RIGHT NOW, right this very second, right as I write this at 6:02 PM on July 20, 2026, the Chicago White Sox sit in first place of the American League Central with a record of 52-46.

On July 20, 2025, the Chicago White Sox weren’t 52-46.

On July 20, 2024, the Chicago White Sox definitely weren’t 52-46.

Matter o’ fact, the last time the Chicago White Sox were 52-46 on July 20 was 2004, the same year that Facebook became a thing, that OutKast’s “The Way You Move” dominated the charts, and that Caleb Williams turned three.

We’re about 26 months removed from the 2024 Sox wrapping up arguably the worst season in MLB history, when they bumbled to a freakishly bad record of 41-121. Twelve months later, the 2025 South Siders wrapped up the campaign at 60-102, a near-20 game improvement, an impressive leap in a vacuum, but in reality, it was a matter of a a team limping from super crappy to regular crappy.

But wither the 2026 Sox.

Led by charismatic ball-crushers Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami, the black-and-white-and-sometimes-red are nothing short of a modern baseball miracle, swapping the AL Central lead with Cleveland Guardians on an every-other-daily basis. These perky, pesky Sox — who boast the league’s youngest roster (27.1) — are an inspiring, surprising squad that could be fairly compared the 1969 Amazin’ New York Mets.

Like the Amazin’s, the Sox are legit fun, playing the game with a sense of elan that’s all too rarely seen in today’s Major League: The team harmony is palpable, they mash the ball, and everybody wants to be there.

Being a numbers dork, I was curious as to how the digits climbed between ‘24 to ‘26, so I turned to my buddy Claude, who, after 45 minutes of researching — by far the most time I’ve ever seen generative AI spend on one of my absurd sports stat prompts — gave me a hopefully accurate year-over-year breakdown of the Sox’ statistical climb, both as a team and individually. (I farmed it out to the Claude-meister because the Chicago Sports Stuff staff was busy. And there is no Chicago Sports Stuff staff. And who has the time?)

To that end, here how the Sox’ digits looked on July 20 of the past three seasons:

Amazin’, simply amazin’. Seeya in the postseason.

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THE NBA SUMMER LEAGUE, as we’re all well aware, means oogatz.

The first-round rookies are over-caffeinated, the second-round rooks are desperate, the G-Leaguers are holding on for their dear lives, the coaches are given more NBA responsibility than they’ve ever had, and the scheduling cadence is wonky, none of which is conducive to quality hoops.

End of the day, it’s a weekend at Rucker Park. Except less organized.

That all being the case, it’s not fair to pass judgement on any of the neophyte Summer League participants. But pass judgement we shall.

The Bad News: Noa Essengue Is a Project. At Best.

THE MOST IMPORTANT quality you want from an NBA VP of Basketball Ops is the ability to spot talent, and I think we can all agree that former Bulls VP of Basketball Ops Artūras Karnišovas was bad at spotting talent, one of the many reasons he was bad at being a VP of Basketball Ops.

Karnišovas’ most egregious whiff came the night of the 2020 NBA Draft when, despite the protestations of his staff, he selected Patrick Williams over Tyrese Haliburton. Tyrese became an All-Star, while Patrick became the proud owner of the tenth-dumbest contract in NBA history.

Strike one.

Then with the 18th pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, Karnišovas selected Dalen Terry (currently hanging on for his dear life in the G-League) over Walker Kessler (currently the starting center for the Lakers) or Peyton Watson (currently the free agent I most want to see in a Bulls’ uniform).

Strike two.

Then last summer, Karnišovas completed his hat trick of crap when he chose French teenage beanpole Noa Essengue over current and future legit NBA contributors Derek Queen, Carter Bryant, Joan Beringer, Will Riley, Asa Newell, Danny Wolf, and Hugo Gonzalez.

Strike three, you’re (sort of) out.

Before you get all, “But Essengue hurt his shoulder last season, and missed most of his rookie year, and he’s only 19, and he’s got the length, and blah blah blah,” let’s review the kid’s Summer League stats, shall we?

• GP: 4

• MIN: 18.6

• PTS: 6.5

• REB: 4.5

• AST: 0.8

• STL: 1.2

• BLK: 1.8

• TOV: 1.2

• FG%: .438

• 3P%: .167

• FT%: .545

Add in a suspect motor, and it’s little surprise he was yanked from the starting lineup after Chicago’s first game:

You have to be next-level crappy to get benched in the Summer League…especially if you are, in effect, a first-round draft pick.

Unfortunately in his first draft, it appears that Karnišovas’ successor Bryson Graham channeled his inner Artūras.

The Worse News: Dailyn Swain Might Be a Stiff

If you thought Essengue’s Summer League digits stunk, get a load of the trash numbers delivered by the second of the Bulls’ two 2026 first-round picks, Dailyn Swain:

• GP: 4

• MIN: 28.0

• PTS: 4.2

• REB: 5.0

• AST: 2.2

• STL: 0.8

• BLK: 0.2

• TOV: 1.8

• FG%: .129

• 3P%: .000

• FT%: .714

None of this passes the smell test, but the stinkiest metric is Swain’s 12.9% shooting from the field. (Seriously, my 5’3” 12-year-old daughter could hit 13 out of 100 against Summer League competition.) Thing is, according to The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s pre-draft scouting report, we shouldn’t be surprised:

[Swain] has a funky jump shot that does not translate to shooting 3s at volume. Has a long, slow release. The shooting pocket is off toward the side of his head, and it looks like he doesn’t get his wrist underneath the ball. He also takes a while to get lined up toward the rim and gather into the shot, almost exclusively from a left-right, one-two step. Anytime he takes a 3 off any sort of movement and while speeding things up, the mechanics fall apart. Given how quickly NBA players rotate and how much more length there is on the court, Swain will have to speed up his release, get more versatile with his footwork and fix the shooting pocket.

I also worry about Swain as a pull-up shooter in the NBA. Because the shooting pocket is so low and the jumper takes an extra split second to get off, it will be harder for him to get to his pull-up than it was in college. He needs to lift his shooting pocket and speed things up to make an impact there, given he only took about two pull-up shots per game at Texas.

Sadly, from where we’re sitting right now, it looks like Sam nailed it.

Against competition that pales in comparison to what he’ll see in October and beyond, Swain gave us nothing about which to be optimistic — he looked uncertain, unimaginative, and well out of his depth. You can point to the fact that Chicago’s coaching staff had him running the point for the majority of the week — he’s theoretically a wing, and was thus theoretically out of position — but if you’re a dawg, you’re a dawg, regardless of where you are on the court.

Add in nifty Summer League performances from several players selected after Swain — Cameron Carr, Meleek Thomas, Labaron Philon Jr., and Allen Graves come to mind — and it’s fair to be concerned that Graham might not be the “elite talent evaluator” he’s cracked up to be.

The Great News: Caleb Wilson Is a Straight-Up, Unmitigated Beast

No need to take up the rest of this article rehashing stats, comps, and rave reviews: Let’s just watch some cool shit from the Draft’s number four selection, Mr. Kevin Durant 2.0, Caleb Wilson. (And I don’t care some of the below are repetitive, because cool shit is generally worth repeating.)

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BRAD PITT was meant to be a leading man.

Not due to his looks, which are undeniably fantastic. And not because of his talent, of which he has oodles.

It’s because of his name.

Think about it. “Brad” conjures up broad shoulders, sinewy muscle definition, piercing eyes, and a commanding voice. (The name “Bradley,” however, doesn’t conjure much of anything, but Bradley Cooper overcame this evidently surmountable obstacle, so props to him.) As for the surname “Pitt,” that’s both the written and verbal manifestation of a high-five.

Brad Pitt. Actor. Boom. It was meant to be.

In no profession is the cool-name-to-massive-success correlation more pronounced than that of NFL quarterback. If your parents bestowed upon you a first name that conjures up leadership, confidence, and athleticism — and if you’re lucky enough to have a family name that does the same — you could well be on your way to a 5,000-yard season, a Super Bowl MVP, or even the Hall of Fame.

Conversely, if the name on your birth certificate leads to derogatory catcalls that lead to schoolyard fisticuffs, your chances of succeeding at football’s highest level are potentially diminished.

To that end, here are 44 semi-randomly-chosen quarterbacks, some of whom have strong, evocative names that might well have helped bring them on-field transcendence, some of whom overcame iffy names to find success, and some of whom are saddled with names that keep them on the practice squad.

TIER 1: NAMED TO BE THE BEST

Sammy Baugh

Some single-syllable last names strike fear into the heart of opposing football players, and “Baugh” — which, when said just-so, comes across as a punch in the gut — is one of them. “Baugh,” FWIW is a Welsh name that was used as a nickname for short men, which, in this case, is a misnomer, as Slingin’ Sammy was 6’2”.

Tom Brady

You hear the name “Tom Brady” and you immediately think “Big Man on Campus” or “Strong Jawline” or “Dude Most Likely to Marry and Divorce a Supermodel.” Had his parents Tom Sr. and Galynn opted to roll with “Tommy” or “Thomas,” there’s a decent chance Tom Jr. would’ve been a home economics teacher.

Drew Brees

As noted above, the proper single-syllable last name can be optimal, but add an on-point single-syllable first name to the mix, and you might just have yourself a future baller. And for the record, “Drew” is Brees’ given name, lucky for him, as “Andrew Brees” is far less quarterback-y. Excellent job, Gene and Mina Brees. Excellent job indeed.

Otto Graham

Otto Everett Graham couldn’t lose. “Otto” is a German name meaning wealth and prosperity. “Everett” is Old English and denotes bravery. Also Old English, “Graham” means grand. Rich, ballsy, and yoked — dayummmm. What with that trio of names, if Otto wasn’t a quarterback, he’d have been the president of the galaxy.

Sid Luckman

For today’s generation, the name “Sidney” is barely a thing, but when the four-time champion was tearing it up for the Chicago Bears in the 1940s, it sure was. Another plus: Any name featuring some iteration of “Luck” is quarterback-y af. (H/T to Andrew Luck. We miss you, brother.)

Bart Starr

Best. Quarterback. Name. Ever. “Bart” is the onomatopoeic representation of a beautifully thrown football hitting an end-zone-bound receiver’s solar plexus. “Starr” is, y’know, a star. A perfect match of talent and name that will likely never be topped.

Honorable Mention: Drew Lock

No idea how the University of Missouri product’s NFL career will pan out, but based on that killer name of his — two single syllables and a last name that denotes all kinds of sports goodness — the sky is the limit. Or not.

TIER 2: GREAT PLAYER, ALMOST GREAT NAME

Troy Aikman

“Troy” is an awesome quarterback moniker — it feels like battle. “Aikman,” not so much. In Scotland, “Aikman” translates to “oak man,” while in American English, it translates to, “I’ve got the aches, man.” Neither is a good option, but the first name mitigates the last.

Dan Fouts

Another one of those double single-syllable monikers that could’ve gone sideways. Danny Fouts? Nope. Daniel Fouts? Nunh unh. Dan’s middle name is Francis, and D.F. Fouts is a non-starter. Besides, what with that beard of his, he’s totally a Dan Fouts.

Dayrle Lamonica

Name-wise, the Oakland Raiders great has so much going for him: The uncommon spelling of the first name, the musicality of the last name — and this isn’t even taking into account that his middle name is Pasquale. It’s not as in-your-face as Baugh, Brees, or Graham, but it’s exotic, original, and, dare I say it, sexy.

Warren Moon

The last name is equally as celestial as Bart Starr’s, but the name “Warren” isn’t. In this instance, a one-syllable first name would’ve been super-appropriate, e.g., Dak Moon.

Tony Romo

The back-to-back-to-back “oh” sounds are simply transcendent. And why nobody ever pushed “Toe-Mo” as a nickname is beyond me.

Y.A. Tittle

Dude’s birth certificate reads “Yelberton Abraham Tittle,” so he had no choice but to go with “Y.A.” That said, “Y.A.” is arguably the dopest initial combo in NFL history. “Tittle,” however, unquestionably led to plenty of less-than-flattering nicknames. I shudder to think.

Johnny Unitas

If your name is “John” and you want to be a quarterback, start going by “Johnny” immediately. There are exceptions to the John/Johnny corollary, some good (see: Elway, John), and some, not-as-good (see: Manziel, Johnny). But generally speaking, “Johnny” feels All-Pro, while “John” feels second string.

Kurt Warner

This begs the question, what’s more quarterback-centric, “Kurt” or “Curt?” For some (like the author of this article), “Kurt” leads right to Cobain, and while the late Nirvana frontman was a grunge genius, he wasn’t QB material. But “Curt” with a C? Now we’re cooking with propane.

TIER 2.1: DOUBLE LAST-NAMERS

Randall Cunningham

Two strong names that could be construed as back-to-back last names scream signal caller. And if you’re a football prodigy lucky enough to be a 2X last namer, lean into it, baby. Like “Randall Cunningham” is totally a quarterback, but “Randy Cunningham” is an insurance salesman. A really good insurance salesman, mind you, but still an insurance salesman.

Roman Gabriel

If you’re a linebacker, would you want to try and stop a 6’5” big-armed QB whose name, translated, is Powerful Strength? Hells no, you wouldn’t. Gabriel gets bonus points for his middle name, Ildonzo.

Peyton Manning

Manning’s name doesn’t have the oomph of Gabriel’s, but the double-last-name, the Manning family QB lineage, and Peyton’s general righteousness as an athlete, a media mogul, and a person help him overcome any deficiency of oomph.

Donovan McNabb

“Donovan” wouldn’t be a go-to QB name, but “McNabb” sure is. Scream it with me, now: MickNABB. Again. MickNABB. Sounds like an 80-yard bomb.

Carson Palmer

Aside from his touchdown of a name, the fact that he was a hyper-talented BMOC at USC made it inevitable that C.P. would be a Heisman Trophy winner, the number one pick in his draft class, and a three-time Pro Bowler. Had his middle name been something other than Hilton (ugh), we’re talking first ballot Hall of Famer.

Aaron Rodgers

Like Palmer, Rodgers is a doe-eyed Cali kid who starred at a Cali college who sports a double-last-name that sounds just like accuracy looks. That said, as a Bears guy, I cringe whenever I hear the name “Aaron” or “Roger.”

Russell Wilson

The little fella’s birth certificate had QB written all over it: Russell Carrington Wilson. He couldn’t go wrong: Russ Wilson, pow. R.C. Wilson, zap. Carrington Wilson, crunch. We should all be so lucky.

Honorable Mention: Baker Mayfield

Bay-May has yet to solidify himself as a top-tier quarterback, but his name will get him there. Maybe. Possibly. Possibly. Maybe. (BTW, is Bay-May a thing? If not, it should be.)

TIER 3: THE OVERCOMERS

Terry Bradshaw

“Terry” isn’t quarterback-y, but the Steelers legend’s middle name, “Paxton,” sure is. It’s possible that had he gone by Paxton Bradshaw — or maybe even T.P. Bradshaw — he’d have led Pittsburgh to five or six Super Bowl victories. Four rings are all fine and good, but still.

John Elway

There’s a reason John Elway almost played professional baseball, that reason being “John Elway” is a shortstop name. “Johnny Elway,” however, is all signal-caller, all the time, and might’ve helped him earn the Broncos more than one Lombardi.

Bob Griese

Those of a certain generation will recall that “Griese” is pronounced “greasy,” a name that should’ve led to a career in, say, the automotive industry. But it didn’t, so bully for Bob.

Sonny Jurgensen

The name “Sonny” wouldn’t scare anybody, but it’s incrementally scarier than his full name of Christian Adolph. As for “Jurgensen,” it’s derived from the Greek word for farmer, as well as being the name of a martyr who was killed in the Third Century. What with all that name-centric baggage, how Christian Adolph became one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation is beyond me.

Dan Marino

Dan Marino is a boring name. Not bad. Not good. Not quarterback-y. Just dull. Having said that, “Marino” in Latin translates to “of the sea,” so it was inevitable he’d be a Dolphin.

Joe Montana

Apologies to residents of the Treasure State, but Montana ain’t exactly the most scintillating part of the United States. Had Joe Cool’s name been Joe California, or Joe Illinois, or Joe New York, he’d have gone undefeated for his career.

Roger Staubach

If you eliminate the Aaron factor, “Roger” is solid first name — it loosely translates to “renowned spear” in German — but “Staubach” loosely translates to “build a dam,” which doesn’t inspire confidence under center. That all being the case, he probably should’ve been a guard. (See what I did there? Build a dam? Guard? Eh, it was worth a shot.)

TIER 4: WITH THAT NAME, HOW IS HE EVEN IN THE NFL?

Gardner Minshew II

Possibly the nerdiest name in the history of the National Football League, GMII evokes images of a bummed-out 13-year-old wearing a plaid suit, a striped bow tie, and pants that end above the ankle.

Kyler Murray

All his parents had to do was put an “S” in front of “Kyler,” and he’d have been the poster child for sweet 21st Century QB names. But they didn’t. Sigh.

Ben Roethlisberger

There’s little doubt that until he developed enough muscle to defend himself, Big Ben heard schoolyard chants of, “Little Benny Hamburger, Little Benny Hamburger.” Little Benny Hamburger doth not a quarterback make.

Patrick Mahomes

Two reasons this doesn’t jibe: One, “Pat” is quarter-backy, but “Patrick” isn’t. Two: Everybody knows that “Mahomes” is a baseball name. Everybody.

TIER 5: NEVER STOOD A CHANCE

Bubby Brister

• “Bubby” = A grandmother.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Television meteorologist.

Tim Couch

• “Couch” = Something you sit on.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Bubby Brister’s weekend fill-in.

Sam Darnold

• “Darnold” = A curse word you use when you don’t want to curse.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Tax attorney.

Blaine Gabbert

• “Gabbert” = Somebody who talks too much.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Stand-up comic.

