General

From the Saturday, Sept. 9, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

From 2010 to 2014, the Chicago Cubs lost 464 games, finished in last place every season, and made the Friendly Confines a downright hostile environment for winning baseball.

It was a brutal stretch to be sure. But with the benefit of hindsight, every Cubs fan would gladly endure it all over again considering how during the next two seasons all that losing led to 200 victories and a World Series championship.

Enter the Chicago Bears, who from 2014 through 2016 have gone 14-34, finished in last place every season and made Soldier Field a losing battleground for winning football. As the Bears prepare to kick off the 2017 campaign on Sunday against Atlanta, we may be in for more of the same.

But, because of the Cubs, I’m actually A-OK with that.

Following the NFL Draft this past April, my opinion – ­­­which ran quite contrary to popular one at the time – was that I actually liked what the Bears did. It appeared to me that general manager Ryan Pace was executing a plan during the draft to acquire the young offensive talent – including quarterback Mitch Trubisky – that he and his staff had targeted, no matter the cost.

I wrote that I had no idea if it will work out – nor do I today, although Trubisky has looked very promising – but I was more than willing to let this plan play out. I still am. And, not unlike the Cubs, I think that plan may involve losing big again in 2017 to pave the way for more high draft picks in 2018, this time with perhaps a heavy focus on defensive talent.

We’re yet to see whether Pace can prove to be a gridiron version of Theo Esptein and bring an elusive Super Bowl championship to Chicago. But for what’s been a directionless franchise for far too long, I’m pleased to finally see some direction with the Bears. And if that leads to another awful season in 2017, that may actually prove to be best in the long run.

After all, just ask Cubs fans.

From the Saturday, Sept. 2, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

I used to be a Fighting Illini.

Now I’m just a frustrated one.

And it’s not nearly so much because of the University of Illinois’ many losses on the football field and basketball court in recent years as it is from all the ways my alma mater continues to fail the vast majority of its alumni and fans.

As well as Native Americans – but not in the way most think.

Last week, news broke that U. of I. had abruptly banned the “War Chant” music – a rhythmic drum beat and hand clapping – from all Illini sporting events, including football games where it’s been a defensive third-down fixture for decades, but won’t be for today’s season opener.

Critics argue that War Chant is offensive to Native Americans and that supporters should get over it because it’s “just a song.” Supporters of War Chant, meanwhile, argue that it indeed is “just a song” and critics should get over taking offense to everything. Personally, news of the ban left me with a mix of emotions ranging from sadness to frustration to exhaustion. But mostly I was disappointed.

Again.

Because with this deeply complex issue, the truth is that U. of I. banning War Chant isn’t really just about a song. Rather, big picture-wise, it’s yet another step in the university’s maddening campaign to eradicate all things related to this state’s Native American heritage rather than find ways to better embrace it.

As readers of this column know, I’ve long been a defender of the Chief Illiniwek tradition, but I’ve also always acknowledged how the Chief was never perfect. And for decades it was the enormous failure of the university’s administration to not work toward developing the beloved symbol into a true educational tool that could raise awareness about Native American heritage and tangibly benefit their communities.

In May 2013, the Council of Chiefs – a group comprised of the men who once portrayed Illiniwek – did that work independently by submitting a plan to the U. of I. administration that would have brought back an adapted version of the Chief for twice-a-year, on-field appearances for a two-year trial basis. The Peoria of Oklahoma, one of the original tribes of long-vanished Illini Confederation, expressed a willingness to be involved with adapting the Chief tradition, but only if the university itself was on board with the idea.

On Wednesday morning, I joined The Jeremy Werner Show on ESPN Radio in Champaign-Urbana to discuss the University of Illinois’ decision to ban its “War Chant” music from Illini sporting events but how the issue runs much deeper than a drum beat and football. You can listen to the podcast of my segment by clicking here.

From the Saturday, July 15 editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

So, what do you do about a problem like the Chicago Cubs?

Well, on Thursday we got an answer: You deal for Jose Quintana.

But while acquiring the 28-year-old southpaw from the White Sox does help the Cubs both now and in the future, it alone doesn’t solve all of the ills impacting the 2016 World Champions, both now or in the future.

The good news is that I don’t think Theo Epstein & Co. believes that it does, either. Rather, the Cubs brass knows that there’s still work to be done for the organization. And if getting Quintana enables the Cubs to accomplish some of that work now while still being able to compete this season, that’s great. But if the team can’t get its act together before the July 31 trade deadline and cut into Milwaukee’s division lead, I’m all for doing more deals now to reload for 2018.

Because, when it comes down to it, I’m much more interested in maximizing the Cubs’ championship window than trying to merely maximize a mediocre season. And to this point, that’s exactly what 2017 has looked like on the North Side.

If we’ve learned nothing else, it’s that Major League Baseball championship hangovers are real. There’s a reason why no team has repeated since the Yankees in 2000. It’s really, really hard to do. And after being pushed to the limit before finally ending the most infamous title drought in sports history followed by a short and hectic offseason, the Cubs have looked spent all season. They’re not as healthy, not as hungry, and not as sharp as they were last year.

Now, could they still turn it around? Sure. But the goal isn’t to simply be better than the Brewers in the NL Central, it’s to be better than the Dodgers or Nationals in the NLCS. And if by month’s end the Cubs can’t show that they still have that potential, the smart organizational move would be to be to trade the impending free agents Wade Davis and Jake Arrieta for valuable assets that can either help the team in 2018 or be flipped as trading chips to get more pitching.

From the Saturday, July 1, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

Curling along the shoreline across the Adriatic from Italy, Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast lies 5,000 miles from Chicago. But growing up as a Bulls fan during the 1990s, it seemed in some ways like it was only 1.8 seconds away.

That’s a Toni Kukoc reference for you youngsters.

(Look it up.)

Ever since Kukoc – aka, the “Croation Sensation” – joined the Bulls in 1993, the season after Michael Jordan retired for the first time, and then went on to play a key role during the team’s second “Three-Peat” run, I’ve known of his hometown: Split. But I never imagined then that one day I’d actually visit Kukoc’s homeland, or find the once war-torn nation to be filled with such remarkable natural beauty and man-made magic.

Last week, however, my wife and I did just that when we spent a week vacationing along Croatia’s breathtaking southern coast making stops in the ancient cities of Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik. Along the way, we saw a few things.

Chicago connections

Every time a Croatian cabbie, doorman or tour guide asked where we hailed from, their response to mine was basically the same: “Chicago! Toni Kukoc! He still has a home there!”

That he does, as since 2015 Kukoc has worked as special advisor to Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf. Beyond basketball, the Croatians we met also knew of Chicago for its nickname (“The Windy City”), the Cubs and even the Bears.

Blissfully, not a soul invoked the name of Al Capone.

Playing ‘Game of Thrones’

If anything has put Croatia on the global map these days, it’s dragons.

Fictional ones, of course.

In advance of its opening in 2015, the advertising signage around Chicago promoting The 606 – the ballyhooed new elevated park winding 2.7 miles through the city’s Northwest Side atop a defunct freight line – promised to “Raise More Than Your Heart Rate.”

But two years later, I find it still fails to make my pulse quicken.

This past Tuesday – 6/06, get it? – was the anniversary of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s $95 million public works project named for Chicago’s ZIP Code prefix. Built atop the abandoned tracks that follow the path of the Bloomingdale Trail, The 606 slices through the Bucktown, Wicker Park, Humboldt Park and Logan Square neighborhoods traditionally filled with middle- and working-class families, and in more recent years an influx of hipsters.

