing, more ball movement and more off-ball screening action.
“We have a really smart team and experienced team and they know we had to reinvent ourselves,” Mazzulla said.
“Guys have done a great job buying into that. Now we’re just learning about the different ways teams are going to guard us and how we can adjust to that.”
The Celtics have eight players averaging at least 3.7 3-point attempts per game and five of them are shooting over 43% from deep. They have dramatically increased their off-ball screening action with an additional seven more per game this season, per Second Spectrum tracking data, and created 1.12 points per chance when doing so — easily the NBA’s best mark.
As a result, the team’s offense has produced a dizzying list of accolades:
The Celtics’ 120.8 points per game would be the most any team has averaged over the course of a season since the Denver Nuggets 30 years ago.
Boston leads the league in 3-point percentage (40.0) and 3-pointers made per game with 16.6, which would be second all time behind the 2020-21 Utah Jazz (16.7).
The Celtics are on pace to set an NBA record with their true-shooting percentage as a team (which includes 3-pointers made and free throws), sitting at 62.6.
“They share the ball. That’s a great starting place,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Boston snapped Denver’s four-game win streak.
“They make 16 3s a night, and they’re getting [those makes] from so many people. [Plus] you have two great one-on-one players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who can get their shot whenever they want.”
It wasn’t long ago that Boston’s star duo was being criticized for lack of ball movement from inside its own locker room, as guard Marcus Smart himself publicly expressed after an ugly collapse against the Chicago Bulls in early November 2021.
“We’ve had a lot of success early and obviously the beginning of last season was sort of a struggle,” Tatum said of his partnership with Brown. “People didn’t allow us to have time to kind of work through that. Everybody kind of questioned it, [saying], ‘Blow us up, trade one of us.’
“I’m 24 and he just turned 26, and [we are] two of the best two-way players in the league. … I was never worried, he was never worried, the team was never worried. It was only a matter of time.”
After fighting through a shooting slump midway through last season, Tatum has raised his level of play dramatically.
He followed last season’s All-NBA first-team honor with a blistering start to 2022-23, averaging 30.5 points per game through Thursday — he would become the first Celtics player to average 30 for a season if he continues the pace — while increasing his free throw rate for a fifth consecutive year and firmly ensconcing himself in early MVP conversations.
Friday
Lakers-76ers, 7:30 p.m.Bucks-Mavericks, 10 p.m.
Wednesday
Knicks-Bulls, 7:30 p.m.Timberwolves-Clippers, 10 p.m.
*All times Eastern
Brown, meanwhile, is scoring a career-high 26.7 points per game while shooting a career-best 50.7% on volume, making him one of seven players in the NBA this season to average at least 25 points while shooting at least 50% from the field.
“It feels that much better when we’ve grown from his second year and my first year [2017-18] to now, and how hard we’ve worked to build the foundation of how we play,” Tatum said.
“It’s going to pay off one day.”
BEYOND STYLISTIC CHANGES to the team’s offense, Boston’s failings in the Finals could also be boiled down to something else: a lack of on-ball creators outside of Tatum and Brown.
That left too much of the creation burden on their shoulders and played a role in Boston’s demise. It led to the team’s signature offseason move: trading for Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers. It didn’t take long for the deal to pay off.
In the Celtics’ season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, Brogdon flashed skills on back-to-back possessions that the Celtics utterly lacked during last year’s playoff run. The former Rookie of the Year is already among the favorites for this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
On one possession, Brogdon grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball upcourt, attacked the paint and kicked to Williams for a 3-pointer. On the next, he caught a pass on a swing to the corner from Blake Griffin, attacked a James Harden closeout and looped to the rim for a layup.
“Brogdon has obviously helped in bringing a new dimension to what they do,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when his team faced Boston for two games last week.
Get access to exclusive original series, premium articles from our NBA insiders, the full 30 for 30 library and more. Sign up now to unlock everything ESPN+ has to offer.
