O'Donnell: Boo Ricketts, pity frosted Bears season-ticket holders - December Ins and Outs
WAY UP NORTH where the air gets cold or way down south where Willy B. Hills currently rolls, a postcard Sunday for the December edition of Ins and Outs.
So, the sometimes cheery, sometimes weary Yuletide scroll:
• In - Hoping Tom Ricketts is booed off the stage at the 2023 Cubs convention in January - It'd be good for his soul. ... A public downspouting might also force the team chairman to face the reality that the slide from the magic of 2016 to the current mirth-free Nowheresville is downright insulting. ... Right now, the Ricketts family would probably struggle to run a cattle-friendly amusement park in the minds of Omaha.
• Out - Watching off-season programming on the Marquee Sports Network - If this is the Cubs flagship TV operation, the fleet is down to nothing but paddleboards and leaky pontoons. ... It's awful. ... Hauling Len Kasper back to call "The Week's Best LASIK Eye Surgeries" would be an upgrade. ... What a waste of strong-armed cable fees.
• In - Feeling bad for Bears season-ticket holders - Sort of ... Consumers make all sorts of poor purchasing decisions in modern America and there's no crying in the checkout line. ... But in a metro market of more than 8M people, George McCaskey and fleece hounds need a mere 60,000 or so dupes to keep their brittle shell game going. ... People who are financially committed to show at Soldier Field as this lost season plays out are the woeful wanderers of South Lake Shore Drive.
• Out - Heralding Sunday's nooner as some kind of possible QB classic between Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields - Oh Sid Luckman in the sky ... Hurts is quite likely headed for Super Bowl 57 with one of the NFL's great new-brute ensembles. ... Fields once again is the burnt orange-and-blue center ring on the dartboard of another week's Rushin' Roulette. ... A Bears victory is a loss. ... Did anyone tell Lake Zurich-based Jack Sanborn that there'd be days like this?
• In - Sending nothing but positive vibrations to Dr. Celine Gounder and the spirit of Grant Wahl - Wahl was the 49-year-old global-class soccer journalist who died in Qatar last week while covering the FIFA World Cup. ... Dr. Gounder is now his NYC-based widow. ... She has been a profile in grace, courage and dignity in the wake of his sad passing. ... Dr. Gounder's segment with Gayle King on "CBS Mornings" Wednesday was profoundly poised, pained and celestial.
• Out - Any excessive sympathy for Brittney Griner - No thanks ... An adult professional purportedly with enough intelligence and sophistication to pursue international gold showed reckless disregard for the laws of a hostile sovereign power. ... And got caught and then got lucky. ... In the end, all that Griner proved was that basketball talent ain't brains.
• In - Saluting The Boston Globe's decision to name the late Bill Russell "Bostonian of the Year" - The transcendent No. 6 of the Celtics remains the greatest championship player in the history of basketball - bar none. ... More importantly, he forced people so capable to think about much more family-of-man matters and, ideally, expand their sensitivities. ... He shall forever be an American for all seasons.
• Out - The NBA's decision to name a flood of annual award trophies for players past - Shortsighted and pandering. ... Just as Russell was a radiant new alpha for his time, so too was Michael Jordan. ... It was a random blessing to cover him in his prime. ... But it is also an ongoing wish that newer fresh heirs take the game and its theatrics even higher. ... What's left to name for them?
• In - College stars opting out of bowl games to prep for the NFL draft - In a heartbeat. ... Where does the line form? ... Every step on the odometer for State U is one less step toward sustained professional riches. ... And one less leg to fry.
• Out - Watching college football bowl games before December 27* - Only if bingey "NCIS" reruns aren't available. ... Sure it means missing UTSA, Troy, NC Central and other NCAA backpagers. ... But a game like Duke's Mayo Bowl only comes alive if the acting legacy of Whitman Mayo - Grady on "Sanford and Son" - is honored.
• 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.