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Do you follow your intuition or are you Living Red?on March 28, 2021 at 12:28 am

Looking for the Good

Do you follow your intuition or are you Living Red?

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Do you follow your intuition or are you Living Red?on March 28, 2021 at 12:28 am Read More »

Blackhawks’ Kirby Dach returns from injury, playing against Predatorson March 27, 2021 at 11:57 pm

Kirby Dach is back.

The centerpiece of the Blackhawks’ future core was activated off long-term injured reserve Saturday and officially returned to the lineup against the Predators.

Dach had missed the first 34 games of the season recovering from wrist surgery in December after a freak injury in the World Junior Championships.

But he was initially expected to miss four-to-five months, putting his return optimistically in late April, so he ultimately recovered drastically ahead of schedule. He’d been practicing with the Hawks, ramping up his conditioning and physical contact, since March 8.

Dach centered a new third line with Mattias Janmark and Dylan Strome in warmups before puck drop against the Predators. He’ll be eased into action but likely move up the depth chart soon, usurping current first-line center Pius Suter and second-line center David Kampf.

The 20-year-old forward, the third overall pick in the 2019 NHL draft, demonstrated tremendous growth during his 2019-20 rookie season.

In the fall, he began training with Ian Mack, building up his muscle mass to be able to handle a 20-minutes-per-night role. He won’t be tasked with that much playing time immediately this spring, but he may well finish the season receiving it.

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Blackhawks’ Kirby Dach returns from injury, playing against Predatorson March 27, 2021 at 11:57 pm Read More »

Knicks assistant Kenny Payne passes on DePaul jobon March 28, 2021 at 12:01 am

The DePaul coaching search moves to its next phase.

While first-year athletic director DeWayne Peevy has interviewed several candidates, the primary focus for weeks has been on New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne.

There has been a back-and-forth between the two parties, with many in the industry believing a deal was imminent with Payne, whom Peevy spent a decade with when they were at Kentucky. But Payne officially withdrew his name from consideration Saturday.

According to sources, the early process centered on Payne, Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates and Duke assistant coach Jon Scheyer. Pacific coach Damon Stoudamire, South Carolina coach Frank Martin and Illinois assistant coach Orlando Antigua reportedly have been contacted about the job.

However, with Loyola eliminated from the NCAA Tournament after its Sweet 16 loss to Oregon State, does DePaul’s attention turn to Porter Moser?

Moser is the hottest coaching name on the market, and the coaching carousel this year is very active. Moser reportedly is on Indiana’s short list. But does DePaul now go all in on Moser, who led Loyola to a Final Four in 2018 and a follow-up tournament run this month?

Maybe the question is how does DePaul not go after the coach who’s a little over six miles from its campus? And will Moser entertain DePaul’s interest, the step up to the Big East and the challenge of another college basketball rebuild in Chicago?

It’s now believed Moser, Gates and Scheyer will be the primary focus of DePaul’s search. But Moser does have options — and potentially others coming — including staying at the program he has built from the ground up. Loyola is financially prepared to do what it takes to keep its star in place.

Gates, a Chicago native who starred at Whitney Young in the late 1990s, just led Cleveland State to the NCAA Tournament in his second season as coach.

Scheyer is on coaching legend Mike Krzyzewski’s staff at Duke. He’s a basketball icon in the state from his days at Glenbrook North.

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Knicks assistant Kenny Payne passes on DePaul jobon March 28, 2021 at 12:01 am Read More »

15 shot in Chicago since Friday eveningon March 28, 2021 at 12:11 am

At least 15 people have been wounded in shootings across Chicago so far this weekend.

In the most recent shooting, a 31-year-old man was shot while riding in a funeral procession Saturday in Gresham on the South Side.

He was riding in a vehicle about 6:50 p.m. when someone fired shots as the procession passed through the 7600 block of South Ashland Avenue, Chicago police said. He was struck in the abdomen and arm, and rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, police said.

A teenage bystander was wounded in a shooting Saturday afternoon East Garfield Park on the West Side.

The 17-year-old boy was walking about 4:30 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street when someone in a vehicle drove by and fired shots at a nearby group of people, Chicago police said. Someone in the group returned fire, and the boy was caught in the crossfire, taking a bullet to the chest.

He was brought to Mt. Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said.

Hours earlier, four people were wounded, two critically, in Austin on the West Side.

The group was standing outside about 12:10 p.m. when someone fired shots at them in the 500 block of North Leamington Avenue, Chicago police said.

One man, 64, was struck in the leg, and another, 54, was struck in the thigh, police said. Both were taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition. A third man, 42, was grazed on the back and treated at the scene.

