I celebrated my grandson’s 21st birthday on Friday. There was no cake or balloons or ceremonial toasts.

He lives out of town. I wanted to hug him. I’m not paranoid, but the potential for him to become an innocent victim of the ongoing gun violence in my neighborhood is too real for me to take the risk of having him visit.

“First and foremost, the mass shootings have become fashionable for some of the guys involved in gang conflict,” said Tio Hardiman, founder of Violence Interrupters, an anti-violence organization that claims to have mediated 40 conflicts so far this year.

“The escalating gun violence is fueled by a lot of interpersonal conflicts which spirals into gang conflict. The new fad is shooting into crowds,” he said. “The police are doing the best they can do, but the police cannot stop violence on the front end. Police get involved once a crime is committed, but often it is too late.”

Hardiman’s explanation sums up the problem. For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I got a frantic call from a young Black man who desperately is trying to save himself and his family from gun violence.

Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

I am not using names or addresses because I fear for their safety. This family’s troubles started in April when the father reported to police that a man in his 30s sexually abused his 15-year-old daughter.

He said he took his daughter to the hospital and filed a police report. The alleged abuser was arrested and charged with “sexual assault,” and police took him into custody. Six days later, he bonded out. “This guy is a sexual predator of a child and a parolee. How did they even give him a bond?” the girl’s stepmother asked.

Fast-forward to July. By then, the conflict had escalated to the point the father said he went to the 3rd District police station to report threats being made on his life.

His daughter’s alleged abuser was now hanging around the apartment building where this family lives. Things came to a head on July 5, when the alleged abuser’s sister (a tenant in the same building) and the stepmother got into a physical altercation resulting in the arrest of the stepmother.

According to an email from a police spokesman, “officers responded to a call of a person with a gun. A female, 24, related that a known offender, female, 46, pulled a gun on her and battered her. The offender was taken into custody and charged.” The stepmother claims she did not pull a gun. Police charged her with a misdemeanor for making physical contact with the 24-year-old.

When the stepmother was released from police custody and returned home, the accused abuser allegedly confronted them in the parking lot, blocking their path with his car.

“I got out of my car, and he reversed and hit my wife. He hit her hard,” the father told me.

A police spokesman confirmed a vehicle struck the woman in the parking lot of her apartment building, and the incident is under investigation.

“The police never came. The fire department and the ambulance arrived. When I got to the University of Chicago hospital, there were detectives there, but they were there for other situations,” the father said.

The stepmother suffered a broken leg, a fractured leg, and a broken arm that required screws and a plate, he said. “She will be in a wheelchair for a while. I’m in the hospital with her every day. I spend the night with her to make sure she’s OK,” the father told me.

Meanwhile, [the alleged abuser] is still on the street.

“The elephant in the room is gun violence in Black communities across our nation,” said Hardiman.

“There needs to be an African American army — not to go out and kill people, but to go out in the strongest possible way to bring these young guys to a table of peace by any means necessary,” he said.

Young brothers march proudly to chants of “no justice, no peace.”

But to end this vicious cycle, the peacemakers have to get them to see that street justice is no justice at all.

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A 36-year-old man was found fatally shot Saturday morning in Chatham on the South Side.

About 5:10 a.m., officers heard gunshots in the first block of East 79th Street and found the man lying on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest, Chicago police said.

Someone in a light-colored sedan had fired shots at him and fled the scene, according to police.

The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where he was pronounced. He has not yet been identified.

No one is in custody, police said.

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Chicago Blackhawks make an interesting first-round pick by Vincent Parise

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Chicago Bears (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

The Chicago Bears’ offensive line has been a focal point of conversation throughout their discourse. Yet, that discussion seems to exclude fourth-year pro, James Daniels. Everyone knows that the offensive line as a whole has struggled with health and overall performance. Daniels is seen as one of the stronger links of that chain. Therefore, he doesn’t bear the brunt of much criticism that the o-line often receives.

