As a frequent distributor of crushing hits, Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov is no stranger to interacting with NHL referees.

And while Zadorov realizes he inevitably does “sometimes…cross the line” and deserve some of the penalties he receives, there are plenty of other occasions where he disagrees with those all-too-familiar refs’ decisions.

“I can say a lot [about NHL officiating], but I don’t want to get fined,” he said Wednesday. “It’s been ups and downs this year. Some games it was good, some games it was bad. It depends what referees you get.”

As of a few hours before, one referee — Tim Peel — was no longer on that list.

The NHL fired Peel after he was caught on a hot mic while officiating Tuesday’s Predators-Red Wings game. Minutes after calling a phantom tripping penalty on Preds forward Victor Arvidsson early in the second period, Peel was heard saying, “It wasn’t much, but I wanted to get a (expletive) penalty against Nashville early in the…” before the mic cut out.

“There is no justification for his comments, no matter the context or his intention,” NHL vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell said in a statement.

Peel has long held a reputation as one of the league’s worst referees, so much so that Yahoo Sports ran a regular column in 2013 and 2014 listing his routine gaffes. His admission of premeditated officiating Tuesday was simply the final straw for his career.

Nonetheless, Peel is just one of 43 referees the NHL has used this year. The Hawks, for example, had only encountered him twice (Feb. 2 and 4 against the Hurricanes) in their 33 games. So his removal from the circuit is unlikely to significantly change officiating league-wide.

It would take a far more comprehensive effort by the league to change how the other 42 referees conduct their business. But that would first require acknowledgement that certain Peel-like biases exist within the other 42.

Data indicates they do. NHL referees generally balance, whether consciously or subconsciously, the number of penalties they call on both teams in a game, regardless of those teams’ behaviors.

Over the past three seasons, the correlation between each team’s penalties taken and penalties drawn each year is a staggering 0.67. This season, it’s 0.66. That means undisciplined teams — or at least teams frequently called for penalties — also get a lot of penalties called on their opponents, and vice versa.

Put another way, the 10 most disciplined teams in the league this year — which includes the Hawks — have taken 3.01 penalties per game, but referees have called only 3.24 penalties on their opponents. The 10 least disciplined teams have averaged 3.95 penalties per game, but referees have called 3.75 on their opponents.

“You’ve got to call the game,” Preds forward Matt Duchene said on a Nashville radio show Wednesday. “I’ve always been frustrated when I see even-up calls or stuff like that. If one team is earning power plays, you can’t punish them because the other team is not.

“I hope that’s not something that goes on with more officials [than Peel], but there’s definitely nights when you’re skeptical of it.”

Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton declined to comment Wednesday on the Peel controversy. But just three weeks ago, Colliton offhandedly pointed out another frequent bias in officiating — favoring veterans over rookies — after a Brandon Hagel hooking infraction jumpstarted the Lightning’s comeback over the Hawks on March 7.

“We’d love to not take a penalty there,” Colliton said then. “Someone else probably doesn’t get called on that one. These young guys don’t typically get the benefit of the doubt in those situations.”

Similar discussions about artificially balanced penalty totals, player-over-player preferences and other referee biases occurred all around the hockey world Wednesday.

Whether or not those discussions ultimately lead to changes, Peel’s shock-factor comment stirred a pot that clearly needed stirring.

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Ten months after historic unrest and looting swept across Chicago’s downtown and into its neighborhoods, a judge on Wednesday handed down what appears to be the first federal prison sentence to stem from what a defense attorney called “difficult times” in the city.

Though D Angelo D. Chester, 32, was not accused of participating in the violence or property damage that began May 30, he is among a handful of defendants whose cases feature some connection to the unrest and are now working their way through the federal court system.

Federal authorities say investigations into the rioting continue. This month prosecutors leveled a rarely filed charge against James Massey, of Chicago, accusing him of using a facility of interstate commerce to incite a riot during the unrest in August. They also last month charged three people with setting fire to a CTA van on May 30.

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Meanwhile, a recently unsealed search warrant affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows how federal authorities tried to identify two people involved in setting fire to a cosmetics store on the South Side through cellphone data.

Prosecutors accused Chester of running from Chicago police officers who spotted him at 78th Street and South Kingston Avenue at 9:24 p.m. on June 3 — 24 minutes after the 9 p.m. curfew Mayor Lori Lightfoot set as a result of the rioting. During the chase, the officers said they saw Chester reach into his waistband and throw away what turned out to be a 9mm semi-automatic pistol.

