Tag: Opinion

Jason Benetti joining the Detroit Tigers’ booth is the latest gut-punch for White Sox fans

The White Sox keep finding new ways to torture their fans

All summer long on the South Side of Chicago, the cries for Jerry Reinsdorf to sell the White Sox grew louder and louder in the very literal sense.

The latest decision to let beloved play-by-play man Jason Benetti go should make those cries even louder.

The sentiment has been there for years, of course, but beginning with the ill-fated decision to hire his old pal Tony La Russa to guide the team’s equally ill-fated rebuild to the finish line, chants of “Sell the team!” had become as much of a tradition at Guaranteed Rate Field as the seventh inning stretch or fireworks after home runs.

Fans paid for billboards outside the park and flew banners inside it demanding Reinsdorf just give it up already. The 87-year-old seems to have taken that as a challenge.

You think you have it bad, now? You think our decision-making is problematic? Just wait.

Here’s your new general manager, Chris Getz, a man who failed so poorly at developing a farm system for the White Sox that he could only fall up.

Don’t like that? Don’t worry, Getz is poaching from the Kansas City Royals — the only franchise more woebegone than Chicago in the American League Central — to advise him.

Still not done complaining? Ok, say goodbye to Tim Anderson. We’ll dump him without even trying to learn if his bad 2023 was an aberration or see if there’s trade interest for him at any point next year. Dylan Cease is on the block, too.

The war of attrition took a drastic turn on Thursday morning when the team announced Benetti is leaving to join the booth of the rival Detroit Tigers.

Benetti is a born-and-raised South Sider. A man who grew up rooting for the White Sox and someone who instantly engaged fans with intelligent discussion, silly antics and fun brain teasers that made tuning into games worth it — even when there was no reason to care about the players on the field.

When Hawk Harrelson retired, landing Benetti felt like a godsend. He was the complete opposite of a broadcaster who had become more catchphrase than person. Someone who revived Steve Stone in the analyst seat next to him and proved the former Cy Young winner could still have fun at the ballpark. Benetti knew, above all else, the show was not about him and yet he still found a way to elevate every major moment.

The final outs of no-hitters thrown by Lucas Giolito and Carlos Rodón immediately come to mind. So do the less extraordinary accomplishments throughout the season, like when another Luis Robert Jr. robbery in centerfield was met with “Outrageous, 88!”.

Even spring training games were worth tuning into when Benetti was on the call. As his national profile grew stronger with gigs calling college football and basketball, the Olympics and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball, it was impossible not for Sox fans to feel a sense of pride.

“He’s ours.”

Now, he’s theirs. A damn Detroit Tiger.

How much worse can it get for Chicago? The limit does not exist.

Hell, at a sports business conference in Los Angeles, Reinsdorf got up on stage admitted the best strategy was to just be decent until September to keep fans coming out. He ranted about being at the mercy of the “dumbest” owners around the league who had the audacity to spend money on quality players.

If we’re being completely honest. the clock is ticking on Reinsdorf’s tenure whether he sells or not. He’s 87, remember.

The real shame of it is that when that day does come, when the Sox broadcast clicks on for the first time without Reinsdorf occupying the owner’s booth, they’re going to want to have someone with heart summarize the highs and lows, the World Series and rebuilds and the muscle of Reinsdorf on those few days when he did care.

No one was better suited for the job than Jason Benetti.

Fans crushed the NFL for sending Houston a cease-and-desist letter over Oilers-themed uniforms

If the University of Houston can’t wear Oilers-like uniforms, why do the Titans get to?

To start its 2023 season, the University of Houston unveiled powder blue Oilers-like uniforms against the UTSA Roadrunners in September. They drew rave reviews and were generally well-received by almost everyone.

That is, except for the NFL.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the league’s merchandising and license division sent a cease-and-desist letter to the school to stop any further usage of the Oilers’ trademarked uniforms. An NFL attorney reportedly threatened Houston with further legal action if the school didn’t stop its “blatant copying” of the old Oilers’ jerseys. Houston apparently decided to wear the uniforms anyway after the NFL had already warned the program. The Tennessee Titans — the extremely loose spiritual successor to the now-defunct Houston Oilers — wore the official trademarked version of the uniforms in their 28-23 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

More from the Houston Chronicle:

“The Houston Cougars’ attempt to free ride on the popularity of the NFL and the club violates the intellectual property rights of the NFL and the (Tennessee) Titans,” attorney Bonnie L. Jarrett wrote in the Oct. 13 letter.”

