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Three people died in a crash October 30, 2021 in Lisle. | Adobe Stock Photo

Police responded to a call of a crash near Warrenville Road and Navistar Drive and found one vehicle “severely damaged,” according to the Lisle Police Department.

Three people died in a two-vehicle crash early Saturday in suburban Lisle.

Just after 1 a.m., police responded to a call of a crash near Warrenville Road and Navistar Drive and found one vehicle “severely damaged,” according to a statement from Lisle Police Department.

The driver, a man in his 40s, was found dead inside, police said. The other vehicle was on fire nearly 200 yards away, according to police.

The passenger, a man in his 20s, was also found dead, police said. A woman, also in her 20s, was pulled out of the back seat and was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, where she was pronounced dead.

The driver of the second vehicle, a man in his 20s, was taken to the same hospital, where he was stabilized, police said.

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Wade Kitner looks at the northern lights as he fishes in Ventura, Iowa, on Tuesday, June 23, 2015. | Arian Schuessler, The Globe Gazette via AP, File

A good chunk of the northern part of the country may get treated to a light show called the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

CHICAGO — A fireworks show that has nothing to do with the Fourth of July and everything to do with the cosmos is poised to be visible across the northern United States and Europe just in time for Halloween.

On Thursday, the sun launched what is called an “X-class solar flare” that was strong enough to spark a high-frequency radio blackout across parts of South America.

The energy from that flare is trailed by a cluster of solar plasma and other material called a coronal mass ejection, or CME for short. That’s heading toward Earth, prompting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to issue a warning about a potentially strong geomagnetic storm.

It might sound like something from a science fiction movie. But really it just means that a good chunk of the northern part of the country may get treated to a light show called the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights.

Geomagnetic storms as big as what might be coming can produce displays of the lights that can be seen at latitudes as low as Pennsylvania, Oregon and Iowa. It could also cause voltage irregularities on high-latitude power grids as the loss of radio contact on the sunlit side of the planet.

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John Tortorella has been a very successful coach in the National Hockey League. He has made the postseason more often than not, won a Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and is a two-time Jack Adams Award winner as the coach of the year. All of this is very impressive but he […] Chicago Blackhawks: John Tortorella would be a horrible idea – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Matt Nagy coaches the Bears against the Raiders. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Bears coach Matt Nagy was ruled out for Sunday’s game because of the coronavirus.

In the days after he tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, Bears coach Matt Nagy began preparing special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor for the possibility that he’d be in charge Sunday at Soldier Field. They ran through different hypothetical situations, from how to deal with assistant coaches and players to how to navigate moments and mindsets during the game against the 49ers.

”Just different scenarios and different things, so I can help him out as much as possible,” Nagy said Friday. ”Some things he might not think of on game day.”

Nagy also began preparing himself for the fact that one of the most important games of his Bears tenure will take place with him nowhere near Soldier Field. On Saturday, it became official: Nagy, who is vaccinated, could not pass two coronavirus tests in a 48-hour span before kickoff and will not coach in a critical game against the 49ers.

The difference between a victory and a loss Sunday is the chasm between a .500 record and a three-game losing streak, between the Bears being part of the playoff conversation during the Week 10 bye or, if they also lose to the Steelers in prime time Nov. 8, being stuck in yet another months-long free fall.

The Bears have yet to lose a game in which they were favored this season. If that changes Sunday, it will affect the tenor of the season — and Nagy’s job security by the end of it.

Nagy ran team meetings on Zoom last week and watched practice film, but the quarantine was enough to sour Nagy’s sunny-side-up disposition.

”I don’t think frustration’s a good word,” Nagy said. ”I think you’re eager and you want to be able to be there with your guys. And probably the biggest challenge as you go through this is just making sure that everybody is doing everything as best as they can. And that’s where just talking through things, it’s easy to [use] technology now to do that. . . .

”But there’s just — you don’t have that feel, right? Because you’re not there.”

Tabor said earlier this week he’d be ready to lead the team. As the acting head coach, he’ll run the Saturday night meeting and make in-game decisions Sunday.

”You’ve always been preparing yourself your whole life to do that,” said Tabor, whose head coaching experience spans the 2001 season at NAIA Culver-Stockton. ”I’ve watched a lot of football games and have thought about those types of things.”

The irony is that, after Nagy delegated play-calling to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor in the wake of the Bears’ blowout loss to the Browns in Week 3, he leaned hard into a personality-driven coaching style. In the dreary days after the loss, Nagy gathered his offensive players and actually asked them for advice about how to retool the playbook.

The night before the game against the Buccaneers, Nagy held an emotional team meeting in which, according to running back Khalil Herbert, he showed ”how much he cares and what he means to this team and how he wants to bring us together.”

