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South Shore locks down Corliss to remain unbeatenMichael O’Brienon September 17, 2021 at 12:37 am

South Shore quarterback Chris McDonald is an ear opener as soon as the Tars take the field. The senior is clearly in full command of his offense, but it is his snap count that is noticeable. It is loud and confident and strange.

It’s a high-pitched scream/yell. Sometimes once, sometimes twice. Opposing defensive lines have had trouble getting used to it all season. McDonald drew Corliss offsides a few times in the game, but it impacted South Shore’s first three opponents even more heavily.

“The coaches told me to switch it up and to brand ourselves to make our own things. I listen to some older guys do it in college,” McDonald said. “I just want to get the defense shifting and make them not ready.”

The Tars dropped most of McDonald’s passes in their 14-6 win against Corliss on Thursday at Eckersall Stadium. But offense isn’t really what South Shore is about this season.

Corliss’ touchdown in the second quarter, a five-yard run by Malachi McClure, is the first score the Tars have allowed.

“We just try to play hard and play physical,” Senior Imani Gilbert said. “We knew giving up some points was bound to happen eventually so we just had to bounce back and stay in the game.”

South Shore (4-0, 2-0 Chicago Lake Street) took an 8-6 lead just before halftime on an 18-yard touchdown run by Kris Nelson, who finished with eight carries for 63 yards.

McDonald punched in a one-yard touchdown run with 3:36 left in the game to provide the final margin.

“[McDonald] is the first person in and the last person out,” South Shore coach Robert Miller said. “Chris studies film at lunch, studies film on the off days. He and [Nelson], those guys are working all day and all night. They go longer than I do.”

South Shore has outscored its opponents 104-6 this season. The mood on the sidelines is energetic and upbeat.

“We aren’t the biggest and we aren’t the fastest team but we will keep hitting you constantly,” Tars senior Keandre Darby said. “Our mindset is to kill a man with 1,000 cuts.”

The Trojans (3-1, 1-0) had a chance to tie the game on their final drive but couldn’t manage to score. Corliss coach Ketih Brookshire said he was missing multiple starters due to COVID. Only 19 players dressed for the game.

“We fought and I’m proud of the kids,” Brookshire said. “We played a lot of young guys in new positions. It’s a big hit when you are missing your quarterback and fullback and two tackles. That hurt. We’ve been on a roll this season but now we ran into COVID.”

McClure, a sophomore, was playing quarterback for the first time. He attempted just two passes, both were incomplete, and had 14 carries for 14 yards.

Sophomore Quincy Robinson had 15 carries for 74 yards for the Trojans.

Corliss, which had outscored its opponents 94-8 heading into the game, will face Little Village next week.

“Everything was clicking and enthusiasm was up around the building,” Brookshire said. “So the kids will take the loss hard. I will need to get them back up. But we will be alright.”

South Shore will face Juarez next week. The Tars schedule is favorable the rest of the way, an undefeated season is not out of the question. Chicago Conference teams are not eligible for the IHSA state playoffs.

“This is my second year here, I came from Robeson,” Miller said. “I brought some work ethic. We are all fire and no quit, all gas and no breaks. We are just putting the work in and these kids will not be denied. If I called practice right now they would be up for it.”

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South Shore locks down Corliss to remain unbeatenMichael O’Brienon September 17, 2021 at 12:37 am Read More »

Halas Intrigue Episode 178: What happens if the Bears lose to the Bengals?Sun-Times staffon September 17, 2021 at 12:48 am

Patrick Finley and Jason Lieser make their Bears-Bengals predictions and wonder if the city would revolt were the Bears to lose at Soldier Field on Sunday. Also: how much will Justin Fields play? What’s up with Eddie Goldman? And will the Bears finally throw deep?

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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Halas Intrigue Episode 178: What happens if the Bears lose to the Bengals?Sun-Times staffon September 17, 2021 at 12:48 am Read More »

Jane Powell, star of ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,’ dies at 92Lynn Elber | Associated Presson September 16, 2021 at 11:17 pm

LOS ANGELES — Jane Powell, the bright-eyed, operatic-voiced star of Hollywood’s golden age musicals who sang with Howard Keel in “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” and danced with Fred Astaire in “Royal Wedding,” has died. She was 92.