When opposing coaches, scouts and executives are asked about the reasons behind Boston’s offensive improvement this season, Brogdon, who is averaging 14.0 points and 3.8 assists per game while leading the NBA in 3-point percentage (49.4), is often the first player mentioned.
“He has been really significant for them,” an East scout told ESPN, “because their undoing at times last year was they could get stagnant and predictable.”
That certainly isn’t the case now because of the weapons Mazzulla has used at his disposal.
Derrick White and Williams are both playing with increased confidence offensively, while Sam Hauser has emerged as one of the league’s most lethal 3-point shooters.
“They run some really unique offense,” Malone said. “Some small, small pick-and-rolls, a lot of cutting. They do a really good job of off-ball movement, create confusion, and they have a really nice rhythm about them.”
Playing without lob threat Robert Williams III, who is still working his way back from September knee surgery but could return by Christmas Day, has forced Mazzulla to lean heavily on smaller lineups. It’s given Boston the luxury of hunting for great shots rather than settling for good ones.
“Our spacing,” Al Horford said at a Celtics shootaround last week, “is a big reason why we are so successful.”
Grant Williams added, “[We are] not stagnating, we are not playing isolation ball. We are trying to get the best shot available no matter who it is.”
The Celtics bench, including Jaylen Brown, left, and Marcus Smart, second from right, react to a 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum against the Denver Nuggets. Boston leads the NBA in 3-point shooting at 40%. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
At some point, the shots will stop falling at quite the same rate — Brogdon, Williams, Hauser and Horford are each in the league’s top 12 in 3-point percentage, and Boston is shooting more than four percentage points better than expected on 3-point shots this season, according to Second Spectrum tracking. But Boston isn’t banking on its record-setting offense slowing down any time soon.
“I think we’ve done a good job of creating a style of play that fits around everybody,” Brown said after Boston beat Miami last week. “Being able to score the ball, being able to drive, being able to create those advantages and then shoot.
“We’ve got to keep playing that style of ball, because it’s working.”
Tom Pennington/Getty Images
Stephen Curry kinda-sorta did the impossible and more from our NBA quotes of the week.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry, on the (edited) viral video that showed him making five full-court shots in a row
Golden State Warriors Draymond Green, referencing LeBron James defeating his 73-9 squad in the 2016 NBA Finals during a debate over whether James or Michael Jordan is the better player, via “Uninterrupted”
Former San Antonio Spurs coach and current Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon, on the Boston Celtics
Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young, on his bow following his team’s Game 5 victory over the New York Knicks in the 2021 playoffs
Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant, on what Kobe Bryant said to him for advice as a young player
As the Chicago Bears enjoy their bye week, fans have the ability to sit back, relax and watch the rest of the NFL in action this weekend.
This is also a great time for fans to begin reflecting on the current season — but that can be dangerous, depending on what type of fan you are.
If you tend to err on the negative side of things, it’s a dark place to be. The Bears are 3-9 and are currently holding the second overall pick in next year’s draft. It’s been a fairly ugly season, you could argue.
On the flip side, the more positive-minded will talk about just how great some of the younger players have looked and why the team’s future is bright. Specifically, Justin Fields has been flat-out impressive. While the offense still has a ways to go, there’s certainly reason to be hopeful, especially thanks to a new set of numbers released Thursday morning.
Without looking at the above graphic, most would have guessed that the number one team in explosive plays would be the Eagles, Bills or Chiefs. And, to be fair, they’re all towards the top of the list.
Yet, sitting right there at number on in all of football in explosive plays is none other than our beloved Chicago Bears.
How is this possible? The Bears’ receiving corps is amongst the worst in the league, they’ve been without one of their weapons for a few weeks now in Khalil Herbert, and the offensive line has been less than stellar, contrary to some belief out there.
It’s all about number 1. It is a completely different offense this year with Fields under center.
Now, credit to Luke Getsy for sticking with the run game. The Bears, to this day, have the best ground attack in all of the NFL, rushing for 189.2 yards per game. The next closest is Atlanta, who totals 158.9 rushing yards per contest.