A fourth victim later showed up at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with a gunshot wound to the shoulder, and was listed in good condition, police said.

Early Saturday morning, a man was critically wounded in a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood.

The 21-year-old was standing outside about 1:45 a.m. in the 7000 block of South Jeffery Boulevard when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He suffered one gunshot wound to the groin and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition.

Less than an hour earlier, a 25-year-old man was shot in Bronzeville on the South Side.

He was walking outside about 12:50 a.m. in the 800 block of East Oakwood Boulevard when a black sedan pulled up alongside him with three people inside, police said. One of the people inside the sedan began shooting and struck him in the hand. He was transported to Mercy Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

Another 25-year old was hurt in a drive-by shooting about the same time in Oakland on the South Side.

About 12:50 a.m., the man was sitting in a parked vehicle in the 3800 block of South Langley Avenue when a white Jeep drove by him and began firing shots, Chicago police said. He was shot in the leg and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where his condition was stabilized.

Just after midnight, a 56-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in South Shore.

He was exiting his vehicle about 12:10 a.m. in the 7200 block of South Coles Avenue when a person approached him and fired shots before fleeing the scene, police said. The man was shot in the stomach and was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in good condition, police said.

In the weekend’s earliest reported shooting, a man was shot Friday evening in East Garfield Park on the West Side.

The man, 22, heard shots and felt pain about 6:55 p.m. in the 3300 block of West Ohio Street, Chicago police said. He was taken to Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound to his buttocks and was listed in fair condition.

At least four other people have been wounded in citywide shootings since 5 p.m. Friday.

Twenty people were shot, four fatally, last weekend in Chicago.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

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15 shot in Chicago since Friday eveningon March 28, 2021 at 12:11 am Read More »

Adbert Alzolay makes Cubs’ Opening Day roster, will start season in rotationon March 28, 2021 at 12:20 am

GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Adbert Alzolay came into camp with one goal in mind and that was making the Cubs’ Opening Day roster. It wasn’t going to be easy and with some difficult roster decisions looming, it looked like Alzolay’s time wasn’t going to come.

The 26-year-old right-hander has pitched in multiple roles, both starting and also coming out of the bullpen this spring. The flexibility would likely be the easiest way for him to crack the roster.

“My main thing is to make the roster,” Alzolay said Thursday. “As a swingman or a starter right now, it doesn’t matter — I want to make the roster. But long-term, yes, I feel that I’m ready to start every five days.”

Despite learning earlier in the week that he would have an additional minor-league option, which could hinder his chances of making the Opening Day roster, in his ninth season in the organization, Alzolay got the news he’d been waiting for.

“Adbert’s on the team,” manager David Ross said Saturday. “We’ll map out his role and get back to you guys on that, but I’m excited for Adbert.”

Alzolay saved his best for last in terms of his performance and against what was likely the Dodgers’ Opening Day lineup, he dominated over 3 2/3 innings, striking out five. It left a lasting impression in his manager’s mind, who gave him the good news on Saturday.

“He’s put in a lot of good work. It’s really shown,” Ross said. “He really had a great performance the other night against a really deep Dodgers World Championship team that had a lot of All-Stars. He went in there and kind of rolled through that lineup, so that was impressive to see and I think he’s earned this opportunity that he gets.”

Not only will Alzolay break camp with the Cubs, but he will also be joining the rotation as the team’s fifth starter. Right-hander Alec Mills, who was also competing for the job, will begin the season as the team’s swingman. Alzolay will make his first start against the Brewers on April 6 and will have an opportunity to build off a successful 2020 season. He had a 2.95 ERA in six games (four starts) last season.

The Cubs will still have an innings limit for the right-hander as he navigates his first full, Major League season and will likely shift from the rotation and bullpen throughout the year.

“I’ve definitely seen maturity,” Ross said. “I think what I’ve seen is a guy that is a lot freer walking around the clubhouse. Talking to everybody, [his] personality is out. Who he is really shining through, a lot of smiles. But when he gets on the mound, he’s doing work, he’s taking the feedback and asking the right question.

“He was extremely happy when I told him the good news and that that makes me feel good that when you get to tell somebody that and you know how much work they’ve put in and how much they’ve grown. … Making that Opening Day roster and getting that news is big and Adbert was fired up. It was nice to be able to deliver that news to somebody that you see put in real work.”

