Author: staff

Sports

Column: Ken Williams to the rescue? More like another maddening moment in a miserable Chicago White Sox season.

The man who fired Tony La Russa was in the Chicago White Sox clubhouse Sunday morning, two days after the man who could fire La Russa also made a cameo appearance.But any resemblance between the clubhouse visits of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson and Ken Williams was purely coincidental.AdvertisementHarrelson, who memorably fired La Russa in the summer of 1986 during Hawk’s one-year reign as general manager, was in town in his role as team ambassador. He stopped by the clubhouse Sunday morning to chat with old friends, including La Russa.Williams, the former Sox GM who was promoted to executive vice-president in 2012, made a trip to the clubhouse to address the team about its underachieving season. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, who reported the news, tweeted that “no one was absolved, from staff to players, for the team’s woes.”AdvertisementChicago #WhiteSox president Ken Williams addressed the players and staff on Friday about their underachieving performance this season, reminding them of their talent, but that it was time to focus and pull together. No one was absolved, from staff to players, for the team’s woes.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 11, 2022

But whether Williams actually blamed La Russa or his staff for the aggravating, mind-numbing and generally uninspiring play of the team is questionable to say the least. La Russa said Williams was there as the team was “celebrating” Tim Anderson’s All-Star recognition.“There wasn’t anything he said I disagreed with,” La Russa told reporters Tuesday.What was Williams’ message?“We’ve had our ups and downs and the talent’s talent’s there to make it more ups than downs the second half of the season,” La Russa said.Didn’t sound like anyone was being blamed. If Williams actually thought the manager and coaches weren’t pulling their load, he should’ve let the camera crew filming Anderson’s celebration for Twitter continue to roll. It would’ve gone viral, and the message would’ve been sent.But of course, Williams was not going to publicly say something critical about Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf’s hand-picked manager, or his own hand-picked coaches. The fact the news leaked at all was embarrassing to everyone but Williams, who apparently believed he was the right person to give the speech.Williams went back into his cocoon after Nightengale’s tweet, sending a message through a team spokesman that whatever he said in the clubhouse was a “private discussion.”The Sox went on to lose to Cleveland in the opener of a critical eight-game road trip, and play the Guardians in a split double-header Tuesday.AdvertisementIf Sox players truly needed a talking to, it should’ve been La Russa’s job to say something. He supposedly was brought out of semi-retirement because of his leadership skills, so why would he need Williams to pinch-hit for him?And if both the players and staff needed to be called out for the team’s sloppy play, it should’ve been GM Rick Hahn’s job.Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa, right, talks with General Manager Rick Hahn, center, and Executive Vice President Ken Williams during batting practice before a game against the Cleveland Guardians, May 9, 2022, at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)Once again, it’s another example of Williams trying to prove he’s still in charge, as he did seven years ago in Detroit when he said of Hahn and then manager Robin Ventura: “I take full responsibility for the underperformance right now. Believe me when I tell you this, the first phone call when the chairman is upset, it isn’t to any of those guys. It’s to me.”That was Williams’ “Al Haig moment,” when he let Sox fans know he was still The Man. Ventura was his hire, and he was going nowhere.Hahn eventually let Ventura go after his contract ended in 2016 and without a job search hired bench coach Rick Renteria as the manager of the Sox rebuild. But when Hahn fired Renteria after the shortened 2020 season that ended with a playoff loss to the Oakland A’s, he was informed La Russa would be the right choice as his replacement.Theoretically, Hahn should have the authority to fire La Russa, like any GM in professional sports. But it’s the worst-kept secret in Chicago that La Russa can only leave by his own volition because of his bromance with Reinsdorf. The longer the Sox struggle, the worse it looks for Hahn, whose hands are seemingly tied.AdvertisementLa Russa hasn’t faced this kind of heat in years, mostly because he’d been working in various front offices since leaving St. Louis, where he was revered for his two championship seasons with the Cardinals. He also knows most managers in his position come under fire for the disappointing play of their teams.The buck stops there. It comes with the territory.Former Cubs manger Dusty Baker, now with Houston, spent his final two years in Chicago fending off rumors about being fired. In 2006 Baker coined the term “blame black box,” referring to the device on an airplane that reveals whether a crash was because of pilot error or mechanical problems.“The one thing you learn about in life, no matter what job you’re in, is you’re going to have your turn to be in that box, whether you’re a manager or a coach or a CEO or a president or a janitor,” Baker said. “You know everybody is going to get a chance in what I call the black blame box, because that’s what it is.”La Russa is now in the box, like it or not. But Sox fans don’t chant “Fire Tony” at Guaranteed Rate Field because they actually think it’s going to happen. They do it to show their outrage with the play of this team and for some of his head-scratching decisions. If they also could boo Hahn, you know they would.Before Monday’s game in Cleveland, La Russa was asked to address another Nightengale report that “there have been a lot of whispers of unrest, cliques and the lack of player leadership inside the clubhouse tearing apart this talented team.”AdvertisementLa Russa denied the report, saying it was a “very tight club.”“That’s why it’s more irritating,” he said. “But more irritating if our fans buy into it at all.”Without knowing who is doing all the whispering, it’s hard to take that report too seriously. The Sox are like any other underachieving team in the post-Zoom era. Most of the stars avoid being around media members before games. Some players talk by appointment only. The exception is outspoken closer Liam Hendriks, which is why Hendriks so often is used as the team’s unofficial spokesman on various topics.Either way, a lack of leadership from Sox players isn’t their biggest problem. The decision to fill holes in the offseason with affordable journeymen position players instead of bidding on the best free-agent infielders and outfielders tops the list. When injuries hit, the Sox had little depth.That’s on Hahn, or maybe Williams if he’s still The Man, as the clubhouse address suggests.There’s still a chance for the Sox to dig themselves out of this hole. But if not, Hahn has to seriously start thinking about unloading players.AdvertisementThe blame black box applies to them as well.