Powell died Thursday at her Wilton, Connecticut, home, longtime friend Susan Granger said. Granger said Powell died of natural causes.

Powell performed virtually her whole life, starting about age 5 as a singing prodigy on radio in Portland, Oregon. On screen, she quickly graduated from teen roles to the lavish musical productions that were a 20th-century Hollywood staple.

Her 1950 casting in “Royal Wedding” came by default. June Allyson was first announced as Astaire’s co-star but withdrew when she became pregnant. Judy Garland was cast, but was withdrawn because of personal problems. Jane Powell was next in line.

“They had to give it to me,” she quipped at the time. “Everybody else is pregnant.” Also among the expectant MGM stars: Lana Turner, Esther Williams, Cyd Charisse and Jean Hagen.

Powell had just turned 21 when she got the role; Astaire was 50. She was nervous because she lacked dancing experience, but she found him “very patient and understanding. We got along fine from the start.”

“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” proved to be a 1954 “sleeper” hit.

“The studio didn’t think it was going to do anything,” she recalled in 2000. “MGM thought that `Brigadoon’ was going to be the big moneymaker that year. It didn’t turn out that way. We were the ones that went to the Radio City Music Hall, which was always such a coup.”

The famed New York venue was a movie theater then.

Audiences were overwhelmed by the lusty singing of Keel and Powell and especially by the gymnastic choreography of Michael Kidd. “Seven Brides” achieved classic status and resulted in a TV series and a Broadway musical.

“Blonde and small and pretty, Jane Powell had the required amount of grit and spunk that was needed to play the woman who could tame seven backwoodsmen,” John Kobal wrote in his book “Gotta Sing Gotta Dance: A Pictorial History of Film Musicals.”

After 13 years at MGM, though, Powell quit the studio, reasoning that she was going to be fired “because they weren’t going to be doing musicals anymore.”

“I thought I’d have a lot of studios to go to,” she said in 2000, “but I didn’t have any, because no one wanted to make musicals. It was very difficult, and quite a shock to me. There’s nothing worse than not being wanted.”

She found one musical at RKO, “The Girl Most Likely,” a 1958 remake of “Tom, Dick and Harry.” Aside from a couple of minor films, her movie career was over.

She was born Suzanne Lorraine Burce in Portland, Oregon, in 1928. She began singing on local radio as a small child, and as she grew, her voice developed into a clear, high-pitched soprano.

When the Burce family planned a trip to Los Angeles, the radio station asked if Suzanne would appear on a network talent show there. The tiny girl with a 2 1/2 -octave voice drew thunderous applause with an aria from “Carmen” and was quickly put under contract to MGM.

Her first movie was a loanout to an independent producer for “Song of the Open Road,” a 1944 mishmash with W.C. Fields (at the end of his career) and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

The character’s name in “Song of the Open Road” was Jane Powell, and MGM decided that that would be her movie name.

She played teens in such films as “Holiday in Mexico,” “Three Daring Daughters” and “A Date With Judy.” But she pleaded with the studio bosses to be given grown-up roles and finally succeeded in “Royal Wedding.”

Frothy romances and musicals continued to dominate her career, including “Young, Rich and Pretty,” “Small Town Girl” and “Three Sailors and a Girl.”

After her movie career ended, musical theater offered plenty of work for a star of her prominence and talent. She sang in supper clubs, toured in such shows as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “I Do! I Do!” and replaced Debbie Reynolds in the Broadway run of “Irene.”

She frequently appeared on television, notably in the Judy Garland role in a new version of “Meet Me in St. Louis.”

As she approached her 70s, she focused on drama, appearing in New York theater in such plays as “Avow,” portraying mother of an unmarried, pregnant daughter and a son who wanted to marry his male partner.

