With Day 2 of Lollapalooza almost over, festival organizers on Friday had some big news regarding COVID safety protocols: starting Saturday, masks will be required at all indoor spaces on the festival grounds.
The areas include the box office, merchandise shop, two hospitality lounges and wristband help tents.
The announcement was made via Lolla social media accounts and app, encouraging festival-goers to bring along a a mask for Saturday and Sunday.
The mandate is the latest in the COVID safety protocols listed on the festival’s website, most prominent: all festival-goers must present proof of vaccination or a negative COVID.
On Friday, festival-goers were greeted by posted signs advising them that attendees assume all risk related to exposure to the virus.
Signs posted at an entrance to Lollapalooza alert attendees that they voluntarily assume all risks related to COVID exposure. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
The Sun-Times on Tuesday reported that the festival is also asking people to comply with the Lollapalooza Fan Health Pledge, which asks patrons to not attend the festival if they have tested positive or been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 within 14 days; if they’ve had a fever or any symptoms of COVID-19 within 48 hours of attending the festival; or if they have traveled to any foreign countries subject to travel or quarantine advisories due to COVID-19.
WASHINGTON – The emotions of Cubs fans all across the country have been over the last 48 hours as the team broke up the core that brought the team’s first World Series title in 108 years. But even after the trades of Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo broke up the team’s superstar trio, there’s no denying the legacy that they helped build.
Which also makes it harder for those who helped build that legacy and helped create those championship expectations over the last seven years to watch it come to an end.
“It’s been a lot,” Baez said on Friday after his trade to the Mets. “I think with [Anthony] being the first one that got traded, I think he was the hardest one to say goodbye to. It’s still hard to say bye to the boys and to the organization.”
Baez, Bryant and Rizzo each brought something to the organization as it turned from being one of baseball’s worst to one of its most emulated.
“I couldn’t be more proud of what we built,” president Jed Hoyer said. “It was really difficult to have those conversations.”
Baez had been in the organization for 11 years after being drafted by the Cubs in 2011 and while he was an inherited piece to Hoyer and Theo Epstein’s core, he became one of their most important players during the team’s window.
Rizzo was the player the Cubs identified as the centerpiece of their championship roster when the Hoyer/Epstein regime came over in 2012 and was the team’s vocal leader until his departure on Thursday.
“I remember sitting with his parents in a suite in Boston when he was diagnosed with cancer,” Hoyer said. “I remember hearing his voice when I was in San Diego and I traded for him. … I’ve been with him forever.”
Bryant was one of the final pieces of the core and accomplished more in his seven seasons with the Cubs than some players accumulate in a 15-year career. David Ross has watched all three players as both their teammate and their manager and seeing them walk out the door was not an easy task.
“Emotional,” Ross said. “Emotional is the first word that comes to mind. Sad. Difficult. A lot of negative words that I usually don’t like to use. … Outside of the manager’s side, I feel like I’m losing some friends and I think that’s difficult.
“I’m happy for them. … They get a chance to go to some teams that are in the hunt chasing championships and they’re very good at that.”
The Cubs’ three now-former superstars will now each go to pennant races with Rizzo with the Yankees, Bryant with the Giants and Baez with the Mets.
But before Baez joined his new team in New York, Baez didn’t want to leave without acknowledging the fans that cheered him on since he was an 18-year-old.
“Just want to let you guys know that we love you,” Baez said. “We know the dedication that you guys give to the sports in Chicago and what it means to the city. I never thought it was gonna be this big and when we won the World Series in 2016, the city was just going crazy and the happiness around it was amazing. I didn’t really grow up in a big city following a team, so when I saw that here, it was pretty incredible.”
Driver’s licenses are issued to make our roads safer. Public officials should not use them as a club to force people to follow unrelated rules.
