After thinking I’d grow accustomed to the incongruity of a competitive ballgame missing the surrounding, telltale signs of a competitive ballgame, I realize now I never did.

Last year, I said something stupid.

OK, yesterday, I said something stupid. But for the purpose of this column, I’m referring to what I wrote when baseball returned last July with cardboard cutouts and fake crowd noise to help TV broadcasts replicate fans in ballparks emptied by the pandemic.

“So this is what pandemic baseball looks like on TV,” I wrote. “I’ll take it.”

Idiot.

In my defense, it beat the alternative of no baseball, and I wrote as much. But after thinking I’d grow accustomed to the incongruity of a competitive ballgame missing the surrounding, telltale signs of a competitive ballgame, I realize now I never did.

There’s a lot to be thankful for as pandemic restrictions begin to ease. Near the top of my list is having more fans back in the stands. Guaranteed Rate Field increased capacity from 25% to 60% on Monday, and the difference on the broadcast was palpable. Wrigley Field will follow suit Friday.

Last season, almost every camera shot was a reminder of the ballpark’s emptiness. There was no way to hide it, and it grew tiresome. The networks knew it, too.

“You don’t realize how much you miss the fan engagement,” said Kevin Cross, NBC Sports Chicago senior vice president and general manager. “The fans bring natural sound, which is important, but it’s not the most important. Most important, they bring engagement.

“The fans in the stands are a different voice on the broadcast that you can’t replicate artificially. When something is happening at the ballpark, the reaction is authentic, and you get a sense of what’s going on at the game. Real-time engagement is great for the viewer.”

That missing piece of the broadcast surely had an effect on viewership, which reached record lows for major events last year. Granted, the compressed sports schedule and out-of-season events played a part. But the quality of the broadcast did, too, and it suffered without fans.

Sometimes those fans become the talk of the game. Remember the Cubs fan who balanced his hat on his head in the bleachers in 2019? Hat tip to Yogi, who was interviewed during the game.

We’re seeing fans catch foul balls again and throw home-run balls back, such as the little boy whose father carried him down to the front row of the Wrigley bleachers to toss back a Dodgers homer this month.

It wasn’t easy for broadcasters to keep up their energy last year without a crowd to rouse them. They did the best they could trying to make broadcasts sound normal. But they could only do so much to build up a key moment without fans to raise the decibel meter.

“I think the [crowd’s] energy translates through our announcing teams,” said Mike McCarthy, Marquee Sports Network general manager. “Some of those games last year, it was so heartbreaking at times to hear the sound of the ball clanging off the empty seats. I hope we never hear it again.”

McCarthy, in particular, is thrilled to have fans back at Wrigley. From the network’s launch last year, its plan was to make the ballpark a co-star of broadcasts, treating it like Augusta National during the Masters. With a live audience on hand, the network is excited to expand its cast.

Marquee brass includes disciples of late Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Bill Webb, who directed baseball games for Fox and SNY, the Mets’ network. McCarthy and senior vice president of programming and production Mike Santini worked with Webb for years, and director Mike Fox was a mentee of his.

“He turned [directing] into an art form, to lock in on a couple of fans that are just anxiety-laced and seeing the games through their eyes,” McCarthy said. “We certainly try to bring that, but then we have this added benefit of the experience at Wrigley, which is unlike any other. We have conversations all the time about trying to bring that into the broadcast.”

The next step is to put announcers back in ballparks for road games. As happy as they are to hear a crowd through their headset while calling a game remotely, they need to be on site to call the best game possible. Sometimes it’s evident when broadcasters’ view of the game is limited to what the cameras are showing them, and they only feel the full effect of fans when they’re sitting among them.

“We can’t wait to get normalized again,” McCarthy said. “Our guys are doing a fantastic job in a limited set of circumstances, but it’ll be great to get them out on the road. Until then, we have this challenge in front of us, but it only makes us salivate more for the home games.”

