Fresh off her second “Rock the Block” challenge win, Alison Victoria headed down to the basement to keep the winning momentum going for week four of the HGTV series Monday night, but she struggled to add the wow factor of her previous designs.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Going into Monday night, Victoria and her designer partner Mike Holmes had already won two of the three challenges so far: kitchen, main bedroom and bathroom. The pair’s “wood wall” treatment on last week’s episode impressed the judges, but it was the ombre tile in the bathroom and the massive closet that won over judges Egypt Sherrod from “Property Virgins” and husband Mike Jackson. Last week’s victory by Victoria and Holmes left a bad taste in competitor Mika Kleinschmidt’s mouth: she told the judges she thought they were wrong.

This week, the design teams (in addition to Victoria and Holmes) — Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent of “Nate and Jeremiah: Save My House;” David Bromstad of “My Lottery Dream Home” and Tiffany Brooks from the upcoming show “50K Three Ways;” and Brian and Mika Kleinschmidt of “100 Day Dream Home” — tackled the basement. Tamara Day of “Bargain Mansions” was this week’s judge.

In her basement, Victoria designed a luxurious wine bar and home theater. Another room became a bedroom with a walk-in closet with a full bathroom nearby, while the final room was transformed into an office.

“I think that even though David and Tiffany won that challenge,” Victoria said, referring to the series’ second episode in which competitors David Bromstad and Tiffany Brooks added a bedroom to the main level, “that the bedroom down here makes more sense value-wise than on the first floor.”

“If we can get another win this week, there is no question in my mind that we wouldn’t win the entire competition,” Victoria said.

This week’s surprise design challenge called for each team to incorporate one heavy metal item (from a dumpster dive) — tin roofs, street signs, pipes — into the basement design “in a meaningful way,” host Ty Pennington explained.

HGTV

Meanwhile in the other homes, Berkus and Brent reworked the basement into a rental unit for extra income. Brooks and Bromstad painted their entire basement a light pink blush. Tired of playing it safe, the Kleinschmidts installed a bowling alley in their basement because that’s what every home needs?

Judgment day arrived, and the first thing Day noticed in Victoria and Holmes’ basement was the barn doors to the office, which Victoria suggested could also be a home gym. As the designers and Day moved into the main entertaining space, there was simply not much wow. The theater turned out to be a regular sitting space, and the wine bar never materialized. Bright spot: in a corner was the table lamp Holmes designed from pipe recovered from the dumpster dive. The only luxury addition that survived was the walk-in closet in the bedroom.

While Day was impressed, her only complaint for the basement design was the choice of carpet over hardwood floors because, as she put it, her four children trashed the carpet in her basement.

“If the only negative is that we have carpet over hardwood, I’ll take it,” Holmes said.

In the end though, the design team that truly created versatility (and plenty of wow) in the space ended up being Berkus and Brent, who won the challenge. Their rental unit design floored Day, and with the help of a strategically placed Murphy bed, they added not one, but two bedrooms to the basement.

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday announced a new vaccination site in partnership with the Chicago Federation of Labor that will help get doses of COVID-19 vaccine into the arms of essential union workers.

Lightfoot said the site will be able to handle about 1,200 vaccinations weekly at first and can grow to 6,000 weekly as vaccine supply increases.

The announcement comes as the city expands eligibility requirements to what’s called Phase 1C. That expansion includes residents ages 16 to 64 with underlying medical conditions, such as chronic kidney disease or cancer.

It also will allow vaccination for those working in construction, retail, restaurants and all other essential workers who had not previously been eligible.

“You all know this, but it bears repeating. Chicago is 100% a union town,” the mayor said in making the announcement at the vaccination site, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, 2260 S. Grove St.

“It’s our union workers who make up the backbone of this city.”

Those wishing to be vaccinated at Local 399 must live or work in Chicago, hold a current union card or be a union retiree, and qualify under the city’s current eligibility criteria.

Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said this will be the nation’s first vaccination site run by the labor movement for union workers. It will focus on inoculating those affected disproportionately by the pandemic. The group has 300 affiliated unions and a combined half-million working members.

The labor federation has an ownership stake in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

“Two-thirds of our members are Black and Brown workers, and we must do everything we can to get this vaccine into arms as quickly as possible,” Reiter said. “Let’s move past this pandemic once and for all.”

Union members interested in getting vaccinated should visit www.chicagolabor.org/vaccine for more information or to schedule an appointment.

Lightfoot said 84% of residents in Chicago are now eligible to receive vaccines but cautioned supply remains limited. She also warned against thinking the deadly pandemic is behind us.

“Right now, we are seeing a troubling uptick in our case positivity and daily case rates,” Lightfoot said. “COVID-19 is still here, it is still killing people in our city every day, so we have got to remain diligent.”

The Chicago Department of Public Health reported 438 new confirmed cases, 3 deaths and a test positivity rate of 4% — up from 3.1% last week.

Lightfoot said the spike in cases mostly comes from adults, ages 18 to 39, living on the North and Northwest sides, who participated in bar crawls or played on a sports team.

Lightfoot stopped short of blaming the opening of bars or athletic events for the uptick, instead pointing the finger at individuals not wearing masks or not adhering to other safety guidelines.

Illinois public health officials on Monday also reported its seven-day positivity rate jumped to 3.8%, up from 2.9% last week. Statewide, officials also announced 1,761 new coronavirus cases, the lowest in the last seven days. Five additional deaths — the second lowest daily tally this month — raised the state’s total to 21,256.

Hospitalization continues its upward trend over the past two weeks, with 1,352 COVID-19 patients occupying hospital bed within the past 24 hours. Of those hospitalized, 280 patients were in the ICU and 128 patients were on ventilators.

The state also reported that as of midnight Sunday, nearly 5.6 million vaccines have been administered in Illinois, including 49,192 doses on Sunday.

Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides.

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

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Baseball projection systems have a certain amount of built-in caution.

When a player has a breakthrough season, regression will be projected until he does it again — and perhaps again. Players having unusually bad seasons will be projected to bounce back.

And the 60-game season of 2020 is likely to be a less reliable indicator than a 162-game season.

That’s part of the reason for Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections, which have confounded White Sox fans who have championship hopes and surprised Cubs fans fearing the bottom will fall out. Updated last week and reflecting the injury to Sox outfielder Eloy Jimenez, the PECOTA standings at baseballprospectus.com list the Sox at 80.2-81.8 and the Cubs at 85.4-76.6.

Let’s peek at projections for a few key players that help explain the team projections.

o Sox first baseman Jose Abreu: His .987 OPS in 2020 was 117 points above his career average, and his 1.9 WARP — the Baseball Prospectus equivalent of WAR — is equivalent to a career-high-tying 5.1 over a 162-game season. PECOTA projects a return to norms at .870 OPS and 2.3 WARP.

o Sox shortstop Tim Anderson: Batting averages of .335 in 2019 and .322 in 2020 were fueled by batting average on balls in play of .399 and .383. Anderson hits to all fields and can sustain BABiPs above the major-league average, which was .292 last season. But there is an element of chance in whether balls elude fielders. PECOTA projects a .336 BABiP and .271 batting average.

o Cubs shortstop Javy Baez: After a drastic drop to .203/.238/.360 in 2020, PECOTA has Baez rebounding to .246/.295/.458. That .753 OPS and 2.4 WARP are comedowns from .881 and 4.6 in 2018 and .847 and 3.9 in 2019, but not as disastrous as the .598 and 0.9 last season.

o Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant: He played in only 34 games in 2020, but his .206 batting average, .644 OPS and 0.3 WARP were shocks to the system. In five seasons through 2019, his career OPS was .901 and never was below his .834 in 2018. PECOTA expects an upswing to a .245 batting average, .814 OPS and 2.5 WARP.

Past performance, with emphasis on recent seasons, is a prime factor in player projections. So is the performance of players who had similar success through similar ages.