Sports

Tiger Woods takes aim at new Saudi-funded LIV series as he preps for British Open

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods has a voice that can be as a big as his golf game.What he lacks is enough visibility.AdvertisementWoods left little room for interpretation Tuesday when the 15-time major champion hammered away at Greg Norman’s new Saudi-funded LIV Golf series as not being in golf’s best interests. He said players who couldn’t resist the money — some received more than Woods has earned in his entire PGA Tour career — had “turned their back” on the very tour that made them famous.None is as famous as Woods. He is not just the engine that drives the train. For the modern game, he’s the entire railroad.Advertisement“What these players are doing for guaranteed money, what is the incentive to practice? What is the incentive to go out there and earn it in the dirt?” Woods said. “You’re just getting paid a lot of money up front, and playing a few events and playing 54 holes.”They were his strongest comments to date, one of the lengthiest and most passionate answers from Woods, who for so many years preferred that his clubs delivered the message.Tiger Woods speaks out against the new Saudi-funded golf series during his Tuesday press conference at St. Andrews. (Peter Morrison/AP)What the PGA Tour wouldn’t give to have Woods at full strength, playing a full schedule, in the midst of one of the most disruptive moments in golf.The British Open is only the third tournament Woods has played his year — four including the two-day charity pro-am in Ireland last week — and probably will be his last until he gets to the Bahamas at the end of the year for a holiday event he hosts.While Norman was laying the ground work last fall and figuring out how to spend all that money from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, Woods was out of the public eye from February to the end of November recovering from his car crash outside Los Angeles.He spoke for the first time in the Bahamas and said his allegiance was to the PGA Tour and “that’s where my legacy is.”And then it was another four months before Woods played again at the Masters. And after that, six weeks until the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, where he distanced himself from Phil Mickelson — nothing new there — when it came to the LIV Golf.Woods now is back in the public two months later. His words are getting stronger.AdvertisementHis most pointed comments were for players who seemingly had their careers in front of them, who had yet to even make it to the PGA Tour and chose to take money they otherwise would have had to earn through performance.Woods spoke at his Hall of Fame induction in March of his parents taking out a second mortgage on their home to pay for his junior development. And when he turned pro and signed big endorsements deals with Nike and Titleist, the priority was to pay it off.That was his road.As he spoke Tuesday, the Official World Golf Ranking board had its annual meeting at St. Andrews. Still to be determined is whether LIV Golf gets world ranking points. Even if it goes through a one-year waiting period, most — if not all — of the players will be out of the top 50 by then. That makes it a long road back, especially if the majors — which seem to like LIV Golf as much as Woods — change their criteria.“That is a possibility, that some players will never, ever get a chance to play in a major championship, never get a chance to experience this right here, walk down the fairways at Augusta National,” Woods said. “That to me, I just don’t understand it.”LIV Golf still doesn’t have anyone from the top 15 in the world ranking, though it has some major champions with plenty of name recognition — Mickelson, a chief recruiter for Norman; Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.AdvertisementThere was a time not along ago when DeChambeau couldn’t spend enough time with Woods on the golf course (they played the same brand of golf ball). Whatever influence Woods has, DeChambeau sees him only a few times a year. That’s the extent of how much Woods can play on a right leg he described as being full of hardware from surgeries.One famous story over the years was how Mickelson would engage in banter with a room full of players, and Mickelson would end any debate by asking, “How many majors have you won?” But first, he would look over his should to make sure Woods was not in the room.Woods still owns the stage in golf. He always has. He just doesn’t get out as much.Norman isn’t at St. Andrews for the gathering of British Open champions. It’s not clear whether he ever planned to attend, having skipped the last two times it was held at the home of golf. The R&A figured he would be a distraction amid the celebration of the 150th edition and asked him not to come this year.Woods thought it was the right call.“Greg has done some things that I don’t think is in the best interest of our game,” he said.AdvertisementHe later referenced Norman trying to start a World Golf Tour in the early 1990s that was quashed. The most powerful dissenting voice back then came from Arnold Palmer. The King was 20 years beyond his last PGA Tour win but still a consistent presence in golf.That’s what the tour could use from Woods.

Sports

Duncan Keith retires after 17 NHL seasons, 16 of them with the Chicago Blackhawks

After three Stanley Cups and 17 NHL seasons, Duncan Keith has called it a career.The former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman officially retired Tuesday, finishing his career a year to the day he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers to accommodate his wish to be closer to family in Western Canada.Advertisement#Oilers defenceman Duncan Keith has announced his retirement.Thank you, Duncan, for the invaluable veteran leadership you brought to the team during the 2021-22 season & congratulations on an outstanding @NHL career!— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) July 12, 2022

Keith, 38, had 106 goals and 540 assists in 1,256 games. In 151 playoff games, he notched 19 goals and 72 assists.Keith had a goal and 20 assists in 64 games with the Oilers.AdvertisementKeith was a two-time Norris Trophy winner (2010, 2014) as the league’s best defenseman and the 2015 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the postseason MVP.Keith was named to the All-Star first team in 2010 and 2014 and the second team in 2017, and he played in the All-Star Game in 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2017.The 2002 second-round draft pick scored 105 goals for the Hawks, one of only four Hawks defensemen in the 100-goal club, and had 520 assists. His 1,192 games played is second-most in franchise history behind Stan Mikita (1,396).