It was originally sold as Chicago’s version of New York’s High Line, which transformed dilapidated train tracks on Manhattan’s West Side into a spectacular outdoor space built for long strolls and filled with great people-watching and breathtaking city views. Having visited the High Line, I was excited about that type of venue opening within two miles of my condo in West Lakeview. But when I first visited The 606 shortly after its debut, I was disappointed to discover just how stark it was. Trees and plants along the trail were still spindly and squat. Sedges and prairie grasses weren’t yet planted in many spaces. And the path felt a lot more paved than it did plush.

From the Saturday, May 20, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

A lot has changed since the Chicago Cubs finally won the World Series last fall after 108 years of flopping, but one thing hasn’t.

The ability of their fans to stress out.

With the reigning champs off to a less-than-spectacular start this season, my social media timelines have seen their share of hyperventilation (“Trade Rizzo!” “Bench Schwarber!” “Fire Arrieta!”) from those who seem to take little solace in what happened in Cleveland last November.

In some ways, that’s actually refreshing as it shows that no matter how much some things may change, there are others we can count on besides just death and taxes. I’ve said myself this month that something seems to be missing with the Cubs in 2017, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be found. Baseball, after all, is the ultimate sports marathon. You can’t get too caught up with the sprints.

But with that said, I wanted to take a moment today to share a few sports observations and thoughts that have been racing through my head this week.

In Theo We Trust

Last Sunday, the New York Yankees announced that Aroldis Chapman was headed to the disabled list for up to a month with an inflamed rotator cuff in his pitching arm. My first reaction upon seeing the news?

Once again, Theo Epstein knows what he’s doing.

From the Saturday, March 25, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

Lou Henson came close. Bruce Weber came even closer.

And if Lon Kruger or Bill Self had stuck around Champaign longer, well, either of them very well may have done it.

It, of course, is winning a national championship at the University of Illinois – something that’s eluded the Fighting Illini basketball program despite an impressive resume that includes 40 NCAA Tournament wins (22nd all time) and five Final Four appearances (tied with five other schools for 9th).

In fact, of the 21 schools ahead of Illinois on the all-time list, only Oklahoma (with 41 wins) hasn’t cut down the nets for a national championship. So, when Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman said last week about Illini hoops, “We have a basketball program that we all expect to compete for Big Ten and national championships year in and year out,” he wasn’t just blowing smoke.

He was just speaking the truth.

I’ve long argued that there’s no excuse for the flagship school of the fifth most populous state in the nation (that’s Illinois) to be an annual also-ran instead of a perennial power – especially when it comes to our state’s trademark sport.
So, it’s great to see Illinois with an AD who not only believes that about basketball, but also isn’t afraid to say it. And I believe that authentic passion greatly helped Whitman snare a basketball coach who also aims sky high.

“I dream big,” said Brad Underwood, who Whitman poached from Oklahoma State with a six-year, $18 million contract. “Winning a national championship is something that can happen here.”

It absolutely can. Illinois, after all, is among the handful of basketball programs that has everything it needs to win a national title, from the facilities and financial resources to the in-state talent and fan support. As proven by its four coaches prior to Groce, all it needs is a truly good leader to truly contend.

And I believe that the Illini now has one of those in Underwood.

From the Saturday, March 18, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

It feels like we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day for a week.

Because, well, we did.

Chicago holds its annual St. Patrick’s Day festivities – parade, bagpipers, green river and whatnot – on the Saturday prior to the holiday. So, considering that March 17 fell on a Friday this year, city’s Irish eyes have been smiling since last weekend. We need some shuteye after that stretch.

But now that St. Patrick’s Day is finally over and every bar from River North to Wrigleyville has stopped pretending that it’s an “Irish” pub because its bartenders wore green and slung some pints of Guinness, you may be interested in knowing where you can get a truly authentic taste of Ireland in Chicago.

Arguably the nation’s most Irish city, with more than 200,000 citizens of Irish descent (the most of any ethnic group) and 12 Irish mayors (out of 55), there are a number of options. Here are some of the best.

