Chicago Sports

Chicago coach Billy Donovan said there’s a “very strong possibility” forward Patrick Williams will play again this season, and that the short-handed Bulls may just have a chance to “have our whole team back” before the season ends.Read More

Glenbard West’s Braden Huff tips off against St. Charles North’s Ethan Marlowe. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

A look at the Hilltoppers’ amazing season.

Glen Ellyn is a football town. Glenbard West is one of the premier football powerhouses in the state. The team calls itself ‘‘the Hitters’’ as often as it does the Hilltoppers, the school’s actual mascot.

‘‘The Hitters’’ play in a grass stadium on the banks of Lake Ellyn. It’s all very idyllic.

But there is a gym just up the hill and around the corner from Duchon Stadium. Glenbard West has produced a number of excellent basketball players in the last several seasons. John Shurna, Evan Taylor and Justin Pierce all had great success in college.

But this season is different. The Hilltoppers don’t just have a star player; they have a superstar — Gonzaga recruit Braden Huff — leading a team that blew the doors off all its opponents this summer.

‘‘[Player of the Year] is a goal of mine, for sure,’’ Huff said. ‘‘But it’s definitely team first. The big goal we have circled is a state championship. We’re really excited about what we can do this season, especially since Glenbard West isn’t really known as a basketball school. So to bring a state title here, I think that would be really cool.’’

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Bob Elson broadcasting on the radio. He inadvertently touched off one of the ugliest racial incidents in the history of Chicago sports. | Chicago Sun Times

A word that troubles us today caused trouble in the 1930s, too.

Bob Elson is not the sort of person you’d expect to touch off one of the most notorious racist incidents in the history of Chicago sports.

A former choir boy who sang with the famous Paulist Choir, his golden voice made him a natural for radio.

But that’s the thing about racism. It’s a snake; you never know when it’s going to spring out of some hidden recess and bite you.

In the 1930s, Elson broadcast both Cubs and Sox games. The Bears, too. On days when there were no home games, he would sit in a windowless studio and recreate out-of-town contests from telegraphed reports.

Finding something to put on the air was a constant challenge. The “Man in the Dugout” interview was Elson’s idea: Fill time before the first pitch talking to players.

On a lovely late July day in 1938. Elson was at Comiskey Park with his live microphone, chatting up players. He buttonholed Yankee slugger Jake Powell, who batted .455 in the 1936 World Series.

“How do you keep in trim during the winter months in order to keep up your batting average?” Elson asked. A lazy pop up of a question. But Powell muffed it, big time.

“Oh that’s easy,” he replied. “I’m a policeman. I beat …”

And here he used the plural of a word that I’m not even going to hint at. Not my choice — I would just lay it on you, full bore, and trust you would not shatter like glass.

“… over the head with my blackjack.”

Mary DeVoto, a veteran history teacher at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, more recently used the word, trying to contextualize offensive sports team names. Now she’s out of a job.

Maybe she should have said “the n-word” — the Sun-Times put it in the subhead, so it’s probably OK. Unless it’s not. A UIC School of Law professor Jason Kilborn dashed the word out in the hypothetical of a civil procedure test and was still suspended.

So discretion is in order.

The irony of these situations is they never snag actual racists. Mother McAuley is in Mount Greenwood, and while I don’t want to stick my arm in that hornet’s nest, let’s just say that were you to decide to start punishing racists there, DeVoto is not the obvious place to begin.

Back at Comiskey in 1938, after Powell unleashed the word, Elson immediately apologized to his listeners. The Chicago Defender called for Powell to be fired.

Whenever I read one of those history-is-supposed-to-make-you-uncomfortable essays, ridiculing Republican snowflakes for shamefully trying to literally whitewash the past so they don’t feel bad about being revanchist bigots — not that they do — I consider this word’s banishment and think: The past shouldn’t discomfit everyone, apparently. Not when it comes to this word.