Remote patrol

• NBC will carry its third – and perhaps final – Indianapolis 500 at 10 a.m. Sunday. The network’s deal with IndyCar is in its final season, and Roger Penske reportedly will take his racing series to a higher bidder. NBC’s top IndyCar team of announcer Leigh Diffey and analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will call the race. Mike Tirico will host the studio show with Danica Patrick, and IndyCar rookie and seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson will serve as an analyst.
• The Cubs will return to ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” on June 13 against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field. The teams’ meeting Sunday in St. Louis drew an average audience of 1,529,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. “SNB” is averaging 1,599,000 viewers this season, up 29% from the 2020 full-season average – even with Alex Rodriguez on the call.

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“Once Upon a One More Time” arrives Nov. 29. But it won’t be in Chicago as previously announced.

The long-anticipated world premiere of the Britney Spears song-infused stage musical “Once Upon a One More Time” arrives Nov. 29. But it won’t be in Chicago as previously announced.

The Boadway-bound musical directed and choreographed by Drama Desk-nominated artists Keone and Mari Madrid, was set to debut at Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre last April when the production plans were derailed due to the coronavirus pandemic shutdown of all theaters and entertainment venues. The show will now premiere in a production by the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.

It’s not clear if the previously announced cast of Briga Heelan ( “Great News”) as Cinderella, Justin Guarini (“American Idol”) as Prince Charming, Emily Skinner (“The Cher Show”) and Simon Callow (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”) are confirmed for the D.C. production.

The show’s story centers on a book club gathering featuring Cinderella, Snow White, Little Mermaid and other classic storybook characters whose worlds are upended when a “rogue fairy godmother” gives them a copy of “The Feminine Mystique” to discuss.

“I’m so excited to have a musical with my songs — especially one that takes place in such a magical world filled with characters that I grew up on, who I love and adore,” said Spears in a 2019 statement when the show was announced.

Ironically, the Spears musical was originally slated to replace a Michael Jackson stage musical that had been set for its 2019 world premiere in Chicago. Plans for that production, which had been tentatively titled “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” never fully materialized. “MJ” the musical is now set to debut in December 2022 on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre.

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With the easing of pandemic restrictions and the latest battle between Hamas terrorists and Israel, there has been a horrific resurgence of antisemitism in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic put many wonderful aspects of everyday life on an extended pause, from weddings and family visits to cultural and sporting events.

In a significant turn of events, some hateful activities also were put on pause, including what had been a steady rise in antisemitism.

Now, suddenly, with the near simultaneous easing of pandemic restrictions and the latest battle between Hamas terrorists and Israel, there has been a horrific resurgence of antisemitism on America’s streets and social media.

Even during the 14 years I was running the Chicago office of the ADL, I never saw such a torrent of antisemitism in such a short period of time.

Last week in New York, over a span of just three days, six men shouting “free Palestine” punched two Jewish teenagers; a group brandishing a Palestinian flag as a weapon harassed and spat on diners suspected of “dining while Jewish;” a band of youths, keffiyehs covering their faces, lunged at men in kippahs, accusing them of supporting child murder; another mob cornered two Jews, sparking a street brawl, and yet another cruised an iconic Jewish business district, harassing pedestrians and lobbing fireworks, burning a 55-year-old woman. A 20-year-old professional soccer player was accosted by men wielding knives who asked if he was Jewish — and threatened to kill him if his answer was yes.

In Los Angeles, pro-Palestinian attackers barged into a sushi restaurant, asked who was Jewish and threw punches and bottles at diners. In Florida, a man hurled antisemitic abuse at a rabbi and later emptied a bag of feces outside the rabbi’s synagogue. In Tucson, unidentified individuals hurled a large object through a synagogue’s glass doors.

Here in metropolitan Chicago, a Skokie synagogue’s windows were broken, with a “free Palestinian” sticker left behind as a calling card. And in Naperville, pro-Palestinian counter-protestors surrounded, shook and assaulted a parked vehicle of Israel supporters, shouting, in Arabic and English, “death to Jews.”

