Jim O'Donnell: Are the McCaskeys moving closer to selling their blundering Bears?
TWO DEFLATING LOSSES INTO A STILLBORN SEASON, the teeming jeer club is hardly short on avid supporters.
Who doesn't want the McCaskey family to sell the Chicago Bears?
The implosive news out of Halas Hall Wednesday was certain to only intensify that boiling public spirit of disconnection and rebellion.
Justin Fields was merely speaking the truth. His favorite uncle might have sent him an endless loop of the old Animals classic, "We Gotta Get Out of This Place."
If the McCaskeys sell, the most intense fans would be happier than striking United Auto Workers at a Big 3 CEO dunk tank.
Casual types might be snapped once again into believing in divine providence, even if it does involve one of The Entrenched Ownership 5 in The Captive Sports City.
Chicago's long civic NFL nightmare would finally be over.
REMAINING HALAS/MCCASKEY FAMILY HEIRS would quite handsomely accept the reality that roughly $4.5 billion in hand is far better than day-by-day castigation as an incompetent band of burnt-orange silver slivers.
Most intriguing are credible reports about what's actually going on behind closed doors. Facts include
• Mrs. Virginia McCaskey is 100 years and 8 months old. She remains a revered lady, overwhelmingly adoring of her father and his legacy. The team cannot be sold without her OK;
• Of her 11 sons and daughters, two - Michael and Tim - are deceased;
• Of the remaining nine, one is reported to no longer be participating in family business matters.
THAT LEAVES EIGHT ACTIVE MCCASKEYS a generation behind their mother. Here's where there is informed insight suggesting the growing possibility of an ownership punt at the end of the long, dank tunnel.
Four of the eight are said to be in favor of selling now. The other four reportedly want to retain open-ended family control. (Current NFL rules dictate that a single general partner can head a franchise with a minimum 30% ownership stake.)
An "X factor" remains Pat Ryan, the primary minority partner. He owns at least 17.7% of the team. The estate of the late Andy McKenna - who died at age 93 in February - at last report holds the remaining 2%.
There has never been credible confirmation that Ryan has a right of first refusal on the McCaskey family holdings. But that has been an ongoing presumption.
ALSO NOTEWORTHY IS RYAN'S SILENCE regarding the allegations of hazing in his own preferred sports duchy - Northwestern University athletics.
Some are saying that's a residual as the octogenarian quietly retreats from some alpha presences in all he undertakes. That same group is interpreting his step away from the line of fire at NU as evidence of eroding energy about taking over one of the NFL's most underachieving organizations.
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ITS EXISTENCE, the NFL is also vigorously exploring the concept of private-equity investment and sovereign foreign money in franchise ownership groups.
Either new financial bending would only further increase the value of teams and encourage more bidding interests, especially for a major-market sports show biz concern approaching a landmark generational bridge such as the Bears.
A decision on that revamping of NFL rules about expanded ownership guidelines could come at league meetings in March. That could accelerate a fetching "For Sale" sign on the Bears, a trinket that would be a platinum-gold "get" of for some aggressive new-mill billionaire.
FOR YEARS, VIRGINIA MCCASKEY was an unassuming regular at the Wednesday night bingo games at Notre Dame High School in Niles.
One acquaintance was Marion Pankow, mother of nine. Her brood included Jimmy Pankow, the trombonist in the rock-fusion band Chicago, and actor John Pankow, best-known as Ira Buchman in the NBC sitcom "Mad About You."
Almost all of the Pankow and McCaskey boys graduated from the Dempster St. school.
On well-attended nights at ND bingo, the jackpot cover-all game paid $1,000.
In a lot of respects, chasing that grand probably brought more joy and relaxation to Mrs. McCaskey than the current straits of her father's billion-dollar dregs.
STREET-BEATIN':
Mark Giangreco will adamantly deny all. But the movable sports wit could be emerging in a dandy dilettante capacity before the ides of January. (And it will not be alongside Cheryl Burton on "Ditzing with the Stars.") ...
ABC/ESPN really needed to offer split-screen coverage of NO-CAR and CLE-PIT on its clumsy "Monday Night Football" doubleheader. Steelers defensive TD aces Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt looked smaller than raindrops on the forecast crawl at the bottom of the Weather Channel screen. ...
Volunteer assistant Pat Fitzgerald is riding the special teams bus to Loyola Academy away games. Son Ryan Fitzgerald is starring at QB and the explosive Ramblers (3-0) are a popular pick for yet another IHSA championship. (They will finish with a better record than Northwestern, but who won't?) ...
Tremendous event Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Rosemont entertainment district: Salute Inc. - the veterans assistance organization - hosts a 0.26 "micro marathon." Entrants will "walk, run, skip or stroll" five blocks before hitting a beer-and-lemonade finish line. Mayors Tom Hayes (Arlington Heights) and Brad Stephens (Rosemont) are expected. Talented Torron Crawford will sing The national anthem. ...
And corn-husk sage Scott Hipple, on the rapidly changing realities of sports focus in Chicago: "The Bears certainly yanked that doom-and-gloom bubble away from the White Sox, didn't they?"
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Thursday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.