Since the Chicago Bears drafted Justin Fields, fans have been eating up every bit of content they can about their new quarterback.
From big outlets like ESPN and Bleacher Report, to the number-crunchers and analytics heads at Pro Football Focus, to local media, there has been no shortage of praise for the Bears’ rookie quarterback — and fans absolutely love it.
Wednesday, the Bears took the field for their first joint practice with the Miami Dolphins before this weekend’s preseason matchup. It was the Bears’ first live action against an opponent.
Obviously, all eyes were on Fields — all eyes.
Even the Miami Dolphins media got a glimpse of why the Chicago Bears are ecstatic about Justin Fields.
During the teams’ practice, fans are used to seeing live updates from Bears media about how each and every player is doing. Mostly, it’s fun to read about the bigger names like Fields, of course. After all, fans have been long-starving for a top-tier quarterback.
But, even some of the Dolphins’ media took to Twitter to express their impressions on the Bears’ rookie quarterback — and Bears fans should be happy to see what was written.
For example, Miami’s Sun Sentinel beat reporter, David Furones, had a simple yet effective comment regarding Fields.
I really like the way Justin Fields is getting the ball out there. He appears to be the real deal.
To see Dolphins media tweeting about Fields in the middle of a key practice for their own team is pretty telling. The Bears’ rookie was indeed built for the spotlight. He draws people in, regardless of whether or not they’re a bit biased like Bears fans can be.
The one thing that continues to be most impressive about this is the fact that Dolphins media has been hyper-critical of their own young quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa. Another beat writer, Omar Kelly, tweeted after yesterday’s practice that Tua has “no zip” on his passes, and that they’ve known that from the beginning.
While Chicago’s future looks incredibly bright with Fields, the Dolphins still don’t know whether or not last year’s no. 5 overall pick is going to pan out. That’s something to remember while again watching for Dolphins media tweeting during practice today.
One other note from Dolphins media, regarding practice on Wednesday: the Bears’ defensive line dominated Miami’s offensive line. While the Dolphins have their own offensive line issues, it’s great to read about Chicago’s defensive line returning to form.
Last year, the Bears’ line was hurting without Eddie Goldman and specifically had a hard time generating a lot of pressure, which led to a lower sack number than they would have liked to see. It may have only been a joint practice, and not a game, but knowing this defensive line is getting after it and impressing even opposing teams’ media is a huge positive.
All of us, and I mean all of us can relate to being chided by the mocking jibe, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. On that basis I am on a Superhighway to the hot spot, damned a hundred times over because intentions only have power when they are focused and charged with what we call will power.
Will power… that 100%-no-excuses-determination that fuels the drive to make our goal happen. Without it, an intention by itself is merely wishful thinking.
So there I am, the alarm turned off, half awake, still sleepy, thinking to myself, what is it that I must do today… what is there to do that is so important to get all revved up about? Howard, you’re older than dirt and seen it all. Go back to sleep; striving to be king of the mountain was yesterday’s game plan.
I think to myself, it’s nice in my warm bed, why should I get up… is there a place where I have to be… what is my intention for the day?
And then I get out of bed because I know the answer. I have to be here, here now, in the present moment, conscious of the daily miracle that is all around us when we slow our mind and open our heart and awaken to the light of our true nature.
Problem is, in the world we live in, it’s not easy to do, to slow down, to be at peace, to open the heart, to be one with the universe, to be a drop in the ocean… to be the ocean.
The process starts with our passion for what we want to achieve, which generates the strength behind our intention, which drives us to action and the fulfillment of our goal.
Clearly, intention takes focus. But the verbs in the definition distract and make it confusing… to want, to generate, to drive, to fulfill… confusing because verbs are action words, doing words, when the goal is being.
For me, the challenge as I draw closer to the end than to the beginning, is to recognize that intentions can be measured by other than societal standards that put the emphasis on the pocketbook or our vanity when we step on the bathroom scale. The intention I’ve set and the will I’ve marshalled to achieve it, is related to core values, a dramatic departure from the grandiose social persona I presented to the crowd for so many years. My intention is to detach from my old ego-driven ideas of ‘achievement.’
