GLENDALE, Ariz. — Two days after a press conference on the first day of White Sox spring training in which he addressed allegations of domestic abuse and a Major League Baseball investigation into his conduct, pitcher Mike Clevinger sharpened his tone in an interview with the Sun-Times.

It began with the 32-year-old right-hander being asked about Wednesday’s lengthy appearance on 670 The Score’s “Parkins & Spiegel” show by his accuser, Olivia Finestead, the mother of his 10-month-old daughter.

Finestead painted a sordid picture of Clevinger, accusing him of having “choked” her last June and taken her phone so she couldn’t call the police. She also described him as a drug abuser who drove a car while on acid with her — and his two other young children from another woman — as passengers, and as a serial cheater and abuser who is in need of “drug rehab and therapy.”

Finestead also said she filed a police report against Clevinger after learning he intended to seek full custody of their child.

And she took issue with Clevinger’s comments in his press conference, during which he denied having done anything wrong and complained of being mischaracterized “like I am one of those people.”

“For him to sit there and be like, ‘Oh, poor me on my first day [in camp]?’ Like, your poor baby. Your poor other kids,” she said. “He’s just so full of himself and such a narcissist that he will deny, lie and project every day. That’s just who he is.”

Clevinger fired back at The Score.

“It’s the world we’re living in,” he said. “Everyone wants the clicks. It doesn’t matter what the real truth is. Everyone will stop and look at the car crash, but no one’s going to stop and smell the flowers. That’s how the world is. But that was really trashy of them. That was some lowlife material right there.”

Clevinger warned of potential litigation against the station in response.

“My lawyers are paying attention,” he said. “My lawyers are getting in contact with them and they probably already sent a cease-and-desist for defamation. So [The Score] just got themselves involved in this, too, so good for them.”

Score operations director Mitch Rosen declined to comment.

On Wednesday — after Sox general manager Rick Hahn defended the team’s December signing of Clevinger, saying it was unaware of MLB’s investigation — Clevinger claimed not to have known the seven-month-long investigation was ongoing. Two days later, however, he said he has been cooperating with MLB throughout it.

“I trust the process,” he said. “I trust the commissioner’s office. I’ve turned over everything for seven months. I’ve had my phone [inspected] twice. I’m an open book. I think justice will be served.”

Meanwhile, the Sox are deservedly facing scrutiny and criticism for bringing in a player with a checkered past that includes violating COVID-19 protocols along with then-teammate Zach Plesac during a series in Chicago in 2020 when both were pitching for the Guardians. That indiscretion — which Clevinger reportedly attempted to hide from the team even after Plesac had been caught — earned him a trade from Cleveland.

Clevinger also has potentially troubling ties to pitcher Trevor Bauer, who was suspended by MLB in 2022 during a sexual-assault investigation and later released by the Dodgers. According to Finestead, Bauer “reported Mike’s drug abuse and anger issues a year and a half ago.”

For as long as Clevinger is being investigated, his presence on the Sox will be an elephant-in-the-room issue that won’t go away.

Meeting the media Wednesday “definitely was uncomfortable, an uncomfortable scenario,” Clevinger said.

“But I respect that you guys have a job to do,” he said, “and I just thought if I could show my face, then maybe some of you guys would start respecting me and looking for real facts and evidence before you start trying to destroy my life.”

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Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy is quickly seeing his stock rise again after proving to be inconsistent during his first stint as a head coach in the National Football League.

After being fired as the Bears’ head coach last year, Nagy returned to the comfort of the Kansas City Chiefs organization where his friend, Andy Reid, threw him a lifeline by naming him the Chiefs’ quarterbacks coach.

Mind you, the Chiefs’ quarterback is perennial MVP candidate Patrick Mahomes so to say that Nagy’s role as Chiefs’ quarterback coach was a cushion job would be an understatement.

Nevertheless, Nagy now has the Super Bowl ring that evaded him in 2018 when the Bears lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card round. The Chiefs winning the Super Bowl has allowed Bears fans to see a new version of Nagy.

The Chicago Bears didn’t get the most out of Matt Nagy during his tenure.

In short, Nagy was living his best life.

This does not appear to be the end of Nagy’s redemption arc either. Current Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy appears to be in line to name the next offensive coordinator of Washington Commanders and that puts Nagy in a firm position for promotion this offseason.

We could be an Andy Reid retirement away from seeing Nagy’s second stint as an NFL head coach. Though, this time, Nagy will have the quarterback in Mahomes and tight end in Travis Kelce that would allow for him to perfectly run his system.

