FILE – In this record Sept. 22, 2015, photo, Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox watches from the canoe against the Detroit Tigers for the fourth inning of a baseball game in Detroit. Now in his third season, Abreu will assist his team recovering from a disappointing season. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) ORG XMIT: NY164
Paul Sancya, AP Photos
How much pain can a
It’s a value to ask any Chicago sports fan after a year of misery.
Let’s start with the team that was surfing on the biggest wave of success, Sky. With a list of champions led by Candace Parker supposedly improving the offseason, coach James Wade’s team was all but guaranteed a return to the WNBA Finals. Instead, Sky lost an 11-point lead in the fifth game of the semifinals to Sun on home turf.
Does it become heartbreaking than that?
Just ask White Sox fans, who have bid farewell to their team’s center and soul, Jose Abreu, after a season that began with hopes of making the playoffs but ended in disappointment. Do you think this cannot be overcome? Look at the bulls. Coach Billy Donovan’s team followed a playoff appearance last season by placing a home near the back of the Eastern Conference standings to begin this one.
Both groups proved that when it comes to love, there are few things worse than falling in love with potential.
While the sadness has wreaked havoc on Chicago, some sports figures connected to the city have brought relief to fans.
Dusty Baker became the third black manager to win a World Series, and he did so after 25 seasons on the job, adding 4 with the Cubs in 2003-06. Former No. 2 Sky pick Sylvia Fowles went on a farewell tour. , celebrating their fifteenth and final season in the WNBA. The Sky bid farewell to the eight-time All-Star and two-time WNBA champion who spent seven seasons in Chicago with a recliner, framed jersey and knitting kit.
There has been no more vital sporting history than the 10-month detention of Brittney Griner, who, after being arrested in February, was released from Russian custody on December 8.
Back in Chicago, the cure for pain begins with confronting the past. So before sports enthusiasts can look ahead, here’s a look at the 2022 sports landscape from our rhythm reporters:
Heaven
He faced the year with firm and loose movements that eventually earned him his first honor as Director of the Year. Emma Meesseman’s signing, along with her core organization’s retention of Kahleah Copper, Allie Quigley and Courtney Vandersloot, put Sky on a fair footing. correct position to repeat themselves as WNBA champions.
After setting a normal season franchise record and tying eventual champion Aces for the league’s best record at 26-10, back-to-back hopes for the Sky name faded in an epic semifinal cave compared to Sun. The uncertainty surrounding the long-term of their 3 veteran stars, adding whether Parker and Quigley will retire, is what awaits them in the new year.
Annie Costabile
Bulls
When executive vice president of basketball operations, Arturas Karnisovas, presented in April 2020 his first purpose of dismantling the existing product and turning it back into a playoff-caliber team. in the playoffs. While squandering the first-round series against the Bucks in five games isn’t the purpose, it’s a welcome step forward.
DeMar DeRozan has been better than expected, on and off the court, but the Bulls will go all the way to Zach LaVine and his maximum five-year, $215 million contract will get them there.
Something akin to consistency has been elusive in the early part of this season.
Joe Cowley
white socks
In 2022, Dylan Cease came close to pitching a no-hitter, set a major league record in 14 consecutive games with one or no runs allowed, and finished at one point in the American League Cy Young voting. 81-81 season plagued by injuries for a team with realistic playoff expectations.
Hall of Famer Tony La Russa failed to make the most of what he needed to work, and his South Side control excursion ended up beaten in the season due to problems in the center.
Pedro Grifol was hired in November to be the Sox’s third manager in 4 seasons, and former MVP Jose Abreu signed with the Astros after nine seasons in Chicago.
Daryl van Schouwen
Puppies
The additions of Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman, the progression of Justin Steele and Keegan Thompson and the emergence of Christopher Morel can do a lot to stimulate a rebuilding team.
During a season from 1974 to 1988, it became clear that “smart spending” had done more for long-term plans than for 2022. to them.
Out of the playoff race, the Cubs combined to go 39-31 after the All-Star break.
After the season, the Cubs officially separated tactics with Jason Heyward (released) and Contreras (free agent), making Kyle Hendricks the remaining 2016 World Series champion on the roster.
The recent additions of Dansby Swanson, Jameson Taillon, Cody Bellinger and others have taken a step forward on the Cubs.
Maddie Lee
Takeaway
What was a replacement year ended like Justin Fields’ season, with many losses in between.
Fields set precipitation records for a quarterback in a magical midseason run in which the Bears’ score doubled. Its expansion is important for a rebuild under general manager Ryan Poles, who traded defensive stars Khalil Mack, Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn.
The Poles and coach Matt Eberflus replaced Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy in January. President and CEO Ted Phillips announced retirement plans for early 2023 as the team prepares to close escrow at a stadium in Arlington Heights.
Although Fields seems to have passed most of his tests this season, the Poles have a lot of work ahead of them in the offseason.
Patrick Finley
Blackhawks
The Blackhawks entered what they hoped would be a long era of transition into their next era of success in 2022. Unsurprisingly, the team has lost far more games than it has won this year.
