Change in sports is evident more than some of us may think. Change will be evident with the start of high school, college, and professional, football in the near future. August 27 will be week one of high school football, which was hampered by no games in Fall 2020 because of COVID-19 and six games at the most in February and March this year. August 28 will be the beginning of college football with Illinois playing at high noon Saturday, Aug. 28. The National Football League is playing preseason games now and will begin the regular season in week two of September.
Coaches who discovered a lack of victories recently plan for change with better fundamentals, chemistry, execution, hard work, and talent. Hope springs eternal.
• The onus will be on the Chicago Cubs, if not earlier, then in the three-game series in Wrigley Field against the visiting Chicago White Sox, August 27-29. Can the Cubs overcome being swept by the Sox in the teams’ first of two three-games series recently? Ordinarily the two teams compete well and each team wins at least ne game in the series. The Cubs must call on pride and a sense of urgency to compete with the Sox who are on their way to the postseason. A little solid pitching who be helpful.
• This week in The Voice on page 14 in a list of all-time home run leaders for the Sox and the Cubs. It is notable for each team of interest notes. Anthony Rizzo who went to the New York Yankees at the end of July, is in sixth place on the home run list with 242. Jose Abreu moved into third place on the Sox list last weekend, one head of Sox legend Harold Baines. How many names on the two lists, 20 players, can readers say they saw play baseball, in person, or, on television? There are a few real old-timers, especially on the Cubs.
• Seasons begin their gradual changes with hopes for good years with new players on the Bears, Bulls, Blackhawks. That fact is a constant.
• Certainly one of the top points of interest, even thrills, this season may well end up the nationally-televised game Thursday, Aug. 12 in Dyersville, Iowa, the Field of Dreams game. The White Sox led nearly all of he way, lost the lead to the slugging New York Yankees, and won in the bottom of the ninth inning, 9-8, on a two-run home run by shortstop Tim Anderson. It was dramatic.
• If memory serves correctly, the first Major League Baseball game played in Iowa last week was the largest televised audience for a regular-season game in six years. It should not be surprising. The excitement included links to the book and movie, Field of Dreams, large audiences from New York and Chicago, playoff contenders in the Yankees and the White Sox, expectations of seeing Shoeless Joe Jackson walk out of the cornstalks, and instead saw Kevin Costner appear, a temporary field with a capacity of more than 8,000 spectators not many acres from the small diamond on the farm for filming the movie, and a build up of a super, special, event. We are a country of special attractions. The setting, the game, and for Sox fans, lived up to the buildup. Next year Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds?