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As Peg Kopec got deeper into her career as the volleyball coach at St. Francis High School in Wheaton, she sometimes wondered how much to reveal to her players and students about the old days of girls sports in Illinois.Kopec grew up before the passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which pushed the Illinois High School Association into adding more girls sports and state tournaments. Her playing experiences came in the Girls Athletic Association, which offered occasional “play days” with other schools.AdvertisementIn the decades before Title IX, when some people fretted about sports being too strenuous or not ladylike, girls played six-on-six basketball, which basically reduced it to a half-court game so they didn’t overexert themselves. There were postal tournaments, in which girls recorded individual results in things such as basketball shooting or swimming and mailed them in, so they didn’t fall under the wicked spell of in-person competition.And there were play days, which consisted of girls from multiple schools on one team so as to avoid rivalries.Advertisement“I never knew whether to set the girls down and tell them how awful it used to be — or never say anything because why would you assume that you’re less than anybody else?” Kopec said. “I always had trouble with, do I tell them anything and then that might feed into how they’re (viewed as) second-class citizens? But they need to know a little bit how it was fought for — so you appreciate it.”With the 50th anniversary of Title IX this week, the inequities between women’s and men’s sports in the past — and the present — are again in the spotlight. Kopec and others who led area sports programs through major changes in the 1970s reflected recently to the Tribune on their teams’ journeys and challenges — but also the remaining spaces for improvement.DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto attends a game against Chicago State at Allstate Arena on Dec. 5, 2015, in Rosemont. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune)“I’m excited for the next chapter of Title IX, what’s going to happen in the next 50 years,” former DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said. “Because we’ve grown from infancy to our adolescent years, and now I think we’re about to emerge into our adult years of Title IX and really see a lot more progress hopefully happen at a pretty rapid pace. Because I think the foundation has been laid.“It’s so encouraging to me as I talk to young fathers of daughters to see the incredible amount of support and energy and enthusiasm they have for their daughters playing sports, for them to be afforded the same opportunity to grow their self-confidence and self-awareness and develop their leadership skills.”Of course, that wasn’t always the case.Former IHSA executive director Marty Hickman counted Ola Bundy as one of his mentors.He worked with Bundy in the final stages of her 29-year career as assistant executive director, but they spent time together long after, talking over weekday lunches about Bundy’s mission to increase girls’ opportunities in high school sports — and the struggles she encountered on that journey.Ola Bundy graduated from the University of Illinois in 1958. (Illinois High School Association)Ola Bundy, shown in 1996, was appointed to administer girls sports for the IHSA in August 1967. (Illinois High School Association)“This wasn’t a super hard sale,” Hickman said, “but she really wanted me to understand that the same values and benefits that boys had for many, many years before girls from participating in high school sports were the same things girls were going to benefit from.Advertisement“They were going to learn to be good teammates. They were going to enhance their lives through participation. They were going to learn all the things that come with being on a sports team, that were naturally assumed to be good for the guys. She knew exactly the same thing was going to be good for female participants.”Those positive attitudes about girls sports — common now — had to be promoted and pushed when Bundy began at the IHSA in 1967.The odd thing about looking at the history of women’s sports in Illinois is one of the biggest modern-day sports — girls basketball — was gaining popularity in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Games featuring teams such as Lake Forest University, University of Chicago, Hull House and Austin and Oak Park high schools received attention and sometimes were covered — occasionally smugly but not always — by the Tribune.But by 1907, Chicago Public Schools and the former IHSAA moved to ban interscholastic girls games.According to a Tribune story from 1907, an IHSAA report stated that girls “should not appear before the public promiscuously in interscholastic basketball games. The game is altogether too masculine and has met with much opposition on the part of parents. The committee finds that roughness is not foreign to the game, and that the exercise in public is immodest and not altogether ladylike.”So girls basketball and other sports were stifled for decades until Title IX pushed the IHSA to begin expanding them, starting with state tournaments in tennis, bowling and track and field during the 1972-73 school year. Bundy was a one-person organizing committee at the IHSA in those years.AdvertisementHickman recalled Bundy telling him how she had trouble getting volunteers for the girls state track and field meet. She believed it could be as big a showcase as the boys meet, which first was held in 1893, so she worked hard to recruit and prepare every detail, Hickman said. In 2022, 16 years after Bundy’s death, the state meet program thanked more than 200 volunteers who helped run a three-class meet with hundreds of participants.“She wanted to make sure every race went off without a hitch because she felt there was going to be more scrutiny on her and the girls side of things because not everybody wanted it to be successful,” Hickman said. “So she was relentless in preparing because she knew how important it was for those events to be successful. That really came with any event she ran.”[ [Don’t miss] Title IX timeline: 50 years progress — at times — across the US ]Bundy developed a reputation as a tough, sometimes stubborn administrator who was a stickler for the rules, but Hickman said she built that exterior to help her get things done. She was, he said, compassionate and good-hearted underneath the persona.