A Chicago firefighter died Tuesday evening after a battle with the coronavirus, according to a Chicago Fire Department spokesman.
“CFD has lost one of our own to complications of COVID-19. Firefighter Mario Araujo, a proud member of CFD Truck Company 25 passed away this evening,” department spokesman Larry Langford tweeted Tuesday.
Araujo, 49, joined the fire department in October 2003 and spent most of his career on Truck 25, which operates out of Engine 102 in Rogers Park on the North Side, Langford said.
“This tragic loss underscores the seriousness that we face as a city and a nation,” Langford said. “CFD members put themselves in harm’s way without hesitation to selflessly uphold the oath they took to be there for every person they encounter during an emergency situation.”
The Cook County medical examiner’s office did not immediately provide details about the death.
The ChicagoBlackhawks drafted Patrick Kane first overall in 2007, but how have the number one overall picks done against the Hawks since?
The Chicago Blackhawks were a bad hockey team for a long time. Think of the worst ran teams in all of the sports right now, the Cleveland Browns, Ottawa Senators, Miami Marlins, Washington Redskins, etc, that is what the Blackhawks were for a long time. Then they had a little bit of luck when they won the draft lottery in 2007. That bit of luck changed their franchise forever.
They drafted London Knights star Patrick Kane with the first overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft and it was the best thing the franchise ever did. With Jonathan Toews waiting in the wings from the draft before, they were immediately set up for future success. Well 389 goals and 633 assists for 1022 points later, Kane is probably going to go down as the greatest Blackhawks player who ever lived.
Not every team that has won the lottery since has had the team success that the Blackhawks have had, but they all have pretty much gotten elite players. They might not be quite as good as Kane (with one exception) but they are all pretty much panning out to be above average NHL players (with another exception).
With all of those number one picks since Kane, it is fair to wonder how they have done in their NHL careers but also how they have done against our Blackhawks. Some of them have dominated when they visit the United Center or when the Hawks visit them and some haven’t had such success. These are the 12 men who have been selected since Kane and how they have done against them:
Many ChicagoBulls fans never thought they would see the day, but John Paxson could finally be on his way out.
I struggle to actually believe what I am writing at the moment, because of all the negativity surrounding the Chicago Bulls over the years. I’ve grown accustomed to disappointment, as I’m sure many other fans have as well.
This offseason (if you can call it that) or, suspension, rather has been full of interesting storylines for the Bulls. Whether or not the regular season ever comes back, Chicago is going to look a lot different at the top of the organization.
The team has used this COVID-19 pandemic to start looking towards the future, and they are officially in the heat of their new basketball executive search. While a couple of notable names have already stepped out of the running, the Bulls are still hopeful to find someone who can come in and be the center of all basketball decision-making.
As we’ve noted recently, this will mean both John Paxson and Gar Forman are no longer going to hold a lot of power — if any. The GarPax era is effectively over.
But, up to this point, all the talk has been about Paxson staying with the organization. He has stated he will do however much or little the team would like him to do as he steps back from his role as VP.
Now, The Chicago Sun-Timeshas reported that Paxson is taking it a step further.
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“A source told the Sun-Times on Tuesday that not only is Paxson all for stepping aside from his position and acting more as an adviser to the Reinsdorf family when the front-office restructure is finalized, but would completely step down from the organization if the Reinsdorfs and the new-look executive group deemed it better for the rebuild to continue.”
I am stunned by these words — absolutely stunned, but in a good way, of course.
How many fans saw it coming to this? How many fans actually believed that, at some point in their lifetime, they would see Paxson ready to remove himself from the Bulls organization altogether?
On one hand, it’s shocking and somewhat unbelievable. On the other hand, though, it’s a remarkable act of humility on Paxson’s part.
I think it’s safe to say Paxson’s ego has gotten in the way at times, especially with how he’s wanted the new executive to come in with an open mind about head coach Jim Boylen. Paxson has shown firm belief in Boylen, even when everyone else sees how blatantly incompetent he is as a coach.
Paxson has stuck to his guns with Boylen over the last several months, but now, he’s willing to admit he may have been wrong. The fact that he’s willing to take a step back and allow the Bulls organization to move on completely from his services speaks volumes about his character.
