The worst fears of many White Sox fans came true today; the White Sox passed over AJ Hinch, Joey Cora and the other managerial candidates to hire 76-year-old Tony LaRussa. The Hall of Fame Manager with three World Series Championships and seven appearances, has been out of the dugout since 2011. For LaRussa, it makes sense: the team is very young and talented and if there’s the beginnings of a fine pitching staff. Hitters like Abreu, Anderson, Jimenez, Nick Madrigal, Luis Robert, and the possibility of a healthy Yuan Moncada along with pitching led by Lucas Giolito and Dallas Keuchel and the White Sox have the building blocks of a World Series contender in 2021 and for some years thereafter. For LaRussa, it is a return to the site of his first managerial job, with the White Sox
On the positive, LaRussa will not make the stupid on field mistakes that his predecessor Ricky Renteria made. He is a Hall of Fame manager, which will bring automatic respect, and he certainly learned a lot since he was in Chicago in the 1980’s. He also comes without the baggage of the cheating scandal that comes with Hinch and Cora.
The negatives are obvious: first, is he too old to connect with today’s players, especially a predominantly Latin clubhouse? I don’t think he’ll have much of a problem, he’s a smart man, and if he wishes, he could hire a Hispanic bench coach. (At least he won’t have to worry about Don Cooper, Kenny Williams’ spy in the clubhouse who kept his job as managers came and went, often on intelligence received from Cooper.). The bigger problem is a problem that has been trouble for the White Sox and Bulls – Owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Reinsdorf has said that his only regret as an owner was letting Hawk Harrelson fire LaRussa. The owner and the manager have remained friends all these years. Reinsdorf is notorious for his loyalty. Loyalty to then Bulls GM Jerry Krause led to the breakup of the 6-time NBA Champions. The Bulls immediately fell into mediocrity. Loyalty to EVP of Basketball Operations John Paxson and GM Gar Foreman (known to fans and the media as “GarPax.”) turned the team into a travesty. They were never horrible enough to get the number one pick in the NBA Draft; no where near good enough to make the playoffs; and a reputation of dysfunction that no free agent worth his salt would even consider coming to Chicago. Loyalty to Ken Williams with the White Sox led to firing the only manager who won a World Series on the South Side – Ozzie Guillen (admittedly, success went to Ozzie’s head, which is why he got run out of Chicago and then out of Miami and any other job because of a big mouth and erratic behavior).
What if LaRussa can’t bring success to the White Sox this time? How many years will the Sox young talent waste if LaRussa cannot connect with them? Will the only way LaRussa could be fired now is the elder Reinsdorf’s death?
As I’ve said, I was rooting for someone else like Sandy Alomar, Jr. to be the new manager. He’s been coaching since he retired in 2007. He has been a coach for the Indians for a decade; has been one of the final candidates for a number of MLB Managerial Jobs. After Guillen’s antics may have hurt other Hispanic candidates, I thought Dave Martinez’s World Series win at the helm of the 2018 Washington Nationals would have opened the gates wide for these worthy men.
The White Sox have needs: more pitching, a right fielder, an effective designated hitter. That’s GM Rich Hahn’s job, but I have a feeling that Tony LaRussa wasn’t Rick Hahn’s hire. I only hope it works.

With the national election just days away, there is a lot of discussion about legitimacy. A Supreme Court Justice was voted in just 8 days before the election and there are significant questions about legitimacy. Of course, IMPOTUS questions the legitimacy of reality, any thing that goes against him, and of course, the upcoming election, saying that he “may not” accept the results of the election (unless of course, he somehow wins).
This is not a political piece. Now that the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series in 6 games over the Tampa Bay Rays, there are questions as to whether the Dodgers’ win and the Lakers’ NBA Championship are legitimate? Should there be asterisks next to their titles? That’s a load of hooey!
