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O'Donnell: August 'Ins' begin with plea for Jerry Rich to ashcan LIV Golf at Rich Harvest Farms

THE SLUMBERING SUMMER crawls along in the No. 1 Captive City of Sports in America.

The Cubs and Blackhawks are miles from nowhere. The Bears are confused. The White Sox continue to show all the sustained fire of a shuttered steel mill in Northwest Indiana.

And the Bulls have guaranteed themselves an extended run in high plains NBA futility with the ill-considered overpayment of Zach LaVine.

So to keep this tedium trolling, a marginally energized August installment of Ins & Outs:

In - Calling on wealthy Jerry Rich to pull the plug on the scheduled LIV Golf tournament at his far West suburban Rich Harvest Farms - The Sept. 16 start date for the $25M event is less than five weeks away. ... Rich has made an error, which does not become a mistake until mangy Saudi golf lickspittle like Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson tee off at his opulent spread. ... He's going to have to eat a good 11th-hour chunk of money and choose very public human correctness over an unnecessary stain of golf guilt by association.

Out - Expecting Northern Illinois University to accept any further donations from alumnus Rich if he allows the Saudi bone sawers to stage their sports wash at Rich Harvest - Rich has enough money to do whatever he wants, however infamous. ... If he lets the LIV event go on, then the need for projecting properly humanistic instincts shifts to NIU President Lisa Freeman. ... She needs to open the academic year by acknowledging Rich's past generosity but unfortunately advising that his largesse will no longer be accepted at the proud university.

In - Already losing patience with the 2022 Bears over the Roquan Smith stalemate - A grand way for the McCaskeys to allow the Ryan Poles/Matt Eberflus era to begin. ... Poles apparently has a budgeted number for Smith - who is negotiating without an agent. ... Smith finds that figure inadequate and has quite shrewdly crafted his "hold-in." ... He wants to help generate Super Bowl football. ... Do the tomato squeezers atop the corporate directory at Halas Hall?

Out - Expecting anything better than a 7-10 mark from the upcoming Staleys campaign - "The rebuild variant" is apparently a Chicago pro sports contagion that perhaps Dr. Anthony Fauci should address. ... The biggest thing Justin Fields and the Bears have going for them into the new season is that it's the NFL, where those yellow flags dropped and not dropped can make unlikely playoff teams walk out of mystic fields - even if they are based in Lake Forest.

In - Loudly applauding the NBA's decision to universally retire Bill Russell's No. 6 - Apparently, the league was waiting for the day when the fiercely independent thinker was no longer positioned to stake out any anti-herd social perspectives. ... But, the bottom line is that Adam Silver and Co. did the right thing. ... A champion athlete and forever, an inspirational man.

Out - Major League Baseball's languid attitude toward honoring Roberto Clemente on a similar level - Clemente's No. 21 should be right there alongside Jackie Robinson's No. 42. ... Robinson deserved first run. ... But Clemente's legacy transcends his status as the game's greatest pioneering Hispanic superstar. ... His MLB accomplishments need no burnishing. ... But has any diamond gem made the face of heaven so fine in such noble, humanitarian manner?

In - Having a recurring dream that Cleveland's Steve Kwan will prove to be the key to the Guardians winning the AL-Central - It won't go away, like bad maize flashbacks to Thursday's "Field of Dregs" game between the Cubs and Cincinnati. ... The CLE rookie outfielder plays the game with urgency, hunger and intelligence. ... No single competitor in baseball's worst division more consistently embodies all of the good things missing in the White Sox locker room. ... His G-dians deserve to triumph; the Slouch Sliders do not.

Out - Getting too worked up over Steve Stone's recent "hustling is optional" comment about the horizontaling White Sox - Stone is too seasoned and too smart to try a new mustard on a press box hot dog unless he knows it's OK with Jerry Reinsdorf. ... And Reinsdorf is clearly committed to allowing the South Side Minnow to go down with Tony La Russa sleeping through too many alarm clocks. ... So Stone's comment was undoubtedly inbounds with The Chairman of Gloom. ... It's Patrick Henry saying, "Give me liberty or let's take a break for lunch!"

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.

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