O’Donnell: From Cubs to Kentucky Derby to NFL draft, ins and outs of April

APRIL SHOWERS BRING FLOWERING APRIL INSIGHTS, so here goes.

A random tracking of select stormy Sports ins and outs:

— IN — Summer gear-up set to arrive at Wrigley Field? — In a world gone crazy, it's somewhat comforting to know that sunny afternoons, balmy lake-view nights and shiny, happy people inside the ivy can still make the angst go away for a few hours. … Now if only those ticket, concessions and parking prices were a little more proletariat friendly.

— OUT — The best-man tendencies of Craig Counsell's Cubs — At least this season, the Wigglies are apparently skipping the promising initial two starts of the Counsell era (17-9 in 2024, 17-10 last season). … Will the team's $40 Million Man ever make the dirty Clark and Addison Q. go away: Did Jed Hoyer spend all of that dough on only the second-best baseball brain in the Brewers' dugout?

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--- IN — Kentucky Derby straight ahead — The Run for the Roses is still everything that Louisville native Dr. Hunter S. Thompson wrote about in the landmark 1970 magazine article, “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved.” … And Churchill Downs Inc. stock is no longer knocking it dead on the daily ticker. … But an open race should fill with 20 next Saturday when post positions are drawn for the May 2 event. … Renegade (9-2), Commandment (5-1) and Further Ado (6-1) will likely be tepid morning-line toppers.

--- OUT — Opening of Hawthorne's 2026 thoroughbred race meet — “Against all odds” once had positive currency in Chicago horse racing. … Now it applies to the delayed survivor's season that will open at West suburban Hawthorne Sunday (first post — 2:40 p.m.). … Resolute racing secretary Dave White has somehow drawn 42 horses into seven races that are not exactly fit for a king. (The opener has four). … Are they sure Dick Duchossois did it this way?

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--- IN — Bulls cleaning house — Bulls classicists continue to dream of nights when those 21,000 paying dupes inside the United Center become 21,000 non-paying pickets on West Madison Street protesting the organization's arrogant competitive disdain. … Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley were about as electric as JD Vance headlining Lollapalooza. … Even the team's stunning inability to tank correctly was simply more evidence of “The Curse of the Breakup.”

--- OUT — Bulls house cleaning not going deep enough — Jerry Reinsdorf may be a business genius. … But for more than four decades, he has been a recurring sports ops bust atop two of Chicago's five center-stage franchises. … Son Michael is emerging as just a living legacy to the leader of the bland. … Is there any way a Sports People Court could rule they can retain chairmanships but must sign over full sports operations oversight to more capable people?

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--- IN — Demise of LIV Golf — Cynical and divisive since its inception, meaning it's been in perfect lockstep with the prevailing polarization of America during its five-year run. … Single greatest residual is that it did away with any pretension that it's anything but sheer unadulterated greed that fuels so much of major global sports. … But caveat U.S fun and games: That Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is only going to come around bolder and even smarter with the next faux sacrosanct compartment it infests.

--- OUT — 2026 TV coverage of The Masters — CBS cameras blew the end of Rory McIlroy's 72nd championship hole, ESPN played down to predictable ESPN talent standards and Amazon Prime gained access to tee boxes with numbing stroke-by-stroke around Amen Corner. … But for Old Times purists, Jim Nantz has never come closer to making running commentary sound like reverential prayer.

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--- IN — The NFL draft — To say otherwise could be grounds for having U.S. citizenship revoked and passage through the Strait of Goodell blockaded. … Once upon a time in America, this was a quiet December ritual, almost clandestinely tucked in between the wishbones of Thanksgiving and the stockings of Christmas. … Now it continues to rise toward eye level with Peter Cottontail and Easter egg hunts high up the American spring marquee.

--- OUT — Watching all three days of the 2026 NFL draft in real time — Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, fresh air is beckoning — and a hypnotized hard core of screen-immersed will not turn away from any of the 257 picks even if their man caves were on fire. … In a perfect fanatic's world, the NFL regular season would kick off five weeks after the draft for a nine-month zip to the Super Bowl — and some futuristic day it might.

Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.