All of this raises an important question. If Houston, the school, can’t wear these uniforms, paying obvious homage to the city’s former pro football history, then why do the Titans get the golden opportunity to maximize them?

Yes, the Titans are still owned by the late Bud Adams’ family. (These days, it’s his daughter, Amy Adams Strunk.) And yes, Bud Adams transferring over the Oilers to Nashville did initially mean taking all of their uniforms and history with them. But as veteran Nashville reporter David Boclair wrote in a Facebook post, Adams only rebranded the Oilers because the people of the city threw a “hissy fit” over the team not having an original Tennessee identity and flavor. (This I can understand because the regular Titans’ uniforms are boring abominations borne of a Create-A-Team in Madden.)

Not to mention that the city of Houston seemingly barely wanted the Oilers to stay around before they moved in the mid-1990s:

That’s the rub here.

If Nashville wanted the Titans to be distinct and represent their city on their own merits, they deserve that right. A pro football squad can and should be an important cultural appendage of a bog-standard American town. But why does the NFL continue to allow them to wear uniforms from a now nonexistent pro football team from another city? It’s thoroughly hypocritical. It’d be like the Oklahoma City Thunder wearing Seattle Supersonics “throwback” uniforms in the NBA. It also speaks to a bizarre cognitive dissonance where Nashville and the Titans are allowed to brazenly dig up the grave of an old franchise with little continued connection to them (to almost certainly make money off selling throwback jerseys) while a school tangentially related to the Oilers can’t even pay proper tribute.

The NFL and Titans, by extension, need to get their priorities in order. This is not a copyright battle worth fighting, and it only makes both parties look incredibly silly.

Roger Goodell’s cowardly stance on the NFL’s grass field debate is so unsurprising

Roger Goodell continues to be utterly spineless.

Aaron Rodgers’ season-ending Achilles tear has sparked a new conversation about NFL player safety. Specifically, it centers around the poor condition of artificial turf fields that some players believe put them at risk of significant injury, like what happened to Rodgers.

In the wake of Rodgers’ injury, the NFLPA has formally called for grass in every pro football stadium. On Wednesday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell appeared in a one-on-one interview with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take to discuss many of the league’s pertinent issues. That gave Goodell an opportunity to take a decisive stance on a problem that is clearly very important to his players.

Since Goodell is a de facto mouthpiece for owners, he predictably straddled the line and said nothing of substance on the grass field debate.

Ah yes, Goodell wants to lean toward the mythical “science,” a.k.a. “I do not have a better answer right now, probably won’t in the future, and I won’t say anything strong or definitive about this sensitive subject on national television.” Never mind that I’ve literally never heard a single NFL player profess that they actually prefer playing on turf compared to grass. Goodell’s comment is the equivalent of tweeting “many people are saying.”

Oh yeah, who, Roger? Provide one example.

The next time Goodell displays any kind of meaningful leadership in a pivotal moment for the league will be the first. Someone’s got to take a step forward and change the playing surfaces for the league. You just know it won’t be Goodell who leads the charge until public pressure forces him to cave at the absolute last moment OR the NFL owners allow him to.

COLUMN: Expectations are here for Brian Kelly and LSU

Expectations are high for LSU this year. This is a group ready to embrace that.

Nobody expected anything from LSU last year.

People didn’t know how [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] was going to work out in Baton Rouge, [autotag]Jayden Daniels[/autotag] was a transfer quarterback coming off a bad year, and the roster was left in shambles at the end of 2021.

If LSU went 5-7, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone.

But LSU didn’t go 5-7. The Tigers bounced back from an inconsistent first month to beat Ole Miss and Alabama and take control of the SEC West.

LSU finished the year with its first 10-win season since 2019 and the immediate outlook suddenly shifted.

This was no longer a rebuild. This was a team expected to compete. Not in a few years, but now.

That time is here. LSU will kickoff against Florida State tonight and be tested right away.

This is a ‘Noles team that got the best of LSU last year and only got better down the stretch. Similarly to LSU, FSU enters 2023 with renewed expectations. Florida State is loaded with talent across the board.

Whatever happens on Sunday night, there are sure to be overreactions.

Remember last year? Social media declared LSU dead in the water. Baseless rumors began stating that [autotag]Kayshon Boutte[/autotag] was leaving the team.

This game’s on an even bigger stage, which means the Monday morning quarterbacking will grow to a larger scale, too.

Whatever team wins this will be picked to make the playoff while the loser is forgotten for a few weeks.

That’s what having expectations brings.

Last year, LSU was playing with house money. Winning mattered, but it was more about laying a foundation for Kelly’s program.