The Bears then lost 38-3.

Nagy has said all month that not calling plays allows him to be more connected to everyone — from the quarterback to his defense — on game day. Rather than bringing the team together this past week, however, Nagy was apart from it.

He’s left in a lose-lose situation. If the Bears win without him, fans pushing for Nagy’s ouster will claim he’s unnecessary. If they lose, the same people will paint the Bears as a sinking ship without a leader.

At various points last week, Nagy described the possibility of becoming the first Bears head coach to miss a game since Mike Ditka had a mild heart attack in 1988 as ”strange,” ”unique” and ”weird.”

”I wish I could tell you,” he said, ”but I have no idea what it will be like.”

Sunday, in front of a television, he’ll find out.

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Matt Nagy coaches the Bears against the Raiders. | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Bears coach Matt Nagy was ruled out for Sunday’s game because of the coronavirus.

In the days after he tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, Bears coach Matt Nagy began preparing special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor for the possibility that he’d be in charge Sunday at Soldier Field. They ran through different hypothetical situations, from how to deal with assistant coaches and players to how to navigate moments and mindsets during the game against the 49ers.

”Just different scenarios and different things, so I can help him out as much as possible,” Nagy said Friday. ”Some things he might not think of on game day.”

Nagy also began preparing himself for the fact that one of the most important games of his Bears tenure will take place with him nowhere near Soldier Field. On Saturday, it became official: Nagy, who is vaccinated, could not pass two coronavirus tests in a 48-hour span before kickoff and will not coach in a critical game against the 49ers.

The difference between a victory and a loss Sunday is the chasm between a .500 record and a three-game losing streak, between the Bears being part of the playoff conversation during the Week 10 bye or, if they also lose to the Steelers in prime time Nov. 8, being stuck in yet another months-long free fall.

The Bears have yet to lose a game in which they were favored this season. If that changes Sunday, it will affect the tenor of the season — and Nagy’s job security by the end of it.

Nagy ran team meetings on Zoom last week and watched practice film, but the quarantine was enough to sour Nagy’s sunny-side-up disposition.

”I don’t think frustration’s a good word,” Nagy said. ”I think you’re eager and you want to be able to be there with your guys. And probably the biggest challenge as you go through this is just making sure that everybody is doing everything as best as they can. And that’s where just talking through things, it’s easy to [use] technology now to do that. . . .

”But there’s just — you don’t have that feel, right? Because you’re not there.”

Tabor said earlier this week he’d be ready to lead the team. He’ll run the Saturday night team meeting and make in-game decisions Sunday.

”You’ve always been preparing yourself your whole life to do that,” said Tabor, whose head coaching experience spans the 2001 season at NAIA Culver-Stockton. ”I’ve watched a lot of football games and have thought about those types of things.”

The irony is that, after Nagy delegated play-calling to offensive coordinator Bill Lazor in the wake of the Bears’ blowout loss to the Browns in Week 3, he leaned hard into a personality-driven coaching style. In the dreary days after the loss, Nagy gathered his offensive players and actually asked them for advice about how to retool the playbook.

The night before the game against the Buccaneers, Nagy held an emotional team meeting in which, according to running back Khalil Herbert, he showed ”how much he cares and what he means to this team and how he wants to bring us together.”

The Bears then lost 38-3.

Nagy has said all month that not calling plays allows him to be more connected to everyone — from the quarterback to his defense — on game day. Rather than bringing the team together this past week, however, Nagy was apart from it.

Nagy’s left in a lose-lose situation. If the Bears win without him, fans pushing for his ouster will claim he’s unnecessary. If they lose, the same people will paint the Bears as a sinking ship without a leader.

At various points last week, Nagy described the possibility of becoming the first Bears head coach to miss a game since Mike Ditka had a mild heart attack in 1988 as ”strange,” ”unique” and ”weird.”

”I wish I could tell you,” he said, ”but I have no idea what it will be like.”

Sunday, in front of a television, he’ll find out.

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Crete-Monee’s Joshua Franklin (7) returns a kickoff for a touchdown against Kankakee. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

Joshua Franklin and his coach, John Konecki, were too caught up in the moment to realize just what had happened when Crete-Monee played Thornwood on Sept. 17.

Joshua Franklin and his coach, John Konecki, were too caught up in the moment to realize just what had happened when Crete-Monee played Thornwood on Sept. 17.

“I didn’t know at all,” said Franklin, the Warriors’ junior quarterback.

But his mother did.

“My mom had asked me to ask the stat keeper [about his numbers],” Franklin said. “He told me and I was amazed.”

Who wouldn’t be? Franklin put up video game numbers in Crete’s 78-18 win: 469 total yards and eight touchdowns –340 yards and six TDs passing, 129 yards and two scores rushing.

