Chicago's Very Own - Sinclair Sports

With Sinclair about to prospectively take over Chicago's Very Own WGN, we're wondering if the impact of its editorial declaration of war on "fake news" will have any impact on sports coverage. Let's take a peek ahead.

And now, back to the Crosstown Classic...

Sunday, May 13, at Wrigley Field...

Jason Bennetti: Welcome back to Wrigley, where the fake-news guys covering Chicago baseball are getting their lunch eaten by the Chicago White Sox this season, and in this series.

Steve Stone: Uh, Jason...

Jason: Steve, hold your water. Sox fans have been hearing it for years, since Cheatin' Theo got into town, using all those phony analytics and fixing all those games so the Cubs could break their curse.

Steve: Jason, just a second...

Jason: Steve, no, just a minute. We've waited years for this. Now we're finally seeing our building, not rebuilding as the fake media have cast it, finally pay off, and the fake-news boys over there in the press box and in the broadcast booth next door to us know how it feels.

Steve: J-A-S-O-N! We're not on Sinclair - uh, WGN today. We're on NBC Sports Chicago. They're on Unclear - uh, Sinclair today.

Jason: Oh...

...meanwhile, in the Cubs broadcast booth...

Len Kasper: Are you listening to those idiots on the "fake news" telecast talk about the "fake news" that we're supposedly doing?

Jim DeShaies: Uh, Len, we are.

Len: Oh yeah, that's right. But only until tomorrow, Jim, only until tomorrow.

Jim: Like a Jon Lester fastball, tomorrow can never come fast enough.

Len: Damn, so that pitch we said Rizzo struck out on was only an 88 mile-per-hour change-up and not a 95 mile-per-hour heater?

Jim: Yup.

Len: Are we even on-air now? Thought they were making a pitching change.

Jim: Yes, and yes.

Len: Damn.

...meanwhile, back in the White Sox booth...

Jason: So, you're saying, we're real news today. And they're fake news tomorrow?

Steve: Who cares? Our next game is against Pittsburgh.

Jason: Damn Pirates. They are such fake contenders.

Steve: J-A-S-O-N!!! Damn, where's Swirsky when I need him?

Don't Worry, Mexico Will Pay for It

Keep wondering, what else is Mexico going to pay for, besides the wall?

The NFL wants to play a preseason game in Mexico City. Who’s going to pay for it?

• ·        Mexico.

The NFL wants to play one, maybe two or more regular-season games in Mexico City. Who’s going to pay for it?

• ·        Mexico.

The NFL wants Pink Floyd to perform “The Wall,” (even though those guys hate each other) at halftime of next year’s Super Bowl (in Mexico?). Who’s going to pay for the performance of “The Wall?”

• ·        Who do you think?

The Steelers want to rebuild a likeness of their “Steel Curtain” championship defenses and get back to the Super Bowl. Who’s going to pay to rebuild that Hall-of-Fame wall?

• ·        Mexico?

Donald Trump was in San Diego last week, examining prototypes for the ‘Wall’ to keep what he called those drug-dealing, murderous rapists out of the United States.

• ·        No wonder the Chargers moved all the way up north to Los Angeles.

In Major League Baseball, it’s guys like Fabricio Macias, who are the future of and carry the burden of the past hitters of all those homers for fans everywhere. So who should be paying their salaries?

• ·        You had to ask?

And if Pink Floyd won’t regroup to play “The Wall” at the Super Bowl, how about getting Santana and his band to perform at halftime of SB LIII? They are touring this year.

• ·        And get you know who to pay for it.

The point is, it’s time for Donald Trump to stop talking about building a wall that no one is going to pay for, not even we taxpayers, let alone Mexico. 

The NFL could probably afford to pay cash and build the wall Trump has proposed, and promised, but the optics of that wouldn’t play well for a league that has promoted heavily in and directly to an audience in Mexico.

Let’s knock down the wall separating the quality of Mexican futbol from American futbol. And let’s forget about the wall Trump wanted Mexico to pay for and have a look at the other side of the wall Robert Mueller is trying to break through.

Let’s stop insulting Mexicans and start embracing all the immigrants who built the foundation upon which our country rests. I don’t remember that including a wall to keep anybody out.

So, your mom's prostitute? And the problem is..?

So, you’ve got this handsome, sharply and appropriately dressed young man in your office.