Chester’s criminal history includes state-court convictions for gun crimes in 2015 and 2017, court records show. Federal prosecutors also said that, six weeks before Chester’s latest arrest, he had been given three years of probation in an aggravated sexual abuse case that involved a “brutal sexual crime against an 8-year-old child.”

Chester pleaded guilty in December to being a felon in possession of a firearm. And in an in-person hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge John Blakey gave Chester more than three years in prison, finding that the risk of Chester committing another crime is significant.

Defense attorney Ralph Schindler Jr. briefly mentioned last summer’s unrest when he noted that Chester’s crime occurred “shortly after the Chicago riots” and amid the “difficult times in Chicago back then.”

A handful of guilty pleas are also set to occur in the coming weeks in other riot-related cases. Brandon Pegues, who is accused of fleeing police only to fall and drop a gun he was not allowed to have May 31 in the 800 block of South Financial Place, is set to plead guilty Thursday. Gustavo Luna-Barrios, accused of trying to flee police after leaving a looted auto parts store only to be caught illegally with a gun June 1, is set to plead guilty Tuesday.

In one of the more high-profile cases related to the Chicago rioting, Matthew Rupert, of Galesburg, also has a change-of-plea hearing set in federal court in Minnesota for April 7. Rupert allegedly traveled to Minneapolis, and then to Chicago, to loot and riot. He was arrested here May 31.

Knox County Jail

Not every case is necessarily on track for a guilty plea, though. Defense attorney Amanda Penabad on Tuesday filed a motion challenging the case against Adam Walton. Prosecutors said police saw Walton leave a looted Old Navy in Marshfield Plaza and flee early on June 1. When he returned for his vehicle, they said he told officers there was a gun in the car, even though he has multiple previous convictions, records show. An officer wrote in a police report that he saw the gun in the vehicle’s center cup holder.

Penabad said the officer later clarified that he only saw the gun after he moved a large pile of merchandise out of the way, meaning it was not in plain view. She also said Walton denied that he told officers about the gun, and “without that statement, the officers had no probable cause to believe a weapon was in the vehicle.”

Other suspects are still at large. Among them are two people who authorities say were involved in the arson of an Ulta Beauty cosmetics store in the 4100 block of South Pulaski Road on May 31. In a recently unsealed search warrant affidavit filed last August, an ATF special agent noted that a neighboring Carter’s store had an open wifi router that might have connected to the cellphone of a suspect in the Ulta.

The feds hoped to search data held by Google generated by devices in a geographical area around the Ulta store during 10-minute and 12-minute time periods during which surveillance footage put the suspects in the store.

ATF spokeswoman Kimberly Nerheim said Wednesday the suspects have not been charged and the investigation is ongoing.

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That drama in the window

For a new definition of “storefront theater,” check out “Window Plays,” presented by the performance art company Stop Motion Plant. The free live theater event features work by nine artists performed behind storefront windows in the Andersonville neighborhood with audiences strolling from play to play. The two- to five-minute plays are performed on a loop for 90 minutes. Mask-wearing and social distancing will be required. “Window Plays” is presented with staggered start times beginning at 7 p.m. March 26-27 and April 2-3. For reservations and more information, visit tinyurl.com/windowplaystickets.

Complex celebrations

Bruno Roque

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s season continues with the world premiere of “In Any Event,” a new work by choreographer and former HSDC dancer Penny Saunders. Created during a time when gathering for events was curtailed, the 30-minute filmed piece explores the complex interpersonal dynamics inherent in celebrations such as birthdays, wedding, funerals and more. “With intermingling storylines and layered histories, these gatherings can be intense and complex collisions of viewpoint, rather than the easy celebrations that they appear to be,” says Saunders. The film streams at 7:30 p.m. March 25 and 27 and 2 p.m. March 28. Each performance is followed by live, interactive conversations with Saunders and members of the creative team. Visit hubbardstreetdance.com.

Patio tunes

Melissa Thornley

Last summer (and into the fall), FitzGerald’s kept the music going on its pleasantly cool and socially distanced outdoor patio, now set to reopen on March 31. Talent buyer Donnie Biggins has loaded the spring with a stellar lineup of local artists and even a few touring acts. First up at 7 p.m. March 31 is a club favorite: the pop sounds of Expo ’76. Also in the coming weeks are Mariachi Sirenas and Comparza (April 1), Toronzo Cannon & the Chicago Way (April 3), The Lawrence Peters Outfit (April 4), Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials (April 6) and much more. Admission is free for all shows. For more information, visit fitzgeraldsnightclub.com.