Fields is currently number 7 in the league in rushing yards with 905, which is still on pace to break Lamar Jackson’s record of 1,205 for a quarterback in a season.
Both David Montgomery and Khalil Herbert have gone over 600 rushing yards on the season as well, giving the Bears a scary trio when all healthy. Since Herbert went out, though, Fields has taken even more on his shoulder in the run game.
Just imagine a Bears offense that is able to add stronger protection up front, combined with another couple of weapons in the passing game. Not to mention, Fields will have even more experience under his belt.
The sky is truly the limit for this guy, and he’s proven that in his second season, operating the number 1 most explosive offense in the league, statistically speaking.
THE BOSTON CELTICS visited the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday in a heavily anticipated showdown between conference leaders a third of the way through the 2022-23 NBA season.
It quickly turned into a statement from the best offense in the league. The Celtics steadily increased their lead from 10 to 20 to 30 to an unfathomable 40 points after Jayson Tatum hit a free throw midway through the third quarter in a 125-98 victory.
And the Suns aren’t alone. The entire league has witnessed Boston’s aggressive offense.
Since the Celtics’ offense sputtered in the team’s 2022 NBA Finals loss to the Golden State Warriors, there has been a singular focus on making sure the same fate doesn’t befall them again.
“Guys really came out off of last [year’s] Finals and really came into this season wanting to get better to accomplish our goal,” Celtics forward Grant Williams told ESPN.
So far, the results speak for themselves.
A middling 3-point shooting team early last season has become the NBA’s best this year. The constant turnovers that plagued the Celtics deep into the playoffs have stopped, with Boston averaging the sixth fewest in the league. A constant refrain of daily questions about when, or if, Boston would ever become adept at sharing the ball has turned into daily praise from opponents for its unselfish play.
This season’s version is lapping the field with an offensive rating of 119.9 — the best offense in NBA history statistically. And as Boston prepares for Saturday’s Finals rematch with the Warriors (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), the Celtics hope their offensive explosion is here to stay.
“It’s night and day,” Tatum said last month. “The way we are playing at the start of this season compared to the start of last season.
“I just feel like we haven’t looked back.”
THE CELTICS’ TRANSFORMATION failed them during their six-game Finals loss to the Warriors — Boston’s offensive rating fell more than six points compared to the first three rounds of the playoffs — as Finals MVP Stephen Curry snatched away a chance for the Celtics to raise banner No. 18.
Those struggles ate at Joe Mazzulla all offseason. Revamping the offense was the main focus as he and the rest of the Celtics coaching staff prepared for this season — even before he was elevated to interim head coach when Ime Udoka was suspended for the season for violating team rules.
“The one thing we looked at was: What were the best clutch offensive teams running?” Mazzulla told ESPN. “We just tried to find the best clutch offenses and what they did and kind of studied that.”
2 Related
And, as Mazzulla spoke to various coaches about different ways Boston could improve its offense, those discussions often revealed similar principles: more spacing, more ball movement and more off-ball screening action.
“We have a really smart team and experienced team and they know we had to reinvent ourselves,” Mazzulla said.
“Guys have done a great job buying into that. Now we’re just learning about the different ways teams are going to guard us and how we can adjust to that.”
The Celtics have eight players averaging at least 3.7 3-point attempts per game and five of them are shooting over 43% from deep. They have dramatically increased their off-ball screening action with an additional seven more per game this season, per Second Spectrum tracking data, and created 1.12 points per chance when doing so — easily the NBA’s best mark.
As a result, the team’s offense has produced a dizzying list of accolades:
The Celtics’ 120.8 points per game would be the most any team has averaged over the course of a season since the Denver Nuggets 30 years ago.
Boston leads the league in 3-point percentage (40.0) and 3-pointers made per game with 16.6, which would be second all time behind the 2020-21 Utah Jazz (16.7).
The Celtics are on pace to set an NBA record with their true-shooting percentage as a team (which includes 3-pointers made and free throws), sitting at 62.6.
