Author: staff

Sports

Chaos ensues after Gervonta Davis boxing match at Barclays Center

A stampede of frightened and panicked fans capped Saturday night boxing at Barclays Center.Not long after crowd favorite Gervonta Davis knocked out Rolly Romero with a left counter, a rumor of gunshots sent exiting spectators into a frenzied dash from the concourse back inside the arena. An NYPD detective told ESPN that 10 people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries as a result of the melee, but he believed the rumor that a gun had been fired — which was echoed by spectators and members of Barclays Center staff at the time — was a false alarm.AdvertisementHundreds spilled back into the arena, running through the largely empty stands. Others, like tennis star Naomi Osaka, were apparently shuttled into a closed room.“I was just in the Barclays center and suddenly I heard shouting and saw people running, then we were being yelled at that there was an active shooter and we had to huddle in a room and close the doors,” Osaka tweeted, “I was so f–king petrified.”AdvertisementConfusion added to the chaos. In the hallways of the event level by the TV trucks, an arena employee was telling people to stay put until he received an update on his walkie talkie.[ Loud noise sparks shooting scare at NYC Barclays Center boxing match, 10 hurt in panic ]Two cops then sprinted around the corner. Arena announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr. told his Showtime colleague Jim Gray, “the quicker we get out of here, the better.”Tensions were building inside Barclays Center before the chaotic exit. A fight in the stands occurred in the first round of the main event between Davis and Romero. Another fan fight erupted after Davis won. The sold out crowd of nearly 19,000, which included Madonna and Michael Strahan, set the record for the highest-grossing boxing event in Barclays Center history.They saw Davis retain his lightweight championship with a sixth-round spectacular knockout, sending Romero headfirst into the ropes. Romero got up but was dazed and the referee waved off the bout.“The crazy thing is that I didn’t even throw (my knockout left hand counter) that hard,” Davis said. “He just ran into it.”

Sports

Analysis: Jed Hoyer and the Chicago Cubs must learn from mistakes to build the franchise’s next title contender

The Chicago Cubs’ process to creating another World Series contender requires again overhauling the major-league roster.There is nothing disputable about the statement. Whether this is called a rebuild depends on the perspective. Don’t expect any Cubs personnel to refer to the organization’s current undertaking as such, but, ultimately, it’s semantics. The Cubs clearly have major work to do to compete for a division title — or even a postseason appearance.AdvertisementTaking a long-view lens while trying to compete in the short term requires balance, and sometimes that means sacrificing one for the other. Their offseason transactions reflected this approach with a mix of short-term deals, particularly the multitude of one-year contracts for pitchers, and those of Marcus Stroman and Seiya Suzuki. And when the trade deadline arrives in about two months, team President Jed Hoyer will be forced to weigh how his moves affect the Cubs’ long-term approach.“You’re forced oftentimes to decide is this a move I want to make right now that is going to have a negative impact on our future, and when those have come up, I feel like I’ve leaned strongly toward the future,” Hoyer said Saturday before the Cubs’ 5-1 win against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. “And I feel strongly about that.”AdvertisementCubs fans want — and deserve — transparency with how the franchise intends to turn around its shortcomings and leverage what should be considerable financial resources to supplement player development. Hoyer has been through this before as Theo Epstein’s right-hand man when they joined the organization before the 2012 season.Cubs President Jed Hoyer talks with reporters on April 7, 2022, at Wrigley Field. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)“Obviously if people don’t feel like we’re being as transparent, then I think I have to own that and I should think about our messaging,” Hoyer said. “How you guys (the media) choose to label that, that’s your decision.”Hoyer circled back on the topic during his 25-minute conversation Saturday.“I think there’s a desire for transparency, which I totally understand,” Hoyer said. “If I’m not doing a good job of that, then I need to work on how I explain things. But at the same time I also don’t think it’s my job, or it’d be foolish to sit here and tell everyone exactly how much money we’re going spend, who we want to sign and what our exact timeline is. That’d be giving us a competitive disadvantage because no one else is doing that either.”The Cubs organization is in a much better spot now than when it initiated its rebuild 10 years ago. A strong infrastructure is in place, especially on the pitching side, while the farm system isn’t in complete shambles, especially after the influx of young talent the last two years.It’s important to remember that when Epstein and Co. embarked on their rebuild, creating sustained success was a reoccurring mantra. Those painful 2012-14 seasons when they averaged 95 losses weren’t supposed to happen again. Building a strong foundation was supposed to yield a franchise that reloaded every few years. The Cubs made clear they did not want to repeat their rebuilding efforts again anytime soon. The big-picture messaging and long-term view they have taken on is challenging after producing five playoff appearances and six winning seasons in the last seven years.ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 32Cubs GM Jed Hoyer, with his glove, walks out to the field for a workout at Wrigley Field on July 6, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)Unfortunately, this is where Hoyer and the organization find themselves. But none of the Cubs’ attempts to turn things around matters if they don’t learn from what went wrong the first time. It all comes back to a failure to create sustained success.Hoyer acknowledged the previous regime’s shortcomings.Advertisement“I mean, I don’t think any person would deny when we built it the first time obviously the goal was to be able to sustain that success,” Hoyer said. “And ultimately what we achieved was, it burned incredibly bright, but it was probably for a shorter amount of time than we had hoped.“So we are in a period where we are actively thinking about our future again. We’ve built something really special once. I have no doubt we’re going to build it again.”Looking back on their six-plus years of a contending window, Hoyer believes the Cubs were aggressive in trading prospects and spending money. And as prospects reached the majors, the organization didn’t do a good enough job of developing the next wave behind the Kris Bryants, Javier Báezes and Kyle Schwarbers: “That hurt us.”Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.Those shortcomings helped pave the way for last season’s trade-deadline sell-off. The Cubs got into a no-win position by not extending any of the core World Series players or trading them before they reached their final season of team control. The only way out was hitting reset. The foundation of success started and stopped with the group that won the 2016 title, a blueprint the Cubs must avoid this go-around.“We held on to a group players until really the very end — replenishing along the way is something that other teams have done, candidly, better than we did it,” Hoyer said. “To be willing to make some trades earlier, to replenish. I mean, young players are the lifeblood of a championship team, and we got to a place where we didn’t have that.“We didn’t make any of those moves several years earlier in order to continue that cycle.”AdvertisementHoyer doesn’t regret giving the championship group one last shot in 2021 to try to run it back to the postseason. And once one-third of the opening-day roster was traded in July, the call-ups served as a glaring reminder of the organization’s developmental struggles.The Cubs must nail this rebuild and develop and execute a strategy in which they aren’t repeating this approach every six years.“I think you have the ability to look back on what we accomplished in that run and be really proud of what we accomplished but also look back and say, ’OK, what are the things we should do differently, what are the things we didn’t do as well,’ ” Hoyer said. “I am incredibly self-critical about those things, and we didn’t get it perfect.“I have no doubt we’re going to build something really special and I’ll do it with a knowledge of the things we did really well but also some of the things that we could have done better.”

