‘Suns must stink:’ Inside the Adelaide 36ers’ historic voyage through the NBA preseasonon October 7, 2022 at 4:31 am
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Blackhawks’ Alex Vlasic a bigger man after 4,000-calorie summer diet
Alex Vlasic has increased his weight all the way up to 220 pounds, a perfectly acceptable number for an NHL defenseman of his size. But it doesn’t really show–and when one asks him why, he gestures to his 6-6, wide-shouldered frame.
“I feel like it doesn’t look like it because it’s super distributed,” he said with a chuckle.
Building up strength was the top priority all summer for the 21-year-old Wilmette native, who’s currently in the final days of a tight battle for a Blackhawks roster spot.He skated Thursday on a pairing with Filip Roos, who is perhaps his biggest competition for a spot, in the Hawks’ 4-1 preseason loss to the Wild.
In addition to daily workouts, Vlasic revised his diet–at the Hawks’ recommendation–to hit a target of about 4,000 calories per day.
“It has been pretty hard for me to put on weight in the past,” he said. “This summer, it was just a lot more eating than I was used to. … I just ate whatever I wanted, but it was the consumption of calories that was the biggest thing, trying to get as much food in my body as possible.”
Steak and rice were staples, with some vegetables tossed in here and there. He admits being told to eat a ton of food is a “pretty good hand to be dealt”–plenty of normal people would love to receive that edict–but it was a challenge for him.
This and that
Saturday’s Hawks-Blues game in St. Louis was moved from 7 to 2 p.m. CT by the NHL to avoid an MLB playoffs conflict.Prospect forward Colton Dach recovered from his concussion just in time to get in a Hawks preseason game after all. He’ll presumably be reassigned to the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets soon, but he played Thursday on a line with Sam Lafferty and MacKenzie Entwistle.Speaking of eating, new forward Andreas Athanasiou has found sticking to his own diet harder–in a different way than Vlasic–since moving to Chicago. “I’ve hit a bunch of restaurants, and I don’t think I’ve missed once,” he said. “They’re all so good.”Max Domi has encountered the same problem, but one restaurant stands out clearly above the rest: Gibson’s Italia on Canal Street. Patrick Kane set him up with a reservation. The food was “outstanding” and the river view even better, he said.Read More
Blackhawks’ Alex Vlasic a bigger man after 4,000-calorie summer diet Read More »
High school football: Whitehurst twins lead Goode past Vocational and pick up a scholarship offer
Senior Martese Whitehurst ripped off a 64-yard touchdown run on the first play of Goode’s 44-0 win against Vocational and it wasn’t even the highlight of his Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Martese and his brother Marques were offered scholarships to attend Trinity University in Texas. The twins play both ways on the Goode football team and produce in the classroom as well, which allows Division 3 schools to offer scholarships based on academics.
“It was mad to get that offer,” Martese Whitehurst said. “I was so speechless. We told mom and dad and they were very proud.”
Martese had 10 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns and Marques contributed four carries for 83 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown run.
“All I saw was green on the opening touchdown run,” Martese Whitehurst said. “I just took off. It’s my second touchdown run of the season on the first play. I had one against Comer as well. I need to give thanks to the line for all the big blocks.”
Goode has advanced to the state playoffs the last two seasons in Class 5A, losing to Nazareth both times. The school, which opened in 2012, has managed to couple football success with quality academics. Goode has a partnership with Daley College that allows students to take classes and even earn an associate’s degree.
“Marques is on track to graduate with an associate’s degree and his high school diploma,” Goode coach Terrence McClarn said. “Martese will have about 25 to 30 college credits by the time he graduates.”
Goode has a football field with stands, tennis courts and separate softball and baseball fields. It’s a unique feel for a Public League school. It even smells like cookies.
“Sometimes we get a little hungry smelling that Nabisco factory during practice,” McClarn said. “A lot of kids want to come here because it is a great opportunity. It’s a lottery so we don’t always get all the athletes we are interested in.”
The Vikings (6-1, 5-0 Red-Southeast) have qualified for the state playoffs for the third consecutive season.