Sadly, in a victory for the haters, some American Jews are taking kippahs off their heads, Stars of David from their necks, and mezuzahs (small prayer parchment) from their doorposts. Still others are no longer walking to synagogue amid this wave of antisemitic brutality.

Increasingly, social media provides zero respite from the antisemitism of the streets.

A local Facebook group for moms sharing parenting resources was hijacked by an anti-Israel administrator who proceeded to expel any of the 41,000 followers who expressed support for Israel, challenged her anti-Israel views or in some cases just had Jewish-sounding last names.

Posting hateful, intimidating antisemitic messages and images on previously civil Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts is now frighteningly common. Merely identifying oneself as a Jew has become a veritable invitation to be abused by hundreds online — or to be “canceled.”

Antisemitism is inextricably linked to other forms of hate, which tragically also have risen significantly across our country. We must continue to fight hatred together and build upon the victories, such as Congress’s recent enactment of the NO HATE Act, which was realized by joining forces across diverse communities and standing in solidarity with each other.

We are grateful for those political, religious and civic leaders who have — without equivocation or prodding — condemned this rise of antisemitism.

Still, the silence of too many others is disquieting.

We all know the potential consequences when haters are abetted by those who turn the other cheek to age-old antisemitic tropes and inflammatory rhetoric. When people are targeted for no reason other than being Jewish, it is antisemitism, plain and simple. Nothing justifies it, and no one should rationalize or minimize it.

COVID-19 spread quickly, wreaking havoc, and leaving death and heartache in its wake. Hopefully, the deadliest days of this virulent disease are behind us.

Just as people worldwide rallied to defeat COVID, so too do we hope for a unified response to antisemitism, a global and deadly disease in its own right. Until then, we will remain vigilant and anxious to work with allies.

Lonnie Nasatir is president of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago.

Send letters to [email protected].

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Drake and Cardi B are the second-most nominated acts, scoring five bids each, while four nominations went to Chris Brown, Chloe x Halle, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak.

NEW YORK — Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby are the prom queen and king of the 2021 BET Awards.

The chart-topping rappers each scored seven nominations at the show airing live on June 27 from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Megan Thee Stallion, who won three Grammys this year, is up for best female hip-hop artist, album of the year for “Good News” and video of the year for “WAP,” her No. 1 hit with Cardi B. The “Savage” rapper is also a double nominee for both the viewer’s choice award and best collaboration.

DaBaby has four songs competing for best collaboration: “Rockstar” with Roddy Ricch; “For the Night” with Pop Smoke and Lil Baby; “Cry Baby” with Megan Thee Stallion; and “What’s Poppin” with Lil Wayne, Tory Lanez and Jack Harlow.

He’s also nominated for best male hip-hop artist, the viewer’s choice award and album of the year for “Blame It on Baby.”

Drake and Cardi B are the second-most nominated acts, scoring five bids each, while four nominations went to Chris Brown, Chloe x Halle, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. All of those acts are nominated for video of the year.

Megan Thee Stallion and DaBaby were two of the big stars at last year’s BET Awards — the first awards show to air during the pandemic. It was a critical success and featured highly produced and well-crafted pre-taped performances, with some centered around the Black experience highlighted by the Black Lives Matter movement, civil rights and the lives of those lost because of police officers, including George Floyd.

This year’s show will allow those who are vaccinated to register to be part of the live audience. The network said it is working closely with Los Angeles County to adhere to COVID-19 protocols.

While press at the awards show will be limited, BET does plan to have a red carpet ahead of the live event.

“We are back and excited to bring culture’s biggest night … safely back to Los Angeles to celebrate this year’s incredible roster of nominees,” Connie Orlando, BET’s executive vice president of specials, music programming and music strategy, said in a statement Thursday. “We broke ground as one of the first official award shows to move forward during the global pandemic and we are ready to take our pioneer status to the next level with the return of an audience to celebrate the best and brightest creative minds in the entertainment industry.”