Daniels’s performance should be talked about much more, considering he is entering the last year of his contract with ten other starters. Many fans think he deserves to be brought back without having any hard evidence to make his case.

The difficult part of building that case is that there really isn’t an attainable stat to refer to to get the full picture of how offensive linemen perform. There are numbers like blocking grades, run/pass blocking win rate, pressures allowed, etc., yet even those can vary and fail to paint the full picture.

The Chicago Bears are hoping that James Daniels makes an impact in 2021.

In order to get a well-rounded understanding of how an offensive lineman is playing, you must go through the tape and evaluate them with your own eyes. Those other stats can help fill in the gaps but the film is the meat and potatoes of the evaluation.

That said, I dove into the film to get to the bottom of how Daniels has faired out. In hopes of answering the million-dollar question (pun intended) on whether he deserves a contract extension or not.

Next: The two faced run blocker

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The Bears don’t seem married to playing at Soldier Field.

What about the Fire?

”We’re committed to Soldier Field,” owner Joe Mansueto told the Sun-Times. ”I’d like to see if we can make it work in a very robust way for our fans. Ultimately, we’ll listen to our fans and see how the experience is.”

When discussing Soldier Field, which the Fire moved back to before last season, Mansueto called it an iconic venue with a central location that’s easy to get to, saying there are ”a lot of pluses” to it. The mindset, Mansueto said, is not to look around for other possible stadium locations but to make it work at Soldier Field ”in the most robust way possible.”

”Longer term, we’ll see how it goes,” Mansueto said. ”As you know, in Chicago, there’s not a lot of places to put a stadium even if you did want to do it, so it’s not obvious what you would do to improve upon Soldier Field. I think we’ve got a very good experience.

”Let’s kind of live with that for a bit and see how it feels. If we find that it is in some way lacking or we could make it better for the fans, I think we’re certainly open to that. But right now, that’s not the focus.”

The initial portion of the lease signed in 2019 is three years, with two three-year extensions, then two one-year extensions.

For Mansueto, the criteria to judge whether Soldier Field is the right place would begin with the fan experience and whether supporters enjoy games there and can get there. Another is demand for Fire games and whether the stadium has too many seats or just the right amount. The economics of playing at Soldier Field are also a factor, and the Fire don’t have as much control over concession and parking prices some other teams do.

All told, Mansueto said the Fire are happy with Soldier Field and praised the Chicago Park District and ASM Global, which manages the venue.

”It can be a bit of a hassle with the Bears’ schedule and trying to thread that needle and make everybody happy,” Mansueto said. ”But other than that minor inconvenience, I think we’re pretty happy with Soldier Field to date.”

The Bears don’t seem to be and have submitted a bid to purchase the Arlington International Racecourse land in Arlington Heights. Mansueto said the Fire are paying attention to those developments and

acknowledged that if the Bears leave, it would relieve some scheduling headaches. Among them are a front-loaded home schedule, two games that have had to be rescheduled and a game Sept. 29 that must be moved to another venue.

But Mansueto isn’t hoping for the Bears to leave and said the Fire are happy with their fellow Soldier Field tenants.

”I think if I had my choice, I would rather see the Bears stay,” Mansueto said. ”I think it’s good for Chicago. I think it’s good for the venue, Soldier Field. There’d be some tiny positives if they left, but I’d rather see them stay and be our co-tenant at Soldier Field.”

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Pinch-me moments are few and far between for Zach LaVine these days.

Then came participating in the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo on Friday.

“Really powerful just being around all the athletes from all the other countries and all the different sports,” LaVine said on Saturday via a zoom call. “It was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was a giant event with a lot of history and I just tried to soak it all in. A lot of fun. Long day, though, I can tell you that.”

The Bulls guard knows “long days.”

He’s had his share of them this past season, first missing 11 games back in April when he tested positive for the coronavirus and was put into the NBA’s health and safety protocol, and then going back into the protocol for Team USA last week, with a chance of missing out on a push for a gold medal.