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Adbert Alzolay makes Cubs’ Opening Day roster, will start season in rotationon March 28, 2021 at 12:20 am Read More »

Chicago Blackhawks News: Kirby Dach is activated off IRon March 27, 2021 at 11:54 pm

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Chicago Blackhawks News: Kirby Dach is activated off IRon March 27, 2021 at 11:54 pm Read More »

Unfortunately for Loyola, the clang was all there in a Sweet 16 loss to Oregon Stateon March 27, 2021 at 11:13 pm

There were two ways to watch Loyola’s Sweet 16 matchup with Oregon State on Saturday — one with eyes open for character-building purposes and the other with eyes closed for emotional protection.

You could watch stifling defense – yay! – or you could watch offensive basketball being set back a few centuries – make it stop!

At one point, after Loyola had missed a variety of shots in a variety of ways, I half-expected Sister Jean to snarl, “Don’t make me get out of this wheelchair and show you kids how to shoot.” It was like that for too much of the afternoon, and it’s why the Ramblers were on the painful end of a 65-58 loss that knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament.

Too bad another fun ride had to end, and too bad it had to end like this.

“I thought we played our tails off,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said. “I thought we did a lot of things. We didn’t shoot the ball well. At one point, we were 1-for-13 from three. We missed some layups early. We missed some really good three looks that, if one or two of them had (gone in), would have changed the direction of (the game.)”

It’s true that two very good defensive teams met Saturday, but it’s just as true that there was no reason for Loyola players not named Cameron Krutwig to go 1-for-18 from the field in the first half. It’s why Loyola had a measly 16 points at halftime. You don’t have to be a hoops junkie to know you can’t win like that.

“We just couldn’t find it,” Krutwig said, “it” being what every shooter feels when ball leaves fingertips.

The Ramblers mounted a nice second-half comeback, but it’s hard to come back from the cosmic crater of terrible shooting.

“It was kind of too little, too late,” Krutwig said.

Loyola’s 2018 Final Four run was beyond incredible, but you only get to do the miracle thing once. There wouldn’t be any sneaking up on opponents this time. Everybody knew about Krutwig’s basketball skills and instincts, and everybody knew about Lucas Williamson’s stickum defense. And still Loyola advanced in the tournament, a wonderful reflection of their ability and their determination.

The Ramblers did sneak up on many in the viewing audience, though, and that’s on us. We should have known better. But once reminded of why they were so much fun – teamwork, tough defense, etc. – we settled right back into the role of happy passengers. And, this being us, it didn’t take long to get ahead of ourselves. No. 8-seeded Loyola had upset No. 1-seeded Illinois in the second round. So getting past Oregon State, a 12th seed? No problem, right?

Well, there was a problem — the Beavers’ zone defense. Moser said Oregon State’s size made it hard for Loyola to get off good shots consistently. If your thing is watching teams being forced to take awkward attempts with the shot clock dwindling, you were in heaven Saturday.

Loyola’s coaches and players believed there was another tournament run in them, for good reason. When you play defense as well at the Ramblers do, it can cover up a lot of sins. But when you go 5-of-23 on three-pointers and miss seven free throws, as they did against Oregon State, there’s an excellent chance you’re going to lose.

This might be the end of long, successful chapter for the Ramblers. Will Krutwig and Williamson, the holdovers from the 2018 team, come back for another season? And has Moser, who has left a huge footprint in Rogers Park, outgrown his shoes? Is he ready for a bigger job with better pay?

For all involved, it was too much to think about after such a painful loss. Going out with a clang tends to drown out everything in the moment. But it’s good to have options.

The 2020-21 Loyola team is out of them, and that’s too bad. It’s why more than a few players were in tears after the loss. But, as Krutwig said, after the sting wears off, they’ll be able to appreciate a season that ended in the Sweet 16. Not bad at all, especially in the middle of a pandemic.

The idea of March Madness is to survive and advance. Oregon State did both Saturday. Loyola did neither. The concept of offensive basketball was being tended to by medical professionals.

It was nice while it lasted for the Ramblers. The only thing that got in the way of their ride was a rim.

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Unfortunately for Loyola, the clang was all there in a Sweet 16 loss to Oregon Stateon March 27, 2021 at 11:13 pm Read More »

Morgan Park shuts out Curieon March 27, 2021 at 11:22 pm

Morgan Park’s Camron Fulton was set to make the handoff to Aaron Warren eventually.

But like everything else in the pandemic era, the schedule got a little scrambled.

Fulton was one of the Public League’s most dynamic quarterbacks last season. But he’ll be playing defensive back in college and coach Chris James wanted to showcase him to recruiters.

Moving Fulton to the other side of the ball opened the door for Warren to be the Mustangs’ starting quarterback now. The junior showed why he’s up to the job in Saturday’s 26-0 Illini Red Bird win over Curie at Gately Stadium.

Warren ran 20 yards for Morgan Park’s first touchdown and added a 14-yard scoring pass to freshman Chris Durr.