He’s applying for the opening you’ve advertised and his credentials appear to be a perfect fit: he has endurance; fitness; smarts; thinks on the fly; has the expertise necessary for his position; has had the appropriate training in college; and has social skills that shine in any office or inter-client environment.

So what’s the first thing you want to know about him? What is the one essential that will separate him from the qualifications of the other young men who will apply for this same position? Some of them you’ve already interviewed and you were impressed by their appearances.

So how is this new young man under pressure? How is he when the right move has to be made, no matter what? How is he at beating the opposition to the spot where the deal is sealed, the contract is executed and the men are separated from the boys?

Literally.

Let’s see, how about starting with: what’s your sexual orientation? There’s a deal-closer.

Why stop there? Even if the prospect answers that to your company’s satisfaction, how about the natural follow-up: is your mother a prostitute

Such was the case at the recent NFL Combine in Indianapolis, where running back Derrius Guice was asked just that, or so he says, by one of the teams that interviewed him.

What’s next? Try this: “A boy is 17-years old and his sister is twice as old. When the boy is 23-years old, what will be the age of his sister?”

That is an actual question from a sample Wonderlic exam that the league has been famous for using to measure mental capacity among the athletic studs gathered to show off their running, jumping and other agility skills.

But seriously, in a league known for a Greg Hardy, a Ray McDonald and a Ray Rice, why not test for a Sada Abe, Sally Salisbury and/or a Lulu White [in someone’s ancestral background. 

How long before 23 and Me and Ancestry are bidding to be the official DNA bloodline ancestral background-checkers of the league.

Think about it: it could probably help eliminate any more “wardrobe malfunctions” at halftime of the Super Bowl, ever.

Well, actually, nah…

But when the whole league is on malfunction alert, what’s a halftime boob flashing by comparison?

***

Emptying the notebook:

In a move that is leading to a change in the Process-of-The-Catch Rule, the league has declared that the prospective game-winning catch by Detroit’s Calvin Johnson in the waning seconds against the Chicago Bears was a touchdown and should not have been overturned on review on the basis of the “process of the catch.”

Eight years later.

***

Should pass interference be a 15-yard penalty or a spot-of-the-foul call? The league is considering the former. As it stands, it’s the latter. 

In college and high school, it’s the former, except in college, it’s spot-of-the-foul if it occurs beyond 15 yards downfield.

What do you think? As if it matters to the league…

***

Finally, this nugget. OK, let’s say, this slice. Papa John’s, which protested that the player kneeling protests during the national anthem were costing it pizza sales because of its association with the league as an official sponsor, is dropping its official contractual relationship, therefore.

Better ingredients. Better pizza. What about Papa John’s though?

Getting it right. Right?

Was that Steve Harvey hosting the Oscars or Jimmy Kimmel? Someone played a bad trick on Bonnie (Faye Dunaway) and Clyde (Warren Beatty). Beyond embarrassing, but no less than when refs blow calls. Maybe Hollywood needs instant replay review.

At least Hollywood made up for its own hypocrisy when it awarded Oscars to minority actors  (best supporting), best pic (Moonlight) and best doc (O.J. ...). A year after all the noise about how white Hollywood is, Hollywood went dark and recognized the true minority talent and product that helps make it great. 'Bout time.

I can't stand watching the awards shows though. Same performers, same songs, same performances, same presenters, same venues, same designer dresses on the hot ladies (some too hot - the dresses, not the ladies) and some just so over the top.

Haven't gone to the movies in years. Why pay $12 to get in. It'll be available on demand soon enough. And the popcorn and soda cost more than the tickets. I so much more enjoy going to a good sports bar, getting affordable food and overpriced drinks and talking to someone who thinks he knows more than I do while watching our favorite team get its ass kicked.

I'd rather spend an evening listening to Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow actually tell me something I don't know.

Or a good college basketball game (pros suck until the playoffs, when they start playing even a semblance of defense).

Or listening to some sports expert tell me who's trading for Jimmy Garoppolo. Except they're not.

How in hell did I go from Oscar errors to Steve Harvey to this. I don't know either, but it was fun. Till next time...

Donnie, babee

He criticizes the previous president for playing golf so often, and then goes and plays golf.

He is critical of judges who have made rulings he doesn't like, before they even make their rulings.

He is critical of Germany. Of Mexico. Of Nordstrom. Of Meryl Streep. Of SNL. Of Alex Baldwin.

