O'Donnell: Fields, La Russa, LeBron - all stars in the week that was
RICH ARABS FROTHING over golf to the east, a Kooky Senor to the south and the most fervent fantasy football hopefuls already deep into preseason research.
So yet another installment of An Incomplete Insouciant's Guide to Current Ins and Outs on the rumbling June sports landscape:
In: Wishing Justin Fields could offer his complete and unfiltered thoughts about his rookie season with the Bears - The Ohio State football program is a lot of things but "dysfunctional" is rarely on the Jim Tressel Memorial Chalkboard. ... At Halas Hall, that word is no longer eligible as a password because of overuse. ... Fields is like a 2-year-old colt who has yet to be let out of the stall and into the correct race.
Out: Fretting about any penalties the Bears have received for excessive contact in spring drills - OMG ... There is trivial, there is banal and there is day-to-day off-season coverage of the Laggards of Lake Forest. ... Aren't there three other teams in the NFC-North? ... Maybe next up will be hourly reports on the rumored hay fever of seventh-round draft pick Trenton Gill.
In: Hoping the guillotine watch on Tony La Russa continues for a while - Except for hardest-core Sox fans, the bad baseball theater is far too entertaining. ... Will Jerry Reinsdorf allow the bumbling Sleepy Senor to indeed go on and pulverize the championship window of '22? ... One informed sage is already pumping A.J. Pierzynski as the preferred successor.
Out: Continuing to allow the rash of Sox injuries to serve as mitigation for the continued employment of La Russa - Write it in soap on the window of the owner's suite at Guaranteed Rot: "Your manager is costing you wins." ... Reinsdorf is approaching downright cruel and quizzically disconnected by the way he's letting TLR embarrass himself.
In: Pulling for LeBron James to wind up owning a new NBA franchise in Las Vegas - A marriage made in Elvis Pair-a-Dice Heaven. ... "LeBillionaire" reportedly wants it and the league should give one of its all-time Exemplary Citizens whatever it takes to keep him in the association. ... Then, who wins a title first: James and his Vegans or Michael Jordan's perennial also-ran Hornets?
Out: Missing the best-of-three windup to the Celtics-Warriors NBA Finals on ABC - Ratings are back up after the viewership depressions of 2020 and 2021. ... Steph Curry and Co. mixed a late-run splash-and-mash in Game 4 Friday night to reboot the series at 2-2. ... Now if only SportsMass America knew who Jayson Tatum and these Celtics are.
In: Piling on Phil Mickelson - Without question, the most reviled independent contractor in American commerce right now. ... Looks the part, smells the part and acts the part. ... The Mickster makes "extreme dislike" far too easy. ... Are there already security concerns about the LIV Golf stop at West suburban Rich Harvest Farms in September?
Out: Feeling any sympathy for the PGA Tour over the Saudi initiative - No. 1, the volume of business done between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia since the OPEC muscle flex of 1973 is off the charts, so a whole lot of the discussion is extremely hypocritical. ... No. 2, PGA commissioner Jay Monahan and group retain the high defensive ground with great TV contracts, all the legacy tournaments and their record books. ... It's their match play to lose.
In: Chortling about Tom Brady's "10-year, $350M" post-NFL contract with Fox - Couldn't network execs have done something more useful with the money, like fund a new sitcom starring Amber Heard? ... With money, celebrity and all appropriate novelties, doesn't Brady want to be sailing the Mediterranean rather than commit to 20 more football weekends every autumn?
Out: Worrying about whether Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen will "work" as Fox's new No. 1 NFL team - They will show up. ... They will do a standup opening and try not to flap their arms enough to generate flight. ... Their words will then hopefully stay out of the way of the game. ... If gassy Steve Levy could do it, who with an IQ higher than a cantaloupe can't?
In: Loudly applauding the 50th anniversary of Title IX - Seems like just yesterday that it took Virginia Slims - a cigarette brand! - to be the market leader saying, "You've come a long way baby." ... Now, some of the most consistently fresh and engaging athletes are women. ... Hello, Oklahoma softball!
Out: Allowing women's professional basketball to continue being treated as a second-class citizen - At point of inception, NBA masters co-opted the ladies pro game and relegated it to an unnatural place on the annual sports calendar. ... Now stars in flight like A'ja Wilson, Breanna Stewart and Rhyne Howard continue to have to flourish in the basketball shadows of summer.
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.