Mahomes has already gone to great lengths to speak about the connection that he has with Nagy and that may be the reason why he is destined to be the eventual successor to Reid.

The connection between Nagy and Mahomes was first formed during the 2017 NFL draft process when the quarterback revealed he received some assistance from the former Bears’ head coach in regard to his pre-draft visit with the Chiefs.

Nagy was broken after his first season as the Bears’ head coach in 2018 and was never able to re-establish his footing.

It seems that he is on track to get another head coaching stint relatively soon and this time, he won’t have to worry about his offense scoring more than 17 points in order to advance in the NFL Playoffs.

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It was the second half of the 2022 season, Justin Fields was running his way into the hearts of Bears fans and the McCaskeys surely were breathing a sigh of relief. Whatever critics wanted to say about Fields, they couldn’t argue that there was no future for him in Chicago. Very little controversy existed over which quarterback would lead the franchise into the future, at least for a few years.

That meant there’d be no major, gut-wrenching QB decision for ownership to OK in 2023, nothing that could haunt the Bears the way the decision to draft Mitch Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes in 2017 had.

Peace. Finally, the McCaskeys had quarterback peace.

Um, yeah, about that.

In a matter of a few months, things have changed. The Bears were bad enough last season to “earn” the No. 1 overall pick in the April draft. They still say they love Fields, and most experts think they’ll stick with him, trade the top pick and select a non-quarterback in the first round. But it’s turning into a big decision, one that could define the franchise for years to come.

What if the Bears keep Fields, and Alabama’s Bryce Young, projected to be the top quarterback in this year’s draft, turns out to be a once-in-generation player for another team?

What if the Bears choose Young and trade Fields, only to see Fields turn into a superstar for another team?

It would be so like the franchise to choose wrong this time around. Cynical? Yes. And your point is? The issue really isn’t whether Fields stays or goes, as crazy as that sounds. The issue is the team’s terrible habit of choosing the wrong quarterback. They’ve done it over and over since the 1950s.

If you adore Fields, there’s a good chance you’re going to be happy. The odds of the McCaskeys wanting to keep him seem high. They know an exciting player like Fields doesn’t come along often, and they know his skills translate into more fan interest, which translates into more profit for the family business. He has shown enough promise to earn the McCaskeys’ faith.

It’s my civic duty to point out that their faith is not necessarily a good thing.

The family has a tendency to fall in love with whichever quarterback is pushed in front of them. Jay Cutler was chairman George McCaskey’s favorite Bear when Cutler was snarling his way through an eight-year stay in Chicago. Trubisky was the kind of clean-cut, conscientious person the McCaskeys like for either quarterback or marketing intern. But neither player turned into the franchise quarterback the Bears were sure they’d be.

The fact that ownership is captivated by Fields the way so many Bears fans are … is that the kiss of death for Decision 2023?

The wild card this time around is new general manager Ryan Poles. He has an opportunity to build a team in his image. If the Bears win with Fields, will that success be because of Poles or because of former GM Ryan Pace, who drafted the quarterback in 2021? Ego sometimes affects vision.

When it comes to picking quarterbacks, the Bears are the bomb defuser who, given the choice of two wires, snips the wrong one. The team has so much shrapnel from past decisions that going through airport security is a nightmare. This is why longtime observers of the Bears are leery about the April draft. Even standing pat can blow up in the franchise’s face.

Three months ago, this didn’t seem like an issue. Then Young started moving up teams’ draft boards.

And then Fields started running, all the way to a single-season franchise record for rushing yards by a quarterback. No one can be certain if he’ll turn into a great passer. Under new coach Matt Eberflus, the Bears didn’t give him many chances to throw, and when they did, the results were uneven. It takes some imagination to project him as a dual-purpose quarterback. That’s where the risk comes in.

Once again, the McCaskeys and the people they’ve hired have a choice to make. I’m sure they thought they were out of the choosing business for a while.

Keep Fields and hope he turns into a terrific passer?

Or choose Young and hope his rookie contract means years of big individual and team success before the kid is due a huge payday?

If anyone has antacids on hand, I know a family that might be in need of some.