“Well I was a little shocked,” LaVine said of his latest experience. “Obviously I didn’t think I could get [the virus]. Obviously I didn’t. I’m going to have to be careful with everybody including the team and everybody coming over here, so it made sense, and I pretty much had to do my time, jump through a couple hoops to get here.”

Those hoops included quarantine, a series of negative tests while the rest of his teammates flew to Tokyo, and then finally being cleared and jumping on a flight a few days later.

As the Sun-Times reported, LaVine was put into the protocol this time because of contact tracing.

“I didn’t want to put anyone in harm, I didn’t want to be put in harm, so we just had to make sure everything was OK before I got here,” LaVine said.

What mattered for him now, however, was the task at hand.

LaVine and Team USA open up pool play on Sunday, taking on France. By the way, a team that beat the United States back in the 2019 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals.

“We’ve been preparing for France for two years,” Team USA coach Gregg Popovich said earlier in the week.

Popovich would know a little something about that loss, since he was also coaching Team USA back then.

“I think about it every day,” the coach remarked.

Popovich has his players thinking about it too.

“We know how good they are, but we also know how good we are too,” LaVine said of the matchup with France. “We went over the film and we understand what they do, but I think we’re more focused on what we do because if we do what we do good I don’t think there’s any team out here that’s going to come close to us, so as long as we go out there and execute, be ourselves, be Team USA, I think we’ll be alright.”

As far as what role LaVine plans to play in all of this? That hasn’t changed. He moved into the starting role when Bradley Beal had to leave the team because of the health and safety protocol, and has kept the mindset of whatever is asked of him – starter or not.

“Whatever I’ve got to get done, do it,” LaVine said. “We’re all not playing our regular starter minutes. I may come off the bench some games, I might start some games. But I’m here to bring energy. Obviously when I need to score, put the ball in the hoop I can do that, but try and bring a lot of energy and change the pace of the game. Pick up guys [defensively], be a menace out there.”

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Emily Fortunato, the Red Stars’ head athletic trainer, was intrigued by bones as a kid.

Not the world of dinosaurs and fossils that a lot of youngsters might enjoy, but human bones.

Growing up on Long Island, Fortunato combined her fascination — sparked in the fifth grade — with her passion for lacrosse. She came to the conclusion she would be an athletic trainer.

Fortunato has traveled the world, working in college athletics and multiple professional leagues, including the WNBA and the NWSL.

She was tapped in June to join the U.S. women’s national team medical staff and is hoping to be a piece of the Olympic-gold puzzle.

“I got this invitation and was filled with pride and excitement,” Fortunato said.

Fortunato got her first invitation to join the USWNT staff in 2013 in large part because of relationships she had established with players while working in Women’s Professional Soccer.

When WPS folded in 2012, Fortunato’s career transitioned to Division I athletics at George Mason, then a few years later to the WNBA. She ended up spending 2015-2017 with the Washington Mystics before returning to pro soccer to work for the Utah Royals.

During all of the stops in her career, she also has juggled being a network provider for US Soccer, assisting the federation’s full-time medical staff during various training camps, tournaments and friendlies. That included during the team’s historic World Cup run in 2019.

Her experience working in the WNBA and the NWSL had unfortunate similarities. She can recall flights from Washington to Connecticut that were on small airplanes with post players jammed into the seats.

Another challenge over the years has been finding space for training. Due to the fact most teams are renting their training facilities, they don’t have an unlimited amount of time to use training rooms.

Staffing is another critical component to athletic training that varies from team to team in each league. Some teams’ staffs include multiple trainers, while others have a head athletic trainer and interns.

Fortunato is the only athletic trainer for the Red Stars, and she’s employed through the team’s medical partner, Illinois Bone and Joint Institute. In her absence, the team was tasked with finding another trainer within IBJI’s organization to fill her role.

The team also has a physical therapist who comes multiple times a week and multiple interns who Fortunato has said are going above and beyond to allow her to pursue this Olympic dream.

“She is one of if not the best trainers I’ve had in this league,” Kealia Watt said. “We are so proud of her.”

Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of Chicago time, so once again Fortunato finds herself doing some juggling to make sure all her boxes are checked. Good-luck texts need to be planned at least 12 hours in advance because while she’s sleeping her Red Stars players are in the middle of their day.

The Tokyo Olympics are nothing like what they were originally planned to be, with the COVID-19 pandemic still a looming threat as the Delta variant has fueled a resurgence of the virus. Fortunato said the Olympic bubble hasn’t adversely affected the team because the players are so focused on the mission: winning gold.

In their opening match, the USWNT was outplayed and lost to Sweden 3-0. But there’s no panicking.

“This team is a well-oiled machine,” Fortunato said. “We’re here for business, and we know what to do.”

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Anyone who was up before the sun here Friday to watch the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics — or who viewed it rebroadcast in prime time — took in something entertaining and, frankly, troubling.

Host city Tokyo is under a state of emergency. Kicking off a Games without fans in attendance, the opening ceremony unfolded before a largely empty Olympic Stadium and with many fewer athletes than usual taking part in the Parade of Nations.

The Games — and the pandemic — go on.

In this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — we asked respondents how into these Games they are.

“The city is on quarantine watch!” @JBIRD1268 commented.

“The Olympics started?” @shupe_dog asked, facetiously, we suppose.

We also asked about favorite sports in the Summer Games.

“I voted for swimming,” @DadsThumb wrote, “but it’s really a tie between gymnastics and swimming. I like the extreme objectivity of swimming, but the difficulty and breathtaking nature of gymnastics skills makes it compelling to watch.”

On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: How much are the Tokyo Olympics, which started this week, on your radar?

Upshot: Many Japanese are strongly opposed to the holding of the 2020 Games, delayed a year due to COVID-19, as the country lags behind much of the world in vaccination rates. Whether or not that unpleasant backdrop played into the results of this poll — one assumes it did to some extent — the vote was markedly unenthusiastic. Then again, we haven’t had any American athletes to fall in love with yet.

Poll No. 2: Which of these Summer Olympic sports is your favorite to watch?

Upshot: Few things in sports can match the excitement, the pressure, the sheer weight of the moment as a frenzied reach for the wall, a crowded kick to the finish line or an absolutely must-have dismount. And many of these athletes are so young — babies, practically — with golden dreams tangled in such vulnerability. We see ourselves in them, don’t we? Or our kids and grandkids. It can be beautiful. (Please, nobody mention doping.)

Poll No. 3: In general, are you more of a Summer Olympics fan or a Winter Olympics fan?

Upshot: “Winter is 100 times better,” wrote @StacheEsq, but that doesn’t seem to be a common take at all. Summer is when we’ve gotten to know more national heroes, for sure: Jesse Owens, Mark Spitz, Carl Lewis, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Greg Louganis, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Simone Biles and many more. On the other hand: no hockey. It’s hard to top Olympic pucks.

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Chicago Bears Rumors: Aaron Rodgers might be retiring by Adam Rosen

The 2021 NHL Draft was off to a very interesting start before they even took the stage for the first selection. It turned out to be a big night for the Chicago Blackhawks. Going in, the Hawks were heavily rumored to be in on Seth Jones of the Columbus Blue Jackets. That ended up coming true after making a blockbuster deal with Columbus. It is very exciting to think about that type of defenseman coming to town.

One of the pieces involved in the trade was the Hawks’ first-round pick this year. It went to Columbus so the 12th overall pick was theirs now. Luckily, one of their first-round picks went back to the Hawks, albeit later in the round. It was the pick that Columbus received from the Tampa Bay Lightning in a trade deadline deal. Of course, the Lightning won the Cup so it was the 32nd (last) pick of the round.

With that pick, the Blackhawks selected Nolan Allan. Allan is a defenseman from the Prince Albert Raiders of the WHL. He is a bigger kid that focuses his game on being a defensive defenseman. We all know that is something that the Hawks need really badly. He is going to take a few years to develop but could become someone that plays well at the NHL level.

