Sports Overload

 “The only way to prove that you’re a good sport is to lose.” “Mr. Cub” Ernie Banks

Despite high hopes for both the Cubs and the White Sox, both Chicago teams exited early in the MLB playoffs. The Cubs faced off against the Miami Marlins in Wrigley Field, resurrecting bad vibrations from 2003 when the home team, up 3 games to 2 with a lead in the eighth inning and their ace, Mark Prior, on the mound, seemed headed for their first World Series appearance since 1945. Then Marlin hitter Luis Castillo stroked a foul ball to left that Moises Alou seemed to have a bead on until a fan, Steve Bartman, appeared to snatch the ball before Alou could snag it (see below). Then the roof caved in: the Cubbies botched a surefire double-play and eight runs scored. This year, losing 2-0 and facing elimination, over the past three innings, except for Jason Heyward and Wilson Contreras (above), Cub batters fanned or flied out swinging for the fences even though the wind was blowing in. The so-called core – Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Baez – were a combined 0 for 12 in the game and 1 for 24 in the series. Marlins players were wearing shirts reading “Bottom Feeders” - what a Philadelphia sportswriter had labeled them at the beginning of the season after they lost 105 games in 2019. The Phillies did not even make the playoffs, despite the expended format.

The White Sox won the initial game of their abbreviated series with Oakland before dropping the next two. Manager Rick Renteria, known for boneheaded moves during games, decided to pull starting hurler Dale Dunning after just 15 pitches, and in a crucial spot with the bases loaded, the clueless skipper brought in a reliever with virtually no major league experience who promptly walked in the tying and winning runs. Renteria will surely be gone next year (there is a groundswell to bring back 2005 Championship skipper Ozzie Guillen), as will be several Cubs who have regressed since the 2016 World Championship season.

 

I told old friend Paul Turk, whose favorite teams are Cleveland and Washington (the defending champs, who did not even make the playoffs) that I’ll probably root for the Padres because my favorite nephew lives there, but I still recall with bitterness 1984 when the Cubs won the first two but the commissioner forced them to play crucial game 5 in S.D. because Wrigley Field had no lights – never mind, some playoff games took place during the day.  Some say Cubs brass capitulated as an excuse to get lights approved.

 

This past week one could literally watch sports all day and night, from the baseball playoffs and NBA and Stanley Cup finals to college and professional football. Even golf and tennis majors are taking place, having been postponed due to public health concerns.  Premier League soccer has also gained fans. Several NCAA conferences had called off football only to fold under pressure from the President (now hospitalized with Covid symptoms) and lured by TV money into reversing policy. This week’s showdown between the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers and the 3-0 Tennessee Titans has been postponed due to the pandemic. One suspects this might be the tip of the iceberg. While the Philadelphia Eagles are 0-2-1, their Superbowl MVP from two years ago, Nick “Big Dick” Foles came in late in the third quarter of last week’s contest and led the Bears to an improbable victory in Atlanta. Down 16 points, Foles threw two apparent touchdowns only to have the calls on the field reversed, then threw three more that counted.

 

Week four was a disaster for the Bears, but I stayed up for an Eagles victory (barely, despite facing a backup QB) over S.D. to go 1-2-1 and capture first place over the 1-3 Cowboys and Potato Skins (as I’ve been calling them for several years).  Because nearly all Philadelphia receivers were injured I expected my Fantasy Football tight end Zach Ertz to have a big game, but the Niners double-teamed him virtually the entire night. With two NFL games postponed because of players having tested positive, old friend Marianne Tambourino philosophized, "Sports is like life, one day at a time."

holding trophy above, co-captains Juan Gomez and Carlos Mendez

At the local level, after some initial caution and several cancellations due to students testing positive for Covid-19, fall sports have proceeded, albeit with few spectators. East Chicago Central’s boys tennis team, coached by son Dave, won its first Sectional within memory, going 11-0. Next week they’ll travel to Munster in the Regional and face the fourth-ranked team in the state. Without a feeder system, most Central players didn’t even play tennis until high school. During his 20+ years of coaching, Dave has had some excellent girls teams in the spring but this is his most successful fall squad. In August the financially struggling school told coaches they wouldn’t get paid if the season got cancelled, but Dave held practices anyway, and it paid off. I’m proud of him; even in less successful seasons he’s taught teenagers to enjoy a sport that many will continue to play for years to come.

Ron Cohen loaned me “Counting Coup: A True Story of Basketball and Honor on the Little Big Horn” by Larry Colson, whom my old colleague knows from both attending Cal Berkeley. The focus is on a Crow Indian women’s basketball team and its star player Sharon LaForge. Colson opens with this quotation by Sports Illustrated writer Gary Smith: “Somehow, in the mindless way that rivers sculpt valleys and shame shapes history, the Montana Indians’ purist howl against a hundred years of repression and pain had become high school basketball.” The book looks promising.” Colson concluded: “Basketball to Indians is a war fought for spiritual rather than material terrain, including scholarships.  According to Ron, Colson was persona non grata at the Crow reservation after the book came out because of his portrayal of rampant alcoholism and other negative tribal stereotypes.