In Chicago, Powell appeared at the Goodman Theatre in 2003 in an early version of a musical with book and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Then known as “Bounce,” the piece went on to run in New York, heavily rewritten and without Powell, with the new name “Road Show.”

Powell’s first four marriages ended in divorce: to Geary Steffen (son Geary, daughter Suzanne), Patrick Nerney (daughter Lindsay), James Fitzgerald and David Parlour.

Powell met fifth husband Dick Moore when he interviewed her for his book about child actors. As Dickie Moore, he had been a well-known child actor in the 1930s and ’40s and gave Shirley Temple her first screen kiss in “Miss Annie Rooney” (1942). Moore, head of a New York public relations office, and Powell married in 1988. He died in 2015.

Jane Powell’s survivors include her daughter, Lindsey Nerney, Granger said.

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Jane Powell, star of ‘Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,’ dies at 92Lynn Elber | Associated Presson September 16, 2021 at 11:17 pm Read More »

Man shot at skateboarding park in Grant Park. ‘Four-year-olds come here, bro. So dumb.’Sophie Sherryon September 16, 2021 at 9:56 pm

A man was shot in the leg at the skateboarding park in Grant Park Thursday afternoon.

The 26-year-old was attacked around 2 p.m. in the 1100 block of South Michigan Avenue, Chicago police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious to critical condition, fire officials said.

Police set up crime tape as people walked their dogs, jogged and rode bicycles, enjoying the cloudless afternoon. Some shook their heads as they walked past.

The shooting took place at a time when the skate park is usually busy, according to skateboarders who gathered behind a fence nearby.

One skateboarder, who did not want to be named, was puzzled that the shooting took place in broad daylight, at a place he considers safe.

“Why here?” he asked. “Four-year-olds come here, bro. So dumb.”

Shootings have risen 76% over last year in the police district that covers the Loop and South Loop, from 21 to 37, police statistics show.

Last July, a 15-year-old was grazed by a stray bullet while walking in the same block of South Michigan Avenue.

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Man shot at skateboarding park in Grant Park. ‘Four-year-olds come here, bro. So dumb.’Sophie Sherryon September 16, 2021 at 9:56 pm Read More »

Blackhawks sign 1st-rounder Nolan Allan to 3-year contractBen Popeon September 16, 2021 at 10:13 pm

Nolan Allan, the Blackhawks’ 2021 first-round draft pick, is now officially under contract.

The Hawks signed the 18-year-old defensive defenseman, taken with the 32nd overall selection in July, to a three-year entry-level contract Thursday with a $870,000 salary cap hit.

The signing was largely a formality, as Allan’s contract may well end up sliding — and not functionally starting until next season — if he lands as expected back in Canadian juniors this season.

He’s considered more a long-term prospect with little shot of making the Hawks’ crowded NHL defensive corps this season, and he’s not eligible to be assigned to the AHL. Instead, he’ll likely head back for a third year with the Prince Albert Raiders in 2021-22.

However, he’ll first gain valuable experience as a headline player in two Hawks prospect games against Wild prospects this weekend in Minnesota, then in Hawks training camp starting next week.

This story will be updated.

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Blackhawks sign 1st-rounder Nolan Allan to 3-year contractBen Popeon September 16, 2021 at 10:13 pm Read More »

Riot Fest 2021: Day 1 photo highlightsAshlee Rezinon September 16, 2021 at 10:46 pm

Riot Fest 2021 got underway on Thursday with a “preview party” in the park.

It has been 732 days since Riot Fest packed the stages and carnival attractions following the 2019 event in Douglas Park. It would have been difficult to arrange a better day for an outdoor event to return, with clear blue skies and temperatures dipping into the upper 70s by early evening.

Crowds for Thursday’s earlybird lineup we’re not heavy as concerts began, likely due to ticketholders’ day job responsibilities as much as agoraphobia in the age of COVID. Stagehands were masked, but not many in the crowd were taking such precautions.

Patti Smith, Morrissey, WDRL, Alkaline Trio, Joyce Manor and Kristeen Young are on the bill for the Douglass Park fest’s opener. The festival was canceled last year due to the pandemic.