David Klingler

• “Klingler” = A Star Trek character. (I know, I know, super-obvious. But funny nonetheless.)

• More appropriate profession based on name: Human resources coordinator.

Ryan Leaf

• “Leaf” = A leaf.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Landscaper. (Duh.)

J.P. Losman

• “Losman” = A loss, man. (See: Aikman, Troy)

• More appropriate profession based on name: Professional poker player.

Nathan Peterman

• “Peterman” = Something that cannot be discussed on my warm and fuzzy G-rated Substack.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Congressional aide.

Brock Osweiler

• “Osweiler” = A breed of dog.

• More appropriate profession based on name: Indie film director.

Mitchell Trubisky

• “Trubisky” = A soft, brie-like French cheese.

• More appropriate profession: Car dealership franchisee.

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Here’re the rules for Part Two of our QB name excursion, which focuses solely on 2025’s QB1’s.

1. Legit QB1s only, injuries be damned. Say no to Cooper Rush and say yes to Lamar Jackson.

2. The rankings have nothing to do with a signal caller’s quality of play. If they have garbage stats but an athletic name, they’ll be near the top of the heap. (I’m talking to you, Cam Ward.)

3. Each player will get one sentence about why his name fits (or doesn’t), as well as a guess as to what profession his name would lead to if he weren’t an NFL player.

4. I’m going to be as objective as possible, except when it comes to Aaron Rodgers. Because he’s a douche.

I know there’ll be kvetching galore from my lovely readers about the rankings, so if you want to create a list of your own, hit me up at ChicagoSportsStuff@gmail.com, and I promise it’ll get published…even if you put Rodgers at #1.

Now let’s play the name game.

32) Aaron Rodgers

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Because he’s a douche.

Non-Football Profession: Professional douche.

31) Sam Darnold

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Darnold rhymes with Arnold, and Arnold is the nerdiest first (or last) name ever.

Non-Football Profession: President at his own accounting firm.

30) Daniel Jones

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: I don’t mean this with any racial overtones, but this name is vanilla af.

Non-Football Profession: Vice President at Sam Darnold’s accounting firm.

29) Josh Allen

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: See: Jones, Daniel.

Non-Football Profession: Florist.

28) Brock Purdy

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: The “urrrr” sound in Purdy isn’t cool or quarterback-y in the least.

Non-Football Profession: Bar owner.

27) Matthew Stafford

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Matt is a pretty okay name, but in QB Land, Matthew isn’t.

Non-Football Profession: High school English teacher.

26) Michael Penix Jr.

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: That last name leaves him open to teasing from unimaginative bullies.

Non-Football Profession: Jazz pianist.

25) Patrick Mahomes

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Like Stafford, going first syllable in the first name would’ve given him a boost.

Non-Football Profession: Trombonist in Penix’s band.

24) Jared Goff

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: The one-R’d Jared rubs me the wrong way.

Non-Football Profession: E.R. doctor.

23) Geno Smith

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Even a solid first name like Geno can’t overcome Smith.

Non-Football Profession: Sous chef at a high-end Italian restaurant.

22) Joe Burrow

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: This one’s just a visceral thing.

Non-Football Profession: Art museum curator.

21) Spencer Rattler

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Two last names is disconcerting.

Non-Football Profession: Stay-at-home dad.

20) Dillon Gabriel

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Two first names is disconcerting.

Non-Football Profession: Novelist.

19) Justin Herbert

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Not great, not terrible, but not sexy.

Non-Football Profession: Partner in the law firm of Herbert & Fields.

18) Justin Fields

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Not great, not terrible, but not sexy — it’s a Justin thing.

Non-Football Profession: Partner in the law firm of Herbert & Fields.

17) Trevor Lawrence

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Projects a semblance of strength.

Non-Football Profession: Personal trainer.

16) Bryce Young

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Points for the “y” in Bryce.

Non-Football Profession: F1 driver.

15) C.J. Stroud

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Two-letter first names combined with one-syllable last names are just punchy.

Non-Football Profession: Game show host.

14) Caleb Williams

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Excellent use of a biblical moniker.

Non-Football Profession: Yoga teacher.

13) Kyler Murray

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Like Young, I dig use of the “y” in the first name.

Non-Football Profession: Airline pilot.

12) Jalen Hurts

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Great stuff, for sure, but Hurts is more of a linebacker name.

Non-Football Profession: UFC middleweight.

11) J.J. McCarthy

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Screams “star power.”

Non-Football Profession: Broadway actor.

10) Drake Maye

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: The back-to-back one-syllable names combined with the random “e” at the end of Maye is aesthetically pleasing.

Non-Football Profession: McCarthy’s co-star in some Pinter play.

9) Tua Tagovailoa

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Distinct, distinct, and more distinct.

Non-Football Profession: Supervisor at the National Hurricane Center.

8) Baker Mayfield

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: A cool nerd name, and cool nerd names can make for cool quarterbacks.

Non-Football Profession: Pastry chef, of course.

7) Jayden Daniels

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Because, just because.

Non-Football Profession: Record producer.

6) Lamar Jackson

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Denotes athleticism.

Non-Football Profession: Olympic distance runner.

5) Cam Ward

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Massive points for going with “Cam” rather than “Cameron.”

Non-Football Profession: NHL goaltender.

4) Bo Nix

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Mixing the double-one-syllable with the the best use of “X” on the list puts him over the edge.

Non-Football Profession: EDM deejay.

3) Jordan Love

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: If the last name is Love, your parents would have to really screw up the first name to miss out on the top-ten.

Non-Football Profession: Lounge singer.

2) Dak Prescott

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: Dak is a punch to the face, and Prescott is a trip to the bank.

Non-Football Profession: Harley-Davidson franchise owner.

1) Jaxson Dart

Why He’s Where He Is On the List: The only way this would’ve been more quarterbacky is if his name was Q.B. McFootball.

Non-Football Profession: There’s literally no other profession for Jaxson Dart.

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MY THREE BIG sports memories from 1993:

1. Led by Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura, and Jack McDowell (wow!) my beloved Chicago White Sox snuck in to the ALCS.

2. Led by Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant (double wow!) my beloved Chicago Bulls won themselves an NBA title.

3. And led by Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin, (Triple wow!) the Dallas Cowboys — who I loved, but not quite as much as I loved my beloved Chicago Bears — beat the tar out of pretty much the entire NFL, and ultimately earned themselves a Vince Lombardi Trophy.

With those Bulls and Sox teams, it was easy to identify the Alpha — M.J. and The Big Hurt, respectively — but with those Cowboys, not so much. Aikman was as rock-solid and dependable as they came, arguably the most reliable quarterback of his era. Irvin was the flashy pass catcher, a trash-talking force of nature who was feared by defensive backfielders throughout the league.

But for my money, the man who stirred the Cowboys drink was their indefatigable ball-carrier, the rock amongst rocks, the man who did all the heavy lifting, the determined alpha himself, Emmitt James Smith III.

Smith’s 1993 regular season numbers across the board were outrageous, but my personal favorites were 106 (that’s rushing yards per game), 5.6 (that’s rushing yards per carry), and 3 (that’s how many games he missed).

And three is the magic number.

Think about it: The dude won the MVP even though he played three less games than the runner-up, Steve Young. The fact that he nabbed the award while managing just 9 rushing touchdowns speaks volumes. If that’s not the stuff of supreme Alpha-ness, I don’t know what is.

Emmitt sat down with me to discuss his magical 1993 season, what his MVP hardware means to him, and a certain shoulder…

ALAN GOLDSHER: In 1993, you missed the first two games of the season, and you had to sit for most of a game in the middle of the year. In a 16-game season, that’s a notable amount of stopping and starting. How were you able to blend in so seamlessly without the prescribed amount of practice?

EMMITT SMITH: During those years, our teams were on the same page across the board. This was our fourth year together, and the level of communication was strong. We had a whole lot of offensive continuity both on the field and on the sidelines, so it wasn’t like I was ever starting from scratch. Any one of us could go out of the lineup for a few games, and we’d rarely miss a beat.

A.G.: After missing those first two games, did you have any inkling it would be an MVP season?

E.S.: Well, every year I would write down my goals — some individual goals, some team goals. The individual goals would go hand in hand with the team goals. So being named MVP was a goal, and that went right along with striving to win the Super Bowl. Achieving these goals was not something I did by myself. We had an incredible group of football players and teammates, and the success we achieved was from all of us coming together truly as a team.

A.G.: It seems like that was one of the hallmarks of those Cowboys squads.

E.S.: One hundred percent. When folks talk about our offense, they usually talk about me, Troy, and Irv, but think about it: Our unit was stacked. When defenses have to also deal with guys like Moose Johnston, Alvin Harper, and Jay Novacek — and that’s some All-Pro talent right there — well, suffice to say that a guy like me gets a whole lot more holes to run through. And sometimes those holes got big.

A.G.: That offensive line of yours was sick.

E.S.: Sick. Nate Newton, a beast. Erik Williams, a beast. Mark Tuinei, beast. Mark Stepnoski, beast. Kevin Gogan, beast. And you can’t sleep on Novacek as a blocker. Without them, there’s no way I even sniff an MVP award.

A.G.: That season, you had a career-high in receiving yards with 414, and it again bears mention again that you did it in just 13 games. How do you account for that?

E.S.: Again, I’ll give credit to my teammates. Our downfield blocking was on point. Alvin and Irv didn’t get nearly enough credit for their blocking skill. Plus, if I remember correctly, I think I racked up a lot of yards in those Philly games.

A.G.: You did, but that was mostly on the ground. You personally did horrible, horrible things to the Eagles defense that year. In your first game against them, you racked up 237 rushing yards, then in the rematch, 172. That’s 409 yards against a single team. Some running backs today call 409 yards a good season.

E.S.: (Laughs) I guess we had Philly’s number. They had a pretty solid defense, too. Clyde Simmons was there, Seth Joyner, Eric Allen, Andre Waters…good players. Sometimes, the matchups just work in your favor. Those games were close, though.

A.G.: It’s not like the Eagles were a bad team. They finished 8-8.

E.S.: Yeah, man, it was just one of those things. Like I said, sometimes you have a team’s number, and sometimes, they have yours. But we always got hyped for NFC East games. I think that year, we won all of the divisional games that I played in.

A.G.: I looked it up, and you indeed did. Might that have had something to do with how you fared in the MVP voting?

E.S.: It’s definitely possible. At the time in the NFL, there weren’t nearly as many games on national television, and we were on national TV a whole bunch. And I’d bet that a lot of our national games were the ones against the NFC East teams. If that was indeed the case, I guess that means more of the voters got to see me play against the East, so yeah, maybe those division games played a role with the MVP thing.

A.G.: Do any of the regular season games stand out?

E.S.: The last game of the season, in New York, against the Giants.

A.G.: The shoulder game?

E.S.: Yes, the shoulder game. People forget that was a good Giants team, and that game was for the division title, a must-win. We went up by 13, then they caught us, and we won it, 16-13 in OT.

A.G.: Indeed. But the most memorable thing, of course, was that you played the second half with a separated shoulder. How did you fight through the pain? If I tweak an ankle, I’m down for at least a week.

E.S.: You block it out, focus on mind over matter. You go about your business. You look in the eyes of your teammates and keep going for them.

A.G.: But the trainers knew it happened.

E.S.: They sure did. They tried to sit me at halftime, and they tried to sit me after every series in the second half, and they tried to sit me during overtime. I wasn’t having it.

A.G.: Did you consider shutting it down?

E.S.: Absolutely not. I’d already missed three games, and I wasn’t missing the rest of this one, what with the division on the line. I couldn’t let my guys down. I know any of them — Troy, Irv, Alvin, Moose, whoever — would’ve done the same thing. That’s the way we were. I know it sounds corny, but we were all for one, and one for all. I remember Nate and the entire O-line all but carried me back to the huddle after I got tackled. That was special. That’s what true teammates do.

A.G.: It still astounds me that you had 32 rushes and 10 receptions, about half of which came while you were theoretically in massive amounts of pain.

E.S.: (Laughs.) It astounds me, too. Whenever I see clips from that game, I’m always like, “Emmitt, man, what were you thinking?”

A.G.: I’m sure that game clinched you the MVP award.

E.S.: It’s certainly possible. Like I was saying, back in the day, nationally televised games were a big deal when it came to that kind of thing, and that game in particular got a lot of coverage, both when it happened, and in the days following.

A.G.: I actually watched that game live TV, sitting in the apartment of a Giants fan. He was freaking out, naturally, and I told him to sit back and enjoy the Emmitt ride.

E.S.: I appreciate that. Did he enjoy the ride?

A.G.: Not even a little bit. So does that shoulder ever hurt now?

E.S.: Whenever I see clips from that game, it does. (Laughs.)

A.G.: How did you feel when you heard about winning the MVP?

E.S.: It was surreal. Again the Super Bowls are the big reward, but whenever I look at my MVP trophy, I do feel a quiet sense of pride.

A.G.: Where does the MVP rank among your career highlights?

E.S.: Well, I take pride in my team accomplishments over anything, but these MVPs — as well as being inducted into the Hall of Fame — it’s humbling to be in a really, really special group of athletes. And I will tell you, I’ll always cherish that ’93 season, and not just because of the awards. I played with an amazing group of guys — not just amazing football players, but amazing people — and we were all pulling together as one. Seriously, it wasn’t about numbers. Troy never thought about numbers. Sure, Irv wanted his touches, but if he caught 15 balls and we didn’t win, he’d be pissed. For me, 100-yard games were great, but as they say, it don’t mean a thing without that ring.

5 FUN FACTS ABOUT GALE SAYERS

Had he remained healthy, the beloved Chicago Bears running back would’ve been the G.O.A.T.

BEFORE WALTER PAYTON, before Barry Sanders, before Emmitt Smith, before Christian McCaffrey, there was Gale Sayers.

One of the NFL’s first true do-it-all running backs, Sayers put together four remarkable seasons during his seven years with the Chicago Bears, seasons that were so impressive that at age 34 — despite playing in only 68 games — he was voted into the Hall of Fame, making him the youngest ever inductee.

The Swiss Army knife RB retired well before I knew the difference between a cornerback and a safety, but, like the majority of Chicago Bears fans, I’ve seen the highlights and thus have a special place in my heart for a back who, had he not suffered a plethora of injuries and kept up his remarkable level of production, would’ve easily been the G.O.A.T.

Easily.

Even though we’re months away from the kickoff to the 2024 NFL season, there’s never a bad time to chop it up about one of the city’s most revered athletes.

Never.

1) GALE’S NICKNAME WAS STRAIGHT-UP AWESOME.

Born in Wichita, Sayers was dubbed “The Kansas Comet,” and considering the absurd numbers he posted at the University of Kansas, it was an apt moniker; during his three years as a Jayhawk, we’re talking 3,073 all-purpose yards and 19 total touchdowns. He averaged 6.5 yards per carry and 11.4 yards per reception, so it was little surprise that the Bears pounced on him with the fourth pick of the 1965 draft.

2) DUDE COULD SCORE. AND SCORE. AND SCORE.

In his rookie season, Sayers racked up a then-NFL-record 22 touchdowns, 14 of which came on the ground, with the other 8 through the air. On October 17, 1965 — in only his fifth career game — Sayers found the end zone via the run, the pass, and the return, making him one of only two players in NFL history to pull that trifecta. (The other: Miami’s contemporary comet, Tyreek Hill.) Later that season, he dropped a 6-TD game, the most ever for a running back.

3) NOBODY LIKED PLAYING AGAINST SAYERS.

Dick Butkus, Sayers’ teammate and one of the scariest linebackers in NFL history, hated being on the field with the shifty one. “He had this ability to go full speed,” Butkus said, “cut and then go full speed again right away. I saw it every day in practice. We played live, and you could never get a clean shot on Gale. Never.” If Sayers frustrated a beast like Butkus, imagine how freaked out his opponents were.

4) GALE’S KNEES WERE BAD, BUT NOT THAT BAD.

As hard as he competed on the gridiron, Sayers was more concerned about the life he led off the field. Knee injuries derailed his career, but he was less fazed than anybody, saying, “I don’t care to be remembered as the man who scored six touchdowns in a game. I want to be remembered as a winner in life.”

5) HE WAS PORTRAYED BRILLIANTLY IN THE GREATEST FOOTBALL MOVIE EVER.

Chances are if you know only one thing about Gale Sayers, that thing is his relationship with fellow Bears running back Brian Piccolo, a relationship that was documented in the 1971 made-for-television movie Brian’s Song. The award-winning tearjerker — which is based on Sayers’ 1970 autobiography I Am Third — tells the story of the unlikely friendship between the hobbled black star and the cancer-suffering white rookie. In an era of segregation, the fact that the two Bears roomed together on the road was, to many of their teammates, mind-boggling.

Despite of the fact that his own career was coming to a premature end, Sayers supported Piccolo throughout his treatment, one of the many reasons why Gale Sayers will always be remembered and always be beloved.

5 FUN FACTS ABOUT MICHAEL JORDAN

When it comes to His Airness, you know a whole lot. But you don’t know everything.

You love the dunks. You’re hip to the rings. You can recite the stats. You dig the MVP trophies. You own a bunch of the shoes.

But there are a few bits and pieces about Michael Jordan’s life, loves, career, and culinary tastes with which you might not be familiar.

With the Chicago Bulls-less NBA Finals just around the corner, what better time to discuss some oddball stuff about the G.O.A.T.?

Once Upon a Time, There Was a Thing Called the McJordan

Hardcore Bulls fans and McDonald’s historians are probably the only folks who’ll recall a limited edition, Chicago-only burger called the McJordan. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a plain ol’ cheeseburger topped with pickles, raw onions, bacon, and BBQ sauce, tucked semi-neatly into a sesame seed bun, completely unremarkable aside from the fact that Jordan’s name was attached.

The Golden Arches never took the sandwich national, but a few fans were enchanted — in fact, one M.J. worshipper bought a jug of expired McJordan BBQ sauce for $9,995. (Note: I’d consider investing $9,995 just to watch said worshipper down a shot of said McJordan sauce.)

Back in the Day, M.J. Wasn’t Awesome at Nutrition

While we’re on the subject of Michael Jordan and meat…

Other than those who like to glom down pregame PB&J sandwiches, most of today’s NBA players are hyper-conscious about what they put into their bodies before they take the court. Utah Jazz guard Collin Sexton, for instance, sticks to fruits and nuts, noting, “You just need something that’s going to give you some energy that will [keep] you up if you’re playing a lot of minutes. You want something that’s going to last and stick with you the entire game.”

Before his games, Michael Jordan ate like a manly-man from 1951: We’re talking meat ‘n’ potatoes.

But not just your standard, run-of-the-mill meat ‘n’ potatoes. We’re talking a 20-plus-ounce steak, a football-sized potato — or, in a pinch, a massive plate of potato skins — and a pitcher of orange juice. (It’s worth noting that M.J. scarfed it all down four hours before tip-off, so he had plenty of time to digest.)

P.S. - The protein / carb / sugar combo platter has since been replaced with a steady diet of Partagas Serie D Number Fours and tequilla.

Before He Just Did It, Jordan Was an adidas Guy

In 1985, Nike owned a 50% market share of the sneaker industry, and they wanted to increase it further by bringing the electric Bulls rookie into the fold. Jordan, however, wasn’t initially interested, as he preferred rocking adidas kicks. adidas, however, didn’t prefer Jordan.

Why? Because he was too short.

The company felt that shoe-buyers wouldn’t be interested in emulating a 6’6” rookie, and chose to go all-in on the 7’1” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In typical Jordan fashion, he remained cheesed-off about the shoe diss for years to come.

#23’s Favorite Dessert Is…Interesting

Like most of us, Jordan has an affinity for the food he ate as a child, and one of his favorite sweet treats is his mother Delores’ ginger-ale pound cake. As a public service to the culinarily curious, here’s the recipe:

• 2 1/3 cups sugar

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened

• 1/3 cup shortening

• 5 eggs

• 2 teaspoons lemon extract

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup ginger ale

Preheat oven to 325°F. Coat a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, cream sugar, butter, and shortening. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon extract; mix well. Add flour and ginger ale, alternately. Pour batter into the pan and bake 75 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cake cool 20 to 30 minutes; remove from pan to cool completely.

M.J. Was Not Good at Television

In 1989, Chicago sports fans couldn’t get enough of their high-flying hero. Recognizing that any M.J. face time was good face time, WLS, the local ABC affiliate, launched a show called Michael Jordan’s Airwaves. (Get it? Air Jordan? Airwaves? Get it? Get it?)

Michael Jordan’s Airwaves was really, really lousy. Thanks to the YouTubes, we can watch every cringeworthy moment from the first episode anytime we darn well please.

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YEAH, YEAH, WE ALL KNOW that Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in an NBA game. Old news.

We’re also well aware that during his third year in the Association, the Hall of Famer, the 13-time All-Star, and the never-to-be-equaled-let-alone-topped stat machine averaged 50.4 points and 25.7 boards. Solid numbers, but we’ve been there, and we’ve done that.

And you don’t have to dive too deeply to learn that the man they called Wilt the Stilt (or the Big Dipper, or Dippy, or Dip, or The Load, or Big Musty, or The Record Book) won seven scoring titles, 11 rebound titles, and five MVP awards.

But you probably didn’t know that Wilt Chamberlain killed a mountain lion with his bare hands.

Or so he says.

Y’see, Wilt was great at mythologizing himself.

Thing is, the additional hyping was completely unnecessary. The Philly native was mythical from the moment he first set foot on the Overbrook High School court. But for Chamberlain, too big was never big enough.

YOU COULDN’T LOOK AWAY from Wilton Norman Chamberlain, not even if you tried.

At 7’1”, 285, Chamberlain was among the most massive players of his era — hell, even in today’s NBA, it’s not like there are a whole lot of centers who could successfully chest him up in the paint. Think about it: The Miami Heat’s Bam Adabeyo, an All-Star center who landed on the 2019-20 All Defensive Team, is an awfully good ball stopper, but he’s 6’9”, 255, four inches shorter and 30 points lighter than The Dipper. Wilt, in his prime, would’ve bammed Bam into submission, right?

Right.

Admittedly, unless you were a fan of the Philadelphia Warriors, or the San Francisco Warriors, or the Philadelphia 76ers, or the Los Angeles Lakers, or the Harlem Globetrotters, Chamberlain was tough to love. He was a wrestling heel, the 1985 Chicago Bears defense, and that neighbor who plays their music too loudly, but they have great taste, so you don’t get as mad as you would’ve had they cranked Limp Bizkit albums, all wrapped up into one. Wilt drove opposing fans nuts, and he was a tad frightening, and he beat up on every team in every league, but, as noted, they couldn’t look away…nor did they want to.

Before he retired and mellowed out, the Dipper wasn’t exactly a prize off the court either. In 2015, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar told a story that summed up why Wilt elicited fear and loathing amongst both his opposition and the general public:

“I got on an elevator with Wilt Chamberlain, and as the elevator is going down, someone gets on and says, ‘Oh wow, how is the weather up there?’ Wilt spat on the dude and said, ‘It’s raining.’”

On one hand, we can forgive that, as Wilt was probably asked some iteration of that vaguely insulting question about eight-zillion times. Come eight-zillion-and-one, anybody would snap.

On the other hand, seriously, who does that?

Actually, come to think of it, you know who does that? A man who dominates.

Founded and built in 1924, Overbrook High has churned out more than its fair share of celebs. Will Smith, he of Hancock and Hitch fame, is an alumnus, as was soul singer Solomon Burke (“Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”) and the entire original lineup of The Delfonics (“Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time”).

Overbrook also funneled a goodly number of hoopsters to the NBA. Journeyman and future UCLA head coach Walt Hazzard and well-traveled super-sub Malik Rose were the most notable; other names included Wali Jones, Wayne Hightower, and Mike Gale, and Andre McCarter. (Oddly enough, Gale and Hightower made marks in the ABA, notable because having two quality ABA performers graduate from the same high school is, well, odd.)

Wilt — who stood 6’11” in his senior year, and thus probably endured far too many questions about how the weather was up there, even back then — played three years on the Overbrook varsity squad, and racked up over 2,200 points.

Cecil Mosenon, who coached Chamberlain during his senior year, extolled the Stilt’s virtues, noting that the raw center was an eager learner, telling the Philadelphia Inquirer, “[One day], practice started, and I see [Wilt] shows up, has a ball in his hand. He’s coming over to me. I figure he was going to throw the ball at me, [but] he says, ‘Coach, will you teach me how to shoot a hook?’”

Apparently, Mosenon was a great hook teacher, as the next game, Wilt dropped 90 points. Mosenson noted, “I [even] took him out the last three minutes.”

Now racking up 90-points in approximately 30 minutes smacks of exaggeration, and exaggeration on somebody’s part wouldn’t at all be a surprise, as when it came to Wilt, making myths was almost as much fun as reporting the news.

Another reason one could question the numbers: Faulty memory. Moneson gave the above interview in 2017, and the 90-point explosion exploded in 1955, a 62-year difference. That’s a huge chunk of time, so the former coach could be forgiven for inaccuracy.

But no, this game was a thing, as breathlessly described the following day by journalist Les Ribler:

“Wilt (The Stilt) Chamberlain, Overbrook High School’s seven-foot basketball star, yesterday erased lingering doubt to who holds the State scholastic individual record for points scored in one game. In an almost unbelievable performance, Wilt settled the issue by registering a record-shattering 90 points yesterday. The amazing 18-year-old senior paced the Hilltoppers to a 123-21 romp over Roxborough High — their 11^th victory in an unbeaten Public Conference season — and added a host of records to his mounting collection. It erased Chamberlain’s conference mark of 74 set last Jan. 15 against Roxborough.”

(Interesting side note: The reason Mosenon was concerned that Chamberlain was going to toss a ball at him was that a few days prior, the coach threw Wilt off of the team for, “…crapping around in practice.” The incident took place the day following Wilt’s 75-point explosion against rival Roxborough High.”)

(Uninteresting side note: During his tenure as a resident of Philadelphia, the author of this article lived two blocks away from Roxborough High. He sensed the Chamberlain-induced PTSD whenever he walked by, even decades after Wilt abused the Roxborough squad.)

Adding to Wilt’s Overbrook myth/legend, he was also a standout track and fielder who high jumped a whopping 6’6” — seriously, imagine the sight of a skinny 6’11” high school kid flying six-feet in the air — broad jumped 22 feet (again, imagine that), put the shot almost 54 feet, and ran the 440m in 49.0 seconds and the 880m in 1:58.03.

Armed with undeniable basketball skill, a newfangled hook shot, and athleticism to burn, nobody at Overbrook should have been surprised when Wilt dominated the NCAA at the University of Kansas, helped bring the Harlem Globetrotters to new heights of popularity, and racked up numbers that the NBA will never, ever, ever, ever see again.

Being that he was an overachiever for the ages, they also shouldn’t have been surprised that Chamberlain became a movie star.

Okay, star is an overstatement, and a vast one at that — but almost certainly an overstatement that Wilt, a next-level self-myth-maker, probably would’ve made himself.

Chamberlain’s IMDb page gives the big guy four credits: An uncredited cameo in the Oliver Stone-directed flick Any Given Sunday, four guest shots on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and an appearance as himself on the Michael Chiklis vehicle, The Commish.

But it’s credit number four that justifiably gets all the attention, a credit that has him playing the role of Bombaata in the 1984 cult classic, Conan the Destroyer, a film featuring literally the greatest above-the-line cast ever assembled. Seriously, go ahead and top a film starring Big Musty, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Grace Jones. You can’t do it. It’s impossible.

For a neophyte thespian, Wilt came off relatively well. In a three-star review, legendary film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “The filmmakers to abandon the usual overexposed Hollywood character actors and go for really interesting types like Chamberlain and Jones. Chamberlain gives a good try at the thankless role of the turncoat guard.” And a 1984 review from a local Philly paper noted, “Just seeing [Schwarzenegger] next to Wilt ‘The Stilt’ and the rail-thin Grace Jones with her Chicago boxcar Afro is incredible in itself. You have as unlikely a trio here as the three who skipped down the yellow brick road with Dorothy.”

So ignore the 25% score on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Forget the 53% Metacritic Metascore. Disregard the 5.9/10 IMDb rating. Go ahead and bask in the glory of Conan the Destroyer, an epic film in which Wilt Chamberlain delivered a performance worthy of Oscars, of Golden Globes, of Palme d’Ors.

Okay, maybe you’ll embrace the previous paragraph, and maybe you won’t, but regardless, it’s probably what Wilt would’ve told you.

NOW COMES THE AWKWARD PART. But when you’re talking about Chamberlain myths, you can’t avoid it. It is a topic has to be broached. It must be discussed. It is Wilt’s claim in his 1991 biography, A View From Above, that he had intimate relations with over 20,000 women.

To nobody’s surprise, this, um, “fact” has been of fascination to journalists, even decades later. In 2012, the Atlantic’s Eddie Dreezen ran the numbers to great effect, writing,“If Wilt started at the age of 15, from then up to the age of 55 (when the book was published, he would have had 40 years to sleep with 20,000 women, or 500 women a year — easy math. That works out to 1.4 women a day.”

Six years later, Ken Jennings — who, it could be said, is the Wilt Chamberlain of Jeopardy — banged out a 600-plus-word blog post entitled “The Debunker: Did Wilt Chamberlain Sleep with 20,000 Women.” Among the highlights…

• “I can’t speak with every woman alive on earth from the early 1950s up through 1991 and ask whether or not they would describe their relationship with Wilt Chamberlain as ‘sexual.’”

• “[Chamberlain’s friend] Rod Roddewig [said] he counted 23 women coming and going during a ten-day stay at Chamberlain’s Honolulu penthouse. Wilt used that 2.3-women-a-day average — scaled down by almost half, to stay on the conservative side — to get his total of twenty thousand over the course of a lifetime.”

• “In 1999, Chamberlain said that, looking back, he valued his longer relationships more than having had ‘a thousand different ladies’ — cutting the original claim by 95%.”

Re: the last bullet point, ya gotta give credit where credit is due. Chamberlain passed away that same year, and it’s possible that he knew he might be moving on, thus he wanted to set the record straight. That being the case, maybe, deep down in his soul, Wilt wanted the public to know the truth about him, to distinguish the truth from the myth, the legend from the man.

Maybe, deep down in his soul, he was just like you and me. Except way taller and way way better at basketball.

Which brings us back to Wilt’s mountain lion attack…or alleged mountain lion attack. Whether it happened or not, it’s time to drop some mountain lion science.

Let’s start with NPR, an uber-reliable news organization that tells us, “The potential for being killed or injured by a mountain lion is quite low compared to many other natural hazards. There is a far greater risk, for example, of being killed in an automobile accident with a deer than of being attacked by a mountain lion.”

So yeah, a mountain lion attack on a human being isn’t common. But it still happens.

In 2019, ABC reported, “On March 29, a Canadian mother fought off a juvenile male mountain lion that was attacking her seven-year-old son outside her home, but that’s not the only dangerous encounter humans have had with mountain lions, also known as cougars, in recent months. In February, a trail runner in Colorado choked a juvenile cougar that attacked him as he ran, and in September, authorities said a hiker found dead in Oregon was likely killed by a mountain lion.”

To get the definitive skinny on the reality and danger of a lion attack, we turn to the Interwebs’ most noteworthy source of mountain lion facts and figures, MountainLion.org, who asks and answers the question, “Are mountain lions dangerous?”

“To deer, yes! To people, not so much. Human encounters with mountain lions are rare and the risk of an attack is infinitely small. You are more likely to drown in your bathtub, be killed by a pet dog, or hit by lightning. If lions had any natural urge to hunt people, there would be attacks every single day. Instead, they avoid us.”

Apparently one of them didn’t avoid Wilt.

Let’s now turn it over to the late former New York Knicks announcer, Cal Ramsey:

“Wilt was driving across Arizona or New Mexico and stopped by the side of the road for a minute when he was attacked by a mountain lion. Wilt says the mountain lion jumped on his shoulder, and he grabbed it by the tail and threw it into the bushes. I wasn’t there, but Wilt says it happened, and I’m not about to say it didn’t. Besides, he showed me these huge scratch marks on one shoulder. I don’t know any other way he could have gotten them.”

But wait. There’s more.

• Like there was the time Wilt claimed that, while playing with the Harlem Globtrotters, he got into a vodka drinking contest with Nikita Khrushchev, during which the Soviet premier, yelled, “Nobody leaves until only one man is sitting up straight!”

• And then there was the time in 1953 that the teenaged Chamberlain destroyed B.H. Born — who happened to be the MVP of the 1953 NCAA Finals — in a game of one-on-one, a game so humiliating to Born that he decided to forgo a professional basketball career altogether.

• And then there was the time that he dunked a ball so hard that when the ball landed on the foot belonging to Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Johnny “Red” Kerr, Kerr’s toe broke.

• And then there was the time in the early-1980s when, during a pickup game in which Wilt and four UCLA freshman took on a team comprised of Magic Johnson, Bernard King, James Worthy, Byron Scott, and A.C. Green, Wilt decided he would block every one of Magic Johnson’s shots. He blocked every one of Magic Johnson’s shots. At the time, Wilt was, give or take, 43-years-old.

• And then there was the time when, while filming Conan the Destroyer, Chamberlain picked up Arnold Schwarzenegger with one hand.

• And then there was the time Wilt lifted 6’7”, 235-pounder Paul Silas into the air with one arm.

• And then there was the time Wilt got into an argument with NFL Hall of Famer Jim Brown about who was faster, an argument that was settled with a foot race, a foot race won by Chamberlain. Brown thought it was a fluke, so they raced again. Again, Wilt won.

• And then there was the time Wilt hauled 600 pounds of office supplies out of a broken elevator.

• And then there was the time during his rookie season when, before his first game against Walt Bellamy, future Hall of Famer offered his hand to Chamberlain and said, “Hello, Mr. Chamberlain. I’m Walter Bellamy,” to which Wilt replied, “Hello, Walter. You won’t get a shot off in the first half.” Bellamy didn’t get a shot off in the first half. At the start of the second half, Chamberlain told a shell-shocked Bellamy, “Okay, now you can play.”

• And then there was the time the New Jersey Nets offered him a contract for $362,000 to play seven games. Wilt, at the time, was 50.

• And then there was the time when, while still an NBA star, Chamberlain decided he wanted to become a professional volleyball player. He became a professional volleyball player. Years later, he was inducted into the Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Though these all smack of exaggeration, some of these Chamberlain tales are legit. The contract offer from the Nets, for instance, was a thing; the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls also made overtures to ink The Dipper, post-retirement. And Paul Silas seems like a pragmatic, grounded dude, so we’ll take his word about the Wilt-ian lift-off.

But the mountain lion? Or the booze battle with Khrushchev? Or the Magic Johnson pickup game? Until we see concrete documentation — preferably something on film — we’ll go ahead and call a soft B.S.

The question then becomes, who cares? Who cares if Wilt, his teammates, his opponents, his friends, sportswriters, and his fans are prone to exaggeration? Who cares if some (or all) of these Wilt-centric tall tales are half-truths? As long as we know for certain that Wilt Chamberlain was a singular basketball talent (he was), a freak of an athlete (true dat), and one of the most compelling figures of his generation (totally), keep the stories coming.

We can’t look away. Not even if we try.

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WE ALL KNOW about ESPN’s 30 For 30. Groundbreaking television, must-see prestige viewing, blah blah blah.