This unsayable word seems to have morphed into a sui generis landmine that blows up, not toxic bigots, who seem to exist safe in a parallel universe where naked racism only increases their star power — Joe Rogan sure isn’t losing his job — but humble history teachers and third-tier law professors and late-career newspaper columnists.

So I tread carefully, while working this out in my mind to reach a position that isn’t mere compliance. I can do what I’m told with the best of them. But I like to make sense of it, too.

When baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis called Powell into his Chicago office, the slugger “didn’t remember saying anything offensive.” There are still people like that.

I certainly see the offense. Maybe never using the word is a way of recognizing all that history that bigots don’t even perceive, never mind try to address. There are 200,000 words in the English language. I can give up this one and still get by.

That said, I don’t believe banishment is a sign of progress but the harvest of low hanging fruit. Maybe even the old racist system of unwritten rules, the one that for centuries would chew up Black people, now re-formatted to bite random whites careless enough or naive enough not to master its complexities.

Not me. I can touch my hat and step off the sidewalk when required. Maybe that’s a kind of fairness. Maybe not.

Elson fought in World War II, broadcast thousands of games and lived to 76, admired and respected. Powell was suspended for 10 days for making “an uncomplimentary reference to a portion of the population.”

He then played major leagues ball until 1945, stealing items from teammates’ hotel rooms and intentionally sliding into Jewish Tigers star Hank Greenberg, breaking his wrist and putting him out for the season.

Powell ended very badly — people aren’t bigots because they’re so happy and well-balanced. Arrested for passing bad checks, Powell shot and killed himself in a police station in 1948, saying, ”I’m going to end it all.”

Though of course he didn’t end it all: The evil that men do lives after them, on and on and on.

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The Bears named Richard Hightower special teams coordinator on Sunday. | Gary McCullough, AP Photos

Hightower spent the last five seasons as the special teams coordinator for the 49ers.

Ten days after Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was hired, he landed his third and final coordinator Sunday: special teams coordinator Richard Hightower.

Hightower, 41, spent the last five seasons as the special teams coordinator for the 49ers, where Robbie Gould continued his dominance as one of the nation’s most consistent placekickers. More notably, the 49ers beat the Packers in second round of the NFC playoffs on the backs of their special teamers, who blocked a punt for a touchdown and blocked a field goal at the end of the first half.

Hightower joined the 49ers after serving one year as the Bears’ assistant special teams coach under Jeff Rodgers in 2016.

He’ll have a hard act to follow after former Bears special teams boss Chris Tabor signed with the Panthers. The 49ers ranked No. 25 in Rick Gosselin’s special teams rankings, the most well-respected measure in the sport, in 2021. The Bears, by contrast, were No. 9. Football Outsiders ranked the 49ers No. 26 and the Bears No. 7.

Hightower played football at Texas alongside Kyle Shanahan, the 49ers’ head coach. He began his NFL career as a Texans coaching assistant in 2006 and was promoted to special teams assistant in 2008. He was the receivers coach at the University of Minnesota in 2009, and the assistant special teams coach in Washington, D.C., from 2010-13.

He handled offensive quality control for the 2014 Browns and was a special teams assistant for the 2015 49ers before joining the Bears.

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LaFleur is 39-10 in three seasons as Packers head coach. | Getty

As new Bears coach Matt Eberflus builds out his staff for Year 1, he scoops up OC Luke Getsy and QBs coach Andrew Janocko from within the NFC North.

LAS VEGAS — Packers coach Matt LaFleur knew when he hired Luke Getsy as his quarterbacks coach in 2019 he wouldn’t be able to keep him long. It was obvious Getsy was on his way up, and it was only a matter of time before some team swooped in to lure him away.

You can imagine the f-bomb LaFleur must’ve dropped when that team was the Bears.

“I would say I am going to wish him luck — just not too much luck,” LaFleur told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I said, ‘I’d be happy if you were coaching for 28 other teams.’ It’s always tough when you lose a guy in-division, but Chicago got a great coach in Luke Getsy.”