“My brother and I just started playing football freshman year,” Marques Whitehurst said. “We’ve been getting better progressively along with the team. This season we want to win that first state playoff game. We’ve been working towards it for four years.”
Goode lost to Young 23-0 in Week 2 and won a close game against Comer in Week 4 but hasn’t been tested otherwise, shutting out three opponents.
“We have to tighten up on the mistakes that we made in this one,” McClarn said. “That was the focus after the game because those are the things that hurt us in the state playoffs.”
High school football: Whitehurst twins lead Goode past Vocational and pick up a scholarship offer
Senior Martese Whitehurst ripped off a 64-yard touchdown run on the first play of Goode’s 44-0 win against Vocational and it wasn’t even the highlight of his Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Martese and his brother Marques were offered scholarships to attend Trinity University in Texas. The twins play both ways on the Goode football team and produce in the classroom as well, which allows Division 3 schools to offer scholarships based on academics.
“It was mad to get that offer,” Martese Whitehurst said. “I was so speechless. We told mom and dad and they were very proud.”
Martese had 10 carries for 170 yards and two touchdowns and Marques contributed four carries for 83 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown run.
“All I saw was green on the opening touchdown run,” Martese Whitehurst said. “I just took off. It’s my second touchdown run of the season on the first play. I had one against Comer as well. I need to give thanks to the line for all the big blocks.”
Goode has advanced to the state playoffs the last two seasons in Class 5A, losing to Nazareth both times. The school, which opened in 2012, has managed to couple football success with quality academics. Goode has a partnership with Daley College that allows students to take classes and even earn an associate’s degree.
“Marques is on track to graduate with an associate’s degree and his high school diploma,” Goode coach Terrence McClarn said. “Martese will have about 25 to 30 college credits by the time he graduates.”
Goode has a football field with stands, tennis courts and separate softball and baseball fields. It’s a unique feel for a Public League school. It even smells like cookies.
“Sometimes we get a little hungry smelling that Nabisco factory during practice,” McClarn said. “A lot of kids want to come here because it is a great opportunity. It’s a lottery so we don’t always get all the athletes we are interested in.”
The Vikings (6-1, 5-0 Red-Southeast) have qualified for the state playoffs for the third consecutive season.
“My brother and I just started playing football freshman year,” Marques Whitehurst said. “We’ve been getting better progressively along with the team. This season we want to win that first state playoff game. We’ve been working towards it for four years.”
Goode lost to Young 23-0 in Week 2 and won a close game against Comer in Week 4 but hasn’t been tested otherwise, shutting out three opponents.
“We have to tighten up on the mistakes that we made in this one,” McClarn said. “That was the focus after the game because those are the things that hurt us in the state playoffs.”
High school football scores: Week 7
Please send scores and corrections to [email protected].
Thursday, October 6
RED NORTH-CENTRAL
Senn 8, Von Steuben 0
RED SOUTH
Curie vs. Hubbard at Gately, 7:15
RED SOUTH-CENTRAL
Perspectives 12, King 8
RED SOUTHEAST
Goode 44, Vocational 0
Corliss vs. Julian at Gately, 4:15
RED WEST
Lincoln Park vs. Raby at Lane, 4:15
BLUE NORTH
Prosser vs. Clemente at Lane, 7:15
BLUE SOUTHEAST
Chicago Military vs. DuSable at Eckersall, 3:45
BLUE SOUTHWEST
Englewood STEM 24, Lindblom 12
Solorio 46, Back of the Yards 0
NONCONFERENCE
