(TNS)
Tribune News Service
Sports Budget for Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Updated at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC)
This budget is now available at http://www.TribuneNewsService.com, with direct links to stories and art. See details at the end of the budget.
^TOP STORIES<
^Coaching during COVID-19: After an online offseason, Bears face a new batch of complications as they prepare for training camp<
FBN-BEARS-COACHES-SPORTSPLUS:TB — When Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano packed up his office at Halas Hall in March, he had no idea he would spend the next four months figuring out how to run a defense from his computer at home.
Like most of the rest of the world, the coronavirus pandemic forced Bears coaches to adapt to an online environment, connecting with and teaching their players from afar. Pagano will return to team facilities in late July with a new set of digital capabilities.
1850 by Shannon Ryan in Chicago. MOVED
PHOTOS
^CORONAVIRUS<
^Dieter Kurtenbach: There are a billion reasons why sports won’t shut down again<
^KURTENBACH-COLUMN:SJ—<The Giants couldn’t practice at their scheduled time Tuesday because their COVID-19 tests from Saturday had not been processed.
A few days ago, it was the A’s who had a similar problem.
In Major League Soccer, two teams have had to pull out of their “MLS Is Back” tournament in Orlando because they had too many positive COVID-19 tests and threatened the safety of the league’s “bubble.”
The NBA has seen practice facilities across the league shut down because of positive tests ahead of that league’s move to their own Orlando bubble.
1000 by Dieter Kurtenbach. MOVED
^BASEBALL<
^Steve Hummer: When Nick Markakis opts out, question everything<
BBN-HUMMER-COLUMN:AT — When Nick Markakis opts out of anything, it is startling. When he opts out of playing baseball, it makes you question whether the sun will rise to the west tomorrow or if down is the new up.
Markakis is not the opt-out type. He is one of the more committed players of his day, the one who took the field like he was fulfilling a solemn oath. His approach to baseball has always been to play through anything — averaging 151 games over his 14 seasons — and do it while demonstrating the kind of consistency that would cause a watchmaker to question the sloppiness of his craft.
750 by Steve Hummer in Atlanta. MOVED
^Sports reading: 36 years later, Earl Weaver’s ‘Weaver on Strategy’ book still holds up as a manual for running a major-league team<
^BOOK-WEAVER-STRATEGY-REVIEW:TB—<Nike unveiled the “Chicks Dig the Long Ball” advertising campaign in 1999, one year after the home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.
Fifteen years earlier, Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver’s 1984 book, “Weaver on Strategy,” documented the popularity and importance of the home run, which remains a primary source of offense in an increasingly data-driven game.
900 by Mark Gonzales. (Moved as a books story.)
PHOTO
^NFL<
^Ravens QB Lamar Jackson doesn’t like Patrick Mahomes comparisons. After a record-breaking deal, they’re unavoidable.<
FBN-RAVENS-JACKSON-MAHOMES:BZ — Like the Kansas City Chiefs officials who signed off Monday on the richest-ever contract in American professional sports, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson has the utmost respect for Patrick Mahomes.
Before their first NFL meeting, in 2018, Jackson recalled seeing him throw at an offseason camp during Mahomes’ rookie year and wondering how he was a backup. In September, Jackson said Mahomes, then the NFL’s reigning Most Valuable Player, was “on his way” to being considered the greatest of all time. In February, Mahomes won his first Super Bowl, the holy grail by which Jackson measures all quarterbacks. Last month, Jackson said he wished he had Mahomes’ “cannon arm.”
850 by Jonas Shaffer in Baltimore. MOVED
PHOTO
^John Romano: A Super Bowl is within reach, but is it worth the risk to Bruce Arians?<
FBN-ROMANO-COLUMN:PT — In some ways, Bruce Arians is the story of today’s America.
Smart enough to know better, but still brazen enough to defy a killer virus.
His decision to continue coaching the Buccaneers is personal, but the deliberation is universal. Just how deep into the darkness are we all willing to go against an unseen enemy?
I’m not faulting Arians for telling Tampa Bay Times beat writer Rick Stroud that he has no intention of walking away from the sidelines because of the coronavirus.
700 by John Romano in Tampa, Fla. MOVED
PHOTO
^Why NFL players’ union appears to have major leverage in negotiations ahead of 2020 season<
^FBN-SEASON-NFLPA:NY—<The NFL’s owners may be required to pay players their 2020 salaries whether they play games this season or not.
That could provide extra incentive for owners to want football this fall, but it also may give the NFL Players’ Association major leverage in negotiations on what football during the coronavirus pandemic would look like — if they are able to play the games at all.
The league and union are both working hard to find a safe solution to complete the 2020 season. One of the obvious questions for some players is what will happen to their money if games are cancelled or if they opt against playing due to health concerns.
1200 by Pat Leonard. MOVED
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^NBA<
^5 big free agents Bulls missed out on, from Tracy McGrady in 2000 to LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in 2010<
BKN-BULLS-FREEAGENT-MISSES:TB — The Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan parted ways after the 1997-98 season, severing ties after winning six titles in eight years.
Why both sides called it quits was a topic of intense debate for decades. But while the reason for the Bulls’ dissolution is still argued, the results remain clear — the Bulls dynasty ended and the search for the next Michael Jordan ensued.
After a painful start to the post-Jordan era, the Bulls were connected to nearly every star in the early 2000s. They made runs at Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony.
1150 by DeAntae Prince in Chicago. MOVED
PHOTOS
^OUTDOORS<
^Dennis Anderson: Nature’s storytellers are a threatened species as well<
OTD-ANDERSON-COLUMN:MS — Unless people know where they’ve been, it’s difficult for them to know where they are. This always has been true and might be even more so now, given the speed at which change is occurring.
I was thinking about this recently as I reread the October 1950 edition of Sports Afield, one of a collection of old sporting magazines I keep.
The magazine had a painting by the late Minnesota wildlife artist and raconteur Les Kouba on the cover, touting a story inside titled “Nordern Bluebills” by the late, and legendary, Minnesota outdoor scribe Jimmy Robinson.
900 by Dennis Anderson in Minneapolis. MOVED
PHOTO
^Duluth’s urban trout streams hanging on, but need help<
OTD-DULUTH-TROUT:DU — There aren’t many cities that can claim 50 streams running through their boundaries, like Duluth can, let alone a dozen or more clear and cool enough to hold native, wild trout.
From Mission Creek on the west to the Lester River on the east, the city is crossed by streams that start high over the hill and tumble down to the St. Louis River or Lake Superior.
Jeff Jasperson of Duluth likes to snorkel in these shallow, cool streams and look behind old logs in the water. He’s finding not only small brook trout babies but also some bigger, breeding stock fish, in places that don’t necessarily look like the trout streams we see in fly-fishing magazines or movies.
1550 by John Myers in Duluth, Minn. MOVED
PHOTO
^Ex-Army Ranger making sure other veterans can go fishing<
OTD-VETERANS-FISHING:MS — The most eye-popping fireworks show nearest to this southern Minnesota town on July 4th occurred in nearby New Auburn, where a company called Hollywood Pyrotechnics obliged thrill-seekers with kaleidoscopic spectacles of spinners, comets, crossettes and brocades.
Yet whatever patriotism New Auburn showcased with its aerial explosions on Independence Day, Steve Gillaspie arguably exceeds here in Arlington, every day of the year.
“I bleed red, white and blue,” he said.
800 by Dennis Anderson in Arlington, Minn. MOVED
PHOTO
^Best times for anglers<
^OTD-LUNAR:MCT—<100. MOVED
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