Meditative moment

Provided

The University of Chicago and Japan Society present an evening of Buddhist ritual chanting with “Shomyo no Kai — Voices of a Thousand Years.” The two-dozen monks of Shomyo no Kai were to have performed in the Rockefeller Chapel but due to Covid-19 will now perform in the An’yo-in Temple, one of the oldest temples in Tokyo. The monks perform traditional shomyo, one of the earliest forms of vocal music, along with a new work, “Moonlight Mantra (Tsuki no Kogon)” by Japanese composer Yu Kuwabara. The concert streams at 7 p.m. March 30 followed by an artist Q&A; available on demand to April 30. Tickets: $15. An online workshop with the monks ($5) takes place at 7:30 p.m. April 8. Visit tickets.uchicago.edu.

Marching forward

Chicago Sinfonietta

The Chicago Sinfonietta’s annual MLK Tribute Concert features works by African American composers celebrating the advancement being made in the march for diversity, equity and inclusion. Among the works are Joel Thompson’s “breathe/burn: an elegy,” which features as soloist cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing; Jeff Scott’s “Sinfonietta of Dreams,” a piece inspired by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, and William Grant Still’s orchestral arrangement of Florence Price’s joyful “Dances in the Canebrakes.” Streams at 3 p.m. March 28. Tickets: $45. Visit chicagosinfonietta.org.

Live from the Ryman

AFP PHOTO/Kevin Winter/The Recording Academy via Getty Images

Brandi Carlile hasn’t performed a full band concert since before the pandemic but it’s no doubt she’ll be in fine form when she performs a livestreamed concert from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium at 7 p.m. March 28. She’ll perform favorites from her own songbook and just might dig into her friend John Prine’s catalog. Recently during the Grammy Awards’ “in memoriam” segment, Carlile saluted Prine with a touching acoustic version of “I Remember Everything,” the title song from his final album. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Rainey Day Fund and Fanny’s School of Music with the remainder supporting Carlile’s band and crew. Tickets: $25 concert only, $48 concert and a copy of Carlile’s memoir “Broken Horses” due out April 6. Visit brandicarlile.veeps.com.

Virtual stage

Collin Quinn Rice

Steppenwolf Theatre’s new play development initiative, SCOUT, presents a free reading of Omer Abbas Salem’s comedy “Mosque4Mosque,” directed by Arti Ishak. Streams at 2 p.m. March 28. Visit steppenwolf.org. … Metropolis Performing Arts Centre’s “On the Air” features theatrical productions of spine-tingling classic radio plays. Streams March 27-April 4. Tickets: $20. Visit metropolisarts.com. … BoHo Theatre presents a reading of Amy Berryman’s “The New Galileos.” Streams at 7:30 p.m. March 24. Tickets: $5. Visit bohotheatre.com. … The Off Broadway hit “Dixie’s Tupperware Party” raises funds for Season of Concern Chicago with streaming shows through March 28. Tickets: $35. Visit dixie-chicago.streamallytix.com. … American Blues Theater presents a reading of Shannon Prichard’s “Sanctuary City” at 7 p.m. March 26. Tickets: pay-what-you-can. Visit americanbluestheater.com.

Mary Houlihan is a Chicago freelance writer.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — His mechanics have been fixed, his arm feels healthy and he is mowing down hitters in Cactus League games and making it look easy.

Oh, to being on the other side of a long and arduous journey.

It’s early, and not even left-hander Carlos Rodon knows how long he’ll sustain this – he has pitched nine scoreless innings with no walks and 10 strikeouts and four hits allowed this spring – but he’s looking more like the pitcher drafted third overall in 2014 than the one who labored in two starts and two relief appearances battling shoulder soreness last season before getting non-tendered when it was over.

“Tommy John surgery [in May, 2019 for Rodon] is a long road,” Rodon said in a conversation with the Sun-Times. “I’m not trying to be traumatic about it because a lot of people in this game have Tommy John surgery. But there were days when I thought, “Am I ever going to throw again? When you can get on a mound and do what you do again, it’s emotional, right? Because it’s a major surgery and all you know is baseball. You live and breathe baseball. And when the game is taken away from you for a year, it’s hard.”