On the ice, general manager Kyle Davidson officially declared a rebuild, sent key players like Alex DeBrincat, Kirby Dach and Brandon Hagel and selected potential long-term mainstays Kevin Korchinski and Frank Nazar.
Off the ice, the Kyle Beach sex abuse scandal, which ruled the Hawks’ news cycle in 2021, disappeared from the spotlight, never repeated. Meanwhile, a new control has overhauled the staffing and design of the main office.
Towards the end of the year, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane celebrated their 1000th combined game, Game 1 on October 10, 2007, but their career with the Hawks remains uncertain.
Ben Potato
fire
After making a splash in the offseason by signing Xherdan Shaqiri, the Fire finished the season the usual way: out of the playoffs for the fifth straight year.
First-year coach Ezra Hendrickson led the team to a 10-15-9 record and started the offseason with transparent questions to answer ahead of his season at the helm. Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina, a local product, signed with Premier League side Chelsea, leaving Fuego in search of his replacement.
Club owner Joe Mansueto chose the characteristics of sporting director Georg Heitz and manager Sebastian Pelzer, who failed to develop the intensity or good fortune of the roster in his three-year tenure.
The long-term Fire remains more doubtful than ever.
Annie Costabile
Red Stars
The arrival of Chris Petrucelli as new coach began the year. But despite their more productive efforts to continue operations as usual, two investigations threatened the Red Stars and the National Women’s Football League as a whole.
The findings of U. S. Soccer’s investigation into sexual abuse and misconduct in the league, led by former Assistant Attorney General Sally Q. Yates, were released in early October. Yates’ report uncovered systemic abuses in the league and highlighted 3 clubs that fully cooperated, adding the Red Stars. Reports of emotional and verbal abuse by former coach Rory Dames were ignored by majority owner Arnim Whisler.
Before the results of the investigation of the moment, this one conducted through the NWSL and the players’ union, were published in December, Whisler initiated the procedure of promoting his participation in the club.
Annie Costabile
NCAA football
“We know how to win and compete at the championship point here,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said after a 31-28 blast against Nebraska in Week Zero in Dublin, Ireland. Eleven losses later, the Wildcats, the worst performing Power Five. team in the country, entered a long and dark offseason.
It’s much brighter in Illinois, 8-4 and bowl-related. Highs: No touchdowns allowed in the first 4 games of the house; a midseason winning streak over Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska; and that of runner Chase Brown. The lowest: the death of coach Bret Bielema’s mom and stepfather, six days apart, in November.
Notre Dame’s 8-4 doesn’t seem so smart because, well, it’s Notre Dame. Rookie coach Marcus Freeman has important things to do.
Steve Greenberg
NCAA Men’s Basketball
Illinois and Loyola, either in Pittsburgh, collapsed the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in March. The Illini bid farewell to Kofi Cockburn and, with many promises, greeted a reconstructed roster of wonderful transfers from veterans and freshmen. The Ramblers said goodbye to the Missouri Valley and hello to the Atlantic 10, a well-deserved stop.
DePaul’s women have returned to the NCAA, which their men’s program, left Dave Leitao, thank God, you can imagine.
And how is Chris Collins in Evanston? The same old, old as Northwestern is looking for a sixth straight season of waste since his breakthrough in Big Dance.
Steve Greenberg
NCAA Women’s Basketball
DePaul coach Doug Bruno has been announced as the headliner of the 2022 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame elegance, along with Becky Hammon and Penny Taylor, to kick off the year.
A few weeks later, Bruno’s team lost to Dayton in the first 4 of the NCAA Tournament, ruining their return to Big Dance after a two-year absence. The state of Illinois was the only other state team to qualify for the tournament and sent through Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the first round.
Northwestern’s Veronica Burton selected with the seventh overall pick in the WNBA Draft via the Wings after winning her third consecutive award for Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and being named AP All-American.
Annie Costabile
high football
Mount Carmel ruled the season 2022. La caravan scored a better 14-0 en route to the Class 7A State Championship and became the top-ranked team in Super 25.
Prairie Ridge quarterback Tyler Vasey had a historic season, records for yards on the court and touchdowns in a season.
Two weeks after the season ended, John Holecek resigned after 17 years at Loyola. He led the Ramblers to the Class 8A name in 2022. It’s his third in school. The Ramblers have played in seven finals with Holecek and have made the playoffs in each and every season he coached.
Michael O’Brien
High Basketball
Glenbard West’s undefeated season in the state and dominant playoff race to the Class 4A championship were the history of the best school basketball in 2022.
The Hilltoppers, Braden Huff, Caden Pierce, Ryan Renfro, Paxton Warden and Bobby Durkin opened the season with 26 straight wins. Their only loss was in front of a sold-out crowd at ESPN’s Wintrust Arena in Sierra Canyon, California, which included Amari Bailey and Bronny James. He is a drummer.
There was first offseason news in August when Michigan state rookie Jeremy Fears Jr. , one of the 30 smartest players in the 2023 national class, returned home to Joliet West from La Lumière, an Indiana high school.
Michael O’Brien