With live sporting events on pause, we asked each of the Chicago Tribune’s sports reporters to submit two or three of their favorite stories they have written over the last year or so and why they enjoyed them.
The subjects ranged from major news events such as David Ross replacing Joe Maddon as Cubs manager, Andrew Luck’s abrupt retirement from the NFL and the death of Kobe Bryant to offbeat pieces such as Charles Tillman rowing across Lake Michigan, a 26-time women’s golf club champion inspired by Mike Ditka and a college football game 30 years ago in Moscow that never materialized.
Here are our writers’ picks and what they had to say about them.
Brad Biggs
Ron Rivera takes control of the Redskins
Although I had communicated briefly with Ron Rivera after the Redskins hired the former Bears linebacker and defensive coordinator as their new coach, I was curious to find out why he jumped at the opportunity to work for owner Daniel Snyder before considering other vacancies. Rivera green-lighted a visit to chat about it, and I booked a flight to Washington.
Two days before the trip, I double-checked to make sure he was good to meet, and he said he was leaving at 12:30 p.m. on the day I arrived. What time was I landing and could I come a day earlier? My flight didn’t get in until 9:30 a.m., leaving little time for an interview, so I moved my flight up a day. When I arrived at Redskins Park in the early afternoon, he welcomed me to his office and we met for more than two hours as he unpacked boxes, arranging a huge space he had only begun to organize after four weeks on the job.
Rivera had more business to handle, so he said he would stick me with tight ends coach Pete Hoener, the former Bears offensive line coach. He walked me to Hoener’s office, where we caught up and watched a little film but talked about life more than anything. After two hours with Hoener, Rivera was done working for the day and we continued our conversation over dinner.
He expressed a profound belief in the vision Snyder sold him of a coach-centric organization that gives Rivera more control than he had during nine seasons with the Panthers. It was compelling to listen to the reasons he laid out, the chance to build from the ground up with an owner who has never spared expenses supporting men he believes in.
Bobby Massie’s contract extension
Bobby Massie was weeks away from a big payday in free agency when the right tackle signed a five-year, $40 million extension with the Bears with $15.8 million guaranteed in January 2019, a little more than a week after the season ended. Massie eliminated 31 potential bidders by striking a deal well before his agent could get a sense for what might be out there for him.
In Phoenix that March to cover the NFL owners meeting, I knew Massie regularly worked out at LeCharles Bentley’s O-Line Performance center, so I went there bright and early one morning, figuring Massie was the kind of guy to take care of his business early in the day. When I walked into the large gym, I saw former Bears offensive lineman Taylor Boggs, who works there. He confirmed my hunch that Massie was expected soon.
Massie was surprised to see me and happy to talk about his decision, which some had criticized because he potentially left significant money on the table.
“I don’t care,” he said. “At the end of the day, I was happy with what I got and I was where I wanted to be. Wait for a few more pennies? I am where I wanted to be.
“I am just ecstatic, man. I didn’t want to leave the city of Chicago and I didn’t want to leave this team. I know we’ve got something special brewing. It didn’t end the way we wanted it to end last year, and so everybody I have spoken to, everyone I see, we’re grinding for this season to get to that top spot.”
Jamal Collier
The United Center honors Kobe Bryant
This one won’t be much help for people looking for an upbeat distraction from the global pandemic, but I’ll never forget how surreal this day felt. After the Bulls shootaround at about noon, I went over to the United Center, where people had started writing messages to Kobe Bryant in chalk on the sidewalk and wall. By the time I arrived for the game at about 4:45, the messages had taken over the sidewalk.
It was apparent all day just how many people felt impacted by Bryant in some way, from those who played with or against him to those who never met him but grew up idolizing his game or watching and admiring his play on the court. That outpouring of emotion for a player who never played in a Bulls uniform was so apparent at the UC and emblematic of what a tough moment this was for the entire NBA.
Zach LaVine’s All-Star Weekend
When the All-Star Game’s return to Chicago was initially announced, long before I was on the Bulls beat, I think everyone instantly put Zach LaVine back in the Slam Dunk contest and wondered what he might have in store.
This didn’t turn out to be the weekend anyone had in mind, especially LaVine, who wanted to play in the game for the first time. But he still tried to represent the Bulls, participating in the 3-Point Contest as the unofficial host player for the weekend. I tried to capture what All-Star Weekend was like when the NBA took over the UC and left the Bulls, for the most part, on the sidelines.