“She was constantly fighting battles in the late ‘60s and the early ‘70s as she was trying to push the association and schools toward a more inclusive environment for girls in sports, and so she felt like she had to be that way just to get things done,” Hickman said. “And she could do it. She could be a real hard-nosed, tough lady, and I say it in the nicest of ways, but it was because she felt she had to be that way to be accepted. She felt like there was more pressure on her … because of the fact that not everybody was on board.”As Bundy was pushing for change at a statewide level, the first girls coaches in Illinois were in charge of building programs — and new attitudes — at their schools.The uniforms. That’s what former Fremd coach Carol Plodzien lamented first when thinking back to the early years of her 34-year stint as girls basketball coach at the Palatine high school.AdvertisementBeing a girls coach or sports leader in the 1970s meant fighting the big fights — from pushing for a sport to be recognized and having state tournaments to arguing for gym time and better coaching salaries, something boys coaches sometimes fought against, Plodzien said.Former Fremd girls basketball coach Carol Plodzien in 2006, after coaching for 34 years. ( Joel Wintermantle/for the Chicago Tribune)But it also meant battling a long stream of smaller inequities.When Title IX passed, Fremd girls athletes had one set of uniforms shared among three sports, Plodzien said, so the basketball team would wait for the volleyball team to complete a match and then take the uniforms for its game. Plodzien said she also didn’t have enough softball uniforms for an entire team, so if she wanted to put in a new pitcher, she had players form a circle on the field as the starter passed along her uniform top to the reliever.The facilities and resources also left something to be desired. Plodzien’s basketball teams sometimes had to share a locker room with opponents. She was given just two VHS tapes to record games, so she taped over old ones. And she said her softball team used a wooden snow fence for a backstop.“But the problem is once you had a passed ball, it broke right through the fence and rolled down the hill,” Plodzien said.Kopec has other memories of unequal treatment.AdvertisementShe questioned why St. Francis’ big and small gyms casually were called the “Boys Gym” and “Girls Gym.” And she and her assistant wrote letters to school leaders to plead for a freshman girls team when the boys had one.“And after a while, I’m sure they were like, ‘Let’s get rid of these two. Give them the team. Let’s set these two up,’” Kopec said. “That’s fine. I don’t care what you call me. We got a third team and that was merely fair. Nothing special. Merely fair.”[ [Sign up now] Get the latest Chicago sports news in your inbox each morning ]Plodzien and Kopec still can’t comprehend the idea that cheerleaders cheered only for boys teams.“You are subliminally saying that (the girls) are not worth cheering for,” Kopec said. “And they’ll say, ‘Frankly, the girls don’t want to cheer for the girls.’ And I say, ‘And frankly, I’m not interested. Then don’t be on the team. Don’t be in that group. This is who you’re cheering for.’ I think that’s a big deal.”Amid the sexist attitudes and policies, the coaches went to work building programs from the ground up.Kopec tried to make her players feel special and proud of their team — “Remember, at that time, it was all about the boys. It just was.” — so she began instilling a long list of team traditions, including an overnight retreat. They became a hallmark of her program — along with 12 state titles over four decades.AdvertisementPlodzien watched videos, went to opponents’ games and sought advice from the boys coach as she built up her skills. Parents would get impatient with girls who were new to the sport.“Thank God I was successful,” said Plodzien, whose team was third in the first girls basketball state tournament in 1977. “So that killed the flames.”Kopec and Plodzien have since retired after Hall of Fame coaching careers, but they still watch the progress with interest. They see the need for more female coaches and officials, but many areas still are lacking.The Women’s Sports Foundation put out a detailed Title IX report in May showing participation in girls sports at the high school level rose from 294,000 participants in 1972 to 3.4 million in 2018-19, the last reporting year. At the college level, women’s participation rose from 29,977 athletes in 1972 to 215,486 in 2020-21.But multiple reports in recent months showed inequities still exist in the number of opportunities, funding and leadership for women’s sports nationwide.A recent AP-NORC survey found women are much less likely than men to say significant progress has been made in achieving equal treatment in the U.S. According to the poll, 61% of men say the country has made a great deal or a lot of progress, while 37% of women said the same.AdvertisementA USA Today investigation on Title IX at the NCAA Division I level found 87% of colleges and universities in the Football Bowl Subdivision don’t offer athletic opportunities to women proportionate to the number of women attending them. (Proportionality is one of three ways schools can comply with Title IX.)And according to the NCAA demographics database from 2020-21, women made up just 25% of head coaches at all levels, 14% of Division I athletic directors and 24% of ADs at all levels.It’s those last two numbers that Lenti Ponsetto points to when thinking about the biggest areas that still need to be addressed.Lenti Ponsetto was among the first generation of Title IX athletes, playing multiple sports at Elizabeth Seton High School and DePaul in the 1970s. She watched — and then led — as the Blue Demons added more women’s sports, hired part-time and then full-time head coaches and offered their first women’s scholarships.Jean Lenti drives for a basket during her playing days at DePaul in the late 1970s. (DePaul University)After her playing career and a brief stint as an assistant women’s basketball coach, she climbed the ranks in the athletic department for more than 20 years before she was offered the AD position in 2002. At the time, she was one of 21 female ADs in Division I. Last year, there were 50.Since she had been entrenched at DePaul for so long and was a fixture on multiple NCAA committees, Lenti Ponsetto said she felt support from the school and her NCAA peers. But she said there was some pushback from fans — “always just a handful of people who have a difficult time accepting that kind of a change.”AdvertisementShe wondered if decision makers wanting to avoid such pushback — especially at schools with big-money football programs and donors — plays into the unequal numbers.“There’s probably a little bit of a lack of courage in really wanting to make that move,” Lenti Ponsetto said. “It’s having the mindset that you’re going to place a woman in that position because it’s either time or it’s the right thing to do. There’s certainly not a shortage of qualified women. It’s more of a mindset that you’ve got a football program — how is that going to go over with our donors and our alumni?“It’s really an important message for all of our student-athletes to see institutions support women at the highest level. And it’s probably the last place in all of higher education that has such a low number of women in that leadership position.”Conceivably, more women in leadership positions who are cognizant of the ongoing inequities could result in more opportunities and better funding for women’s sports.But that’s a fight that must continue.Plodzien recently accepted an award from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association and delivered a speech about her efforts to push for the changes started by Title IX.AdvertisementAfterward, listeners told her to keep fighting.“Look, I’ve been doing this for 51 years,” Plodzien told them. “I’m getting tired. We need you. You are the people who have to start standing up.”