Looking ahead to the rest of the fest, the lineup boasts Slipknot, Gwar, the Smashing Pumpkins, Living Colour and Run the Jewels among others.

There are plenty of COVID-19 safety protocols in place for the festival including hand sanitizing and handwashing stations throughout the park, and an onsite COVID vaccination station (courtesy of St. Anthony Hospital; Pfizer and J&J vaccines only). In addition, all attendees must show proof of a full vax or negative COVID test results (the latter within 48 hours of entry date) accompanied by a valid, government-issued photo ID to gain entry each day.

Here’s a look at the sights and sounds of Day 1:

Music fans arrive at Douglass Park for Day 1 of Riot Fest, Thursday afternoon, Sept. 16, 2021. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fans head to the carnival at Riot Fest on Day 1 of the event in Douglass Park.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Security checks for proof of COVID-19 vaccination at the entrance of Riot fest on Thursday afternoon in Douglass Park.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fans enjoy carnival games in Douglass Park during Day 1 of Riot Fest, Thursday afternoon, Sept. 16, 2021.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Festival-goers walk past signs at the entrance to Riot Fest on Day 1 in Douglass Park on Thursday afternoon.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Anyone for some Riot Fest Pale Ale? Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Contributing: Jeff Elbel

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Riot Fest 2021: Day 1 photo highlightsAshlee Rezinon September 16, 2021 at 10:46 pm Read More »

‘Funky’ White Sox stink up the joint in 9-3 loss to Angels. Maybe it’s time to refocus?Steve Greenbergon September 16, 2021 at 10:50 pm

Home-field advantage? Who needs it?

White Sox manager Tony La Russa’s last team didn’t. The wild-card Cardinals of 2011 knocked off the owners of the top two home records in baseball en route to the National League pennant and a World Series title.

“I’m not bragging,” he said. “It’s just a fact.”

Another fact: The Sox can forget about having home-field advantage to open the postseason unless they wake up — like, right now — and smell the opportunity to do damage throughout a season-long 11-game road trip against the highly beatable Rangers, Tigers and Indians that begins Friday in Texas.

The least they could do is wake up and put an end to the sleepy, sloppy play that marked a 9-3 loss Thursday against the Angels at Guaranteed Rate Field.

La Russa definitely wasn’t bragging about that.

“They’re men, not machines, and once in a while you get in a little funk,” he said. “That’s what momentum’s about. You get in a good thing and it’s a good aura, a good vibe. You get into a funk and stuff gets worse. We were funky today.”

Take the fourth inning — please — when the Angels scored five times off starter Reynaldo Lopez before an out was recorded.

With runners at first and second, Luis Rengifo lined a one-hopper to shortstop Tim Anderson, who bobbled the ball but still had time for an easy forceout. The problem? Second baseman Cesar Hernandez didn’t bother to cover the bag, leaving Anderson to throw late to first instead and be charged with an error — his first of two — on the play. Jack Mayfield then cleared the bases with a double and advanced to third only because left fielder Eloy Jimenez’s perfectly fine throw home skipped past both catcher Zack Collins and — doing a less-than-ideal job of backing up home plate — Lopez. Error, Jimenez.

Mayfield came home on a two-run homer by Jose Rojas. Hey, it happens. But after Lopez struck out Brandon Marsh, first baseman Gavin Sheets ran halfway to the dugout before realizing there were only two outs. That should happen pretty much never.

In all, the Sox piled up errors, wild pitches — and ejections — in the kind of utterly unimpressive performance that makes one wonder how focused they are on the stretch run.

And it was a game that went beyond strange, a tangled mess that included multiple fans running onto the field, Sox reliever Mike Wright and La Russa both getting run in the ninth by umpire Bill Welke after Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani was hit with a pitch, and infielder Romy Gonzalez finishing the ninth on the mound while Jose Abreu manned third base.