Thirty-five states and Washington, D.C., suspend the licenses of people who can’t pay various fines or fees, which is counterproductive. It makes it harder for people to get to jobs, schools, medical appointments and church. Police have to spend time enforcing the suspensions, essentially acting as debt collectors. Some people will drive anyway because that’s mostly how we get around in our nation today. If they do so, they risk jail time, which doesn’t help them pay their debts.
Starting July 1, under the new SAFE-T Act, Illinois stopped suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic tickets, automated red light and speed camera tickets, and parking tickets. But a similar federal bill, the Driving for Opportunity Act, which we support, is parked in the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. It would give grants to states to encourage them not to suspend driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and fees. Some studies indicate local governments collect as much revenue or even more after they stop suspending licenses.
People ought not pile up tickets by breaking traffic rules or parking illegally with impunity. But everyone makes mistakes, and no-parking spots are not always clearly marked. For people barely scraping by financially, hefty tickets can be more than they can handle. If people have no money, suspending a driver’s license is not going to help authorities collect the money due.
That’s not to say motorists should be empowered to ignore traffic and parking laws. Those rules are there for public safety and to keep illegally parked cars from clogging the streets and blocking fire hydrants or fire lanes. Scofflaws are a problem, but experience shows suspending driver’s licenses doesn’t fix that problem.
Once officials start revoking driver’s licenses for transgressions that aren’t related to safe driving, it’s tempting to use suspensions to enforce public compliance for a wide range of issues. Some states, for example, revoke licenses for missed child-support payments.
Driver’s licenses are issued to ensure that motorists drive safely. They should not be suspended for other reasons.
Anthony Rizzo was an emotional basket case, but so were a lot of us.
It was the top of the fifth inning in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, the Cubs were beating Cleveland 4 to 1, and Rizzo, leaning over catcher David Ross in the dugout, could hardly contain himself. The Cubs were closing in on their first championship in 108 years.
“I can’t control myself right now. I’m trying my best,” Rizzo told Ross, a seasoned veteran called “Grandpa.” “I’m emotional … I’m an emotional wreck.”
“It’s only gonna get worse,” Ross counseled. “Just continue to breathe.”
We all continued to breathe. The Cubs won. Happy people cried.
The Cubs haven’t won another World Series since, despite an embarrassment of once-young talent, and to this day we’re not sure why. We always figured we were watching a dynasty in the making. But we’ll leave that to the sportswriters.
Today, as three more core members of that great and thoroughly entertaining team move on, we’d just like to say farewell and thank you. You broke the Cubbie curse and that, for many of us, was winning enough.
First baseman Rizzo, a Cub since 2012, is headed to the New York Yankees. They’ll love him in that town. Third baseman Kris Bryant, a Cub since 2015, is headed to the San Francisco Giants. Shortstop Javier Baez, a Cub since 2014, is headed to the New York Mets. If New Yorkers think Broadway is fun, they haven’t seen Baez run the bases.
Except when up against the Cubs or Sox, may they all fare well.
Lollapalooza officially returned to Grant Park this week for four days of music and good times despite concerns about how bringing together over 100,000 people each day will affect the ongoing pandemic.
The festival, which opened Thursday with vaccination or proof of a negative COVID-19 test required for entry, represents the largest public event to date held in Chicago since the emergence of the coronavirus last March. Despite worries over the virus’ Delta variant and rising caseloads nationally, the show will go on this weekend.
For the second day, Lollapalooza audiences packed Grant Park to hear their favorite artists perform live. Here’s a look at reviews from Friday’s performances by Mick Jenkins, tobi lou and many more.
Miley Cyrus performs at the T-Mobile stage, Thursday, July 29, 2021.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Black Pumas performs at the T-Mobile stage, Thursday.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times
Starting her Lollapalooza headlining set with “We Can’t Stop” (preaching the general theme of “it’s my party and I’ll do what I want to”), Miley Cyrusset the tone early on: It would be one helluva time and she would be making all the rules. In following those two tenets, the genre-bending star dominated the festival’s opening night.