First, the winter sports, the NBA and NHL played nearly one half of their games before the season was halted as a result of the pandemic. Then, they restarted and both leagues had play-ins for the teams that were close to the playoffs, Instead of just ending the season and taking whomever was eligible, the NBA had play in games and an extra level of playoffs. The NHL had best of 3 series before starting the playoffs. In baseball, there were four series, the most of all time. In every case, the playoffs were stirring and fun. There were no fans in the stands, but honestly, I didn’t miss them. The canned crowd noise, the announcers and there was still intense play because everyone knew what they were playing for.
The teams in all three sports that won either had the best record in the league for the games that were played or would certainly have made the playoffs if the season had played itself out (Tampa Bay). It seems like a lot of the comments are coming after Los Angeles had two champions. I grew up a Laker fan, and unless you are a LeBron hater, they were one of the best teams. The Dodgers had the best record in the National League, and finally got over the top against Tampa, who had the best record in the American League. No one has made a peep about Tampa in hockey. The critics are only focused on the “bigger” sports, I guess?
I am on the side of legitimacy. The reality that we observe is real (that’s why it’s “reality”). The election, barring suppression, if it goes to Biden on the basis of having more votes than the other guy, makes it legitimate. Whether or not you have a thing against LA, LeBron James, or the Dodgers who have been close to a championship despite top talent and paying for top talent, they won. Personally, I’m happy for Clayton Kershaw, arguably the most dominant pitcher of his time who has been very mediocre in the playoffs, but came up big in Game 5 to help them win. I’m also happy for Magic Johnson, one of the owners of the Dodgers, a Black owner adding to his Lakers titles as a player, an owner and the owner of the WNBA Sparks.
No asterisks are necessary.

The Chicago Bears got thumped by the Los Angeles Rams last Monday night, and no one can really be surprised. The defense has been inconsistent, sometimes dominating like 2018 and 2019. Special teams remain problematic, but passable. As always however, it is the offense that has been horrendous and the team remains deficient at the most important position on the field – quarterback.
There has been a great deal of press about recent failures under GM Ryan Pace, but he is just the latest GM to fair to find a certified elite QB. Overpaying for Mike Glennon was the first error. Glennon barely played, eventually giving the starting job to Mitch Trubisky. Pace has gotten a tremendous amount of criticism for giving up draft picks to rise 1 pick in the 2017 draft to take Trubisky and passing over Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. With poor play from Trubisky last season, Pace traded a 4th round draft pick and committed $24 million over three years to obtain Nick Foles, a QB with a Super Bowl MVP award, but also has never been able to hold on to and keep a starting job. This season, Trubisky failed to improve and Foles came in and won four games, but the offense remains 28h in the league is all of the statistics.
Plenty of fault has been found with Bear Head Coach Matt Nagy. Brought in from Andy Reid’s Chiefs staff, Nagy was a noted offensive mind hired to get the most out of Trubisky. After the defense led the Bears to the 2018 playoffs winning Nagy the Coach of the Year award, last season, the team made a major step backwards, struggling to get to .500. The 5-1 2020 start consisted of Foles getting hot for one quarter and coming from behind to win tight games. Three plays, one each in the Lions, Falcons and Tampa Bay could easily have led to three losses.
My question remains, “how can an NFL franchise fail to develop, draft or trade a quality QB?” When your all time leading QB retired in 1950 (Sid Luckman), what does that say about the franchise, its owners and the front office they have hired over 70 years? My old Sportswriters friend Rick Telander listed many of the has-beens and never-wases that have started games for the Bears at QB. The only QBs who showed promise were Jim McMahon who was too fragile, and Jay Cutler who was too inconsistent and aloof.
I have not criticized Pace for not taking Watson or Mahomes for one reason: the Bears would have screwed up these two incredible talents. Foles is hampered by a bad offensive line and no running game; he is best as a front runner – successful when he comes into the exact correct situation – a good running game, line and receivers. The Bears have none of thar. Historically, Bear fans have been fine with having teams that with horrendous offenses as long as the team has great defenses. Butkus, Brian Urlander teams had great defenses and the Bears couldn’t score on offense. The defense led by Mike Sngletary was so dominant, so overwhelming that the Super Bowl Shuffle team was maybe the best single season team of all time. The defense was so dominant, and the offense did have the great Walter Payton, but people forget that the offense was rated at or near the top in rankings in 1985 also.