Getsy, 37, landed his first NFL coordinator job a week ago when new Bears coach Matt Eberflus picked him to lead the offense out of its prolonged funk. While Eberflus intends to have a significant role in the offense, he’s a defensive-minded coach, so Getsy is the most important hire he’ll make heading into his first season.

Not only is Getsy tasked with redirecting an offense that scored the sixth-fewest points in the NFL last season, he has the ultra-important responsibility of helping Justin Fields become a franchise quarterback. Fields’ trajectory will have a bigger effect on this staff’s success than anything else.

Getsy seems like a smart pick. He got his start in the NFL as a quality control coach for the Packers in 2014 and went on to work two seasons for them as wide receivers coach and three as quarterbacks coach. He also served as passing game coordinator the last two seasons.

The variety of assignments provided Getsy a perfect course load to prepare for a coordinator job. It also helped that he spent the last three seasons as Aaron Rodgers’ position coach, which was mutually beneficial.

“Think of how much they both learned from each other,” said Chargers Pro Bowl center Corey Linsley, who overlapped with Getsy for six seasons in Green Bay. “I’d bet the house on him to advance Justin Fields and help him grow. I couldn’t think of a better guy to help a young quarterback grow.

“He has a great grasp on every facet of the game. You could sit there and talk o-line play with him, you can talk passing game, play action, whatever. Being in meetings with guys, you can tell who’s full of [garbage] and who’s not. And he’s absolutely not.”

That’s part of what made it inevitable to LaFleur that he’d lose one of his key coaches, a guy he said is, “the complete package.”

Beyond knowing technique and having a knack for deciphering defenses, he saw exceptional ability to relate to players. Recognizing his potential, LaFleur handed play calling to Getsy in preseason games last summer and got exactly what he expected.

“Luke has been so ready for this opportunity for a really long time,” LaFleur said. “That was pretty evident in some of the preseason games [with] his tempo and feel and being able to get the calls in crystal clear and being on the same page with the quarterbacks.”

In the effort to bring Fields along after a rocky rookie season rife with the Bears’ self-sabotage, Getsy and Eberflus brought in Vikings quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko. Like Getsy, he has a well-rounded background that includes working with the offensive line, wide receivers and quarterbacks over the last seven seasons in Minnesota.

This season was Janocko’s first as quarterbacks coach, and he helped Kirk Cousins finish fourth in the NFL with a 103.1 passer rating. Cousins threw 33 touchdown passes and had the best season of his career interceptions-wise with just seven in 561 passes. Nobody at Halas Hall will have a closer working relationship with Fields than Janocko, and Cousins described him as an ideal guide for a young quarterback.

“He was tremendous,” Cousins said. “He really reminded me to come into work every day with a mindset that you’re gonna take on hell with a squirt gun — and still be positive. His energy, his enthusiasm and his passion for the game is contagious. It helped me as a player, and I think it’ll help their offense.”

Janocko’s red-zone expertise could also help the Bears. That was one of his primary game-planning responsibilities for the Vikings, who finished ninth in red-zone touchdown percentage. The Bears were 30th.

While it’s going to take more than a solid coaching staff to turn the Bears’ offense around, this is a good start.

They’re still counting on new general manager Ryan Poles to fortify the offensive line and give Fields some better weapons in the passing game, and hopefully those upgrades combined with a clearer plan offensively will translate to a breakthrough. But they appear to have built a strong support system for him on the coaching side, and that’ll be essential in helping him turn the flashes of potential he showed this season into the sustained success that could change everything for the Bears.

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Speed skating on Day 1 of the Beijing Games.

We asked respondents to pick between figure skating, snowboarding, speed skating and alpine skiing, and guess what happened?

Americans love to watch figure skating. That’s what the experts tell us. Every four years at Winter Olympics time, we fall in love with tiny people on skates.

Hey, enough with the Alex DeBrincat cracks.