Other nominees at the show include The Weeknd, up for album of the year and best male pop/R&B artist, and late rapper Pop Smoke, who won five Billboard Music Awards this week and picked up two nominations at the BET Awards, including best male hip-hop artist. His competition includes J. Cole, Drake, Lil Baby, DaBaby and Jack Harlow.

Nicki Minaj was surprisingly shut out of best female hip-hop artist despite launching two No. 1 hits last year with her appearances on 6ix9ine’s “Trollz” and Doja Cat’s “Say So” remix. From 2010 to 2016, Minaj had won the honor for seven consecutive years, and had been a nominee for 11 consecutive years.

Female performers competing with Megan Thee Stallion, last year’s best female hip-hop artist winner, include Cardi B, Doja Cat, Saweetie, Latto and Coi Leray.

The late actor Chadwick Boseman followed his many posthumous awards nominations with one at the BET Awards — he’s nominated for best actor along with recent Oscar winner Daniel Kaluuya, Eddie Murphy, LaKeith Stanfield, Aldis Hodge and Damson Idris. Actor-singers Andra Day and Zendaya are up for best actress, along with Viola Davis, Angela Bassett, Issa Rae and Jurnee Smollett.

Best movie nominees are “Coming 2 America,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Soul” and “One Night in Miami.”

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“Make no mistake: Ron Greene was murdered at the hands of Louisiana State Police,” civil rights attorney Ron Haley said.

NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana State Police troopers involved in the violent arrest of a Black motorist who died in police custody in 2019 should be immediately fired and charged with crimes, leaders of the National Urban League and other civil rights groups said Thursday.

Marc Morial, the national president of the Urban League and a former mayor of New Orleans, was joined by other state and local civil rights groups in calling for action during an online news conference. Their remarks came just a week after The Associated Press obtained and published body camera video that appears to contradict at least one trooper’s statement that Ronald Greene continued to be a threat even after he was restrained, and that his behavior was the reason troopers used force.

“After seeing that video, no reasonable person could come to any other conclusion … than a crime has been committed by Louisiana state troopers,” said Morial, who during the news conference played a separate AP video report that included an interview with an expert on police use of force.

Civil rights attorney Ron Haley added, “Make no mistake: Ron Greene was murdered at the hands of Louisiana State Police.”

Greene’s death is already under investigation by state and federal authorities. It also is the subject of a lawsuit. Morial said state police should fire and arrest the troopers involved.

Asked for a response by the AP, state police Capt. Nick Manale said in an email that the troopers involved “have already received internal discipline while awaiting the results of the federal review.” He said the state police force continues to cooperate in the investigation and is “confident in the judicial system and fair review of this incident.”

Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, appeared at the news conference with family attorney Lee Merritt. Merritt said they had met with a state legislator and have appealed to the governor’s office and district attorney to ask a judge to issue an arrest warrant for the troopers. Merritt said they were told to trust the process and await the results of a federal investigation.

“No one has delivered any specific action,” Merritt said. “We believe in equal protection under the law. And we know if a white citizen, a fellow police officer, the governor’s child, had met the same end that Ronald Greene met, there would be action by now.”

Union Parish District Attorney John Belton did not immediately respond to a telephone message and an emailed request for comment.

Hardin thanked Morial and others attending the news conference.

“We need help,” she said. “We need someone’s attention … to move these mountains.”

News conference participants said Greene’s treatment points to the need for passage of a national police reform bill known as the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which would ban chokeholds, include prohibitions on no-knock police raids like the one in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed Breonna Taylor, and create a national registry for officers who are disciplined for serious misconduct, among other proposals. It has been passed by the House but is stalled in a closely divided Senate.

They also called for passage of police reforms at the state level, including an end to “qualified immunity” — protection from lawsuits for police officers and others for actions they take in the course of their work — and a review of Louisiana’s “police officers’ bill of rights,” which provides legal protections for officers accused of wrongdoing.

Various activists and members of Greene’s family also planned to march at a rally seeking justice at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge on Thursday afternoon. After remarks on the Capitol steps, the group plans to march to the Governor’s Mansion.