“They share the ball. That’s a great starting place,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said after Boston snapped Denver’s four-game win streak.
“They make 16 3s a night, and they’re getting [those makes] from so many people. [Plus] you have two great one-on-one players in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who can get their shot whenever they want.”
It wasn’t long ago that Boston’s star duo was being criticized for lack of ball movement from inside its own locker room, as guard Marcus Smart himself publicly expressed after an ugly collapse against the Chicago Bulls in early November 2021.
“We’ve had a lot of success early and obviously the beginning of last season was sort of a struggle,” Tatum said of his partnership with Brown. “People didn’t allow us to have time to kind of work through that. Everybody kind of questioned it, [saying], ‘Blow us up, trade one of us.’
“I’m 24 and he just turned 26, and [we are] two of the best two-way players in the league. … I was never worried, he was never worried, the team was never worried. It was only a matter of time.”
After fighting through a shooting slump midway through last season, Tatum has raised his level of play dramatically.
He followed last season’s All-NBA first-team honor with a blistering start to 2022-23, averaging 30.5 points per game through Thursday — he would become the first Celtics player to average 30 for a season if he continues the pace — while increasing his free throw rate for a fifth consecutive year and firmly ensconcing himself in early MVP conversations.
Friday
Lakers-76ers, 7:30 p.m.Bucks-Mavericks, 10 p.m.
Wednesday
Knicks-Bulls, 7:30 p.m.Timberwolves-Clippers, 10 p.m.
*All times Eastern
Brown, meanwhile, is scoring a career-high 26.7 points per game while shooting a career-best 50.7% on volume, making him one of seven players in the NBA this season to average at least 25 points while shooting at least 50% from the field.
“It feels that much better when we’ve grown from his second year and my first year [2017-18] to now, and how hard we’ve worked to build the foundation of how we play,” Tatum said.
“It’s going to pay off one day.”
BEYOND STYLISTIC CHANGES to the team’s offense, Boston’s failings in the Finals could also be boiled down to something else: a lack of on-ball creators outside of Tatum and Brown.
That left too much of the creation burden on their shoulders and played a role in Boston’s demise. It led to the team’s signature offseason move: trading for Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers. It didn’t take long for the deal to pay off.
In the Celtics’ season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, Brogdon flashed skills on back-to-back possessions that the Celtics utterly lacked during last year’s playoff run. The former Rookie of the Year is already among the favorites for this season’s Sixth Man of the Year award.
On one possession, Brogdon grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball upcourt, attacked the paint and kicked to Williams for a 3-pointer. On the next, he caught a pass on a swing to the corner from Blake Griffin, attacked a James Harden closeout and looped to the rim for a layup.
“Brogdon has obviously helped in bringing a new dimension to what they do,” Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when his team faced Boston for two games last week.
Get access to exclusive original series, premium articles from our NBA insiders, the full 30 for 30 library and more. Sign up now to unlock everything ESPN+ has to offer.
When opposing coaches, scouts and executives are asked about the reasons behind Boston’s offensive improvement this season, Brogdon, who is averaging 14.0 points and 3.8 assists per game while leading the NBA in 3-point percentage (49.4), is often the first player mentioned.
“He has been really significant for them,” an East scout told ESPN, “because their undoing at times last year was they could get stagnant and predictable.”
That certainly isn’t the case now because of the weapons Mazzulla has used at his disposal.
Derrick White and Williams are both playing with increased confidence offensively, while Sam Hauser has emerged as one of the league’s most lethal 3-point shooters.
“They run some really unique offense,” Malone said. “Some small, small pick-and-rolls, a lot of cutting. They do a really good job of off-ball movement, create confusion, and they have a really nice rhythm about them.”
Playing without lob threat Robert Williams III, who is still working his way back from September knee surgery but could return by Christmas Day, has forced Mazzulla to lean heavily on smaller lineups. It’s given Boston the luxury of hunting for great shots rather than settling for good ones.