But in this week’s “Polling Place” — your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter — we asked respondents to pick a favorite Olympic sport to watch between figure skating, snowboarding, speed skating and alpine skiing, and guess what?

Figure skating finished last.

Also: Commenters completely blew off the question.

“No curling option? Weak,” @Err_ick offered.

“Actually, bobsledding and luge are what I always look forward to,” @irishclover1952 shared.

And @recon5961 simply wrote, “Hockey.”

What a bunch of rabble-rousers you are. And we love you for it.

We also asked which of these sports — luge, skeleton, ski jumping or freestyle skiing aerials — you’d be most afraid to try. (Hint: There’s no wrong answer.) And we asked about the NFL’s Pro Bowl, which is upon us once again whether we give a cow’s hide or not. (Hint: We don’t.)

On to the polls:

Poll No. 1: Which of these Winter Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?

Upshot: Alpine skiing gets the nod, and it makes some sense when you think about an event such as the downhill — with no two runs alike and calamity in the air as competitors build up speeds that would get them pulled over on the Dan Ryan. But what stars Shaun White, Apolo Ohno, Michelle Kwan and Bonnie Blair were and are! OK, Mikaela Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller, too.

Poll No. 2: Which of these sports would you be most afraid to try?

Upshot: The people have spoken — loudly and clearly — and that’s fine. But just know there are some of us who’d sooner ski jump into an alligator-filled lake than strap onto a weenie little 4-foot sled and scream down an icy track head first, feet first or anything else first. Plus — hello — even the name “skeleton” implies something terrible is about to happen.

Poll No. 3: Your interest in Sunday’s NFL Pro Bowl, in a word?

Upshot: Look, not even the players care what happens in this game. Just don’t anybody get hurt out there, fellas. Meanwhile, @calenash2210 put it better than we could have: “I’m going to presume the 5% who said ‘keen’ don’t actually know what the word means.”

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One night after having ball security issues in an overtime loss to Toronto, a quick talk by head coach Billy Donovan and a late-game opportunity to play hero resulted in one of Dosunmu’s best plays of his rookie campaign.

Ayo Dosunmu went into the Indiana game ready to “go through a wall.’’

Meet Pacers big men Terry Taylor and Oshae Brissett … aka “the wall.’’

To be fair, Dosunmu didn’t exactly go through them. The rookie from Morgan Park High School went through them and over them, all but snatching their souls in one of the nastier dunks of the season for a Bulls player.

And it wasn’t just the dunk that was awe inspiring, but when it happened.

Indiana was clawing its way back into a game it had no business being in, and after Justin Holiday hit a huge three-pointer with 36.4 seconds left, the undermanned home team cut the Bulls lead to just three.

Bulls coach Billy Donovan called a timeout with 27.4 seconds after a clunky showing of his offense to just get the inbounds over half-court, and went back to a play he was running earlier in the game for veteran DeMar DeRozan before Indiana started double-teaming the All-Star forward.

This time, however, he put it in the hands of Dosunmu and gave him the option of passing it to DeRozan if the double-team wasn’t there or continue downhill to the rim.

Why the hands of the 22-year-old second-round pick?

Rewind to 24 hours earlier.

Dosunmu has put up very few clunkers since taking over the starting point guard duties last month. The overtime loss in Toronto on Thursday included a 5-for-12 shooting night, but even worse a bad turnover for Dosunmu.

Trailing by two in the extra stanza and just 56.6 seconds left, Dosunmu made a horrible pass that the Raptors’ Chris Boucher gladly nabbed. Twenty seconds later, a second bad pass resulted in a steal, this time Gary Trent Jr.

The Bulls didn’t score again, losing by seven.

Donovan wanted to have a quick heart-to-heart with Dosunmu, but waited until the following morning.