Which brings me back to bed and the urge to pull the covers over my face and accede to the beckoning road to hell because why would I get out of bed just to see the birds having their morning buffet at the bird feeder?
I fear I’m being a bit ‘preachy’ because in many ways this is a pep talk to myself. I still have a propensity for making untoward judgements and checking out the styles in the “T Magazine” of the New York Times even as I sneer at the vulgarity of silk slippers priced with three zeros.
The ambivalence plays havoc until the will asserts itself and brings me back to my intention and the decision to get out of bed and into the shower.
I don’t see myself as a shining light and I doubt if I’ll be seen as such. What I’m aiming for is setting an example of how “intention creates our reality,” a pithy quote by motivation guru Wayne Dyer. He’s been dead for a half dozen years but a workshop I co-lead, “How you think is who you are,” parallels much of his writings.
Sainthood is not the goal. A lot of happy days all in a row is the aim. Instead of reciting the litany of aches making themselves felt as I lurch toward the bathroom, I do seven minutes of Chi Gong with my wife (already up and exercising as I crawl out of bed). In May, I fall out of the hammock and spend a half hour every few days with my granddaughter practicing how to throw and catch a softball. In June, I share her pleasure and pride when she plays on the town’s softball team for kids nine and ten. (Among lessons learned: perseverance, failure as motivation, practice makes proficiency…)
These instances of how I am following the path of my intention are modest and may not fit the loftier examples of ‘Higher Purpose’ put forth by Life Coaches and therapists. But they represent who I want to be as a husband and grandfather, pieces of a mosaic put together over time, one day at a time, one piece at a time, someday to be titled “Who I Am.”
In the course of a long business career I held many titles familiar to the corporate world. But as I quickly learned the lofty nameplates no longer apply when your career comes to a close and you move from the corner office to a corner of the den. The challenge was to stay vital and active rather than idling on the sidelines. I had to create a new foundation upon which to build life’s purpose and joy.
I stopped adding up my stock portfolio as a measure of my net worth and developed a healthy self esteem independent of applause from others.
I am the co-author of The In-Sourcing Handbook: Where and How to Find the Happiness You Deserve, a practical guide and instruction manual offering hands-on exercises to help guide readers to experience the transformative shift from simply tolerating life to celebrating life. I also am the author of 73, a popular collection of short stories about America’s growing senior population running the gamut of emotions as they struggle to resist becoming irrelevant in a youth-oriented society.
Coach Dave Inserra certainly didn’t want Maine South’s spring football season to end with a loss at Naperville Central. The defeat came courtesy of a blocked extra point in the final minutes.
But the defeat comes in handy now for the Hawks, the Sun-Times’ preseason No. 10 team.
”In terms of coaching, it’s usually a little easier to work with a bitter taste in your mouth than to be too high and too full of yourself,” Inserra said. ”So we will use that to our advantage.”
Wounded pride is an especially strong motivator for the Hawks, considering how connected the players feel to the program. Every season, the new faces say the same thing: They grew up watching Maine South football and dreamed of becoming Park Ridge heroes.
That’s the case with quarterback Rowan Keefe.
”I’ve watched Maine South football my whole life,” Keefe said. ”It’s crazy to be here now as one of the guys I watched as a little kid. My parents went to Maine South; my dad played here. Our youth programs are a huge part of the culture here.”
The Hawks’ coaching staff identified Keefe as a future quarterback in seventh grade and had his youth coaches move him from the defensive side of the ball.
”I had played defense all my life, and my dad was a linebacker that hated quarterbacks,” Keefe said. ”So it took some time to get adjusted. But he’s a full-on quarterback dad now.”
Keefe started the last two games of the spring for Maine South and posted impressive numbers against Naperville Central, passing for 353 yards and two touchdowns.
”I’m really happy he had 2oe games to learn and get better,” Inserra said. ”He brings a big arm. He brings leadership. He can run the ball, and he’s just a heady ballplayer. And in our system, it is mostly on the quarterback. He’s up for that moment.”
Northwestern recruit Chris Petrucci will be an anchor on both sides of the ball for the Hawks, playing linebacker and tight end.
”I’ve added a few pounds and focused on improving my blocking,” Petrucci said.