The video obtained by the AP and later released by state police shows troopers stunning, beating and choking Greene, 49, following an automobile chase and crash in northeast Louisiana in May 2019.

Greene’s family was initially told that he died in the car crash. State police later issued a brief statement acknowledging there was a struggle with officers and that Greene died on the way to the hospital.

The video shows troopers converging on Greene’s car outside Monroe, Louisiana, after a high-speed chase that followed an unspecified traffic violation. Troopers can be seen repeatedly jolting the 49-year-old unarmed man with stun devices, putting him in a chokehold, punching him in the head and dragging him by his ankle shackles.

He also was placed facedown on the ground for more than nine minutes while restrained — a tactic use-of-force experts criticized as dangerous and likely to have restricted his breathing.

An autopsy cited the restraint and an “inflicted head injury” as factors in Greene’s death, along with cocaine-induced delirium and other injuries that might have been the result of the car crash.

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“It appears to us at this point that he said to one of the people there: ‘I’m not going to shoot you,’” Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said. “And then he shot other people. So I imagine there was some kind of thought on who he wanted to shoot.”

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A gunman who killed nine people at a California rail yard fired 39 shots and appeared to target some of the victims, a sheriff told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The shooter arrived at the light rail facility for the Valley Transportation Authority in San Jose around 6 a.m. Wednesday with a duffel bag carrying two semi-automatic handguns and 11 high-capacity magazines, Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said in an interview.

“It appears to us at this point that he said to one of the people there: ‘I’m not going to shoot you,’” Smith said. “And then he shot other people. So I imagine there was some kind of thought on who he wanted to shoot.”

While there are no cameras inside the rail yard’s two buildings, Smith said footage captured him moving from one location to the next. It took deputies six minutes from the first 911 calls to find the gunman on the third floor of one of the buildings, Smith said.

He killed himself as deputies closed in on the facility serving the county of more than 1 million people in the heart of Silicon Valley. More than 100 people were there at the time, and authorities found five victims in one building and two in another, Smith said.

Authorities do not yet know whether the gunman had worked regularly with any of the victims. Investigators were serving search warrants on his home and cellphone, seeking to determine what prompted the bloodshed, the sheriff said.

“I’m not sure we’ll ever actually find the real motive, but we’ll piece it together as much as we can from witnesses,” she said.

The attacker was identified as 57-year-old Samuel Cassidy, according to two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The 9 mm handguns he had appear to be legal, Smith said, though his 11 high-capacity magazines — each with 12 rounds — are prohibited in California. Authorities do not yet know how he obtained the weaponry.

The sheriff said he also appeared to have set a timer or slow-burn device to set his home on fire, and authorities also found explosives there. The fire was reported minutes after the first 911 calls came in from the rail facility.

Cassidy’s ex-wife said he had talked about killing people at work more than a decade ago.

“I never believed him, and it never happened. Until now,” a tearful Cecilia Nelms told the AP on Wednesday.

She said he used to come home from work resentful and angry over what he perceived as unfair assignments.

“He could dwell on things,” she said. The two were married for about 10 years until a 2005 divorce filing, and she hadn’t been in touch with Cassidy for about 13 years, Nelms said.

The death toll rose from eight after officials confirmed the death late Wednesday of 49-year-old Alex Ward Fritch, who had been hospitalized in critical condition after the attack.

It was the 15th mass killing in the U.S. this year, all shootings that claimed at least four lives each for a total of 87 deaths, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University.

President Joe Biden ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and urged Congress to act on legislation to curb gun violence.

“Every life that is taken by a bullet pierces the soul of our nation. We can, and we must, do more,” Biden said in a statement.

Gov. Gavin Newsom also spoke emotionally Wednesday about the country’s latest mass killing.

“There’s a numbness some of us are feeling about this. There’s a sameness to this,” he told reporters. “It begs the damn question of what the hell is going on in the United States of America?”

The shooting killed employees who had been bus and light rail operators, mechanics, linemen and an assistant superintendent over the course of their careers. One had worked for the agency since 1999.