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Friday, February 17, 2023

BIG NORTHERN

Stillman Valley at Rockford Christian, 7:00

CATHOLIC LEAGUE – BLUE

St. Ignatius at St. Rita, 7:00

FOX VALLEY

Burlington Central at Huntley, 5:30

Cary-Grove at Dundee-Crown, 7:30

Crystal Lake South at McHenry, 7:30

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Wauconda at Grant, 7:00

NON CONFERENCE

ACERO-Cruz at MCC Academy, 4:45

Agricultural Science at Morgan Park, 7:15

Benet at DePaul, 7:00

Bowen at Northside, 5:00

Comer at Harlan, 5:00

Crete-Monee at St. Francis de Sales, 7:00

Glenbard West at St. Charles East, 7:00

Hancock at Kennedy, 7:00

Iroquois West at Clifton Central, 7:00

Jones at St. Patrick, 7:00

La Lumiere-Blue (IN) at Lake Forest Academy, 6:30

Lake Forest at Evanston, 7:00

Lake Park at Lyons, 7:30

Mount Carmel at University High, 6:30

Newark at Aurora Christian, 7:30

Orangeville at Christian Life, 7:00

Palatine at Hghland Park, 6:00

St. Edward at Lisle, 6:45

Thornridge at Lincoln-Way Central, 6:30

University High at Mount Carmel, 6:30

University High (Normal) at Rockford Lutheran, 7:0

Woodstock North at Antioch, 7:00

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Where player leadership comes from in the aftermath of Jose Abreu’s departure is one of the questions facing the White Sox during spring training. It was underlined in January when Eloy Jimenez was asked who would provide at and said he didn’t know.

Jimenez may have overlooked 6-5 right-hander Lance Lynn, the 35-year-old alpha dog in the clubhouse last season. Lynn is here again to anchor the top of the rotation with American League Cy Young runner-up Dylan Cease and to be a respected voice who leads by example. But he won’t go it alone.

“You need more than one and anyone can be a leader at any time,” Lynn said Friday. “That’s what we are trying to figure out. We’ve got a lot of guys capable of a lot of things. But they have to take care of their stuff individually and if they do that, then everybody can come together.”

Because of language barriers, a leader can’t be all things to all people. But Lynn, who once said he was looked down upon during his central Indiana youth because his family lived in a trailer park, vowed never to give anyone the same treatment regardless of their status, position, salary or anything else. That goes a long way in a clubhouse.

“You can’t force it. Players see that,” Lynn said. “So, if you practice what you preach, show up every day and play the game hard, people will naturally kind of follow. That’s the way I was taught to do it. Do things the right way and compete. If you do that, everything else will take care of itself.”

Generally quiet off the field but vocal and demonstrative on it, Lynn’s body language can be loud and clear if teammates don’t make plays or bring the same intensity he is when he’s pitching. Lynn got into a heat-of-the-moment verbal exchange with former third base coach Joe McEwing in the dugout during the Sox’ frustrating 81-81 season in 2022.

“If you needed last year to have a chip on your shoulder, then you got one,” Lynn said. “But I’ve had one my whole life.”

Lynn is amped about pitching for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, which is why he came to camp ahead of the other pitchers.

“Oh, he’s ramping it up,” manager Pedro Grifol said. “He’s going to the WBC. He’s in pretty good shape right now. He’s almost close to where he wants to be and once that WBC starts he’ll be ready to go.”

Lynn pitched in the 2007 PanAm Games but has a deeper appreciation for wearing USA on his shirt now, he said.

“I’m looking forward to having that opportunity again and really understanding what it means,” he said. “Being a little older, it’s going to be fun.”

After posting a 2.69 ERA finishing third in American League Cy Young voting in 2021, his first season with the Sox, Lynn injured his knee in spring training last year and was limited to 21 starts. He pitched to a 3.99 ERA, but owned a 2.43 ERA in August and September.

With new manager Grifol in place, the inner workings of the clubhouse will begin to come tother in camp.

“The main thing is how are we going to go about our business. How are we going to play?” Lynn said. “What’s going to be expected of us everyday. How are we going to be held accountable not only in the clubhouse but from the coaching staff. We get all those things ironed out, we are going to be good.”

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Marques Easley has lived all over the Midwest, but there has been one constant in the Kankakee junior’s life.

“I came out of my momma playing football,” the 6-foot-7, 300-pounder said.

Around the game since he was 3 years old, Easley is one of the state’s fastest-rising prospects. He is No. 11 among Illinois juniors in the 247Sports composite rankings, No. 39 nationally among offensive tackles.

His list of offers reads like a who’s who of college football, topping out with two-time defending national champion Georgia — a program that rarely recruits in Illinois — and Alabama.