Maine South’s Chris Petrucci catches the ball during practice on August 10, 2021.Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times
Only three starters return on offense and four on defense, but most of the new starters played significant minutes last season. The entire offensive line will be starting for the first time.
”The talent level is as good as any we’ve had defensively, kicking and skill-wise,” Inserra said. ”My offensive line will have to mature quickly, but the things we do will help them out, the way we get the ball out quickly and run the ball. It will take the pressure off their shoulders.”
Thaddeus Gianaris, Maine South’s top defensive lineman, said he has been impressed with the offensive line in practice.
”Every team’s success comes down to the offensive line,” Gianaris said. ”Eventually, they are going to become a force. They’ll be able to do the job well.”
The Hawks open at Stevenson, then face a huge test in Week 2 at Warren. The Blue Devils have been one of the best programs in the state for the last few years and will open the season ranked among the top five.
Cordell Bass was struck in the chest and brought to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The other teen was struck in the right leg and taken to the hospital, where he was stabilized.
In nonfatal attacks, a 17-year-old girl was shot in Back of the Yards on the South Side.
About 3:15 p.m., she was standing in the 1300 block of West 49th Street, when someone shot her in each of her legs, police said. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where her condition was stabilized.
Another teenage girl and two men were shot on a porch in Chicago Lawn on the South Side.
They were attacked about 10:55 p.m. in the 6900 block of South Campbell Avenue, police said. The 15-year-old girl was shot in the arm and was taken to Comers Children’s hospital in fair condition.
A 35-year-old man was struck in the torso and was taken in serious condition to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police said. The other man, 39, was shot in the leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition.
At least 13 others were shot across Chicago Wednesday.
Earlier this year, the Chicago Bears moved up to select Oklahoma State offensive tackle Teven Jenkins in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft.
Jenkins was widely known as a first-round talent, but slid to the second for some reason. At the time, he felt like a luxury pick for the Bears, even though they gave up a lot to get him.
Now a few months post-draft, the Bears continue to wait before they can see their prized left tackle take the field. Jenkins has yet to practice with the Bears this offseason, and fans are beginning to get a little nervous.
While Jenkins has been sitting out all this time due to a back injury, apparently this is nothing new to the coaches and front office.
Teven Jenkins, the Bears 2nd-round pick (#39) overall, penciled in at LT, won’t practice today vs the Dolphins. 12th missed practice.
Not only did the Bears know about a nagging back injury, but they still traded a haul of picks to move up and draft Jenkins. That’s about as bold as you can get.
Pace made the decision this offseason to move on from both starting tackles Charles Leno and Bobby Massie. It doesn’t matter whether or not they needed to be replaced. If Pace didn’t have a locked-and-loaded replacement plan for both of them, then he shouldn’t have cut them both.
Oh, and just take a moment to remember: the Bears cut Leno just three days after selecting Jenkins. They were that confident in their new starting left tackle.
Now, the Bears are stuck waiting around for Jenkins to recover from an ailing injury that’s been affecting him for several months. They could go into the season without Jenkins starting at left tackle, which would further prolong the debut of Justin Fields — if Nagy is being smart about it.
We’ve seen firsthand what can happen if a rookie quarterback is thrown to the wolves without proper protection. Just ask Joe Burrow. No Bears fan wants to see that happen to Fields. He needs to be protected if he’s ultimately going to be put out there as the starter. And what’s more important than protecting his blind side? Nothing.
Jenkins may end up fully recovering from this injury, which would be nothing short of fantastic. However, if this back injury continues to hamper his play or even his ability to practice, then Pace completely missed on this pick.
Of course, it’s a game of ‘what ifs’ at this point, because we don’t know how or when Jenkins will recover. If he’s able to, then Jenkins should be a solid left tackle in this league. He has the ability to finish. He’s got a mean streak, which you love to see from a young tackle. But, health is king. If he doesn’t have that, then he has nothing.
Get ready for some true terror! The innovators of national haunted attractions, 13th Floor Entertainment Group, vill reanimate the historic old prison outside of Chicago this fiendish fall vith the debut of The Old Joliet Haunted Prison. Opening to the public on September 18th just in time for the 2021 Halloveen Season. This new ominous offering vill be Chicagoland’s first and only haunted house inside an actual abandoned prison. Team Gregula is hugely hex-cited for the opportunity to go visit and review this unique upcoming haunted attraction in Illinois!