The other victims were Paul Delacruz Megia, 42; Taptejdeep Singh, 36; Adrian Balleza, 29; Jose Dejesus Hernandez, 35; Timothy Michael Romo, 49; Michael Joseph Rudometkin, 40; Abdolvahab Alaghmandan, 63, and Lars Kepler Lane, 63.

Singh had worked as a light rail train driver for eight or nine years and had a wife and two small children, said his cousin, Bagga Singh.

“We heard that he chose the people to shoot, but I don’t know why they chose him because he has nothing to do with him,” Bagga Singh said.

San Jose City Councilman Raul Peralez said Rudometkin was a close friend.

“There are no words to describe the heartache we are feeling right now, especially for his family,” he wrote on Facebook. “Eight families are feeling this same sense of loss tonight and our entire community is mourning as well.”

There was nothing in public records to indicate Cassidy ever got in trouble with the law. He received a traffic ticket in 2019, and sheriff’s officials said they were still investigating his background.

But in court documents filed in 2009, an ex-girlfriend described him as volatile and violent, with major mood swings because of bipolar disorder that became worse when he drank heavily.

Several times while he was drunk, Cassidy forced himself on her sexually despite her refusals, pinning her arms with his body weight, the woman alleged in a sworn statement filed after Cassidy sought a restraining order against her. The documents were obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Associated Press generally does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted.

Cassidy had worked for Valley Transportation Authority since at least 2012, according to the public payroll and pension database Transparent California, first as a mechanic from 2012 to 2014, then maintaining substations.

Doug Suh, who lives across the street from Cassidy, told The Mercury News in San Jose that Cassidy seemed “strange” and that he never saw anyone visit.

“I’d say hello, and he’d just look at me without saying anything,” Suh said. Once, Cassidy yelled at him to stay away as he was backing up his car. “After that, I never talked to him again.”

Wednesday’s attack was the deadliest shooting in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1993, when a gunman attacked law offices in San Francisco’s Financial District, killing eight people before taking his own life.

It also was Santa Clara County’s second mass shooting in less than two years. A gunman killed three people and then himself at a popular garlic festival in Gilroy in July 2019.

___

Associated Press journalists Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco, Martha Mendoza in Santa Cruz, John Antczak in Los Angeles, and Michael Balsamo and Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.

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Chicago Bears: 5 mind-blowing Justin Fields statistics by Ryan Heckman

Anthony Rizzo, for the most part, has been an honest man throughout his MLB career. That was no different this week. Every Tuesday, the Chicago Cubs star goes on “Kap and J-Hood“, the 7 AM morning show on ESPN 1000. It is always great to get updates on things surrounding the team from someone who would know better than everyone. He made some comments that might make people think twice when they rip on umpire Joe West.

Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs clearly has some respect for Joe West.

Earlier in the week, Joe West was in town to umpire a series between the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. In that series, he broke the MLB’s record for the most games umpired with 5,376 games. It is an amazing accomplishment for anyone to be involved with anything for that long.

A lot of people, however, don’t like Joe West. He has done a lot in the game but he has annoyed some people along the way. He throws people out for strange reasons a lot and seems to enjoy making the game about himself from time to time. He is someone who often is graded by MLB managers to be one of the top umpires which is the reason he has appeared in many different World Series.

Speaking of the World Series, Joe West was the crew chief when the Cubs defeated the Cleveland Indians in 2016. That was the franchise’s first World Series championship in 108 years so you know it was special to a lot of people.

On the radio, Rizzo made a great point about that game. It was Joe West’s decision to call a rain delay late in game seven which canceled all of the momenta that the Indians had. It allowed the Cubs to catch a breath of fresh air and come out and win. If it weren’t for Joe West’s decision to do that, the Indians might have snatched victory from the hands of defeat to win.

Rizzo is a guy who likes to talk to folks on the field so you know he has had some conversations with Joe West in between innings when Joe is at first base. Rizzo is also the type of guy to trust when it comes to his judgment of character. Joe West may not be perfect but he was a big part of the biggest moment the Cubs have ever had.