However, none of us know about Chicago Sports Stuff’s 70 For 700. Because up until this very moment, it didn’t exist.

But it does now.

In celebration of our 700th column — holy guacamole, 700! — I’m dropping a whopping 70 sports stats revolving around the number, you guessed it, 700. After all, what better way to celebrate a sports milestone than with 70 other sports milestones?

Anyhoobs, enjoy the digits, and thanks for reading!

Baseball: Career Home Runs

1. Barry Bonds: 762

2. Hank Aaron: 755

3. Babe Ruth: 714

4. Albert Pujols: 703

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Baseball: Career Doubles

5. Tris Speaker: 792

6. Pete Rose: 746

7. Stan Musial: 725

8. Ty Cobb: 724

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Baseball: Career Stolen Bases

9. Rickey Henderson: 1,406

10. Lou Brock: 938

11. Billy Hamilton: 914

12. Ty Cobb: 897

13. Tim Raines: 808

14. Vince Coleman: 752

15. Arlie Latham: 742

16. Eddie Collins: 741

    ---

Hockey: Career Goals

17. Alex Ovechkin: 929 and counting

18. Wayne Gretzky: 894

19. Gordie Howe: 801

20. Jaromir Jagr: 766

21. Brett Hull: 741

22. Marcel Dionne: 731

23. Phil Esposito: 717

    ---

College Basketball: Career Coaching Wins

24. Mike Krzyzewski: 1,202

25. Jim Boeheim: 1,015

26. Phog Allen: 746

27. Mark Few: 716 and counting

    ---

Cricket: Career Test Wickets

28. Muttiah Muralitharan: 800

29. Shane Warne: 708

30. James Anderson: 704

    ---

Soccer: Career Goals (Club & Country)

31. Cristiano Ronaldo: 974

32. Lionel Messi: 918

    ---

NBA: Career Coaching Wins

33. Gregg Popovich: 1,388

34. Don Nelson: 1,335

35. Lenny Wilkens: 1,332

36. Jerry Sloan: 1,221

37. Pat Riley: 1,210

    ---

NBA: Career Three-Pointers (Top Five)

38. Stephen Curry: 4,248 and counting

39. James Harden: 3,175

40. Ray Allen: 2,973

41. Damian Lillard: 2,804

42. Klay Thompson: 2,697

    ---

NFL: Career Receptions (Top Five)

43. Jerry Rice: 1,549

44. Larry Fitzgerald: 1,432

45. Tony Gonzalez: 1,325

46. Jason Witten: 1,228

47. Marvin Harrison: 1,102

    ---

Tennis: Career Match Wins (Top Five)

48. Martina Navratilova: 1,442

49. Chris Evert: 1,309

50. Jimmy Connors: 1,274

51. Roger Federer: 1,251

52. Ivan Lendl: 1,068

    ---

Soccer: Career Club Appearances

53. Ryan Giggs: 963 (Manchester United)

54. Paolo Maldini: 900 (AC Milan)

55. Raúl: 741 (Real Madrid)

56. Iker Casillas: 725 (Real Madrid)

    ---

Hockey: Career Assists (Top Five)

57. Wayne Gretzky: 1,963

58. Ron Francis: 1,249

59. Mark Messier: 1,193

60. Ray Bourque: 1,169

61. Jaromír Jágr with 1,155

    ---

Football: Single-Season Pass Attempts

62. Tom Brady: 733 (2022)

63. Matthew Stafford: 727 (2012)

64. Tom Brady: 719 (2021)

    ---

The “Exactly 700” Club

65. Geoff Sanderson: 700 career NHL points

66. Si Green: 700 points (1960-61 St. Louis Hawks)

67. Junior Bridgeman: 700 points (1975-76 Milwaukee Bucks)

68. Patrick Beverley: 700 points (2015-16 Houston Rockets)

69. Cris Collinsworth: 700 receiving yards (1982 Bengals)

70. DeSean Jackson: 700 receiving yards (2012 Eagles)

Coming This Week: The Best of Chicago Sports Stuff!

• Tuesday: “Wilt Chamberlain: Myth, Legend, or All of the Above?”

• Wednesday: “Fun Facts Fun!”

• Thursday: “My Q&A With Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith”

• Friday: “The Complete ‘Are You Destined To Be an NFL Quarterback’ Chronicles”

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MY BUDDY MATT MUSICO — great dude, great writer — dropped an ebook, and it’s fantastic, and because he’s great dude and a great writer, I’m celebrating the release with a couple of excerpts.

It’s titled The Power Kings: Every MLB Franchise’s Greatest Home Run Seasons & All-Time Sluggers, and it dovetails perfectly with his must-subscribe Substack, MLB Daily Dingers.

Read the sample, then get the book, then thank me for the recommendation.

Chicago Cubs All-Time HR Leaders

Sammy Sosa: 545 Home Runs

Honestly, what is left to say about Sammy Sosa on these interweb pages? He’s hit the ninth-most home runs all time. He’s all over the single season home run leaderboard. And obviously, he’s Chicago’s all-time leader. I suppose we can try one more time.

The obvious highlight of his tenure with the Cubs happened between 1998 and 2001. That’s when he registered four straight 50-homer seasons, with three of them including at least 60 bombs. He spent 13 years with Chicago, yet nearly half of his total homers for the franchise came in four years.

While he lost out on winning his second MVP Award because of Barry Bonds’ ridiculous campaign, 2001 was Sosa’s best. His 9.9 fWAR and 186 wRC+ were both career-best marks. He added another 64 homers and a league-leading 160 RBI, which also included an inside-the-park home run.

Ernie Banks: 512 Home Runs

The only thing that would’ve made Ernie Banks’ Hall of Fame career better is if Mr. Cub had a chance to perform in the postseason. That unfortunately never happened for the longtime shortstop. He did make the most of his opportunities during the regular season, though.

His career lasted 19 years, all of which came in the National League with the Cubs. If we’re looking for Banks’ power peak, it came between 1957 and 1960. In his late 20s, he slugged at least 40 homers in four straight years and led the league in that category twice. He also led the league in RBI twice, won a Gold Glove, and took home two MVP Awards during this time. Moreover, Banks’ 1958 season is still the best single-season home run performance by a shortstop in Cubs history.

That’d be a nice career for anyone else, but for Banks, it was just a nice stretch during what ended up being a spectacular career.

Billy Williams: 392 Home Runs

Another Hall of Famer, Billy Williams won Rookie of the Year honors in 1961, but he never took home an MVP or a home run title. He only enjoyed one season with more than 40 homers. That came in 1970 when he slugged 42 and drove in 129 runs while placing second in MVP voting to Johnny Bench. What he did do, though, was consistently hit dingers from his first full year to his last.

Williams debuted in 1959 but combined to appear in just 30 games over his first two big-league seasons. That’s why he didn’t exceed his rookie status until 1961. From that point until his final season in 1976 with the Oakland Athletics, he never finished a year with fewer than 11 homers. He had 14 years with at least 20 dingers, and 13 of those occasions came consecutively from 1961-73.

As a member of the Cubs, Williams posted eight seasons with at least 4.0 fWAR, but 1963-65 was the only time he did it in three straight years (5.9, 4.9, and 7.1).

Ron Santo: 337 Home Runs

Ron Santo was one of those dudes who could help you out on both sides of the ball. Not only did he post a career 126 wRC+ and .826 OPS with 342 home runs, but the Hall of Famer also won five Gold Gloves at third base. He was another consistent home run hitter after slugging nine over his first 95 games as a rookie in 1960.

From 1961 to 1973 (his second-to-last season), Santo hit fewer than 20 homers twice -- 17 in both 1962 and 1972. During his nine-year streak with 20-plus homers included a four-year run with 30-plus from 1964-67. Santo won four of his Gold Gloves during this time while slashing .302/.395/.531 and averaging 31 homers, 27 doubles, 102 RBI, and 96 runs scored.

Ryne Sandberg: 282 Home Runs

Outside of 13 games and six plate appearances as a rookie, Ryne Sandberg spent the duration of his 16-year Hall of Fame career with the Cubs. He racked up quite a bit of hardware along the way while mostly manning second base, too. He’s the proud owner of an MVP Award, nine Gold Gloves, seven Silver Slugger Awards, 10 All-Star appearances, and a Home Run Derby title.

However, he posted just two seasons with at least 30 home runs, which just so happened to come in consecutive years. He hit 30 in 1989 before leading the league with 40 the following year. That 1990 season was notable because it was also the first time Sandberg collected 100 RBI in a season. He did that twice, also in consecutive seasons (in 1990 and 1991). The infielder hit the century mark exactly on both occasions.

Sandberg’s 1989 season began one more run of truly top-tier production for Chicago. It was his first of four straight 5.0 fWAR seasons, with the last three all being above 6.0. This stretch accounted for 25.8 of his career 60.9 fWAR.

Anthony Rizzo: 242 Home Runs

First baseman Anthony Rizzo debuted in 2011 with the San Diego Padres and appeared in 49 games. But thanks to what happened next, he’ll always be remembered as a Cub. He spent 10 years on the North Side and put together a very consistent run of production. He was named to three All-Star Games and won four Gold Gloves to go along with one Silver Slugger Award. Rizzo also had five top-20 finishes in NL MVP Award voting. His best finish came in consecutive years when he placed fourth in both 2015 and 2016. Oh, and then there’s that whole breaking a 108-year World Series drought in 2016 by helping Chicago win the Fall Classic.

I enjoy looking at Rizzo’s power production from 2014-18 to pinpoint just how consistent he was. He averaged 30 homers and 100 RBI per season during this stretch. The left-handed slugger posted 32 homers in ‘14, ‘16, and ‘17, and just missed doing it four years in a row because he hit 31 in 2015. Heck, he even slugged 32 homers with 109 RBI in consecutive seasons from 2016-17. His OPS didn’t change a whole bunch during this time, either. It never dipped below .846 or finished higher than .928.

Chicago Cubs

Single-Season HR Leaders

Sammy Sosa

Sosa is the only player in baseball history with three seasons of 60-plus homers. This five-year stretch must be one of the most dominant ever. He is the Chicago Cubs’ all-time home run leader, and a little more than half of them came during this time. For a quick recap, here are the performances that made it onto the Cubs’ single-season leaderboard:

1. 66 home runs in 1998

2. 63 home runs in 1999

3. 50 home runs in 2000

4. 64 home runs in 2001

5. 49 home runs in 2002

Just for some context, here is what Sosa averaged in offensive production during this period: .306/.397/.649 with 58 home runs, 141 RBI, and 124 runs scored. He averaged that! Just an insane peak. And yes, I know about the PED stuff, but still, this is hard to do. Sosa didn’t lead the league in homers during any of his 60-homer campaigns thanks to Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. However, he did lead the league in this category in 2000 and 2002. Baseball, man.

Let’s look at his 2000 season for a moment. In addition to adding his name to the list of MLB’s Home Run Derby winners, he also won a Silver Slugger Award while slashing .320/.406/.634 with those 50 dingers and 138 RBI. Sosa was already on his way to another solid year heading into the All-Star break. The slugger had compiled 23 homers to that point. He hit another gear in the second half, though, hitting 27 dingers in 83 fewer plate appearances. That led to a second-half slugging percentage of .711.

As if all this wasn’t enough already, he’s also beaten out some big names to hit the most home runs all-time as a right fielder.

Hack Wilson: 56 Home Runs in 1930

The only hitter in Cubs history to slug at least 50 homers in a season who isn’t named Sammy Sosa is Hack Wilson. If you want to talk about a monster season, his 1930 campaign is certainly it. In 709 plate appearances, Wilson slashed .356/.454/.723 with those 56 home runs, 191 (!) RBI, 35 doubles, and 146 runs scored. This is also a franchise record for center fielders.

It was the fifth straight season he had slugged at least 20 homers and the second-to-last time he did it overall. He only stayed in the league until 1934 and hit just 51 homers over his final 1,645 plate appearances.

Wilson fit an incredible season into just one half of play. In his final 356 plate appearances, he slashed .363/.455/.742 with 32 home runs and 109 RBI. Each of his last three months of the regular season included double-digit homers and at least 30 RBI, but nothing compares to what he did in August. In just 144 plate appearances, Wilson posted a 1.284 OPS (which included a .788 slugging percentage) with 13 home runs and 53 (!!) RBI.

Andre Dawson: 49 Home Runs in 1987

Andre Dawson accumulated three seasons of 30-plus homers, but on two of those occasions, he topped out at 32. In the other one? Well, he made it count by hitting 49 and driving in 137 runs. Both of those numbers led the league as he’d go on to win his first and only NL MVP Award. Just in case that wasn’t enough, the Hall of Famer added an All-Star Game appearance, a Gold Glove, and a Silver Slugger Award for fun.

Dawson’s power numbers at home (27 homers, 71 RBI) weren’t much different from what he did on the road (21 homers, 66 RBI). But he was a much different hitter overall at Wrigley Field. In front of the home fans, he hit .332/.372/.668. Those numbers dropped to .246/.288/.480 on the road.

The only time he hit more than eight homers in a single month was in August. He nearly doubled that number by slugging 15 and driving in 28 with a 1.098 OPS.

Dave Kingman: 48 Home Runs in 1979

If there’s a hitter who you could pluck from a different era and drop down in the current iteration of Major League Baseball without noticing a difference, it’d probably be Dave Kingman. For the most part, he was your prototypical low-average, high-strikeout, high-power kind of dude, but not necessarily in 1979. His 48 home runs led the league, and he paired that with 115 RBI, along with a .288/.343/.613 line.

Kingman was quite consistent throughout the year. He posted a monthly OPS above 1.000 three times and never finished with one below .830. The slugger compiled double-digit homers in one month (12 in May) and never collected fewer than six in a month. Do you know what is a head-scratcher, though? Kingman performed better in Cubs losses than victories.

When Chicago was victorious, he had a .914 OPS with 22 homers and 67 RBI. But when they lost, his OPS went up to .997 with 26 homers and 48 RBI.

Ernie Banks: 47 Home Runs in 1958

Before Sosa took over, Ernie Banks was the guy who dominated the top of the Cubs’ single-season home run leaderboard. They didn’t call him Mr. Cub for no reason, ya know. The 1958 season was Banks’ first of two straight MVP campaigns, and even as a 27-year-old, he was already used to hitting 40-plus dingers in a season. This year marked the third time he surpassed that mark, and the second season in a row he did so. This was a streak that would last another two years.

Banks especially enjoyed the home cooking of Wrigley Field, as 30 of his 47 dingers came at the friendly confines. So did 75 of his 129 total RBI while slashing .340/.393/.700. His line dropped to a much more human .287/.339/.533 on the road. The shortstop only hit more than five homers in a month on three occasions, but when he did, he made them count. He slugged eight in May and then enjoyed consecutive double-digit performances in July (11) and August (13).

Derrek Lee: 46 Home Runs in 2005

Derrek Lee was one of my favorite players to watch growing up. He not only could hit, but that man could pick the ball over at first base. For today, though, we’re going to keep talking about just how good he was with the bat. The 2005 season was his second with the Cubs, and it was easily his best.

Lee took home a Gold Glove Award and Silver Slugger Award while finishing third in NL MVP voting. Those 46 dingers were a career-high, and his 107 RBI was the first time he passed the century mark. His .335/.418/.662 line netted him the batting title, while he also led the league in doubles (50) and hits (199).

Although his production fell off after the All-Star Game, it’s hard to not have your jaw drop to the floor after peeking at his first-half production. In 367 plate appearances, Lee slashed .378/.452/.733 with 27 homers, 27 doubles, and 72 RBI. He didn’t enjoy a month with double-digit homers, but he either hit seven or nine and nothing else. Really -- Lee hit seven homers in each of April, June, August, and September, and he hit nine in each of May and July.

Chicago White Sox All-Time HR Leaders

Frank Thomas: 448 Home Runs

Thomas put together an impressive offensive resume during his 19-year Hall of Fame career. The Big Hurt posted a lifetime line of .301/.419/.555 with 521 home runs and 1,704 RBI. Out of those 19 years in the big leagues, his first 16 came as a member of the White Sox. It was a rather incredible run of dominance for the first baseman as he reached the top of the franchise’s career leaderboard, which we talked about when highlighting all-time home run leaders for each MLB team.

After hitting seven homers in 60 games played as a 22-year-old in 1990, Thomas rattled off eight straight seasons of at least 24 home runs and 100 RBI. This streak also included a five-year run where Thomas upped the ante and slugged at least 35 dingers each season.

His time with the franchise from 2001-05 was not nearly as dominant, and it’s mostly because he couldn’t stay on the field consistently. We talked about Thomas’ 42-homer campaign in 2003 already. He also added 28 homers the year prior, but outside of those two seasons, he combined to hit just 34 homers, which came over 128 games. Not bad production for one year, but not great when it’s spread out over three.

That first stretch was great, though. From 1991 to 1997, Thomas never finished worse than eighth in AL MVP voting. He enjoyed four top three finishes during this time, bringing home the hardware on two of those occasions.

Paul Konerko: 432 Home Runs

When I hear the name Paul Konerko, all I think of is the Chicago White Sox. It’s one of those player-team relationships that are just synonymous with one another. I was surprised to realize he spent parts of his first two seasons in the big leagues elsewhere. He debuted for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a 21-year-old in 1997 and spent about a season and a half there before playing 26 games for the Cincinnati Reds.

But from 1999 to 2014, Konerko was a member of the White Sox, and he accomplished quite a bit during that period. He never led the league in any major offensive categories, was named an All-Star six times, and finished in the top 10 of AL MVP voting just twice. However, he did capture ALCS MVP honors and a World Series championship during Chicago’s 2005 title run.

In his 16 years on the South Side, Konerko hit double-digit home runs every season except his final one as a 38-year-old. He also enjoyed 13 different seasons of 20-plus homers, with his last nine coming consecutively between 2004 and 2012. Of those instances, nine were 30-homer seasons, and his most powerful span came in 2004 and 2005 when he enjoyed back-to-back campaigns of at least 40 home runs. His 2004 performance is tied with Thomas for the most by a White Sox first baseman in one season.

