Jim O'Donnell
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Jim O'Donnell: Piersall would guffaw over La Russa's new status as a baseball classicistMay 21, 2021 1:00 am - SOMEWHERE, JIMMY PIERSALL is laughing. He's busting a gut over the idea Tony La Russa has suddenly emerged as lord keeper of all that is august and sacred about Major Le...
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Jim O'Donnell: Pending retirement of Marv Albert is like recalling the peach basketsMay 19, 2021 1:00 am - TRYING TO IMAGINE AN NBA without Marv Albert is like trying to imagine an NBA without basketballs. But that's the way it will be next month when the 79-year-old sportsca...
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Jim O'Donnell: Vegas-wise Brent Musburger isn't bullish on the 2021 BearsMay 14, 2021 1:00 am - A WHOLE LOT OF OVER/UNDERS AGO, a green Northwestern grad was honing his chops as a beat writer covering the 1963 NFL champion Bears for The Chicago American. Brent Musb...
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Jim O'Donnell: Baffert's asterisked Preakness run should be on Court TV, not NBCMay 12, 2021 1:00 am - IF THE GODS OF RACING had a sense of humor, Bob Baffert's two starters in Saturday's diminished Preakness Stakes would be named "Due Process" and "Crisis Management." Al...
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Jim O'Donnell: Horses and Bears at Arlington Park would be an amazing daily doubleMay 05, 2021 1:00 am - THE STORY IS LIKELY APOCRYPHAL, but George Stanley Halas reportedly once said, “Make no small manhole covers.” So, Ditka-diming aside, presenting the newest sports capit...
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O'Donnell: Pay to play at Arlington Park this year? Don't bet on itApr 28, 2021 1:00 am - THE SPECTER OF AN OPENING DAY at Arlington Park was once so deliciously nefarious. Naive goslings down on the apron breaking their virgin betting bones alongside aged bu...
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Jim O'Donnell: A year later, 'The Last Dance' remains a very neat TV featApr 23, 2021 1:00 am - ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEKEND, the United States was reeling as the COVID-19 pandemic steamrolled into its second month. There was no light at the end of the tunnel. The dim...
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Jim O'Donnell: Illini links to young Masters ace Zalatoris run orange, blue and trueApr 12, 2021 1:00 am - DURING THE CBS COVERAGE of the final round of The Masters Sunday, Jim Nantz and Sir Nick Faldo made one thing redundantly clear: Hideki Matsuyama was carrying "the weigh...
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Jim O'Donnell: A grateful goodbye - Stan Albeck, Michael Jordan and the telling lookMar 26, 2021 1:00 am - STAN ALBECK WAS the head coach of the Bulls for a solitary season - 1985-86. It was Michael Jordan's second year with the team. Albeck had the extreme misfortune to have...
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Jim O'Donnell: NCAA tourney masters dodge half of a buzzsaw with Loyola advanceMar 24, 2021 1:00 am - NO ONE IS EVER GOING to accuse the nattering nabobs who rule the NCAA of particularly enlightened thought. But the stiff-suited Babbitts who indenture teenage servants f...