“After the loss I didn’t talk to Coach until morning,’’ Dosunmu said of his previous 24 hours. “And it was like one of those times like when you get in trouble in school and you don’t know how your parents are going to react. So he called me [Friday] morning and he was like, ‘Ayo, I want to talk to you.’ I was thinking he was going to be upset, of course.’’

Seldom is Donovan upset, and definitely not with Dosunmu and everything he’s done this season, but rookies will be rookies.

“[Donovan] came to me and asked, ‘Ayo, what did you learn from yesterday?’ ‘’ Dosunmu recalled. “I told him that [what I learned was] picking up my dribble on the baseline and having better court awareness in the game. And he was like, ‘Cool, you got it!’

“I was like, ‘That’s it?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah.’ ‘’

So much for that scary call home or that trip to the principal’s office.

Not only did Dosunmu get a better understanding of how Donovan worked, but it was the kind of coaching that did more than just move Dosunmu. It inspired him.

For a guy that has shown an ability to learn quickly, and remain confident the entire time in doing so, it was just another green light for his evolution.

“That exchange right there, that just makes me want to come out here and go through a wall for [Donovan] and compete for him because I know he believes in me,’’ Dosunmu said.

Donovan definitely does, but so does that entire Bulls locker room.

“A really, really great play,’’ center Nikola Vucevic said of the Dosunmu dunk. “Makes that big play at the end, it just shows his character, and the poise he plays with.’’

And when the occasion calls for it, the walls he’ll run through.

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Westinghouse’s Askia Bullie, left, pushes through the defense of Morgan Park’s Orlando James. | Allen Cunningham/For the Sun-Times

All the scores from around the area.

Please send scores and corrections to [email protected].