So was being non-tendered by the Sox. It sent off an alarm in Rodon’s head and “motivated” him.

“It was a wakeup call,” he said.

He responded at home by eating better and working out two hours a day.

“Nutrition has a lot to do with your body,” said the thick-bodied Rodon, who didn’t shed much weight but looks thinner in his face and is more toned. “You’re not going to put cheap gas in a sports car. You’re going to use premium.”

Rodon praises wife Ashley’s contribution to a better diet. It helped that the coronavirus forced them to eat out less.

“When everything went down I saw a light switch flip for him,” Ashley said, recalling when Rodon was non-tendered on Dec. 2. “And he was so determined.

“When he got non-tendered we were so rigid with [eating better] and he was so great about it, and it’s kind of crazy what a difference it made with how he felt, and his energy. And you can see how good he looks. He is in phenomenal shape.”

And looking better throwing in a healthier downward direction toward the plate under the watch of first-year pitching coach Ethan Katz.

“My direction to home plate hasn’t been good in a while,” said Rodon, who is keeping his back foot, not his toe, grounded on the rubber. When he drove off his left toe he landed on the right big toe of his other foot and that led to throwing across his body.

Core velocity belt drills “reinforces you to stay in that back leg grounded,” keeps him square and cleans up his lower half, Rodon said.

“Helps with a lot of things,” Rodon said. “Command for sure, more consistent and repeatable delivery.”

And less stress on the arm.

“My body feels good and that’s a true statement,” Rodon said.

After the non-tender, the Sox came back with a one-year, $3 million offer for their 2019 Opening Day starter to return. He considered a change of scenery with another team but accepted.

“I’m not going to lie, yeah I thought that could be good,” he said. “But it’s hard to leave a team, being a part of the rebuild and part of this group so long when things are great, you know?”

How many innings and starts will he contribute in 2020 to a team with deep postseason goals? Rodon has made 41 starts over the last four seasons.

“Good question,” Rodon said. “As many as I can give. What will keep me healthy for the next several years, I’m not sure, what an innings limit would look like.”

His only thought right now is his next start against the Brewers Friday.

The first three outings “were confidence builders.”

“I know these games don’t count,” Rodon said, “but you’re still pitching against an opposing team. It builds confidence going into the season. I’m very optimistic.”

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The past year saw Michael Jordan’s brand get another boost with the release of “The Last Dance,” but it appears the Bulls legend didn’t do so well financially. While his net worth remains an eye-popping $1.6 billion, according to Forbes, that’s a $500 million drop since the publication last reported his net worth in April 2020.

It’s possible that such a large decline is related to the biggest Wall Street story of the year: the GameStop stock saga.

Two years ago, Jordan — the majority owner of the Hornets since 2010 — sold a minority share of the Hornets to two investors. One of them was Gabe Plotkin, founder and chief investment officer of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that required billions in additional cash after incurring major losses due to a short squeeze of GameStop stock by groups of retail investors.

Details of Jordan’s current business relationship with Plotkin and the other investor, Daniel Sundheim, aren’t publicly known, but his Airness said while announcing their deal in 2019 that their investment was “invaluable” as the Hornets “strive to compete with the best in the NBA.”

Jordan, 58, initially built his wealth as an NBA superstar and one of the most successful brand endorsers ever. His purchase of a majority stake in the Hornets proved to be a shrewd investment as the value of NBA franchises surged over the last decade.

As of March 2015, Jordan was worth $1 billion, which rose to $1.8 billion by March 2019, per Forbes. He continued trending up to his high of $2.1 billion in April 2020 before taking losses the past year.

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WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is making the case Wednesday that the pay disparity between men and women has hurt the economy, bringing members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team to the White House to help set new goals for equality.

Wednesday marked “Equal Pay Day” — which is how far into the year women must work on average to make up the pay disparity between what men and women earned the prior year. The Census Bureau estimates that a woman working full-time would earn about 82 cents for each dollar paid to a man.

Biden and his wife, Jill, will host a roundtable with Margaret Purce and Megan Rapinoe of the U.S. women’s national soccer team, which most recently won the World’s Cup in 2019 and has challenged the U.S. Soccer Federation over wage discrimination.

“It’s really amazing,” Rapinoe said ahead of the meeting. “Both of us feel honored to even be invited and continue the fight that we’ve had for a long time.”