Related Story: Could the Chicago Cubs trade Craig Kimbrel?

This wasn’t the only topic Rizzo touched on. He acknowledged that the current edition of the Chicago Cubs is playing with a chip on their shoulder right now because of how the offseason and the first part of the season went. The hope is that they can continue playing well and battle until the end.

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The Sox take 2 of 3 from the Cardinals and remain in 1st place in the AL Central but the offense remains an issue. Can the Sox stay afloat until Robert and Engel return? Let’s hope so! The guys talk Vaughn, Collins, bunting, hamstring injuries, strobe lights, and much more on this episode. Go Sox!

The post GGTB A Chicago White Sox Podcast – Episode 102 – Wanted: A Right Fielder That Can Hit first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More

The fan, who was not identified by the team, threw the popcorn onto Westbrook as the Wizards’ guard was leaving Wednesday night’s game at Wells Fargo Center with an ankle injury.

The Philadelphia 76ers said Thursday that they have immediately revoked the season-ticket membership from the fan who threw popcorn on Washington guard Russell Westbrook, plus banned him from all events at their arena indefinitely.

The fan, who was not identified by the team, threw the popcorn onto Westbrook as the Wizards’ guard was leaving Wednesday night’s game at Wells Fargo Center with an ankle injury.

“We apologize to Russell Westbrook and the Washington Wizards for being subjected to this type of unacceptable and disrespectful behavior,” the 76ers said in a statement announcing the ban. “There is no place for it in our sport or arena.”

The NBA agreed, saying Thursday that its rules on fan behavior will be “vigorously enforced in order to ensure a safe and respectful environment for all involved.”

NBA buildings are welcoming their largest crowds of the season for the playoffs, after a regular season where attendance was severely limited because of policies put in place to keep players and others safe during the pandemic.

It has not been without problems, and players are airing concerns.

The popcorn incident with Westbrook came on the same night where fans in New York directed profane chants at Atlanta guard Trae Young in Madison Square Garden, just as they had in the series opener there on Sunday.

And Brooklyn guard Kyrie Irving — in advance of Game 3 of the Nets’ series at Boston — said he hoped the scene there on Friday night “is strictly basketball, there’s no belligerence or any racism going on, subtle racism, people yelling (expletive) from the crowd.”

“The return of more NBA fans to our arenas has brought great excitement and energy to the start of the playoffs, but it is critical that we all show respect for players, officials and our fellow fans,” the NBA said Thursday.

Westbrook has been part of high-profile incidents involving fans before, including one where a fan in Utah was alleged to have directed racial taunts his way. Westbrook was fined $25,000 for his reactions to that incident, one in which Utah guard Donovan Mitchell even came to his defense.

“These arenas, they’ve got to start protecting the players. We’ll see what the NBA does,” Westbrook said Wednesday night. “I’ve been in a lot of incidents where fans, they say whatever, and the consequences for me are a lot more detrimental to those people in the stands because they feel like they’re untouchable.”

After the Westbrook incident in Utah two years ago, the league changed and toughened its code of conduct for fans, including putting those in closest proximity to the players and the court on alert that anything over the line will lead to ejections and possibly more.

Players such as Westbrook and LeBron James — who chimed in on Twitter shortly after the Westbrook incident Wednesday — still clearly believe that fan behavior remains a major issue.

“I’m sick and tired of it, honestly,” Westbrook said.

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The Republican offer would increase spending by $91 billion on roads and bridges, $48 billion on water resources and $25 billion on airports, according to a one-page summary released by the GOP negotiators. I

WASHINGTON — Republican senators outlined a $928 billion infrastructure proposal Thursday that would tap unused coronavirus aid, a counteroffer to President Joe Biden’s more sweeping plan as the two sides struggle to negotiate a bipartisan compromise and remain far apart on how to pay for the massive spending.