A range of projections for players feed into simulated team seasons. The records reported as ”the PECOTA projection” are among multitudes of simulations. Projections sort into a bell-shaped curve. The top of the curve, the 50th percentile, represents the victory total that comes up most frequently in simulated seasons.

For the Sox, the 90th-percentile projection was 91 victories. That’s if players hold their 2020 improvement and things click. The 10th-percentile projection, with players at the low end of their probabilities, was 77 victories. The Cubs were at 94 victories in the 90th percentile and 77 in the 10th.

PECOTA doesn’t rule out a Sox title with 91-plus victories. But in simulations, the most frequent results are seasons closer to .500.

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If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.

A dangerous virus is raging, and we should stay home and avoid travel. Or not. It all depends on whom you listen to — and, of course, whom you believe.

What does this have to do with Opening Day on Thursday at Wrigley Field for our beloved Cubs?

Just about everything.

We are so sick of quarantining and missing out on the simple joys of being alive in a free country that the start of baseball — and nothing says ”Play ball!” like a spring day game at the Friendly Confines — could bring us pure exhilaration.

And maybe it will. Let’s hope it does.

The point is that fans are going to be in the stands as the Cubs take on the Pirates at 1:20 p.m. Hey, hey!

Yes, attendance will be limited to 20% of capacity, roughly 8,000 people. But there have been no fans at any Chicago games — baseball, basketball, football, hockey — since the game between the Sharks and Blackhawks at the United Center on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — more than a year ago.

So this is happiness, albeit muted.

Imagine real people cheering again, not canned P.A. stuff. Real fans hollering, ”Get a cane, ump!” Real kids bickering with their siblings over peanuts.

That is, of course, if the voices can be heard through masks.

And masks will be required at all times. If you don’t have a mask, field staff will provide you with one. If you won’t wear the one provided, you’ll be asked to leave. If you won’t leave . . . well, this ain’t Texas, pardner.

Indeed, as monumental as this soft opening at Wrigley is, down in Arlington, Texas, the Rangers are allowing a full house of 40,518 fans for Opening Day at Globe Life Field. That makes the Rangers the first pro team in North America to allow a capacity crowd at its home field or arena since the COVID-19 shutdown last March.

Yep, that virus is scared of tough guys in 10-gallon hats. Back on

March 2, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fully opened the state, the first governor in the nation to do so. Freedom!

Which is why I brought up confusion at the start.

If Texans can go maskless, jam restaurants, dance in crowds, party at bars, carry six-shooters and blast rattlesnakes at will, well, are they smarter than the rest of us or idiotic?

Don’t answer out loud.

It’s a funny thing for Texas folks to ponder, isn’t it, when the default situation might mean the intensive-care unit or worse.

So what the Cubs are doing — and the White Sox when they open Guaranteed Rate Field to 8,000 fans for their home opener April 8 — is probably pretty darn safe, all things considered.

Lots of restrictions apply, such as pod seating, cashless food areas, the aforementioned mask mandate, etc. But just to see the green grass and ancient center-field scoreboard at Wrigley — with the pennants of every National League team blowing in the breeze — will be as soothing as a lullaby. The ridiculous hand-moved white numbers on that huge green box will be part of a happy dream.

And good ol’ Kyle Hendricks, the dependable, soft-throwing professor — whose best-in-the-majors 2.13 ERA in 2016 helped the Cubs win that life-altering World Series — will be on the mound. It’ll be like watching your friendly uncle fish a favorite hole, looking for nibbles. Wonderful.

Yet there’s a variant out there. People are getting vaccinated, but not enough. Nothing truly will be safe until there is herd immunity for 330 million Americans. And even then . . .

The best guess is that COVID likely spread from bats to pigs, then to us. According to one scientific estimate, there are more than 820,000 viruses in the animal world that have similar potential to jump to humans. Yowee!

”Right now, I’m scared,” Centers for Disease Control director Rochelle Walensky said Monday, adding that she feels a sense of ”impending doom.”