Michael Kopech was back on the mound one week after leaving his previous start for the Chicago White Sox after two-thirds of an inning with right knee discomfort.While Sunday’s outing didn’t go as he hoped, it was pretty astonishing considering what at first glance appeared to be a major setback on June 12.AdvertisementKopech allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings in Sunday’s 4-3 loss to the Houston Astros in front of 37,709 at Minute Maid Park.“I’ve just got to make better pitches and keep us in the game and I didn’t do that,” Kopech said.AdvertisementKopech said the knee, which led to the early exit against the Texas Rangers, was “good” after the game.“I’m going to feel, I think, a little bit different for a little bit,” he said. “But there’s no pain. I was able to compete with it.”Kopech struck out four and walked one in the 75-pitch performance. The Astros did most of their damage with the long ball as J.J. Matijevic hit a solo home run in the fourth and Mauricio Dubón hit a two-run homer an inning later.“Overall, he pitched well and we pushed him as far as we could,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said.[ [Don’t miss] ‘At the end of the day, it’s on us’: As White Sox hover around .500, José Abreu dismisses criticism of Tony La Russa ]The Astros struck first when Kyle Tucker drove in Jose Altuve with a single in the first. Tucker moved to second on a throwing error, giving the Astros runners on second and third with one out. Kopech limited the damage, getting Yuli Gurriel to pop out to second and striking out Matijevic.“There’s positives to take away,” Kopech said. “I was pretty efficient for the most part. I was able to work out of some jams. But overall it was not good enough.”The Sox had a chance in the second, placing runners on second and third with one out. Josh Harrison popped out and Adam Haseley struck out looking.Matijevic’s opposite-field homer in the fourth — his first major-league hit — made it 2-0.AdvertisementLuis Robert drove in a run with a double in the fifth, but Dubón answered with the two-run homer in the bottom of the inning.“It happens. It got out and I’ve got to live with it,” Kopech said of Matijevic’s homer.“The pitch to Dubón was a mistake. He took advantage of it. There were a few other ones in there and they took advantage of mistakes. That’s what a good hitting team does.”An ESPN replay showed Kopech using his right elbow area to knock an object in the dugout after the inning.“The truth is I care a lot about this game and I want to play to the best of my ability and be the best competitor I can be every time I go out there,” he said. “I wasn’t any of those things (Sunday). I had to kind of be challenged with a little bit of adversity and a little bit of an emotional challenge. That got the better of me. It happens, I guess.”Robert singled and scored on a triple by AJ Pollock in the eighth. Pollock scored on Jake Burger’s grounder to second, cutting the deficit to one run.AdvertisementHarrison drew a leadoff walk in the ninth, but Haseley struck out and Danny Mendick and Andrew Vaughn flied out as the rally came up short.The Astros took two of three in the series, but the Sox went 4-2 on the trip.“If you go 4-2 every trip, you’ll have a good year,” La Russa said. “I said at the beginning, it’s how you go after it. If you go after it and they beat you, you tip your cap and get ready for the next one.”

OMAHA, Neb. — Cade Horton struck out a career-high 11 in six innings, Tanner Tredaway continued his torrid postseason with three hits and Oklahoma took control of its bracket in the College World Series with a 6-2 victory over Notre Dame on Sunday night.The Sooners (44-22) need one more win to advance to the best-of-three finals starting Saturday. They’ll play Wednesday against the winner of a Tuesday elimination game between Notre Dame (41-16) and Texas A&M. The Aggies beat Texas 10-2 on Sunday.AdvertisementHorton, who had Tommy John surgery 16 months ago and didn’t pitch until March 29, went at least six innings for a third straight start. The redshirt freshman held the Irish scoreless on three singles in the first five innings.Horton (5-2) gave up David LaManna’s two-run homer to left in the sixth and didn’t come out for the seventh. He threw a season-high 100 pitches.AdvertisementTredaway continued to be a catalyst for the Sooners. He’s batting .513 (20 for 39) in the NCAA Tournament after going 3 for 4 and extending his hitting streak to 16 games. He drove in two runs and scored twice.Notre Dame starter Austin Temple walked three of the eight batters he faced and was pulled with one out in the second. Reliever Aidan Tyrell (5-2) got out of the inning but encountered trouble in the third.Peyton Graham legged out an infield single, stole second and scored on Tredaway’s base hit. Tredaway took second on a passed ball and came home on Wallace Clark’s single.Chicago Tribune SportsWeekdaysA daily sports newsletter delivered to your inbox for your morning commute.The Sooners added three more runs in the sixth to go up 5-0. Two of those scored on Clark’s bunt on the safety squeeze. Tredaway came home from third, and Jimmy Crooks followed him in from first when Carter Putz picked up the ball and threw wildly to Jared Miller covering the bag.Putz had four of the Irish’s seven hits, his last one leading off the eighth and prompting the players in the Notre Dame dugout to grab their “rally bananas.”The Irish have been getting the bananas out during the postseason when they need positive mojo in the late innings. If something good happens, the players take a bite. But Jack Zyska hit into a double play and LaManna flew out to end the eighth.The Irish got their first two batters on base in the ninth, but Clark stepped on the bag at third and threw to first for a double play when Zack Prajzner grounded to him. Trevin Michael struck out Ryan Cole to end the game.The Oklahoma fourth inning ended on a crazy play after Graham had singled to right and John Spikerman rounded second and headed to third.AdvertisementRight fielder Brooks Coetzee threw to third to get Spikerman, but the ball popped out of Jack Brannigan’s glove as he tried to put on the tag. The ball deflected off third-base coach Clay Van Hook and came to rest next to Brannigan. He picked it up and tagged Spikerman, who didn’t realize the ball came out of the glove and had turned to return to the dugout.The game started with some excitement as Oklahoma first baseman Blake Robertson flipped over the Notre Dame dugout rail while catching Cole’s pop foul on the first pitch of the game. Robertson raised his glove to show umpires he hung on to the ball.