I am going to say something that may be controversial, and I’ve said it before. Are the Bears scared of taking an African-American quarterback. Trubisky was rated very highly in by the pre-draft studies and one should ask whether these studies were biased? If you look at the African-American signal callers over history, Henry Burris, Vince Evans, an over-the hill Kordell Stewart all failed horribly. Were they racists? Partly I’d say.
Again, Watson and Mahomes are wonderfully talented men; but the reality is that players coming out of college especially QBs need to be drafted into the right program/system. As great as Mahomes is, coming into an Andy Reid offense with lots of weapons has been a huge factor in his greatness. The Bears have tried lots of coaches, coordinators, and schemes trying to generate offense to no avail. Besides rival Green Bay has had 2 white quarterbacks who are or will be in the Hall of Fame, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
I honestly think that the Bears are much more comfortable having white starters, but unfortunately, the team has been stupid. Aside from Jim Finks who brought in McMahon, GM’s have brought in these losers. It looked like a masterstroke when Jerry Angelo trade Kyle Orton for Cutler. We should have known that there was something wrong here. Cutler burned his bridges with Denver and they felt that they could not win with him, so, they let him go. They were right – Cutler had, I think the best arm in Bear history. He holds the most passing yards in team history. Inconsistency and dubious decisions on the field, and poor relations with the press and the fans led to Cutler being run out of town.
Will the Bears ever have a franchise QB? Can’t lightning eventually strike? The fans, myself included have been waiting decades for a top notch signal caller. Doesn’t look like we’ll see it anytime soon.

Most of the time, professional sports front offices don’t really give much of a damn what the fans and media think (that is, unless the fans stop coming to the games, then they care a lot). Decisions on players and coaches are made for “the betterment of the team:” and giving the benefit of the doubt, often these moves are to improve the team. Sometimes that is to unload salaries and players in an attempt to tank, lose lots of games to get high draft picks in their respective drafts. Sometimes it is for the most corporate of reasons – a political move to take power, remove rivals, or just keep their jobs.
It is unusual for a front office to make a naked appeal to the fans and to the core players that they know what they’re doing and to be patient. When it happens, usually it is in an interview with sportswriters, occasionally it is a letter to season ticket holders or the very occasional face-to-face meetings with some players. The Chicago Blackhawks must be mighty desperate – this week, they sent a letter to season ticket holders and fans; GM Stan Bowman met with the media, and he also met with the aging core of the team: Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Brett Seabrook. They must be frightened from moves already made and more moves perhaps to come.
In their heyday, Bowman was able to juggle the big salaries of the superstars by bringing younger, cheaper talent; however, those days had a rising salary cap, the pandemic will lead to a flat cap for next season. There is always the roster moves, but this season, they got rid of two Stanley Cup stalwarts: Brandon Saad who was traded to Colorado as part of the 4-player deal with the Hawks getting defenseman Nikita Zadorov. To me, Saad had nothing but bad luck since he came back to Chicago – he was digging in, getting pucks loose and close in shots, but they didn’t go in. The bigger shock was letting Goalie Corey Crawford go in free agency. Crawford kept the team in the playoffs this summer, showing that he still had a lot in the tank. He will be 35 soon, but he was willing to take a nearly 50% salary cut from his $6 million per year cap hit to stay with the only team he’s ever played for. He just didn’t want to be the number 2 goalie; he could share number 1 status like he did for much of the season with Robin Lehner. Bowman made a statement that Crawford would not be back and in less that 24 hours, Crawford had signed with New Jersey. Fan reaction has not been positive.
