Author: staff
Precious Brady-Davis, who works as the Sierra Club’s regional communications director, is campaigning to be one of the nine commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District,…
Credit: Zahid Khalil Precious Brady-Davis, who works as the Sierra Club’s regional communications director, is campaigning to be one of the nine commissioners of the Metropolitan…
Junaid Ahmed, a 45-year-old Indian American candidate for Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District, is posing a stiff primary challenge to incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat who has…
Credit: Zahid Khalil Junaid Ahmed, a 45-year-old Indian American candidate for Illinois’s Eighth Congressional District, is posing a stiff primary challenge to incumbent Raja Krishnamoorthi, a…
In January, U.S. Representative Bobby Rush announced his retirement, and for the first time in 30 years, the seat for Illinois’s First Congressional District is wide…
Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner was scheduled to speak to her wife, Cherrelle, by phone Saturday, the couple’s fourth anniversary.The call, which was approved by the Russian government and had been planned for two weeks, would have been the first time the couple spoke since Griner’s arrest Feb. 17. Griner reportedly tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times over several hours but never got through because the phone line at the American embassy in Russia was not staffed.AdvertisementThe State Department said Monday that the issue was “because of a logistical error,” but for Cherelle Griner and WNBA fans, it highlighted the fears and frustrations they have felt surrounding the U.S. government’s response to Griner’s arrest, which the State Department since has designated as “wrongful detainment.”When news of Griner’s arrest first hit, her family requested privacy, wanting to avoid the WNBA star being used as a means to a political end. But as time went on and her detainment was continuously extended, the family reversed course and allowed supporters to speak out on her behalf.AdvertisementIn May, the WNBA began honoring Griner with a “BG42″ decal on all team courts. That same month, when Griner appeared in court handcuffed and hiding her face with her hoodie, fans took to Twitter, concerned not only for her safety but her mental health.Using the hashtag #WeAreBG, activists, fans, media and players — current and former — have expressed their frustration and called out what they have deemed to be inaction by the Biden administration, echoing thoughts shared by Griner’s wife.“I find it unacceptable and I have zero trust in our government right now,” Cherrelle Griner told the Associated Press. “If I can’t trust you to catch a Saturday call outside of business hours, how can I trust you to actually be negotiating on my wife’s behalf to come home? Because that’s a much bigger ask than to catch a Saturday call.”Officials at the State Department met with members of the Mercury last week, but there are growing calls for President Biden to step in and meet with Cherelle Griner.On Monday, racial injustice activist group Until Freedom and members of the WNBA fan community held a “Free Brittney Griner” rally and march in New York.Media personality Arielle Chambers attended and spoke at the event. She described an emotional scene in which about 20 people stood silently with their fists raised in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building before marching through Harlem with attendees chanting Griner’s name. They stopped at the Harriet Tubman Memorial — the ultimate symbol of fighting for freedom, especially for a Black woman.Chambers said attendees asked that Griner’s humanity be remembered as an aunt, daughter, friend and wife.Khristina Williams, a WNBA insider and founder of GirlsTalkSportsTV, said she and Chambers were invited to attend the rally by Irv Roland, an assistant coach with the NBA’s Utah Jazz.Advertisement“The whole purpose of the rally was not only to raise more awareness,” Williams told the Tribune, “but to continue to challenge President Biden and (Vice President) Kamala Harris to make more moves in terms of Brittney’s case, which is very unique, and I feel like more can be done.“We want to make sure we keep her name out there. When it comes to Black women, but especially Black queer women in America, there isn’t a lot of support. We want to continue to keep that story out there and bring it more attention.”Every participant in today’s rally received “Free Brittney Griner” posters as they marched through the streets of Harlem to raise awareness. The march started at the state building on West 125th street and ended in front of the Swing Low: Harriet Tubman memorial. #WeAreBG pic.twitter.com/f8gAyN8e5h— Khristina Williams (@Khristina) June 20, 2022
A change.org petition calling for Griner’s return to the U.S. started by journalist and author Tamryn Spruill in March and signed by the WNBA players association had more than 266,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.The petition called on the Biden administration to do “whatever is necessary,” calling Griner’s detention a “human rights issue.” The petition also pointed to pay inequity as a reason players are forced to join teams overseas during the WNBA offseason.Advertisement“(A)s a decorated Olympian and member of an elite global sport community, Brittney’s detention must be resolved out of respect for the safety of all athletes traveling to compete internationally and the sanctity of sport,” the petition states.Griner has been detained nearly 130 days. On June 14, her detainment was extended until at least July 2.AdvertisementGriner on Wednesday was named an honorary starter for the WNBA All-Star Game on July 10 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago.“It is not difficult to imagine that if BG were here with us this season, she would once again be selected and would, no doubt, show off her incredible talents,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “So, it is only fitting that she be named as an honorary starter today and we continue to work on her safe return to the U.S.”