HOUSTON — Houston Astros mascot Orbit walked around foul territory with a small disco ball hanging from a string. The mascot would stop and encourage the person close to the ball to dance.Orbit neared the left-field foul line, where the Chicago White Sox were stretching Friday. José Abreu was the closest player. Abreu obliged with some dance moves before returning to his stretching.AdvertisementThe next day, Orbit held a sign challenging any Sox player to a paper airplane contest before eventually competing with someone associated with the Astros.Abreu laughed when the topic came up before Sunday’s game.Advertisement“I’m too old to be playing with all that stuff, especially because I don’t know what he was planning to do,” Abreu said through an interpreter.It was a light moment on a winning trip for the Sox, who wrapped up a three-game series Sunday night at Minute Maid Park.[ [Don’t miss] Column: Tony La Russa versus Dusty Baker is a rivalry that never grows old as the managers square off again ]Abreu, 35, acknowledged his teammates — veterans and younger players — for their versatility while the Sox have juggled injuries.“They are giving us their best effort and that’s something you really have to recognize and that has a lot of value,” Abreu said. “That shows the character that they have and the character of this team. At the same time, we have to recognize all the good jobs the coaching staff and training staff have been doing with all of us, trying to overcome all the situations and trying to keep us in good health.”A key contributor is scheduled to return Monday in shortstop Tim Anderson. He has been on the injured list retroactive to May 30 with a strained right groin.“We’re a different team when he plays,” said Sox manager Tony La Russa, who also noted Danny Mendick’s strong play at the position while Anderson has been out. “We exchanged texts the last two days and (Sunday) morning, and he said he’s ready to go. “He’s leading off (Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays at Guaranteed Rate Field) and we’ll be better because he’s there.”Anderson is a source of instant offense, slashing .356/.393/.503 in 40 games.AdvertisementWhite Sox shortstop Tim Anderson walks to the dugout during a game against the Boston Red Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on May 25, 2022. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)He’ll rejoin a lineup that has watched Abreu heat up in the past month. Entering Sunday, the first baseman had slashed .345/.463/.600 with 10 doubles, six home runs and 20 RBIs in his previous 29 games, raising his average from .197 to .267. Abreu leads the Sox in homers (nine) and RBIs (32).“You know that you won’t be able to produce every time,” Abreu said. “But you have to be ready for when those times come to you and you have to take advantage of those times.”The Sox still are looking to put it all together. They have hovered around .500, one game under entering Sunday night.Abreu said he doesn’t pay attention to outside criticism of La Russa.“It’s easy to blame the manager when things aren’t going right, but at the end of the day, it’s on us,” Abreu said. “We are the ones who are performing on the field. The responsibility has to be on us. “It’s easy to say whatever you want to say, or the critics will say whatever about the manager. But they are not here. They are not in the clubhouse. They don’t know how united or how good we are. Everybody knows we’ve been dealing with a lot of injuries. People don’t know how you have to overcome those situations and being able to play every day. Advertisement“In order for them to blame Tony, that’s easy. But they don’t know how good we are in the clubhouse.”Abreu said the players support La Russa “because we all know at the end of the day it’s our responsibility to perform the way we can perform on the field. It’s not his responsibility.“I can tell you as a person, as a leader, he’s all that you can ask for in a manager.”[ [Don’t miss] Liam Hendriks is hoping for a quick return to the White Sox: ‘They say 3 weeks, I’m targeting July 1’ ]Before Sunday’s game, the Sox recalled outfielder Adam Haseley from Triple-A Charlotte and placed reliever Matt Foster on the bereavement list.Haseley, acquired in a March 29 trade with the Philadelphia Phillies, has a .280/.344/.482 slash line with 11 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 38 RBIs in 51 games with Charlotte. He played in five games for the Sox from April 20-24, going 2-for-10 with two walks.In his last 17 games with the Knights, Haseley is batting .382 with six doubles, five home runs, 23 RBIs, 17 runs, six stolen bases and a .721 slugging percentage.Advertisement“Anytime you get an opportunity like this, you obviously take advantage of it and give it everything you’ve got,” Haseley said before Sunday’s game. “I’m grateful to have been performing well the last few weeks and obviously I hope to continue doing it here. Not trying to change anything, just be myself and see what happens, help the team win.”

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open, winning his first professional major on the same course where he took the U.S. Amateur title nine years earlier.Fitzpatrick shot a 2-under 68 at The Country Club to finish the tournament at 6-under 274 and beat Will Zalatoris and Scottie Scheffler by one.AdvertisementLeading by one shot, Fitzpatrick hooked his drive on No. 18 into a bunker to the left of the fairway. But he hit the middle of the green and two-putted from 18 feet for par. Zalatoris had a 14-foot birdie putt to tie but missed it by a fraction.This marked the second straight runner-up finish at a major for Zalatoris, who lost to Justin Thomas in a playoff last month at the PGA Championship. It was Zalatoris’ sixth top-10 finish in seven majors since he made his major debut at Winged Foot in the 2020 U.S. Open.AdvertisementFitzpatrick hit 17 greens in regulation. He becomes the first Englishman to win the U.S. Open since Justin Rose at Merion in 2013, the same year Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club.He also joins Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win the U.S. Open and Amateur on the same course. Nicklaus won at Pebble Beach in 1961 and 1972.Fitzpatrick, 27, enrolled at Northwestern in September 2013 and played the fall season for the Wildcats. He left school after one quarter to focus on his golf career and turned pro after the 2014 U.S. Open.

INDIANAPOLIS — NaLyssa Smith scored a career-high 26 points — including a go-ahead three-point play in the closing seconds — to help the Indiana Fever erase a 15-point second-half deficit and beat the Chicago Sky 89-87 on Sunday.Smith was fouled as she hit a turnaround jumper from the left block and made the free throw to give the Fever an 88-87 lead with 39 seconds left.AdvertisementThe Sky missed two shots on the other end before Victoria Vivians was fouled with 7.8 seconds remaining. She made 1 of 2 free throws to give the Fever a two-point lead.After the Sky called a timeout, Courtney Vandersloot missed a short baseline jumper and the Fever held on.AdvertisementKelsey Mitchell added 13 points and nine assists for Indiana (5-13). Emma Cannon — who came in with 14 points all season — scored 11 points, and Lexie Hull finished with a career-best 10. Smith, the No. 2 selection in this year’s draft, was 11 of 17 shooting and had 11 rebounds.Kahleah Copper made 8 of 13 from the field, 4 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 of 10 from the free-throw line to finish with a career-high 28 points for the Sky (10-5). Vandersloot added 13 points and seven assists, and Emma Meesseman had 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three blocks.The Sky’s Candace Parker, who averages 12.4 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season, missed her second consecutive game because of a knee injury.Copper converted a three-point play in the closing seconds of the first half and made two free throws to open the third quarter to cap a 21-3 run and give the Sky a 15-point lead — their biggest of the game.Smith scored six points and Mitchell the other four in a 10-0 run over the next two minutes, and Danielle Robinson hit two free throws to give the Fever a 57-56 lead with 4:20 left in the third.

Ian Anderson pitched three-hit ball into the seventh inning, Matt Olson hit three doubles and the Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago Cubs 6-0 on Sunday at Wrigley Field, salvaging the finale of their weekend series.Travis d’Arnaud and Michael Harris II homered for the defending World Series champion Braves, who avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season.AdvertisementThe Braves, who arrived in Chicago with a 14-game winning streak, went 21-8 in a stretch of 29 straight games against teams that were under .500 at the time of the matchup.Anderson (6-3) struck out six and walked two in a season-high 6⅔ innings. The right-hander improved to 3-0 with a 4.37 ERA in four June starts.AdvertisementIan Happ had two of the six hits for the Cubs, who dropped to 3-12 in their last 15 games.While Anderson breezed through the Cubs lineup for much of the day, Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks (2-6) struggled.With two out and Dansby Swanson aboard in the first, Hendricks walked Olson before d’Arnaud reached Waveland Avenue with a 433-foot drive to left for a three-run homer.Harris led off the fifth with his third homer, and consecutive doubles by Swanson, Austin Riley and Olson made it 6-0 with one out. Olson’s hit chased Hendricks, who is winless in his last six starts.The Cubs loaded the bases in the eighth against Jesse Chavez, but A.J. Minter escaped the jam when he retired Patrick Wisdom on a fly to right.OF Seiya Suzuki (sprained left ring finger) is slated to travel to Arizona on Monday to continue his rehab at the team’s spring training facility. … RHP Marcus Stroman (shoulder inflammation) threw off the mound in the Cubs bullpen before the game. … INF David Bote (left shoulder surgery) had two hits and three RBIs in a rehab appearance for Triple-A Iowa.Cubs RHP Caleb Kilian (0-1, 8.00 ERA) makes his third major-league start Monday night in the opener of a four-game series in Pittsburgh. RHP JT Brubaker (0-7, 4.50 ERA) pitches for the Pirates.

