telander

Rick Telander biography

Rick Telander has been the lead sports columnist at the Sun-Times since April, 1995. He previously was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and ESPN, …

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TELANDER: Literally sick of Boise State’s turf

I have never turned off a college football game because of the condition of a field. Until Friday night. I tried to watch the Air Force at Boise State game on ESPN, but the blue-vomit color of the fake turf started to affect me in …

TELANDER: Alfonso Soriano’s new scenery has made him a beast

What is it about not being a Cub? Here’s Alfonso Soriano, for 5½ years a Cub but since July  26 the starting left fielder for the New York Yankees, stepping to the plate against the Baltimore Orioles. It’s the fourth inning, the Orioles are up 2-0 …

TELANDER: Let Ryno prove mettle as manager elsewhere first

What do we think about former Cubs star and Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg getting his first major-league managerial job with the Phillies? I know a lot of Cubs nuts think the Cubs blew it when they didn’t hire Sandberg in 2011, opting for Mike …

  • TELANDER: Jay Cutler is nothing special

    Say what you will, watch what you want, but this Bears season is about Jay Cutler. And for reasons I’ll explain that make me — and, I’m guessing, you — very nervous. There are the stories about the Bears’ O-line, the aging defense, the demise …Read More

  • TELANDER’S SUNDAY STEW: Mike Tice gets a yay for the neigh

    It’s a mixed bag being an ex-Bears top coach, something that might concern Marc Trestman as his Chicago clock ticks. Dave Wannstedt left town, fizzled at the University of Pittsburgh and now is a special-teams coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dick Jauron slid down …Read More

  • Cubs dealing with many of same issues from historic first night game

    TELANDER: I remember it like it was a quarter ­century ago. Or yesterday. Or 1800. That first night game at Wrigley Field, on this date 25 years past, was such a big event you might have thought somebody had invented electricity and Old Style simultaneously .

    • TELANDER: Pro Football Hall dinner not something anyone present will forget

    CANTON, Ohio — On and on they came. This old scribe isn’t easily impressed, but here was one of the most stunning, dramatic things I’ve seen in my life: one NFL Hall of Famer after another parading across the floor of the Canton Memorial Civic …

    TELANDER: Bears, Cubs improving, but rival Packers, Cardinals aren’t going away

    Yes, fans, we have the Bears and Cubs being retooled, reschooled and rebuilt. The White Sox are going through a similar process, but they are further behind and more confused and less is expected of them. For our purposes — because the Sox don’t have …

    TELANDER: Red Sox reportedly have winning hand for Peavy in poker standoff

    This is the time for baseball poker players to do their thing. If you are White Sox general manager Rick Hahn, you look at your dubious hand and say, ‘‘I fold,’’ ‘‘I hold’’ or ‘‘I’m raising you a minor-leaguer.’’ If you’re another GM in the …

    TELANDER: Lack of living inductees dampens ceremony, but Hall already was hurting

    COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — The chill rain. Perfect. Here it is, the big day for inductions into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and the weather, which has abruptly turned cold and dark and wet, is the ideal atmosphere for a hallowed institution that is slowly …

  • TELANDER: Stars of the past fill induction void in Cooperstown

    COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — They roll toward the red-brick National Baseball Hall of Fame in this fairy-tale village as the sun starts to drop toward the Catskills. First comes old Ralph Kiner, in the back of a shiny pickup truck. He steps gingerly down a portable …Read More

  • Are Bears buying into Marc Trestman at training camp?

    RICK TELANDER: There’s no doubt it’s a new day in Bearsville. The question is: Is it a better day? Quarterback Jay Cutler hinted at the potential turbulence of change when he reported to training camp Wednesday in Bourbonnais.

  • TELANDER: MLB can try to keep up, but cheaters will stop at nothing

    Add Ryan Braun to your Hall of Shame list, please. Put the Brewers outfielder, who was suspended for the rest of the season Monday, in there with Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and the dozens — if not hundreds — of other cheating baseball …Read More

  • TELANDER: Ump who called ‘Merkle’s Boner’ to be enshrined in Cooperstown

    Maybe this is what we’re left with in baseball. Ghosts. Dennis McNamara looked at the tombstone of his great uncle, Henry ‘‘Hank’’ O’Day, who has rested quietly in Evanston’s Calvary Catholic Cemetery for more than three quarters of a century. ‘‘Kind of amazing, isn’t it?’’ …Read More

  • TELANDER: NCAA will answer for denying players their cut

    Paying Division I college athletes in entertainment-driven, revenue-producing sports — men’s football and basketball, primarily — is probably not a good thing. But it beats not paying those athletes by an ethical mile. Not only is the NCAA a cartel by definition, it also — …Read More

  • TELANDER: Brian Urlacher caught in a world with no closure

    If anybody thinks golf is going to save Brian Urlacher, just wait until that opening Bears-Bengals kickoff on Sept. 8 at Soldier Field. Good ol’ No. 54 may keel over on the spot when he sees somebody else at his middle linebacker spot. Or maybe …Read More

  • Dale Sveum stuck in sad situation

    TELANDER: He’s a good man. He’s a strong man. He’s a patient man. But he’s more than likely the wrong man. That would be Dale Sveum, the second-year Cubs manager who is now just past the halfway mark of his three-year contract. If he makes it through this season and the next, what are his chances of continuing with the Cubs?

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