The Republican offer would increase spending by $91 billion on roads and bridges, $48 billion on water resources and $25 billion on airports, according to a one-page summary released by the GOP negotiators. It also would provide for one-time increases in broadband investments, at $65 billion, and $22 billion on rail.

Republicans have rejected Biden’s proposed corporate tax increase to pay for new investments, and instead want to shift unspent COVID-19 relief dollars to help cover the costs, a nonstarter for many Democrats.

“It’s a serious effort to try to reach a bipartisan agreement,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the lead GOP negotiator.

The Republican senators said their offer delivers on “core infrastructure investments” that Biden has focused on as areas of potential bipartisan agreement. But their overall approach, up from an initial $568 billion bid, received a cool response by Democrats and the White House.

As Biden left for an event in Ohio, he said he called Capito to thank her for the proposal, but told her, “We have to finish this really soon.”

With about $250 billion in new spending, the GOP plan falls short of the more ambitious proposal outlined in the president’s American Jobs Plan. In earlier negotiations. Biden reduced his $2.3 trillion opening bid to $1.7 trillion.

Biden, in an economic address later Thursday in Cleveland, planned to present “head-on” the choice before Congress and the country, according to a White House official, framing the argument as whether Americans want to keep giving breaks to corporations or invest in modernizing infrastructure. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss Biden’s remarks before the president’s speech and spoke on condition of anonymity.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki made clear the administration’s concern that the new proposal “still provides no substantial new funds for critical job-creating needs” and fails to spell out how Republicans would pay for the programs.

“We are worried that major cuts in COVID relief funds could imperil pending aid to small businesses, restaurants and rural hospitals using this money to get back on their feet after the crush of the pandemic,” Psaki said in a statement.

Biden and Capito are expected to meet next week, while Congress is on a break. Psaki said the White House is also “continuing to explore other proposals that we hope will emerge.”

A bipartisan group of lawmakers that includes Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, is also preparing an alternative plan.

Investing in infrastructure is a top legislative priority for Biden. Talks are at a crossroads before a Memorial Day deadline to make progress toward a bipartisan deal. The White House is assessing whether the president can strike the contours of an agreement with Republicans or whether he will try to go it alone with Democrats if no progress is made in the coming days.

Core differences remain over the definition of infrastructure: Republicans stick to traditional investments in roads, bridges, ports and water drinking systems, while Biden takes a more expansive view.

Under Biden’s initial proposal, there is more than $300 billion for substantial upgrades to public schools, Veterans Administration hospitals and affordable housing, along with $25 billion for new and renovated child care centers.

Biden’s proposal would spend heavily on efforts to confront climate change, with $174 billion to spur the electric vehicle market, in part by developing charging stations, and $50 billion so communities can better deal with floods, hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters.

One area of agreement is on boosting broadband, but the sides are apart on details. Republicans raised their initial offer to $65 billion in an earlier exchange; Biden is seeking $100 billion.

Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said the Republicans’ proposal reflects what “what people at home in Wyoming think of is infrastructure, roads with potholes.”

The White House, still expressing public hopes for bipartisanship, welcomed the GOP offer. But it was greeted with some initial coolness inside the West Wing.

Aides have for days signaled that using COVID-19 relief money was a nonstarter, noting that much of that money has been allocated and suggesting that the rest should be held in reserve for future virus-related costs.

There was also skepticism about how the Republicans claimed Biden has signaled agreement to a $1.2 trillion deal in a recent meeting — a claim the White House disputed.

At $928 billion over eight years, the new GOP offer features $257 billion in new money, more than the $225 billion the White House had said was in the initial Republican proposal. But still far less than the White House had hoped.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said there is $700 billion in unspent COVID-19 aid from the American Rescue Plan, which was the administration’s $1.9 trillion response to the coronavirus crisis earlier this year.

Toomey said some of that money could fill the gap between the amount of revenue normally collected from transportation taxes and fees, and the new spending the GOP senators are proposing.

But he said the Republican negotiators have made it “very, very clear on every single time we’ve had a discussion is that we’re not raising taxes.”

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