It is truly a day I never saw coming, at least not yet. I was fully prepared for a few more years in basketball purgatory, but alas, it looks like the Bulls are ready to turn the page.
Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of ChicagoMusic to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.
If you didn’t know that actor Joe Mantegna played in a garage band called the Apocryphals in high school and college, you’re not alone. I had the privilege of getting the story from the man himself, and as far as I’m aware, what you’re about to read is the most detailed account of the group’s history published anywhere.
Mantegna was born in Chicago to Italian immigrants on November 13, 1947, and as a kid he regularly attended his older brother’s accordion recitals. He didn’t initially have much interest in making music himself–he got an earlier start as an actor, playing a dog and a pixie in hospital shows while being treated for rheumatic fever at age eight. Mantegna does remember entertaining his family by doing an impression of popular singer Johnnie Ray, though, specifically his 1951 tune “The Little White Cloud That Cried.”
During Mantegna’s junior year at Morton East High School in Cicero, his English class was assigned a project on British culture. His classmates Art Stout, Ricky Johnson, and Neal Sordelli decided it’d be hilarious to make their project a Beatles tribute band (it was 1963, after all), so they christened themselves the Weasels and donned Beatles wigs. They couldn’t be the Fab Four with only three kids, though, and they needed somebody to play bass and sing. Mantegna could carry a tune but couldn’t play an instrument, so they got him a regular guitar that he learned his way around well enough to get by, sticking to the lowest four strings as though it were a bass. The Weasels were an instant hit, and suddenly started getting invites to play local sock hops and teen dances–which convinced the band there was actually money to be made.
They got encouragement from Mantegna’s mentor and drama teacher at Morton East, Jack Leckel, who also ran the theater departments at Morton West in Berwyn and a nearby junior college. Leckel came up with the name “the Apocryphals” (the band didn’t even know what it meant at first) and helped them buy their first sound equipment. He also suggested they wear frills, pearls, and one glove, but he was a little too far ahead of his time for Chicago. “We just thought of ourselves as a rock ‘n’ roll band, not a glam band,” Mantegna says. “We’re thinking, ‘What, this is nuts!’ But then bands like the Beau Brummels came along and did stuff like that.”
Mantegna got a real bass at a pawn shop, and when Stout and Johnson left the Apocryphals, the band brought aboard drummer Tom Massari and guitarist Chris Montagna. Leckel asked the group to write a song for a school play, so Mantegna and Sordelli came up with “Bernardine”–which in 1965 became the A side of the Apocryphals’ first small-press 45 (Leckel chose the B side, “Gloomy Sunday,” aka “the Hungarian Suicide Song,” made famous in the States by a Billie Holiday cover in ’41).
The band did mostly R&B covers, gigging at north-side clubs such as the Cheetah, the Holiday Ballroom, and My Sister’s Place. They ended up playing with several notable locals, including the Missing Links (three members of which would help form the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968) and a very green Ides of March (whose front man, future superstar Jim “Eye of the Tiger” Peterik, got his first studio experience playing tambourine with the Apocryphals). They eventually secured management with Joe Sugarman, who in the 90s would strike it rich as the creator of BluBlocker sunglasses. In the late 60s he brought the Apocryphals to the Mad label, founded by bar-walking sax honker Tommy Jones, and it released three of the band’s five singles. Sugarman also helped the Apocryphals land opening slots for bigger national acts, among them Paul Revere & the Raiders and Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs. In April 1968, they warmed up for Neil Diamond the night after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Mantegna began studies at the Goodman School of Drama at DePaul in 1967, and until ’69 he was able to keep playing in the band. But as soon as he made his professional acting debut–a role in a 1969 production of Hair that required him to do eight shows per week, spread over six days–the writing was on the wall. The rest of the band had been wanting to move in a heavier direction (you can hear hints of it on the psychedelic Sordelli original “Images”), so the Apocryphals called it a day. The other three members added some players and carried on as the horn band Rajah, with Mantegna occasionally filling in on vocals until he got another role in Godspell. Massari, Sordelli, and Mantegna remain friends to this day–and Mantegna is also close with the founders of Chicago he met through the Missing Links. v
During her rousing afternoon set at last summer’s Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago soul and gospel legend Mavis Staples claimed she was thinking of running for president to help get rid of “the orange face up in the office.” Let’s be frank–she wouldn’t even have to ask for Gossip Wolf’s vote! On Friday, Staples dropped “All in It Together,” a slippery, Stones-y new single she wrote with longtime collaborator Jeff Tweedy that benefits the Senior Viral Response program of Chicago nonprofit My Block My Hood My City, which aims to get hand sanitizer, groceries, and other necessities to isolated members of the city’s aging population during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s worth buying just for the cause, but you also get to hear an amazing ensemble that includes Tweedy’s Wilco bandmate Glenn Kotche, singer Akenya Seymour, and the terrific honky-tonk piano of Scott Ligon. The song is selling via Bandcamp for $1 or more, so use that “more” option if you can!
