O'Donnell: Thought of Bezos taking control of Bears seems to be only make-believe

WHILE WONDERING WHY STREAMING has changed spoiler etiquette, presenting an April edition of Ins and Outs:

• In - Dreaming of Jeff Bezos owning the Bears - Unfortunately, it can only be dreaming. ... Bezos never moved on the Washington Commanders and now Josh Harris and partners including Magic Johnson will spend $6B to pick up the pieces from diminished Dan Snyder. ... If the Amazon astro-mogul delivers into the NFL owners club, it will almost certainly be with his hometown Seattle Seahawks.

•Out - Dismissing the idea of a restructured Bears ownership before the first shovel is turned at Arlington Park - Pat Ryan and sons remain the most likely fresh controlling heirs to the team. ... And what Ryan is doing to get the city of Evanston and residents aboard for the $800M new football build at Northwestern is Mach man overdrive. ... If only the McCaskeys had Ryan's powerful forehand.

•In - Hoping the city of Chicago allows NASCAR to schedule a race around West Madison St. during the 2024 Democratic National Convention - Now that'd keep the delegates hopping. ... This summer's ill-considered oval time introduces utter urban nonsense to Millennium Park and environs. ... So why not attach the tour de farce to a broader national stage?

•Out - Thoroughbred racing in Chicago - Barely breathing at Hawthorne and some informed speculation is that this season could be it for flat racing at the Stickney spa. ... Once upon a time at Arlington, early-bird horse vans would be arriving just about now to herald a new racing summer. ... Instead, only crickets and moonless memories of a grand playground lost to a green felt jungle.

•In - Applauding Detroit's A.J. Hinch for benching Javy Baez during a recent game - The Tigers' $140M hot dog made two knucklehead baserunning gaffes off the same at-bat Thursday night at Toronto. ... Hinch hooked him in the third inning, approximating what David Ross did during a Cubs-Cleveland game two years ago. ... Detroit won and Baez's direct deposits will still clear.

• Out - Fretting over the languid start of the White Sox - Back at Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall High School, Jerry Reinsdorf must have swooned and swayed in anticipation of Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera." ... Whatever will be will be at Guaranteed Rot, which could be a reason secondary market tickets are already going for as low as $4.

•In - Chuck Swirsky - Lost in the fog that has been the 2022-23 Bulls is the fact that Swirsky's play-by-play work has never been as compellingly nuanced. ... His prescient call of the second half of the team's comeback play-in win at Toronto Wednesday night touched the supreme alpha excellence of the mythic Jim Durham. ... And in these parts, there is no higher accolade.

• Out - White Sox radiocasts - Is there a pro team in America that has a wider announcing gap between TV sharpness and radio turgidity than the White Sox? ... Jason Benetti is deftly paving the final leg of Steve Stone's possible path to the broadcast wing at Cooperstown. ... On 1000-AM, Len Kasper and Darren Jackson turn the pitch clock into hours until David "Chatty" Kaplan's self-absorbed morning earache.

• In - Clocking the NFL draft prospects of O'Cyrus Torrence - The Florida guard may or may not go in the first round but his back story is far too good. ... He may be the only large prospective NFLer who weighed more in eighth grade (420 pounds) than he does now (330). ... And, measurements of his leg strength set all sorts of records around the combine. ... Still, not for the Bears at No. 9.

• Out - Overlooking Paris Johnson Jr. as the Bears' likely top pick - Of 17 prospects confirmed to appear in Kansas City on the draft's first night (April 27), the Ohio State tackle is the only offensive lineman. ... Memo to Ryan Poles: If there's still a copy of The Book of Jim Finks up at Halas Hall, your choice is solely between Johnson and Northwestern's Peter Skoronski. ... Johnson wakes up proud Buckeyes trench echoes going all the way back to Orlando Pace and Lou "The Toe" Groza.

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