The flip scripts when the entire fanbase is expecting a win in every game. The pressure is upped a few notches. Games, even against the lesser opponents, grow more tense.

Smaller mistakes are magnified and narratives are amplified.

Kelly’s been around a long time. Coaching a decade at Notre Dame will teach a coach how to handle this type of spotlight.

This roster bought into the Kelly regime last year. The culture is set.

Because of that, I have trust in how this staff and team will handle a different set of expectations. I don’t think this is a group that’s going to shy away from any of this.

On Sunday night, I think you’re going to see an LSU team play with a lot more composure than we saw in the opener last year.

Kelly embraced the hype in the offseason. He didn’t say, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He accepted it and said, “That’s why you come to LSU.”

That mindset should trickle down through this team. The Tigers will be ready for this moment on Sunday night.

Contact/Follow us @LSUTigersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Louisiana State news, notes, and opinions.

COLUMN: NCAA oversteps by suspending Maason Smith

The NCAA again overstepped its reach with the Maason Smith suspension.

LSU will have to wait an extra week for the anticipated return of [autotag]Maason Smith[/autotag].

The star will miss LSU’s opener against Florida State after the NCAA handed down a one game suspension, according to Wilson Alexander of The Advocate.

Smith tore his ACL early against Florida State in 2022 and missed the entirety of the season.

Per the report, this suspension stems from an autograph signing in July 2021. Smith was just a freshman and hadn’t even played a game yet. Name, image and likeness deals weren’t legal but would be a few weeks later.

Smith would have served the suspension last year if it weren’t for his injury. Now that Smith is healthy, the NCAA is officially enforcing it.

Fans ripped the Spanish Football Federation for celebrating controversial Jorge Vilda after World Cup win

The players deserve so much better than this classless garbage.

Thanks to Spain’s dominance, Sunday’s 2023 World Cup Final was largely without drama. La Roja took the lead in the 29th minute over England after an Olga Carmona goal. They would hold firm for the rest of the match en route to a 1-0 victory and the nation’s first-ever Women’s World Cup title.

But the way the Spanish Football Federation’s Twitter account treated the celebrations after the fact has deservedly ruffled some feathers in the soccer world. The official account posted a photo of Spain head coach Jorge Vilda kissing the championship trophy with a caption of “Vilda In” and a No. 1 index finger emoji.

Even if Vilda was technically the coach, this was in wildly poor taste after all the pre-tournament controversy he himself created. It could even certainly be viewed as a direct insult to the players and their rightful gripes about a “leader” who probably shouldn’t have been in charge.

In September 2022, 15 of Spain’s players maintained they wouldn’t play in this World Cup specifically because of Vilda, alleging he had fostered team conditions of abuse, fear, and bigotry. Only three of said players actually ended up traveling to Australia and New Zealand, with Vilda making the final roster decisions. No wonder there was a lot of talk about how the Spanish players even refused to interact with Vilda on the sideline.

Never mind that Spain’s roster — even without a good portion of its players — appeared to be so talented that any coach could’ve likely made a deep run in the tournament. Vilda was regularly criticized during this World Cup for poor strategic planning and curious lineup management. Yet, the team won it all in spite of him.

The Spanish Football Federation should be taking its players’ concerns about abuse and mistreatment seriously. If Vilda had to remain as the coach during this glorious run after his mess, the least the organization could’ve done is NOT pretend his contributions made any meaningful impact on the best international team in the sport.

The federation leaders should be embarrassed he was highlighted like this anyway.

The new Jets Hard Knocks is already oversanitized Aaron Rodgers propaganda

It’s so friendly to him that it feels dishonest.

I am under no illusion that the latest season of Hard Knocks was ever going to be explicitly harsh to Aaron Rodgers.

For many with and around the New York Jets organization, as a legitimate franchise quarterback, he is already the savior, the “second coming,” and I don’t think that’s a remotely hyperbolic statement.

But man, after the first episode, I’m shocked we received almost an hour of what essentially amounted to, “Aaron Rodgers is so great; He has never done anything wrong in his football life. And also, he’s very handsome.” Okay, the last part is fabricated, but you get the point.

As USA TODAY Sports’ Jim Reineking noted, in a 53-minute-long story, HBO elected to give us what felt like 45 minutes of the future Hall of Fame quarterback. He may as well have been featured in every frame.

Did HBO use the opportunity to tell us an intriguing account about Rodgers most people didn’t know? Was there any real context provided on why Rodgers is wearing Jets cosmic green in the first place? You know, his awkward breakup with the Green Bay Packers. Remember that whole thing the NFL world has rightfully been fixated on every offseason for the last few years?

