The Chicago Bulls lost to the Miami Heat on Friday night by a score of 101-90. Check out the game summary and takeaways from the game.
Chicago Bulls: 3 takeaways from loss to the Miami Heaton March 13, 2021 at 2:00 pm Read More »
Over the course of the past week, rumors and reports have been coming out multiple times daily in regards to Russell Wilson being traded to the Chicago Bears.
TY Johnson dodged and darted and attacked. The 6-2 DePaul Prep senior was a blur as he repeatedly found his way through Young’s tall and athletic defense.
TY Johnson dodged and darted and attacked. The 6-2 DePaul Prep senior was a blur as he repeatedly found his way through Young’s tall and athletic defense.
The top-ranked Dolphins had no answer for Johnson on Friday in the Chipotle Clash of Champions at St. Patrick. The Loyola recruit scored 32 points to lead the Rams to a 55-43 upset of Young.
“I just stayed in the zone,” Johnson said. “My teammates saw I was hot. My coaches trusted me. They put the ball in my hand and I got the job done. I didn’t want to go out with a loss so I jumped into game mode and took over.”
Johnson scored 17 consecutive points for the Rams during a stretch of the second and third quarter. But his teammates weren’t just standing around watching. They were executing coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s plan to perfection.
“We controlled the tempo and played at our own pace and didn’t let them speed us up,” Johnson said. “We are five seniors with experience. We’ve been here and they haven’t, they are still young. We’ve been here.”
The Rams’ intensity and effort was shown plain when 6-10 senior Brian Mathews dove on the floor and skidded for a bit going after a loose ball in the final minutes.
“This meant a lot,” Mathews said. “Young has a ton of talent. I knew it was going to be a rough game but we came ready to go with our minds set on winning. We weren’t ready for the season to end.”
Mathews finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for DePaul Prep (12-2). Guards Rasheed Bello (seven points), Cam Lewis and Jabari Sawyer was instrumental in carrying out DePaul’s spread offense that helped kill off the win.
“We’re starting to play a little bit,” Kleinschmidt said. “This is what we can be. Brain gave us something on the glass and with the defense and he guarded well. And [Johnson] is [Johnson].”
Senior Grant Newell led Young (13-1) with 10 points and junior AJ Casey added seven points and eight rebounds. Senior Jaeshon Thomas scored nine.
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“I had 100 percent confidence we were going to win this game,” Johnson said. “Everyone doubted us, had us losing by 10 points. We had the mindset that we had to come in as a team and control it.”
The Dolphins never seemed totally in-sync on offense.
“We sit tight in the paint and get the shooters that we scouted,” Kleinschmidt said. “Young is a great team. [Dolphins coach Tyrone Slaughter] coached me in high school. They’ve been impressive for a long time.”
St. Ignatius knocked off Curie last night in a non-conference game. Now DePaul Prep takes down undefeated, top-ranked Young in the season’s premier event. Those are massive shifts in the high school basketball scene.
“Of course the Public League is very strong but the Catholic League is strong now too,” Mathews said.
DePaul Prep will face the Mundelein vs. Fenwick winner in the semifinals at Notre Dame on Saturday.
DePaul Prep shocks top-ranked YoungMichael O’Brienon March 13, 2021 at 1:39 am Read More »
Apex predator species of all types are a key to a balanced environment. They keep prey species from outgrowing their food supply and keep pests from proliferating.
Five years ago, Illinois lawmakers trotted out a lot of ridiculous arguments to justify ending protections for bobcats that had been in place for 44 years.
They called the elusive animals, which have never been known to kill a single person, ferocious. They compared them to saber-toothed tigers. They conjured up unsubstantiated stories of bobcats raiding chickens and killing pet cats on farms.
The Legislature voted, by a razor-thin margin, to create an Illinois bobcat hunting season. This year’s season ended on Feb. 15.
Since bobcat hunting has resumed, more than 1,500 bobcats have been killed in Illinois, the Humane Society of the United States says. Before that, bobcats, which had been on the state’s threatened species list, had barely managed to recover from being overhunted in the past. Bobcat hunting remains illegal in Chicago and the northeast portion of the state.
The rush to end four decades of bobcat protections in Illinois was part of an ongoing and unwise assault on predator species in general in the United States. It threatens to upend decades of scientific efforts to return predator species to the land by balancing their needs with those of humans.
On March 10, Michigan’s state Senate approved a resolution urging state wildlife officials there to allow wolf hunting and trapping this year. Wisconsin recently held its first wolf hunt in several years, and some Montana lawmakers are trying to allow leg-hold traps, neck snares, extended seasons and the use of spotlights to shoot wolves at night.