Wouldn’t it be nicer if the Sox — even as La Russa is careful with Anderson’s and Carlos Rodon’s comebacks from the injured list — cranked up the intensity and got serious about catching and passing the Astros, their likely opponent in the divisional round? The AL West leaders were 2 1/2 games up on the Sox with 17 to play after the Sox managed to lose a sixth straight series against the Angels.

“We’d love to have home-field advantage because you can see that our numbers are better here, but we’ve played well on the road at times, most times,” La Russa said. “But the postseason is what it is. It’s relevant, but it’s not — what’s the word? — determinative. …

“It would be nice to have it, but it’s nicer just to get in and have a chance to compete.”

Keep this in mind, though: Major league teams with home-field advantage have advanced in nine of the last 12 divisional-round series, a three-year trend that includes five of the last six series in the AL. And who has the best home record in the AL this season? The Sox, at 49-27 (.645).

They might have to prioritize finishing fast if only to regain their edge.

ON DECK: SOX AT RANGERS

Friday: Dylan Cease (11-7, 4.22) vs. Taylor Hearn (6-4, 3.99), 7:05 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

Saturday: Lance Lynn (10-4, 2.50) vs. Spencer Howard (0-2, 11.81), 6:05 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

Sunday: Lucas Giolito (9-9, 3.77) vs. Jordan Lyles (9-11, 5.20), 1:35 p.m., NBCSCH, 1000-AM

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‘Funky’ White Sox stink up the joint in 9-3 loss to Angels. Maybe it’s time to refocus?Steve Greenbergon September 16, 2021 at 10:50 pm Read More »

Father, sons ambushed rivals in deadly family feud on Far South Side: ProsecutorsDavid Struetton September 16, 2021 at 9:51 pm

A family feud turned deadly when a father and his two sons ambushed their rivals outside their West Pullman home, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

The patriarch, allegedly tied to the Aug. 1 attack, remains at large.

But his sons, Nathaniel Butler Jr. and Maurice Butler, have since been arrested and charged with the murder of 35-year-old Jerome Jenkins.

Jenkins is the brother of the Butlers’ sister’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, prosecutors said.

An hour before Jenkins and his father were shot in the 12100 block of South LaSalle Street, the Butlers’ sister went to the Jenkins’ household to confront her boyfriend, prosecutors said.

The couple argued on the porch before the woman started physically attacking her boyfriend, prosecutors said. But she left after her boyfriend’s sister came out and allegedly struck her.

Then, around 10 p.m., a brick came crashing through a front window of the Jenkins’ home, prompting all six family members to come outside and investigate, prosecutors said.

Outside, they saw the Butler brothers and their father standing by a white SUV. The Butlers’ sister was also allegedly standing on the street corner with another woman.

The Butler patriarch went on to tell the Jenkins he was the one who threw the brick, prosecutors said. Then, the Butler brothers and their father started shooting, firing at least 26 shots times on the street and front yard, prosecutors said.

Jenkins was struck between the eyes and his thigh, prosecutors said. He was pronounced dead on the scene. Jenkins’ father suffered a graze wound to his hand, prosecutors said.

Nathaniel Butler arrest photoChicago police

Judge John F. Lyke noted Thursday that Jenkins’ murder “all started, honestly, with a bunch of nonsense.”

Police recovered dozens of shell casings that were fired from two 9mm pistols, prosecutors said. Several of the victims’ relatives identified the Butler brothers and their father as the shooters, prosecutors said.

Nathaniel Butler Jr., 20, was arrested Tuesday while carrying a backpack with one of the pistols used in the attack, prosecutors said. He denied being at the scene of the crime.

But Maurice Butler, 23, who was also arrested Tuesday, admitted to detectives on video that he was at the scene of the shooting but did not shoot a weapon, prosecutors said. He did say his father threw the brick and that Nathaniel Butler Jr. opened fire from a pistol with an extended clip, prosecutors said.

Both brothers were on probation for previous gun convictions at the time of the deadly incident, prosecutors said.

Maurice Butler arrest photoChicago police

Maurice Butler lives with his girlfriend and 1-year-old son, his lawyer said. He spent the last three months in a GED program with the anti-violence program CRED, the defense attorney added.