Does that ring a bell?

No, they did not.

What HBO did give loyal Hard Knocks viewers was sanitized Jets fan service. It was so egregious that Disney should’ve been taking notes for its latest shamelessly lazy Star Wars cash grab, er, an offering made with creativity and love.

They showed us Rodgers being positively obsessed with actor Liev Schreiber. They gave us a taste of Rodgers being “goofy” and a “fun teammate” — haha, isn’t that 39-year-old multimillionaire so silly and relatable? We even got an on-the-nose montage about Rodgers giving the Jets the “shivers” with a contemporary love song. Oh, and he’s clearly being identified as the comely elder statesman who has a lot of wisdom to pass on to his whippersnapper teammates. How convenient!

It’s not as if there weren’t any references to Rodgers being a lightning rod of criticism who pouted his way out of Green Bay and painted the “evil media” as The Enemy at every turn. There were more than a few instances where a random Jets player evidently got specific camera time to break the fourth wall and say, “All the things you hear about Aaron [Rodgers] on TV? Not true!!!” It started happening so much that I finally realized this was a Rodgers brand rehabilitation, not a candid tale about a future Hall of Famer joining a perennial AFC basement dweller.

And that’s … fine. Maybe not that’s what Hard Knocks does anymore — tell complete stories with new information we didn’t know before. Maybe I shouldn’t expect instant classics like the outrageous 2001 Baltimore Ravens edition. Two decades later, it’s a different era, and most pro football teams seemingly treat their inner workings like secret codes for an atomic bomb launch.

The Jets are no different. After all, they reportedly didn’t even want to do this year’s Hard Knocks in the first place and only did so because they’d get more editorial control. Well, we saw how that strategy worked out in the first episode.

If you’re a Jets fan, you likely already wanted a generous second helping of all Aaron Rodgers: Divine Being, all the time, right away. Don’t worry. You’re presumably going to get more. If you’re a passionate football fan looking for a captivating narrative that doesn’t shy away from the truth: you should probably look elsewhere.

3 reasons why conference realignments like in the Big Ten are ruining college sports

This stinks.

UPDATE: Oregon and Washington will join the Big Ten starting in the 2024-25 academic year.

College conference realignment has seemingly struck again as the Big Ten continues to lean heavily into the big part of its name by reportedly looking to add Washington and Oregon.

This would bring four West Coast teams to the Midwest-based conference, bumping it up to 18 teams. It also would leave the once-proud Pac-12 with just a handful of schools left after Colorado and Arizona depart for the Big 12.

Rumors are still swirling that Arizona State and Utah could also make moves in the near future.

Here’s the thing: This stinks. For years, conferences have told fans that student-athletes trying to form unions or get paid will be what crushes college athletics. Instead, it’s conferences trying to secure the biggest bag for TV contracts and media rights.

I’m not naive. I understand money talks and football is king. But these moves aren’t beneficial to student athletes or fans. Here are my biggest complaints when it comes to conference realignment.

There are already a ton of Bronny James questions about his future. Don’t add more with needless speculation

We all need to try being a bit more human

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes.

Tuesday was an absolutely terrifying day for the sports world.

We learned that McDonald’s All-American and NBA draft hopeful Bronny James suffered a cardiac arrest while practicing at USC on Monday.

Immediately, upon hearing this, my heart sunk into the deepest depths of my stomach. “Not again,” I thought, as flashbacks of Damar Hamlin raced through my mind. My biggest hope was that it wasn’t worse. I hoped this it wasn’t another Hank Gathers or Reggie Lewis.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be. Bronny was immediately tended to and rushed to the hospital in time to save his life. Now he’s reportedly in stable condition, which we should all be thankful for today because things didn’t have to end up this way.

RELATED: Bryce James posts heartfelt photo of Bronny after cardiac arrest

Sudden cardiac arrest in young athletes is rare, but it still happens more often than you think. Mostly because it’s something that you’d think wouldn’t happen at all — especially not to athletes at the highest level. There are a number of reasons this could’ve happened, as Vox Media’s Keren Landman outlines here. This also could’ve ended in a very different way.

This is a time when we should all just be thankful. We don’t have to mourn a young man who has his whole life ahead of him today. Instead, we can simply celebrate the fact that he’s still with us.

But life is never that simple, is it?

Over the course of the last 24 hours, since we learned this news, there’s been a concerning level of speculation about what’s going on with Bronny here. A particular tweet (or Xeet?) from Twitter’s lead irritant, Elon Musk, is stuck in my mind. Musk speculated that the COVID-19 vaccine might be the cause of James’ condition.