During his final weeks, as a stream of family members, friends and former sports media colleagues came to his bedside at Lake Forest Hospital, John “Moon” Mullin remained full of resilience, positivity and gratitude. One after another, each visitor left inspired by Mullin’s strength and impressed with his grace.From the day he was diagnosed with Stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2019, Mullin set his mind on fighting his battle with a positive attitude, beginning a push to squeeze the most from whatever time he had left. He was still intensely engaged in that quest until the end.Advertisement“He remained unfailingly positive,” said Dan Pompei, a former Chicago Tribune sportswriter and currently a writer for The Athletic. “From the very start, his head was in the right place in terms of his priorities and his approach to a life-threatening illness. He recognized this as a period of growth for him. … And he somehow found his way to a better place.”Mullin, a longtime Chicago sports reporter, died Sunday at age 74, according to Pompei.AdvertisementOur dear friend John “Moon” Mullin passed peacefully this afternoon. He was surrounded by loved ones. He made it a better world, and his spirit will with us. pic.twitter.com/eodHYXsUjz— Dan Pompei (@danpompei) June 19, 2022

A graduate of Notre Dame High School in Niles and the University of Dayton, Mullin was a well-known and respected figure in the Chicago sports media landscape for decades with his most prominent contributions coming on the Chicago Bears beat. He covered the team from the final stretch of the Mike Ditka era into the early stages of Matt Nagy’s tenure as coach.Mullin began his sports reporting career at the Daily Herald in the early 1990s, later spent more than 11 years at the Tribune and eventually became the Bears insider for Comcast Sports Net Chicago in 2009. (CSN Chicago later became NBC Sports Net Chicago.)Former Tribune sports writer Melissa Isaacson, a longtime friend of Mullin’s, was among the horde of visitors who streamed through Lake Forest Hospital in recent weeks. True to form, Isaacson said, Mullin continued overpowering any potential anxiety or bitterness with natural doses of perspective and gratitude.“I’ve seen the many stages this illness has taken on Moon,” Isaacson said. “But without a doubt, the one constant has been the amazing, indomitable spirit he has shown. It was impressive to experience that up close. And it was not a surprise to me that he would take this opportunity to make the best of things and to view it as an experience he was going through — as a journalist almost.“This was his opportunity to explore all these different feelings and all these relationships and all these little moments of his journey.”Mullin was an avid cyclist, loved good wine and enjoyed taking trips with his family. He was also big into music, at one time a guitarist and backup vocalist in a band called Jobreen.Mullin was told at the outset of his battle with cancer that he would be lucky to survive a year. Instead, he lived for three-plus years, tapping into that deep reserve of enthusiasm, gratitude and grit to live well beyond what doctors believed his initial prognosis would allow.AdvertisementDuring one of his final hospital visits with Mullin, Pompei found himself feeling encouraged and energized amid the most sobering of circumstances.“He talked so much about gratitude and blessings and what a great life he had had,” Pompei said. “He was heartfelt in expressing his thanks for my friendship and for all the people who were coming to see him. … You sat there so sad because of all that was happening to him. But you walked away uplifted because he had found his way to such a good place emotionally and spiritually.”Fred Mitchell, who competed against Mullin on the Bears beat before the two later became teammates at the Tribune, appreciated Mullin’s friendship and collegial approach.“As competitive as we all were to break stories and beat the other guy with a scoop, Moon always had that friendly nature and always contributed to that lighthearted atmosphere in the press box and at the old Halas Hall,” Mitchell said. “We kidded each other a lot. We had a lot of fun.“To be able to balance that competitive spirit with that light energy and all the back-and-forth teasing was fantastic. There’s a lot of pressure on that beat to be on top of every story. But Moon always had a way of keeping it in the right perspective.”Isaacson moved from the Bulls beat to the Bears beat in 1996 and admitted she initially was intimidated by Mullin’s presence, football knowledge and extensive network of sources. Mullin’s dogged reporting skills and fierce competitive streak only added to the aura.Advertisement“For self-preservation reasons,” Isaacson said, “I wanted him so badly to be hired by the Tribune.”In 1997, she got that wish, and the two quickly became unified teammates, building a friendship that lasted for more than a quarter century. Isaacson quickly grew to admire how Mullin naturally built strong relationships with players, coaches and front-office executives. She saw how some of the most meticulous aspects of the grind were a labor of love for him.As a former offensive lineman himself, Mullin gravitated to players in that position group and accepted the ribbing his colleagues and competitors gave him for doing so.Sending prayers to John “Moon” Mullin (left) during his cancer battle. I covered the Bears many years for the Chicago Tribune as Dan Pompei (center) covered for the Sun-Times before joining the Trib. Moon wrote for the Daily Herald before joining the Trib and NBC Sports Chicago. pic.twitter.com/IdF29yZwck— Fred B. Mitchell (@kicker34) June 14, 2022

“It was truly a joy and an education every day with him,” Isaacson said. “He had incredible people skills that made him a better reporter. And I think I picked some of those up simply through osmosis.”Current WSCR-AM 670 host and former Tribune sportswriter David Haugh, meanwhile, was 34 years old when he came to Chicago to become the Tribune’s new Bears beat writer in 2003. That meant replacing Mullin, who had been shifted to cover Northern Illinois University and other college sports. Haugh recalled the intense pressure he felt joining such a high-profile NFL beat for one of the country’s biggest and most prestigious newspapers in an intensely competitive market.Ironically, Haugh said, it was Mullin who became one of his most influential supporters and life rafts.Advertisement“For a number of different reasons, I was walking the tightrope without a net,” Haugh said. “My competitors didn’t like me. I had no experience as a beat writer and no experience in a major market. And Moon Mullin was the best mentor I had. The guy whose job went to me was the guy whose advice I sought. And Moon was the guy who graciously took me under his wing and said, ‘OK. This is when you go to Halas Hall. These are the people you need to talk to. This is the phone number for the general manager. Oh, let me introduce you to the owner.’