Konecki said he was just focused on the next play all night long.

“[The game] was back and forth and we just exploded,” he said. “I got the stat sheet and I was like, ‘Oh. OK.’ … It was one of those deals where somebody was in that state of flow.”

Usually, Franklin is flowing from one sport to the next. When the 6-foot, 167-pounder was younger, he did five of them: football, baseball, basketball, track and wrestling.

Even now in high school, he still does four, splitting his time in the winter between football and wrestling.

“I have to talk to both of my coaches to work around the schedule,” said Franklin, who doesn’t want to give up either one. “I’ve been playing both since I was little.”

Ditto for football, where he got his start with the University Park Lions.

“He came in as a freshman, played a little on varsity, we were able to see a little bit of that athleticism,” Konecki said. “Then COVID hit.”

But even a pandemic didn’t slow down Franklin. He worked out at home and did some seven-on-seven events on a team thrown together for the purpose with some friends from his youth football days.

Konecki marvels at Franklin’s motor. “He’s go, go, go — he’s been that way forever,” the coach said. “I tell him, ‘It’s OK sometimes to stay on the couch.'”

Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times
Crete-Monee’s Joshua Franklin (7) gets ready for a kickoff after scoring his third touchdown against Kankakee last season.

But sport is life for Franklin. He was a state medalist in the triple jump during the spring track season and is starting to get Big Ten and Mid-American Conference interest in football.

Konecki has coached some elite athletes at Crete. Two reached the NFL — Laquon Treadwell and Lance Lenoir — and two more — Trayvon Rudolph and Clint Ratkovich — are currently playing for Northern Illinois.

“He reminds me of those guys when they were younger,” Konecki said of Franklin.

Can Franklin reach similar heights? His coach isn’t betting against it.

“He’s a great leader, a tremendous kid to be around,” Konecki said.

The scary thing for opponents? Franklin is still getting used to playing quarterback after coming to high school as a wide receiver, defensive back and kick returner (he’s still doing the latter two).

“I had some games where I had some mistakes,” he said. “I’m still learning the position, but I’ve got a great quarterback coach [Quincy Woods].”

And as the numbers showed that night in September, he’s getting the hang of it.

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Right-hander Kyle Hendricks will return to the top of the Cubs’ rotation next season. | Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

The Cubs’ starting pitching was their downfall last season. Even before the trades of Kris Bryant, Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo, the rotation put the Cubs behind the eight-ball.

The Cubs’ offseason began with Jed Hoyer building his front office going into his second year as team president. He went a year without a general manager after his promotion before hiring Carter Hawkins to fill the role. Now that the dust has settled from the front-office movement, the work begins on the roster.

Coming off a season that saw the Cubs lose 90-plus games for the first time since 2014, there are several holes to fill, but some are more urgent than others. With a commitment to be active in free agency and some payroll flexibility, it won’t be impossible for them to address their needs.

The most glaring need is in the starting rotation.

The Cubs’ starting pitching was their downfall last season. Even before the trades of Kris Bryant, Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo, the rotation put the Cubs behind the eight-ball. Far too often in 2021, the Cubs would get only three or four innings from their starters, putting lots of stress on the bullpen.

Cubs starters churned out a 5.27 ERA, good for 27th in the majors. They were also 26th in earned runs allowed and 28th in WHIP.

”If you sort of look at the whole season, there’s no question that we have to acquire more pitching — better pitching — this winter,” Hoyer said this month. ”I think that’ll be the No. 1 priority because that was the downfall of this season. Our rotation was short, and we weren’t effective enough in terms of run prevention.”

Right-hander Kyle Hendricks will return to the top of the rotation next season, but who will join him? Right-hander Alec Mills was the team’s second-best starter for the majority of the season before scuffling down the stretch. Still, he likely will be looking at a spot in the rotation along with Hendricks.

Right-handers Adbert Alzolay and Keegan Thompson and left-hander Justin Steele all got their opportunities to pitch in a big-league rotation in 2021. Alzolay had the most success, but he went through his share of growing pains in the process. Steele ended the season with a career-high seven scoreless innings, but Thompson never found his groove as a starter.

While the Cubs won’t say where those three will fit in next season, they’ll continue to be creative in how they deploy them, even if it means pitching in non-traditional roles.

”We’ve seen teams do a creative job of piecing some rotation spots together with guys going . . . three and four innings at a time, and sometimes that can actually give your bullpen more of a break,” Hoyer said. ”And so the most important thing is, how do you get 27 outs in a game? I think the way that’s happening in baseball is evolving, and I think that’s in a lot of ways a good thing.”

The Cubs obviously will be adding to their starting-pitching depth this offseason, and there are some interesting names available. Among the options will be Noah Syndergaard, Carlos Rodon, Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray and Marcus Stroman.