You see, there appears to be a COVID spike going on again.

On March 8, Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted: ”Folks, we’ve significantly slowed the spread of COVID. . . . And now, we can begin to safely welcome fans back to our baseball stands on opening day.”

Can we? Talk about confusion.

Well, they’re coming, no matter what.

So let’s call that a good thing. And then let’s shout — all together and through our mandatory masks — ”Go, Cubs, go!”

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Laundry stains have met their match.

Meet Patric Richardson, the self-proclaimed “Evangelist of Laundry” and star of the new series “The Laundry Guy,” premiering March 31 on Discovery+ (with a onetime airing at 9 p.m. on HGTV). The series is filled with plenty of tips on how to pre-treat, wash, hang dry and properly fold all that laundry. But there are also the stories behind the people and the items themselves — everything from wedding gowns to baby blankets to vintage clothing.

Born and raised in the eastern Kentucky foothills of Appalachian Mountains, Richardson began his love of all things laundry at the age of 2 1/2 , during the times spent with his grandmother in the small town of Grayson, Kentucky.

“My granny used to drive to Columbus, Ohio, to shop. And she would buy these beautiful clothes. And when she was young there were no dry cleaners in town. So she figured out how to wash things that weren’t washable,” Richardson recalls during a recent phone chat. “And that kind of got me started, because one of my earliest memories [of doing laundry] was handing her clothespins because she would hang everything on the clothesline.”

Richardson went on to study apparel, merchandising and textiles at University of Kentucky, quickly discovering that a college student’s budget left little funds for dry cleaning. Ultimately one of his professors gave him a life-changing revelation, telling Richardson, “you know, all that stuff is washable.”

Jobs at Neiman Marcus and as a manager and buyer of designer apparel at Nordstrom exposed Richardson to the world’s most luxurious fabrics and labels. Eventually, he opened a designer resale store, where he also sold a detergent he created to specifically wash the vintage haute couture. He says if you can’t pronounce the ingredients in a laundry soap, don’t buy it. “Plant-based detergents are the best.”

His customer base became increasingly focused on how best to care for their purchases — including the dreaded “dry clean only” ones — as well as their existing closet inventory. This led to weekly “laundry camps”– part social gatherings, part wash-day tips — or as he calls them: an evening of “clean clothes and dirty martinis.”

When asked, Richardson is happy to debunk some of the most popular laundry myths.

Silk and wool: “Cashmere goats stand on mountainsides in the snow and the rain. Same with sheep; farmers will shear them and wash the wool, comb it.

“Silk is the second strongest fabric known to man. (Snail’s teeth from the European limpet snails are the strongest natural material in the world, he reveals.) It’s very durable, that’s why they make parachutes from it. If you want to wash it by hand that’s fine, but I recommend putting it in a mesh laundry/lingerie bag from the dollar store and throwing it in the washer on warm water.”

Water temperature: “Never use cold, even on silk or wool. Warm is warm enough to activate the detergent, but it allows you to speed up the process. The thing that is scariest about the washing machine isn’t the water, it’s the abrasion. That’s what really causes your problems. If you bring up the water temperature you can shorten the cycle. Express on warm is so much better for your clothes than cold with a long cycle. … You’d be surprised how much less water you use and how much less energy.”

Pre-soaking: “I am not a fan,” he says. “I treat the stain and then I wash.”

Dryer versus hang-drying: “Hang dry everything. The abrasion in the dryer will ruin your clothes.”

So what are his must-have tools of the trade? Vinegar, vodka, oxygen bleach, mild soap and a horsehair brush.

Never blot a stain, especially on upholstery or rugs. But if you must, use vodka.

“Vodka is a great stain remover,” Richardson says. “Ever come home from a restaurant still smelling like the cuisine, or been somewhere people are smoking or around a campfire? Spray yourself with a mist of vodka from a spray bottle and the odors will disappear. It’s also great on car seats. It dries fast, is odorless and colorless and leaves no water ring.”

And when to do laundry?

