An Open Letter to Bob Morgan

 

Bob Morgan

Il State Representative  58th District

Dear Representative Morgan:

A few years ago some well meaning member of the state senate decided to fix something that wasn't broke with  a bill called SB136.  At the time, I was the dedicate home educator of our family home school, and  as the bill  was primarily aimed at home education I rallied against it even writing several posts about it on my blog. At that time I thought I might be done with blogging about misguided bill proposals.  But thanks to you, I get to go at it again.  

 While it may have seemed to you  like a good idea to tie winning records into public funding requests  for sports facilities,  and it certainly  gave you 15 minutes of fame, The question remains why you would set winning records as a requirement for stadiums when it is not requisite for other public funding.  

Public schools, for example, continue to receive public funds even when the students are not showing winning records.  In fact, one can make the argument that we should put funds in schools that are not winning so their winning percentage can increase in years to come.  It's called development. Also ,we spend money on prisons and that money is spent on people who come to have losing records, sometimes in your line of work.  

{{Information |Description={{en|1=Staley Da Bear, the official mascot of the Chicago Bears. }} |Source=http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueyeda73/2988610732/ |Author=[http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueyeda73/ blueyeda73] |Date=10 28, 2008 |Permission=see belo

One of the main  reasons we should be exploring the idea of spending public funding for sports teams like the Bears is to bring more quality opportunities to our area.  If the Bears had a state of the art facilty they woukd be much more likely to be considered for hosting events like the Super Bowl and giving the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago more leverage in winning a future bid for hosting the Olympic games.    Those events would certainly bringg revenue to the owners of the facility but would also bring visitors, jobs and positive notoriety to the area.

If you still insist on making winning records part of government financing of a stadium I'm not sure the requirement of  3 of 5 years winning record your proposal calls for is the best way to go.   According to your plan, a team could win 3 of their last 5 and then have 9 straight losing seasons.  A back end approach seems more feasible. Perhaps after the team that receives financial backing from the state starts playing in their new facility there be a written into the contract that if the team has a combined losing record any 5 consecutive seasons in a 19 year period that they have to pay the state a predetermined amount.  This could either be a percentage of the original financing amount or a percentage of their annual revenue.

If such a plan was in place after government money was used to build what was then called Comiskey Park or Comiskey Park II, there would have only been 1 5 year period of 15 (1995-1999) where the White Sox would have needed to pay a penalty.  During that 19 year period the White Sox went to playoffs 4 times and won the World Series  in 2005.  Those 4 playoff appearances were one more than the 80 seasons played at the original Comiskey. When put that way it seems like it  was money well spent.  

By Tony - Bears vs Chiefs, CC BY-SA 2.0, Link

As for calling your act the BEARS act may make sense to you since Lake Forest, I believe is in your district but to name it  for just one team when many may  want to finance a stadium seems again like a cute way to make a name for yourself.  I would suggest a better acronym and a better plan before calling any more audibles.  

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame: If I Had a Ballot

 Since the inception of my illustrious blogging career, This part of January has been reserved for HOF talk.  It started on my sports blog Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog and moved here when I incorporated all my blogs into Leap of Dave a few years back.  

While I certainly had HOF thoughts in 2023 and 2024 I did not post them here.  Since this is my 3rd installment of the 2025 Hall of Fame, you may have correctly concluded that my respite is over.  

Each year certain members of  The Base Ball Writers Association of America are given a ballot containing the names of former baseball players eligible for enshrinement in Cooperstown. While technically not a member of this august body, the same part of my brain that thinks I'm one phone call away from being the starting 3rd baseman for your Chicago White Sox, supposes that the BBWAA would welcome my inclusion into their body. even though  I've never covered my favorite sport in a professional status. 

The BBWAA ballot contains 28 names this year, 14  returning players and 14 on the ballot for the first time.  The writers are asked to vote for no more than 10 of these players on their ballots.  

As I have done here in the past, I imagine a scenario where I was a member of the BBWAA given a ballot and asked to vote for exactly 10 of those players.  Then I imagine the same scenario where I am asked to vote for only 9, then 8, and so on . and add some infinitum.   At some point in these imaginings, I imagine what I have come to call my official unofficial ballot or OUB,  This is where I state who exactly I would vote for if I chose the players who would be on my ballot. Also, as I have done here in the past, I reserve the right to add some purposeful randomness in the proceedings.

Examples of that purposeful randomness are evidenced in my 2022 Ballot which included 12 names. (My OUB is in bold, and HOF after their name indicates that since my previous post, they have been selected for enshrinement. 

12. Barry Bonds

11, Roger Clemens

10. Jeff Kent

9. Scott Rolen HOF

8. Andruw Jones

7. Omar Vizquel

6. A.J. Pierzynski

5. Curt Schilling

4. Todd Helton HOF

3.David Ortiz HOF

2. Mark Buehrle 

1. Dick Allen HOF

So enough introduction, let my imagination run amuck...

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 12 players the 12th player would be Alex Rodriguez. 

There is no doubt in my mind that if the former Mariner, Ranger, and Yankee was not an admitted PED cheater that he'd already be in the Hall of Fame.  This is why I have him 12th on the ballot.  But he is an admitted PED cheater which is why he stops here at 12.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 11 players the 11th player would be Bobby Abreu. 

In 2021 I said this about Abreu explaining why he was 10th on my theoretical ballot ... I don't think he's worthy of Cooperstown. I think he had a distinguished enough career to be in the conversation for a year or more.

