Jim O'Donnell: Expert eyes Las Vegas and Chicago - trying to figure a tale of two NFL cities
WHEN THE BEARS MAKE their first visit to Las Vegas and the brand spanking new Allegiant Stadium Sunday, few people will be as conversant on "A Tale of Two Football Cities" as Bill Adee.
He remains partnered with Brent and Brian Musburger in the groundbreaking Vegas Stats and Info (vsin.com), purchased by DraftKings in March and operating out of Sin City since its inception in 2017.
In a previous professional life, Adee was sports editor of The Sun-Times Classic during the newspaper's last successful run - reaching a crescendo with its platinum gold rush of 1997-2002.
He followed that with a jump across Boul Mich to The Chicago Tribune. All he did there was flip the sports department back into a competitive mode and ascend to higher corporate levels before beating the Alden Capital press ruin out of town.
(Many deadlines ago, Adee entered the tunnel of ink under two brilliant mentors - Matt Fiorito at The Waukegan News-Sun and Bill Gowen of The Daily Herald).
SO, WHO BETTER TO ASK - compare and contrast, please, the NFL moods and miens of Chicago and Las Vegas:
"Well, we haven't even hit the honeymoon period here," Adee said. "Las Vegas and the Raiders are still newlyweds at the Elvis Wedding Chapel.
"Unlike the Bears, there's no QB controversy. And no stadium controversy, unless you count a few tales of soggy concession pizza at the new place.
"The biggest controversy so far this season is that some Raiders players stand accused of being bad or non-tippers. That's not an insignificant offense in this town."
AND WHAT ABOUT THE MEDIA, in the desert and in The City of Broad Taxes?
"Is the coverage from local TV here going to remind anyone of the Johnny Morris-Tim Weigel-Chet Coppock battle royale for scoops in the '80s?
"Ah, no.
But, he continued: "I don't need to go far to get my Raiders scoops. VSiN founder Brent Musburger, once upon a time a Bears beat writer in the days of George Halas himself (for The Chicago American), is the radio play-by-play man for the team.
"Bears fans might want to give him a listen. He still has the fire in his voice, and you know he'll have the point spread and total in his head."
MUSBURGER'S CALL OF SUNDAY'S SCRAMBLE can be heard on the website of Raiders flagship KOMP-FM - komp.com.
In the meantime, a line that opened at LVR minus-7 is dipping down toward minus-5.
Attribute that to the markedly bleak first half of Derek Carr and the visiting Raiders vs. the Chargers Monday night and the "QB-Q?" factor surrounding the third career start of Justin Fields.
Musburger's position is unknown but likely trending toward the homies. Adee - with daily VSiN TV properties on the Cubs' baffling Marquee Sports Network and YouTube TV - is holding his own.
For now, the visioned media exec is just happy to be a Midwestern boy in a zone.
STREET-BEATIN':
Credit Fox Sports with keen hustle: The web snapped St. Louis antique dealer Adam Wainwright as another presence on its coverage of the White Sox-Astros ALDS (Game 3, Sunday, FS1, 7:07 p.m.). Just Tuesday night, the 40-year-old Wainwright was getting it done against the Dodgers in the NL Wild Card Game before the improbable Blue Moon Boom of Chris Taylor decided it. ...
The abrupt departure of Mike Thomas as program director at ESPN AM (1000) was actually less of a surprise than his initial decision to take the Good Karma post two years ago. His exit underscores the fact that until bossman Craig Karmazin finds money for fresh talent and promotion, the station's slippery stalk of dormant WSCR-AM (670) will be glacial. ...
If the game was "WNBA Password" and the first clue was "elegant," even the late Tony Randall's initial response would have to be "Candace Parker." The fact that the Sky's inspired dash to the league finals is getting lost in the local haze of Bears and Sox coverage just ain't right (Game 1; Sunday, ABC, 2 p.m.) ...
Chicago pride Chris Chelios admitted that he landed his new gig with ESPN's NHL coverage the old-fashioned way: He called and asked for it. (What - no LinkedIn?) ...
What would the reaction to Urban Meyer's dance fever be if his Jacksonville Jaguars were 4-0 rather than 0-4? (Whatever, his next life could be starring in a streaming update of "Maggie and Jiggs," in which the wife's favorite prop would be an Alexa-controlled rolling pin.) ...
And Bob Friendly, on the prop bet he wants to see as the MLB postseason continues its creep into the wee hours: "Over / under Eastern time on whether a game ends by midnight."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.