The pay gap impacts the entire economy in ways that exacerbate other issues such as racial inequality. The National Women’s Law Center found that Black women earn just 63 cents for a dollar paid to a non-Hispanic white man, while Hispanic women make only 55 cents. That difference translates into a loss of roughly $1 million in income over a lifetime.

“These aren’t simply women’s issues,” Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said at Wednesday’s press briefing. “They affect all families, the ability of our economy to recover, and our nation’s competitiveness.”

The Biden administration is pushing several policies to help narrow the gap. It backs the Paycheck Fairness Protection Act, which would enhance a 1963 law by improving employer’s transparency on wages, require employers to show that any discrepancies are because of job qualifications and prevent employers from retaliating against workers who express concerns about pay disparities.

The administration also supports paid family leave and greater access to child care. A February research paper from the San Francisco Federal Reserve found that the pandemic caused mothers to disproportionately leave the job market, as many lacked in-class school and child care options. The paper noted that a flexible work schedule would likely make life easier for mothers with jobs.

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Voting mostly along party lines, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation’s assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation.

The final vote was 52-48.

Levine had been serving as Pennsylvania’s top health official since 2017, and emerged as the public face of the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. She is expected to oversee Health and Human Services offices and programs across the U.S.

President Joe Biden cited Levine’s experience when he nominated her in January.

Levine “will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability,” Biden said.

Transgender-rights activists have hailed Levine’s appointment as a historic breakthrough. Few trans people have ever held high-level offices at the federal or state level.

However, the confirmation vote came at a challenging moment for the transgender-rights movement as legislatures across the U.S. — primarily those under Republican control — are considering an unprecedented wave of bills targeting trans young people.

One type of bill, introduced in at least 25 states, seeks to ban trans girls and young women from participating in female scholastic sports.

One such measure already has been signed into law by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, and similar measures have been sent to the governors in Tennessee, Arkansas and South Dakota.

Another variety of bill, introduced in at least 17 states, seeks to outlaw or restrict certain types of medical care for transgender youths. None of these measures has yet won final approval.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., confronted Levine about medical treatments for transgender young people — include hormone treatment and puberty blockers — during her confirmation hearing Feb. 25.

“Do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one’s sex?” Paul asked.

Levine replied that transgender medicine “is a very complex and nuanced field with robust research and standards of care” and said she would welcome discussing the issues with him.

In the past, Levine has asserted that hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs can be valuable medical tools in sparing some transgender youth from mental distress and possible suicide risk.

A pediatrician and former Pennsylvania physician general, Levine was appointed as Pennsylvania’s health secretary by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in 2017. She won confirmation by the Republican-majority Pennsylvania Senate.

However, Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican, voted against Levine’s confirmation Wednesday.

“In Pennsylvania, the pandemic struck seniors in nursing homes disproportionately hard compared to other states,” Toomey said. “This was due in part to poor decisions and oversight by Dr. Levine and the Wolf administration.”

He also said an extended lockdown advocated by Levine “was excessive, arbitrary in nature, and has led to a slower recovery.”

A graduate of Harvard and of Tulane Medical School, Levine is president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. She’s written in the past on the opioid crisis, medical marijuana, adolescent medicine, eating disorders and LGBTQ medicine.

Praise for her accomplishments and her handling of the pandemic have coincided with a steady stream of vitriol directed at at her on social media.

As reported Tuesday by the Associated Press, Levine was among the targets of a private Facebook group called the Pittsburgh Area Police Breakroom whose participants included many current and retired police officers.

Dozens of group members fueled days of transphobic posts about Levine for her role in statewide social-distancing mandates to stop the spread of COVID-19.

“Someone needs to shoot this thing!!” one retired officer wrote.

In January, a Pennsylvania legislator shared on Facebook an image mocking Levine’s appearance, then offered a general apology.

State Rep. Jeff Pyle, a Republican, said on Facebook that he “had no idea” the post mocking Levine “would be … received as poorly as it was” but that “tens of thousands of heated emails assured me it was.”

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Margaret Serious

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I know one thing I don’t want back: Handshakes

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By Margaret H. Laing,
today at 4:00 pm

I’m starting to hear discussions on the radio and read them in the paper — “What do you want back when this is over? What are you looking forward to doing again?”

I haven’t decided what I want to do to celebrate the end of the pandemic, but I know what I don’t want to do: I don’t want to start shaking hands.