José Abreu: 243 Home Runs

From the perspective of counting stats, José Abreu was about as consistent as they came. Outside of the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, the first baseman slugged at least 20 homers each year since debuting in 2014 until 2021. He also drove in at least 100 runs in all but one full season during that time (78 in 2018). And his streak of at least 20 homers in a season nearly stayed intact since he hit 19 during his 2020 MVP campaign.

When using fWAR and wRC+ as the measuring stick, Abreu’s 2014 rookie season is still his best overall performance, where he produced numbers of 5.3 and 167, respectively. He not only was selected to the All-Star Game, but he also won a Silver Slugger award, AL Rookie of the Year, and placed fourth in MVP voting.

Most of his work in 2014 in the home run department came before the All-Star break, as 29 of his 36 dingers were slugged in the first half.

Harold Baines: 221 Home Runs

Harold Baines had multiple stops with the White Sox over his 22-year big-league career. His first nine-plus years were spent in Chicago before bouncing around to Texas, Oakland, and Baltimore. He came back to the White Sox for part of the 1997 season before bouncing around a few more places and eventually finishing his career on the South Side in 2000 and 2001.

Baines enjoyed 11 seasons with 20-plus home runs. Six of those instances came consecutively from 1982 through 1987. This stretch also included three All-Star Game selections and two top-10 finishes in AL MVP voting. His breakout was quite noticeable, too. After hitting 23 homers with 90 RBI in 814 plate appearances over his first two years, Baines put up 25 and 105, respectively, in ‘82.

During the six seasons mentioned above, Baines averaged 23 home runs, 29 doubles, 99 RBI, and 76 runs scored while slashing .292/.342/.477.

Carlton Fisk: 214 Home Runs

Carlton Fisk spent the entirety of his 24-year Hall of Fame career wearing just two different types of socks, as he suited up for both the Boston Red Sox and Chicago. And while he put together some iconic moments in Beantown, he spent more of his time with the White Sox (13 years) than he did with the Red Sox (11 years).

He arrived in Chicago in 1981, which was his age-33 campaign. After hitting a combined 21 homers over his first 930 plate appearances (spanning two seasons), Fisk found his power stroke. The veteran backstop would go on to enjoy four seasons of at least 20 homers in the next five years, with his 1985 season being the true outlier.

As a 37-year-old, Fisk matched his age in homers with a career-high 37 taters and 107 RBI to go along with a .238/.320/.488 line. This power surge was made possible by a solid first half. He slugged 23 homers with 54 RBI and a .848 OPS in 302 plate appearances before the All-Star Game. After the midsummer classic, Fisk hit his final 14 dingers. The backstop paired it with 53 RBI and a .770 OPS in 318 plate appearances.

Chicago white sox

Single-Season hr leaders

Albert Belle: 49 Home Runs in 1998

Albert Belle spent just two years with the White Sox. But my goodness, the dude made both of those years count. After slugging 30 home runs with 116 RBI in 1997, he set the franchise single-season record in 1998 with 152 RBI. Belle also watched his OPS improve from .823 in 1997 to 1.055 (!) in 1998. His wRC+ also went from 113 to 165, while his fWAR went from 1.9 to 7.1.

That’s just a little bit of a jump, I’d say.

Stunningly, he didn’t lead baseball in either home runs or RBI. That’s what happens when you go on a power binge during the Great Home Run Chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. His 49-homer output was the seventh straight season in which Belle slugged at least 30. That streak would reach eight years the following season by mashing another 37 taters for the Baltimore Orioles in 1999.

He ripped off a 31-homer performance following the All-Star break, which is just insane to think about. He slugged 16 dingers in July. That was followed by hitting a combined 16 between August and September to land on the above number.

Jermaine Dye: 44 Home Runs in 2006

Jermaine Dye enjoyed some solid performances during his 14-year MLB career. None were better than what he accomplished in 2006. He earned his second and final All-Star Game selection while eventually setting single-season career-high marks for homers (44), RBI (120), slugging percentage (.622), OPS (1.006), and wRC+ (151).

Dye accumulated just 3.0 fWAR during this campaign, which was far from his career-best performances (4.2 in 1999 and 2000). In his age-32 season, Dye’s defense was horrid enough to dampen his overall value. But he still placed fifth in AL MVP voting.

Who knows where he would’ve finished if he didn’t have a rough September -- at least, it was rough when compared to the rest of his season. Dye’s first five months included four instances of producing an OPS greater than 1.000.

In July and August, he combined for 19 home runs and 51 RBI. August didn’t produce his highest monthly OPS, but it was his best overall performance when looking at his full body of work. In 118 plate appearances, the outfielder slashed .355/.390/.682 with 10 homers and 30 RBI. He finished the year with five homers, 13 RBI, and .835 OPS in September.

Frank Thomas: 43 Home Runs in 2000

We’ll soon see that Frank Thomas is heavily featured here, which makes sense since he’s the all-time home leader in Chicago White Sox history. Probably the most astonishing fact about Thomas is that while he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer and collected five seasons of 40-plus home runs, he never led the league in that category. The same could also be said about winning a single-season RBI title.

So, with his two AL MVP awards, he has twice as many MVP awards as he does home run and RBI crowns. Combined. That’s baseball, baby.

Although his .328/.436/.625 line was bested during other seasons in his career, his 43 home runs and 143 RBI collected in 2000 were both single-season career-high marks. He also nearly won his third MVP, placing second behind Jason Giambi by 32 points. Thomas’ performance was also notable because of the two years he encountered on either side. In 1999, he slugged just 15 home runs in 590 plate appearances. He hit just four in 79 plate appearances in 2001.

The Big Hurt was excellent in most situations during the 2000 season. However, it was clear he preferred hitting at home. Away from the South Side, he posted a .923 OPS. This pales in comparison to the 1.199 mark he produced in Chicago. The same is true in the power department -- 30 (!) of his 43 homers came while playing in front of the hometown fans.

Jim Thome: 42 Home Runs in 2006

I remember Jim Thome racking up service time as a member of the White Sox, but I’m still a little shocked after looking at his stats. He was there from 2006 through most of 2009 (he finished that year with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and hit at least 20 homers each year. For the three full years he spent there from 2006-08 -- in which he was in his mid-to late-30s -- Thome racked up at least 30 taters each time.

Whether it was from the standpoint of his triple slash, fWAR, wRC+, or any of his counting stats, his first campaign in 2006 was his best work for Chicago. It was his sixth and final season of 40 home runs, as well as his ninth and final season of 100-plus RBI.

Thome laid the groundwork for his last 40-homer performance in the first two months of the season. He slugged 10 homers in both April and May, posting an OPS greater than 1.000 both times. While his OPS would surpass that number two more times over the final four months, he hit more than six homers just once (eight in July).

Frank Thomas: 42 Home Runs in 2003

Here’s that man again, and this isn’t the last we’ll be hearing from him, either. Thomas enjoyed 11 different seasons with at least 20 home runs and 100 RBI. The 2003 season was the second-to-last time he reached both of those benchmarks, and it was the final time he surpassed the 40-homer plateau.

Like his 2000 campaign, Thomas did more of the same when looking at his home/road splits. He posted a 1.064 OPS with 29 home runs and 64 RBI at home, compared to a .833 OPS, 13 home runs, and 41 RBI on the road in a comparable number of plate appearances. The slugger also took advantage of facing left-handed pitchers, as 17 of his 42 dingers came in this situation despite racking up just 184 plate appearances against southpaws.

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AS NOTED IN yesterday’s bitchy Chicago Sports Stuff screed, I’m very much whatever about the NBA Summer League.

But as noted in many, many CSS posts, I’m very much pro-click. So I have to do a Summer League preview whether I like it or not.

I don’t like it.

However, thanks to the magic of copying, pasting, and linking, I can let everybody else preview the damn thing. They do the work so I don’t have to.

To that end, here’s some salient Bulls Summer League stuff — schedule, roster, that sort of thing — as well as what six Chicago pundits who care about Summer League have to say about the whole mess.

CHICAGO BULLS SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Friday, July 10, 2026

• Opponent: Memphis Grizzlies

• Location: Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Time: 7:00 p.m. CDT

• TV: ESPN2

Monday, July 13

• Date: Monday, July 13, 2026

• Opponent: Utah Jazz

• Location: Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Time: 8:00 p.m. CDT

• TV: NBA TV

Tuesday, July 14

• Opponent: Washington Wizards

• Location: Cox Pavilion (Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Time: 7:00 p.m. CDT

• TV: NBA TV

Thursday, July 16

• Date: Thursday, July 16, 2026

• Opponent: Los Angeles Lakers

• Location: Thomas & Mack Center (Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Time: 9:00 p.m. CDT

• TV: ESPN

Saturday, July 18 or Sunday, July 19, 2026

• Opponent: TBD

• Location: Thomas & Mack Center or Cox Pavilion (Las Vegas, Nevada)

• Time: TBD

• TV: TBD

CHICAGO BULLS SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

• Obinna Anochili-Killen, C, Marshall

• Tobe Awaka, C, Arizona

• Charles Bediako, C, Alabama

• Boo Buie, G, Northwestern

• Noa Essengue, F, Ratiopharm Ulm (Germany)

• Emanuel Miller, F, TCU

• Isaac Nogues, F, Rip City Remix (G League)

• Lachlan Olbrich, C, Illawarra Hawks (Australia)

• Quimari Peterson, G, East Tennessee State

• Antonio Reeves, G, Kentucky

• Jaylin Sellers, G, UCF

• Dailyn Swain, F, Xavier

• Caleb Wilson, F, North Carolina

• Jireh Washington, G, New Mexico State

• Jahmir Young, G, Maryland

  ---

WHAT THE PUNDITS ARE SAYING

Alex Kirschenbaum, Bleacher Nation

“Our Chicago Bulls have finally revealed an intriguing 2026 NBA Summer League lineup.

This year’s crop appears to be loaded with forwards who fit the “SLAP” (Size, Length, Athleticism and Physicality) team-building formula prescribed by new executive vice president of basketball operations Bryson Graham.

Some of these names are fairly unsurprising. Rookie first-round draftees Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain are, of course, the standouts.

2025 lottery pick Noa Essengue — who has apparently grown two inches since the start of last season — is the biggest wild card.

One hopes that he won’t get lost in the frontcourt fray on this retooled post-AKME Chicago roster.”

Elias Schuster, Bulls on SI

“All things considered, it will be a great test for all the youngsters on this roster. But we all know who will command the most attention in the coming days. Caleb Wilson and Dailyn Swain will easily be the two most important players to watch. The two Top 15 picks will enter Year 1 with some high expectations, and this will be their first opportunity to show they can rise to the occasion.

Wilson, in particular, is obviously viewed as this franchise’s potential saving grace. He will draw a lot of attention over the next couple of weeks, especially when we consider that he hasn’t seen the court since early February. The Tar Heels’ star broke his thumb during the season and was not able to make it back in time for NCAA Tournament play.”

Marcus Robinson, Chicago Crusader

“While Summer League standings rarely predict regular-season success, the event has become an important developmental tool across the NBA. For the Bulls, the games will provide an early look at the style of basketball first-year head coach Tiago Splitter hopes to establish while giving coaches an opportunity to evaluate chemistry, defensive communication and player development in competitive situations.

Among the biggest storylines will be [Caleb] Wilson’s first professional games.

The fourth overall selection enters Summer League carrying considerable expectations after arriving in Chicago with a reputation as one of the draft’s most versatile forwards. During his introductory news conference Friday, Wilson made it clear he intends to embrace those expectations rather than shy away from them.

‘I expect to have Rookie of the Year,’ Wilson said. ‘I’m going to work hard and do what it takes. I think the team is really good for me and how I envision playing. I know I’m a hard worker, so whatever I need to fix before the season, I’m going to work on so I can become a great player.’”

Kevin Schmit, Daily Herald

“Oh yeah…Noa Essengue.

One of the final parting shots from former VP Arturas Karnisovas was drafting Essengue last year with the 12th overall pick.

Essengue played a total of about six minutes in two games with the Bulls, and then played only four games with the G-League Windy City Bulls before being lost for the season with a shoulder injury.

Is Essengue ready to go for the summer? How much leeway will he get from Graham and Splitter as a player from the past regime?

He can start to prove himself this week.”

Chris Kwiecinski, FOX 32 Chicago

“A former Northwestern star highlights the Chicago Bulls’ 2026 NBA Summer League roster that will play in Las Vegas.

The headliners are No. 4 overall pick Caleb Wilson and No. 15 overall pick Dailyn Swain. However, former Northwestern star and Wildcats all-time leading scorer Boo Buie will get a chance to impress the Bulls.

Buie is on the roster, as is former Illinois State and Kentucky sharpshooter Antonio Reeves. Two-way contract players Jaylin Sellers and Tobe Awaka will see plenty of minutes, too.

Noa Essengue, the Bulls’ No. 12 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, will also play in the Summer League.

The Bulls’ also have included former Alabama center Charles Bediako on their Summer League roster. Bediako made national news after he tried to make a return to college basketball in 2026 after spending three years in the NBA’s G-League from 2023 to 2025.”

Morris Bankston, Pippen Ain’t Easy

“[N]oteworthy in the 2026 edition of the Bulls' summer league roster is the confirmation that Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter will also serve as the head coach of the Bulls’ summer league roster.

Typically, an NBA franchise’s summer league head coach will be an assistant coach or the head coach of the franchise’s NBA G-League affiliate. Splitter’s desire to coach in Las Vegas is an early testament to his commitment to player development.”

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AN ANECDOTE to demonstrate how the NBA Summer League looked in the 2010’s.

I’d just been hired to write for a well-funded online start-up sports content platform, and from day one, we were all about big game hunting: Big names, big personalities, and (hopefully) big reader engagement.

No offense at all to the sports world’s less-than-big-names, but weren’t interested in interviewing the Jacksonville Jaguars’ assistant linebackers coach or the 20th guy on the Ottawa Senators’ depth chart. (Because, reader engagement.) No, we wanted Kevin Durant, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Love, and any other noteworthy Kevin we could get our mitts on.

It didn’t go well.

As any writer with a modicum of experience in the sports world knows, unless you’re an ESPN or an NBC Sports, access is a bitch. As any writer with a modicum of experience in the sports world also knows, the Miami Heat boast one of the classiest, if not the classiest operation in the NBA, maybe even in all of professional sports.

When I reached out to their media department right before start of the 2014 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas with a request to interview with head coach Erik Spoelstra, they made it happen, and they made it happen quick. Because they’re amazing.

The Heat’s publicity maven scheduled me half an hour of phone time with Spo which, Spo being Spo, turned into twice that. Sadly, the transcription of our chat is long gone — I’ve been through three, maybe four MacBook Airs since then, and it didn’t make it onto the cloud — but if I still had the thing, I’d reprint it in its entirety, because, if memory serves, it was generous, informative, and fun.

But I distinctly remember one exchange right at the end:

ME: Thanks for your time, Erik. I really appreciate it.

SPO: My pleasure. You gonna be in Vegas next week?

ME: Um…

SPO: I’m going in a few days early. Reach out to [the media maven]. Track me down. We’ll grab lunch.

ME: Yeah, [my platform] won’t be sending me.

SPO: Ah, too bad. Maybe we’ll connect in-season.

Two takeaways:

1. Erik Spoelstra is fucking awesome. (Spo, if you’re reading this — which you’re probably not, but anything’s possible — I’ll take you up on that lunch next time you’re in Chicago.)

2. In today’s NBA climate, that would never happen during Summer League. Or preseason. Or in-season, Or off-season. Or ever.

A decade ago, if memory still serves, Summer League games were played in (more or less) the equivalent of high school gyms; tickets were dirt cheap; fans and players cheerfully interacted a la your typical Double-A minor league baseball game; and if/when the games were televised, it was on ESPN18.

Today, not so much.

• Virtually every game airs on Prime Video, the ESPN Mothership, or NBA TV

• There aren’t any high school-esque gyms, just the Thomas & Mack Center, capacity 18,000.

• A “day pass,” which allows a fan to watch all of any given day’s games, averages out to about $75.

• The only way to enjoy a meet-and-greet is via an “Official Experience” pass, which runs anywhere from $229 to — wait for it, wait for it — $3,396.

$3,396. Not a typo. The fact that fans will be meeting and greeting players who’ll likely never play in an NBA game makes the whole thing that much sillier.

As much as I want to see how Caleb Wilson looks in a Bulls uniform, I won’t be watching Prime Video, the ESPN Mothership, or NBA TV out of protest, a protest that’ll undoubtedly bring the NBA to its knees. (Admittedly, I’ll pay close attention to the highlights that’ll inevitably pop on my Instagram feed. After all, I’m a highly-respected Chicago sports journalist, and we highly-respected Chicago sports journalists have to check out to a Bulls’ top-four pick. It’s an imperative.)

Since you can’t put the toothpaste back into the tube, this is how the Summer League will look for the rest of the NBA’s life: A money grab that’s as egregious as the NFL’s preseason. Maybe even more so.

The NBA touts itself as a fan-friendly league, but sucking the fun out of what should be a Savannah Bananas-like experience doesn’t scream coolness, just greed.

I think Erik Spoelstra would agree.

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CHANCES ARE NONE OF YOU will draft your fantasy football team for at least seven weeks. Maybe six. Possibly five.

So why am I burning a column on a topic that won’t be super-relevant for another 40-ish days? Welp, save for Miguel Vargas’ All-Star nod (yay, Miggy!) we’ve got jack-poo happening in the Chicago sports world, so here we are.

Fantasy-wise, our chances of coming up with something, y’know, useful is limited, as we don’t know what the NFL’s Opening Day rosters will look like. But that won’t stop us from hopping over to FantasyPros and using their ADPs (Average Draft Positions) to concoct…something.