Nathaniel Butler Jr. lives with his mother and had been taking classes at Excel Academy, his attorney said. Both brothers had been working at a restaurant where their mother is a manager, their attorneys told Lyke.

Lyke ordered the brothers held without bail.

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Father, sons ambushed rivals in deadly family feud on Far South Side: ProsecutorsDavid Struetton September 16, 2021 at 9:51 pm Read More »

Jason Goff is ‘Full Go’ for podcast career at The RingerJeff Agreston September 16, 2021 at 7:55 pm

Bill Simmons has been looking to expand his podcast empire at The Ringer, the sports and pop culture website he launched in 2016. The site already has dozens of shows, but Simmons wants to create some that are hyperlocal.

He began in April with “New York, New York,” and he has been trying to set up shop in Philadelphia and his beloved Boston. Eventually, Simmons turned his attention to Chicago. In conversations with colleagues about potential hosts, one name kept coming up: Jason Goff.

A mutual contact told Goff that Simmons might reach out. Similar experiences led Goff to take the information with a grain of salt. But the next day, Simmons’ name appeared on Goff’s phone.

“We started with some basketball conversation, and I realized this isn’t just initial conversation,” said Goff, the Bulls pre- and postgame show host on NBC Sports Chicago. “This is something that he and others have talked about, and this is him seeing if I was interested. It kinda dropped in my lap because I didn’t know they were searching.”

The first episode of “The Full Go with Jason Goff” dropped Monday, just in time for Goff to tear into the Bears after their season-opening loss. Shows will come out Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Goff will host emergency episodes when big news breaks. He also will host “The Ringer NFL Show” on Tuesdays with former players Ryan Shazier and James Jones.

What appealed most to Goff was Simmons’ insistence that Goff be himself.

“He’s like, ‘I just want you,’ ” Goff said. “Anytime anybody said that to me, I’ve jumped at it because you don’t get that too often in this business.”

In more than 20 years in the business, mostly at The Score, Goff has been as real as it gets. How he sounds on a show is how he sounds on the street, only a little cleaner. He’s a powder keg of passion, but he doesn’t shout at you to make his point. He’s sharp, smart and witty, but he doesn’t come off as a know-it-all. That said, he knows exactly what he’s doing in front of a microphone.

“The Full Go” name, which Goff and Simmons discussed, is a perfect fit for Goff’s personality.

“He threw out a couple of things, and I was like, we should make it so that people here in the city have said it before and it doesn’t feel touristy,” Goff said. “Nothing ‘Windy City.’ I just told him ‘The Full Go’ should be the name, the double entendre kind of vibe to it, if you’re a full-go as a player or as a fan.

“I’m gonna have a lot of guys and girls on this show who probably don’t get a chance to get on ESPN or The Score. I’ve had content conversations with the producers. They’ve entrusted me with as much creative control as you could allow for me to have without everybody getting fired.”

One of those producers is Chris Tannehill, the wizard of sound at The Score who created Goff’s first open when he began hosting part-time back in the day. Goff said Tannehill is helping him on an interim basis to start.

The last time they worked together was in March 2018, before Goff was dismissed unceremoniously at The Score by former boss Jimmy deCastro as part of a lineup revamp. At the time, DeCastro said he sought to “play the hits” – in other words, stick to sports. That left Goff in a bad place.

“When all that went down, I was upset at everybody because of how I was portrayed,” Goff said. “I just got the worst [stuff] put on me that you could possibly get put on you. ‘This guy only wants to talk about race in a world where nobody wants to hear about it.’ “

Goff said he only recently was able to let go of the anger that stewed inside him with the help of therapy. He also was trying to move on professionally. After The Score, Goff worked for ESPN Radio nationally and SiriusXM satellite radio, in addition to landing the NBCSCH job. People kept telling him to jump into podcasting, but that required some soul-searching first.