He is critical of NATO.  He is critical of nations from where no terrorists have ever killed an American. But does nothing to ban citizens from nations who have expressly targeted and killed Americans. Among others.

He has nominated a judge who is critical of him, after the fact. We'll see how that plays out. He is critical of American heroes of war.

He has already refilled the swamp he said he would drain.

Hey, Donnie, start being president. Start acting like one. Of a nation, not a corporation. Especially that corporation you claim to have separated yourself from.

You have violated every ethics and emoluments clause on the books. Grow up. This is not a reality show. It's reality.

Love Is In The Air...

...no it's not.

Trump's a hater. Trump hates everyone who disagrees with him.

Haters everywhere.

Patriot haters, and we don't mean American spiritualists coast to coast.

Hello, Kyle Shanahan, speaking of haters, or hated. After Julio Jones' amazing catch, you should've:

• Run up the middle
• Run up the middle
• Run up the middle
• Kick field goal;
• Win game.

What did you do? Ran outside, lost yardage. Passed, sack. Passed again, holding penalty. Punted. Field goal would've put the game away.

Now, as a reward you get to be head coach of the 49ers. Congratulations.

Dan Quinn, you are the head coach. Why didn't you overrule on the calls that would've produced the field goal that would've won the game? What are you thinking? How many times do you have to go up against Belichick to figure out how to beat him? Did you call Tom Coughlin for advice? You should've.

Trump and Mark Wahlberg stopped watching the game, They so thought it was over. Wahlberg is Mr. Boston,

Lady Gaga was great. None of the ads were great. Just good. Not great. Whatever happened to all the great creative we'd see during the Super Bowl?

Long gone.

Bob Kraft got his revenge. Tom Brady got his revenge. Gisele Bundchen didn't have to complain about Tom throwing the passes and having to catch them too, despite all the drops.

And the pick. Although when Robert Alford got arrogant at the end of his return for a pick TD, I kinda' thought it would come back to haunt him. Unsportsmanlike and stupid, the kind of thing that opponents never forget. Like Bautista's bat flip or Dwayne Wade's arrogant made-shot celebration in front of the Dallas bench in the NBA Finals in a game the Heat would eventually lose and cost LeBron his title.

Roger Goodell has been lowered to Gary Bettman status. Congratulations. Thank Kyle Shanahan. No, you already did - got him the 49ers job.

Congratulations, Patriots. You wouldn't have beaten the Giants though. Still haven't. In the Super Bowl, that is.

Haters.

Hatred All Around

The Schloss-Blog is back and will be rolling more regularly now, especially as I approach retirement this year and have a little more time on my hands.

This was not how I wanted to come back with this blog though.

Hatred all around. A colleague told me she left my workplace because she said could feel the hatred within.

Donald Trump hates with every tweet, with very speech, with every phone call, with every exchange with the media, with every proclamation and executive order.

His surrogates hate in terms inexplicable. "Alternative facts" and "The Bowling Green (Kentucky) Massacre" have become part of the lexicon in the United States. His despicable comments (ratings for Schwarznegger)  have come at inappropriate venues (National Prayer Breakfast).

As much as $15 billion to $20 billion is proposed to be spent on a border-length wall that will not stop illegal immigration in either direction. Planes will go over it. Tunnels will go under it. Those with well-forged imposter identifications will pass through its checkpoints anyway. Plus, the Internet goes around it in any and every which way. And building it on mountainous terrain will be next to impossible.

So far, we've managed to tick off Australia, Mexico, NATO, Germany, China and pretty soon countries we weren't trying to tick off - Russia and Britain.

Trump has ticked off every race, ethnicity and minority faction. And women. Especially women. And he's working on the LGBTQ community.

Ridiculous. Just ridiculous. Can't go on Facebook or any social media without seeing hatred spewing, insults flying and rejection of Trump's ideology growing. Marchers line the streets of major cities around the country and around the world, protesting Trump's policy declarations. Ban Muslims? Just not from countries where he has hotels, resorts and/or real estate, which also are the countries where the most terrorists come from who have killed Americans. That number is zero on all of those counts for the countries on which he declared the ban.

Looking forward to the court battle over his executive order. This ain't Trump, Inc., dude. It's the U.S. government and the founding fathers built in checks and balances for a reason.

And you're it.