Right before November’s presidential election, the Trump administration lifted Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states, except for Arizona and New Mexico, though wolves are basically extinct in most of their former range. President Joe Biden’s administration, on the new president’s first day in office, said it would review that decision.
Apex predator species of all types are a key to a balanced environment. They keep prey species from outgrowing their food supply and keep pests from proliferating. Wolf packs weakened by hunting are more likely to attack livestock.
Illinois’ shy and nocturnal bobcats eat rabbits, hares and rats, which farmers consider pests. They go out of their way to avoid people.
Bobcats are not hunted for their meat. Instead, hunters kill them to collect a trophy or for the animals’ reddish-brown, spotted coats, which can be sold on an international market. But that means using inhumane steel-jawed traps that can keep them languishing in pain for up to 24 hours or chasing them with dogs that might rip the terrified bobcats apart or tree them until a hunter arrives to shoot them.
Moreover, wildlife enthusiasts — the ones opposed to the hunt — say that their own views didn’t get a fair hearing when the Legislature voted to allow the resumption of bobcat hunting. Nature belongs to all of us, not just hunters, and the fewer bobcats roaming the state, the less chance anyone will have to see one. The thrill of seeing a bobcat in its habitat ought to outweigh someone having a chance to wear slippers made of bobcat fur.
On Monday, the Illinois House Agriculture & Conservation Committee will hold a hearing on a bill to ban bobcat hunting in the state. The bill has been in the works ever since bobcat hunting resumed, says state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, a co-sponsor.
This time around, we hope the Legislature will base its decisions on the best science. If the Legislature simply does that, conservationists say, it will reinstate the ban on bobcat hunting.
“We don’t believe the science supports a hunting season for bobcats,” said Jennifer Walling, executive director of the Illinois Environmental Council. “It has had a detrimental effect on their population, particularly in areas of the states where their population hasn’t recovered.”
We share the planet with predators such as bobcats. We need enlightened, science-based policies and laws that guide us in doing this as best we can.
Send letters to [email protected].
Stop hunting bobcats in IllinoisCST Editorial Boardon March 13, 2021 at 1:51 am Read More »
Ayo Dosunmu scored 23 points, and the Illini easily defeated the Scarlet Knights 90-68.
INDIANAPOLIS — Ayo Dosunmu scored 23 points and No. 3 Illinois easily beat Rutgers 90-68 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament on Friday night.
The junior guard was too quick in creating open looks off the dribble, often provided chances for teammates. Dosunmu shot 8 for 11 from the field, 7 of 9 from the line and added six assists and five rebounds.
Illinois (21-6) has won 12 of its last 13 games and avenged a regular-season loss to Rutgers (15-11) to advance to Saturday’s semifinals against the winner of No. 5 Iowa and Wisconsin.
When the second-seeded Illini weren’t hitting shots, they were forcing the action with drives to the rim and getting fouled. Illinois made 21 of 31 free throws. Seventh-seeded Rutgers converted 16 of 22.
Center Kofi Cockburn threw around his 7-foot, 285-pound frame, and had four emphatic dunks. He finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Illinois dominated the boards 44-19, including 17-3 in offensive rebounds.
Rutgers reduced a 19-point halftime deficit to 13 early in the second half, but got no closer.
Ron Harper Jr. scored 21 points and Jacob Young had 13 for the Scarlet Knights.
The Illini scored the first nine points. Rutgers closed within four points before Illinois pulled away. Cockburn punctuated the early effort with a one-handed dunk off an offensive rebound for a 45-26 lead in the final minute of the first half.
BIG PICTURE
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights were ranked as high as 11th during the regular season, but injuries took a toll. A modestly successful season after 20 wins the year before was a letdown without an NCAA Tournament bid. Perhaps the NIT will provide a chance to keep playing.
Illinois: The last time the Illini were as high as a second seed was in 2009, when they were also a No. 2. A tourney title could legitimize the team as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. … Sixteen conference wins in the regular season were the most in team history.
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace will get an up close look at quarterback Trey Lance at his North Dakota State Pro Day on Friday.
The post Chicago Bears GM Ryan Pace to attend intriguing QB’s Pro Day on Friday first appeared on CHI CITY SPORTS l Chicago Sports Blog – News – Forum – Fans – Rumors.Read More
Sunburned Hand of the Man are a loose Boston-based collective whose work has sprawled across multiple genres, including free improv, noise, folk, drone, and psychedelic jams. Founded in 1997 out of the ashes of art-rock trio Shit Spangled Banner, they became part of a scene that specialized in indulgence and reveled in long builds, endless permutation, improvisation, and minimalism that could get pretty damn maximal at the drop of a hat (or the stomp of a pedal).…Read More
Terry Ferguson became the last of three people caught up in a years-long investigation to plead guilty in the case Friday.