Nazareth 42, Leo 6
Friday, October 7
RED CENTRAL
Rauner vs. UIC Prep at Lane, 4:15
RED NORTH
Phillips at Lane, 7:15
RED SOUTH
Brooks vs. Morgan Park at Gately, 7:15
RED WEST
Kennedy vs. Bulls Prep at Stagg, 3:45
Payton vs. Little Village at Winnemac, 3:45
BLUE SOUTHEAST
Bowen vs. Washington at Eckersall, 3:45
Fenger vs. Harlan at Gately, 4:15
CENTRAL SUBURBAN NORTH
Maine East at Highland Park, 7
Maine West at Deerfield, 7
Vernon Hills at Niles North, 7
CENTRAL SUBURBAN SOUTH
Evanston at Glenbrook North, 7
Glenbrook South at New Trier, 7
Niles West at Maine South, 7
DUKANE
Geneva at Batavia, 7
Glenbard North at Lake Park, 7
St. Charles East at St. Charles North, 7
Wheaton-Warrenville South at Wheaton North, 7
DUPAGE VALLEY
Naperville Central at DeKalb, 7
Naperville North at Metea Valley, 7
Waubonsie Valley at Neuqua Valley, 7
FOX VALLEY
Burlington Central at Crystal Lake Central, 7
Cary-Grove at Jacobs, 7
Crystal Lake South at McHenry, 7
Dundee-Crown at Prairie Ridge, 7
Hampshire at Huntley, 7
ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT
Coal City at Peotone, 7
Herscher at Manteno, 7
Streator at Reed-Custer, 7
Wilmington vs. Lisle at Benedictine, 7
KISHWAUKEE BLUE
Johnsburg at Richmond-Burton, 7
Plano at Harvard, 7:15
KISHWAUKEE WHITE
LaSalle-Peru at Ottawa, 7
Morris at Woodstock, 7
Woodstock North at Sycamore, 7
MID-SUBURBAN EAST
Buffalo Grove at Prospect, 7
Elk Grove at Rolling Meadows, 7
Hersey at Wheeling, 7
MID-SUBURBAN WEST
Barrington at Palatine, 7:30
Conant at Fremd, 7
Schaumburg at Hoffman Estates, 7:30
NORTH SUBURBAN
Lake Zurich at Lake Forest, 7
Libertyville at Mundelein, 7
Stevenson at Zion-Benton, 7
Waukegan at Warren, 7
NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY
Grant at Antioch, 7
Grayslake Central at Round Lake, 7
Lakes at Wauconda, 7
North Chicago at Grayslake North, 7
SOUTH SUBURBAN BLUE
Oak Forest at TF North, 7
TF South at Bremen, 6
Tinley Park at Hillcrest, 6
SOUTH SUBURBAN RED
Argo at Eisenhower, 7
Reavis at Oak Lawn, 6
Shepard at Evergreen Park, 7
SOUTHLAND
Crete-Monee at Rich, 6:30
Thornton at Thornwood, 6
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST
Joliet Central at Romeoville, 7
Plainfield East at Joliet West, 7
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE WEST
Plainfield North at Minooka, 7
West Aurora at Oswego, 7
Yorkville at Oswego East, 7
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE
Bolingbrook at Lockport, 6:30
Lincoln-Way East at Homewood-Flossmoor, 7
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED
Andrew at Bradley-Bourbonnais, 7:30
Lincoln-Way West at Lincoln-Way Central, 7:30
UPSTATE EIGHT
East Aurora at Streamwood, 7
Fenton at Glenbard East, 7
Glenbard South at West Chicago, 7
Larkin at Bartlett, 7
South Elgin at Elgin, 7
VERMILION VALLEY NORTH
Dwight at Watseka, 7
Momence at Seneca, 7
WEST SUBURBAN GOLD
Addison Trail at Downers Grove South, 7:30
Hinsdale South at Willowbrook, 7:30
Morton at Proviso East, 7
WEST SUBURBAN SILVER
Proviso West at Oak Park-River Forest, 6
York at Hinsdale Central, 7:30
NONCONFERENCE
Aurora Central at Chicago Christian, 7:15
Aurora Christian at Elmwood Park, 6
Benet at South Bend St. Joseph, Ind., 6:30
Bishop McNamara at St. Francis, 7:15
Brother Rice at Joliet Catholic, 7:30
Christ the King at Hope Academy, 7:30
De La Salle at Marian Catholic, 7:30
DePaul Prep at Notre Dame, 7:30
Fenwick at St. Patrick, 7:30
IC Catholic at Riverside-Brookfield, 7:15
Kaneland at Marengo, 7
Leyden at Lyons, 7
Loyola at Providence, 7:30
Marian Central at St. Rita, 7:30
Marist at Montini, 7:30
Marmion at Carmel, 7:30
Mount Carmel at St. Laurence, 7:30
Richards at Lemont, 7
Ridgewood at Westmont, 7
St. Ignatius vs. St. Viator at Forest View, 7
Stagg at Sandburg, 7
Thornridge at Rochelle, 7
Wheaton Academy at St. Edward, 7
Saturday, October 8
RED CENTRAL
Hansberry vs. Rowe-Clark at Orr, 10 a.m.