In all, Easley has more than 30 Power Five offers, including 11 from the SEC and 10 from the Big Ten.

That doesn’t surprise Rivals recruiting analyst Clint Cosgrove.

“Guys with his frame that move like he does don’t grow on trees,” Cosgrove said. “He is far from a finished product. [But] for him to move like he does at his size and stage of his career — that’s incredibly impressive.”

Easley has already begun taking official visits, including to Georgia, and has been impressed by the food offerings, among other things. “Barbecue, salmon, steak, seafood, desserts — everything you can think of,” Easley said. “Washington had a full taco bar.”

He’s looking for a good fit as well as a good meal, of course. The recruiting process, which for him started in earnest during his sophomore year, has been “stressful and enjoyable at the same time,” he said.

Those first college looks came when he was playing at Peoria Manual. Originally from Kankakee, he also lived in Columbus, Ohio, before moving to Peoria and returning home to play for the Kays.

His football journey has been equally wide-ranging.

“I was a quarterback, receiver,” Easley said. “Then I started getting bigger and narrowing it down.”

He also played basketball and baseball and competed in track and field, but it’s clear where his athletic future lies.

Easley has worked hard at his craft. He’s the only Illinois player with the elite California Power, which travels to seven-on-seven and five-on-five events all over the country and features athletes from Hawaii, Florida, Texas and Alabama, among other states.

Easley plans to take his time to get his college commitment right, and doesn’t expect to make a decision before the season starts in August.

But he said he could have a short list by then. And he does plan to sign in December, graduate at the semester break and head off to college for spring football.

For this frequent flier, it’ll be just another trip on a unique football journey.

Justin Scott delays decision

St. Ignatius defensive tackle Justin Scott, the state’s top junior and the No. 21 prospect nationally, announced on Twitter last month he is “postponing my commitment until further notice.”

Georgia also has made an offer to Scott, and the five-star prospect has an official visit planned for April, according to the On3 recruiting site.

The 6-5, 310-pounder is versatile enough that Alabama has offered him as an offensive lineman. He has around three dozen offers overall, which is no surprise given his rare combination of size and mobility.

“He’s just so athletic,” Cosgrove said.

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OTTAWA, Ontario — Alex DeBrincat knows Patrick Kane very well. And the Senators forward doesn’t need to navigate politics and choose words carefully quite like the Blackhawks forward currently does.

So DeBrincat’s comments Thursday about Kane’s situation, while everyone waits for the latter to officially decide if and then where he’s willing to be traded, were both insightful and eye-opening.

“All things considered, it’s been tough for him,” DeBrincat said. “A lot of his buddies got moved out last year, and he has been going through a little bit of the injury stuff.

“I can’t say he probably wants to be in a rebuild right now — you guys can ask him that — but he’s so competitive. Being with him for so long, he’s a guy that wants to win every night. … [I’m] excited to see if he can find a new home and get comfortable there. That’s exciting for everyone in the league to watch.”

Although the Rangers pivoted away, teams like the Stars and Golden Knights still make sense in terms of need, suitability and assets to swing a trade. The Maple Leafs, as they often do, are also swiftly entering the ‘Kane-versation.’

Vegas loves splashy acquisitions and boasts plentiful short-term salary-cap space with captain Mark Stone ($9.5 million) on long-term injured reserve. Dallas has been looking for a scoring winger to place next to second-line center Tyler Seguin. Toronto wants an ‘X’-factor to put them over the top in their inevitable first-round matchup against the Lightning.

Kane entered Friday with zero points in his last four games, suggesting the decision might be heavily weighing on him, but he insisted otherwise.

“Maybe subconsciously, but I don’t think it’s anything I think about on the ice,” he said. “[I’m] trying to play well and [not] really think about that other stuff.”

Toews skates

Hawks captain Jonathan Toews has recovered from his illness enough to get back on the ice the last few days in Chicago, skating alongside injured goalie Alex Stalock. Friday nonetheless marked his sixth consecutive game missed.

“That’s the first step in the progression,” Hawks coach Luke Richardson said. “We’ll get home and we’ll have a chance to talk to him face-to-face [Saturday] and see how he’s feeling.”

Guttman debuts

Shortly after an injury-laden loss to the Canadiens on Tuesday, the Blackhawks called Rockford forward Cole Guttman and informed him he’d be called up Wednesday.