For three weeks now, experimental musician Mukqs, aka Hausu Mountain cofounder Maxwell Allison, has released a new weekly EP, recorded live with no overdubs, straight to Bandcamp. He began March 20 with the glitchy, glassy Anaglyph, made by running old recordings through a sampler and loop pedals. He followed it up March 27 with the whimsical Specular, and on April 2 he dropped the anxious, warped Choronzon. He intends to keep going for the foreseeable future–thanks to Mukqs for something to look forward to while we’re stuck at home!
Gossip Wolf caught wind of rising local soul man Nate Barksdale after he dropped the sophisticated EP Neon Soul in September, and he’s since self-released three more. On the latest EP, last month’s Spiritual, Barksdale colors his luxurious melodies with touches of funk and hip-hop that bring out the earthiness in his sensual voice. He’s still on the Tonic Room schedule for May 14, but we’ll see how that goes! v
Illinois State offensive lineman Gabe Megginson missed most of the 2019 season with a back injury. (Image courtesy of WAND-TV)
While playing in only two games last season because of a back injury, Illinois State offensive lineman Gabe Megginson had plenty of newfound free time.
On gamedays, he often sensed he was out of place on the sidelines.
“I felt so lazy,” he joked. “I’m just sitting there watching everybody, in sweats, drinking coffee.”
Away from the stadium, he filled his time with a new musical venture – the harmonica.
He practiced for hours during the season and even mastered a Stevie Wonder song.
“I know the solo from ‘Isn’t She Lovely,’” he boasted. “So, I’ve got that.”
The road ahead
Despite the cancellation of spring football across the country because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Megginson is facing the 2020 season on a happier note after surgery last fall.
“I feel pretty good,” he said. “I’m pretty much doing everything. I’m still limited on running, and I probably won’t squat (in the weight room). I think that’s a good idea.”
Gabe Megginson
Megginson, a fifth-year senior last season who transferred from the University of Illinois before the 2018 campaign, said he never imagined being part of the Redbird program for yet another season because of his back.
“In the preseason, it started hurting and I remember thinking, ‘I’ll never do six years of college,’” said Megginson, who started 11 games at left guard in 2018. “As soon as it happened again, I thought, ‘Who do I call to get a sixth year?’”
Megginson, who said he will petition the NCAA this spring for a sixth season, was even more encouraged to come back after watching his teammates make a run to the FCS quarterfinals.
“That was the best team I’ve ever played on,” he said. “That was fun to watch. I was a little upset I couldn’t be out there. (The offense) had their struggles, but they always found a way to get it done. It was awesome to see.”
How it began
A “shooting” pain in his left foot nagged at him during spring ball in 2019, months before the season, but it went away for the summer.
“I just kind of ignored it,” Megginson said.
When fall camp started, it came roaring back.
“It was tough getting into a stance,” Megginson said. “My left leg would tingle all the way down. I just sweated. It was bad. A lot of sweat. It was so uncomfortable.”
Megginson said he finally couldn’t avoid the training room and decided to have it examined.
What was discovered was an injury to the L5 S1 area of the low back.