Saturday, February 5, 2022

ILLINOIS CENTRAL EIGHT

Reed-Custer at Lisle, 6:45

INTERSTATE EIGHT

LaSalle-Peru at Morris, 7:00

METRO PREP

Hinsdale Adventist at CPSA, 7:00

NORTH SUBURBAN

Zion-Benton at Stevenson, 5:30

NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY

Grayslake North at Grant, 2:30

WEST SUBURBAN – SILVER

Hinsdale Central at York, 5:00

NON CONFERENCE

Addison Trail at Elk Grove, 2:30

Amboy at Christian, Life, 2:30

Barrington at Round Lake, 3:00

Belvidere at Oregon, 7:00

Genoa-Kingston at Marengo, 2:30

Catalyst-Maria at Christ the King, 2:00

Cristo Rey-St. Martin at Elgin Academy, 1:30

Dixon at DeKalb, 4:30

Downers Grove South at Glenbard East, 4:30

Eastland at Winnebago, 7:00

EPIC at Austin, 5:00

Fenton at Leyden, 2:30

Fenwick at Clark, 2:00

Francis Parker at Providence-St. Mel, 12:30

Harvest Christian at Rockford Christian, 1:00

Hinsdale South at Lyons, 5:00

Ida Crown at Rochelle Zell, 9:00

Illinois Lutheran at Iroquois West, CNL

Intrinsic-Downtown at Geneseo, 1:30

Joliet West at Lincoln Park, 5:15

Lake Forest Acad-Blk at North Chicago (JV), 3:30

Lake Forest Acad-Org at North Chicago, 5:00

Lakeshore (MI) at Coal City, 4:30

Lane at St. Ignatius, 2:00

Lowpoint-Washburn at Blue-Ridge, 2:30

Maine South at Minooka, 1:00

Marmion at St. Francis, 6:45

Metea Valley at Hoffman Estates, 6:00

Morton at Riverside-Brookfield, 4:00

Northside at Payton, 12:30

Peotone at Grant Park, 7:00

Perspectives-MSA at Perspectives-Lead, 2:30

Plainfield North at Naperville North, 4:00

Princeton at Byron, 7:00

Richards at Agricultural Science, 12:00

Richmond-Burton at Alden-Hebron, 1:00

Roanoke-Benson at Peoria Christian, 7:00

Romeoville at Willowbrook, 6:00

Sandburg at Argo, 6:00

Sandwich at Somonauk, 7:15

Schaumburg Christian at Conant, 1:00

Seneca at Wilmington, 6:30

South Beloit at Orangeville, 4:30

Steinmetz at Intrinsic-Belmont, 1:00

Streamwood at Geneva, 6:30

Taft at Glenbrook North, 3:30

Universal at Shepard, 12:00

Urban Prep-West at Downers Grove North, 12:00

Vernon Hills at Antioch, 1:00

Von Steuben at Kankakee, 2:30

Walther Christian at Westmont, 12:30

West Chicago at St. Edward, 7:00

Westminster Christian at IC Catholic, 1:30

EAST AURORA

Aurora Christian vs. Lindblom, 2:00

West Aurora vs. St. Charles North, 3:35

East Aurora vs. Oswego East, 5:05

EAST SUBURBAN CATHOLIC TOURNAMENT

St. Viator at Benet, 7:00

Nazareth at Marian Catholic, 7:40

Marist at St. Patrick, 3:30

KANELAND

Prairie Ridge vs. Neuqua Valley, 2:30

Kaneland vs. Woodstock, 6:00

NILES NORTH

Highland Park vs. Lake Park, 12:30

Hersey vs. Lake Forest, 2:00

Niles North vs. Fremd, 3:30

NOBLE LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

ITW-Spear vs. Muchin

Rowe-Clark vs. Rauner

Noble Street vs. TBD

Noble Academy vs. TBD

NORMAL WEST

Washington (IL) vs. Danville, 11:30

Bloomington vs. Boylan, 1:30

Normal vs. Oswego, 3:30

Normal West vs. Sacred Heart-Griffin, 5:30

Notre Dame (Peoria) vs. Yorkville Christian, 7:30

O’FALLON

Mascoutah vs. Chaminade (MO), 3:30

Bolingbrook vs. O’Fallon, 5:00

St. Rita vs. Christian Brothers (MO), 6:30

Young vs. Vashon (MO), 6:30

RACINE PRAIRIE SCHOOL (WI)

Northridge vs. Winnebago Lutheran (WI), 11:00

Prospect vs. Prairie School (WI), 12:30

Buffalo Grove vs. Kimberly (WI), 5:00

Deerfield vs. Westosha Central (WI), 6:30

UIC – CREDIT UNION 1

Kenwood vs. Hillcrest, 5:00

Simeon vs. Coronado (NV), 6:30

Chicago Prep vs. Donda Academy (CA), 9:00

WINTRUST

Curie vs. Glenbrook South, 6:00

Glenbard West vs. Sierra Canyon (CA), 8:00

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Before he was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer, Amir Locke had been making plans.

The 22-year-old Black man had filed paperwork to start a music business, his mother said, and had already designed a logo. Next week, he planned to move to Dallas, where he would be closer to his mom and — he hoped — build a career as a hip-hop artist, following in the musical footsteps of his father.

His death inside a Minneapolis apartment where police were serving a search warrant early Wednesday has renewed calls for police accountability and justice for Black people who are too often victims. It also left Locke’s tight-knit family, friends and a community grieving for the life he didn’t get to live.

“Amir was a bright light, and he deserves to be able to shine,” his father, Andre Locke, said during a news conference Friday.

Many questions remain about the events leading up to Locke’s death. But a police bodycam video shows officers entering the apartment without knocking and an officer kicking the couch where Locke’s family said he was sleeping. On the video, he is seen wrapped in a comforter, beginning to move, with a pistol in his hand just before an officer fires his weapon.

Locke’s family said he had no criminal record, and he had a license and concealed carry permit for the gun, which they said he had for protection because he worked in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area as a driver for a food delivery service. His family includes several people with backgrounds in law enforcement and the military, and his parents and a cousin said they spoke often with Amir and other young Black men in the family about how to handle interactions with police: keep your hands visible, don’t make any sudden movements.

