Wrecking the Toy Department

Professional team sports are coming back in bubbles, to be played in completely empty arenas and stadiums. Until the coronavirus pandemic ends, it's probably we won't get any further than partial crowds in the stands. But there is a second, and larger cloud casting a pall over these fan-less sporting events... To understand the full symbolism of an empty stadium, we went back five years, to the Ap...

In the season following the Boston Red Sox breaking "The Curse," there was bound to be a shadow hanging over the 2005 World Series champions.  But what if I told you the 2005 White Sox, broke an 88-year championship drought, two years longer than the Red Sox, but that their achievement has been largely lost to history in the past 15 years? So let's take a look back at why the 2005 White Sox d...

We re-live the best season in Illinois basketball program history - how the Illini and coach Bruce Weber were ahead of their time, and we discuss the greatest moments of the season - a demolition of Chris Paul and then-#1 Wake Forest, the greatest comeback in NCAA Tournament history and the first and only time Illinois reached the national championship game.  For five months, the Illini could...

We miss sports. A LOT. But why? Why does it feel, during this time, that there is such a void in our life? This season is an exploration of the sports touchstones of my life, why sports became so meaningful to me that I made a career of working in sports journalism. This episode is the start of that story, which begins with my memories of the very first sporting event I remember watching start to...

What's the secret to Patrick Mahomes' incredible popularity? Why does he seem to have become a national spokesman for so many companies so quickly? Hint: It's not just his on-field play; it's what he does off the field that's made him, at just 24 years old, a transcendent star. Music Credits: Deep Space Destructors - Return to the Black Star; Scott Holmes - Drift

With the end of the regular season came the final days of being able to watch the Chicago Cubs on the public airwaves - WGN and WLS. They're not the first team to create its own cable network, but their decision to partner with noted conservative broadcast company Sinclair Broadcasting is worth examining through a microscope, especially because the announcement came a day after tsplinter.com publi...

Why spontaneous celebrations in basketball and football aren't given a second glance but the same actions in baseball, like flipping your bat, spur conversations about showing up your opponent and respecting the game. Who are the ones being told they're not respecting the game and why? MUSIC CREDITS:  Jon Luc Hefferman – Ascent; Kevin MacLeod – Impact Prelude and Impact Allegretto; Ketsa – Re...

Ever wonder why the World Series or Super Bowl champion visits the White House? How did this tradition get started? Well, it wasn't always the joyous tradition it felt like when the New York Giants visited President Reagan or the Golden State Warriors went to see President Obama. No, the original tradition is somehow much more insidious, and also much more akin to a visit to the Trump White House...