As a left-hander, I’ve never liked them. In a situation that called for a lot of handshakes, I would spend the whole event thinking “Right hand first! Right hand first!” I have missed being in some groups, but I haven’t missed having to go around backwards like that. I carry my shoulder purse on my right shoulder to keep my dominant left hand free, so in a handshake-heavy event (such as coffee hour after church used to be), I have to switch my purse to the wrong side and leave my right hand free.

Or I had to before. I don’t want to go back to that. And Seriously, do you? I think we’re going to go through a long stretch of “Yes, we can do this again — but should we?”

I’m going to try leaving my purse on my right shoulder, where it belongs, and nodding with a cheery “Hello!” Eventually, you may even be able to see me smile.

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There’s a reason they call her the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

With her signature sequins, voluminous hair and throaty growl, Tina Turner became an unlikely rock icon at age 44 when she released “Private Dancer,” her 1984 solo breakthrough. Featuring hits “What’s Love Got to Do With It” and “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” the exhilarating album was a stark departure from her work in the ’60s and ’70s as one half of Ike and Tina Turner, her R&B duo with ex-husband/music partner Ike Turner.

“Tina,” premiering at 7 p.m. Saturday on HBO and HBO Max, charts her rise to fame, as well as her triumphant liberation from the abusive Ike, whom she divorced in 1978 after 16 years of marriage. The documentary also poignantly reminds viewers why Tina, nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year, deserves to be an inducted as a solo artist, having already been welcomed into the Hall in 1991 as a member of Ike and Tina Turner.

AP

“So much of her journey is a pursuit of her own identity and her own voice. There’s an overarching theme of ownership in the entire film,” co-director T.J. Martin says. “It’s embarrassing that she’s not inducted as a solo artist. And after you know her story, it’s even more weird. Also, just in music terms, she’s infinitely more successful as a solo artist than she and Ike ever were. So it’s mind-boggling to not at least give her the recognition of what she achieved on her own.”

‘She was literally just surviving’ during marriage to Ike Turner

Through new and old interviews with Tina, now 81, the documentary shows Ike’s brutal control over her personal and professional life, right down to her very name. (She was born Anna Mae Bullock, but he gave her the stage name Tina without her knowledge.) She describes how he’d beat her before having sex — sometimes with a coat hanger or shoe stretcher — and then force her to go out on stage and perform.

“I was living a life of death,” Tina says in the film. She attempted suicide in 1968 and eventually left Ike in 1976, after fighting back when he struck her.

She told People magazine about the abuse in 1981, in hopes of moving past it. But even as she shot to superstardom, Tina was relentlessly bombarded with questions about Ike from the media. (One journalist went so far as to ask, “When you were married to Ike, what was the absolute worst moment?”) She tried to give the final word on the subject in her 1986 memoir: “I, Tina: My Life Story,” but that only stoked interest.

Speaking to co-writer Kurt Loder for her autobiography, the singer heartbreakingly admitted, “It wasn’t a good life. The good did not balance the bad.”

There’s value “in people coming forward with their truth, to not only shine a light on certain aspects of our society, but also to help other survivors,” co-director Dan Lindsay says. “But the other side of that, and the kind of paradox, is that by asking people who suffered this trauma to talk about it, you are inevitably retraumatizing them in some shape or form.”

Wanting to be sensitive to her trauma, the directors relied heavily on archival footage and audio of Tina discussing Ike, who died in 2007.

Sitting down with her for the documentary, “we didn’t want to drag her back into the muck of her past,” Martin says. Although she’s a trailblazer in speaking out about domestic violence, “Tina’s not an activist – that’s just not her personality type. She was literally just surviving, and as a result, made all these heroic actions for the benefit of her own health that we all admired. And that obviously became the story of Tina Turner.”

This film is her farewell to fans

The documentary — coupled with bio-musical “Tina,” which opened on Broadway in 2019 before the COVID-19 shutdown — is essentially her “goodbye” to her American fans, Tina’s husband Erwin Bach says in the film.

The eight-time Grammy winner released her final studio album, “Twenty Four Seven,” in 1999 and wrapped her 50th anniversary farewell tour in 2009. She now lives in Switzerland with Bach, whom she married in 2013 after a 27-year courtship.

Lindsay believes that “Tina is sitting in a really positive place right now. I think that’s partly what drives her desire to just not engage with the public as much anymore. She’s happy, she’s content — she’s not somebody who needs to be a star and have attention.”

Read more at usatoday.com

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) any time of day or night or chat online.

