telander
Rick Telander biography
Rick Telander has been the lead sports columnist at the Sun-Times since April, 1995. He previously was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and ESPN, …
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TELANDER: Adding Jumbotron would make Wrigley Field mundane
I wasn’t there the other day when the Cubs hoisted a giant fabric sign over the left-field bleachers, a mock-up of the Jumbotron they’d like to place there along Waveland Avenue. They did it so everybody could get an idea of how big a 6,000-square-foot …Read More
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TELANDER: Ditka’s 89 going into vault, and of course he’s loving it
Let’s hear it for Da Coach! News is, his jersey number, 89, will be retired by the Bears on Dec. 9. It’s about time, don’t you think? No, Mike Ditka doesn’t lack for résumé or face time or publicity or communication skills or football cred. …Read More
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TELANDER: Brian Urlacher carried on proud tradition of Bears’ MLBs
When you think of the Bears, you think of middle linebackers. And when you think of middle linebackers, you think of Brian Urlacher. Or, you should.
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NU women’s lacrosse and its title collection border on unbelievable
It’s hard for the average sports brain to process a team this good. I’m speaking of the Northwestern University women’s lacrosse team, a female paving machine that has crushed foes into dust for nearly a decade. The Globetrotters don’t clown the Generals the way the …Read More
TELANDER: Studying CTE as a bomb component
What if terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev was brain-damaged? What if the elder of the two alleged Boston Marathon bombers, who was killed three days after the April 15 attack, incurred brain trauma during his amateur boxing career and suffered the disabling effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy? …Read More
TELANDER: Carlos Marmol only latest to learn anything can be made public
You can run, you famous athletes. You even can walk, skip or whisper. But you can’t hide. Isn’t that true, Carlos Marmol? The Cubs reliever met with his agents for what he thought would be a casual, off-the-record discussion in a community lounge Wednesday in …Read More
Bulls’ future looks more murky than perky
RICK TELANDER: Thank you, Heat! Thank you for putting the mess that was the 2012-13 Bulls down the drain and into the septic system. Was the season fun for you, fans?
With Rahm’s DePaul plan, we’ve entered a new arena of stupidity
RICK TELANDER: There are head-scratchers, and then there are ones that burrow right through your cranium. We got the latter here, folks. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to announce plans to build a $300 million, 12,000-seat arena for DePaul University . . . dum-dum- dum (suspense) . . . at McCormick Place.
TELANDER: Bulls doing their best, but LeBron gives Heat edge it needs
Something about this isn’t fair. Three of the Bulls’ starters in Game 3 on Friday against the Miami Heat — Jimmy Butler, Marco Belinelli and Nate Robinson — would be bench guys in a fair world. Where are Kirk Hinrich, Luol Deng and, as ever, …Read More
TELANDER: Blackhawks, fans have it better than other Chicago franchises
After the Blackhawks’ severe 5-1 trashing of the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night, I’m gonna say Hawks fans are . . . spoiled. Whoa, whoa there, Jimmy ‘‘Golden Jet’’ Jersey! Easy now. I don’t mean spoiled as in bratty and snooty and wears Gucci. That is, Hawks …Read More
TELANDER: Game 7 victory a work of heart
NEW YORK — How did they do this? How did the mutilated, nauseated, eviscerated Bulls gallop past the higher-seeded Brooklyn Nets, kicking their soft borough butts 99-93 in a seventh game on the Nets’ home court? Amazing, but they did it. This was a game …
TELANDER: Jason Collins’ announcement big step for him, giant one for sports
So has the gay dust settled? After journeyman NBA center Jason Collins came out last week as the first active homosexual men’s player in a major U.S. team sport, it seemed everybody on the planet weighed in. Most congratulated him for his courage. First lady …Read More
TELANDER: Ricketts has moving speech
On Wednesday morning, Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts took off one of his chain-metal gauntlets and dropped it with a clank to the floor. “The fact is that if we don’t have the ability to generate revenue in our own outfield, we’ll have to take a …Read More
TELANDER: Game 6 is ailing Bulls’ last, best chance to advance
NEW YORK — Here at the ‘‘Rusty Tug’’ — also known as the Barclays Center — we had another Blackout Night for Brooklyn Nets fans. For Bulls fans, it was pretty much Blot-Out Night. They might as well forget the 110-91 loss Monday in Game …Read More
TELANDER: Payton Prep parents’ apparent overreaction only costs sons a chance to play
Oh, boy, this is one of those rolling hand grenades. Some parents of baseball players from Payton College Prep on the Near North Side didn’t want their sons traveling to Brooks College Prep on 111th Street between Michigan and King Drive for a 7 p.m. …
TELANDER: Derrick Rose should return for the playoffs, where anything can happen
For everybody who loudly proclaims that knee-rehabbing Derrick Rose should not even consider coming back this postseason, I offer some nuggets of differing thought: Sunday marks exactly one year since he tore his left anterior cruciate ligament, and improvement in strength, agility and confidence should …Read More
Bears ‘100 percent yes’ for lineman Kyle Long
RICK TELANDER: The Bears did it. They took somebody you’ve never heard of, never watched, have no opinion about. That is, unless you view a lot of Pac-12 teams and you focus on in-close offensive line play. Which you don’t.
Why is Derrick Rose held to a different standard than Jay Cutler?
RICK TELANDER: He comes out before the game, sits on the Bulls’ bench and starts to lace up his new Adidas D Rose 3.5s. Derrick Rose is ever friendly, ever courteous, so you ask him, ‘‘When are you going to play?’’ He doesn’t say anything, just smiles. Not a happy smile. Not a sarcastic smile.
TELANDER: Derrick Rose’s absence doesn’t make sense, leaving many questions lingering
NEW YORK — There he was on the bench Saturday night at the Barclays Center with his teammates as they were demolished by the Nets 106-89. The only difference was that he was dressed in a gray, tailored business suit, and they were dressed in …
TELANDER: Nets’ win a feel-great story for Brooklyn
NEW YORK — The best, simple, on-key rendition of the national anthem I’ve heard in years came Saturday night from Nets guard/forward Jerry Stackhouse. The 38-year-old vet wore his sweatsuit and held the mic close, and with eyes closed, sang the tricky song at halfcourt …Read More