4 years later ... I'm not sure if he's worthy of Cooperstown, but he's growing on me.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 10 players the 10th player would be Andy Pettitte.  

Pettitte is a lot like college graduates flying back home for the summer.  They have a resume and they have baggage. The 3 time all star has pitched in 8 World Series with 5 rings to show for it.  Being listed in the Mitchell report for using HGH has deterred many actual voters and at least one imaginary one.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 9 players the 9th player would be Carlos Beltran.

Speaking of former Astro's embroiled in controversy, Carlos Beltran received 57.1% of the vote last year in his 2nd year of eligibility despite his involvement in the 2017 sign-stealing brouhaha. He may well make the jump to the Hall this year, if he does not I'll consider him again next year.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 8 players the 8th player would be Torii Hunter. 

In 2021 I said placed Hunter 9th, 5 spots short of the 4 players I put on my official unofficial ballot and said this: When I hear the name Torii Hunter. I think Hall of Fame. When I look at his stats they tell a bit of a different story. He falls short of making My OUB but it would certainly be nice if he could get enough votes to be on the ballot again next year.

Well he made it back to the ballot in 2021 and was not one of my 12 votes, he made it back to the ballot in 2023, 2024, and again this year, but I no longer think of him as Hall of Fame material.  I think there is a good chance this year that he won't make the 5% needed for future consideration.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 7 players the 7th player would be Omar Vizquel. 

This is Vizquel's 8th year on the ballot and he made my OUB in 2018 through 2021.  I In 2022 I wrote this explaining why he was no longer on my OUB: 

I still think he's a Hall of Fame type player. However, some of the controversy that has swirled around his nomination has made me decide to put a pause on voting for him this year and look at him with new eyes next year.

The controversy still swirls and like many actual voters, I am waiting for that fog to clear before proceeding any further.  

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 6 players the 6th player would be Pete Rose. 

But wait you say Pete Rose is not on this ballot and besides that he is dead.  That is my point exactly Rose was given a lifetime ban from baseball.  Since his life is over his ban should be over and the Veterans committee should be allowed to consider his inclusion in the hall.  

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 5 players the 5th player would be Joe Jackson. 

But wait you say Joe Jackson is not on this ballot and besides that he is dead.  That is my point exactly Jackson and other players from the 1919 "Black Sox" were given a lifetime ban from baseball.  Since his life is over the ban should be over and the Veterans Committee should be allowed to consider his inclusion in the hall.  I am placing Jackson ahead of Rose because he's been dead much longer.

If I could vote for as many players on the 2025 BBWAA ballot that I thought were worthy for inclusion to the Hall of Fame, my ballot would contain 4 names.  The 4th name on that ballot would be Andruw Jones.

This is the first year I have included Jones on my OUB.  In 2022 while explaining why Jones fell 2 places short of the 6 player OUB of that year, I hinted of a change of heart that might be on the horizon: 

The truth is that I'm not sure that Andruw Jones taking a giant step down in his performance in his final 5 years is as much of a detriment to voting for him as I've made it . His star is definitely on the rise and I can imagine a time when my evaluation of him would increase to the point where I'd vote for his place in the hall.

 

That time came in my 2 years absence and while he may fall short again this year, I do believe that Cooperstown is calling.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 3 players the 3rd player would be C.C. Sabathia.

The former Indian and Yankee hurler is in his first year of eligibility and if voting tracking numbers are to be believed, he will be a first year hall of famer.  I'll have more to say about him after I reveal my next  2 votes.   

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 2 players the 2nd player would be Ichiro Suzuki.

There is no doubt that Ichiro Suzuki is a first-year ballot Hall of Fame, he may even be the 2nd ever unanimous choice for the Hall of Fame.  He is definitely on my OUB.  However, I am not passionate about Ichiro and I am passionate about the player I  put ahead of him on my ballot. And like my pal Irene Cara used to always tell me, take your passion and make it happen.

If I were given a Hall of Fame Ballot and told to vote for exactly 1 player that player would be Mark Buehrle.

There are 3 starting pitchers on the ballot this year who have some comparable stats. In my opinion, Buehrle outshines Pettitte and Sabathia.  True, I am a lifetime White Sox fan and Buehrle is my daughter's favorite player. 

When you look at some of the hardware and accolades they have merited Pettitte has 5 World Series Championships compared to Buehrle's and Sabathia's 1 each.  Sabathia has been elected to 6 all-star games, compared to Buehrle's 5 and Pettitte's 4.   Sabathia is the only Cy Young recipient and both he and Pettitte have a a league championship series MVP.  Buehrle is the only one of the 3 with Gold Gloves and he has 4 of them.  So when you total them all up it is Buehrle who has 10, Pettitte with 9, and Sabathia with 8. Buehrle also has a perfect game, an additional no-hitter, and a streak 0f 14 seasons where he pitched 200 or more innings.  

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame: New On The Ballot

 The 2024 Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame Ballot contains 28 names of former MLB players being considered for enshrinement. This year the ballot has been split right down the middle with 14 players returning to the ballot and 14 players eligible to be on the ballot for the first time.   Players have 10 years of eligibility to receive the 75%  or more votes needed to make it to the Hall this way.  If they have additional years of legibility remaining and receive between 5% and 74.9 % of this year's vote they will remain on the ballot for next year.  