It wasn’t necessarily a name that people were expecting but the staff clearly has a plan on what they want to do with their future pieces. There are plenty of other nice young players that they consider a part of the future and they are hoping Allan is one of them.

The Chicago Blackhawks need to be very smart with the way they handle their defense.

With Jones signing an eight-year extension on top of the final year of his current deal, Allan will have someone to look up to when he does reach the NHL. The old guard is gone on defense but help is on the way. We don’t know what the team will look like when (if) he does reach the NHL but you can bet that they believe in him.

As of right now, the Blackhawks have six more selections to make in the draft. There is a chance that more trades are on the horizon but it is hard to see at this point after everything they gave up for Jones. Developing Allan and his defensive-minded game is something that the Hawks need to take seriously now and it is going to be a lot of fun to watch.

Related Story: The Chicago Blackhawks got so lucky with Seattle’s pick

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Twenty-three people were shot, three fatally, — including a 17-year-old boy — in Chicago since Friday night.

In the weekend’s first reported fatal attack, a person was fatally shot Friday in South Shore.

About 7:30 p.m., a male was near the sidewalk in the 7000 block of South Merrill Avenue when someone opened fire, striking him multiple times, Chicago police said.

The male, whose age was not immediately known, was pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center, police said. His name hasn’t been released.

On Saturday, a man was shot to death in a drive-by in Austin on the Northwest Side.

The 37-year-old was standing in the sidewalk with a group of people about 1:15 a.m. in the 1700 block of North Moody Avenue when someone inside a blue-colored vehicle fired shots, police said.

He was shot in the head and was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead, police said. The Cook County medical examiner’s office hasn’t identified him.

At the same time, a teenage boy was killed and another seriously wounded in a shooting in Englewood on the South Side.

The teens, 15 and 17, were in the backyard of a home about 1:15 a.m. in the 6800 block of South Peoria Street when someone opened fire, police said.

The 17-year-old was shot in the chest and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He hasn’t been identified.

The other, 15, was struck in the stomach and taken to the same hospital in serious condition, police said.

In nonfatal shootings, two men were wounded, one critically, in a shooting Friday in Chatham on the South Side.

They were on the sidewalk about 9:10 p.m. in the 700 block of East 79th Street when someone opened fire from a white SUV, police said.

A 33-year-old was struck in the chest and hand, police said. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition. The other man, 20, was taken to the same hospital in fair condition with a gunshot wound to his hand, police said.

Two people were shot, including a 17-year-old boy, Saturday in the Englewood neighborhood.

The pair were standing in the street about 12:45 a.m. in the 7100 block of South Ada Street when someone inside a black-colored vehicle fired shots, police said.

The teen boy, 17, was struck in the leg and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in serious condition, police said. A man, 21, was also shot in the leg and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition.

At least fifteen others were wounded in citywide gun violence since 5 p.m. Friday.

Sixty people were shot, 10 fatally, last weekend in Chicago.

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LAS VEGAS — Once Walter Payton glanced at the caboose of his new fullback, crouched two paces ahead of him in a three-point stance, that signature squeal halted the Bears’ first preseason practice of 1977.

“Whoa! Timeout! Is this a [bleepin’] truck in front of me or what?!”

Robin “The Truck” Earl, fresh out of the University of Washington, and Payton would fortify their mutual respect the next offseason on the latter’s fabled hill near Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights.

Payton donned spiked cleats, wrapping tape around them, his heels and ankles, a routine usually reserved for practices and games.

“He’d ‘spat up,’ like white stockings on a stallion,” says Earl. “He’d go up and down, 20 times. Legs become noodles, but he’d keep pouring it on. ‘C’mon, let’s go!’ A warrior.”

Earl vomited several times, but he never saw Payton puke.

“That work ethic,” says Earl. “When the good Lord decided to make a running back, he took out his chisel and made Walter Payton, 5-10 1/2 , 200 pounds of steel.”