It also didn’t help that Bowman has not had the highest percentage of good moves compared with bad moves. The Hawks got rid of high-priced defenseman Ollie Maata who played very inconsistently during the season but raised his game immensely in the bubble. In the ten years since Bowman took over the GM job from Dale Tallon, I would say that Bowman has had some success with front liners, but his record with defensemen has been abysmal. On the front line, he did draft Artemi Panerin, not exactly a stretch, and it isn’t his fault that Panerin became such a superstar that the Hawks couldn’t afford to keep him. Kirby Dach was a very good draft pick, as was Alex DeBrincat and Dominick Kubalik. Bowman’s record of brining old Blackhawks back, while nice for the fans, has been a disaster. Patrick Sharp, Saad, Andrew Ladd, Kris Versteeg, all were shadows of their former selves (and the jury is still out on Andrew Shaw and why did Bowmen get Brandon Pirri back?). The blue line has been the place where Bowman has failed the most. D-men have been drafted, failed and been traded. Stop gap moves for Johnny Oduya and Maata had short term positive impact, but how much better would the blue line be with Niklas Hjalmarsson back there instead of Arizona. Zadorov is a huge man, but will he be the next Zdeno Chara or a bust remains to be seen.
Now, Bowman has to rebuild the goalie position. He shook the NHL signing the 2019 Masterson Trophy winner for comeback player of the year Robin Lehner in the summer of 2019 to a one-year deal. Lehner wanted to stay in Chicago and was also willing to take less money to stay. Instead, at the trading deadline, he sent Lehner to Vegas. Vegas ended up eliminating the Hawks in the bubble and I’m sure that Lehner is happy to have gotten closer to a Stanley Cup than he would have in Chicago. The position is plainly bare now. In 2018, Collin Delia looked like he could be capable number 2 netminder building up to be a number 1, but he has all but vanished from the big club. Malcolm Subban was acquired, didn’t play much, was cut then resigned.
Of course, to many Bowman will never be forgiven for firing Coach Joel Quenneville. Successor Jeremy Colliton changed the team’s style, especially in the defensive end and the Hawks remain near the bottom in quality chances allowed. If it hadn’t been for Crawford and Lehner, the Hawks could have given up 8 goals a game.
The problem has been that, like many franchises in many leagues who have been very good for a long time, the team tried to keep the old beloved players and bet on the younger players to blossom. This of course, keeps fans in seats and the money rolling. This has not worked for the Blackhawks since they were swept in the first round of the 2016 playoffs and had not returned to the playoffs until the pandemic created a round robin format that allowed the first 12 teams in each conference instead of the first 8. The Hawks were in limbo, not good enough to be a legitimate Cup contender but not at the very bottom as long as they have Kane and Toews and the fans love for the core.
One thing that Blackhawks have been good at since Bill Wirtz died has been PR, especially under the lead of former President John McDonough (of course winning 3 Stanley Cups doesn’t hurt). They needed to “get in front of” the departures of Saad and Crawford, so they did something unusual – they sent a letter to fans saying that they are embracing a rebuild, a word not well received by most fins since it means “be patient with us and still come watch us play since we’re gonna suck.” This is not a new approach – the Rangers sent a similar letter to their fans in 2018, but the they went out and signed Panarin and hope sprung eternal. There’s no Panerin on the market now and the Hawks couldn’t afford him if there was.
Then Bowman met with the 4 centerpieces of the team, being honest with them and telling them that they are definitely in the plans for the future (they all have no trade clauses, or, in the case of Seabrook, a contract so unfavorable that no one would want it or him.
Will it work? Will fans still come to the United Center or will they happily boo Bowman and Colliton from their homes? That’s the question. It’s a gamble. I’m of two minds on the matter: while I am a lifelong Blackhawks fan and always want them to do well; but I am more than a bit tired of Stan Bowman’s act and would like to see him leave. I have a feeling a lot of fans feel the same way, letter or no letter.

Earlier this Fall, I commended the Big Ten Conference for postponing the 2020 football season until at least the Spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pressure from players, coaches and parents rained down on the university presidents, and with professional leagues like the NBA, NHL, and to a less successful degree, the NFL. The presidents weighted the money they will receive and conferred with the attorneys and insurance companies who said that any loss was within acceptable tolerances. New Commissioner Kevin Warren was probably overwhelmed by the sentiment.