The 14 players on the ballot for the first time in 2025 are in Alphabetical Order

Carlos González OF 12 Seasons 4 Teams: Rockies, A's Indians, Cubs

Curtis Granderson OF 16 Seasons 7 Teams: Tigers, Mets, Yankees, Marlins, Bluejays, Dodgers, Brewers

Félix Hernández P 15 seasons : 1 Team: Mariners 

Adam Jones CF 14 Seasons 3 Teams: Orioles Mariners D-Backs

Ian Kinsler 14 Seasons 5 Teams: Rangers, Tigers, Angels, Padres, Red Sox

Russell Martin C 14 seasons: 4 teams: Dodgers, Bluejays, Yankees, Pirates 

Brian McCann C 15 Seasons 3 Teams Braves Yankees Astros

Dustin Pedroia 2B 14 Seasons 1 Team Red Sox 

Hanley Ramirez IF 15 seasons 4 teams: Marlins, Red Sox, Dodgers, Indians

Fernando Rodney RP 17 Seasons 11 Teams Tigers, Rays, Mariners, Angels A's D-Backs, Twins, Marlins, Nationals, Padres, Cubs

CC Sabathia P 19 Seasons 3 Teams: Yankees, Indians, Brewers

Ichiro Suzuki RF 19 Seasons 3 Teams Mariners Yankees, Marlins

Troy Tulowitzki SS 13 Seasons 4 Teams: Rockies, Bluejays, Yankees 

 Ben Zobrist IF 14 Seasons 4 Teams: Rays, Cubs, A's Royals

Fun Facts: 1) Only the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, and San Francisco Giants do not have any 1st-year eligible players on the ballot this year.  

2) The 2 players on the ballot for the first time this year who played the most seasons, Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia both played on 3 teams and were teammates on the Yankees. 

2025 Baseball Hall of Fame Voting: Returning to the Ballot

The 2024 Baseball Writers Association of America Hall of Fame Ballot contains 28 names of former MLB players being considered for enshrinement. This year the ballot has been split right down the middle with 14 players returning to the ballot and 14 players eligible to be on the ballot for the first time.   Players have 10 years of eligibility to receive the 75%  or more votes needed to make it to the Hall this way.  If they have additional years of legibility remaining and receive between 5% and 74.9 % of this year's vote they will remain on the ballot for next year.  

The returning players are listed here in descending order of the % of votes received in the 2024 BBWAA election.

Player                  Position                 YOE           Highest PCT. (YR)         Lowest Pct. (YR)

Billy Wagner       Relief Pitcher        10th            73.8 % (2024)                 10.2% (2017)          

Andruw Jones      Centerfielder         8th              61.6%  (2024)                 7.3% (2018)

Carlos Beltran      Centerfielder         3rd              57.1 % (2024)                 46.5 % (2023)

Alex Rodriquez    Shortstop               4th              35.7 % (2023)                 34.3% (2022)

Manny Ramirez    Outfielder              9th              33.2 % (2023)                 22 % (2018)

Chase Utley             2nd Base                2nd              28.8% (2024)                  28.8% (2024)

Omar Vizquel           Shortstop               8th               52.6% (2020)                 17.7% (2024)

Bobby Abreu            Righfielder            5th               14.4% (2023)                5.5% (2020)

Jimmy Rollins          Shortstop               4th              14.8% (2024)                 9.4 % (2022 )

Andy Petitte              Pitcher                  7th               17.0% (2023)                9.9% (2019)

Mark Buehrle            Pitcher                    5th              11% (2021)                   5.8% (2022)    

Francisco Rodriguez Pitcher                 3rd             10.8% (2023)                  7.8% (2024)

Torii Hunter              Pitcher                5th               9.4% (2021)                    5.3% (2022)

David Wright           3rd Base               2nd             6.2% (2024)                    6.2 % 2022

Billy Wagner who is in his final year of eligibility missed enshrinement last year by only 1.2% of the votes.  

Fun Fact of the 12 players who are on the ballot for the 3rd time or more, only 4 of them received the highest percentage of votes in their election cycle in 2024. 

Team Saturdazzle: The One With Downtown Chicago

Third Saturday of the year. Third Team Saturdazzle post. For Christmas this year I gave Amy tickets to a Bulls game. We used them this weekend and drove to the city to watch The Bulls lose a close one to the Charlotte Hornets. Amy likes either playing sports or watching them live. I like those as well as watching sports on TV. , listening to sports on the radio and reading the accounts of a game in a newspaper or online.  But being with Amy makes everything even losing to the Hornets better.

Horace Grant 87-94 Bulls (1st 3 championships)
Randy Brown 95-00 Bulls (Last 3 championships)

A case in point is after I gave Amy the tickets she decided that staying overnight in Chicago would be better than driving back to our home in the suburbs. This is why I sit here at a Chicago hotel chronicling our adventure so far early on a Saturday morning.

One thing Amy and I like about staying in a hotel is television. In the 26-plus years we’ve been married many of those years have been spent without a TV. A few more years have been spent owning a TV. You can only watch DVDs or video cassettes.  So on those  occasions when we have stayed in hotel rooms we have enjoyed watching broadcast television. Yesterday after the game we watched a couple episodes of Seinfeld followed by an episode of Friends.  After that we turned on TUBI and watched a part of an episode of What's Happening and part of an episode of The Floor,  We watched the former because one of the Bull's bench players, Jalen Smith gives off a big Roger vibe from the show.