“He’s an emotional kid,” James said of Warren, who finished with 120 total yards. “He’s just got to stay poised. … I didn’t want to say it too early, but Aaron’s got all the ability in the world and he’ll be big for us in the fall too.”

Warren credited Fulton for getting him up to speed.

“That’s my big brother,” Warren said. “He taught me everything. Every practice he taught me something.”

Among the lessons: “Lead by example. There’s going to be obstacles. We’ve got to get over them.”

“That’s my little brother,” Fulton said. “I’ve been playing football with Aaron since I was 11 years old. Off the field, I’m with Aaron every single day. It’s just a bond we’ve got.”

That bond helped Fulton, Warren and their teammates get through the strangest year of their lives, with remote learning, 16 months between games and a lack of prep time for this abbreviated season..

“I thought it was over for a second,” Warren said. “I almost cried when (it looked like) we had no season.”

“It’s a blessing,” Fulton said. “I didn’t think I’d get to play my senior year. I really didn’t.”

But he is playing, with an almost entirely new set of teammates. Morgan Park graduated 22 seniors and has a roster featuring a number of talented underclassmen.

They include Durr and fellow freshman Donta Hayes, who ran the second-half kickoff back 81 yards for a touchdown. Jacobi Beard added a six-yard TD run for the Mustangs.

“I was just happy my guys got to play and we got the win,” James said.

Turrant Johnson ran for 58 yards for Curie.

“Are we disappointed? Yes,” Condors coach Peter Grazzini said. “But it’s been 500-and-some days and we’re finally out here. And these guys finally get to be kids and compete.”

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Morgan Park shuts out Curieon March 27, 2021 at 11:22 pm Read More »

Oregon State 65, Loyola 58: After a sudden end, where do the Ramblers go from here?on March 27, 2021 at 11:42 pm

Not this time for Loyola.

No late-game heroics. No cutting down the nets. No Final Four. No living the impossible dream.

So, it’s over. A Ramblers run that reached the Sweet 16 had nowhere else to go. A 65-58 loss Saturday to Oregon State at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis was an upset, sure, was heartbreaking, sure, came too damn soon, sure. But have we really reached a point where the Ramblers making it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament is anything less than a gigantic success?

News flash: No, we haven’t.

All that talk about Loyola becoming the next Gonzaga? It was comically premature.

What Loyola actually is — a midsize program that, for four years now, has squeezed nearly every drop of potential out of itself — will just plain have to do.

“I think people see the Loyola name now,” coach Porter Moser said, “and I think they think different things about it than they did six, seven, eight years ago.”

They think about the 2018 Final Four squad, which included then-freshmen Cameron Krutwig and Lucas Williamson. They think about the team that, three years later — revolving around its senior duo, especially the one-of-a-kind Krutwig — stole the second-round show by lighting top-seeded Illinois’ shorts on fire. They think about Moser, a star who soon will have some big decisions to make. They think about nuns and scarves and college basketball in the city of Chicago, that last one a mighty feat for the Ramblers to have pulled off.

And they’ll think about the way this run ended, with a nightmarish shooting performance for the eighth-seeded Ramblers (26-5). Brick by brick, Moser’s squad pulled apart its own chances against the 12th-seeded Beavers (20-12), who stood taller, jumped higher and — unlike the Illini — acted the part of a major-conference team against a mid-major foe in March.

“I thought we played our tails off,” Moser said. “I thought we did a lot of things. We didn’t shoot the ball well.”

Shooting 5-for-23 from long range isn’t how you get from Point A to Point B. It’s how you get from Point A to crying faces hiding under towels. In the locker room after it was over, Moser looked at his emotionally wiped-out players and told them to pull the towels off their heads, look up and see one another. He thanked them for representing the name on the fronts of their jerseys so well.

Six minutes into the game, the Beavers still didn’t have a field goal. The Ramblers weren’t scoring, either, but a 7-1 lead seemed large. It felt like another big tournament day for a team that was a Sweet 16 favorite but self-identifies so strongly and successfully as the underdog.

Loyola’s postseason successes in 2018 and 2021 probably suckered a lot of us in. Didn’t we think the Ramblers would beat Oregon State even though the Pac-12 tournament champs were red-hot and coming off an enormously impressive second-round win against potential No. 1 NBA pick Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State?

But these March games are about steely nerves, precious possessions, momentum swings and — when isn’t basketball about this? — knocking down shots. For all the teams that don’t do that enough, the end rushes in on a wave of disappointment and tears.

“We’ll have a lot of memories to look back on,” Krutwig said, “but as of right now, it hurts. … [But] that game will kind of fade off, and the memories that we made, the celebrations and everything, those will remain.”