“I’ve turned into my mom,” he says chuckling. I do laundry once a week.”

On Mondays, no doubt.

Richardson’s first book, “Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore” (with Karin B. Miller, Flatiron Books) comes out March 30 and features his “revolutionary methods” for doing laundry and how to have fun doing it.

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Four people were injured after inhaling smoke during a fire Monday afternoon in Chatham on the South Side.

The fire was reported at a bungalow in the 7800 block of South Prairie Avenue and extinguished by about 5:40 p.m., Chicago fire officials said.

Firefighters rescued four people through a window, all of whom were suffering from injuries brought on by smoke inhalation, fire officials said.

One of them, a 39-year-old man, was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in serious condition, fire officials said. A 71-year-old woman was taken to Trinity Hospital, where she was listed in fair condition.

Two more men, 54 and 63, were taken to St. Bernard Hospital, both in good condition, fire officials said.

Officials said no smoke alarms were heard at the scene of the fire.

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Chicago Cubs: Anthony Rizzo might be gone after 2021 by Vincent Parise

If the Chicago Blackhawks were smart, they would care more about the future than just this season. It would be awesome if they ended up making the playoffs this year but that isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing would be getting themselves ready to compete in the future. They have a lot of nice young pieces that should help them in the future. Mike Hardman of Boston College is going to be the next one on the list.

Apparently, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to sign Mike Hardman to a free-agent deal.

Mike Hardman is an undrafted free agent that just finished his season at BC. He had a very good season for them as he had 10 goals and 19 assists for 19 points in 24 games this year. He is a big (6’3?, 190 lbs) right-wing that can play the game in a way that would fit this Chicago Blackhawks team.

Not many more people are plugged into NCAA hockey more than ESPN’s John Buccigross. He was the first to report that Hardman will be signing with the Hawks. It is a reliable source and he claims that he believes it will be announced on Tuesday.

This is phenomenal news for the Blackhawks. There is a good chance that they trade away a veteran forward or two that is on an expiring contract so Hardman would fit right in. He is a big winger that would look great next to a big-time center like Kirby Dach. The matchup game they could play with these two opposite Patrick Kane/Alex DeBrincat’s line would be very fun to watch and hard for opponents to deal with.

Sources tell me undrafted Free Agent Mike Hardman is leaving Boston College and close to signing a free agent contract with the @NHLBlackhawks. Should sign tomorrow..6’3″ 190. Just turned 22 years old. 10-9-19 in 24 games this season. Will be in Chicago this week. #CawlidgeHawkey pic.twitter.com/dmQY2F0SDl

— Bucci Mane (@Buccigross) March 29, 2021

This is the type of decision that could help the Blackhawks break out of their slump. It could also be a good way to get some of their forwards going again like they were before last week’s road trip. It is also a great opportunity for a young college kid to get his break in the National Hockey League.

Related Story: The Predators are becoming a problem for the Blackhawks

The Blackhawks are still a premier franchise that these kids should want to play for, especially as they try to build it back up to what they once were. Hopefully, this is a signing that can get them an extra boost as they continue to grow. We don’t know for an absolute fact if he is going to be in the NHL right away but there is a very good chance.

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The odds Mac Jones will be available when the Bears draft next month are seemingly dwindling by the day. But the Alabama quarterback said Monday that the Bears have done their homework, calling his conversation with team officials this offseason “a great meeting” in which “we just talked football for like an hour straight.”

“That’s the best type of meeting for me is just talking ball,” he told reporters during a draft-related press conference Monday. “So hopefully I’ll get a chance to talk to them more — and see where that relationship kind of heads as well.”

A quarterback-needy team interviewing one of the draft’s top five quarterbacks is hardly news. But given that Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson said Bears general manager Ryan Pace didn’t talk to him privately before the 2017 draft, the Jones conversation remains notable.

Drafting No. 20, the Bears will be fortunate to get a crack at one of the top five quarterbacks in the draft next month. The 49ers’ trade for the No. 3 pick on Friday made it all-but-certain that passers will be picked with at least each of the first three selections.