They believe Amir, who they say was a deep sleeper, was startled when the officer kicked the couch inside his cousin’s apartment and didn’t know who was inside when he grabbed for his gun.

Those closest to him repeatedly described him as “a good kid.”

“You took a good kid who was trying to make the best out of his environment, and surpass it and succeed and he was doing it,” said Reginald McClure, a close cousin of Andre Locke who works in law enforcement in Texas. “He was figuring out life, but he was doing it safely.”

Amir Locke was born in the St. Paul suburb of Maplewood, his mother Karen Wells said, with “a headful of curly hair.” He grew up in the suburbs, where he played basketball in middle school and tried out for his high school football team.

“But he broke his collarbone, so that didn’t last,” Wells recalled.

His true passion was music, and he had a natural talent for it, his mother said. Locke enjoyed hip-hop, and speaking about “the realities of what’s going on in the neighborhoods,” Andre Locke said. He also wanted to work with young people, his mother said.

McClure also recalled Amir Locke as having “a big heart.”

When his grandmother died last year, Amir didn’t want to see her body in the casket so he stayed outside in the parking lot during the funeral, McClure said. After the funeral ended, Andre Locke and the funeral director arranged to have Amir go inside through a back door so he could be alone with his grandmother.

“We have these pictures with him, and he’s standing there and he’s saying goodbye to his grandmother,” McClure said. “And here’s the crazy part. The same funeral home that he was so heartbroken to go see his grandmother in because of the bigness of his heart, is the same one he’s going to be in.”

Associated Press news researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this report.

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Believe it or not, the Fire open their regular season in less than a month when they visit Inter Miami on Feb. 26. Here are three observations as the Fire continue training camp:

Is a big move incoming?

The Fire have added two starters since last season, bringing in striker Kacper Przybylko (more on him below) and defender Rafael Czichos. Those are two good signings by sporting director Georg Heitz, but more is needed.

Help, however, is apparently on the way.

A source confirmed Friday that the Fire are close to signing Lyon midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri as a designated player. A two-time Champions League winner, the 30-year-old Shaqiri was at Swiss club FC Basel the same time as Heitz, and would fill a glaring need for an experienced attack-minded player who would take some of the burden off Gaston Gimenez, Jhon Duran and whoever is signed as the team’s third designated player.

If this goes through, the move would also be a statement of intent for the Fire, as Shaqiri would represent one of the biggest signings of the MLS offseason. It would also be a major use of owner Joe Mansueto’s significant funds.

Just as importantly, news of the impending transfer excited the Fire fan base, a group waiting for something electrifying. Shaqiri qualifies.

Przybylko is a good start

One of the knocks against Heitz has been that he has overlooked proven MLS talent. He took steps to shed that reputation by bringing in Przybylko, who scored 12 times last season for the Union.

Perhaps more would be expected of Przybylko if he were a designated player, but he’s not. Instead, a double-digit output would represent a good return on the Fire’s investment, something they didn’t get last season from designated player Robert Beric. Not using a designated-player spot on a striker also gives the Fire more freedom and money to bolster their midfield with higher-salary players, which it seems like they’ll do with Shaqiri.

Przybylko will be counted on to score goals and provide leadership for what might be a very young team.

”I want to help the team as much as I can,” Przybylko said. ”Yeah, I think that’s something about leadership. I just want to help everyone, especially the young kids. So I’m going to do my best to my biggest and most ability to improve everything that this team wants to accomplish this season.”

COVID is still a focus

The Fire and MLS are entering their third season in the pandemic. Coach Ezra Hendrickson said the Fire are trying to go beyond MLS’ safety protocols, something he said might give them a competitive advantage if they can avoid COVID-related absences.

Hendrickson said all the players are vaccinated.

”It’s very difficult if you’re losing guys based on a COVID outbreak or whatever within the team,” Hendrickson said. ”So we are doing our best to make sure that it doesn’t affect us too much.”

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