The onetime manager of Chicago’s Finest Deli on Wheels LLC became the last of three people caught up in a years-long drug and gun investigation to plead guilty in the case Friday.
Terry Ferguson, 56, of Willowbrook, admitted during a virtual hearing that he distributed 1.5 kilograms of cocaine in 2016 and 2018 and illegally possessed 23 firearms in 2015.
Ferguson’s co-defendant, Jesus Dominguez, had negotiated the sale of those firearms to an undercover ATF agent, but he stored and moved them in a deli truck owned by Ferguson, who got a cut of the deal, according to Ferguson’s plea agreement.
Ferguson knew how Dominguez was using the truck and maintained his ability to control it and the firearms despite a January 1997 drug conviction, according to the plea deal.
Dominguez pleaded guilty in November to a drug conspiracy and illegal gun possession, records show. Another defendant in the case, William Walsh, pleaded guilty that same month to the drug conspiracy.
Ferguson faces a potential sentence of as many as 10 years in prison, according to his plea agreement. He has also pleaded guilty in a related case to obstructing a court order for telling someone subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating Ferguson that the person would go to jail if he went to court. For that, Ferguson could face another year in prison.
Dominguez faces a potential sentence of more than eight years, though prosecutors have said they would recommend he get a break if he cooperates with them. Walsh faces a potential sentence of more than two years.
The victims, Lavelle R. Lee and Lee’s 31-year-old cousin, were shot in January on Blackstone Avenue.
A Burnside man was ordered held on $1 million bail Friday after he was arrested in Mississippi for allegedly killing a man and wounding the victim’s cousin in Calumet Heights.
Christopher Luckett, 41, was getting his car serviced at a mechanic’s garage around midnight on Jan. 16 when he saw two men park their cars nearby, Cook County prosecutors said Friday.
After asking the mechanic who the men were, Luckett began walking toward them.
The mechanic went into his basement to put away his tools and did not see what happened next, but prosecutors said the men, who were cousins, waved Luckett off as he approached them and walked toward a liquor store.
That’s when Luckett allegedly opened fire with a 9-mm handgun.
Lee’s cousin, 31, was also hit but managed to hide in some bushes until someone came to get him in a car, prosecutors said. He was later taken to a hospital by ambulance and he identified Luckett as the shooter, prosecutors said.
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The mechanic heard the gunshots and was returning to his garage when he saw Luckett get into his car and drive away, prosecutors said.
When a Mississippi sheriff tried to take Luckett into custody recently, he attempted to escape multiple times, prosecutors said.
A 9-mm handgun was found inside the home where Luckett was taken into custody, but prosecutors said tests determining whether the weapon matched bullet casings found at the crime scene were pending.
Luckett was returned to Cook County this week to face first-degree murder and attempted murder charges for the shooting, Chicago police said.
“There must be millions of 9-mm handguns” across the county, an assistant public defender said Friday in Luckett’s defense.
Judge Charles Beach agreed, saying the “9mm is now the most common weapon manufactured and sold in the United States.”
Beach ordered Luckett held on $1 million bail.
Luckett, a father, was employed in construction until he was laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic, his lawyer said.
He is expected back in court April 1.
One day after bringing back kicker Cairo Santos, the Bears are doing the same for punter Pat O’Donnell.
One day after bringing back kicker Cairo Santos, the Bears are doing the same for punter Pat O’Donnell.
He will return to the team on a one-year deal, NFL Network reported.
O’Donnell was one of three members of the Bears’ special teams corps staring at free agency at the start of the week. After O’Donnell agreed to a deal, the Bears are down to one specialist in limbo: long snapper Patrick Scales.
The Bears drafted O’Donnell in the sixth round in 2014. He’s played every season for them since. Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor seemed pleased with him in late December.
“I think he’s having a good year …” he said. “Obviously I think he’s handled field position real well for us, with regard to inside the 20s and 10s and those type of things. I think just him holding for field goals. The little things of manipulating the football, with regards to, ‘It’s a left-to-right wind, right to left, how I’m going to work the laces,’ and those type of things.
“I mean, those are really important things that he’s really good at. So I’m glad he’s here, and I think he’s playing at a high level.”
NFL Network first reported the signing.
Bears bringing back punter Pat O’DonnellPatrick Finleyon March 12, 2021 at 10:59 pm Read More »