Pritzker vs. Catalyst-Maria at Stagg, 4
RED NORTH
Taft vs. Clark at Lane, 1
Young at Westinghouse, 1
RED NORTH-CENTRAL
Lake View vs. Mather at Winnemac, 10 a.m.
Schurz vs. Amundsen at Winnemac, 4
Steinmetz vs. Sullivan at Winnemac, 1
RED SOUTH
Simeon vs. Kenwood at Lane, 4
RED SOUTH-CENTRAL
Ag. Science vs. Dunbar at Gately, 1
Bogan vs. UP-Bronzeville at Eckersall, 4
Hyde Park vs. Chicago Richards at Stagg, 1
RED SOUTHEAST
Carver vs. Dyett at Gately, 4
Comer vs. South Shore at Gately, 7
RED WEST
Crane vs. North Lawndale at Orr, 1
BLUE CENTRAL
Butler vs. Golder at Lane, 7
Johnson vs. Muchin at Lane, 10 a.m.
BLUE NORTH
Marine at Chicago Academy, 11 a.m.
Roosevelt vs. Foreman at Westinghouse, 4
BLUE SOUTHWEST
Tilden vs. Gage Park at Stagg, 10 a.m.
BLUE WEST
Kelly at Orr, 4
Phoenix vs. Marshall at Westinghouse, 10 a.m.
SOUTHLAND
Kankakee at Bloom, noon
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST
Plainfield South at Plainfield Central, 1
WEST SUBURBAN SILVER
Downers Grove North at Glenbard West, 1:30
NONCONFERENCE
Ottawa Marquette at Walther Christian, 1
High school football scores: Week 7 Read More »
High school football scores: Week 7
Please send scores and corrections to [email protected].
Thursday, October 6
RED NORTH-CENTRAL
Senn 8, Von Steuben 0
RED SOUTH
Curie vs. Hubbard at Gately, 7:15
RED SOUTH-CENTRAL
Perspectives 12, King 8
RED SOUTHEAST
Goode 44, Vocational 0
Corliss vs. Julian at Gately, 4:15
RED WEST
Lincoln Park vs. Raby at Lane, 4:15
BLUE NORTH
Prosser vs. Clemente at Lane, 7:15
BLUE SOUTHEAST
Chicago Military vs. DuSable at Eckersall, 3:45
BLUE SOUTHWEST
Englewood STEM 24, Lindblom 12
Solorio 46, Back of the Yards 0
NONCONFERENCE
Nazareth 42, Leo 6
Friday, October 7
RED CENTRAL
Rauner vs. UIC Prep at Lane, 4:15
RED NORTH
Phillips at Lane, 7:15
RED SOUTH
Brooks vs. Morgan Park at Gately, 7:15
RED WEST
Kennedy vs. Bulls Prep at Stagg, 3:45
Payton vs. Little Village at Winnemac, 3:45
BLUE SOUTHEAST
Bowen vs. Washington at Eckersall, 3:45
Fenger vs. Harlan at Gately, 4:15
CENTRAL SUBURBAN NORTH
Maine East at Highland Park, 7
Maine West at Deerfield, 7
Vernon Hills at Niles North, 7
CENTRAL SUBURBAN SOUTH
Evanston at Glenbrook North, 7
Glenbrook South at New Trier, 7
Niles West at Maine South, 7
DUKANE
Geneva at Batavia, 7
Glenbard North at Lake Park, 7
St. Charles East at St. Charles North, 7
Wheaton-Warrenville South at Wheaton North, 7
DUPAGE VALLEY
Naperville Central at DeKalb, 7
Naperville North at Metea Valley, 7
Waubonsie Valley at Neuqua Valley, 7
FOX VALLEY
Burlington Central at Crystal Lake Central, 7
Cary-Grove at Jacobs, 7
Crystal Lake South at McHenry, 7
Dundee-Crown at Prairie Ridge, 7
Hampshire at Huntley, 7
ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT
Coal City at Peotone, 7
Herscher at Manteno, 7
Streator at Reed-Custer, 7
Wilmington vs. Lisle at Benedictine, 7