Guttman, in turn, called his parents out in Encino, California, to inform them — and they acted quickly.

“I wasn’t sure if I was playing, but they just took the chance and hopped on the next flight 30 minutes later [to Toronto],” he said. “It was really nice of them.”

He indeed replaced MacKenzie Entwistle (wrist injury) in the Hawks’ lineup against the Leafs while his parents — fresh off their red-eye flight — and his brother watched at Scotiabank Arena.

Centering the second line between Tyler Johnson and Taylor Raddysh during five-on-five play — but not yet receiving special-teams duties — Guttman logged 12:09 of ice time. He remained in that role for his second game Friday against the Senators.

He’s more than just a short-term fill-in, too. The Hawks thoroughly believe the scrappy 23-year-old rookie out of the University of Denver has an NHL future. Richardson called him a “smart player” who can handle “pretty much any situation,” and the coach may see a lot more of him moving forward.

Guttman’s intelligence, adaptability, versatility and net-driving willingness have all stood out this season in Rockford, where he has tallied 30 points in 39 games.

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When Sameer Patel began thinking about making conducting his career, the Indian American didn’t have many role models who looked like him other than one very important one — famed maestro Zubin Mehta, former music director of the New York Philharmonic.

“In my community,” Patel said, “it’s very common for a young South Asian person to choose a path in medicine, engineering or law. One of the things that helped me explain my interest was this ability to say my friends and my parents’ friends, ‘Oh, I want to be a conductor.’ And they would be, ‘Oh, like Zubin Mehta.’ That was a very inspiring thing for someone like me.”

Patel, 40, has gone on to a successful career, serving as artistic director of the San Diego Youth Symphony and guest-conducting professional orchestras including the Toronto Symphony and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.

He will make his debut Monday with MusicNOW, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s contemporary music series. It features members of the ensemble in configurations typically ranging from duos to small ensembles.

Patel will lead two of the works on the “Inspiring Voices” program, a string-orchestra version of Osvaldo Golijov’s 2002 string quartet “Tenebrae” and Israeli composer Betty Olivero’s “Bashra’v,” a work for flute, clarinet, trumpet, percussion, piano/celesta and string quartet.

“It’s a very tricky piece,” he said of the latter. “It’s not easy to learn. It’s not easy to conduct.”

In both selections, Patel said the conductor serves as a kind of “silent chamber-music partner,” helping to illuminate the structure and making sure that all of the musicians are in sync.

The conductor grew up in Port Huron, Mich., across the St. Clair River from Canada and abutting Lake Huron.

“I used to take piano lessons in Canada,” he said. “This was pre-9/11, when you could zip across the border in minutes.”

His parents enrolled him in those lessons, and he didn’t particularly enjoy them at first. But once he got to the point where he could play some substantial works, his attitude changed. He said he fell in love with music around when he was 14.

“It was a pivotal time in my life,” he said.

He attended three summer camps at the prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan and flourished playing saxophone in his high school band.

At the same time, he became enamored with a compact disc that featured Mehta leading the Israel Philharmonic in Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony. He played it so many times that it got scratched.

“I vividly remember seeing his face on the cover of that recording,” Patel said. “We talk about representation mattering, and that was an important thing for me back then — to see somebody who came from a background similar to my own.”

Patel became fascinated with conducting while listening to that album and others that his music teachers shared with him.

He also attended performances whenever he could of the Detroit Symphony, an hour away, meeting there with friends from Interlochen.

“That, for me, was beginning of my interest in symphonic music,” he said. “And, by the time I got to college, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”

He went on to obtain his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Michigan, spending summers in European masterclasses with such famed maestros as Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur and Gianandrea Noseda.

“I felt like that was in so many ways a post-graduate kind of experience,” he said, “going to learn from some of the greats in the profession and how they did it.”

In 2014-15, Patel took part in Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project Inclusion — now known as the Freeman Fellowship Program — a mentorship program for budding musicians from diverse backgrounds.

After working as associate conductor of the San Diego Symphony from 2015 to 2019, he was named artistic director of the San Diego Youth Symphony last May. He conducts two of the organization’s 13 ensembles and provides guidance for its other activities, including early childhood education.

Patel doesn’t rule out the possibility of leading a professional orchestra some day but said he is content with the current state of his musical activities.

“I’m lucky enough that I’m able to have one foot in each world,” he said. “I travel around and work with professional orchestras. But I also have the great ability to share not only what I know with young musicians but also learn from what they have to share.”

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