Lip Man 1

A part of a long interview I did with Wilbur in 2005: ML: The White Sox fell on miserable times in the late 60's and 1970. I think they lost more games in that three-year period than at any other time in franchise history. The Sox lost 106 games in 1970 alone, it had to be agony going to the park every day. I don’t know how you guys kept your sanity! WW: “It was awful. I’ll tell you how bad it was. The only games that I ever wanted to come into were games where I could pick up a save. I never wanted to go into games where the score was tied because I knew and everybody on the team knew, that we’d find some way to lose the game. We had no chance. The pitchers knew it and the position players knew it.” ML: Your teammate Joe Horlen told me about his 1971 spring training injury which caused him to miss most of the season. But that’s only half of the story because as a direct result of his injury, Chuck Tanner began considering the option of making you a starting pitcher. I have heard you were against the move but for the sake of the team decided to give it a try. Why the initial opposition? WW: “That was a strange situation because even before the injury I was almost traded. It’s true...the Sox had a deal in place with Washington. I was going to be traded for Darold Knowles. But I was holding out that year, I was fighting for more money and I never signed a contract. So the trade was null and void. It was pretty apparent that Chuck (Tanner) didn’t want me in the bullpen. He wanted hard throwing guys and we had players like Terry Forster and “Goose” Gossage coming up so I became a starter. Roland Hemond said this one time and it’s true, “Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don’t make.”

January 19, 1909 - Sox owner Charles Comiskey purchased a piece of land on the corner of 35th and Shields from Roxanna Bowen. The site would be used to build the original Comiskey Park on, starting in March 1910. In only four months the steel and concrete stadium would be opened and ready for use. January 19, 1972 - Early Wynn, who helped the White Sox to the 1959 pennant, was elected to the Hall of Fame with 76 per cent of the vote. Wynn made it on his fourth ballot, slowly working his way up the vote count before crossing the 75 per cent threshold. He’d win exactly 300 games in his long career and in 1959 the year the White Sox won the pennant, he captured the Cy Young Award on the basis of 22 wins, an ERA of 3.17 and over 255 innings pitched. He played five years with the club winning 64 games.

Sox Machine with a nice recap of Wood's career: https://soxmachine.com/2026/01/wilbur-woods-workload-will-continue-to-astound By the way it's embarrassing that the Sox own website has a very generic story on him written by someone who only gives the basics of his career very little insight. And the Sun-Times is even worse, story written by someone who clearly knows very little about him.

The Tribune's Brad Biggs 10 points from the game has a terrific and honest look at the entire Bears stadium situation. It is point 10 in his long story: "Here’s what I know: There has been frustration at Halas Hall that the stadium project has not already started. There’s more optimism inside the building than there has been for some time that actual progress might not be far off. Here’s what I think: Indiana is moving quickly because the best chance the Hoosier state has is to play ball and prove the obstacles to a stadium in Illinois do not exist across the border. The Bears, whose leadership and lobbyists haven’t been savvy enough to get traction in Springfield on their own, are now going to use maximum leverage on folks in Illinois. “This is not about leverage,” President/CEO Kevin Warren wrote in a letter to fans last month. Phooey." He writes a lot more about the situation: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/19/chicago-bears-brad-biggs-10-thoughts-rams-playoffs/

This is a well done story on the Dodgers and the upcoming labor situation: "The league needs a system that further incentivizes the low-payroll teams to spend. Give them more money, but force them to spend it on players. That sounds great in theory, but if owners raise the floor, they will want to lower the ceiling. That is a salary cap, and there’s no indication it will ever happen. The players stood firm against a cap in 1994, striking that August before the owners could unilaterally impose one. The standoff cancelled the World Series and delayed the next season. The lesson: insisting on a salary cap is a warhead so dangerous it should never be deployed again. You can’t win a war by destroying the planet." https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6981877/2026/01/19/los-angeles-dodgers-mlb-free-agency-economics/?source=dailyemail&campaign=601983&userId=602876&source=dailyemail

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6982047/2026/01/18/wilbur-wood-knuckleball-white-sox-death/?source=athletic_thewindup_newsletter&campaign=16499593&userId=602876

For many years the Sox had a Hall of Fame located in the stadium I think it was by the home plate area, perhaps someone can correct me on this. I know when the stadium renovations took place it was removed. I don't know what became of it.

Again that another luck situation. How many times can you keep expecting to force 2-3-4 turnovers a game like they did this year which is why bringing in some game wreckers on defense has to be a priority this off season.

Fluke injury, it happens. Williams can also get hurt anytime he steps on the field. You have to measure that against the number of times in critical situations when you can't convert on 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1.

Williams converted two short yardage situations tonight on his own. He's more than big and strong enough. He's got better odds doing that then pitching the ball back to a running back five yards behind the line of scrimmage. (as was shown tonight as well)

When you come from behind eight times including tonight in the last 2:00 minutes of a game to win or tie, that's a lot of luck involved. Something like that you'd expect to happen once or twice. Eight times? That defies the law of averages, which is why it's never happened before in the history of the NFL.

It's called Tush Push, why don't the Bears use it?

Well...you can't keep relying on luck to bail you out and it finally caught up with them. So be it. They had an impressive season but they aren't close to being a championship contender yet. What do they need to do next to move closer to that goal? Just my opinion: 1A. Williams has to stay healthy and keep progressing. he made some big mistakes tonight but it was his first playoff experience. 1B. The Bears have to beg, borrow, steal, trade draft picks, sign free agents whatever they need to do and bring in some game wreckers on defense. Period. Guys opponents have to specifically game plan for (and fear). The defense played out of their minds tonight but that hasn't been the case for most of the season. Again you can't keep expecting to force 2-3 turnovers a game. 2. I think part of the reason Johnson doesn't go for field goals much is because Santos isn't capable of kicking home 55-60 yarders regularly. He doesn't have the leg for it. Go out and kind a kicker who can. They seem to be all over the place expect in Chicago. It will be an interesting off season.

I actually find it funny that the Bears are one of the few teams in the league that refuses to run the Tush Push. If I was in the media that's the first question I'd ask Johnson. Embarrassing to have four times either 3rd and 1 or 4th and 1 and they get blown up every time.

It's amazing how stupid players can be. Totally unnecessary. If those automatic three points costs them the game his ass should be cut the minute he returned to the locker room when it was all over. Teams don't need idiots...and he's definitely one.