Irish American Heritage Center

Located in the Irving Park neighborhood at 4626 N. Knox Ave. on Chicago’s Northwest side, the Irish American Heritage Center describes its mission as “to nurture and strengthen Irish culture and heritage through programs emphasizing Irish music, literature, drama, traditional dancing, fine arts and the constructive contributions of the Irish and Irish-Americans.”

It’s about as close as you can get to experiencing the Emerald Isle without a plane ticket to Dublin. The center features a museum, school, archives, art gallery, library and theater group and is your destination if you want to learn more about the Irish heritage.

Visit irish-american.org for more information.

From the Saturday, March 11, editions of The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

The WISCH LIST

It’s 1,700 miles from Wrigley Field to Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz.

But when you’re sitting in the sunshine at the Spring Training Home of the Cubs watching baseball with a cold beer in hand, it feels like you’re just a few feet from summertime in Chicago.

And that feels awfully good.

Last weekend, my wife and I joined a few friends for a pair of spring training games at Sloan Park and we came away very impressed with the facility opened in 2014 – and not just because the ballpark’s scoreboard informed us game time on Saturday that the temperature was 78 vs. 37 in the Windy City.

Bordered by streets named Waveland and Sheffield, and with Chicago Dogs for sale in the grandstands with Hot Doug’s available in the outfield, Sloan Park delivers many a subtle nod to Wrigley. But it also has its own distinct flavor, and is considerably more family-friendly than the Cubs’ baseball cathedral back home at Clark and Addison.

The spacious lawn spanning the outfield at Sloan provides a great place for families to spread out, while the play area directly behind features a bounce house and a miniature wiffle ball field that allow kids to romp within shouting distance of their parents. For adults, food trucks serving fare from local Arizona vendors, wide concourses offering great vantage points of the field from every angle, and a large covered beer garden beyond right field are all great treats.

Heck, spring training itself is a treat. And it’s the perfect prescription for the winter blues, whether you’re a Cubs fan, Sox fan, Cardinals fan or otherwise.

Stand and (Don’t) Deliver

One pleasant surprise at Sloan Park took place on Saturday when the beer garden bartenders stopped serving drinks, shouted “National Anthem!” and stood at attention as the “Star-Spangled Banner” was sung.

In a sports climate stoked with controversy last year by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the national anthem, it was refreshing to see patriotism – and respect – on such prominent display at Sloan Park.

Major talent in minors

Against the Dodgers last Saturday, I saw reigning National League MVP Kris Bryant blast his first home run of the spring – a grand slam, no less.

But he wasn’t even the player I was most impressed with during my two-day stint watching the Cubs. Rather, the most attention-grabbing performances came via prospects Eloy Jimenez and Jeimer Candelario.

Only 20 years old, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Jimenez blasted an eighth-inning home run on Friday vs. the Reds, showing why he is the Cubs’ top-ranked prospect. On Saturday, the 23-year-old Candelario rapped out a single, double and triple, looking like a guy who could potentially swipe the team’s final roster spot from Tommy LaStella or Matt Szczur.

Whether outfielder Jimenez or infielder Candelario make the bigs this season or not, the Cubs’ minor-league cupboard is far from bare in regards to position players.

Armed and Ready?

While position players may remain a strength for the Cubs’ farm system, pitching does remain a question mark for the franchise going forward. There remains a dearth of young impact arms in Cubs camp, and that could be an issue this season if the team’s starters suffer any injuries after a remarkably healthy 2016.

In that regard, prospects such as Jimenez and Candelario could end up being most valuable as potential trading chips.

Grin and Wear It

An underrated highlight of spring training are the T-shirts.

My favorites were worn by a Cincinnati fan, whose shirt read “I’m with Pete … Give me $200 on the Reds,” and another donned by a Cubs fan.
Its message: “Live Life like you’re down 3-1.”