Like the rest of us, Musk is not a doctor. He’s not tending to Bronny, either. He couldn’t be further away from the situation. Yet, still, here he is bringing more questions to a situation already fraught with the unknown.

Bronny was in a position to blossom, man. He was going to USC to play basketball and live his dream. He has aspirations of going to the NBA and playing at the highest level. He was in the middle of forging his own path just like his father did before him.

Then, this happens. All of that is just put on pause at the very least until this gets figured out. We don’t know how this will turn out. We don’t know if he’ll be able to play this season. We don’t know how his plans have been disrupted.

Instead of recognizing that and showing a bit of empathy, Musk and others immediately moved to insert themselves into a situation that doesn’t call for it. At the very least, this is irresponsible behavior. At the very worst, it’s downright ghoulish.

The right move here is to simply be human. Show some care. Be concerned. Send good vibes. Because that’s what good people do.

And, clearly, we need a lot more good people.

Quick Hits: The rise of the Dallas Wings … The Chargers making the NFL’s best bet … and more

Arike Ogunbowale
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

— Our Mitchell Northam chopped it up with Dallas Wings star Arike Ogunbowale in this incredible conversation that you need to read.

— Find you someone who believes in you the way the Chargers believe in Justin Herbert. Robert Zeglinski has more.

— Fans think Lionel Messi is playing in the MLS on rookie mode and I definitely agree. Mary Clarke has more.

— The Las Vegas Sphere is quite literally something else. Blake Schuster has the details.

Hollywood’s strikes are going to cost you some of your favorite shows, but it’s for the best

Hollywood is in shambles, but it’s for the best.

This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Mike Sykes. 

So this isn’t exactly a sports story, but it’s hard not to talk about the total and complete gridlock Hollywood is currently in these days.

Just in case you’ve been under a rock, here’s what’s going on: SAG-AFTRA, which is the union that represents most Hollywood actors, moved to go on strike for the first time in more than four decades after failing to reach a collective bargaining agreement with major studios.

That’s the latest, but there’s more. The WGA, which is the guild that represents a sizeable chunk of Hollywood’s writers, has also been on strike for more than 70 days, too. For the first time in six decades, both of these unions are on strike at the same time.

Hollywood’s biggest production companies, known as the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, walked away from negotiations with both after failing to meet the union’s demands.

Both are negotiating for a number of things, which include increased pay following the rise of streaming and better working conditions. You can read more about their full demands here. At the center of it all, though, is artificial intelligence.

RELATED: The writer’s guild has gone on strike. Here’s what we know.

The rise of AI is a huge sticking point for both unions with both being concerned that the technology could eventually replace some of its workers. And they’re absolutely right to be worried — we’ve already seen instances of deep fakes being used to replace artists. AI screenwriting isn’t a thing just yet, but the ground is fertile for it to begin happening soon.

These are things these unions are pushing back against. And they should. We’re two seconds away from Black Mirror’s Joan is Awful episode actually being a thing. And, I don’t know about y’all, but that sounds pretty terrifying to me.

In the meantime, Hollywood is now in shambles. That show you were looking forward to for this fall? The production has stopped. Your favorite MCU movies coming in 2024 are going to be pushed off schedule. You won’t see your favorite actors out there promoting films or attending award shows. There won’t be any bubbly press interviews about these things.

Everything just stops. And, yeah, that certainly sucks for us.

But, in the end, it’ll be for the better if it produces a better environment for the creatives we love to consume to flourish. To make that happen, though, the bigwigs of Hollywood need to come back to the negotiating table.

That’s… not looking so great right now with folks like Disney CEO Bob Iger calling the unions “unrealistic” and saying that the strikes are “very disturbing to me.”

But, for the first time in 63 years, both the WGA and SAG are on strike at the same time. That’s unprecedented. It’s clear that Hollywood is broken. Something has got to give.

Let’s hope Iger and the rest of his crew figure that out sooner rather than later.

Quick Hits: Messi is just like us fr … Novak Djokovic’s loud grunts … and more

Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

— Lionel Messi probably on his way to being a billionaire. That ain’t stopping him from shopping at Publix though. Charles Curtis has more.

— I’ve never seen someone lose a point in tennis for having too long of a grunt. Novak Djokovic just did. Caroline Darney has more.

— Keyonte George is absolutely destroying the NBA Summer League right now. Our Bryan Kalbrosky interviewed him before the NBA draft and you could tell this was coming.

— Richard Sherman might be next up for Skip Bayless, per our Cory Woodruff.

Enjoy the weekend.