As the election looms closer, it’s easy not to think of people in prison at all, except maybe as statistics. Those in prison are easy to…
PITTSBURGH — One pitch three starts ago still lingers in Matt Swarmer’s mind.The sequence occurred in his June 11 outing at Yankee Stadium, where he notably became the first Chicago Cubs starter since 1901 to allow six home runs in a game. On that night, Swarmer threw a 90-mph fastball so inside to catcher Jose Trevino that the pitch nearly was in the batter’s box. But Trevino turned on the ball, hitting it off the left-field foul pole for a solo homer.AdvertisementGiven the placement, Swarmer figured the ball would have at least gone foul off Trevino’s bat if he didn’t take the pitch. Instead, it gave the Yankees their fourth homer of the game in an 8-0 win, part of a series sweep.The Cubs believe Swarmer was tipping pitches against the Yankees. In his two starts since then, Swarmer thinks he has addressed the issue and the tipping problem has not been as pronounced.Advertisement“I don’t want to give hitters any advantage and make them feel like everything looks the same and you never know what’s coming,” Swarmer told the Tribune on Wednesday. “In the moment you’re not worried about where your hands are or mechanics, you’re just worried about executing pitches. But yeah, it can speed up on you quick. I’ve just got to be more aware early.”Cubs starting pitcher Matt Swarmer, right, gets a visit from pitching coach Tommy Hottovy, left, during the third inning against the Pirates on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Swarmer took the loss in the 7-1 defeat. (Gene J. Puskar/AP)Swarmer credited pitching coach Tommy Hottovy for bringing to his attention during games when he notices him potentially tipping, pointing to an indicator that the right-hander’s mechanics are off.“I mean, that was a really good lineup — tipping/no tipping, that’s a potent (Yankees) offense,” Hottovy told the Tribune. “As long as he’s true to himself and continues to trust what he does really well and then find ways to sprinkle in the fastball and changeup and move the ball around … he’s got a unique slider that a lot of people don’t see.”Swarmer was done in Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates by a 39-pitch third inning in which he gave up three runs. It prevented him from pitching deep into the game, limited to four innings. It forced manager David Ross to use right-hander Mark Leiter Jr., called up hours earlier to give the bullpen a fresh long reliever. Swarmer allowed five runs (four earned) in the outing while walking two and striking out five.Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.After two short starts in the series from Swarmer and Caleb Kilian, who was optioned to Triple A on Tuesday, right-hander Keegan Thompson stepped up.Thompson delivered a quality start for a second straight outing, holding the Pirates to one run over six innings in the Cubs’ 14-5 win Wednesday. The offense provided plenty of run support early, scoring seven runs in the second inning when they sent 10 batters to the plate and went 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position. The Cubs took advantage of loading the bases with nobody out in the inning, cashing in against Pirates starter Jerad Eickhoff.Five Cubs drove in a run in the victory, paced by Ian Happ and Patrick Wisdom each hitting two-run homers. For Wisdom, it represented back-to-back days with a home run. Alfonso Rivas connected for his first-career grand slam, hitting it off Pirates infielder Diego Castillo in the ninth.With the Cubs likely not getting any of their three injured starting pitchers back until around the All-Star break, Swarmer has an opportunity to get an extended big-league look. He wants to be more aggressive earlier in games and not worry about strikeouts. Ultimately, Swarmer wants to be a starter that the Cubs can count on to pitch deep into games.Advertisement“Sometimes I try to do too much and it just throws me off my game even more,” Swarmer said. “Like, I’ll just try too hard. I’ll get 0-2 or 1-2, and I’m trying to put the guy away or get weak contact. And outs are outs. But I’ve got to keep getting better, honestly, and keep learning.”Swarmer continues to rely on his fastball-slider mix. He knows working on his changeup as a bona fide third pitch is going to be important to prevent hitters from sitting on his slider. It’s Swarmer’s best pitch, and Hottovy wants to see heavy usage.“We’re still wanting guys to trust their stuff also trying to find ways to keep developing guys,” Hottovy said. “And he’s one of those guys that falls into that role of we know he’s got a pitch that plays really well. How can we complement that with other stuff and keep giving him an opportunity to succeed?”
