For Cubs, Castro’s Deal Makes Dollars – And Sense

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) He can be a knucklehead on the basepaths, his glove isn’t exactly a golden one and he’s never met a pitch that he didn’t like.

OK, love.

But, despite the chinks in his armor, Starlin Castro’s impending seven-year, $60 million contract extension not only makes a lot of dollars for the 22-year-old shortstop, for the Chicago Cubs, it also makes a ton of sense.

Now, not everyone will agree, as a sizable head count in Chicago baseball circles can be found this week grousing about Castro’s repeated brain cramps, his lack of concentration and a batting average that has has taken a nose dive of late. The critics will tell you that Starling hasn’t yet deserved to become “Cash-tro” with such a lengthy extension.

But don’t listen to them.

Because, this deal for Castro – which is expected to be finalized within the next week, or so – isn’t about who the kid in the Cubs’ middle is right now. Rather, it’s about who the team thinks he’s going to be. But, the beauty of Castro’s extension is that even if he doesn’t blossom into the perennial All-Star and potential MVP-caliber-type of player that many believe he will become, the deal is still a savvy one for the Cubs.

To continue reading, visit CBSChicago.com …

Don’t Let ‘Watered-Down’ Bears Camp Wash Out The Fans

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Down in Bourbonnais, Training Camp isn’t quite what it used to be.

But I’m still glad that the Chicago Bears are down there amongst their fans, rather than hidden away from the masses on their Halas Hall compound. And here’s to hoping that things stay that way for many summers to come.

On Thursday, the Bears strolled off the fields at Olivet Nazarene University after wrapping up their final public training camp practice of the year. In 2013, the team will be back in Bourbonnais, which also happens to be my hometown. According to reports, talks between the Bears and ONU are already underway to extend their camp contract to 2014 – and beyond.

“Hopefully that is the plan,” said Bears coach Lovie Smith, who called ONU “great hosts” and spilled so much praise about everything at camp being “good” and “excellent” you would have thought he was talking about Brian Urlacher’s knee recovery.

To continue reading, visit CBSChicago.com …

Warships drop anchor in Chicago during Navy Week

Today’s Wisch List newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

Warships drop anchor in Chicago during Navy Week

The WISCH LIST

When you think of the Navy, you might think of Annapolis. Or perhaps San Diego comes to mind. Or maybe it’s Jacksonville, Fla., Pearl Harbor or Norfolk, Va., all home to well-known bases, that’s the first city to pop into your head.

But I’m guessing it’s probably not Chicago.

However, thanks to the Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago – the nation’s only Naval boot camp, located about 37 miles north of downtown Chicago – the Windy City has far deeper Naval roots than most places around the country. And through Monday morning, Chicago is honoring this often-underappreciated aspect of its military heritage with Naval Week.

The celebration also happens to conveniently fall around the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, which included fighting on the Great Lakes and is credited with helping to shape the role of the modern Navy while also leading to a treaty in which the U.S. and Canada agreed to demilitarize the Great Lakes.

A century later, Chicago was established as a true Naval hub with the founding of the Naval Station Great Lakes in 1911. And as the largest military installation in Illinois with 1,153 buildings spread over more than four square miles, Great Lakes trained 125,000 sailors during World War I and 100,000 in less than one year during World War II. Since 1996, when training centers in San Diego and Orlando closed, it has served as the Navy’s only basic training facility.

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Could ‘Prior’ Restraint Have Helped The Cubs?

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Earlier this season, longtime Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood called it a career at the age of 35 after compiling an 86-75 record, 1,582 strikeouts – and 16 trips to the disabled list during his 14 injury-riddled seasons.

Meanwhile, out in Rhode Island, a 31-year-old Mark Prior is still trying to make a comeback – as a reliever – with the Triple-A Pawtucket Red Sox following two shoulder surgeries and three failed stints with the Padres, Rangers and the Orange County Flyers of the Independent League.

With shades of 2003 still haunting their dreams, every Cubs fan thinks about “what could have been” over the past decade had Wood and Prior not broken down time and time and, well, time again. But could something have really been different if the Cubs and manager-turned-punching-bag Dusty Baker had handled their one-time pitching wunderkinds in a different way?

Like, say, the way the Washington Nationals are planning to handle Stephen Strasburg right now?

Currently, the Nats are hot topic of debate in baseball circles due to their plans to shelve their 24-year-old ace for the season after Strasburg – who is in his first season after retuning from “Tommy John” elbow surgery – reaches 160 to 180 innings. He’s now at 139 1/3 after Wednesday’s victory over the Giants during which he struck out seven and walked four in six innings.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Chicago Should Bid For 2024 Games, If Only For ‘L’ Of It

Tuesday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Yes, it would have cost a pretty penny. Yes, its construction would have provoked a pileup of headaches. And, yes, it would have surely come with its share of corruption and graft.