The latter is because we have been catching up on the 2nd season of the Fox game show sporadically over the past few months.  

This morning I went downstairs for some breakfast and I encountered a young man with a Hornets hoody and a Bulls Cap.  It's the kind of thing I would do with Cubs and Sox gear so he let me take a pic of him. The breakfast was good.  I don't see grits as an offering very much in the Chicago area but was glass to partake.

Bulls Cap Hornets Hoodie

Breakfast these days takes grits and hard-boiled determination.

Checkout at the hotel wasn't until noon.  So we lingered and then on the way home we stopped by a restaurant I'd seen on Friday that appealed to several parts of my nature.  

1. It's a classic Chicago Hotdog spot.

2. The name of the place, LuLu's is also one of our nicknames for our youngest daughter.

3. Three Words: Home Made Chili

4. Art work reminiscent of the Little Lulu comics without giving any of the credit. 

5.  When I went  in I decided I would see if they could put Chili on my Polish.  Not only could they but the Chili Cheese Polish, which I thought I had invented seconds before, was their special of the day.

While I don't subscribe to the no ketchup on hot dog 

theory, I do appreciate the wry wit of this poster.

For the last 3 years our Saturdays were too busy in the winter to get away for the weekend.  Almost every weekend, we were judging a speech tournament which took a huge portion of our Saturdays.  Even yesterday we drove by a high school on our way home blissfully unaware that the Larkin Speech Team was participating in a tournament there.  

Last 5 Sporting Events

1/17/2025 Charlotte Hornets Defeat Chicago Bulls 125-123 @ The United Center Chicago Illinois

11/16/2024 Class 7A Football Quarterfinal IHSA Batavia 17 Downers Grove North 7 @Batavia High Scool Batavia IL

11/2/2024 Dad's Day Weekend Minnesota 25 Illinois 17 Memorial Stadium Champaign IL 

10/26 Mt Carmel 34 Loyola Academy 20 Mt. Carmel High School, Chicago IL

10/19 100th anniversary game of Dedication of Memorial Stadium Illinois 21 Michigan 7 Memorial Stadium Champaign IL 

 

Illinois coach Bret Bielema taunts Shane Beamer and he loses his mind

Footage from Tuesdays Citrus Bowl which Illinois beat South Carolina

100th Post of the Year

 This is my 100th post of the year.  This marks the 8th year since this blogs inception in 2009, and the 4th consecutive year that I’ve published 100 or more post in a year. 

That is of course, it will be my 100th post of the year if and when I publish it. A few years ago  I wrote a post about having 100 posts in draft status. At the end of the post in the only comment, I had written that I had deleted all but 15 of the posts in draft status and hoped never to accumulate nearly as many post there again. 

Well it turns out that I have been accumulating posts in draft status again. I currently have 77 posts with that distinction. The majority of these are from 2023, but I do have 14 from this year. As part of my 100th post of the year celebration,I will now list each incompleted post of 2024 by title in Chronological order.

Double Library Day

Team Saturdazzle

(Untitled)

Milwaukee Brewers Catcher William Contreras bringing major league streak to begin season

Crystal Lake Library

(Untitled)

(Untitled)

Anniversary vs. Annual

A to Z 2024 Reflections

(Untitled)

What’s most wrong about the 2024 White Sox

The Newfangled Four - A Spoonful of Sugar (Parody)  [From Mary Poppins]

Former Chicago White Sox MVP , The late Dick Allen, elected to the Hall of Fame.

Not everybody needs a college degree (Writers Workshop)

That’s the 14. Some of these may see the light of day and most will be discarded. One of the drafts from last year  is scheduled to post tomorrow for the next edition of Wordless Wednesday. I also hope to share the story behind that picture in a subsequent post. 

Tomorrow’s post won’t be the last post of the year as I have a Michael Card Christmas Concert video scheduled to drop on 12/25. I’ll probably land somewhere between 103 and 107 2024 posts before the New Year and the whole race to 100 begins again.

Dick Allen Finally voted into HOF OPV

I have been campaigning sometime now for my first White Sox hero, Dick Allen to get into the the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown. Last night he finallt got voted in. I'm sure I'll have some more posts to add in the coming days but for now here are three videos I've pulled off of You Tube to commemorate his big moment.

First up a career retrospective from MLB

 

Next: Local Chicago Newscast reporting Allen's induction

 

 Finally: Philadelphia news story yesterday.

Illinois Football 2024 Season Analytics Part II

STATS SUNDAY

This is a continuation of last week's Stats Sunday post which can be found here. It is essentially a look at Illinois' Season Record by adding the w/l record of each opponent before they played Illinois, The result of the Illinois game (win or loss), and their record after the Illinois game.  I am calling the stat Opponent BDA (Before During After)

In essence, each opponent has 3 records: 1) the games they played before they played you,2) their record against you, and 3) the games they played after you. Here is a look at these stats for Illinois with one more game left on their regular season schedule.

This is the end of the regular season BDA

The University of Illinois  2023 Football Schedule

Opponent                                            Before      Against         After

Eastern Illinois Univerity                  0-0               0-1               3-8

Kansas                                               1-0               0-1               4-6

Central Michigan University             1-1               0-1               3-6

Nebraska                                             3-0               0-1               3-5 

Penn State                                           3-0              1-0                7-1

Purdue                                                 1-4              0-1               0-6

Michigan                                              4-2              0-1               3-2

Oregon                                                 7-0              1-0                4-0

Minnesota                                           5-3              1-0                1-2

Michigan State                                   4-5              0-1                1-1

Rutgers                                                6-4              0-1               1-0

Northwestern                                       4-7              0-1                0-0

Totals                                               39-26             3-9                30-37

Winning Pct                                     .600              .250                .448

U of I home opponents are in bold.