The Chicago White Sox hold their annual Pride Night on Thursday for the opener of a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles.Sox closer Liam Hendriks, who raised a pride flag at Guaranteed Rate Field along with his wife, Kristi, said it’s important for every organization in baseball to show its support of the LGBTQ+ community.AdvertisementWhile many MLB teams already have events in conjunction with Pride Month, the Tampa Bay Rays recently made national news when their team-initiated Pride Night celebration turned into a controversy about whether players should need to wear caps and jerseys with the rainbow-colored logo. Five Rays pitchers — Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson — removed the rainbow logo and wore their regular caps.Adams told the Tampa Bay Times the players decided not to wear the rainbow logos for religious reasons, saying “it’s just that maybe we don’t want to encourage it if we believe in Jesus, who’s encouraged us to live a lifestyle that would abstain from that behavior, just like (Jesus) encourages me as a heterosexual male to abstain from sex outside of the confines of marriage.”AdvertisementHendriks in an interview Tuesday declined to address the Rays controversy, saying “everyone is entitled to their own opinions.” Sox players will not be asked to wear logos on their caps or jerseys, a team spokesman said.White Sox relief clsoer Liam Hendriks starts to celebrate a victory as Boston Red Sox batter Xander Bogaerts flies out to end the game on May 25, 2022, at Guaranteed Rate Field. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)Is it important for the entire team to show its support?“Not necessarily the whole team,” Hendriks replied. “But the more people you get involved at certain points, you’re trying to move the ball forward every single year, whether it be one player this year and another next year. …“I know there are a lot of players that are very open to the concept of doing anything. They just aren’t sure whether they want to be (vocal). They’re all on board with supporting it. They just aren’t sure whether they can go out and be that kind of voice, to put their face out there.“I want to get us to a society where you can say whatever and have your own opinions, as long as it’s not hateful toward an entire demographic.”Hendriks not only is comfortable being the voice of the Sox celebrating Pride Night — which they have done since 2018 — but said he spoke with the front office about being involved in it before signing here as a free agent.Detail of the Tampa Bay Rays’ pride burst logo celebrating Pride Month during a game against the White Sox on June 4, 2022, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images North America/TNS)“It wasn’t a demand by any means, and it wasn’t a make-or-break decision,” he said of the discussion. “It was something like, ‘Hey, if you don’t have (Pride Night), this is a conversation we’re going to have to have. And if you do have one, sweet, how do I become more involved?’“I want to be, not the ambassador, but I want to make sure there is a player’s name attached to this and we can move forward and try to get every team to have a single guy, or group of guys, that can put their face on this (event) and say ‘This is what we’re doing in our clubhouse.’ That’s what we’re aiming for.”AdvertisementThe Hendrikses also donated South Slydah Society-branded Pride flags to the Sox event — they will be distributed for free in Section 154. Liam Hendriks said he has been involved in the cause for many years and confirmed he has received hateful comments on social media for supporting the LGBTQ+ community.He called them “cowards” who would never say the same comments to his face.“Everyone tends to be a little (bit of) keyboard warriors when they have no repercussions,” Hendriks said. “It is what it is. The fact is the hate I get for being an ally is very limited compared to what some other people may be getting if they’re in the spotlight or in the limelight going through this ordeal of going out and being true to themselves.“That’s something that shouldn’t happen in life. But unfortunately it’s a lot of judgment without knowing the person. It’s a lot of hate and vitriol about a certain lifestyle. I don’t think anyone is perfect in this world. The fact they can judge someone else for who they are is damaging to an entire population.”