There were fireworks, some memorable covers, a motley crew of guests, moments of nearly flashing the videofeed cameras, and the artist taking a stand on the important of freeing Britney Spears. During Cyrus’ performance Thursday of her hit “SMS (Bangerz),” which features Spears, the jumbo screens next to the stage broadcast the trending #freebritney message superimposed with caricatures of handcuffs. (Cyrus recently championed Spears’ conservatorship emancipation at a show in Vegas too.)
Lightfoot takes the stage: ‘Thank you for masking up and vaxing up’
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has been outspoken about her decision to keep Lollapalooza as scheduled despite the uptick in cases of COVID-19 and numerous variants spreading around the country, made a not-so-surprise appearance on the festival’s opening day.
Wearing a Black Pumas T-shirt, she introduced the group’s midday set at the T-Mobile Stage and hailed the Pumas as one of the greatest rock bands of today.
“The rate of vaccination in this crowd is off the charts,” she said.
First Lolla fans optimistic as 2021 festival kicks off amid COVID-19 precautions
Thousands of fans streamed into Grant Park Thursday marking the return of Lollapalooza after COVID-19 halted last year’s iteration of the 30-year-old music festival. While some fans said they were slightly worried about COVID-19, many expressed confidence in Lollapalooza’s new protocols.
But not everyone knew about the vaccine mandate in order to attend the music festival.
Lolla signs warn attendees they assume risk for COVID-19
The thousands of people entering Lollapalooza on Thursday are being greeted by signs explaining something that’s not included on their public health and safety website: By attending the festival, “you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19,” which they mention “can lead to severe illness and death.”
Some of the names on the Lolla lineup are a lot bigger than others. Selena Fragassi parses through the dozens of bands and artists to break down 10 must-see acts that attendees won’t want to miss this weekend. Here’s what Fragassi says about one of the festival’s earliest performers, Orville Peck:
No one exactly knows who this incognito Canadian country singer is (his trademark look is a long, fringed mask and cowboy hat) but the boudoir-looking John Wayne has heaped tons of due praise in his few years on the scene. Both for crafting a highly contagious psychedelic outlaw sound that refreshes the genre and for being an LGBTQ iconoclast whose work with Trixie Mattel and Gaga will soon put him in a new league.
With coronavirus case figures rising across the country amid lagging vaccination rates and the emergence of the Delta variant, Lollapalooza put in place security measures to help make the festival safer.
For the members of Chicago rock band Rookie, stepping on to the stage at Lollapalooza Friday felt like a dream, years in the making.
The five piece looked out onto the early afternoon crowd and swiftly jammed through their first few songs, letting their brand of 1970s-inspired roots rock blast through the festival grounds, enticing sleepy concertgoers to stop by.
For years Max Loebman (guitar/vocals), Dimitri Panoutsos (guitar/vocals), Christopher Devlin (bass/vocals), Joe Bordenaro (drums/vocals) and Justin Bell (keys/vocals) each cut their teeth playing in the Chicago D.I.Y. scene. But after filling in for members in each other’s respective bands, the group decided to form Rookie in 2017.
As a new unit, the band began making a name for itself throughout the following years, rising with the likes of fellow Chicago scenemates Twin Peaks and Beach Bunny.
The group cites classic artists like Chicago, Neil Young and the Grateful Dead as influences, as well as more contemporary acts like Caveman.
They also trade lead singing duties on different songs, a testament to each member’s songwriting prowess and their collaborative process.
But by the time they released their debut self titled album — a gritty, catchy album with soraing guitars and smart melodies — in 2020, all momentum had stalled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Tour dates were canceled — including a stint at Lollapalooza 2020 — venues shut down, and the band was tasked with figuring out what to do next.
Justin Bell of Rookie is photographed during the band’s set at Lollapalooza on Friday.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
So they did what they’ve always done — they got together and jammed.
“It was really scary at first. We spent a little time apart, then started getting back together and rehearsing in a garage so we could be outdoors,” said Loebman, 24, during a chat after their set at Lollapalooza.