Illinois opponents on average have played better before playing than after playing them. Illinois Opponents were 39-26 (.600) prior to playing Illinois.  Teams visiting Champaign this year were a cumulative 16-15 (.516) prior to playing the Illini.  Road opponents fared 23-11 (.676)  in games before hosting U of I. 

After beating NU on Saturday, Illinois' 2024 opponents only won 1/4 of the 12 contests against Bielama's boys.  Visitors to Memorial Stadium went  1-6 (.143) and teams playing in their own friendly confines fared much better with 2 wins and 3 losses and a winning percentage of .400. 

The 10 2024 previous opponents split their games this weekend 5-5 bringing the total record of games after playing the Illini to 30-37 (.448). Teams playing at Memorial this year were a collective 15-31(.326) finishing the season.  Home teams also won 15 games after showing Central Illinois Big 10 team hospitality but they did so with only 6 losses and a winning percentage of .714.

 

Next Sunday: Introducing The WHY DFL Index

STBFI (Soon To Be Fired Index)

 After today's Bears game, I thought it might be prudent to provide this content sooner rather than later. Anytime one of the 5 Major Chicago sports teams hires a new (non-interim)  head coach or manager I do a process in my head.  In this process, I rank the 5 coaches/ managers including the most recently hire one from 1 to 5 based on which one I feel will lose their job next,   I call this the Soon to be Fired Index or STBFI for short.  When The White Sox hired Will Venable to be their manager on Halloween this year I started putting together the next iteration of the index.  It proved difficult after Mister Obvious at one, but I did my best. 

1. Matt Eberflus Chicago Bears - six straight losses says it all.  I don't think he's going to make it to the Team Holiday party.

2. Luke Richardson Chicago Blackhawks—Richardson has fluctuated between 2nd and 5th on the list in my head since Venable's hiring. My understanding is that the front office is fine with him finishing his contract. However, I don't think anyone in the organization is thrilled that expansion Utah is 3 points ahead of the underperforming Blackhawks as of this writing.

3. Billy Donovan Chicago Bulls - Many feel that Donovan's days are numbered as the Bulls head coach but their current winning percentage of .400  is 5-7 games ahead of full-season win projections.  If the Bulls' almost total lack of defense continues that percentage will go down and cries for Donovan's dismissal will continue at an increasing rate.

4. Will Venable  Chicago White Sox - Generally, the last person hired is usually the last person on this list.  That is good conventional wisdom.  I have reason to hope that given time Venable may be able to help the White Sox navigate past the historically bad season they just experienced.  It seems to me that White Sox management will give him a long leash especially if the team shows any signs of continual (even if it's slow) improvement.  However, if Venable looks like Pedro Grifol reincarnated the aforementioned leash could get mighty short mighty quick. 

5. Craig Counsell Chicago Cubs - 83-79 was not good enough for the Cubs in 2023 so David Ross was fired and Counsell was pilfered from Milwaukee.  In 2024 m the first season with Counsell at the helm, the Cubs achieved the very same 83-79.  Not good enough? Yes.  Bad enough to get Counsell on the hot seat? No, I don't think so.  Counsell should be around for a while. 

The next time one of these 5 men is fired, retires or stops leading their team for any reason, I will post a quick update as to where on the STBFI the former skipper was situated.  I won't post the next STBFI until a full-time replacement is hired.  

Illinois Football 2024 Season Analytics Part I

My daughter Lucy began college at the University of Illinois this year.  As a result, I have become a U of I football fan.  I ended up attending 6 home games this year.  While this is certainly not more college football games than I've ever attended, it is 6 more Illinois games than I've ever attended.  

It had been over 30 years since I'd had an every-game interest in a college football team. I have really enjoyed being a college football fan again.   Everybody does being a fan in their own way.  One of my ways is statistics.  Over the next few weeks, I hope to share some Illinois stats that I've been developing.

One difference between college football and professional football is that you generally only play an opponent one time a year.  It is possible to play a team more than once if your conference has a championship game or if you make it to a bowl game.  But, in the regular season, it's just one per customer.  

With that in mind, I've been developing a way of looking at a team's record for the year through how your opponents performed before and after you played them.

In essence, each opponent has 3 records: 1) the games they played before they played you,2) their record against you, 3) the games they played after you. Here is a look at these stats for Illinois with one more game left on their regular season schedule.

University of Illinois  2023 Football Schedule

Opponet                                            Before      Against         After

Eastern Illinois Univerity                  0-0               0-1               3-8

Kansas                                               1-0               0-1               4-5

Central Michigan University             1-1               0-1               3-5

Nebraska                                            3-0               0-1               3-4 

Penn State                                           3-0              1-0               6-1

Purdue                                                 1-4              0-1               0-5

Michigan                                             4-2              0-1               2-2

Oregon                                                7-0              1-0               3-0

Minnesota                                            5-3             1-0               0-2

Michigan State                                    4-5             0-1                1-0

Rutgers                                                6-4             0-1

Northwestern                                       4-7 

Totals                                               39-26           3-8                  25-32

Winning Pct                                     .600            .273                 .439

Illinois plays Northwestern next Saturday at Wrigley Field.  We already know that Northwesterns record will be 4-7 for the before column.  The only thing we don't know yet in the against column is the result of the Northwestern game as it has not been played yet.  Eastern Illinois finished their season yesterday.  All of their other opponents have one more regular season game remaining.  This means that the 10 teams in the middle of their schedule should add one more win or one more loss to their after column next week.  