If you or someone you know has been a target of domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 any time day or night, or chat online.

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I’ve been trying to figure out what’s so pleasing about watching Loyola play basketball. It’s not the underdog, Cinderella thing. We’re done with that. Anyone who doesn’t think the Ramblers have a chance of beating whomever they face in the NCAA Tournament hasn’t been paying attention. Hasn’t been paying attention since 2018, when the team went to the Final Four.

So what is it? It’s not that the Ramblers play the “right way,” whatever that is. It’s that they play a good way. A fun way. A together way. A for-each-other way. It’s why No. 8-seeded Loyola has a good chance of beating 12^th-seeded Oregon State on Saturday and advancing to the Elite Eight. And a good chance of more going forward.

Every Rambler handles the ball well. Every Rambler passes well. As a team, Loyola almost always takes good shots. There’s a selflessness there that all basketball coaches want, badly, but no matter how much breath they devote to the topic, it has to come from the players. You have to want to play for the other guys, not yourself. That’s where recruiting comes in. Get enough players with enough talent who understand the team concept, and a basketball season becomes a season of sharing. Older players show freshmen the way, and the kids follow. Suddenly, it’s not just about winning. It’s about how you win.

Loyola knows that it has to play the way it does in order to win. If other teams had that sense of self, they might still be alive in the tournament. Is that a function of the Ramblers’ not having any real stars, no certain NBA draft picks? Possibly. I watched LSU try to beat Michigan with two gifted players, Cameron Thomas and Javonte Smart, taking turns throwing up shots. It didn’t work, and the Wolverines advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. You could tell that that LSU’s players had no idea this approach wasn’t conducive to winning against a strong team.

Loyola’s second-round game against No. 1 seed Illinois on Sunday was beautiful, as long as you weren’t an Illini fan. Illinois had more talent, but the Ramblers had more smarts. It was hard to shake the idea that the Ramblers would be the smarter team on any given day and that, if there were a 10-game Illinois-Loyola series, Loyola would win at least six. That’s how together the Ramblers were, and that’s how confident they looked.

Is that coaching? Maybe, but it’s hard to believe that the Illini’s Brad Underwood doesn’t know what it takes to win. At some point, it’s on players for not absorbing what their coaches are teaching.

For Loyola, it’s knowing who and what you are. But let’s not beat the basketball IQ angle into the ground. It’s about having talent, too.

Yeah, I get it: 6-foot-9, 255-pound Cameron Krutwig defies basketball logic. Basketball logic dictates that good players jump high and run fast. Krutwig does neither. He runs like Fred Flintstone driving his footmobile. But he understands position. He understands how to block out and how to get his shot. His footwork near the basket is exquisite. Footwork is athleticism, too, folks. Or at least it’s the intersection of athleticism and lots and lots of work.

CBS’ Bill Raftery has taken a deep liking to Krutwig, which is good. You wondered if Raf would ever quit Tyler Hansbrough.

Senior Lucas Williamson is a great defender who can score. Point guard Braden Norris takes care of the ball as if it were chained to his wrist. Raftery likes to tell us that Norris, a transfer from Oakland (Mich.), is a “coach’s son,” which means he’s a “gym rat,” which means “he’s the first one to arrive for practice and the last to leave,” which means he should never miss a free throw, but I’ve seen him miss a few, so now I’m questioning everything in my life. Sophomore Marquise Kennedy is smooth.

Talent? Yes. But stars? No. Krutwig leads the team in scoring with 15 a game, followed by Williamson (8.8) and Norris (8.4). Not exactly Harden, Durant and Irving.

Porter Moser has done an excellent job of finding players who fit his vision of what a team should be and then coaching them to the point where they know what he wants at all times. It’s why the Ramblers led the nation in points allowed this season. Gentle reminder: Athleticism plays a big part in defense, too. All of this is why Moser likely will have a chance to go somewhere bigger with better pay if that’s what he wants. Is it? That’s a decision for whenever the latest crazy ride ends.

And then there’s 101-year-old Sister Jean. There is no such thing as too much Sister Jean because it’s not her fault the networks show her 20 times a game and because … who can be against goodness? If the Ramblers win Saturday, I fully expect to see feature stories about the optician who fits her with eyewear and the science behind the rubber on her wheelchair’s wheels. That’s how big she’s become.

The Ramblers are a good story. More than that, though, they’re a good team. I believe opponents have taken notice.

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