Originally built as a vomen’s prison in 1896, The Old Joliet Haunted Prison is located in the annex building at 401 Woodruff Road in Joliet, Illinois. The famed, long-abandoned prison has been referenced in numerous television, film, literature and songs. The prison closed in 2002, but is purportedly haunted vith real spooky specters. This fang-tastic fall, the grounds and interior of the prison vill be transformed into a breathtaking haunted house.
To celebrate its opening, The Old Joliet Haunted Prison vill be giving avay five keys to the prison gates to allow a lifetime pass to the Haunted Prison. To enter, join the Haunted Prison fang-mily and sign up to receive access to $13.99 tickets HERE then follow the Haunted Prison on Instagram and tag a fiend on a giveavay post. The five vinners vill be announced on August 17, 2021. Ghoul luck!
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All review inquiries, appearance requests, invitations, questions, compliments and even complaints should be sent to [email protected]. Fangs for the interest. V^^^V
I told you about our anti-goose dog silhouette project. Most of you doubted it would work. People regaled me with their own experiences. “The phony dogs won’t keep away the real geese,” our readers honked.
But guess what. It has been two weeks now. And our driveway is poop-free (most of the time.) There have been two exceptions, but those have been on days that I didn’t have a chance to relocate the silhouettes. (The instructions state to move them daily.)
As long as I follow the rules, the geese do seem intimidated by the black cut-outs as they rotate in the wind around their wooden stakes. The foul fowl will still approach our driveway but not venture onto it for the purpose of leaving a deposit.
As a secondary benefit, the geese seem to be spending less time in the subdivision. They are making less of a racket and not snarling as much traffic. The feathered freaks haven’t evacuated the area entirely–two phony dogs aren’t enough to clear a couple of hundred acres. But the Homeowners Association may consider adding a few more of the silent sentinels around the neighborhood next year and turn our little corner of Riverwoods into a goose-free zone.
Follow-up #2: The Lettuce Entertain You Dining Points. Our hosts on the evening in question read the original blog. They graciously suggested I contact LEYE and claim the points for my own Frequent Diner account. I did, and I have received a tidy number of credits. Thanks, Cara and Ken, the next time we dine out it’s on us!
Follow-up #3: The producers of Jeopardy! have made their selection. It takes two–Mike Richards and Mayim Bialik–to replace the late Alex Trebek. As for me, I am still waiting for my phone call for a tryout. I guess I will need to create my own game show in my quest to be a TV quizmaster. Does anyone have any suggestions?
And on a closing personal note, congratulations to our daughter and son-in-law Laury and Alex on the birth of their beautiful baby daughter. This is grandchild #4 for Barb and me and we are thrilled. Being Nana and Baba is such a wonderful part of our identity.
To all our readers, be kind, get vaccinated, stay well. Talk to you next time.
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Hi! I am Les, a practicing pathologist living in the North Suburbs and commuting every day to the Western ones. I have lived my entire life in the Chicago area, and have a pretty good feel for the place, its attractions, culture, restaurants and teams. My wife and I are empty-nesters with two adult children and a grandchild. We recently decided to downsize, but just a bit! I will be telling the story of the construction of our new home, but also writing about whatever gets me going on a particular day. Be sure to check out the “About” page to learn more about where we plan to go with this blog!
NUEVO QUEJA, Guatemala — The day before Victor Cal left for the United States, he went from relative to relative, collecting money for food during the journey north.
His mother was disconsolate.
“I begged him not to go, that we could live here,” she says. “But the decision had already been made.”
Cal hitched a ride to a place miles away to find electricity so he could charge his phone “to receive calls so the coyote can tell me where and when we will finally meet.”
The makeshift town where he lived offers only hunger and death. To Cal, 26, the United States seemed the only way out.
American authorities have stopped more than 150,000 Guatemalans at the border this year, four times the number in 2020.
Many were like Victor Cal, famished and impoverished. An indigenous Mayan who speaks Pocomchi, he didn’t find work in Guatemala City after serving in the army. When the pandemic hit, he joined thousands fleeing to their agricultural hometowns in the mountains.