KISHWAUKEE BLUE
Johnsburg at Richmond-Burton, 7
Plano at Harvard, 7:15
KISHWAUKEE WHITE
LaSalle-Peru at Ottawa, 7
Morris at Woodstock, 7
Woodstock North at Sycamore, 7
MID-SUBURBAN EAST
Buffalo Grove at Prospect, 7
Elk Grove at Rolling Meadows, 7
Hersey at Wheeling, 7
MID-SUBURBAN WEST
Barrington at Palatine, 7:30
Conant at Fremd, 7
Schaumburg at Hoffman Estates, 7:30
NORTH SUBURBAN
Lake Zurich at Lake Forest, 7
Libertyville at Mundelein, 7
Stevenson at Zion-Benton, 7
Waukegan at Warren, 7
NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY
Grant at Antioch, 7
Grayslake Central at Round Lake, 7
Lakes at Wauconda, 7
North Chicago at Grayslake North, 7
SOUTH SUBURBAN BLUE
Oak Forest at TF North, 7
TF South at Bremen, 6
Tinley Park at Hillcrest, 6
SOUTH SUBURBAN RED
Argo at Eisenhower, 7
Reavis at Oak Lawn, 6
Shepard at Evergreen Park, 7
SOUTHLAND
Crete-Monee at Rich, 6:30
Thornton at Thornwood, 6
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST
Joliet Central at Romeoville, 7
Plainfield East at Joliet West, 7
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE WEST
Plainfield North at Minooka, 7
West Aurora at Oswego, 7
Yorkville at Oswego East, 7
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE
Bolingbrook at Lockport, 6:30
Lincoln-Way East at Homewood-Flossmoor, 7
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN RED
Andrew at Bradley-Bourbonnais, 7:30
Lincoln-Way West at Lincoln-Way Central, 7:30
UPSTATE EIGHT
East Aurora at Streamwood, 7
Fenton at Glenbard East, 7
Glenbard South at West Chicago, 7
Larkin at Bartlett, 7
South Elgin at Elgin, 7
VERMILION VALLEY NORTH
Dwight at Watseka, 7
Momence at Seneca, 7
WEST SUBURBAN GOLD
Addison Trail at Downers Grove South, 7:30
Hinsdale South at Willowbrook, 7:30
Morton at Proviso East, 7
WEST SUBURBAN SILVER
Proviso West at Oak Park-River Forest, 6
York at Hinsdale Central, 7:30
NONCONFERENCE
Aurora Central at Chicago Christian, 7:15
Aurora Christian at Elmwood Park, 6
Benet at South Bend St. Joseph, Ind., 6:30
Bishop McNamara at St. Francis, 7:15
Brother Rice at Joliet Catholic, 7:30
Christ the King at Hope Academy, 7:30
De La Salle at Marian Catholic, 7:30
DePaul Prep at Notre Dame, 7:30
Fenwick at St. Patrick, 7:30
IC Catholic at Riverside-Brookfield, 7:15
Kaneland at Marengo, 7
Leyden at Lyons, 7
Loyola at Providence, 7:30
Marian Central at St. Rita, 7:30
Marist at Montini, 7:30
Marmion at Carmel, 7:30
Mount Carmel at St. Laurence, 7:30
Richards at Lemont, 7
Ridgewood at Westmont, 7
St. Ignatius vs. St. Viator at Forest View, 7
Stagg at Sandburg, 7
Thornridge at Rochelle, 7
Wheaton Academy at St. Edward, 7
Saturday, October 8
RED CENTRAL
Hansberry vs. Rowe-Clark at Orr, 10 a.m.
Pritzker vs. Catalyst-Maria at Stagg, 4
RED NORTH
Taft vs. Clark at Lane, 1
Young at Westinghouse, 1
RED NORTH-CENTRAL
Lake View vs. Mather at Winnemac, 10 a.m.