Based on where the Cubs are in the timeline of their rebuild, it might take them out of the running for some higher-priced free agents. Starters such as Jon Gray, Eduardo Rodriguez and Anthony DeSclafani are likely to be more in their range.

”I think I’ve said repeatedly that we do have financial flexibility,” Hoyer said. ”We have money to spend this winter, but I think it’s really important that we do that in an intelligent way.”

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“This is me,” Grandal said. “If you don’t like it, you can change the channel. That’s pretty much the way I see it.”

Yasmani Grandal is one of the best hitting catchers in baseball, known also for his pitch framing, an experienced, playoff-tested switch-hitter whose value on the free-agent market earned him the biggest contract in White Sox history.

That he’s not the best blocker of balls in the dirt is something the Sox will have to live with.

“This is me,” Grandal told the Sun-Times this week. “If you don’t like it, you can change the channel. That’s pretty much the way I see it.”

How Grandal saw the 2021 season is worth noting, considering his seven consecutive years of being in the playoffs. For him, it was all about the experience.

The White Sox saw firsthand a more battle-tested, experienced team in the Astros that beat them in the postseason and must learn from it. For Grandal, enduring an injury to his right knee in spring training and tearing a tendon in his left knee in July, neither of which prevented him from producing at remarkable offensive levels in the 93 games he appeared in, was “just another learning experience.”

“I played the entire season on one foot,” he said. “I don’t think too many people can do that, and I pretty much performed at a high level.”

Grandal, 33, batted .240/.420/.520 with a .939 OPS, buoyed by a .337/.481/.673 hitting line and 1.154 OPS in the 30 games he played after surgery. The Sox easily won the American League Central but lost to the Astros in four games in the ALDS.

Grandal’s spin on the way it ended is positive.

“Tremendous job from the front office all the way down from top to bottom,” he said. “The right moves were made, and when you look at what we were able to accomplish with what we had, it was incredible.”

Tony La Russa’s presence was a plus, he said, “managing his players the way he did to get us where we needed to be.”

“Obviously the end result wasn’t there but we’re definitely trending toward the right direction and that’s all you want, right?” Grandal said.

Well, a World Series title would have been nice.

“I’d trade how I ended up for having done [lousy] and be in the playoffs right now,” he said.

The Astros prevented that not because they were necessarily better than the Sox but they have the experience the Sox need to win when it counts.

“They have a really good team but so do we,” Grandal said. “But they’re definitely more experienced in those situations and those are the experiences you need to get under your belt in order to be successful in the future. It was a great opportunity for us to learn.”

Experience often wins out on teams closely matched, and that’s what happened to the Sox, Grandal said.

“It happens in boxing all the time, right? Canelo [Saul Alvarez] fighting [Floyd] Mayweather early in his career to get experience. He lost but now he’s known as the best fighter in the world. It’s almost the same thing. A lot of teams looked similar when matched up but experience usually wins out. I was glad we were able to go against a team like the Astros.” The Astros did small things that made a difference, Grandal said.

“Making the plays they needed at the right time, getting the base hit when they needed it at the right time, taking a walk, little things like that,” he said. “Not always looking for the big swing, but putting the ball in play, very small things, and those type of details happen with experience. They were able to execute when the time came.”

With his knees fixed up and protection from the Force3 Defender catcher’s mask and gear made by a company he and former Sox catcher Tyler Flowers are invested in, Grandal says he is nowhere close to the end of his career. He has two years left on a four-year deal and won’t be asking for more time at first base or as a designated hitter.

“Now is not that time,” Grandal said. “I still want the bulk of the innings behind the plate. I still feel like I can go out there and catch 140-150 [games] if need be.”

Grandal says blows to the mask have locked his jaw and put him on liquid diets in years past but since using his current equipment starting in 2017, he has had no such problems or concussion issues. Having that confidence, along with his most valuable takeaway from 2021 — understanding his body, “listening to myself” throughout the knee issues and knowing his numbers would be there at the end of the season” — already have him geared up for 2022.

“We have a group of guys who have the talent to do it and get us where we need to be,” he said. “And that’s why I’m here.”

Jerry Narron, a former manager who oversaw Sox catchers in 2021, envisions a healthier Grandal leading the way.

“You look back at some of the video and he has made some unbelievable blocks,” Narron said. “At times he may want to frame pitches so much that he doesn’t move as well as he possibly could on pitches that are running out of the zone. A lot of catchers can be guilty of that. But as a framer he does a tremendous job, and I’m looking forward to him being healthy, with two good knees. I still think he has a Gold Glove somewhere in his future. I’d like to see him win one on his overall body of work back there. And I want to see him win a World Series ring.”

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