Payton died in 1999. Two bronze plaques commemorate long-gone Payton’s Hill, on Nickol Knoll Golf Course. In 2019, Earl returned to Chicago for the Bears’ father-son golf tournament and sought a similar mound in Northbrook.

He scaled it seven times and made eight ascensions on the other side.

“I used to do 25,” says the 66-year-old Earl. “It’s near my old home. I wanted to bring back some memories.”

‘YOU SHOULD PAY ME’

In 1967, a 12-year-old Earl daydreamed of wearing a Packers uniform while watching the world champions practice in Green Bay.

Along with his parents and two brothers, he had ventured from their Idaho home to visit relatives in Milwaukee.

First stop, Chicago. They watched their first Major League Baseball game, and Ernie Banks hit two home runs. In Wisconsin, football coach-father Marvin took his ecstatic boys to Green Bay.

They collected autographs and posed for a photograph with quarterback Bart Starr and fullback Jim Taylor. On New Year’s Eve, they watched the Packers successfully defend their title against Dallas — The Ice Bowl — on TV.

During commercials, coach Marv put his sons through pushup drills.

Robin became a blue-chip recruit, targeted by Michigan, Notre Dame and 100 other programs. He picked mediocre Washington, partly so mother Luella could attend his games.

Bears’ general manager Jim Finks drafted him in the third round in 1977. At team headquarters on East Jackson, owner George Halas informed the nervous greenhorn of his $30,000 signing bonus, $10,000 in incentives and $36,500 salary.

“But, in reality, you should probably be paying me,” Halas said. “You’re going to make more money in the offseason than what the Bears will pay you.”

After his first start, he got the game ball in a victory over Kansas City. The following week, he cleared paths as Payton amassed a then-record 275 yards, against Minnesota.

Coach Mike Ditka would apologize for yanking his face mask and cursing him in a 1983 exhibition game in Buffalo. Two weeks later, however, Earl would be the last player cut before the season.

Off the field, he had a stretch running a restaurant food-supply business, and he’d do some broadcasting. He long has been involved with insurance and energy concerns.

By his third season, he says, “I was knocking down more than what the Bears were paying me.”

JILL AND THE HILL

Tanned and trim, Robin Earl strolls into the Memorial Day residential pool party, in southwest Las Vegas, wearing a sleeveless Bears T-shirt and clutching a six-pack of Pabst Blue Ribbon.

“Still a blue-collar dude,” he laughs.

His uneventful three-year residency here ends late next month, when a new home in Tucson, Arizona, will be finished. The twice-divorced Earl, with seven adult children and eight grandkids, is about to meet the woman of his dreams.

Jill Everhart isn’t his first online connection, just the most-compatible female he has ever met.

She lives in Phoenix, where they’ll first meet in 10 days. He takes her to dinner. Rockets and fireworks. Instead of driving back to Vegas the next day, he returns five days later.

They golf, grill steaks, attend church. He is schoolboy-giddy about relocating to Tucson because Jill will move in with him.

“She’s crazy about me, I’m crazy about her,” says Earl. “God told me, be patient. That’s my baby, my sweetheart.”

His lean physique has been a long-term project, since he saw a photo of himself, at 285 pounds, at Tucson National Golf Course in 1992. He noted the double-chin, called himself sloppy.

He quit drinking beer for four years and began diligently working out and running four miles daily. He dropped into the 240s, stayed in the 230s for 20 years.

In 2015, while living in Seattle, he discovered powder supplements Vital Reds and Power Blues. He adds chia, flax and hemp seeds to blend a large breakfast smoothie. Dinner is protein-rich.

Pounds evaporated. He vowed to stay between 202 and 206. At that pool bash, the 6-5 Earl weighed 204, his weight today. His dedicated running, he figures, offsets his Blue Ribbon yen.

Earl suffered no major football injuries and has no other issues. “Blessed,” he says. He will participate in that father-son golf tournament next month and again charge up that Northbrook hill as if he were 26.

“That’s what it’s all about. How do you think I could catch the eye of a Jill?”

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