Schurz vs. Amundsen at Winnemac, 4
Steinmetz vs. Sullivan at Winnemac, 1
RED SOUTH
Simeon vs. Kenwood at Lane, 4
RED SOUTH-CENTRAL
Ag. Science vs. Dunbar at Gately, 1
Bogan vs. UP-Bronzeville at Eckersall, 4
Hyde Park vs. Chicago Richards at Stagg, 1
RED SOUTHEAST
Carver vs. Dyett at Gately, 4
Comer vs. South Shore at Gately, 7
RED WEST
Crane vs. North Lawndale at Orr, 1
BLUE CENTRAL
Butler vs. Golder at Lane, 7
Johnson vs. Muchin at Lane, 10 a.m.
BLUE NORTH
Marine at Chicago Academy, 11 a.m.
Roosevelt vs. Foreman at Westinghouse, 4
BLUE SOUTHWEST
Tilden vs. Gage Park at Stagg, 10 a.m.
BLUE WEST
Kelly at Orr, 4
Phoenix vs. Marshall at Westinghouse, 10 a.m.
SOUTHLAND
Kankakee at Bloom, noon
SOUTHWEST PRAIRIE EAST
Plainfield South at Plainfield Central, 1
WEST SUBURBAN SILVER
Downers Grove North at Glenbard West, 1:30
NONCONFERENCE
Ottawa Marquette at Walther Christian, 1
High school football scores: Week 7 Read More »
David Montgomery returns to Bears practice on Thursday
David Montgomery had not practiced or played since his injury in week four
Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery returned to practice on Thursday for the first time since injuring his knee and ankle.
Bears’ RB David Montgomery was upgraded today to limited practice after not practicing Wednesday due to his ankle injury.
Montgomery sustained this injury in the first quarter of the Bears’ week three game with the Texans, and he also missed week four against the Giants. Montgomery was a limited participant in practice today, but he says he is feeling good.
“I’m always encouraged every opportunity I get to get around the guys and [was] super encouraged to be out there practicing with the guys today.”
Montgomery described himself as being day-to-day with an ankle injury, and that he will be a game-time decision versus the Vikings this Sunday.
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David Montgomery returns to Bears practice on Thursday Read More »
David Montgomery returns to Bears practice on Thursday
David Montgomery had not practiced or played since his injury in week four
Chicago Bears running back David Montgomery returned to practice on Thursday for the first time since injuring his knee and ankle.
Bears’ RB David Montgomery was upgraded today to limited practice after not practicing Wednesday due to his ankle injury.
Montgomery sustained this injury in the first quarter of the Bears’ week three game with the Texans, and he also missed week four against the Giants. Montgomery was a limited participant in practice today, but he says he is feeling good.
“I’m always encouraged every opportunity I get to get around the guys and [was] super encouraged to be out there practicing with the guys today.”
Montgomery described himself as being day-to-day with an ankle injury, and that he will be a game-time decision versus the Vikings this Sunday.
For More Great Chicago Sports Content
Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE
David Montgomery returns to Bears practice on Thursday Read More »
Bears have challenge in Kirk Cousins, who ‘doesn’t miss’
At some point in the last few years, Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins somehow became a punchline. Maybe it was his 2-10 record on “Monday Night Football,” although both wins came against the Bears. Or his controversial anti-vaccination stance. Or the goofy “You Like That?” boast after a Washington game.
Mostly, though, Cousins has been judged against his contract. Amazingly, he’s playing on a guaranteed deal for the seventh-straight season. He’s made $201.7 million and counting, per Spotrac –more than Barry Bonds earned in his career. Despite making three Pro Bowls, Cousins became shorthand for a good-but-not-great quarterback on an expensive deal.
He’d be the greatest Bears quarterback of all time if he wore navy and orange.
Since signing with the Vikings in 2018, he’s averaged 260 passing yards and a 102.2 passer rating per game. During the same period, Bears quarterbacks averaged 204 and 84.5 The Bears would have happily taken Cousins’ performance in any of those seasons — and probably rode it into the playoffs.