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After 26 years and 400-plus wins, De La Salle’s Tom White is stepping down as head coach.

White put together eight 20-plus win seasons and won nine regional championships. The Meteors won six Chicago Catholic League championships while coaching more than 30 Division I players.

“I’ve had one of the best high school basketball coaching jobs in the city here at De La Salle,” White said in a statement. “I learned to teach the fundamentals from great coaches, and I’ve always been an avid student of the game, attending clinics and reading books that would hone my coaching aptitude.”

The highlight of the White run at the South Side Catholic League program was a run of four consecutive regional titles from 2008 to 2011.

The Derek Needham-led team in 2007-08 finished 24-4 and lost in the sectional semifinals to Mount Carmel.

The 2011 team was loaded, led by seniors Mike Shaw and Dre Henley and the highly-regarded sophomore tandem of Jaylon Tate and Alex Foster, began the season ranked in everyone’s preseason top five. The Meteors lost 59-56 in the sectional semifinals to Young.

“I have been blessed to be a coach for as many years as I have,” said White in the press release. “I am grateful to have been surrounded by so many great families here at De La Salle and I will always give back to this wonderful community for as long as I can.”

White, who finished his coaching career with a 417-252 career record, will stay on and remain De La Salle’s athletic director.

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Troy Brown Jr. still isn’t sure why it went off the tracks so quickly in Washington.

The 15^th overall pick from the 2018 NBA Draft went from rookie going through the normal growing pains his first season, to a legitimate second-year player that seemed to have found a foothold with the Wizards and an upward trajectory.

Jumping from 4.8 points per game to 10.4 per game in Year 2 is a solid climb. Until it wasn’t.

Washington selected Deni Avdija with the No. 9 pick in the 2020 draft, and just like that Brown saw he was being pushed out of not only playing time, but on many nights the rotation.

“It was kind of hard, just getting adjusted to things,” Brown said, when explaining his journey to the Bulls. “Coming off of the [Orlando] bubble, [the Wizards] kind of told me I was going to be playing like backup point guard then coming into the season, I kind of was playing like the four, then after that I kind of went to the bench. So it was one of those things where it was definitely hard, but at the end of the day for me my goal was just to continue getting better and just like trying to talk to Deni and try to give him some of the information I wish would have knew when I was a rookie.”

The hope now is the Wizards’ loss will be the Bull’s gain, as he was acquired in the three-team trade deadline deal that also sent Daniel Theis and Javonte Green to the Bulls.

A new lease on his career? Maybe, but Brown wasn’t putting that kind of drama behind the deal.

“I just talked to coach and he was just like, ‘Right now we need defense. We just need a defensive presence,’ ” Brown said.

Brown checked that box in his debut against the Spurs on Saturday, playing solid defense in his 14 minutes of work, but also scoring eight points and handing out three assists. What he is long term for Donovan, however, that remains to be seen.

“It’s hard because you know he wasn’t like I would consider a rotation player,” Donovan said of that debut. “We got down by a large margin. I put [Brown] and Javonte in there to give them some minutes to see what they would look like. So we’ll see going forward.”

Brown hopes that’s the case. The way he sees it he thinks he can be a difference maker if given the opportunity.

“For me personally, I feel like with my length and size and being able to guard one-through-three and being able to absorb like that four position a little bit, I feel like it definitely helps,” Brown said. “I feel like for me personally it’s just about energy and effort and making sure I bring that mentality every game and I think everything else will handle itself just based on knowing coverages and me being active and being on the floor.”

Return to normalcy?

The NBA continued pushing the idea of getting back on a normal offseason schedule, as it was announced on Monday that the draft will be held on July 29, with the lottery coming June 22, and the draft combine taking place June 21-27.

Before the coronavirus turned the sports world upside down, the draft used to take place in late June. But what this will eventually allow is the league getting back to a normal schedule for the fall, meaning training camp can begin in late September and the regular season would tip-off in mid-October.

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