Register for free |
Welcome, |

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, …

Read More

Search recent columns

More Columns

  • Bears ‘100 percent yes’ for lineman Kyle Long

    RICK TELANDER: The Bears did it. They took somebody you’ve never heard of, never watched, have no opinion about. That is, unless you view a lot of Pac-12 teams and you focus on in-close offensive line play. Which you don’t.

    • Why is Derrick Rose held to a different standard than Jay Cutler?

    RICK TELANDER: He comes out before the game, sits on the Bulls’ bench and starts to lace up his new Adidas D Rose 3.5s. Derrick Rose is ever friendly, ever courteous, so you ask him, ‘‘When are you going to play?’’ He doesn’t say anything, just smiles. Not a happy smile. Not a sarcastic smile.

  • TELANDER: Derrick Rose’s absence doesn’t make sense, leaving many questions lingering

    NEW YORK — There he was on the bench Saturday night at the Barclays Center with his teammates as they were demolished by the Nets 106-89. The only difference was that he was dressed in a gray, tailored business suit, and they were dressed in …Read More

  • TELANDER: Nets’ win a feel-great story for Brooklyn

    NEW YORK — The best, simple, on-key rendition of the national anthem I’ve heard in years came Saturday night from Nets guard/forward Jerry Stackhouse. The 38-year-old vet wore his sweatsuit and held the mic close, and with eyes closed, sang the tricky song at halfcourt …Read More

  • Bears ‘100 percent yes’ for lineman Kyle Long

    RICK TELANDER: The Bears did it. They took somebody you’ve never heard of, never watched, have no opinion about. That is, unless you view a lot of Pac-12 teams and you focus on in-close offensive line play. Which you don’t.

    • Terror invades the Boston Marathon and our freedom along with it

    RICK TELANDER: Sometimes social change creeps up on us. Sometimes it comes with a boom. This was a boom. The terrorist bombs that exploded near the finish line of Monday’s Boston Marathon did more than kill and injure people. They told us something we don’t want to know, certainly something we don’t want to think about

  • Wrigley Field improvements great but what about the team?

    RICK TELANDER: Whew! I’m exhausted just from reading the early details of the Cubs-Wrigleyville agreement. Not only did this thing take about four years to come together, but its glacial formation helped provide an excellent smokescreen for a team that is about as bad as they come in the major leagues.

    • TELANDER: Do it, Derrick Rose, even if it’s just a drop

    We’ve been talking about Derrick Rose’s return to the Bulls for almost three months now. And it’s not that we’ve been wondering when he’ll be 100 percent healed from that knee injury, but, rather, why he isn’t healed from it? And most of that speculation …

    TELANDER: Goat’s head delivered to Wrigley bizarre enough to be part of Cubs lore

    How Cubs lore grows! You might think that lore would have to do with baseball. But it doesn’t, really. It has to do with patience, futility, low-grade humor, improbable coincidence, primitive symbolism, stupidity, horrendous planning and, above all, human suffering. Now we have a goat …

    TELANDER: Cubs can’t escape their history

    The Cubs are such a  remarkable franchise that they approach the  benchmark known as mind- boggling. Back in the early 2000s, as they zeroed in on 100 years without winning the World Series, they prompted a bunch of creative, mostly lighthearted T-shirts to be made, with …

  • TELANDER: Wrigley can still entertain

    There it flew for the first time this year. Like a windsock on the prow of a steamer headed over the falls — a big white ‘‘L’’ on the flapping blue flag. How many times have we seen the Loser flag at Cubs home games, …Read More

  • TELANDER’S SUNDAY STEW: Several NFL players might come out as gay

    This whole gay thing in sports and society is an interesting  phenomenon. As more gay, lesbian and transgendered people come out from their previously closeted lives, the attitude straight people have about them is changing proportionately. Indeed, it has been noted that nothing makes one …Read More

    • TELANDER: Money before morals is Mark Emmert’s way

    Someday the kettle’s going to blow. Someday the intricate Rube Goldberg machine that is the NCAA will spring a leak, and no amount of Band-Aids, glue, fingers in holes, rules, sleight of hand, PR or gibberish will hold the mess together. Oh, there’s tons of …

    TELANDER: At Northwestern, Collins can create a throne all his own

    ‘I’m a basketball junkie,’’ Chris Collins said Tuesday, his first official day as Northwestern’s basketball coach. I can vouch for that junkie-dom. I remember when little Chris was running around at the Multiplex gym in Deerfield, where his dad coached the Bulls, playing against mean …

    TELANDER: For starters, Cubs’ Jeff Samardzija is excellent

    PITTSBURGH — If we take Dale Sveum at his word — and why shouldn’t we, so early in the year? — then we can expect Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija to finish 2013 with a 30-0 record, about 270 strikeouts and an ERA of 0.00. “Did …

    TELANDER: A decade later and no disaster relief for Cubs

    Remember 2003, Cubs fans? I do. It was — don’t laugh — 10 years ago. Like, yesterday. Tempus fugit, my friends. Fans said, Wait til next year! No question the Cubs will win the 2004 World Series. There will be no real or symbolic Bartmans, …

    TELANDER: This Big Dance was made for dunces

    Brackets are evil. If anybody has a perfect NCAA tournament bracket right now, after the full first round of the men’s Big Dance, then they are fools. No sane person could pick Harvard over New Mexico or Florida Gulf Coast over Georgetown. If you picked …

    < Previous
    • 1
    • 2
    Next >