I don’t think that the risk to the players contracting the virus is worth it. The players are young people – young people don’t always make the smartest decisions, which is why there have been some large outbreaks on college campuses. The only players who if felt for when it looked like the 2020 football season would be postponed were the seniors and underclassmen who expected to show off their skills to the NFL scouts and coaches, but that can be overcome. Talent will be found. My argument has, like most of my ideas, had no impact.
So, tomorrow, several weeks after the other power conferences started playing, the Big Ten takes to the field tomorrow for a truncated 8-game schedule. It will be very different: no bands; no fans; canned crowd noise and band music. My beloved Northwestern Wildcats play Maryland tomorrow evening at Ryan Field. I will have to settle for watching the Big Ten Network. My doctor’s office is in an office building across from Evanston Hospital and about ½ mile from the stadium. Driving back and forth, I have passed the stadium and the food shack that is across from the stadium, Mustard’s Last Stand, a pre-game staple for decades. A few times, I have been tempted to stop in for my usual: two polish sausages with everything and extra hot peppers, an order of fries and a Diet Coke. I admit that since I am only about 10 minutes from the stadium, I will be extra tempted to stop by before the game for food.
I wish for a terrific season. More than that, I wish for as few infected players, coaches, officials, as possible. I hope that there won’t be more injuries than usual.
And, as always, Go Cats!!!

The White Sox fired manager Ricky Renteria earlier this week. At the time, fans agreed because of questionable decisions, and the swoon the team went into after clinching a playoff spot; GM Rick Hahn only said that the sides had agreed to part ways. A day later, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that there had been friction between Renteria and also fired Pitching Coach Don Cooper and the front office. The coaches disagreed with management’s wish to use in game metrics to aid in decision making, and considering the questionable at best decisions both men made all season and during the playoffs, it makes sense. There was also reports that Renteria believed that the rebuild was ahead of schedule, yet his desire to add pitching help at the trade deadline fell on deaf ears.
With all of the young talent on the team, for once, the White Sox is a plum job: Jose Abreu, Tim Anderson, Eloy Jimenez, Nick Madrigal, Yoan Moncada, Luis Robert and pitchers Lucas Giolitto and Dallas Keuchel. They led their division for most of the truncated year, and lost the playoff play-in round 2 games to 1 to the A’s. Who wouldn’t want to be in the driver’s seat for a team that should contend this year and for a number of years in the future.
Immediately, candidates’ names were bandied about: before they could even get started, the team nixed the chance that former manager Ozzie Guillen, the only man to lead the South Siders to a World Series Championship, could return. While Owner Jerry Reinsdorf is well known for his loyalty to a fault, Kenny Williams remains on the White Sox payroll and he and Ozzie will never be considered buddies. They still want a manager who has championship experience. Right on the top are two managerial candidates who have experience but are also under a cloud: AJ Hinch and Joey Cora, both of whom were fired after the 2017 Houston Astros cheating scandal came to light. They would love a chance at redemption, but does a young team need that kind of distraction?
Another choice (and my favorite) is Sandy Alomar Jr. There’s no controversy here – Alomar was a terrific catcher including two stints with the White Sox; he is Latino so he should be able to bond with many of the players; and he has been passed over for several jobs. Now that Dave Martinez has broken the Latin manager hex that GMs held against candidates, Alomar with his experience and family pedigree, would make an excellent choice.
However, Reinsdorf’s loyalty remains strong and now, a leading candidate is former White Sox Manager Tony LaRussa. Reinsdorf has always felt guilt for letting then GM Hawk Harrelson fire LaRussa in 1986, three years after he led them to the AL West title. Of course, LaRussa went on to a Hall f Fame career with 3 World Series titles with the A’s and Cardinals, 4 times manager of the year and induction into Cooperstown in 2014. I was not a big fan of LaRussa and his career pitching coach Dave Duncan when they were in Chicago, but they improved over the years and turned into much better coaches than the guys who ran the White Sox.
