Jim O'Donnell
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O'Donnell: College basketball marquee swinging back toward Underwood and the Fighting IlliniJan 15, 2020 12:00 am - FUNNY HOW THE COLLEGE BASKETBALL MARQUEE can slip away. Or beckon a team back. Three weeks ago, DePaul was 12-1 and the toast of the region. Brad Underwood and Illinois ...
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O'Donnell: For canniest contrarians, flawed LSU-Clemson betting line is a golden opportunityJan 10, 2020 12:00 am - ONE OF THE GRAND DREAMS of a sports speculator is a flawed betting line. The line for the CFP championship game Monday night - LSU minus-6 over Clemson - is flawed. Taun...
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O'Donnell: 'Jeopardy!' James Holzhauer overcomes everything but Ken Jennings as Night One of ABC's 'Super Series' soarsJan 08, 2020 12:00 am - THE "BIG GAME" PRODUCTION VALUES were about as imaginative as a poinsettia inside a toll booth. And Naperville's wonder-buzz James Holzhauer had all the luck of a tour c...
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O'Donnell: David Stern's handling of 'The Michael Jordan Crisis of 1993' might have been his greatest featJan 03, 2020 11:30 pm - IF NOTHING ELSE, David Stern departed to join celestial company. When the longtime commissioner of the NBA died Wednesday, he was immediately hailed as a peer of the mos...
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O'Donnell: Don Imus and Larry Lujack both touched sports, but from very different baselinesJan 01, 2020 12:00 am - NEW YORK HAD Don Imus, Chicago had Larry Lujack. With the passing of Imus at age 79 last week, the question is inbounds as holiday games: Who ruled? Both hit the nationa...
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O'Donnell: Too hard not to be lookin' back at 2019, peekin' ahead to 2020Dec 27, 2019 12:00 am - WAY BACK WHEN BOB SEGER was still singing hungry, he noted: "Too many people lookin' back." Nonetheless, at the end of a calendar year, that's what media does. So, purel...
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O'Donnell: A wail of two cities - Trubisky's Cleveland bears much resemblance to Trubisky's ChicagoDec 25, 2019 12:00 am - MENTOR, Ohio - The temptation was too great. By holiday timing and family ties, a visit to a city where its NFL team: • Has grossly underperformed in 2019; • Was directe...
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O'Donnell: Hey high schools! An enduring honor for Bob Frisk is long overdueDec 20, 2019 12:00 am - FOR 50 YEARS - dat's right Jack, 50 years - Bob Frisk was as relentlessly prominent an advocate of the young athlete as any journalist at any newspaper in America. He re...
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O'Donnell: End of Arlington Park could be accelerated due to contract stalemate with horsemenDec 18, 2019 12:00 am - THE END COULD BE COMING on much faster for Arlington Park than many people think. While Bill Carstanjen - the CEO of Churchill Downs Inc. - has publicly stated the local...
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O'Donnell: Wow - Fox Sports and Ch. 32 will actually air the correct NFL game SundayDec 13, 2019 12:00 am - WHAT'S THE OLD FARMER'S adage? Even the most feeble man can find a blind squirrel in the rain? Or was that Booger McFarland? Whatever, that robo-lite channeling from Fox...