Illinois opponents on average have played better before playing than after playing them.  Illinois has only played 2 teams this season with a losing record and will face their third in Northwestern on Saturday. Conversely, six teams have losing records since playing the Illini. Illinois opponents on average are playing 160 percentage points better before their game with the Illini than after the event. Illini opponents are only playing .273 when facing Illinois this year.  The final regular season against number will be between .250 and .333 depending on the Northwestern result.

Next Sunday I'll post an updated version of these numbers.  

Better Late Than Never: An Open Letter to the White Sox regarding the Legacy of Dick Allen

A lot can happen in 3 years.  3 years ago I started the below blog post and for whatever reason left it in draft status.  Earlier this month I saw this announcement on the Baseball Hall of Fame website.  Seeing that  Chicago White Sox legend Dick Allen was again being considered for enshrinement made me want to do something on his behalf.  Then, I remembered I already did, well at least I started.  A lot can happen in 3 years.  

Aside from correcting multiple grammar and spelling errors, the de-mothballed post is the same as when I started it three years ago. The only exception is that I have color-coded the first three paragraphs, put important statements in bold, and italicized the entire tome (Not Jim Tome; that's a Hall of Famer of a different spelling). The green indicates that the statements are still valid some 1100 days later. The red indicates they are not. I'll be back at the end to further my point.

Dear White Sox Organization: 

 First and foremost, I would like to wish you a joyous and happy holiday season. Secondly, I would like to congratulate you on the fine baseball season you just finished. It is truly an exciting time to be a White Sox fan. I have been a Sox fan going on 50 years. I can not emphasize enough how the accomplishments of one player brought me into the White Sox fan base.  A  player who sadly I don't think your organization has spent enough time heralding his accomplishments while on the South Side.  This player is no other than Dick Allen, The 1972 AL MVP in his first year for the White Sox.

There are two things I'd like to see the Sox organization do to honor Mr. Allen's legacy.  The first is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his MVP season in 2022.  The impact of Dick Allen on the White Sox is legend.  He revitalized the team mobilized the fan base and squashed all the talk of moving the franchise from Chicago to Florida.  His homers at Old Comiskey Park especially those rooftop shots are why a 7-year-old boy raised to be a Cubs fan flipped allegiances and spent his days wanting to emulate his new heroes like Bill Melton, Wilbur Wood, Bucky Dent, Jorge Orta, and especially Allen himself.  

I hope you guys have something like this in mind because a celebration on the scale that I'm thinking should have been planned years in advance.  

Secondly, I would love to see the White Sox publicly champion the HOF candidacy for Mr. Allen.  In my opinion, Allen is the most deserving player in White Sox history for enshrinement in Cooperstown.  Actually, I believe he is the most deserving former player in the entire league who is not yet been voted in.  I was very happy when Minnie Minoso got in this year on the Golden Days Era Ballot..This may seem like blasphemy at 35th and Shields but I feel Allen is more deserving than Minoso for a spot in Cooperstown.  I understand that looking at the advanced metrics bears my thoughts out.  I was heartbroken when Allen missed out by 1 vote again this year.  He now has to wait 5 more years before his case can be reviewed again.

A lot of this heavy lifting needs to be done by Allen's first team the Phillies.  He played the brunt of his career there and I am glad to see that there is a greater acknowledgment of the racism he endured while in Philadelphia.  What I ask of the White Sox is that in the next 5 years, they begin stating Allen's case every time they have the opportunity.  There are still very many White Sox fans of my generation and the generation previous to mine who understand the impact Dick Allen had for the Southsiders in the early 70's.  I ask that the management of the Sox while continuing to look to the future and endeavoring to bring more pennants and World Series championships to their fan base also look back at the past especially the accomplishments of Allen and celebrate what he brought to the team and lobby for his accomplishments to be recognized and honored by the powers that be at Cooperstown and beyond.

A few years back Jerry Reinsdorf lobbied hard for the HOF candidacy of Harold Baines.   I have long been a proponent of Baine's inclusion in Cooperstown.  Reinsdorf did the right thing by helping make the case for Baines.  Reinsdorf had seen firsthand the impact of Baines on the White Sox and knew in his heart that Baines was HOF material.  Dick Allen was long gone when Reinsdorf became owner of the Sox.  Reinsdorf and the White Sox need to understand that although they did not experience it Allen's impact on the White Sox and on baseball in that era was actually far greater than the impact Baines had.  Baines had HOF teammates like Carlton Fisk and Frank Thomas.  

That is where I left things off in 2021

Dick Allen (Circa 1965)
Public Domain

Here in the present (11/23/24) Dick Allen is a candidate once again for the enshrinement in Cooperstown that eluded him in his lifetime.  Having missed out on the highest individual honor in baseball by only 1 vote in his last 2 elections, he again is considered a front-runner.  This year he is joined by Ken Boyer, John Donaldson, Steve Garvey, Vic Harris, Tommy John, Dave Harris, and Luis Tiant.  All these players are certainly worthy of consideration, and many deserve their own plaque in Cooperstown.  I would still argue that none of these players are more deserving than Allen.  