Those jam sessions turned into writing sessions, and eventually recording sessions in Devlin’s basement. Eventually they finished a new album, which is in the process of being mixed.
With a new album on the horizon and a debut record that never got a proper tour cycle, Rookie, although slightly nervous, was more than ready when the time came to play the Tito’s vodka stage at this year’s Lollapalooza.
“It was incredible,” Loebman said. “We all love playing live music, and we always knew that, but just getting to do that again after not doing it for so long — it’s a huge release.”
Loebman said that playing a few recent dates with Seattle-based band Band of Horses helped to calm the pre-Lolla nerves.
Another source of comfort while playing the biggest stage of their career so far are family, friends and fans among the crowd, a group Panoutsos affectionately calls “Rookie Heads.”
“I think the best part was seeing so many familiar people,” Panoutsos said. Like, from my family, to friends from my neighborhood — people that came early just to hang out. That made me feel a lot better. It’s like playing any other show — but on the biggest stage that you’ve ever played on.”
The band was set to return to familiar territory Friday night, playing a soldout aftershow with Philadephia’s Mt. Joy at Thalia Hall. And on Nov. 26 and 27, their debut album will finally get a long-delayed record release show.
After ending their debut Lollapalooza set with a raucous jam that kept the crowd on its feet, Bell looked up from his Hammond B3 organ.
“This is a dream come true, thanks for being with us,” he told the adoring throngs.
With Day 2 of Lollapalooza almost over, festival organizers on Friday had some big news regarding COVID safety protocols: starting Saturday, masks will be required at all indoor spaces on the festival grounds. The announcement was made via Lolla social media accounts and app. Festival-goers are also encouraged to bring along a a mask for Saturday and Sunday.
Here are reviews of some of the sets at Day 2 of Lollapalooza 2021 in Grant Park:
Mick Jenkins
Hip-hop has a strong presence at Lollapalooza this year, including its own class of Chicago talent.
South Sider MickJenkins kicked things off on Friday afternoon, warming up the Bud Light Seltzer Stage before fellow born-and-raised wordsmith Polo G came on. Bolstered by a live drummer and DJ, Jenkins gifted the crowd with several firsts in his set, including new tracks from his as-to-be-named upcoming album, none more so gripping than the soul-busting track “Things You Could Die For If Doing While Black.” The title says it all, his informed lyrics referencing innocent activities like going for a jog that led to the death of Ahmaud Arbery, and selling cigarettes that unfolded in the killing of Eric Garner. “I really just want respect,” Jenkins declared several times in the song.
Jenkins is an incredible mouthpiece for a conscious rap style. He leads the collective Free Nation “that promotes creative thought without accepting narrow views imposed by the powers that be,” according to his label, Cinematic Worldwide, and it’s a message seen in his thought-provoking tracks that spread both love and truth.
Free Nation crew member Stock Marley also got his time in the spotlight during Jenkins’ set — something he almost didn’t live to see.
“I almost died last year; doctors gave me a 33% chance to live,” the West Side rapper shared, noting it wasn’t due to COVID-19 and then giving a shout out to the Loyola medical team that helped him recover from his illness.
Offering two memorable numbers, Marley cut the background track to deliver his final few verses, hoping the crowd would pay attention to his words like the true poet he is.
“It’s only worth living for if you’ll die for it,” he gave as his final pearl. The only thing missing was the mic drop. — Selena Fragassi
Black Pistol Fire
Kevin McKeown of Black Fire Pistol performs on day two of the Lollapalooza music festival on Friday in Grant Park.AP Photos
Some might say rock ‘n’ roll is in a tough spot as younger music consumers flock to hip-hop pomp and pop star allure — but that was all thrown out the window watching Austin, Texas-based Black Pistol Fire bring the literal heat on Friday afternoon.
“There’s just two guys up there,” one younger fan exclaimed, awestruck as were many by the mini manpower that lit up the Lolla circuit grid as curious passerbys stopped to see what all the fuss was about.