“Our spacing,” Al Horford said at a Celtics shootaround last week, “is a big reason why we are so successful.”
Grant Williams added, “[We are] not stagnating, we are not playing isolation ball. We are trying to get the best shot available no matter who it is.”
The Celtics bench, including Jaylen Brown, left, and Marcus Smart, second from right, react to a 3-pointer by Jayson Tatum against the Denver Nuggets. Boston leads the NBA in 3-point shooting at 40%. AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
At some point, the shots will stop falling at quite the same rate — Brogdon, Williams, Hauser and Horford are each in the league’s top 12 in 3-point percentage, and Boston is shooting more than four percentage points better than expected on 3-point shots this season, according to Second Spectrum tracking. But Boston isn’t banking on its record-setting offense slowing down any time soon.
“I think we’ve done a good job of creating a style of play that fits around everybody,” Brown said after Boston beat Miami last week. “Being able to score the ball, being able to drive, being able to create those advantages and then shoot.
“We’ve got to keep playing that style of ball, because it’s working.”
Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.
Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.
Listen to The Ben Joravsky Show Read More »
This article was originally published by The TRiiBE.
An audio recording allegedly between mayoral candidate Willie Wilson’s political consultant Rickey Hendon and a volunteer for Ja’Mal Green’s campaign has leaked—and the talk details a bribe offered to Green’s team to drop the petition challenge against Wilson.
Green is also accusing Wilson of violating the residency requirements to run for Chicago mayor, claiming Wilson’s main home is in south suburban Hazel Crest. The two candidates have a history dating back to at least the 2019 Chicago municipal election, when Hendon—who was Wilson’s campaign advisor at the time—challenged Green’s petitions. After that, Green clashed with Hendon, with Hendon later posting on Facebook that he and Green exchanged threats about fighting one another.
“If you withdraw, I will take care of you. And you can tell me how much you would need,” Hendon, a former state senator and 27th Ward alderperson, allegedly said on the recent phone call. That audio was released on Thursday.
Chicago-based What’s the Word TV was the first media outlet to publish the full recording on its Instagram page on Thursday morning. What’s the Word TV has since removed the video, although The TRiiBE has retained the audio and video. (Read the full transcript below.)
Additionally, Chicago-based blog Chicago Media Takeout posted the video on its Instagram page, and it was still up at publishing time.
“You know, don’t nobody want you to lose money, you know, ‘cause Ja’Mal ain’t ‘gon be on the ballot, bro. I wouldn’t do that shit,” Hendon allegedly continued on the call. He also mentioned 6th Ward alderperson Roderick Sawyer, who is also in the 2023 race for mayor.
“Sawyer ain’t gon be on the ballot,” Hendon allegedly said. “I never miss. Don’t shoot if I’ma miss.”
In a response to The TRiiBE, Wilson’s campaign spokesperson Richard Boykin confirmed that Hendon’s voice is on the recording.
“The comments made by former Sen. Rickey Hendon were not authorized by me or my campaign. This is a personal issue between Sen. Hendon and Mr. Green,” Boykin wrote in a press release on Thursday.
In a press release issued at 4:45 PM on Thursday, Green’s team identified the volunteer on the call as Kevin Hobby and acknowledged the conversation. Green said, “I’m glad someone was able to capture the corrupt openness Ricky has. Let me just say that the old way of politics is pulling some desperate moves to drag me and my campaign down, going so far as to offer financial compensation to my ally. This city’s corrupt nature shows its face almost out in the open now. The sleazy deals, the open bribery, the big money talking—it needs to end! That’s why I am running for mayor in the first place.
“It’s time for the new generation of leadership, if the audio didn’t prove it then I’m not sure what will.”
Illinois law makes it a felony to intercept, record or transcribe any private telephone or electronic communication unless all parties consent. The TRiiBE has not yet been able to verify if the conversation was recorded legally.