Cousins is under-appreciated, said Bears quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko, who served in the same role for the Vikings last year.
“I think he’s one of the true accurate passers in this league, especially under duress,” he said. “The other thing I don’t think he gets appreciated for is how truly tough he is. He’s a tough guy. And he doesn’t miss.”
Cousins has struggled by his own standards this season — he has an 84.1 passer rating, which looks a lot more like a Chicago quarterback — but the Bears can ill afford to ignore him Sunday.
“He does a great job of getting them in the right play,” defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. “He does a great job of, you’ll see [he’s] super-accurate on the outside. He does a great job of moving in the pocket, getting rid of the football when needed. …
“He’s taken some hits about accuracy, being streaky, but I think he’s done a good job this year of getting the ball to different people when needed, on time.”
Cousins is the point guard of an offense with two superstar players: receiver Justin Jefferson and running back Dalvin Cook. Asked how he runs things, Williams needed one word.
“Well,” he said.
It was the perfect Cousins compliment –he’s not flashy, but he gets the job done.
“The funny thing about Kirk Cousins is, his swag is to not have any swag,” said Bears receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who spent last season with the Vikings. “That’s who he is.”
He’s the second-best quarterback the Bears have faced this season, behind the great Aaron Rodgers. The Bears might not face another quarterback as good as Cousins until they see Rodgers again Dec. 4, depending on the health of the Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa.
The 34-year-old Cousins presents a more difficult challenge than every other passer the Bears have seen this season not named Rodgers. Trey Lance, 22, was making his third career start for the 49ers in the season opener. Texans quarterback Davis Mills, 23, had won two of his 14 career starts when he faced the Bears in Week 3. Giants quarterback Daniel Jones, 25, still started one-third as many games as Cousins.
The Bears can take comfort in the fact that Matt Eberflus’ defense has tortured Cousins before. In the second game of the 2020 season, Cousins went 11-for-26 for 113 yards, three interceptions and a career-worst 15.9 passer rating in a 28-11 loss to Eberflus’ Colts.
He was sacked three times and hit seven times.
“I don’t know any quarterbacks that like to be hit,” said Williams, who was the Colts’ defensive backs coach then. “So when you hit them, sometimes they’ll do some things out of character.”
That’s the best the Bears can hope for Sunday.
Bears have challenge in Kirk Cousins, who ‘doesn’t miss’ Read More »
Silent films to live on in movie theater lobby card project, thanks in part to Chicago collector Dwight Cleveland
“Missing Millions” is a 1922 silent film with a darkly prescient title — like the vast majority from that era, the movie all but vanished in the ensuing century, survived mostly by lobby cards.
The cards, scarcely bigger than letter paper, promoted the cinematic romances, comedies and adventures of early Hollywood. More than 10,000 of the images once hung in movie theater foyers are now beingdigitized for preservationand publication, thanks to an agreement between Chicago collector Dwight Cleveland and Dartmouth College that all started when he ran into a film professor at an academic conference in New York.
“Ninety percent of all silent films have been lost because they were made on nitrate film, which is flammable and explodable,” Cleveland says. “What that means is that these lobby cards are the only tangible example that these films even existed.”
Dwight Cleveland poses for a portrait with some of his lobby card collection, including the first lobby card he collected, for the movie “Wolf Song,” the 1929 American silent Western romance film directed by Victor Fleming and starring Gary Cooper and Lupe V?lez.
The cards, traditionally 11 inches by 14 inches and arranged in sets of eight or more, displayed a film’s title, production company, cast and scenes that could convey a sense of the plot. Movie screen trailers didn’t become a common practice until the rise of the movie “studio system” era in the 1920s, says Mark Williams, associate professor of film and media studies at Dartmouth and the project’s director.
Often displayed on an easel or framed and meant to be seen up close, the lobby cards promoted current films that were playing, as well as coming attractions.
Today, the cards, many of them more than 100 years old, play an even bigger role, reflecting the stars, styles and storytelling of a bygone era. The legacy of the Paramount Pictures-released “Missing Millions,” for example, rests in an image of actress Alice Brady and her accomplice, who plot to steal the gold of the financier who sent her father to prison. Brady made the transition to talkies, but that film and a number of others she made during the silent era are lost.