Megginson said he travelled to the East Coast to have surgery performed by specialists at New Jersey-based Trinitas Health.
“They were great people, and it was awesome care,” he said. “I walked that day (after surgery) and it was already better that day – a big relief.”
Missing Megginson
His absence from the lineup led to Illinois State trying multiple starting lineup combinations during the season.
“He was one of our best linemen,” Redbirds head coach Brock Spack said. “He’s a physical, athletic body. To not have him all year, it took us a while to figure out what we were going to do.”
Spack said when Megginson returns, he will again fill one of the team’s guard spots.
Losing Megginson also made the team laugh a little less, according to Spack.
“It took a little of our personality,” he said. “He’s a little quirky, in a fun way.”
Spack stressed that the program will remain cautious as the calendar turns toward the fall.
“We have to be careful with him so we can get him to gameday,” he said.
Blog co-authors Barry Bottino and Dan Verdun bring years of experience covering collegiate athletics. Barry has covered college athletes for more than two decades in his “On Campus” column, which is published weekly by Shaw Media. Dan has written four books about the state’s football programs–“NIU Huskies Football” (released in 2013), “EIU Panthers Football (2014), “ISU Redbirds” (2016) and “SIU Salukis Football” (2017).
I’m Jerry Partacz, happily married to my wife Julie for over 40 years. I have four children and eleven grandchildren. I’m enjoying retirement after 38 years of teaching. I now have an opportunity to share my thoughts on many things. I’m an incurable optimist. I also love to solve crossword puzzles and to write light verse. I love to read, to garden, to play the piano, to collect stamps and coins, and to watch “Curb Your Enthusiasm”.
Believe it or not, the Chicago Bulls have in fact nailed a few first-round picks in the last decade.
I know, it’s a strange idea to read. The current state of the Chicago Bulls is not a positive one, especially considering the entire sports world is on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But, at this point, sports fans have to look forward. What do we have to look forward to, though? Right now, as basketball fans, we can look forward to the 2020 NBA Draft. Just how will that take place now, though?
In all likelihood, it will be virtual of some sorts, similar to the upcoming NFL Draft. For now, we can look back before we look forward.
How have the Bulls fared in the draft over the last decade? If you’re a fan who has paid close attention over that time period, your initial answer might be of disgust — and trust me, I’m right there with you.
Chicago hasn’t had the best luck in the lottery over the last few years and continue to pick at no. 7, which has become a bit of a joke. But, there have been some strong picks along the way. The Bulls haven’t been a total failure — but close to it — when it comes to the draft.
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Before we officially get started, I will mention that the Bulls’ only year without a first-round pick came in 2010 when they selected Kevin Seraphin and immediately traded him to the Washington Wizards. With that said, let’s count down and rank the nine first rounders the Bulls have had this decade.
Not long after the Chicago Cubs collapsed in October 2003, they acquired Derrek Lee from the World Series Champion Florida Marlins.
Inexplicable. Frustrating. Depressing. A few words to describe what transpired at Wrigley Field in the 2003 NLCS as the Chicago Cubs saw their 3-1 series lead evaporate on the way to losing at the hands of the eventual World Series Champions. Not long after the season and World Series celebrations were over, the Cubs acted swiftly to find a permanent solution at first base.
And on November 24, they find their guy in Derrek Lee in exchange for Hee-Seop Choi and Mike Nannini. The former 14th overall pick (Lee) in the 1993 MLB Draft was tabbed as a highly-touted prospect and smacked 31 home runs to along with 92 RBI during the 2003 season.
Choi was signed as an international free agent out of South Korea. He made his major league debut in 2002, but in a more prominent role, he slashed .218/.350/.421 with eight home runs and 28 RBI in 80 games during the 2003 season. After the trade, Choi spent just half a season with the Marlins before he traded again to the Dodgers.
He would spend just another year and a half in the big leagues slashing .238/.328/.419 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI while never materializing into the player he was projected.
Likewise, Nannini never reached the majors after being taken 37th overall in the 1998 MLB Draft. He wound up back on the Cubs roster in 2007, posting a 3.18 ERA in five appearances for Triple-A Iowa before disappearing from baseball after the 2008 season. He resurfaced in the Independent League in 2014 but retired after the 2015 season.