Lifestyle

How to get rid of grass growing in garden beds

“I am seeing grass growing in my garden beds with perennials and groundcovers and am finding it frustrating to get rid of it. The grass may have gotten a start in my beds after I seeded my lawn last fall. It is difficult to pull out and seems to consistently come back. What is the best way to get rid of it? It seems to be spreading.”— Alfredo Ramirez, EvanstonAdvertisementGrass is difficult to eradicate once it gets established in the crowns of perennials and in beds of groundcovers. One option is to keep pulling out the grass, beginning early in spring when you first see it and continuing throughout the entire growing season. The best time to do this is when the soil is moist, as it will be easier to get the roots out, and the more roots that are removed, the better the results. This will take lots of patience and persistence to be successful. In time, the grass should weaken and eventually disappear. A weeder with a forked end or a trowel is a good tool to help get the roots out. A weeder will work better when space is more constricted and will do less damage to surrounding plants.AdvertisementAnother option is to lift all the perennials infested with grass out of the bed and carefully remove any grass from the root balls of the plants. Then dig the remaining clumps of grass out of the bed and replant the perennials. Monitor for any grass that was missed during this process that sprouts again over the coming weeks. This work can still be done now with most perennials, though the window of time is closing. You can also wait until the weather is cooler in early September or next spring before using this technique to reduce stress on the plants. If you decide to wait, then pull the grass as best you can and do not allow it to go to seed.Grass is difficult to eradicate once it gets established in the crowns of perennials and in beds of groundcovers. (RJ Carlson/Chicago Botanic Garden)There are herbicides that will selectively kill grass in mixed plantings. Ornamec is an example of an herbicide that selectively kills grasses and can be applied over some ornamentals. Read the label to determine if it can be used safely with the plants in your garden. If any of the plants are not listed on the label, it is best to avoid using this product for the area. Or, you can test it first on a small section to make sure it will not kill or damage desirable plants. The best time to apply this product is when the grass is actively growing in spring and fall. These products will be less effective in the heat of summer, when the grass is not actively growing.Glyphosate, a broad-spectrum, nonselective herbicide will kill the grass, as well as your garden plants. You can treat the grass growing the farthest away from your desirable plants by spraying the grass carefully on a calm day. To treat the grass growing close to the garden plants, put on rubber gloves first and then a cheap cotton glove second. Using two fingers on the cotton glove, dip into the herbicide and carefully wipe the blades of grass, avoiding any drips on adjacent garden plants.It is important to read and follow all instructions on labels whenever applying any chemical treatments.For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at plantinfo@chicagobotanic.org. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden.