I'd rather be sitting in a ballpark.

The Padres know what they got themselves into when they signed Manny Machado to a 10-year, $300 million contract back in 2019. but they probably didn’t expect they’d have to negotiate a new deal. This past offseason it looked like the Padres were building for sustained success when they signed or resigned several players. I’m…

The other day, Tim McCarver passed away at 82. His contributions to the game were great although some fans didn’t love his broadcasting style. What impressed me was his four decades, playing career and who he caught and that he was the first catcher to lead the league in triples. McCarver played in the 50’s-80’s…

Let’s start with the simple fact that nobody is perfect. Throwing our support and money behind professional athletes and entertainers can be difficult when their personal lives don’t align with our belief systems. However, rooting for a player whose actions border on illegal or immoral is something different entirely. At present, White Sox fans are…

Forget about the lobster rolls, boils, pizzas, strudels, and donuts, I’m heading to Portland for Sea Dogs baseball. I’ve always thought it would be fun to hit both Portland’s in one season for minor league baseball, but after reading about the Burke’s and the culture they’ve instilled, Maine is my first choice. As is noted…

Scott Merkin, the White Sox correspondent for mlb.com, covered the Clevinger piece later in the day. As of 5:20 am CST, there is nothing on the mlb.com homepage. I’m not suggesting they try the case in the media or that either side needs to share the sordid details in public. However, the situation warrants discussion-when…

I didn’t expect much from mlb.com and the White Sox associated site, but I’m still disappointed that they appear to be covering up for Mike Clevinger and his horrific, off-field domestic situation. They can’t hide behind any legal mumbo-jumbo either because Clevinger addressed the local media today in Arizona. To their credit, both The Chicago…

The current trend is to overvalue strangers’ opinions on social media and forums like Yelp, to decide where to dine and imbibe. A generation ago, tourists and foodies (not called that) relied on publications like Gourmet, The NYT, or yaboes like me for recommendations. Anonymously, reviewers/influencers bare their fans, or offer effusive praise without much…

After a decent dinner, I’ve put things in perspective. Any Super Bowl is the most important sporting event to 84.6% of sports fans. No local sports story matters when compared to a SB, even one with no local bearing. Somehow, the local sports talkers still managed to squeeze in Bears thoughts the day after SB…

I just caught the tail end of Nestor Cortes explaining how he’s going to miss the WBC but hopes to be ready to start the season with the Yankees. I feel badly for him and thought he was a good addition to the US team. We can’t blame the WBC for his Grade 2 strain…

This will be the first and only time that I’ll refer to the WBC by it’s formal name, The World Baseball Classic. Don’t expect your local paper to spend much time promoting the series. Conversely, you can expect 24/7 hype from MLB and all of their marketing arms. They hype the heck out of the…