“He had no obligation to do any of that. But he became my lifeline for the first year on the beat. And without him, I might have had a nervous breakdown.”Those who shared beat territory with Mullin always noted the easygoing demeanor he brought to his work, his “gentle spirit” Pompei called it.“He was just being himself,” Pompei said. “He wasn’t one of these guys who was in the locker room trying to maneuver as a real smooth operator. He just talked to people naturally and earned their trust because of who he was. He wasn’t pumping guys for information. He just had a way that broke down barriers and earned trust.”Mitchell still laughs at one of his favorite inside jokes with Mullin, which came after United Airlines had mistakenly sent Mullin a premier executive membership card for which he had not qualified. Mitchell and Pompei, who were established and legitimate premier executive travelers, playfully chided Mullin for flaunting and attempting to utilize his phony status. During a playoff trip to Minneapolis at the end of the 1994 Bears season, Mitchell prank-called Mullin’s hotel room on New Year’s morning, altering his voice and grilling Mullin on his United status.AdvertisementSaid Mitchell: “He answered and I said (with an accent), ‘This is United Airlines calling. We understand you have been caught using an unauthorized premier executive card. This is an urgent matter. Our legal department will be in touch soon to get this rectified immediately.’”After a short pause, a startled and unsuspecting Mullin responded.Former Tribune writer John Mullin. (LAB tba / Chicago Tribune)“He says, ‘It’s 9 o’clock on a Sunday morning. How did you find me here?’” Mitchell remembered.Rattled, Mullin recounted that story in the press box later that day to Mitchell, Pompei and others, none of whom let their buddy in on the joke. As a matter of fact, Mitchell said, it was more than a year before anyone let Mullin know Mitchell had made that call.“For years after that,” Mitchell said, “every time Moon and I ran into each other somewhere, the running joke was, ‘How did you find me here?’ That just showed the camaraderie we had. He took that in stride. But he had that coming to him.”Pompei laughs at all those memories that built up over the years. He appreciated Mullin’s versatility.AdvertisementMany years back, Pompei took his wife and children to see Mullin play with his band at a local bar. Mullin invited the kids on stage to play the maracas. Pompei said it’s a memory the family still talks about.“He could connect so easily with NFL executives, with NFL players just as he could connect so easily with kids or anybody,” Pompei said. “… Moon lived a full life. He lived a bunch of lives really. What a cool thing. He got his money’s worth out of 74 years.”For Mullin’s family and closest friends, there will always be a gratitude for how long and how well he fought his Stage IV cancer, rallying at every turn and earning extra time to soak everything in.In January, Mullin carved out time to visit his sister in Naples, Fla. Earlier this spring, he managed another trip with his wife to visit family in Hilton Head, S.C.Mullin also showed a heartfelt intent to pay forward the lessons he was learning from his cancer fight. Last winter, he began a YouTube series — “Attitude Over Cancer” — hoping to encourage others with cancer to fight with a positive attitude. During a video posted in February, he celebrated something as simple as a 20-minute ride on the new e-bike he bought for himself.Advertisement“I’m so jacked that I left the bike on the back of the car,” Mullin said. “Because I want to go out again tomorrow. I can’t wait. Which brings me to some of the themes of this — making plans, looking forward to things. That’s just a part of (having) a positive attitude. I only went for 20 minutes, making sure I knew how the bike worked and so forth. But I was a lot out of breath. I needed oxygen to help with the Stage IV pancreatic cancer that has metastasized into my lungs. So I need a little extra air help. But the point of the ride was the ride — just to do what I can.”[embedded content]Initially, Mullin admitted, he was flustered that his days riding at higher speeds and for longer distances were long gone. But he said he gained an acceptance of his condition and an appreciation that he could still ride at all.“Too often,” Mullin said, “we probably don’t do an activity because, well, we won’t be as good as we remembered or we think we were. … But you’re not measuring yourself against what you were 20 years ago or before cancer. So just getting out today meant everything to me.”Mullin hoped that somewhere, for somebody, his experiences and advice would resonate.In May, as his tumors grew and cancer attacked his liver and lungs, Mullin continued persevering. Even as his body weakened and deteriorated, his spirit never did.In the final weeks, as nurses encouraged Mullin — for his own well-being — to put up a stop sign or at least a yellow light for the constant groups of visitors who were wanting to spend extra time with him, Mullin welcomed the company and the camaraderie.Advertisement“He said out loud, ‘This is the greatest period of my life,’ ” Isaacson said. “And he truly meant it. That sounds odd. But we knew what he was saying. It was incredible for him to have that experience, to have that time with his friends, to have that chance to tell them how much they meant to him and for them to do the same. Moon was always this student of life. And I think, in this phase, he found so much of it educational and interesting.“I know he had deeply sad moments and sick moments. I know that. At the same time, he chose to really, really look at this as a life experience that he could find value in.”One after another, visitors came to Mullin’s hospital room in recent weeks to tell stories, laugh, cry and say goodbye. One after another, they left enlivened.Said Mitchell: “It was incredibly admirable how he went about dealing with his illness. He always understood his diagnosis and prognosis and realized he had been able to enjoy a wonderful life, a wonderful career and some amazing opportunities. It’s one thing for all of us to talk about how we might handle the eventuality of death. But it’s quite different to experience it firsthand, to understand that it’s imminent and to be able to deal with that with the grace and class that he did. It’s remarkable to me. And it should be a blueprint for all of us that when that day comes on how we should handle the inevitable and the grace we should lend to what we don’t have control over. I’ll forever have respect for the way he handled his circumstance.”