Shirtless drummer Eric Owen was the picture of primal energy as he beat his kit so furiously on tracks like the explosive opener “Pick Your Poison” that it might’ve broken some laws. He was well-paired by rhythmic ringleader and singer Kevin McKeown, whose guitar gymnastics on surf rock-leaning numbers like “Lost Cause” could be their own sport in Tokyo, while his trailing solos could match up with the best of them at Buddy Guy’s Legends across the street from the fest.
Black Pistol Fire are the type of band you want to see at a wayside hole-in-the-wall but they are also equally made for the primetime festival stage, gaining acclaim for previous sets at Riot Fest and Voodoo Fest — and certainly now at Lollapalooza.
Among all the loops and sampling and production that oftentimes drown out these festival grounds, this unassuming duo showed that flair only goes so far and sometimes the simpler, the better. As McKeown curled in furor on the stage floor, wielding his guitar like a sacrifice to the sky — and later crowdsurfed during a long jammy outro — there’s no doubt kids were already on their phones buying up new Gibsons. Rock and roll isn’t dead — it’s alive all well, it just needs bands like Black Pistol Fire to look up to and emulate. — Selena Fragassi
tobi lou
Tobi lou wows the crowd during his set Friday afternoon at Lollapalooza.Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
When tobi lou took the Lake Shore Stage on Friday afternoon, he looked like a man with something to prove.
Clad in football pads, Oakleys and joggers, the rap and R&B artist tore into his song “Lingo Starr: RETURN OF THE DRAGON,” yelling each lyric while jumping and running across the stage.
Rap artists projecting their lyrics in a festival setting isn’t new, but it was a far cry from the usual laid-back, melodic delivery the Chicago-raised lou has become known for during his steady rise in popularity over the past few years.
The different approach took some getting used to at first, but his live vocals combined with the mellow production worked as a fresh take on his sound that still hyped up the crowd. And even though he was on home turf and faced with hundreds of fans shoulder-to-shoulder, lou acknowledged he may be unfamiliar to some festival-goers. So he worked liked an underdog athlete in a championship game, staying attentive to the crowd’s responses to his every move and putting his all into a performance to win them over — and it worked.
Lou eventually shed the shoulder pads and ran through crowd faorites like “Waterboy,” “Just Keep Going” and “Uncle Iroh” — all songs that have become staples on Spotify playlists, netting thousands of streams.
He also paid homage to Chicago’s Kanye West, rapping nearly 16 bars of West’s 2007 single “Flashing Lights” toward the end of his song “TROOP.”
“It feels so good to be home,” lou said. “Can I be super honest with y’all? This is my first time outside in almost two f—— years — and I’m here with y’all! I came home to do this s– with y’all!”
The homecoming feeling was present during performance of “Buff Baby,” when he tenderly shouted out to his mother who was standing stage left, masked up and filming her son’s performance on her phone.
Loui wrapped up his set with one of his most popular songs, “I Was Sad Last Night I’m OK Now,” and the crowd yelled every word back at him. When the beat ended, a look of accomplishment grew on his face as he gazed into the crowd.
If anyone there didn’t know who he was, they did now. — Matt Moore
Oliver Tree is a rising pop star. I convinced my friends to see him over Hannah Montana, Illenium, and Steve Aoki. They left early because the show got too weird for them.
I stayed and watched. Here’s a brief recap of Oliver Tree’s absolutely bizarre and entertaining Lollapalooza 2021 set—including the part about the 8-foot alien rapper named Ricky.
Advertisement
(1) Oliver opened with his impeccable track “Forget It” produced by Getter.
Advertisement
2. The Santa Cruz native then switched back and forth between a bald skin cap and his never re-trending 90s mushroom cut. He’s also wearing a 90s kid winter jacket for the first 20 minutes. His band is all wearing the same getup.