To take it next level — or to sink it below sea level — we’ll throw in my unscientific fantasy positional rankings and my even less scientific reasoning behind said ranks.

I’d advise you to take exactly zero of my advice. Because, unscientific and no rosters.

Caleb Williams: Quarterback

• ADP: 70

• Positional Rank: QB6

• Just Behind: Drake Maye (QB5)

• Just Ahead Of: Jalen Hurts (QB7)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: QB9

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: QB6? Let’s slow our roll, managers. Methinks the third-year man will land in the top ten, but not ahead of, say, Dak Prescott who, if healthy, is always good for two or three 400-yard games. I envision less explosions and more consistency from Williams, and consistency is lovely on a week-to-week basis, but unless you’re prime Pat Mahomes, that doesn’t get you in fantasy’s top-six.

D’Andre Swift: Running Back

• ADP: 51

• Positional Rank: RB21

• Just Behind: David Montgomery (RB20)

• Just Ahead Of: TreVeyon Henderson (RB22)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: RB24

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: Coach Ben Johnson says all the right things about Chicago’s theoretical lead back, but I think that’s smoke. The Bears will have a split backfield, with theoretical RB2 Kyle Monangai quickly bulling his way into the theoretical RB1 slot. Me, I wouldn’t draft Swift unless he fell into my lap late in the proceedings. But the other guy?…

Kyle Monangai: Running Back

• ADP: 93

• Positional Rank: RB34

• Just Behind: Blake Corum (R33)

• Just Ahead Of: J.K. Dobbins (RB35)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: RB20

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: On about 1/4th of the teams in this league, the sophomore out of Rutgers might well be RB1, but here in Chicago, he’ll land at RB1.5…until he becomes RB1…at which point savvy fantasy managers (like me) will be tickled that they drafted him too early.

Luther Burden III: Wide Receiver

• ADP: 42

• Positional Rank: WR21

• Just Behind: Garrett Wilson (WR20)

• Just Ahead Of: Mike Evans (WR22)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: WR11

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: It would stand to reason that if you have a quarterback landing at QB10 or better, his WR1 would finish the year somewhere in the top-20. Burden is an obsessive chip-on-the-shoulder workout freak who I can totally envision as the NFL’s 2026 breakout receiver.

Rome Odunze: Wide Receiver

• ADP: 60

• Positional Rank: WR30

• Just Behind: Carnell Tate (WR29)

• Just Ahead Of: Brian Thomas Jr. (WR31)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: WR30

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: As goes Burden, so not goes Odunze. No slight to the Washington product, but there are a bunch of mouths to feed — remember, Colston Loveland is still on the roster — and someone’s going to get slighted. Yeah, there’ll be two or three games where Rome goes off, but that’s not enough to rank him in the 20s.

Zavoin Thomas: Wide Receiver

• ADP: 244

• Positional Rank: 102

• Just Behind: Skyler Bell (WR101)

• Just Ahead Of: Darius Slayton (WR103)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: WR88

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: When I’m my fantasy league’s commissioner, I like to include bonus points for 40-plus-yard receptions. The rookie speedster will post a couple of those, as well as some nifty gadget runs, so he’ll crack the top-100 in goofball leagues like mine, and he’ll do so relatively easily.

Kalif Raymond: Wide Receiver

• ADP: 283

• Positional Rank: 120

• Just Behind: Kevin Coleman Jr. (WR119)

• Just Ahead Of: Kyle Williams (W121)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: WR125

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: Another not-enough-to-go-around situation. Raymond is usually good for one quality streaming week, but it’s impossible to discern what week that’ll be.

Jahdae Walker: Wide Receiver

• ADP: 348

• Positional Rank: 152

• Just Behind: Greg Dortch (WR151)

• Just Ahead Of: Cedric Tillman (WR153)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: WR140

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: Walker and Raymond will be fighting for crumbs, but Coach Ben will give them enough crumbs to land them both in the top-150.

Colston Loveland: Tight End

• ADP: 47

• Positional Rank: TE3

• Just Behind: Trey McBride (TE2)

• Just Ahead Of: Tyler Warren (TE4)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: TE3

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: The sophomore will put up sick numbers, but Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are the go-to pass-catchers on their respective teams — understandable, they’re both beasts — so they’ll get the slight edge. Slight.

Cole Kmet: Tight End

• ADP: 263

• Positional Rank: 43

• Just Behind: Ja'Tavion Sanders (TE42)

• Just Ahead Of: Mason Taylor (TE44)

• Alan’s Unscientific Positional Rank: TE32

Alan’s Unscientific Reasoning: Kmet and Caleb had a nice rapport last season, so as is the case with Odunze, the Notre Dame alum will have a high-end game or three. Does this make him worth drafting in your ten-team league ? Nah, he’ll be a waiver wire wonder, but he’ll put up better numbers than a goodly number of the league’s starting tight ends, so he might be worth a peek in 12- or 14-team situations.

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I DON’T LIKE being the commissioner of my fantasy football league. And you don’t like being the commissioner of your fantasy football league. But we do it anyhow. Because, fantasy football.

That said, over the last five NFL seasons, my performance when I’ve been stuck running the show is pretty dang good: Two league wins and one trip to the finals to go with two years of crap.

A quick peek at the Chicago Sports Stuff abacus tells us that’s a .400 batting average.

So I’m the Ted Williams of fantasy.

So I’m willing to commish again.

And yes, in this instance, “commish” is a verb.

Most of the managers from my 2025 league have gone MIA, so I figured since I want to keep up my Splendid Splinter-esque run, let’s forget about my flighty friends and get my awesome readers involved.

Thus, the Chicago Sports Stuff Fantasy Football League.

It’ll be a low-stakes, ten-team affair, and you can be one of the nine lucky folks to win a spot. Judging will be based on your team name; the nine slickest monikers get to try and knock me off of my semi-lofty perch.

(In terms my team name, I’m rolling with Thieneman Square. Get it? Bears? First round pick? Dillon Thieneman? Historical event? Get it? Get it? Genius! FWIW, my backup is Beast of Burden, an homage to the Rolling Stones and Luther Burden III that’s almost as genius as Thieneman Square. Almost.)

Anyhoobs, here’re some of the CSSFFL specifics:

• $50 buy-in. (Works on the trust system, in that you send the winner their money after the season. I should note that three of the owners from my 2025 league win never paid me, yet I still trust.)

• Runner-up gets their buy-in back, winner gets the rest.

• Standard fantasy scoring, save for all kinds of goofy bonus points, TBD.

• Full PPR, because half PPR and no PPR are stupid. Yeah, I said it.

• Overstuffed starting lineups: Two QBs, two RBs, three WRs, two TEs, one FLEX, one D/ST.

• No IDP, because IDP is stupid. Yeah, I said it.

• Each manager has to make at least one trade before the deadline.

• Yahoo platform.

The only caveat is that you must continue to try even after you’ve been eliminated. Like if your record is, say, 1-6, you still have to set your lineups, and play the waiver wire, and consider trades, and, if you’re so inclined, talk smack.

If you want in, send your team name to ChicagoSportsStuff@gmail.com, and you can be a part of the bestest fantasy league ever!

And maybe next season, one of you can run the damn thing. Because, as I emphatically noted, I don’t like being the commissioner of my fantasy football league.

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(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2024, so there are two years worth of books that might be missing. But I still love this list, so here we are.)

NOT ONLY ARE WE sportswriters. We’re also sports readers.

Being sports readers, we’re well aware that the vast majority of sports book “best of” lists that populate the interwebs include David Halberstam’s brilliant look at 1970s basketball, The Breaks of the Game; Jim Bouton’s hilarious insider baseball diary Ball Four, and something like 291 of Roger Angell’s baseball studies, all of which are ridiculously good.

Few of these lists, however, give significant love to books that were published in or after the year 2000. But that ends here.

Since we like numerical symmetry, here are 21 of the finest sports books that dropped in the 21st Century. And as we don’t want to play favorites, the list is alphabetical by author.

Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever

Reed Albergotti & Vanessa O’Connell

Avery Books, 2013

Once the whole Lance Armstrong doping mess calmed down, it was inevitable that both dialed-in sportswriters and hardcore investigative reporters would bang out book-length studies of the disgraced cyclist. Former Wall Street Journal sportswriter Albergotti’s and Reuters’ Global Industry editor O’Connell’s version of the Armstrong tale is the most readable and best-sourced of the bunch. In a weird way, they made Armstrong’s rise and fall, well, kinda fun to read about, which is eminently impressive.

Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

Rich Cohen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013

A lovely combination of memoir and historical study, lifelong Bears nut Cohen relates the gripping story of the only Monsters of the Midway squad to win a Super Bowl, while blending in details of his fandom in a manner that makes you want to invite him over to watch Red Zone every Sunday. Props to Rich for landing interviews with numerous members of the team, the most notable being a touching afternoon spent with the Bears’ punky QB, Jim McMahon.

Every Time I Talk to Liston: A Novel

Brian DeVido

Bloomsbury, 2004

Most of these sorts of lists have an entry or two where you’re like, “Um, never heard of that one,” and this cool novel is it. The deep cut piece of fiction comes from the pen of a former Virginia Golden Gloves heavyweight champ, so it’s little wonder that DeVido’s debut — the story of a troubled boxer and his up-and-coming manager — feels so damn real. His love for Sonny Liston adds a layer of pathos that one wouldn’t expect from boxing fiction.

Ali: A Life

Jonathan Eig

Mariner Books, 2017

Joyce Carol Oates is a way better writer than any of us, so we’ll pull some fantastic words from her New York Times review of Eig’s modern classic: “Much in its pages will be familiar to those with some knowledge of boxing but even the familiar may be glimpsed from a new perspective in Eig’s fluent prose; for pages in succession its narrative reads like a novel — a suspenseful novel with a cast of vivid characters who prevail through decades and who help to define the singular individual who was both a brilliantly innovative, incomparably charismatic heavyweight boxer and a public figure whose iconic significance shifted radically through the decades as in an unlikely fairy tale in which the most despised athlete in American history becomes, by the 21st century, the most beloved athlete in American history.”

Big Hair and Plastic Grass: A Funky Ride Through Baseball and America in the Swinging ‘70s

Dan Epstein

Thomas Dunne Books, 2010

This title from a colorful pop culture writer was fantastic for us in that the depiction of baseball’s 1970’s-era weirdness was a nostalgic look back for the old dudes, and an enriching historical study for the young dudes. The fact that Mark Fidrych is on the cover takes it over the edge.

A Few Seconds of Panic: A Sportswriter Plays in the NFL

Stefan Fatsis

Penguin Books, 2009

A criminally underknown memoir, Fatsis’ tale of his journey to become a professional NFL kicker at the age of, um, fortysomething is the modern version of George Plimpton’s 1966 football literature classic, Paper Lion. The former Wall Street Journal sports scribe breaks down the kicking process, while bringing us inside the Denver Broncos’ locker room, a locker room that included a snarky Jay Cutler, a boisterous Jake Plummer, and an obnoxious Todd Sauerbrun. Considering the tight-lip-eness of today’s NFL, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more intimate look at The Shield.

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches

Tyler Kepner

Doubleday Books, 2019

Kepner’s subtitle took cojones. Think about it: Baseball’s century-plus story is so rich and detailed that claiming you can tell its history via sliders and change ups is quite the brag. But the veteran baseball writer — whose work has been seen in the New York Times and The Athletic — pulls it off, utilizing Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, Mariano Rivera, and Clayton Kershaw as case studies. It sounds pedantic. It’s not.

Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times

Mark Lebovich

Penguin Press, 2018

A political writer by trade, Lebovich gushes about his New England Patriots in a charming manner that would have your prototypical Masshole Pats fan screaming, “Ya too @&%#ing nice, Leebs!!!” But for non-Pats people (which is pretty much every football viewer outside of the Bay State) the 400 pages spent with Tom Brady, Bill Belichik, et al isn’t just tolerable — it’s fun. The fact that Lebovich makes Brady seem like a normal, down-to-earth fella is a feat in and of itself.

Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever

Jack McCallum

Ballantine Books, 2012

These kinds of books are all about access, and the former Sports Illustrated staffer had plenty of it, landing quality time with most of the 1992 Olympic hoops roster. This allowed him to deliver quality reportage on the team’s off-court fun, the incessant insults (we’re talking to you, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and Larry Bird), and the legendary Dream Team intersquad practice tilt that, in terms of actual basketball, was far more interesting than anything we saw at the Games.

Foul Lines: A Pro Basketball Novel

Jack McCallum & Jon Wertheim

Touchstone Books, 2006

Sports novels are very hit and very miss; here, McCallum and his former Sports Illustrated partner-in-crime hit, and hit hard. Admittedly, the premise is kind of ridiculous — a veteran All-Star shooting guard from a professional basketball team hides from the law after a hit-and-run car wreck, all while engaging in a will-they-won’t-they dance with a local paper’s new female beat reporter — but the authors brought their knowledge of NBA absurdity to the table, making for a farcical blast.

Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

Jeff Pearlman

Gotham Books, 2011

Here, we begin the Jeff Pearlman portion of our program, a portion that would’ve been even larger had this article been, like, eight entries longer. As it is, we’re pulling three titles from Jeff’s impressive canon, this first one being his brilliant look at the legendary Bears’ running back. In this richly detailed biography, Pearlman details Payton’s numerous physical and mental issues, giving us a surprising portrait of a Hall of Famer who many of us thought was nearly perfect.

Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

Jeff Pearlman

Avery Books, 2014

If you’re not familiar with Pearlman — but are familiar with the HBO dramedy Winning Time: The Rise of the Laker Dynasty — this is the ideal place to meet this bestselling scribe. The author’s ability to fully depict the diverse, fascinating characters that made the Lake Show of the ‘80s must-see-TV is impressive as hell, and few wordsmiths could pull it off with such aplomb and charm.

Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty

Jeff Pearlman

Mariner Books, 2020

The abovementioned Showtime clocks in at 496 pages. Three-Ring Circus runs 448 pages. Some quick addition tells us that Pearlman needed 944 pages to tell the stories of the mighty modern Lakers. Seems long, right? Okay, 944 pages is long, but it doesn’t feel long — which is why you should read these titles back-to-back, just like we did. (Note: The depiction of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal’s tumultuous relationship is straight-up gripping.)

Stretch: The Unlikely Making of a Yoga Dude

Neal Pollack

HarperCollins, 2010

Is yoga a sport? It’s not competitive, but it makes one sweat, so for the sake of this article, sure, let’s go ahead and call it a sport. An acclaimed satirist and novelist, Pollack doesn’t just goof around about his induction into the world of yoga, but he delves into the practice’s history and what the contemporary yoga scene looked like, circa 2010. And the section on “yoga farts” is worth the price of admission.

The Baseball 100

Joe Posnanski

Simon & Schuster, 2021

A former senior writer at Sports Illustrated, Posnanski’s epic is simultaneously informative and touching, as he spends a goodly number of pages discussing baseball’s impact on his family. And his in-depth look at the greats of the Negro League is as good as it gets.

The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel

Matthew Quick

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

Quick is one of the kings of the feel-good novel, and this story of a troubled high school teacher attempting to navigate his dysfunctional family, a painful divorce, and a mercurial love interest — all while trying to keep up with his beloved Philadelphia Eagles — begins in a dark place. But come the third act, we defy you to keep your tear ducts under control. And FWIW, the movie version of Silver Linings is pretty darn good.

The Book of Basketball

Bill Simmons

ESPN Books, 2009

If this list was a best-to-less-best ranking, Simmons’ 700-plus-page door-stopper might be right up top. An insanely detailed book that, believe it or not, is eminently re-readable, Bill’s breakdown of his love for the Celtics, the Bill Russell/Wilt Chamberlain debate, and the NBA’s greatest players is filled with relevant humor, hot takes galore, and awesome footnotes. ESPN Books dropped an updated version a few years after initial publication; it might be time for another.

Rope Burns: Stories From the Corner

F.X. Toole

Ecco Books, 2000

There’s something about quality boxing fiction that’s…special. Toole’s astounding short story collection is beyond special — it’s a timeless classic. The pseudonym of former boxer and trainer Jerry Boyd, Toole introduces the reader to heavyweight champs, unscrupulous middleweights, and gun-toting gangsters. But perhaps the most intriguing story is “Million Dollar Baby,” a tragic tale of a gritty female boxer that was adapted into potentially the great fight movie of all time, Rocky notwithstanding.

The Yankee Years

Joe Torre & Tom Verducci

Doubleday, 2009

Remember when Joe Torre was one of the most beloved managers in baseball? If you don’t, take a gander at his memoir of the memorable New York Yankees squads of the late-’90s and early-’00s. With a cast of characters featuring Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Daryl Strawberry, Torre’s surprisingly honest telling of the team’s tale is fascinating, even for non-Yankee fans…of which there are a whole lot.

Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball’s Lunatic Fringe

Sam Walker

Viking Books, 2006

We’d love to see more titles about fantasy sports on the shelves of our local book-a-torium. Thing is, who wants to read about somebody else’s league? Nobody, that’s who…that is, unless you’re plowing through a tome by a Wall Street Journal senior writer by the name of Sam Walker. In a Quixotic endeavor, Sam hires a young fantasy expert named Nando Di Fino (you might know of him) and a NASA scientist — that’s right, a NASA scientist — to help him win the legendary Tout Wars fantasy baseball league. Spoiler alert: Despite his Moneyball approach to fantasy, Walker didn’t bring home the hardware, but his trip through, yes, fantasyland is both illuminating and uproarious.

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LAST FRIDAY’S Chicago Sports Stuff article, “Must-Read Sports Books,” garnered nearly as many clicks as one of my high-performing mock drafts pieces, or fake trade scenarios, or Patrick Williams disses.

