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After his group beat Michigan State last week at the United Center, Duke coach Jon Scheyer chided the media for ignoring his homecoming.
“I’m upset,” Scheyer mentioned in mock anger. “No Chicago questions, by the best way.”
After somebody requested Scheyer how he loved his keep, the previous Glenbrook North star mentioned thanks and proceeded to inform a narrative a couple of “bonding journey” he took along with his gamers to Chicago in the summertime.
When knowledgeable of the vacation spot, the gamers had been “very skeptical,” Scheyer mentioned.
“I feel they wished to go someplace extra tropical,” he mentioned. “After which they realized summertime in ‘The Chi’ is definitely not a nasty factor.”
That’s one thing to recollect as you sit down for Thanksgiving dinner and attempt to give you issues to be pleased about in 2023.
We’re fortunate sufficient to stay in a metropolis the place summertime is so elegant, it makes up for the six months of winter — and this prolonged run of end-of-summer climate in November has been a pleasant bonus.
We all know that quickly we’ll be again to scraping ice off windshields with an iPhone case and cursing our ancestors for settling right here within the first place. However for now, being in Chicago is definitely not a nasty factor — until you end up taking part in for considered one of Chicago’s 5 legacy sports activities franchises: the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox and Cubs.
Suffice to say residence cooking has not been their specialty in 2023. What we’ve largely been handled to this yr has resembled three-day-old leftovers overheated in a microwave and left sitting in a single day on the kitchen counter.
Seconds, anybody?
Whether or not it’s residence discipline, residence courtroom or residence ice, the benefit has seldom been obvious for Chicago’s very personal. We’ll begin on the backside with the Blackhawks, who’ve one win in six video games on the United Heart after Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
Everybody knew the rebuild by “Kyle from Chicago” Davidson can be a troublesome slog, however the presence of rookie phenom Connor Bedard was speculated to make it extra tolerable. Sadly, the wunderkind has saved his greatest performances for the street.
Bedard has scored two objectives in six residence video games and 7 objectives in 10 street video games. The Hawks advertising division would kindly recommend he reverse that pattern sooner quite than later. As a result of the group’s document is an afterthought, many followers simply need to see Bedard score a goal. And when he doesn’t and the Hawks lose, the evening is a bust.
When the crowds are into it, the United Heart will be an intimidating place to play.
“I need to create that once more,” veteran Nick Foligno advised reporters after Sunday’s loss. “The followers deserve that. They promote it out each evening to look at us play. It’s an ideal constructing after we’re taking part in the best method, and we haven’t gotten the outcomes we want.”
Two residence matinees this week — Friday in opposition to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Sunday in opposition to the St. Louis Blues — give the Hawks an opportunity to lastly play the best method in entrance of packed homes. They will thank Bedard for that.
The Hawks, after all, share the constructing with the Bulls, whose favorable 2023-24 schedule had them taking part in 10 of their first 15 video games at residence. Whereas preseason expectations weren’t excessive, a powerful begin might’ve created optimism amongst skeptical Bulls followers, who sometimes prove irrespective of the document.
However the Bulls are 4-6 at residence, together with two losses on the ugly red court used for the NBA’s In-Season Event, leaving them 5-10 general as they start a four-game journey Wednesday in Oklahoma Metropolis. Their opening loss to the Thunder on Oct. 25 was followed by a team meeting, a precursor of issues to come back.
Sluggish begins have become as expected on the UC as Benny the Bull dumping popcorn on followers’ heads. Star guard Zach LaVine already wants out, although there’s no inkling from the entrance workplace it might turn into a actuality anytime quickly. And coach Billy Donovan’s quick and livid gum-chomping on the sideline has turn into extra noticeable, maybe as a result of Donovan is aware of the group’s historical past of axing coaches throughout the holidays.
Speaking of coaching anxiety, Matt Eberflus’ Bears are 2-3 at residence, with the wins coming in opposition to the lowly Carolina Panthers and Las Vegas Raiders with backup quarterback Tyson Bagent beginning each video games. The Bears are 2-10 within the final 12 residence video games below Eberflus and 4-13 in Justin Fields’ 17 begins at Soldier Discipline.
The final win on the lakefront with Fields got here on Sept. 25, 2022, a 23-20 victory over the Houston Texans, who blew the No. 1 draft choose to the Bears on the ultimate day of final season however nonetheless wound up drafting C.J. Stroud, the most well liked younger quarterback within the NFL. Who knew?
Spoiler alert: not the Bears.
Even an aggravatingly dangerous Bears group has outperformed the White Sox in 2023, no less than in entrance of their residence followers. Solely two years in the past the Sox had been nearly unbeatable at Assured Fee Discipline, going 53-28 (a .654 successful proportion) whereas cruising to an American League Central title. This yr the Sox went 31-50 (.383) on the South Aspect of their 101-loss season, resulting in the firing of top executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn.
Issues acquired so dangerous this season, one Sox reliever reportedly fell asleep within the bullpen. Off the sphere, 2023 might be remembered for the mysterious gun photographs that hit two followers within the left-field bleachers. The incident remains unsolved by the Chicago Police Division and presumably will go down with “Who smashed Sammy Sosa’s increase field?” as considered one of Chicago’s best sports activities “whodunits.”
The Cubs had been the one Chicago group with a successful residence document, ending 45-36 at Wrigley Discipline for a really respectable .556 successful proportion. Then once more, they misplaced three of 4 at Wrigley in September to the Arizona Diamondbacks and two of three down the stretch to a Pittsburgh Pirates membership that supervisor David Ross correctly labeled as “not a good team.”
These late residence losses could have sealed the Cubs’ destiny — they completed one recreation behind the D-Backs within the Nationwide League wild-card standings — and maybe opened the door to the firing of Ross and the hiring of Craig Counsell, who seemed almost star-struck speaking about his new residence.
“You stroll into historical past, you stroll into the power, you stroll into a spot you already understand it calls for your greatest,” Counsell mentioned.
Demanding the most effective from our favourite groups has at all times been a dangerous proposition in Chicago, however some years have been more durable than others.
In terms of 2023, we’ll cross on second helpings.
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