3. Oliver played some more tracks then invited a guest on stage which ended up actually being an 8-foot alien rapper named Ricky. At some point during this entire series of odd, odd events he referred to Lollapalooza as “Coachella.” Two separate times.
Advertisement
4. Ricky, the alien rapper, was then kicked off the stage after attacking Oliver for stopping him during Ricky’s impromptu mixtape self-promotion.
5. Yes, things turned even more bizarre. Oliver Tree spent the next 30 seconds changing wardrobes behind a sheet on stage, then experienced a western demonization and revealed himself as a possessed cowboy. Although I did enjoy the music he played (off his upcoming album “Cowboy Tears”), it was overly suggestive to be some type of Orville Peck mockery (the masked country singer who played earlier that day). Is it just me, or does that seem like a lot of work for an artist who tried to cancel two days before the festival?
Advertisement
Tried to cancel my Lollapalooza set but my agents said it’s too late so come see my show tomorrow night at 9pm on the Groove stage! pic.twitter.com/UHQfaWcftN
6. Still in his possessed cowboy attire, Oliver brought a cartoon-sized guitar on stage. I would estimate this thing weighs like 350-500 pounds. Don’t quote me on that. I’m a writer, not a weight-guesser okay, give me a break.
Advertisement
7. Played his banging track “Cash Machine.” On Spotify’s little fun facts that pop up, I learned that Oliver keeps everything he owns in one suitcase. “Cash Machine” is really an anthem for anti-consumerism and not being materialistic as shit.
8. I saw fireworks across the way from Illenium, and decided to catch the last 10 minutes, away from the incredibly trippy experience that was Oliver Tree’s Lollapalooza set.
ESPN called it the “wildest [Major League Baseball] trade deadline in years.”
But wait: This was on Thursday night.
Then came Friday, when, shoot, maybe it would be easier to just list the things that didn’t happen. For example: The Cubs’ front office didn’t dispatch minions to drop sticks of dynamite into the mailboxes of every fan of the team. That was really nice. And — unless we missed something in all the deadline tumult — the Cubs didn’t raise ticket prices in the soul-sucking moments after trading away a bunch of the best players in club history. That was super thoughtful.
Look, I know gallows humor isn’t for everybody. But sometimes it just feels like the only way to go.
Not to be confused with Gallo humor, by the way. That’s what some Rangers undoubtedly are dabbling in after the deadline trades of All-Stars Joey Gallo to the Yankees and Kyle Gibson to the Phillies. How sad for them, but — come on — it’s nickel-dimer stuff compared to the suffering in Cubdom.
A trade deadline unlike any other will be memorable in part because the mighty Dodgers took pitcher Max Scherzer and infielder Trea Turner from the white-flag Nationals, turning a championship-caliber roster into a truly all-time-great one.
In New York, the headlines are as big and bold as it gets. Lefty boppers Gallo and Anthony Rizzo have arrived to take aim at the short porch in right at Yankee Stadium in pursuit of World Series title No. 28. The inimitable Javy Baez is incoming to join forces in the middle of the Mets infield with superstar and longtime friend Francisco Lindor.
And here, of course, we have our World Series-or-bust White Sox, who added Craig Kimbrel to a bullpen so ferocious, and second baseman Cesar Hernandez to a lineup so deep and dangerous, that we soon will experience three months — and potentially years longer than that — of the goings-on at Guaranteed Rate Field thoroughly overshadowing those at Wrigley Field.
And we’ll spend much time relitigating the trades of late July 2021 between the Sox and Cubs, much as we have their rare but notable past deals. Veteran reliever Ryan Tepera for left-handed prospect Bailey Horn? Sure, fine, whatever. Elite closer Kimbrel for injured second baseman Nick Madrigal — a former first-round pick who has hit over .300 in the big leagues — and power-armed reliever Codi Heuer? It’ll be fun to keep score. (Either way, Chicago got fleeced!)