That’s a lot of clicks, y’all.

So what-say we get back on the literature train and and discuss 15 new sports titles that’ll grace the shelves in the coming weeks and months, some of which look awesome (I’m talking to you, Colin Kaepernick), and some of which look less-than-good (I’m talking to you, Dave Portnoy).

This Is About Running. This Is Not About Running.: Lessons for Between and Beyond the Start and Finish Line – A Philosophy on Resilience, Self-Trust, and Moving Forward

Chris Bennett

September 1, Dey Street Books

Publisher Hype: “From Nike Running’s Global Head Coach Chris Bennett comes a bold, welcoming book for runners, non-runners, and everyone in between. Rooted in the coaching philosophy that has helped millions take their first steps forward, it’s about finding the courage to cross the starting lines in your life.”

Will I Read It?: Probably not from cover-to-cover, but I bet I’ll get some quality motivational vibes with a good skim.

Pardon My Book: Ten Years of the Best (and Worst) in Sports from Pardon My Take

Big Cat and PFT Commenter

August 19, Harper

Publisher Hype: “Pardon My Book is packed with ten years of crazy content from the wildest, most irreverent sports podcast of all time. Written and curated by Big Cat and PFT with the help of the PMT crew, this entertaining yearbook takes fans behind the scenes of the show.”

Will I Read It?: Yep, but there’s a backstory, albeit a quick one: I was up to ghostwrite this book, and I didn’t get the gig. So I kind of have to check it out to see how my competition did.

The Cruelest Game: Chasing Greatness in Professional Tennis

Matthew Futterman

August 4, Doubleday

Publisher Hype: “A riveting exposé of professional tennis by revered journalist Matthew Futterman (of The New York Times and The Athletic), The Cruelest Game offers never-before-reported access to the daily routines, mindsets, and personal trials faced by today’s major stars and tomorrow’s rising newcomers.

Will I Read It?: 100%. Never pass on a title that could turn a professional sport upside down.

It’s All About the Players: What I’ve Learned from Baseball’s Best

Peter Gammons

September 22, Grand Central Publishing

Publisher Hype: “Hall of Fame baseball writer Peter Gammons dives deep into his encounters over the last six decades with the best in the sport, revealing a trove of behind-the-scenes stories about the fascinating and inspiring individuals at the heart of our national pastime.”

Will I Read It?: Most likely. Gammons is one of sports’ finest scribes, and anything he writes will be solid, regardless of the topic. But this isn’t the sexiest topic to me, thus the “most likely.”

The Perilous Fight

Colin Kaepernick

September 15, LegacyLit

Publisher Hype: “The defining and uncompromising memoir from Super Bowl quarterback and renowned Civil Right activist, Colin Kaepernick.”

Will I Read It?: Um, yeah. If you’re a sports fan, you pretty much have no choice.

Finding Renée Richards: The Groundbreaking Story of Tennis’s Trans Pioneer

Julie Kliegman

August 18, HarperOne

Publisher Hype: “The candid, definitive biography of professional tennis’s first openly transgender player, Renée Richards, featuring never-before-seen archival photos and untold stories nearly lost to history, until now.”

Will I Read It?: Hell yeah, right after I finish the Kaepernick memoir. That’ll make for a quality stretch of reading.

Perfect Storm: The Carolina Hurricanes’ Incredible Run to the 2026 Stanley Cup

Cory Lavalette

June 30, Triumph Books

Publisher Hype: “Relive all the highlights of the momentous regular season and playoffs, including stunning sweeps and gripping overtime wins as the Canes surged past the Senators, Flyers and Canadiens to set up a hard-fought Final for the ages.”

Will I Read It?: Nope. Because, hockey.

Unthinkable to Unstoppable: How Curt Cignetti and the Indiana Hoosiers Stunned College Football

Mike Niziolek and Zach Osterman

Triumph Books, September 22, 2026

Publisher Hype: “The definitive chronicle of the Indiana Hoosiers improbable journey to the program’s first college football championship, featuring analysis and behind-the-scenes reporting on head coach Curt Cignetti, star quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and more.”

Will I Read It?: Nah, but that’s no slight to the book, authors, publisher, or topic. I’m a fair-weather college football guy at best, and I don’t have any feelings one way or another about this Indiana team. Unless Mendoza ends up on my fantasy roster.

Inside the Owner’s Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports

David M. Rubenstein

September 22, Simon & Schuster

Publisher Hype: “Go inside the high-stakes world of sports ownership as New York Times bestselling author and owner of the Baltimore Orioles David M. Rubenstein reveals the financial strategies, leadership secrets, and billion-dollar deal-making behind championship franchises through conversations with America's most powerful owners—Robert Kraft, Jeff Lurie, Tom Ricketts, and more.”

Will I Read It?: Not so much. Don’t care about the Orioles, don’t care about Kraft, and definitely don’t care about Ricketts.

Why Hulk Hogan Matters

David Shoemaker

July 28, Harper

Publisher Hype: “Step into the ring as David Shoemaker wrestles with the legacy of the iconic Hulk Hogan. Why Hulk Hogan Matters traces the explosive heat and heel turns of how Hulk Hogan became a true cultural phenomenon. Whether you’re a lifelong Hulkamanic or fascinated by the Hulk’s truly unique, larger-than-life celebrity, Why Hulk Hogan Matters is the ultimate homage to a legend of the ring.”

Will I Read It?: For a variety of non-sports reasons — and I’m sure you news junkies know exactly what I’m talking about — hard pass.

Cancel Me If You Can

Dave Portnoy

June 20, Gallery

Publisher Hype: “In his unfiltered style, Dave Portnoy details the journey of how he built his polarizing media empire, Barstool Sports, while refusing to bend the knee to those who tried to tear him down, staying true to himself and blocking out the haters.”

Will I Read It?: Nope. Portnoy’s gross.

The W: A History of the WNBA: How the WNBA Survived, Evolved, and Changed Professional Sports

Tamryn Spruill

September 22, Abrams Press

Publisher Hype: “A raucous roller-coaster history of the WNBA, from celebrated start-up to lean years, and on to the recent boom, from a passionate sports journalist.”

Will I Read It?: You betcha. This is long overdue. Long.

Iceland Annie: The Evolution of a CrossFit Games Legend

Annie Thorisdottir

July 7, St. Martin’s Press

Publisher Hype: An inspiring memoir by CrossFit legend Annie Thorisdottir, the first woman to win the CrossFit Games twice. For the first time ever, Annie shares the intimate details of her career, delving into her mental resilience, determination, and the struggles and triumphs she’s faced as a top-level competitor over three separate decades.

Will I Read It?: Well, yeah. Because if I don’t, Annie will kick my ass up and down the mean streets of Lincoln Park.

Be on That Hill: Stories from the Summits of Sport

Seth Wickersham

September 15, Hyperion Avenue

Publisher Hype: “Epic stories from one of the great sportswriters of his generation. ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham, the New York Times bestselling author of American Kings and It’s Better to Be Feared, shares more than two decades of his sports journalism in 26 essays.”

Will I Read It?: Abso-fucking-lutely. Seth’s my guy, and I’ll read his grocery lists.

Touching All the Bases: A Story of Power, Purpose, and Surviving the Bronx

Dave Winfield

September 15, Matt Holt Books

Publisher Hype: “A fearless and insightful portrait of power, race, and resilience from one of baseball’s most unique and dynamic Hall of Fame legends, offering an unflinching look at the battles fought both on and off the field.”

Will I Read It?: TBD. Dave seems like a great dude, but do I want to spend 288 pages with him? I’ll decide when I see the reviews.

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Updated on July 1, 10:23 a.m. CT

DANG IT, Shams beat me to the punch again.

As first reported by ESPN’s eternally plugged-in know-it-all Shams Charania, the Chicago Bulls inked journeyman shooting guard Norman Powell to a two-year, $45 million contract, putting an end to my dream of them welcoming Peyton Watson into the building.

In the present, Powell is a solid addition to a team in desperate need of scoring firepower and outside shooting. The 33-year-old is coming off of back-to-back seasons in which he averaged over 21 points — the first 20-plus averages in his 12-year career — earning a 2026 All-Star nod in the process.

Norm immediately becomes the Bulls’ top three-point threat — hell, it could be said he’s their only legit three-point threat — having hit 39.9% of his beyond-the-arc attempts over the past two seasons, 18th-best in the Association over that stretch.

Normally, this would be a signing to celebrate — he’s experienced, he’s peaking, he’ll mesh well with new backcourt mate Josh Giddey, and he’s a great teammate — but adding a thirtysomething to a team that should be focused completely on the future is a super-questionable choice.

Powell will be 36 when he wraps up the second season of his new deal, and his cap hit will likely keep the 2027 Bulls from signing, say restricted free agent Brandon Miller or one of the unrestricted Thompson twins, all three of whom are, y’know, young.

The fine folks at CraftedNBA guesstimate that Norm’s presence will give the Bulls five or six extra wins, likely good enough for both another run at a Play-In Tourney bid, and way fewer ping-pong balls in a lottery for what’s projected to be a pretty darn good draft class.

They’re embracing the present while sacrificing the future. I get it. I just don’t agree.

The NBA is a results-based business, so it’s not unfair that VP of Hoops Ops Bryson Graham and Chicago’s revamped front office want to win now and keep their gigs. But they’re not going to win enough now, so while Norm will make today’s Bulls far more enjoyable to watch, and his veteran presence will be a locker room plus — and, two bonuses, his insertion in the starting lineup will send blecccch Isaac Okoro to the bench and probably cut into Patrick “Biggest. Bust. Ever.” Williams’ playing time — it could set Chicago’s rebuild back several years.

(UPDATE: Since this article was published, multiple sources reported that the second year of Powell’s deal is a team option, meaning this is, in effect, a rental season. The fact that Graham gave the team flexibility is helpful, but I still would’ve rather seen him allocate the money to a player who could help beyond this year. Like Peyton Watson. Still, the news bumped up the grade from B- to…)

Grade: B

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ASIDE FROM TINA FEY, I’m probably the only person in the world who remembers the original iteration of Sports Shouting With Scottie Shofar.

You can be very much forgiven for not recalling this 30 Rock gag, as it was two-second cutaway that first aired 17 years ago. But I’m a 30 Rock obsessive, so there you have it.

Tina resurrected Sports Shouting on her 2025 sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, once again proving the maxim…

Y’see, sports shouting is a part of the fabric of sports media.

To paraphrase my 12-year-old daughter, “It’s so extra” (she’s right), but sometimes sports shouting is useful, especially when the volume is lowered and the discussion is supported by a little thing we like to call facts.

Enter SuperDebate.

Chicago-based entrepreneur and bestselling author Matthew Rolnick sits on the SuperDebate board, and being a Chicago dude, it’s little surprise that one of the first discussions on the platform was a breakdown of the ultimate NBA question:

Michael Jordan or LeBron James?

Before we dive into SuperDebate’s G.O.A.T chat, let’s turn it over to Matthew.

Chicago Sports Stuff: What exactly is SuperDebate?

Matthew Rolnick: SuperDebate is building debate into a sport for everyone. The idea is simple: argument is one of the most useful skills a person can have, and almost nobody has a place to practice it. So we host live and online events, organized into local clubs, where regular people step up, take a side, and go at a real question with equal time and a clear format.

Think of it like a run club or a pickleball league, but for your mind. It’s competitive and it’s fun, and underneath the entertainment it’s quietly rebuilding something our culture has lost: the ability to disagree well.

CSS: Give me some backstory on how it came to life.

M.R.: Founder John Connor started SuperDebate because he saw two things at once: people everywhere have stopped listening to each other, and the skill that fixes that, structured, good-faith argument, has no home outside of school. He wanted to give it one. Not a debate society for the already-polished, but a place any adult can walk into, find a club, and get better the way you’d improve at any sport, by showing up and doing it.

The plan is to grow that into a real circuit, local clubs feeding city events feeding national competition, with the best rising through the ranks. I was introduced to John by a sharp Chicago entrepreneur named Len Bland, the mission hit home for me, and I joined the board to help scale it.

CSS: Tell us about the debaters.

M.R.: Most of what we do is everyday people, but for this one we wanted to show the ceiling, what the craft looks like at its best, so we brought in two of the most decorated debate minds in the country.

Dr. Iain Lampert is an eight-time professional national champion in the International Public Debate Association who, as a coach, has guided students to more than 1,800 individual championships, including 28 national first-place finishes.

Professor Lindsay Duede is an argumentation PhD candidate at LSU and one of the top competitors in the professional IPDA ranks She is a five-time national debate champion and her students won three national titles last season. What made it fun was watching two champion debaters, who aren’t necessarily hardcore sports fans, take on a classic sports argument with logic and data instead of pure fandom.

Lindsay made a striking point about how only the Denver Nuggets has winning record against LeBron (and only by 2 games); Iain countered with the fact that Jordan was never once swept in a playoff series.

CSS: Why is the M.J.-Lebron debate such an important topic to you?

M.R.: We live in an incredibly polarized culture where people have mostly stopped listening to the other side. I care about this because there’s real value, personal and societal, in structured listening. SuperDebate takes on serious, pressing topics, DEI, legal immigration, the ethics of extreme wealth and poverty, but the skill travels just as well through accessible, high-energy subjects like pop culture and sports.

That’s the trick: a sports debate is a Trojan horse. People show up for Jordan vs. LeBron and leave having practiced the exact muscle we’ve all let go slack. Profound or lighthearted, the goal is the same, proving we can disagree passionately and still respect each other.

CSS: Who’s your guy, Mike or Bron?

M.R.: It’s hard not to love Jordan watching him and I grew up and watching him dominate in his prime, I lean Jordan. But unlike a lot of die-hard MJ fans who say there’s no comparison, I think it’s a legitimate debate.

LeBron is a clear, undeniable number two for me, ahead of legends like Kareem, Magic, or Russell, and his longevity is historically unprecedented. He’s in the final innings, so his book isn’t finished. Another title or two and the calculus changes. For now it’s Jordan, but I want to see how LeBron closes it out.

CSS: Any future sports debates coming up?

M.R.: Absolutely, sports is a bottomless well of great debates. We’re looking at the soccer G.O.A.T. (Messi vs. Ronaldo), the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time, the golf G.O.A.T. (Nicklaus vs. Woods), and the ultimate team (the best single-season NFL, NBA, or soccer squads in history.

Beyond sports, we’re building formats on the future of AI, political policy, and economic ethics. The sports debates are how we bring people in, the bigger questions are where it goes.

AND NOW, enjoy half an hour of intelligent, well-thought-out, fact-based sports shouting.

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SURE, THE CHICAGO BULLS had a solid 2026 draft — Caleb Wilson looks to be a star-in-the-making, and if all goes to plan, Dailyn Swain will be Luol Deng 2.0.

And sure, with Wilson and Swain taking the court next to Matas Buzelis and Josh Giddey, this young, (mostly) athletic squad could give Bulls Nation their first legitimately fun team since the halcyon days of DeBallZach.

And sure, new VP of Basketball Ops Bryson Graham seems like a righteous dude who has a semblance of a plan.

But let’s be honest with ourselves, guys: They. Aren’t. Close.

Even if the Bulls make a quantum quantum quantum leap this season — which they won’t; 40 wins is the likely ceiling — they ain’t getting past the defending World Champion New York Knicks. Or the defending Eastern Conference Champion Detroit Pistons. Or the Boston Celtics. Or the Cleveland Cavaliers. Or any of the other six teams out East that finished the 2025-26 season with a .500-plus record.

All of which means they should forget the present. All of which they shouldn’t piss away their chunky cap space on a win-now veteran.

No, what they should do this evening at 6:00 p.m. ET — the beginning of the NBA’s 2026 free agency period — is use said cap space to lock down a four-year deal with Denver Nuggets Restricted free agent Peyton Watson.

MY FAVORITE NBA METRIC is the Per-36, which tells us how a player’s numbers would look if he averaged, natch, 36 minutes a game.

Last season with the Denver Nuggets, Peyton Watson’s Per-36’s were gosh-darn good:

• 17.8 points

• 6.0 rebounds

• 2.6 assists

• 1.1 steals

• 1.4 blocks

Spread out over a whole season, that puts Watson in the conversation with…

OG Anunoby

• 18.0 points

• 4.8 rebounds

• 2.2 assists

• 1.5 steals

• 0.9 blocks

Jaden McDaniels

• 16.5 points

• 5.8 rebounds

• 2.0 assists

• 1.2 steals

• 1.0 blocks

Franz Wagner

• 20.6 points

• 5.2 rebounds

• 3.3 assists

• 0.9 steals

• 0.3 blocks

That all being the case, wouldn’t the 6’8” 23-years-old with the seven-foot wingspan look smashing next to Wilson, Giddey, and Buzelis?

Yes. Yes he would.

THE GENERAL CONSENSUS amongst those who know way more than I do about NBA contracts and such is that Watson will fetch somewhere in the neighborhood of $120 million over four years, give or take, a number that the Nuggets might or might not match. (My Spidey Sense says probably not.)

And while the Bulls are, as noted, a long ways away from being a thing, a starting lineup of Watson, Giddey, Buzelis, Wilson, and Nic Claxton would lay some solid groundwork. This theoretical starting five — average height, 6’9” — would boast an average age of just over 22-years-old.

For context, the 2025-26 Knicks’ starters averaged 29.4-years-old. By the time this theoretical Bulls core hits 29.4, Jalen Brunson and his Big Apple buddies will be furnishing their condos at a senior citizens community in Hackensack. So the timeline works.

Yes, throwing $30 million at Watson would decimate the Bulls’ cap table, but they have to try at some point.

Don’t they?

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RIGHT NOW, right this moment, right as I write this, right on Sunday, June 28 at 4:08 p.m. CT, the Windy City boasts arguably the two most entertaining entities in MLB:

Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Chicago White Sox.