“For three years I’ve been sitting here thinking that if I did it, I wouldn’t be considered a radio guy anymore. Or I wouldn’t feel like I accomplished the mission,” said Goff, who remembers telling his mother at age 11 that he wanted to be a sports-radio host. “And it took a lot of therapy and my lady [Dr. Pia Holec], who is a psychologist, to realize that maybe that isn’t the final destination.”

The Score certainly wasn’t a stepping stone for the next phase of Goff’s career. It was an enormous part of his life since the days he’d call in to shows as “Jason from Evanston.” Radio was all he knew. It was the only job he ever wanted. So podcasting was going to be a challenge.

“Anything outside of a radio booth, that confidence that I move with isn’t always consistent and prevalent,” Goff said. “So for years I’m like, what if I do this and it sucks or no one listens? The self-doubt of placing too much value in other people’s opinions about me, which is what I was born into in radio.”

And then Simmons called.

Whatever you think of Simmons, it’s hard to argue with his success rate in sports media. He listened to people he trusts and sought out Goff for his next endeavor. That eased Goff’s insecurities about his next career.

“I’ve been looking for validation for a long time instead of confirmation,” Goff said, “and I think this is kinda confirmation and this is how I’m just gonna go about the rest of my career, understanding that I’m better than good.”

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Jason Goff is ‘Full Go’ for podcast career at The RingerJeff Agreston September 16, 2021 at 7:55 pm Read More »

The Bears defense ‘didn’t play with enough energy’ — but how?Patrick Finleyon September 16, 2021 at 7:56 pm

When explaining why he chose Sean Desai over over eight other defensive coordinator candidates in January, Bears coach Matt Nagy will often rattle off the qualities he likes about the first-year play-caller.

“You can see the energy and the swag that he has on the sideline,” Nagy said last month. “The juice. The fire. The guys see that. They feel that.”

Which is what made Sunday’s 34-14 loss to the Rams that much more damning. Not only did the Bears struggle, but they were flat.

Not enough energy? In prime time? On national television? Against one of the three favorites to win the NFC? At SoFi Stadium, the site of this year’s Super Bowl? In front of a full crowd for the first time since 2019? What?

“I played in a lot of games … so I could kinda tell how the energy is,” said Ogletree, who has made 95 career starts. “When you’re feeling good, you can see it on film and everybody can feel it.”

It took only three Rams plays to feel the opposite way. Matthew Stafford’s 67-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson — aided by veteran safeties Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson forgetting to touch him when he was down — put the Bears in a hole from which they never climbed out.

“Everybody was hyped up and ready to go,” defensive lineman Bilal Nichols said. “I just think that guys just … First game. Just messed up on technique.”

That’s not supposed to happen to a veteran, expensive defense.

“They had some explosives and that can take away from your energy,” Nagy said Thursday. “But you’ve gotta find it then. You’ve gotta get it back by making big plays. And then we can help it, too, on offense by making big plays to where you kind of feel the juice on the sideline and there is that energy.

“I felt like in that game, we were just kind of playing catch-up the whole game.”

Nagy likes Desai’s composure — he doesn’t panic on game day — but Sunday will be the first time he sees exactly how his coordinator adjusts his game plan from week-to-week.

“We’ve got to go out there and make it happen,” Nagy said. “We can’t just say, ‘We’ve got to be better.’ But where you do that is in practice. You see why. You practice it.”

Now the Bears players have to do it.

During training camp, the Bears had Udonis Haslem, a three-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat, address the team. His lesson, Nagy said, was how impactful it is when players — not coaches — lead from within.

“We have guys that have done that,” Nagy said. “And now when you get to a game like that — not just as a defense but as an offense too, right, all of us — we’ve got to be able to everybody pull together.”

That’s the challenge against the Bengals on Sunday. Having a full Soldier Field will help — although if the Bears could be flat last week, they could do it every week.

“I just think this week for us is about bringing the energy and executing on our plays and just being us,” Ogletree said. “Having fun and playing well.”

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The Bears defense ‘didn’t play with enough energy’ — but how?Patrick Finleyon September 16, 2021 at 7:56 pm Read More »