A movie theater lobby card promotes the 1919 silent film “Strictly Confidential.” Many silent films from the early 1900s no longer exist. But they live on in movie theater lobby cards. More than 10,000 of the mostly 11-by-14-inch cards that promoted the cinematic romances, comedies and adventures of the era are being digitized for preservation and publication online, thanks to an agreement formed between Chicago-based collector Dwight Cleveland and Dartmouth College.
Cleveland, a real estate developer and historic preservationist, became interested in the cards as a high school student in the 1970s. His art teacher had collected some, including one of Lupe Velez and Gary Cooper from the 1929 Western romance “Wolf Song.”
“I just fell in love with the color and the deco graphics, and this romantic embrace, and everything about it, which just was incredibly appealing,” he says, “and it just sort of screamed out ‘Take me home!'”
The early lobby cards were produced using a process that produced black-and-white, sepia, or brown-toned images, with color added to some by hand or stencil, according to a post by Josie Walters-Johnston, reference librarian in the Moving Image Research Center at the Library of Congress.
By the 1920s, the images became more photograph-like and featured details such as decorative borders and tinting. They endured for decades, with production of lobby cards ending in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Walters-Johnston wrote. But in 2015, the practice was revived when Quentin Tarantino put out a special set forhis Western, “The Hateful Eight.”
Cleveland has been shipping boxes from his collection to Dartmouth’s Media Ecology Project, where a small group of students is charged with gingerly removing each card from its protective sleeve to scan and digitize. The students, assembled by Williams, are also creating metadata.
Williams says the project — which began in September and is expected to be finished later this fall — will provide insight into how the films were promoted and what kind of design features went into the marketing of a film from a given studio, among other information that would be difficult to find.
“We’ll be able to restore access to a really fundamental visual culture related to these different performers and studios, and genres,” he says.
A movie theater lobby card promotes the 1923 silent film “Potash and Perlmutter.”
Williams says the project is invested in both cultivating new scholarship, and an awareness about how endangered media history is.
“People, they link up to YouTube, and they think that media history is inexhaustible and eternal. And both of those statements are false,” Williams says.
When the movies now considered lost or surviving incomplete were produced, the art form’s shelf life was short, Williams says. Only over time did people start to appreciate film as a significant art and a force in popular culture worthy of preservation.
The lobby cards validate the existence of a range of movies — from major studios still in existence and smaller ones that only endured for a handful of years — and memorialize what Williams described as “a great number of stars — many of whom have been forgotten.”
“There’s so much media that is in danger of disintegrating, just literally turning to dust,” he added, extolling the importance of the endangered “historical, vulnerable, ephemeral, extraordinary material.”
Cleveland also had donated 3,500 lobby cards of silent-era Westerns — featuring stars such as William S. Hart, Jack Hoxie, and Buck Jones — to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. He arranged for their loan to Dartmouth for the project.
When completed, the lobby card collection will become part of Dartmouth’s Early Cinema Compendium, which will feature 15 collections of rare and valuable archival and scholarly resources. The compendium, which will be published online as part of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, will also include more than 7,000 frame samples from early and mostly lost U.S. films, plus access to more than 2,500 archival films across the genres of early cinema.
The ultimate goal, Williams says, is “so that people who are fans or casual fans or true scholars will have access to this material and catapult new interest in it.”
Cleveland — certainly no casual fan — once owned an archive that had 45,000 movie posters from 56 countries. He wrote a book, “Cinema on Paper: The Graphic Genius of Movie Posters,” in 2019. In addition to the Dartmouth project, his lobby card collection formed the basis for an exhibit in New York focused on the women who were prolific filmmakers, writers and producers during the silent-film era. He’s planning a book on the subject.
“I’ve loved finding and preserving and cataloguing these historical documents,” Cleveland says.
With Williams applying computer science, “it just takes it into a whole other realm in the future with metaverse and everything else,” Cleveland says. “I feel like I’ve been sort of stuck in nostalgia, if you will, and now I feel like I’m being propelled into the future with him and that’s a very exciting prospect.”