Krutwig and Williamson embraced on the sideline with a couple of ticks left on the clock, their work — and their Loyola careers? — finished. There is the question about whether or not one or both will return to take advantage of the optional extra year due to the pandemic. Both Moser and Krutwig said it was too soon to discuss that publicly.

And the question that looms even larger: What does Moser’s own future hold?

Will the 52-year-old Naperville native take his shot at a higher-profile, more lucrative job? Is a 10-season stretch in Rogers Park — the second half of which was brilliant — enough? Is it time to love the name on the fronts of some other school’s uniforms?

“I need to digest this,” he said. “I’ve had my blinders on and given 110% of Porter Moser to this Rambler team. I’ve blocked out the noise. I just need time to digest this with these guys. That’s all I can tell you right now.”

And here’s all that can be said about his team: It did more than well enough.

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Oregon State 65, Loyola 58: After a sudden end, where do the Ramblers go from here?on March 27, 2021 at 11:42 pm Read More »

West Side leaders throw support behind Loretto Hospital amid vaccine scandalon March 27, 2021 at 9:56 pm

A group of top West Side leaders on Saturday urged city officials to wrap up their investigation into The Loretto Hospital vaccine scandal and start sending doses to the Austin neighborhood safety net again as soon as possible.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot cut off Loretto’s vaccine supply pending a full probe of its misallocation of hundreds of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to ineligible people outside the hospital’s low-income Black community.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford resigned from the hospital board last week because he disagreed with how executives were reprimanded, but he called on the mayor to consider the “vital institution” as a whole, and not just the actions of its leaders.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, speaks during a virtual news conference Saturday.
State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, speaks during a virtual news conference Saturday.
Provided

“People believe in The Loretto Hospital,” Ford said during a virtual news conference with other members of the West Side Black Elected Officials group. “They still want to be vaccinated by The Loretto Hospital… We cannot afford to take a step back and confuse people about where they can go get the vaccine.”

U.S. Rep Danny Davis said “we know that there have been problems. We don’t deny that at all, but I do know that there are efforts underway to correct whatever those problems might have been… We want to undergird this institution with confidence.”

The latest alleged chapter in the scandal emerged Friday night when Crain’s Chicago Business reported West Side state Rep. Camille Lilly — who serves as the hospital’s chief external affairs officer — gave Loretto staffers a list of people to vaccinate without requiring them to schedule appointments by phone or online like the rest of the public.

Loretto spokeswoman Becky Carroll flatly denied the report.

“This is a false narrative as no such list exists and Ms. Lilly is being attacked for doing her job, which is to engage community-based organizations to help recruit frontline workers and residents to get vaccinated at the hospital and protect Black and Brown communities from this deadly virus,” Carroll said in an email.

Hospital officials have acknowledged other missteps by top executives, though.

Loretto CEO George Miller and now-former chief operating officer Dr. Anosh Ahmed first came under fire earlier this month when a series of Block Club Chicago reports revealed the facility doled out doses to ineligible recipients with connections to the hospital honchos.

That included workers at Trump Tower where Ahmed owns a condominium, plus employees at his preferred Gold Coast luxury watch shop and a high-priced steakhouse. Miller also provided vaccine doses to more than 200 members of his southwest suburban church.

Ahmed resigned last week, saying he’d become a “distraction” while standing by “the good work the hospital is doing to fight COVID-19.” He claimed “only 200” ineligible people received shots under his watch, among more than 16,000 Loretto recipients.

A source previously told the Sun-Times that Miller was slapped with a two-week suspension. He apologized in a Facebook post last week, saying he’d “been misguided by my own self-serving purposes.”

State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, a hospital board member, has thrown her support behind Miller, calling him “one of our best presidents that we’ve had.”

On Saturday, Lightford said the board is “giving the hospital the time to audit thoroughly,” and in the meantime, “we’re going to keep pushing. We will continue to be a viable institution in the Austin community for health care and for employment moving forward.”

Sharon Grant, a director of the Loretto Hospital Foundation, said the facility is already feeling the effects of the fiasco on its finances.

“I have funders that are beginning to hold up funds because they want to see the outcome of this,” she said.

After Lightfoot cut off Loretto — which she chose as the site of the city’s first-ever COVID-19 vaccinations last December to emphasize her commitment to equitable distribution in communities of color — the city tapped Rush University Medical Center to help fill the vaccine gap in Austin.

An internal investigation is expected to wrap up next week.

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West Side leaders throw support behind Loretto Hospital amid vaccine scandalon March 27, 2021 at 9:56 pm Read More »