But before all that: the shock, awe, pain, misery and emptiness felt in some combination and measure by anyone who rose and fell, celebrated and stewed, and most of all deeply enjoyed and appreciated the last half-decade-plus of the Cubs. This is what stands out — above and beyond anything else in baseball — at this monumental moment.
Rizzo, the first key move former Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein and current one Jed Hoyer made together when they traded for him in 2012.
Baez, a hugely important first-round pick made in 2011 — before the arrival of the Epstein regime — who would spearhead a prospect core that won it all in 2016. A player so talented, so magnetic, so thrilling, so frustrating, he was the most unique of all the Cubs since the run of winning began in 2015.
Kris Bryant, the cornerstone of the franchise. The best all-around Cubs player since Ernie Banks? I’ll let you fine folks chew on that one. But Bryant’s trade to the Giants minutes under the 3 p.m. gun Friday was a haymaker Cubs fans knew was coming but still couldn’t have been completely prepared for. As excited as they are in San Francisco — and, goodness, they should be — this was the knockout blow in these parts.
The televised video of Bryant finding out in the dugout at Nationals Park that he’d been traded, and then dissolving into tears, will stay with us. The images of Rizzo walking the grounds at Wrigley with his family Thursday, soaking it all in one last time, will, too. Not to mention Baez’s tags, elusive slides and all this historic Cubs trio accomplished together.
To lose them all at once? Plus Kimbrel and several other veterans, leaving the current team a who’s-who of “who?” (And in case Jon Lester and Kyle Schwarber think we didn’t notice them move to the Cardinals and Red Sox, respectively: Oh, we did.)
What a whole hell of a lot.
As it turned out, Epstein didn’t have the stomach for this part of the process. He probably knew it was inevitable.
Say this for Hoyer: He dove right into the deadline bloodbath. He bears some scars now. His career won’t ever be the same, but his story is far from over.
Feel free to be as ticked off at the Rickettses as you wish. They’ve got all they could count stashed under the family mattress now. Not that responsibility for some terrible free-agent signings and an organizational inability to develop starting pitching belongs in their laps.
Understand: In the end, the Cubs didn’t choose to go in the opposite direction of “going for it.” They didn’t give in. They got buried. Even before they put a joke of a pitching rotation out there for 2021 — to name just one serious team flaw — they were as close to the Dodgers, as close to another World Series, as the Mitch Trubisky-led Bears were to a Super Bowl.
The Cubs didn’t extend the right guys, didn’t spend in the right places and didn’t legitimately contend for as long most of us hoped and thought they would.
Extend, spend, contend — too late for all that.
All we’re left with is the final three letters of each of those words: the “end.”
The Bears might end up at Arlington Park, but the ponies won’t be there next year.
As the corporate owner of the historic suburban oval mulls bids from the Chicago Bears and other potential buyers, the deadline passed Friday afternoon for the track to apply with state regulators for a racing license in 2022 — guaranteeing there won’t be horse racing in Arlington Heights next year.
Under state law, tracks have to apply with the Illinois Racing Board by the end of July for specific racing dates the following year. No application was submitted by Arlington International Racecourse, meaning its final race day, Sept. 25, could be its last ever.
Arlington President Tony Petrillo said the inaction was “consistent” with the owner Churchill Downs’ strategy for a track that is at “an economic disadvantage in a hypersensitive market” — but he insisted the company isn’t out of the horse racing game altogether. They’re considering building another race course somewhere else in the state, according to Petrillo, who couldn’t offer any specifics.
“There’s been no decision to abandon thoroughbred racing,” he said.
Either way, there won’t be any racing at Arlington next spring.
Churchill Downs Senior Vice President Brad Blackwell, left, and Arlington Park President Tony Petrillo answer questions from the Illinois Racing Board in September 2019.Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Churchill Downs first signaled the end a year ago when CEO Bill Carstanjen suggested there was “a higher and better purpose” for the 326 acres containing the 93-year-old track, and refused to commit to racing beyond 2021.