This is Chicago, after all.

But in spite of all the cons involved in hosting an Olympics in your city, I still wish the Summer Games were coming to ours four years from now. The 2016 Olympics would have been exciting. They would have been fascinating. They would have been fun.

And you can go ahead and call me naïve, but I’m not convinced that they would have also had to be the massive civic albatross that naysayers painted them as.

After all, London seemed to do the Games right, so why couldn’t Chicago pull off the same? In fact, in at least one “L” of a way the Olympics could have greatly helped the future of our city.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …

Where in the world wasn’t Al Capone?

This weekend’s Wisch List newspaper column from The Daily Journal (Kankakee, Ill.) and The Times (Ottawa, Ill.) …

On Jan. 25, 1947, four days after suffering a stroke, Al Capone died from cardiac arrest at the relatively tender age of 48. I find it amazing, however, that he lived even that long, although not because it seems like a Tommy Gun should have killed him.

Rather, I’m surprised Al’s social calendar didn’t do him in.

Cause of death: Extreme exhaustion.

Much like George Washington allegedly slept in every other home along the Eastern seaboard, if Capone frequented even a tenth of the places that he’s said to have, the notorious mobster hardly would have had time to build his Chicago crime empire, let alone run the thing.

For example, a cursory Internet search reveals that the locales claiming to have been regularly visited by Capone include Johnson City, Tenn. (which bills itself as “Little Chicago” because of its bootlegging pedigree), Ensenada, Calif. (where Capone supposedly often dined at the Fleur de Italia) and Louisville, Ky., (where the Seelbach Hotel says the notorious gangster was a fixture at secret poker games).

In Berkeley, N.J., the Royal Pines Hotel claims that Capone frequented the place as a hideout. The Casa Marina Hotel in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., and the Twin Gables Inn in Saugatuck, Mich., say the same. Other hotspots allegedly included Montreal, Lake Geneva, Wis., Hot Springs, Ark., French Lick, Ind., Olean, N.Y., and Puerto Penasco, Mexico.

Meet Alphonse Capone, the original frequent flyer.

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Illini Football Game In Chicago A Sign Of The (Future) Times

Saturday’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) Come 2013, the Illini are coming to town.

Get used to it, Chicago, because it’s going to be happening often – and not just for football games.

At least, that’s my strong suspicion as the University of Illinois forges ahead behind the captainship of athletic director Mike Thomas, who has made it clear as he enters his second year that he wants the state’s flagship school to plant its flag in the heart of the Windy City.

This week, Thomas announced that Illinois has switched next season’s nonconference matchup against the University of Washington from Memorial Stadium in Champaign to Soldier Field. The Illini will now “host” the Huskies in Chicago on Sept. 14, 2013, the school’s first game on the Bears’ turf since 1994.

“This is a great opportunity for our football team to play in one of the most historic football venues in the nation,” Thomas said this week. “Soldier Field is in an incredible location that will allow our fans in the Chicagoland area and from around the state an opportunity to watch the Fighting Illini take on an outstanding Pac-12 opponent in Washington.”

When news of the rejiggered schedule broke, one of my friends – a longtime Illini season ticket holder who lives in Bourbonnais – expressed concern about Illinois giving up an actual home game and taking an appealing matchup away from the fans in Champaign.

To continue reading, visit CBSChicago.com …

Cubs Need To Lower Ticket Prices in 2013

Today’s column from CBS Chicago …

(CBS) The Cubs are caught up in another tailspin – this time, eight straight losses and counting. They’re 22 games out of first place with 53 left to play. And at 43-66, they have a great shot at losing 100 games for the first time since Lyndon Johnson was in the Oval Office.

Yet a bleacher ticket for tonight’s game at Wrigley Field against the division-leading Reds still costs $52. Actually, make that $67.42 with the service charge and processing fee. Oh, and did I mention that Chris Volstad (0-8, 7.22 ERA) is on the mound, too?

But, hey, Dale Sveum says Cubs fans understand.

Or, at least, they should.

“They understand,” the Cubs’ first-year manager said on Wednesday after his team went winless on its road trip to L.A. and San Diego. “… It’s no mystery now about what’s going on with the team. They’re probably champing at the bit to see some of these guys.”

At these prices? Not really, Dale. Actually, not at all.

Continue reading at CBSChicago.com …