The most powerful anecdote in the legend of Jeannie Morris was about the time she traveled to Minnesota to cover a Chicago Bears-Minnesota Vikings game and was barred from the press box — because women and children weren’t allowed.Undeterred, Morris covered the game in a blizzard from a seat above the box.Advertisement“That wasn’t much fun, but it makes for a good story,” she later said in a Bears video.At a time when Title IX was helping girls and women gain more opportunities on sports fields and courts, Morris was helping to fight battles in the media as one of the most influential women sports broadcasters in Chicago history. Those fights included being barred from access at the Indianapolis 500 trials and being called “a shrimp female” while Ted Williams ordered her out of the dugout.Advertisement[ Title IX turns 50: Meet 50 women in Illinois who have impacted sports on — and off — the field of play ][ After a tennis career as ‘the only one,’ Katrina Adams is now on a mission to open doors for women in sports ]Earlier this week, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the Tribune unveiled a list of 50 women who have made an impact in Chicago sports history. But we wanted to acknowledge a separate group of women who have influenced Chicago sports with their words — on air, on paper and online — despite a different set of obstacles.From Morris to Melissa Isaacson to Leila Rahimi, here are 20 women who have stood out over the years in Chicago sports media.USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan attends the Fight For Children Honors Gala at The Anthem on May 19, 2022, in Washington. (Shannon Finney / Getty Images)Christine Brennan: Chicago can claim the longtime USA Today columnist, TV commentator and Red Smith Award winner because she’s one of a long line of distinguished alumnae from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, where she is a professor of practice. She’s one of two notable USA Today women sports columnists with Chicago ties, the other Nancy Armour. Brennan was the first woman sports writer at the Miami Herald, worked at the Washington Post and has written several books.Lisa Byington: The versatile announcer has a lot of firsts on her resume, including becoming the first woman to work as a full-time TV play-by-play announcer for a major men’s professional sports team when the Milwaukee Bucks hired her in September. She also was the Big Ten Network’s first female play-by-play announcer to call a football game. A basketball and soccer player at Northwestern, Byington also is part of the Chicago Sky broadcast crew.Toni Ginnetti: A sports writer for 33 years at the Sun-Times, Ginnetti covered multiple professional beats, including the White Sox and the Cubs. She started her career at the The Daily Herald for nine years before moving to news at the Sun-Times but frequently pitched ideas to the sports department, according to a Robert Feder story in 2014. In that story announcing her retirement, she said legendary Chicago columnist Mike Royko helped push her permanent move to sports when he asked the Sun-Times managing editor, “When are you going to put her in sports?”Margaret Holt: She became the first woman sports editor at the Chicago Tribune when she was hired from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 1993. Holt stayed in the role until 1995, just part of her 50-year journalism career, which ended when she left the Tribune in January after a stint as the standards editor. A Chicago Reader story documented a well-known spat Holt had with a Tribune copy editorafter she took away the department’s TV, which editors used to monitor scores and late games. Holt didn’t want it to be a distraction. But the story also interestingly detailed Holt’s move from only results-focused game stories, an approach many sports sections and sites have made since, especially in the internet age.