On December 8th a 16-member Hall of Fame Panel will convene at the Baseball Winter Meetings to decide if any of these players will make it for 2025.  Anyone receiving 12 votes or more from the committee will become a Hall of Famer.  Anyone who doesn't will have to wait until 2028 to even be considered to be a finalist again.  Dick Allen shouldn't have to wait that long.

He actually shouldn't have had to wait this long.  Allen was not the malcontent nor rabble-rouser that people portrayed him as.  He had been vindicated from most of that in his lifetime.  Some of it remains from the atmosphere of racism that followed his career and his BBWAA-era candidacy.  If you're not aware of Allen's experiences as the first professional black baseball player in then-segregated Little Rock, Arkansas while a Phillies farmhand in 1963, this article is a good place to start. Moving to Philadelphia in 1964 and having one of the greatest rookie seasons in MLB history, didn't stop the unfair treatment.  He wasn't allowed 548to go by his preferred name Dick but was relegated to becoming the diminutive Richie, a move which can only be construed now some 60 years later as a thinly veiled attempt to keep him in his place.  

His place is in the Hall of Fame. Yes, injuries shortened his career and certainly, he would have been helped by a longer body of work, but what a body of work.  The 7-time all-star, according to Baseball Musings, Day by Day database the 1964 Rookie of the Year and 1972 MVP in his first 6 seasons (1964-1969) was ranked 20th in at-bats. but ranked higher in 9 other offensive categories  including 5th in runs, 3rd in triples, 8th in both home runs and RBI, 9th in walks, 10th in batting average, and  1st in slugging percentage. Allen's slugging percentage was .555 in that 6-year time. Here is a list of the 10 fellows directly behind him.

Frank Robinson      .552   HOF

Willie McCovey      .551  HOF

Hank Aaron             .548  HOF

Willie Mays             .539  HOF

Harmon Killebrew   .535 HOF

Roberto Clemente    .511 HOF

Willie Stargell          .510 HOF

Reggie Jackson        .508 HOF

Carl Yaztrzemski     .507 HOF

Ron Santo                .505 HOF

This is just one example of Allen's on-field accomplishments putting him among the elite players of his generation.  Allen is also revered by many players who played alongside him.  One is Hall of Famer Allen's former White Sox teammate Rich Gossage.  I'm going to end this post with a quote from Gossage for a 2014 USA Today article about Allen and the Hall of Fame.  Goose puts it more eloquently than I ever could.  

"I've been around the game a long time,'' Hall of Fame pitcher Goose Gossage tells USA TODAY Sports, "and he's the greatest player I've ever seen play in my life. He had the most amazing season (1972) I've ever seen. He's the smartest baseball man I've ever been around in my life. "He taught me how to pitch from a hitter's perspective, and taught me how to play the game, and how to play the game right. There's no telling the numbers this guy could have put up if all he worried about was stats. "The guy belongs in the Hall of Fame.''

Cole Kmet has a big Day for the Bears in London

Sunday was not just another home game for the Chicago Bears. First of all the game started at 8:30 A.M. Central Time which is very early for a Sunday match up. It started this early because the "home" game was played in London, England. The Bears defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 35-16 on Sunday. It was also an unusual game for Bears TE Cole Kmet. Kmet whose Dad played for the Bears among other teams but never played in an actual game grew up in the NW suburbs of Chicago and played football and baseball for St. Viator before going to Notre Dame for college. Cole Kmet hits HR for St. Viator in 2016 Sectional game

Here is Kmet in an interview in his time with ND. Here is footage of Kmet while playing with the Irish.  

 Kmet was drafted by the Bears in the 2nd round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

   

C.K. is kind of a Superman for the Bears.  In addition to playing starting Tight End, He is also the emergency long snapper.  A long snapper is a specialized center who snaps the ball on punts, field goals, and extra points.  The Bears usual long snapper suffered a knee injury in the first half of Sundays game.  That meant that when Kmet scored 2 touchdowns in the 2nd quarter he had to snap the ball on the subsequent plays for the Bears extra points.  

Click here to see Kmet's first touchdown on You Tube.

1-3 Teams going to the playoffs in the 17 game era of the NFL

There have been many changes to the NFL in my lifetime:  

• The first AFL NFL championship game was in 1967 (retconned to be called the Super Bowl in 1969).
•  The merger of the AFL AND NFL into the NFL in 1970.
• The expansion from 26 teams to 28 teams in 1976.
• Switching in 1978 from a 14-game season to a 16-game season, and switching from 8 playoff teams to 10.
• Adding 2 more playoff teams in 1990 for a total of 12
• Expanding from 28 to 30 teams in 1995
• Expanding from 30 to 31  teams in 1999, and then to its current number (32) in 2001.
• With the change to 32 teams in 2001, the conferences were realigned to have 4 divisions with 4 teams each.
• In 2020 2 more playoff teams were added to make for a current total of 14 teams (4 division champions and 3 wild card teams from each conference).

2021 marked the most recent change which was an addition of 1 more regular season game for a total of 17. The 2024 season is the 4th year of the 17-game schedule.  

This latest change has been a little difficult for me to adapt to.  Before I explain why, let me provide some context.   From 1978 to 2020 you could easily divide the 16-game season into 4-game quarters.  After 4 weeks of football, you could look at your team's record and make an educated guess as to how your season might go especially if your team started 0-4  or 1-3.  Only the 1992 Chargers have ever started 0-4 and made it to the playoffs.  Since 1990 only 14% of teams since 1990 have started 1-3 and made it to the playoffs.  The difficulty for me has been getting used to the fact that the 4th-week results are no longer 1/4 of the season's results.  This of course doesn't mean they are not a good indicator of progress.

