Lip Man 1

Different set of circumstances with tax payers up in arms, the country in (pick an adjective that applies) and politicians no longer willing to stick their necks out rightly or wrongly to support billionaire owners, at least in Illinois. Just my opinion but the Bears, like JR (with his desire for a new stadium) if they would make an offer to help in this debt they'd probably get political will to start gravitating to their side. One of two things I think will happen. Politicians will cave or politicians and citizens will tell the Bears to in essence 'kiss their ass' and feel free to move to Indiana, Timbuktu, Sydney, Moscow, Greenland or Mars.

As well they should in my opinion until the Bears come up with the money to pay for the first renovation of Soldier Field. To my knowledge they haven't even offered anything to help pay some of the debt down.

January 13, 1995 - Baseball’s executive council voted to allow replacement players in upcoming spring training and regular season games, given the ongoing labor impasse with the MLBPA. The more prominent individuals who briefly would become White Sox were shortstop Kent Anderson, outfielder Shawn Buchanan, starting pitcher Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd, outfielder Al Chambers, reliever John Davis, catcher Bill Lindsey, catcher Adalberto “Junior” Ortiz and third baseman Pete Rose Jr. This is the decision that would eventually drive aspiring Major Leaguer Michael Jordan from his baseball career as he was told he would have to participate in the replacement games. Jordan said he would never, under any circumstances, be known as a strike-breaker.

The Bears may be asking for conditions which haven't been made public yet to which the politicians are refusing to allow.

Gov. JB Pritzker and legislative leaders in Springfield have signaled a willingness to chip in on infrastructure, but they’ve urged the team to identify a mechanism to pay off more than half a billion dollars still owed on Soldier Field’s 2003 renovation as a condition to getting any legislative help. “Building a stadium is, from my perspective, about doing what’s best for the taxpayers,” Pritzker said Tuesday. “This is a private business. We help private businesses all the time in the state, and I want to help if it’s with infrastructure, as we do with other private businesses — that’s absolutely a way we could do that. But as I’ve said, and the Bears have heard this, that we’re not going to build a stadium for the Chicago Bears.” https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears-stadium/2026/01/13/bears-survey-season-ticket-holders-northwest-indiana-stadium-arlington-heights

Latest Manfred comments on upcoming labor negotiations: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6964828/2026/01/13/mlb-union-league-salary-cap/?campaign=16455970&source=athletic_targeted_email&userId=602876

Great. We can stop all the BS and get ready to root for the Hammond Bears! 😆

January 12, 1982 - In the January phase of the amateur draft that no longer exists today, the White Sox unearthed the unlikeliest of success stories. John Cangelosi was selected with the No. 433 overall pick, befitting a 5-8 fireplug of a player. He played at Miami Dade College. Three years later, Cangelosi made his Major League debut in Chicago, and in 1986 he leapfrogged the more highly-touted Daryl Boston to make the Opening Day roster as Chicago’s center fielder and leadoff hitter. He swiped 39 bases by the All-Star break, but then was benched rather curiously by midseason manager replacement Jim Fregosi. His best hitting game with the Sox came early in that same 1986 season when he banged out four hits in a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee at Comiskey Park on April 9. Traded to Pittsburgh after the 1986 season, Cangelosi would play 11 more years in the big leagues, winning a World Series with the 1997 Florida Marlins. January 12, 2000 - Sox G.M. Ron Schueler made amends for some of his worst moves by shipping disgruntled pitcher Jamie Navarro to Milwaukee as part of a four-player deal. In exchange he got long ball hitting shortstop Jose Valentin and pitcher Cal Eldred. Both would play a large part in the unexpected divisional championship in 2000. Eldred went 10-2 in 20 starts for the team that season before an elbow injury basically ended his White Sox career in July. Valentin played five years on the South Side averaging 120 hits, 27 home runs and 76 RBI's in those years and he was a Cub-killer. One of the highlights in Jose's White Sox stint was a very rare accomplishment, a ‘natural’ cycle which took place against the Orioles on April 27, 2000. He singled in the first, doubled in the second, tripled in the third and homered in the eighth inning in a 13-4 win. For the day he went 4 for 5 with five RBI’s and two runs scored.

I just read in the Tribune 70 million of that is deferred. Cubs taking a page out of the Dodgers playbook.

That was some game. Amazing again. Anything over this is gravy.

January 10, 1992 – It was one of the worst deals in Sox G.M. Ron Schueler's career as he traded pitcher Melido Perez and two minor leaguers to the Yankees for Steve Sax. Schueler envisioned a devastating one/two punch at the top of the order in Tim Raines and Sax followed by Frank Thomas and Robin Ventura. It never happened, as Sax suddenly forget how to hit and was gone from the team by late April 1994. Making matters worse is that one of the minor league pitchers dealt was Bob Wickman who’d go on to become a top relief pitcher and two-time All-Star winning 63 games with 267 saves. Sax did have one moment of glory as on May 5, 1993 in Milwaukee he made an incredible catch in left field on a ball hit by Billy Doran with the lead run on base. It happened in the eighth inning. Sax broke back and to his left on the drive and caught the ball with his left arm extended. The angle and momentum caused him to tumble over and he lost the ball out of his glove on the way down. Just before hitting the ground however, he snagged the ball with his bare right hand holding it up to the umpire after he hit the grass. That saved a run and the Sox won the game 3-1 on a Robin Ventura home run in the top of the ninth inning.

You can even debate if they are a big draw anymore even among their fans. Lots of Sox fans I know have basically washed their hands of the team until new ownership steps in.

“When folks say, ‘What’s your priorities going into the legislative session?’ we’re trying to bring down the cost of living,” Welch said at a City Club of Chicago event on Tuesday. “Talking about a brand-new Bears stadium when this one’s not even 25 years old, that’s insensitive to what real people are going through right now.” https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/10/chicago-bears-stadium-kansas-city-cheifs-fans/

The White Sox aren't moving to Nashville. You can rest easy in that regard based by statements by Ishbia himself to the Pope.

We'll see how it all shakes out. Injuries will also play a big part in how the season goes and the Sox track record the last several years hasn't been great in that department. I just hope they don't lose 100+ games again this season.