BUDAPEST, Hungary — World swimming’s governing body has effectively banned transgender women from competing in women’s events, starting Monday.FINA members widely adopted a new “gender inclusion policy” on Sunday that only permits swimmers who transitioned before age 12 to compete in women’s events. The organization also proposed an “open competition category.”Advertisement“This is not saying that people are encouraged to transition by the age of 12. It’s what the scientists are saying, that if you transition after the start of puberty, you have an advantage, which is unfair,” James Pearce, who is the spokesperson for FINA president Husain Al-Musallam, told The Associated Press.“They’re not saying everyone should transition by age 11, that’s ridiculous. You can’t transition by that age in most countries and hopefully you wouldn’t be encouraged to. Basically, what they’re saying is that it is not feasible for people who have transitioned to compete without having an advantage.”AdvertisementPearce confirmed there are currently no transgender women competing in elite levels of swimming.The World Professional Association for Transgender Health just lowered its recommended minimum age for starting gender transition hormone treatment to 14 and some surgeries to 15 or 17.FINA’s new 24-page policy also includes proposals for a new “open competition” category. The organization said it was setting up “a new working group that will spend the next six months looking at the most effective ways to set up this new category.”Pearce told the AP that the open competition would most likely mean more events, but those details still need to be worked out.“No one quite knows how this is going to work. And we need to include a lot of different people, including transgender athletes, to work out how it would work,” he said. “So there are no details of how that would work. The open category is something that will start being discussed tomorrow.”Lia Thomas prepares for the 500-meter freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 17, 2022. (John Bazemore/AP)The members voted 71.5% in favor at the organization’s extraordinary general congress after hearing presentations from three specialist groups — an athlete group, a science and medicine group and a legal and human rights group — that had been working together to form the policy following recommendations given by the International Olympic Committee last November.The IOC urged shifting the focus from individual testosterone levels and calling for evidence to prove when a performance advantage existed.FINA said it recognizes “that some individuals and groups may be uncomfortable with the use of medical and scientific terminology related to sex and sex-linked traits (but) some use of sensitive terminology is needed to be precise about the sex characteristics that justify separate competition categories.”AdvertisementIn March, Lia Thomas made history in the United States as the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship, the 500-yard freestyle.Thomas said last month on ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she was aiming to become an Olympic swimmer. She also disputed those who say she has an unfair biological edge that ruins the integrity of women’s athletics, saying “trans women are not a threat to women’s sports.”The University of Pennsylvania didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Thomas.Other sports have also been examining their rules around transgender athletes.On Thursday, cycling’s governing body updated its eligibility rules for transgender athletes with stricter limits that will force riders to wait longer before they can compete.The International Cycling Union (UCI) increased the transition period on low testosterone to two years, and lowered the maximum accepted level of testosterone. The previous transition period was 12 months but the UCI said recent scientific studies show that “the awaited adaptations in muscle mass and muscle strength/power” among athletes who have made a transition from male to female takes at least two years.

Chicago was known as the “city of losers” in 1976.Not by outsiders but by ourselves.AdvertisementIn the year of the nation’s bicentennial, the last local team to win a championship was the 1963 Bears. The Cubs hadn’t won since 1908, the White Sox since 1917.Every time a Chicago team tried to break the mold, a collapse of monumental proportions would unfold, and fans here grew to expect nothing less.AdvertisementBut the next 25 years would bring massive changes to the local sports scene, including the arrival of Michael Jordan, who would go on to become the greatest basketball player of all time and bring six titles to Chicago with the Bulls.The Bears won their only Super Bowl in the 1985 season behind a fiery coach and a collection of fun-loving characters who ruled the city like no team before or since. New baseball ownership on the North and South sides attempted to end the droughts of the Cubs and White Sox, which ultimately bled into the 21st century. It was also the end of the line for two beloved stadiums, Comiskey Park and the Chicago Stadium, and for the time-honored tradition of day-only baseball at Wrigley Field.[Follow along with all of our 175th anniversary coverage and sign up to receive a special edition of Daywatch in your inbox with anniversary coverage]Workers high atop the new Comiskey Park look far down on the old one on July 10, 1990. (Frank Hanes / Chicago Tribune)And for those who loved reading about their favorite teams and athletes through thick and thin, 1976-2000 was a golden era for Chicago sports writing — and the Tribune was graced by some of the finest writers in history.AdvertisementFrom “In the Wake of the News” columnists Bob Verdi, Bernie Lincicome and Steve Daley to Hall of Fame baseball writer Jerome Holtzman to specialists including Don Pierson (football), Sam Smith (basketball), John Husar (outdoors) and Fred Mitchell (multiple sports), the idea of a slow news day on the Chicago sports front was virtually unthinkable.DePaul coach Ray Meyer is mobbed by fans upon his team’s arrival at O’Hare after they beat UCLA to advance to the Final Four in 1979. (Don Casper / Chicago Tribune)It’s hard for some to believe now, but DePaul men’s basketball was bigger than the Bulls before Jordan’s arrival from North Carolina in 1984. Legendary coach Ray Meyer’s Blue Demons started out as a Cinderella in 1979 and wound up dancing all the way to the Final Four while playing their home games in tiny Alumni Hall on Belden Avenue.They never made it back, despite highly ranked teams, and moving to the Rosemont Horizon in 1980 removed the narrative of the lovable little school under the “L” tracks.Chicagoans didn’t expect much from their teams in the 1970s and early ‘80s and thus were seldom disappointed. Fans could overlook the flaws on a team that was entertaining, such as the “South Side Hit Men” of 1977.In July of that season, Verdi, then the White Sox beat writer, wrote that the players “gamble so wantonly on the basepaths you would think they failed to visit the john before leaving the clubhouse.” The Hit Men faded on cue, like a pair of well-worn blue jeans. But 45 years later they remain a treasured part of Sox lore.The Bears were an afterthought for most of the 1979 season after starting out 3-5. But running back Walter Payton, linebacker Doug Buffone and a resilient bunch won six of seven leading into the season finale at Soldier Field. They needed a win over the St. Louis Cardinals and a Washington Redskins loss — and to make up a 33-point differential with the Redskins — for a wild-card spot.AdvertisementThe players awoke on Dec. 17 to the news that Bears President George “Mugs” Halas Jr. — the 54-year-old heir apparent to team founder George “Papa Bear” Halas — had died. But the Bears went on to trounce the Cardinals 42-6 before the Redskins lost by one point to the Dallas Cowboys, giving Payton & Co. a playoff berth.