I was watching the Bears Rams game today where both teams shared a 1-2 record at kickoff.  The announcers were talking about the 4-game indicator and the difficulty of starting 1-3 which one team unless in the case of a tie would be by the end of the game.  After the Bears were victorious moving on to a 2-2 record and leaving the Rams with a 1-3 start, I got to thinking about if the change from 16 to 17 games and the addition of 2 more playoff teams would increase the chances of teams starting 1-3 in making the playoffs.  

In the small sample size of the past 3 completed seasons, there have been 25 teams that started 1-3 (10 in 21-22, 7 in 22-23, and 8 last season). In 21-22, 3 of the 10 (30%) made the playoffs.  This was more than double the average since 1990.  However, no 1-3 team in the 2  17-game seasons that followed has made it to the postseason.  This is a percentage of 12% which is lower than the average since 1990.  It is too early to tell if the 17-game 14 playoff team system will mean more playoff appearances for teams with 1-3 starts.  As it stands now, an average of 1 team per year makes the playoffs with the new format. 

If that stat would hold true this year, I think that team could be the Los Angeles Rams.  Rams Quarterback Matthew Stafford in his 16th season in the NFL looked pretty good against my Bears and all I can say is I'm glad we don't have to see him twice a year anymore like we did when he was with the Lions.  With today's loss, he's just 12-10 against Chicago but that record includes a 6-game win streak against us from September 2013 to January 2016.  

Stafford isn't the only reason why I think the Rams may make the playoffs after a 1-3 start. Like the Bears, the Ram's only losses this year have been on the road.  For the next 3 weeks, they will be playing at home.  The Rams were not near full strength today and hopefully, their injured stars will get healthy during the homestand.  The Rams looked good on both offense and defense today but had to attempt 5 field goals making 4, and scoring only 1 touchdown.  I believe the Rams can improve on their red zone efficiency as the season continues and get it to the level it was last year.

I think the Bears would have had a more difficult chance at making the playoffs with a 1-3 start than the Rams will.  Starting 2-2 doesn't come close to ensuring a playoff spot, but this victory against a solid hungry team is definitely a step in that direction.  

From the Archives: Bo Jackson's 3-Run Homer to Clinch AL West Division (...

NIU Radio broadcast of the NIU-Notre Dame ending (Full) | 2024 College F...

Last Saturday afternoon, NIU went to South Bend, Indiana and upset Notre Dame at home.

This videos shows the last 2 minutes of the game and the audio is the NIU radio broadcast.  The video begins with Notre Dame leading 14-13.

  

HOLLYWOOD ENDING! Tim Anderson walks it off at MLB at Field of Dreams!

A favorite gymnast and a favorite library

What do you think of when you think of Summer? Do you think of Summer Bartholomew the 1975 Miss America who was the hostess of the game show Sale of the Century?

Or do you think of Summer Glau who played  River Tam om Firefly?

Initially when I think of Summer, I don't think of people whose names begins with Summer as much as I think of events that happen in the Summer.

I think of Summer Reading programs and Summer Olympics.  Olympics are one of my favorite things.  I especially enjoy the team sports, swimming, diving, cycling, track and gymnastics. I love gymnastics.  My favorite current gymnast is  Simone Biles.  

I love few things as much as I love the Summer Olympics. Libraries may well be one of them. Not only because  they have the aforementioned Summer Reading Programs.  I am here right now at my local library using their computer for this post.  7 years ago my family moved from one town to a neighboring town. We were very familiar with the Gail Borden Library at the time of our move and were glad that we would now be walking distance from it.

Today at the library I was delighted to be  directed to my libraries facebook page and see two of my summer loves combined in 1 place. 
 

 Total disclosure, I have not read any James Patterson books so my total jump height is currently greater than stacking up all his books that I've read.  This will probably no longer be true if I ever read even just  of his books.  

Thanks GBPL (Gymnasast Biles Patterson Library Gail Borden Public Library)

How Bad are the 2024 White Sox?

 The Chicago White Sox are on a 10 game losing streak that dates back to July 10th because of the All Star Break.  This is their 2nd double digit losing streak this season.  The satirical news service the onion reported on them earlier this month.    

To give you an idea how bad they are you don't need to look  much further than their current record  (27-77) after their loss to the Rangers yesterday.  But here are a few more ...

• 50 games below .500 less than 2/3rd through the season
• According to the team Website Andrew Vaughn is leading the team in hitting with a ,236 Batting Average*
• The 2nd worst team in MLB, the Florida Marlins has a winning percentage of .363 that is 42 points better than the White Sox best monthly average of .321 (May and June).
• Most experts expect White Sox to be massive sellers before the Trade Deadline of July 30th which means their on-field product will probably, although incredibly hard to believe, much worse.

The White Sox are celebrating their 125th year in baseball in 2025 and have already begun promoting seasons tickets.  The  below video uses the White Sox past to promote the White Sox future because the White Sox present is absent of any hope.  

All 27 outs of Mark Buehrle's perfect game

15 years ago today, on July 24th 2009. Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox.  to commemorate the anniversary enjoy this look at all 27 outs back when White Sox victories were not few and far  between.