According to Crain’s Chicago Business, businessman Wilson and community activist and entrepreneur Green are attempting to rid the current 11-candidate field of the other, while Wilson also filed a separate challenge to Sawyer. Other candidates are seeking to knock off long-shot candidates Frederick Collins and Johnny Logalbo.
TRANSCRIPT:
Rickey Hendon: And I ain’t even gotta tell you, you know. The lines, we both know y’all weren’t in there looking at them [unintelligible] lines. So Willie’s gonna make it. Ja’Mal is not. Why you have to suffer? We can work something out. You come on our team or not. But I didn’t want to jam you, bruh. I got people that know you that’s [unintelligible] a game called [unintelligible]. So that’s where I’m coming from.
Kevin Hobby: What you, what you, what you offering?
Rickey Hendon: Say what now?
Kevin Hobby: What you offering?
Rickey Hendon: Well, you know, everybody can use some help financially. So I will help you there if that was the case. I mean, I could just go through the case, you know, Willie got money. He can pay the lawyer. Done paid the lawyer already. But I’d like to get it over with, you know, so let me know what you’re trying to do. I mean–
Kevin Hobby: [unintelligible]
Rickey Hendon: You know, if you withdraw, I will take care of you. And you can tell me how much you would need. You know, don’t nobody want you to lose money, you know, ‘cause Ja’Mal ain’t ‘gon be on the ballot, bro. I wouldn’t do that shit. I had 25 people down there for a week. Sawyer ain’t gon be on the ballot. I never miss. Don’t shoot if I’ma miss. So what about what’s ‘gon happen with you? You know, you got a family, you know, kids and shit. They gotta eat. Christmas coming up. I go through this. And then, you know, the Board can look at the shotgun that they did on Willie because y’all hit every name on every page, you know, and refer that shit over to the State’s Attorney. Who wants to do that? I don’t want to do that to you.
Kevin Hobby: Right.
Rickey Hendon: Yup. So just think it over and then you let me know if it’s something you willing to do. So just think it over and then let me know if it’s something you willing to do. You know, you’d have to, you know, file it. You know, if it’s a document, you’d have to file it, you know, 69 W. Washington. Just withdraw the objection against Willie. And I’ll look out for you.
Kevin Hobby: Mmhm.
Rickey Hendon: I don’t like putting, you know, amounts and stuff. We are talking on the phone. But you can tell me, ‘Look. OK. I’ma do it.’ Soon as you do it, I’ll meet up with you. I’ll meet you down there. You know what I’m saying? And if you talk in the streets with people who know me, like the people who call me about you, they’ll tell you, ‘Rickey Hendon keeps his word.’ Whether it’s good or bad, you know, I’ma keep my word. You know?
Kevin Hobby: Right.
Rickey Hendon: That’s why I’m kicking Ja’Mal off. ‘Cause I told him that, ‘N*gga, if you run for dogcatcher or bootylicker, I’ma kick you off the ballot. Every time. Your shit better be perfect. Every time.’ I guess he thought I was joking. I’m serious, you know.
—recording ends—
The latecomers and superstitious test their luck with a lottery, hoping to get the last spot on the ballot.
Dozens have filed petitions to run for the newly created councils.
Career politicians are stepping down, and there’s now an opportunity for new—and possibly progressive—Black leaders to take the reins.
Leaked call shows alleged bribe by Wilson consultant to Ja’Mal Green Read More »
Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky riffs on the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty, and interviews politicians, activists, journalists and other political know-it-alls. Presented by the Chicago Reader, the show is available by 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays at chicagoreader.com/joravsky—or wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t miss Oh, What a Week!–the Friday feature in which Ben & producer Dennis (aka, Dr. D.) review the week’s top stories. Also, bonus interviews drop on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays.
Chicago Reader podcasts are recorded on Shure microphones. Learn more at Shure.com.
Chicago Reader senior writer Ben Joravsky discusses the day’s stories with his celebrated humor, insight, and honesty on The Ben Joravsky Show.
Listen to The Ben Joravsky ShowBen Joravskyon December 8, 2022 at 9:10 pm Read More »