“From dawn to dusk the Bears were involved in perhaps the most unbelievable day in their 60-year history,” Pierson wrote.The Bears lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1979 playoffs, but Halas hired coach Mike Ditka in January 1982, and the ‘85 Bears not only won the Super Bowl and brought Chicago its first championship since 1963, but also changed the way athletes marketed themselves with their “Super Bowl Shuffle” video.ExpandAutoplayImage 1 of 14With an escort from Otis Wilson (55), Bears’ Wilber Marshall (58) steams into the endzone in the fourth quarter after scooping up a fumble 52 yards upfield during the NFC Championship game with the Los Angeles Rams at Soldier Field on Jan. 12, 1986. (Bob Langer / Chicago Tribune)Halas was not alive to see it, and daughter Virginia McCaskey inherited the team. In a front-page article, Tribune sports writer Phil Hersh wrote: “The Bears, once hoisted aloft, can simply put one foot on the Picasso, another on the Sears Tower, and step right up to the Chicago cloud, where team founder George Halas will be waiting.”For decades the names Halas, Wrigley and Wirtz were synonymous with the word “frugal” in the minds of many fans. Others preferred the generic term “cheapskates.” Verdi nicknamed Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz “Dollar Bill” in a Tribune column for his inability to part with money to pay his players.Reputations are difficult to erase. Just ask the Cubs.AdvertisementDuring a baseball strike in the summer of 1981, Tribune Co. — at that time, the owner of the newspaper, WGN-TV, WGN-AM 720 and other entities — pulled off a shocking deal with William Wrigley to purchase the Cubs for $20.5 million, or $1.5 million less than current Cubs outfielder Jason Heyward’s 2022 salary.The Wrigley family had owned the team for three generations and stamped its name on the iconic ballpark. But on June 17, 1981, the day after the sale was announced, the Tribune reported Cubs fans were ecstatic over the possibility of the team finally spending money, installing lights at Wrigley Field and dismissing general manager Herman Franks.“It was clear the general attitude would have been positive even if Bozo the Clown had taken over,” read one report in the Tribune sports section.In spite of new management, nothing changed immediately. Cubs gotta Cub. Early in the 1983 season, manager Lee Elia unleashed a profanity-laden tirade against Cubs fans, calling them the “dumb 15 (bleeping) percent that come out to day baseball (while) the other 85 percent are earning a living.” Radio reporter Les Grobstein saved the tape for posterity, and every year Cubs fans relive the memory of the rant heard around the world.The White Sox, however, would be the bigger story in ‘83. Manager Tony La Russa’s club shook off a lethargic first half to run away with the American League West title and dominate the headlines. “The Miracle on 35th Street,” Holtzman wrote on Aug. 29, 1983, after Greg “The Bull” Luzinski cranked his third rooftop home run of the season at Comiskey Park.The miracle ended with a loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series, and La Russa was fired in 1986 — only to return 34 years later. When the Sox flopped in ‘84, the Cubs stole the city back.AdvertisementUnder manager Jim Frey and new stars Ryne Sandberg, Rick Sutcliffe and Gary “Sarge” Matthews, the Cubs ended a 39-year playoff drought. Tribune Co. took a premature bow, and Tribune columnist Mike Royko mocked San Diego fans as bandwagon jumpers. Royko reveled in the Cubs’ 13-0 win over the Padres in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field.“Bullies, that’s what we’ve become,” Royko wrote. “Big, bad, mean bullies. And, oh boy, does it feel great. Why didn’t we think of this years ago?”The bullies blew a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, an epic collapse that somehow trumped the misery of 1969.But Wrigleyville — or Lakeview, as the neighborhood was more commonly known in the early ‘80s — would never be the same. Lights arrived at Wrigley Field on Aug. 8, 1988, and the formerly run-down neighborhood turned into a yuppie paradise. Rooftops became big business and real estate values climbed.On Aug. 8, 1988, Wrigley Field was lit up for the first night game in the park’s 74-year history. The weather, however, didn’t cooperate. The Cubs and the Phillies were rained out in the fourth inning. (Frank Hanes / Chicago Tribune)The Cubs soon resorted to their old ways, but the Harry Caray effect and the fans’ love affair with Wrigley made the team a gold mine for Tribune Co., which mirrored the Wrigley ownership in its reluctance to spend. After a surprising division title in 1989 under Don Zimmer, the Cubs didn’t return to the postseason until Sammy Sosa and Kerry Wood led them to a wild-card spot in 1998.During the ‘98 playoff race, Cubs radio analyst Ron Santo made one of the most famous calls in franchise history, shouting “Oh, noooooo!” after a dropped fly ball by outfielder Brant Brown led to a ninth-inning loss in Milwaukee.Advertisement“It was the kind of despair you’d associate with someone losing a member of their family,” Santo’s broadcast partner, Pat Hughes, later told the Tribune. “His call will live on in Cubs lore — in infamy, you could say, because it was such a tough loss.”Pittsburgh’s Tom Barrasso touches the helmet of Blackhawks Jeremy Roenick after the Penguins beat the Blackhawks in four games to win the Stanley Cup, on June 1, 1992, at the Chicago Stadium. (Jim Prisching / Chicago Tribune)The Blackhawks went through an array of ineffective and overmatched coaches from 1976-2000, including Bob Pulford’s three stints from 1977-87. Pulford also served as general manager, where he was equally clueless.The only time the Hawks were relevant was during the Mike Keenan era, when the feisty coach led them to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1992. But the Hawks were promptly swept in four games by the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Keenan lost a power struggle with Wirtz six months later and was let go.“Keenan wanted to be king,” Verdi wrote. “The power freak craved too much of a fix, and the real boss declared, game over.”It wasn’t until 1991 that Chicago sports fans got a real taste of excellence. Jordan and Scottie Pippen led the Bulls to their first title, beating Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers in five games in the NBA Finals. After a third straight championship in 1993, Jordan retired to play minor-league baseball for the White Sox, only to return in ‘95 and team up with Pippen and Dennis Rodman for another three-peat from 1996-98.Jordan’s winning shot in Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals in Utah clinched the sixth Bulls title, capping a reign that seemed to make up for all the disappointing endings Chicago teams suffered the previous three decades.Advertisement“And there was Michael Jordan, after hitting what could have been his final and biggest basket as a Bull, hugging coach Phil Jackson,” Tribune beat writer Terry Armour wrote. “Both had tears in their eyes, realizing that this might be the end of the road.”Jordan’s shot would provide Chicago with a memory to last a lifetime, like the championships this century for the White Sox (2005), Cubs (2016) and Blackhawks (2010, ‘13 and ‘15). But Santo’s call, Elia’s rant, the South Side Hit Men and the “unbelievable day” of the ‘79 Bears won’t be forgotten soon either.If there’s one thing we’ve come to accept in Chicago, it’s that the journey still matters.Sign up to receive the Vintage Chicago Tribune newsletter at chicagotribune.com/newsletters for more photos and stories from the Tribune’s archives.Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Ron Grossman and Marianne Mather at rgrossman@chicagotribune.com and mmather@chicagotribune.com.