After months of denying the park was for sale, Arlington was officially put on the block in February, and the Bears announced last month they’d submitted a bid in order “to further evaluate the property and its potential” as the site of a new stadium.
Carstanjen said during a quarterly earnings call Thursday that “we’re very excited” at the opportunity to “monetize” Arlington, and that the corporation is “working through the process to select the final winning bid.”
Horses in the Bruce D. Memorial Stakes pass the grandstand at Arlington International Racecourse in Arlington Heights in 2017. John Starks/Daily Herald via AP
Trainers and owners of horses that run at Arlington had held out hope the track would at least apply for 2022 racing dates “to preserve the possibility of future racing at the track,” but slammed what they call the corporation’s “campaign to sabotage future gaming opportunities at Arlington Park.”
“Churchill Downs is writing the book on bad faith, so this latest move is disappointing but not surprising,” Mike Campbell, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, said in a statement.
Representatives for the corporation declined to comment.
The association has been viciously at odds with Churchill Downs for nearly two years since the track announced it wouldn’t apply for a newly authorized state license to operate as a “racino” with slot machines and table games.
The company had lobbied for that privilege for decades to help save the shrinking horse racing industry, but it complained of high taxes and backed out after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a massive gambling expansion into law in the summer of 2019.
Churchill Downs also owns Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, which is a 25-minute drive away from the track — and by far the most lucrative casino in Illinois.
“Churchill’s commitment to stopping any gaming at Arlington from competing with Rivers is the worst kept secret in Illinois,” Campbell said. “It’s clear that Churchill Downs cares exclusively about corporate profit and that all other considerations are incidental.”
Take The Points, left, with jockey Kent Desormeaux, wins the Secretariat Stakes horse race at Arlington International Racecourse in 2009.John Smierciak/AP file
Petrillo confirmed the track sent out layoff notices to employees last week, but didn’t have an exact number. The Daily Herald reported about 300 people will be jobless after the season.
While the dream of a new Bears stadium has drawn the most attention, it’s still possible horse racing could return to Arlington. The only other public bidding group is led by former Arlington president Roy Arnold and also includes the downtown mega-developer Sterling Bay.
Their bid, which is backed by the horse trainers and owners, calls for a minor league hockey stadium, housing development and entertainment district alongside the track.
Aerial photo of Arlington International Racecourse, pictured in 2012. No racing will take place at the track in 2022.Sun-Times Media
Even if selected, they’d have to wait at least till next year to apply for a racing license, barring a change in state law.
It wouldn’t be the first time Arlington missed a year of racing. Former track owner Dick Duchoissois pulled the plug on the 1998 and ’99 racing seasons in an effort to pressure state lawmakers into passing legislation giving the state’s tracks a leg up on competition from Illinois’ then-new riverboat casinos.
But if Churchill Downs passes on the Arnold-Sterling Bay offer, it could leave Illinois’ struggling horse racing industry with just two tracks: Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney and Fairmount Park in downstate Collinsville. About 10 tracks were operating in the state during the sport’s heyday in the 1940’s and ’50s.
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said from the city’s most recent discussions with Churchill Downs, a sale decision “doesn’t seem imminent.”
“It’s unfortunate that it seems like we won’t have racing next year, but perhaps the year after that,” Hayes said. “It certainly will have an impact on our community. It’ll be different.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22752269/Screen_Shot_2021_07_30_at_8.44.21_PM.png)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751544/Image_from_iOS__4_.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22750578/LOLLATHUR_073021_63.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22749645/LOLLATHUR_073021_41.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22554944/unnamed.png)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22752234/LOLLAFRI_073121_5.jpeg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751969/2_2021_Lollapalooza_Music_Festival___Day_2.jpeg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751943/LOLLAFRI_073121_7.jpeg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751980/RACINGBOARD_092519_01.JPG)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22752088/Bears_Soldier_Field.jpg)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22752108/Arlington_Million_Horse_Racing.JPG)
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22751988/Aerials_CST_08XXXX_5.jpg)