Lee, of course, went on to become one of the more prominent power hitters in baseball. He led the National League in doubles (50) during his MVP-candidate season in 2005 while smacking 46 bombs and driving in 107 runs. He ended up finishing in third in the NL MVP voting and missed a significant portion of the 2006 season with a wrist injury.
However, he was instrumental in helping the Cubs achieve back-to-back NL Central titles in 2007 and 2008. During the 2010 season, Lee was traded to the Braves as the Cubs were transitioning into their rebuild. He would also play for Baltimore and Pittsburgh before retiring after the 2011 season.
The ChicagoBears traded for former Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles to provide competition to Mitch Trubisky for the starting quarterback job in a make-or-break season. Contrary to what fans may believe, here’s why Matt Nagy was solely behind the move.
The Chicago Bears have said all along that they’ve wanted to improve their quarterback room this offseason, primarily improving the backup position. The organization needed an upgrade to their quarterback depth chart due to the maddening play of Mitch Trubisky in 2019, as well as the lackluster play in “now” former backup, Chase Daniel.
True to the organization’s word, Ryan Pace and company pulled off a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars to acquire the services of Nick Foles, a former Super Bowl MVP quarterback who in his career has reached highs that Trubisky can only dream of obtaining at this point in time.
Foles was picked over a cast of other quarterbacks available this offseason in large part because of his familiarity in working recently with Matt Nagy and new quarterbacks coach, John DeFilippo during his previous stops in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Jacksonville. It also helps that Foles has been a proven winner throughout his career who makes his teammates around him better by gravitating towards his leadership ability, both on and off the field.
While Pace, Nagy, and the entire organization made sure to do their best to convince the public eye that trading for Foles was a collective decision, there’s no doubt that Nagy was the driving force behind it all.
It’s become no secret that the Nagy-Trubisky partnership has been a rocky one to date. Nagy hasn’t been afraid to voice out his frustration on how Trubisky has yet to master his offensive playbook, let alone be able to read basic defensive schemes. Trubisky hasn’t made life easy on himself by missing wide-open throws while making plenty of erred plays on the field. The type of head-scratching plays that’d make any head coach and fan lose their mind overseeing from a rookie, let along a now four-year player.
Nagy clearly wanted Foles to join the Bears just as much as Pace wanted Trubisky when he famously traded up in the 2017 draft to pick him over both Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes. Knowing that 2020 is a make-or-break season for the organization, Nagy most definitely talked Pace into trading for Foles, who has proven to be a master of Nagy’s offensive philosophy, while displaying way more arm talent than Daniel, Mike Glennon, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley, or any other Bears backup quarterback on a Pace regime roster to date.
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Except here’s the main point: Nagy didn’t want to bring in Foles just to improve the backup position next season. Nagy wants Foles to be his starter in 2020, rather than Trubisky. Foles can pick up and run various offensive systems light-years better than Trubisky. Furthermore, Foles isn’t afraid to chuck it deep down the field while playing within the system, notable things Mitch struggles to do period with any success.
Knowing his coaching future may be in serious doubt with one more predictably frustrating season from Trubisky under center, Nagy had to knock some common sense into Pace this offseason. Pace’s job is ultimately tied into the success of Trubisky, so of course, he wants nothing more than to see his prized pupil light the world on fire in 2020 while proving all the naysayers wrong about his infamous draft blunder move.
Knowing Pace, he probably would have been perfectly content resigning backup quarterback Daniel instead of trading for Foles if not for Nagy fighting hard for a major shake-up. Nagy probably was also behind the organization’s decision to bring in DeFilippo to help stabilize the quarterback coaching room, because of his history working with Foles.
Pace can spin it all he wants that this was a collective decision to bring in Foles, while also assuring the public that there will be an open competition for the starting quarterback position. But as Pace nods to that sentiment, there’s no doubt he’s cringing his teeth when looking the other way. Knowing deep down that the trade for Foles only undermines his boldest move made as General Manager, while also taking a deep stab at whatever pride he has left in that gut-wrenched decision.
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