[ Commentary: 50 years later, Title IX gains are fragile. And there’s much more work to do in the next 50 years. ]Cassidy Hubbarth on the set of “NBA Tonight” in 2014. (Rich Arden / ESPN Images )Cassidy Hubbarth: The Evanston native and Northwestern graduate has been with ESPN since 2010, working as an NBA host and reporter. She is the lead host of “Hoop Streams,” ESPN’s NBA pregame show for digital and social media, and has hosted “NBA Tonight” and “NBA Coast to Coast.” She started as a traffic reporter and also worked for CSN Chicago, the Big Ten Network and Intersport. She was a state champion soccer player at Evanston. She’s far from the only female ESPN employee with ties to Chicago. Broadcasting powerhouses Andrea Kremer and Bonnie Bernstein each made career stops in Chicago with the network, while Sarah Spain, who is on this list, is from Lake Forest.Melissa Isaacson, the longtime Chicago Tribune sports writer who wore No. 10 for the 1979 Niles West girls basketball team, wrote a book about the team that was released in August 2019. (Courtesy of Melissa Isaacson / H / Handout)Melissa Isaacson: She was the Chicago Tribune beat reporter for the Bulls during the Michael Jordan era and also covered the Bears in her 19 years at the Tribune. She later moved to ESPN and now is a lecturer at Northwestern. Isaacson wrote a book — “State: A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation” — about her experiences on Niles West’s 1979 state championship basketball team in the years immediately following Title IX. She is one of many successful women sports writers at the Tribune over the years, including Bonnie (then DeSimone) Ford, who went on to work at ESPN, and Shannon Ryan, who was the 2020 Illinois Sportswriter of the Year and now works for The Athletic.AdvertisementChristina Kahrl poses before Game 4 of the National League Championship Series between the Cubs and Mets on Oct. 21, 2015. (Andrew Theodorakis/for New York Daily News)Christina Kahrl: Now the San Francisco Chronicle sports editor, the University of Chicago and Loyola alum and former longtime resident of the city was a co-founder in 1996 of Baseball Prospectus, for which she became the executive editor and a columnist. She then worked for ESPN for 10 years. She was the first openly transgender sports writer when she came out in 2002-03 and was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame for her activism for the transgender community.Linda Kay was the first sports writer at the Chicago Tribune. After leaving Chicago, Kay was a Montreal Gazette columnist, a professor at Concordia University and an author. She died in 2018 at 66. (Quentin C. Dodt / Chicago Tribune)Linda Kay: She was the Chicago Tribune’s first woman sports writer, co-authoring the Odds & Ins column with Skip Myslenski and then Mike Conklin. She went on to become a lifestyle columnist at the Montreal Gazette and a journalism professor at Concordia University. She died in 2018 at 66.Peggy Kusinski: She has been a part of the fabric of Chicago sports media for three decades, most notably with NBC-5 for nearly 20 years. She started at CLTV before becoming the first woman to host a Chicago sports talk show, WMAQ-AM 670’s “Sports Huddle.” She was a sports anchor and host on ESPN’s WMVP-AM 1000 and now is back on the station hosting a Saturday show with Dionne Miller. She also hosts podcasts “The Sportscaster And Her Son” and “Pass the Mic.” Kusinski is one of a long list of talented women’s TV sports anchors/reporters that also includes former CBS-2 reporter Megan Mawicke and Miller, who is on ABC-7.Fox Sports sideline reporter Sarah Kustok prepares for a postgame interview during a game between the Colts and Vikings on Sept. 20, 2020, in Indianapolis. (Zach Bolinger/AP)Sarah Kustok: The former Sandburg and DePaul basketball player became a Blue Demons assistant coach under Doug Bruno and started her broadcasting career in Chicago with CSN Chicago, NBC-5 and FOX-32. After serving as the Brooklyn Nets sideline reporter for the YES network, she became the first woman to be named the solo color analyst for an NBA team for a regional network in 2017. She also has worked for Fox Sports and CBS’ “We Need to Talk.”Jeannie Morris, a Chicago sports media trailblazer, sits for a photo at the Union League Club on March 6, 2014. Morris died in December 2020. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)Jeannie Morris: During a 24-year career as a broadcaster, Morris made her mark on the Chicago sports scene despite battling sexism. She did sportscasts with her husband, former Bears wide receiver Johnny Morris, for NBC-5 and CBS-2 and co-hosted “The Mike Ditka Show” with him. Morris was the first woman to report live from the Super Bowl in 1975. She also was a writer, starting with a column in the Chicago American and continuing with the Brian Piccolo biography, “Brian Piccolo: A Short Season.” She’s not the only area woman who had access issues. A 1972 Chicago Tribune article described the removal of Lynda (Morstadt) Fillmore from the Comiskey Park press box. Morris died in December 2020.A portrait of broadcaster Beth Mowins, who became the first woman to call Cubs games, outside Wrigley Field on March 17, 2021. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)Beth Mowins: Last season, she became the first woman in Chicago Cubs history to serve as a play-by-play announcer. She had extensive experience before that calling multiple sports, including NFL and college football games and NCAA championships in basketball, softball, soccer and volleyball.AdvertisementSports writer Carrie Muskat in the Cubs dugout before a game against the Astros on May 16, 2001, at Wrigley Field. (NUCCIO DINUZZO / CHICAGO TRIBUNE)Carrie Muskat: She covered Major League Baseball for four decades, including the Cubs for MLB.com from 2001-18. She also is an author of books about the Cubs, including “Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five decades of love and frustration with the Chicago Cubs” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments who made the Chicago Cubs.”Sharon Pannozzo: She worked for the Cubs for 24 years, including as director of media relations, holding a high-ranking position in baseball at a time when few women did. After resigning in 2006, she went on to become vice president of entertainment publicity at NBC Universal, which included working as a spokesman for “Saturday Night Live.”Candace Parker: The only woman to make both our lists of 50 women in Chicago sports history and 20 women in Chicago sports media, Parker has made a splash as an NBA analyst for TNT and NBA TV. The Chicago Sky player and Naperville Central alumna is part of a TNT Tuesday crew that includes Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade. She also has done work as a producer, including a recent documentary: “Title IX: 37 words that changed America.”Leila Rahimi: She is the first woman to be a full-time lead sports anchor at NBC-5. Before that, she was a full-time weekday host on WSCR-AM 670 with Dan Bernstein, one of the few women to have hosted on the station, a list that includes Julie DiCaro, Maggie Hendricks and Julie Swieca, who was a reporter and host for the station for 10 years. Rahimi still appears on the station on Wednesdays. She previously worked in Chicago at NBC Sports Chicago and covered the Olympics for NBC.Cheryl Raye-Stout: Now a sports reporter for WBEZ-FM 91.5, Raye-Stout has been in Chicago sports radio for nearly four decades. She started at WMAQ-AM 670, producing Chet Coppock’s show and hosting “One-on-One with Cheryl Raye.” She later reported for WMVP-AM 1000, including covering the Michael Jordan-era Bulls. She had a hand in breaking two of the biggest Jordan stories — his move to baseball and his return from retirement.Krista Ruch: She has been the executive sports producer at CBS-2 since 2003, leading all of their daily coverage as well as coverage of Chicago’s sports championships along the way. She began at WGN-9 in 1993, working her way up to supervising sports producer in 1999, becoming the first woman and youngest person at 28 to hold the top sports producer job at any Chicago TV station.AdvertisementUndated photo of Mary Shane, a pioneering broadcaster who teamed with Harry Caray and Jimmy Piersall for White Sox games during the 1977 season. (Chicago White Sox archives)Mary Shane: She became the first woman regular play-by-play announcer for a Major League Baseball team when the White Sox hired her in 1977. Shane started her sports journalism career in Milwaukee doing freelance writing and radio, and it was while covering the Brewers at County Stadium that Harry Caray noticed her. He invited her to join him in the booth during the game that day and the next. The Sox hired her to the broadcast team the next season, and she did play by play and color commentary on radio and TV.Studeio portrait of ESPN radio and TV commentator Sarah Spain, a Lake Forest native, in December 2015. (Joe Faraoni / HANDOUT)Sarah Spain: The ESPN TV/radio/podcast host and writer is from Lake Forest, where she played basketball, field hockey and track. She went on to be a heptathlete at Cornell. Along with Malika Andrews, the ESPN NBA reporter and host whose Chicago connection is a brief career stop at the Tribune and ESPN as a Bulls writer, Spain is one of the most high-profile — and social media-savvy — Chicago-area women on the network. She also is a co-owner of the Chicago Red Stars.