After a garbage start to 2026, Cubs five-tool freak PCA is on a batshit cray-cray heater that’ll have him hitting .375-ish for the month of June, with a batshitter, cray-crazier On-Base Plus Slugging average of 1.222, the fifth highest OPS month in franchise history, behind Sammy Sosa (2x), Derek Lee, and Hack Wilson.

Meanwhile on the other side of town, after a garbage start to this decade, the 43-38 White Sox sit atop the AL Central — one game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians — the first instance the Pale Hose have been five games above .500 since September 18, 2022. Continuing down that statistical road, the Cubs sit at 45-38, and the last time the North and South Siders were, respectively, seven and five games above .500 simultaneously was the final day of the 2020 season.

That’s a long-ass time.

Apologies for all the cursing, but holy shit, we have two quality baseball teams in town, and that’s never a thing, so what better time to call on our baseball guru, MLB Daily Dingers’ Matt Musico, to discuss how we got here and where we might be headed?

Chicago Sports Stuff: How did PCA turn it around, and can he keep it up?

Matt Musico: You had to think this turnaround was coming, right? PCA flashed too many elite tools in last year’s first half for it all to just disappear. If we look at his wRC+, it’s made drastic improvements each month: 88 in March/April, 117 in May, and 232 so far in June.

What jumped out at me is the positive regression in his batted-ball profile. Here’s how certain numbers have progressed through the first three months of the season:

• Line-drive rate: 12.2%, 19.5%, 24.6%

• Ground-ball rate: 41.9%, 32.5%, 29.2%

• Soft-hit rate: 19.0%, 15.4%, 10.6%

• Hard-hit rate: 31.6%, 52.6%, 47.0%

This has helped him compile a 4.6 fWAR so far in 2026, which isn’t too far off last year’s noteworthy performance (5.4).

It’s unrealistic to think he’ll stay this hot moving forward (he has a 1.222 OPS through 109 plate appearances in June), but if his peripherals can land somewhere between what he did in May and what he’s doing in June, the Cubs will be in good shape.

CSS: We’ve seen some elite ball from this team, but they’re still behind the Brewers in the Central. What are the three main reasons the Cubs aren’t in first place?

M.M.: Their 10-game losing streak in May certainly didn’t help. They had a 2.5-game lead in the NL Central on May 15; after losing their tenth game on May 26, they dropped all the way to last in the division and 4.5 games out of first place.

It’s also worth noting that Chicago’s other NL Central foes have been quite competitive this year. Even with a 29-16 record on May 15, the last-place team in the division was only five games behind them.

Lastly, the starting rotation hasn’t performed as hoped. Their 3.1 rotation fWAR ranks 26^th in the league, while the rotation’s cumulative 4.54 ERA ranks 23^rd. That’s likely part of the reason why we saw them take a flier on David Peterson in a trade with the Mets last week.

CSS: I feel like they can still take the Central. Et tu?

M.M.: Well, I’ll tell ya what: If that four-game sweep against the Mets at Citi Field doesn’t turn things around for them, I don’t know what will. They made New York look completely silly in all aspects of the game.

What’s good is that they’ve found that consistency through the latter portion of the month. Chicago went 2-6 over its first eight games of June before going 11-5 over the next 16.

They obviously can’t control what the Brewers, Cardinals, or anyone else in the NL Central does on a nightly basis, so all they can focus on is winning as many head-to-head matchups as possible whenever they land in a new city.

CSS: Do you see them making a trade for a quality starter? Should they?

M.M.: I think they absolutely should, and while they only had to give up a single prospect to acquire Peterson, it could signal a willingness from the front office that they’re ready to be more aggressive leading up to the trade deadline.

And yes, I do see them being in the mix for a quality starter. Not Tarik Skubal if the Tigers decide to trade him, but a dependable middle-of-the-rotation kind of arm that they can trot out every five days. As any manager will tell you — especially ones with postseason aspirations — you can never have enough pitching.

CSS: They’ve been doing all of his without quality production from Alex Bregman. WTF?

It’s been a bit of a letdown so far when it comes to on-field production for Bregman, but there could be a few factors at play. He’s playing in a new city with a big contract, and isn’t eyeing an opt-out at the end of the season, as was the case with the Red Sox last year. So there could be some internal pressure being put on himself to perform.

Plus, he’d previously spent the entirety of his MLB career in the American League, meaning there are adjustments to be made with ballparks and opposing pitchers that he’s seeing more now than ever before.

It doesn’t appear that his batted-ball profile is too outrageously far off from both what he did in 2025 and his career norms, so you have to hope that some more power will be coming soon.

CSS: On a scale of 1-10, how surprised are you by the White Sox’ first half?

M.M.: Um, well, I’d have to say 15. Before the season started, we were probably talking about a .500 season being a huge step in the right direction. But being multiple games over .500 and in postseason position just days away from the calendar flipping to July? Yeah, I’m incredibly surprised.

C.S.S.: You’re the dinger guy. Will the Sox have a 40-home run hitter?

M.M.: Before Munetaka Murakami got hot, I would’ve said absolutely, but it’s more of a toss-up at this point. His injury leaves Colson Montgomery as the best possible opportunity here. I’m going to say no, but I think it’ll be real close.

C.S.S.: Is their power surge sustainable?

M.M.: Taking into account the people leading the way, I think it is. Montgomery’s 41 homers since the start of 2025 rank third among shortstops (behind Willy Adames with 44 and Zach Neto with 43)… and he didn’t even make his MLB debut until July 4, 2025.

Murakami feels like a lock to keep producing power once he comes back since that seems to be his calling card.

It seems like the biggest unknown moving forward is Miguel Vargas. He has 18 homers through his first 80 games, which is already a new single-season career-high mark. The most dingers he’s hit in any single professional season is 23 in 2021 while playing in High-A and Double-A for the Dodgers organization as a 21-year-old. So we’ll see how much further he can push the envelope.

CSS: Davis Martin has come back to earth. Can he rediscover his unhittable early-season form?

M.M.: Martin did have a great two-month run to start the season. Two of the things he did very well were limit walks and home runs. Through the end of May, he produced a 27.0% strikeout rate, a 5.3% walk rate, and 0.40 home runs allowed per nine innings.

In June, those numbers worsened to 16.5%, 8.7%, and 1.07, respectively. For added context, his career numbers include a 19.7% strikeout rate, 7.8% walk rate, and 1.01 home runs allowed per nine innings.

Did he find another gear at the start of the year and just hit a bump in the road before adjusting again? Or was that two-month stretch a mirage and he’s regressing to his career averages? We’re about to find out.

CSS: They’ll make the postseason. Won’t they?

M.M.: With the way things have been going, I believe it’s possible! Outside of going 1-4 in March, the White Sox have played at least .500 ball in each month this season (13-13 in April, 18-10 in May, and 11-11 so far in June).

Murakami going on the injured list would’ve been a gut punch for any team after how he started the season, but the Sox have at least been able to tread water without him, since May 29.

Another thing in play here is the weakness of the American League overall. As of this writing, there are only five AL teams with at least a .500 record. The Rangers are currently holding onto the final Wild Card spot, and they have a 41-42 record.

I think there will be two postseason teams coming out of the AL East, those being the Yankees and the Rays. And it seems like the AL West will only produce one postseason team…but maybe two if someone gets hot. That could leave two spots for the AL Central, one for the division winner and another Wild Card spot. And at this point, the only deserving teams would be the Sox and the Guardians.

There’s still plenty of baseball left to be played, but Chicago has put itself in a great spot moving forward.

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LET’S PARAPHRASE one of the six-ish career press conference given by former Chicago Bulls’ Executive VP of Basketball Ops, Artūras Karnišovas, a man of few words and fewer quality ideas:

Reporter #1: Artūras, the team didn’t measure up to expectations this season. Any plan moving forward?

Karnišovas: Continuity.

[Crickets]

Reporter #2: Do you see any significant roster moves during the off-season?

Karnišovas: Maybe.

[Tumbleweeds]

Reporter #3: How about the coaching situation? Any changes on the sideline?

Karnišovas: We’ll see.

[Dead silence]

And so on.

Conversely, Karnišovas’ replacement, Bryson Graham is a talker, and, post-NBA Draft, was more happy to make the media rounds. He clogged up my Instagram feed (in a good way), so I’m going to clog up my Substack with some of his notably honest bon mots.

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WORLD CUP NOTWITHSTANDING, the end of June is arguably the year’s most boring stretch of pro sports.

• MLB and WNBA are dog daying.

• NBA is recovering from the Draft and prepping for Summer League.

• NFL is awaiting training camp.

• NHL is doing something, not sure what.

• MLS is, well, MLS.

So it’s time to hit the library.

Friends, colleagues, and reatives know I’m a big library-hitter, so I’m often asked, “Dude, give me some book recommendations.”

I looooove giving book recommendations.

So since professional sports is dullsville, and I have nothing cool about which to write, and I looooove giving book recommendations, I’m going to revisit a couple of my literature columns: A review of Chuck Klosterman’s excellent 2025 book Football, and a 2024 list of ten essential sports books.

Happy reading!

I’M A PRETTY okay writer.

Admittedly, I’m nowhere near Nick Hornby, or Lester Bangs, or Bill Simmons…but neither am I the third-grade version of myself. No, I fall somewhere in between, trending a scootch closer to Hornby than I do to Little Baby Alan.

One writer who I’m way far away from is Chuck Klosterman. Can’t touch that guy’s prose with a ten-foot IBM Selectric.

Whether or not you agree with the bestselling pop culture philosopher (The Nineties, I Wear the Black Hat, Fargo Rock City) — and he’s loaded with well-reasoned-yet-batshit-crazy takes, so there’s always plenty to agree and disagree with — you have to acknowledge that he can write his ass off. He’s one of those guys who’s so damn good that he makes us Hornby/Bangs/Simmons wannabes feel super-crappy about ourselves.

That’s very much not his intention. But there we are.

Football, Chuck’s new essay collection, is prime Klosterman: Well-written, well-reasoned, gentle, humorous, readable. It makes his out-of-left-field (or, really, out-of-the-south-end-zone) takes far more palatable than say, Skip Bayliss’. Like if Bayliss raved, “Football as we know it might not be a thing in forty years,” you’d be like, “Cram it, Skip.”

And you’d be right. Skip should cram it. But Klosterman? Bring it on.

KLOSTERMAN TRUTHERS are well aware that the Minnesota-born, North Dakota-reared scribe was one of the original writers for Bill Simmons’ Grantland, so his sports chops are impeccable — if he’s good enough for Simmons, he should be good enough for you. So while he’s not a sports-first writer, he has more than enough street cred to give us a 300-page philosophical look at the highs, middles, and lows of both NFL and NCAA pigskin.

One thing Football is not is a history of the game. Klosterman offers deep dives into some of the sports’ most indelible athletes (the Jim Thorpe, Roger Staubach, and Colin Kaepernick sections are particularly enlightening) and events (the Cowboys’ ascension to America’s Team; the books North Dallas Forty and Friday Night Lights; a fascinating, depressing breakdown of CTE), and offers a semi-off-kilter best-players-in-history list.

But if you want history, pick up Michael MacCambridge’s The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation. If you want a game overview that’s at once personal, passionate, and original, Chuck’s your guy.

In that spirit, we’re going to be original(ish), skip to the end of Football, if you will, and check Chuck’s look at how the NFL and NCAA of today will be wildly different than what we see in 40 or 50 years.

Klosterman contends that the game he loves — and the former high school player spends a good 50,000 words gushing about the sport and its players (spoiler alert: dude digs Jim Brown) — is showing cracks, cracks far deeper than you’d believe, cracks that will sooner-than-later break under the pressure of greed, television contracts, NIL, and parental fear.

His epic take is on the convoluted side — Klosterman, to his credit, makes it clear on multiple occasions the he isn’t even sure he agrees with himself — but he makes convincing arguments as to how and why high school football will be toast, and the NCAA will become a collection of 774 minor league football affiliates, and the modern version of the NFL will end in a strike/lockout maelstrom.

The biggest shocker is he feels American tastes and attitudes will have changed to the point that far fewer fans than you’d expect will care.

Like me, Klosterman is a football nerd — although unlike me, his nerddom extends to college pigskin — and isn’t happy about dropping this future-thought death-knell. But only a truly passionate football nerd — and a football nerd who, not insignificantly, writes his ass off — can make this sort of nutty prognostication logical, palatable, and flat-out entertaining.

I READ BOOKS.

A lot.

I read fiction. I read non-fiction. I read new stuff. I read old stuff. I read good stuff. I read crap stuff. I read award winners. I read cheese.

And I read about sports.

A lot.

This is why I’m painfully aware that the modern sports literature canon isn’t as rich as one might think. Sure, there are dozens and dozens of baseball, basketball, and football titles published each year, but few resonate beyond their immediate release.

Then when you get niche about the whole thing — when you focus on one narrow aspect of the sports literature canon — it gets even more difficult to find true gems. (Unless you’re a fan of the Bronx Bombers. There are too many damn good books about those damn Yankees.)

But for my chosen niche — Chicago sports books, natch — I was fortunate in that there are plenty of gleaming gems to choose from. Here are my ten shiniest:

10) Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior

Phil Jackson

Hyperion Books, 1998

Elevator Pitch: NBA Zen Master mines his Chicago Bulls journey to teach mindfulness.

The Skinny: It’s pretentious, it’s meandering, and it’s extra, but if you, like me, have an affinity for the Deadheady Bulls-era Jackson (as opposed to the cranky Lakers-era Jackson), Sacred Hoops is un-put-down-able. Admittedly it doesn’t hold up well — you don’t see much in the way of spirituality in professional sports these days — but it’ll always have a spot in the hearts of us Bulls-ficionados.

9) The Chicago Cubs: Story of a Curse

Rich Cohen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017

Elevator Pitch: The Cubs sucked. Then they didn’t. Here’s the ride.

The Skinny: The contemporary professor emeritus of Chicago sports lit used the Cubs’ 2016 World Series run as a launching point for the tale of both the team and his own frustrating lifelong relationship with the franchise. A lovely meditation on fandom and patience.

8) Wrigleyville: A Magical History Tour of the Chicago Cubs

Peter Golenbock

St. Martin’s Griffin, 1992

Elevator Pitch: The Wrigley Field bleachers, in book form.

The Skinny: I think we can all agree that if you put together a collection of history’s greatest baseball writers, Roger Angell would sit atop the list — but the prolific Golenbock would certainly hit the top ten. Here, on one of the rare occasions the New York native didn’t write about the Mets or the Yankees, Golenbock illustrates why we stick with the Cubs through thick and thin. Mostly thin.

7) Da Bears!: How the 1985 Monsters of the Midway Became the Greatest Team in NFL History

Steve Delsohn

Crown Archetype, 2010

Elevator Pitch: To quoth the subtitle: How the 1985 Monsters of the Midway became the greatest team in NFL history

The Skinny: After the Bears won the 1985 Super Bowl, Chicago bookshelves were clogged with titles about the team and/or by its players. But most of those are garbage, and Delsohn’s — what with it’s no-frills, light-hearted rundown of the whole season — is most definitely not.

6) Blood on the Horns: The Long Strange Ride of Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls

Roland Lazenby

Taylor Trade Publishing, 1998

Elevator Pitch: Michael Jordan wasn’t as nice as you thought.

The Skinny: Lazenby wrote two wonderful books about the Bulls: This 1998 behind-the-scenes romp and his epic 2014 Michael Jordan bio. I had to choose one, so I went with gossipy rather than serious.

5) Playing for Keeps: Michael Jordan and the World He Made

David Halberstam

Broadway Books, 2000

Elevator Pitch: The Jumpman gets the Halberstam treatment

The Skinny: Playing for Keeps isn’t Halberstam’s best sports book — that honor goes to, of course, The Breaks of the Game — but if you want to re-live M.J.’s Bulls career in an academic yet engaging fashion, here ya go.

4) Sweetness: The Enigmatic Life of Walter Payton

Jeff Pearlman

Gotham Books, 2011

Elevator Pitch: You thought you knew the Chicago Bears legend. Well, you don’t.

The Skinny: Pearlman has proven time and again he can discover stuff about athletes that you can’t. His justifiably acclaimed bio of the greatest running back of all time — sorry, Barry Sanders, Emmitt Smith, and Jim Brown, but you know I’m right — is a haunting portrait of a wonderful man who wasn’t quite as happy as he seemed.

3) Eight Men Out: Black Sox and 1919 Series

Eliot Asinof

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963

Elevator Pitch: A devastating gambling tale ripped from the headlines of yesteryear.

The Skinny: I read Asinof’s heartbreaking story of Shoeless Joe Jackson’s gamblin’ Sox when I was, like, seven, and it made little-to-no sense. When I read it ten years later, I was like, “This is the best baseball book I’ve read, and will possibly ever read.” I’ll stand by that.

2) The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of One Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls

Sam Smith

Simon & Schuster, 1992

Elevator Pitch: Michael Jordan punched out Steve Kerr. Enough said.

The Skinny: Sometimes you love something because you discovered it during a special time in your life, and that’s exactly the case here. Critics probably believe that Smith’s dishy debut shouldn’t be in the top ten — and it definitely shouldn’t be ahead of Eight Men Out — but this eminently readable tome dropped during the Jordan/Pippen/Grant-era Bulls, a special time in my sports-viewing life, thus it’s my jam.

1) Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

Rich Cohen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013

Elevator Pitch: How the NFL’s most frustrating franchise finally won a Super Bowl.

The Skinny: The professor emeritus is back, and this time, he’s on top. This memoir-slash-history is exceptionally relatable to me as Cohen and I are about the same vintage, we both grew up on the North Shore of Chicago, and when the Bears won the 1985 Super Bowl, both of our heads exploded. But unlike me, Cohen had the wherewithal (and the memory) to write the definitive book on the Chicago Bears — and possibly Chicago sports.

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