The problem here is that LaRussa is 76 years old. Duncan has a job in the White Sox coaching group, so he is already on the payroll. I’m of mixed emotions about LaRussa; he did a great job in Oakland and St. Louis and was definitely opinionated – he was one of the only supporters of Mark MacGuire after the PED charges were confirmed.
Obviously, I hope that Hahn (and Williams and Reinsdorf) pick the right guy. The White Sox are not only good and young, but they are fun to watch and will be so much more fun when live fans can watch them play. Fingers and toes are crossed.

When the Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th NBA title last week in the truncated 2019-2020 season, LeBron James said that the team, the fans, everyone got respect and he deserves “his damn respect” and he has a point. It seems that whenever James’ name comes up, it is in the argument over whether he of Michael Jordan are the GOAT – Greatest Of All Time. Now, I am a professed Jordan man on the subject, but however one argues on the major question, we have to give him credit – 4 NBA Titles, 4 playoff MVP awards, 4x league MVP, and played in 10 NBA Finals. Coming into the league straight from high school, at 35, he is now among the statistical leaders in most of the NBA Regular Season and Playoff records. The four titles are for three different teams, the Miami Heat, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Lakers. He is still married to his high school sweetheart, raising his children, no hint of scandal, using his wealth to put kids through high school and college, and, unlike Jordan, outspoken on issues of race and white supremacy.
So why doesn’t this guy get more acclaim (although he dies get plenty)? In the GOAT argument, the fact that Jordan never lost an NBA Title while James’ teams lost six. In my case, I’ll never forget the playoff game seven against the Celtics where James disappeared. Jordan hates to lose at anything: pool, golf, tiddly-winks, anything, and that is my argument about him being the GOAT. Unfortunately, many people won’t give him a break for the way he has moved through the NBA. Jordan won his titles on one team and was dependent on GM Jerry Krause and Owner Jerry Reinsdorf to surround him with championship talent. James banded with Chris Boch and Dwayne Wade and moved to Miami. “The Decision,” the one hour ESPN produced special in which James announced his leaving Cleveland for South Beach was one of the most boring hours of television ever AND broke the hearts of fans all over the league who hoped he might choose their team. Most heartbroken were the Cavaliers fans, who felt jilted by the home state prodigy. The rest of the league made James Public Enemy Number 1; he was jeered everywhere except Miami.
After a very successful run in Miami, he decided to go back home, to Cleveland where Kevin Love was a great number 2 man. He brought the Ohio city its first championship in any sport since the 1954 Indians. Maybe he’d found his redemption, that is, until the traveling fever hit again. Lured by the opportunity to star in “Space Jam 2” the sequel to the Michael Jordan starring hit, James found his way to Los Angeles. In Cleveland, he was THE star; in Miami, he was the biggest of the three stars, but now in La La Land, he followed in the shadow of Magic, Kareem, Wilt, Jerry West, and so many other Laker legends. Now match with young center Anthony Davis, the Lakers won again.
I have said that some of the greatest players in NBA history were great because, physically, they were bigger or stronger than opponents playing the same position; they were “tweeners.” When Oscar Robertson came into the NBA, there were no 6’5” guards, much less point guards. He was too fast for forwards and too big and strong to be guarded by guards. That is why he was able to be a rebounding machine at the guard spot. Magic Johnson was 2 inches shorter but 15 pounds heavier than Bill Russell, but he moved with the ball, scored from outside and could have played inside if he had wanted.
Michael Jordan was a very tall “2” guard, could have been a small forward, but he was too big and fast and jumped too high for the other guards. LeBron is also a tweener – he could play strong forward, small forward, center, and even can play guard. Many people will hold the Decision and the nomadic nature of his career against him, but it is now long past time for the haters to give him credit – he is one of the 5-6 best players to ever lace up gym shoes.