Pascuala Jonaj sits against a wood-burning stove as her son Victor Cal feeds the fire a day before he begins his journey to the United States. “I begged him not to go,” Jonaj says. Rodrigo Abd / AP
He thought at least he’d have food by staying on his father’s land in Queja, with coffee, cardamon, corn and beans.
Then came Hurricane Eta’s rains that brought down a mountain and destroyed everything — house, land, town. He and his parents were left destitute, relying on relief from international organizations in a shabby settlement people dubbed Nuevo Queja.
Now, hours away from leaving it behind, he packed what fit in his yellow backpack: a shirt, a sweater, jeans and extra shoes. He’d lost pretty much everything else when a landslide buried his house.
It had been raining for 25 days. The people of Queja had been cooped up for 10 days, roads cut off by flooding.
Without electricity, phones were dead. The rain the previous 24 hours was five times the average monthly amount, but no one told the villagers that or that they were at risk and should leave.
At lunchtime Nov. 5, the first trees fell. The hillside began to melt.
“Those of us who had time to flee could only carry our children on our backs” says 28-year-old Esma Cal — many in Queja share the last name Cal, though it isn’t always clear how they might be related.
Within seconds, 58 people disappeared. Most of their bodies will never be recovered. Forty homes were buried under tons of mud. Dozens more were left inaccessible.
Crossing torrents of water on ropes, survivors walked to the nearest town, where people shared their remaining food and put them up in schools and at the market. When helicopters finally arrived, “Some of us had been without food for almost two days,” Esma Cal says.
Queja was founded 100 years ago, says Erwin Cal, 39, when families got access to a coffee plantation.
“My grandfather was a slave,” he says. “They had to harvest without pay before they were allowed to build their shacks and use some plots of land for their own fields.”
There were corn and beans to eat, then coffee and cardamom for market.
In time, they made enough to buy the land.
In the 1980s, some joined the Guatemalan army. At the turn of the century, with violence plaguing the country, they hired on as private guards and, with some money now, shacks turned into cement houses with tiles, big windows, refrigerators.
“I had a laptop, a sound system and cable TV,” Erwin Cal says, all now gone.
After a church service, women and children walk to a communal meeting to discuss problems regarding housing and donations received by the international community in the makeshift settlement of Nuevo Queja. Guatemala. Rodrigo Abd / AP
By January, Esma Cal, Erwin Cal, their childhood friend Gregorio Ti and others organized a development council. By February, they’d founded a temporary settlement near their buried homes, though it had just one-third the amunt of agricultural land.
Thus was born Nuevo Queja. This would be home, for the moment anyway, to about 1,000 survivors.
“We know how to work,” says Ti, 36, who lost his pregnant wife, their 2- and 6-year-old sons and his mother in the mudslide.
His surviving daughters, 11 and 14, cling to him.
All day, everyone cuts and transports wood and clears land with machetes.
The shacks are zinc sheets donated by a priest and wooden planks from pine trees villagers cut down. Rain pours in through the roofs.
Esma Cal’s 37-year-old uncle German Cal — who returned to Queja after 20 years in Guatemala City to breed chickens, only to lose everything — is trying to bring electricity to Nuevo Queja.
But Guatemala’s government has declared the new settlement uninhabitable. Therefore, since Nuevo Queja doesn’t exist, at least not officially, it isn’t eligible for the electric poles it needs or road repairs or an improved water supply.
The townspeople have gotten help from non-governmental organizations, One provided wheelbarrows, picks and shovels and brought psychologists to play with the kids, reminding them how to clean their teeth. Another visited to ensure donations of water and sanitation kits were used correctly.
UNICEF donated a new school. But it has been closed for five months because no one could find the key to get inside. UNICEF had given it to a teacher who resigned and left with it.
So school was held in a shack next door. But it leaks. So the floor is often flooded and muddy. The furniture rots.
The school serves 250 children. Of 12 teachers from before the storms, just four remain. And their materials are in Spanish, but the students speak only Pomachi, a teacher says.
“None of them will go to high school,” the teacher says. “School failure is total.”
Students wait for their instructor as they look into their classroom flooded the night before by a heavy rain.Rodrigo Abd / AP
At least once a month, nurse Cesar Chiquin, 39, visits Nuevo Queja. Mothers bring their children.
“Malnutrition has doubled,” Chiquin says. “One in three are stunted. Virtually all are at risk.”
The people of Nuevo Queja can’t raise the food they need. Having lost last year’s crops to the hurricanes, “We arrived in Nuevo Queja too late for planting properly,” Esma Cal says.
They have a third of the land they had before the storms. And rains washed away the topsoil.
“We harvested two times a year,” Esma Cal says. “Now, we have only one, much smaller harvest.”
The local council figures the villagers need 75 acres more. But they have no money.
The government has a land trust. Some day, it could provide the land they need — but it could be elsewhere, in another region. Since most of the villagers don’t speak Spanish, only their indigenous language, a move would obliterate their culture.
“This place is not fit to live in,” Esma Cal says. “And, for the moment, we have no way out.”
Eduardo Cal Chen, 23 (left), and his 20-year-old brother Edgar chop wood in the makeshift settlement of Nuevo Queja, Guatemala. Rodrigo Abd / AP
There seem to be only two ways out of Nuevo Queja. One is death. The other is emigrating to the United States. Most people in the village say the only thing keeping them from emigrating is that they can’t afford it.
But Victor Cal, calculating that, by staying, a person might make just $4 for a full day’s work, found a way. He contacted a distant cousin, who’s been in Miami for years, who agreed to advance the $13,000 to buy a coyote package — a deal that offers him two tries to successfully enter the United States, coming in via the Arizona desert.
Hector Cal and his wife Paulina Jonay pray with an evangelical minister days after their 26-year-old son Victor Cal began his journey to the United States. Rodrigo Abd / AP
Cal has a plan in mind once he succeeds.
“My objective is to be able to send money so my parents have a real house again and some land,” he says. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t go. I will be back as soon as possible.”
He says goodbye.
And he leaves without looking back at Nuevo Queja.
After a brief goodbye to his family, Victor Cal begins his journey to the United States, leaving his home in Nuevo Queja.Rodrigo Abd / AP
The Chicago White Sox is the best men’s pro sports team that plays in the city of Chicago. Everyone else, for the first time in a long time, is looking up at them. They have a very nice lead in the American League Central Division after cruising through their schedule up to this point. Now, they will play the New York Yankees in the Field of Dreams game. This is a really big stage for a young team like them.
They can handle it. They are young but there are a lot of valuable veterans on the team like Lance Lynn, Dallas Keuchel, Liam Hendriks, and Craig Kimbrel. All of those guys have made deep runs in the playoffs and can teach these kids a thing or two. The talent is there to get the job done. They just need to go out there and do it.
Chicago deserves this spotlight. Of course, it is partially because they are the big team in the movie Field of Dreams but they are worthy of the spotlight. They have played very well this season which is why they are 63-51. They are just now starting to get healthy to so it will take a minute for them to really show us what they are made of.
With Lynn on the mound for this game, you can expect the big boy lineup on national television. Studs like Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada, Tim Anderson, and Andrew Vaughn amongst others should be able to get the job done offensively. If they do, combined with Lynn having his typical type of outing, should put the bullpen in a position to show their stuff as well.
The Chicago White Sox deserves to be in the spotlight for one night this year.
This could be a good test for the White Sox. It is no lock that they win but they should be able to have a good showing. There is nobody in the league that they should lose to if they all play to their potential. Of course, nobody wins every game but this looks like a very winnable one for them. The Yankees swept them back in New York a few months ago but this is a very different team now.
For whatever reason, there are plenty of people who refuse to give the White Sox the respect that they deserve. Yes, they play in a terrible division and will win it with ease. However, they have recently taken series from the Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays who are all awesome. This is another big test in a long line of them coming up.
Playing at the Field of Dreams is huge for the franchise. Before the rebuild began, there was little interest in them around the league. Now, they are about to play in their third nationally televised game of the week and fourth if you count the YouTube Game. This is going to be a lot of fun for White Sox fans to soak in as the night goes on.
lesraff
January 17, 2020 at 12:00 am