Mark Gonzales
David Ross’ no-nonsense background
This feature on David Ross portrayed him as a badass leader long before the Cubs hired him as manager, seen through the lenses of people who have known him for decades.
Will Venable’s unlikely adviser
Cubs coach Will Venable interviewed for three managerial vacancies in the offseason, and he became the latest managerial candidate to receive advice from an unlikely source: former USC football and current Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
Areas the Cubs need to fix
I wrote this story with one week left in the season. The last item — a lack of accountability in the clubhouse — was confirmed at the end of the season by team officials and others.
Teddy Greenstein
Lisa Simpson and Mike Ditka
I was leafing through the Chicago District Golf Association’s magazine and checking out the list of club champions. I saw the name Lisa Simpson and chuckled because I’m a “Simpsons” nut. I also noticed a “(26)” next to Simpson’s name. Had she won that many titles at Park Ridge Country Club? I texted my friend Jack Wambach, who is a member there. He called Lisa “an absolute riot” and set up a round.
Turned out that Lisa and her husband, Bob, are super tight with Mike and Diane Ditka. I asked Lisa if I could call Mike for the story, and she recommended I do the interview at Ditka’s Restaurant downtown. Mike told us to come for dinner. I brought Emmy, my 8-year-old. She went nuts the other day when she saw Ditka being interviewed for ESPN’s “30 for 30” film on the ’85 Bears.
Inside the world of Gene Honda
Back in 2004, I was working on a story about how Cubs reliever Kyle Farnsworth would sometimes tend bar at Wrigleyville taverns after games. One (late) night I went to Tai’s Til 4 and came upon Gene Honda. At the time I knew him only by voice for introductions such as “Fraaaaaaaaaank Thomas!” Gene has this amazing personality, quick with a quip or self-deprecating joke. He belly-laughs. And smokes. And despite his last name, did most Chicagoans realize he is Japanese American?
Last spring I asked to shadow him for a White Sox game — and to join him for a trivia night at Will’s Northwoods Inn. Always better to get a subject in his or her natural setting. One of the questions: In 1946, this telecommunications engineering corporation was formed in Tokyo. What is it known as today? Gene’s response: Sony. Correct! “Thank you, Mother,” Gene said.
Big Ten ref Dan Capron dishes
I love writing about refs. I first did it after the 2016 Michigan-Ohio State football game, which featured the controversial J.T. Barrett spot. Later I spent two days with Big Ten basketball officials before and after they worked games at Purdue and Northwestern. After a Northwestern football game last fall, coach Pat Fitzgerald saluted Dan Capron for his 20 years as a referee. In December I noticed that Capron would be ending his run on top by working the Big Ten title game. I emailed Big Ten officiating chief Bill Carollo and asked if he thought Capron would be interesting to interview; maybe he would have a war story or two.
Turned out that Capron (rhymes with “apron”), a Chicago attorney, had some of the juiciest stories and one-liners I could have imagined. When he likened Jim Harbaugh’s behavior to that of a fourth-grader, I knew I had something. The story garnered more than 250,000 pageviews.
Colleen Kane
Da Story of Da Super Fans
This idea came about as we were brainstorming for our Bears 100 project and began thinking about the team as a part of pop-culture history. Editor Chris Boghossian thought he had a way to reach out to George Wendt, and after several months of back and forth between them, we suddenly got our chance when Wendt and Robert Smigel were filming an NBC promo for the season opener. The interview was in the back of a motor home in a Soldier Field parking lot while they were waiting for Brett Favre to arrive — and it was predictably hilarious as they seamlessly moved in and out of character.
It was fun to research and write about an odd part of the fabric of Chicago sports. Rewatching the sketches and the Bulls’ Grant Park rallies was a great memory trip. And on a personal note, the day we interviewed Smigel and Wendt was the anniversary of my dad’s death. I always wonder what my dad, a big sports fan, would think of some of the opportunities I’ve gotten as my career advanced. I remember him being a big fan of “Cheers,” and this was one assignment he would have really gotten a kick out of. That made it even cooler.
Lonnie Johnson Jr.’s draft weekend
The football journey of Lonnie Johnson Jr. from Gary to two junior colleges to the University of Kentucky to the No. 54 pick in the NFL draft by the Texans last spring was a compelling one. But I picked this story as one of my favorites because there’s something special about witnessing a family’s big moment of joy.
I was waddling around eight months pregnant at the time, and so many of his family members, former coaches and Gary leaders wanted to talk about his success over the first two nights of the draft. The classroom we gathered in for the second night was packed, and some tension built as he waited more than an hour watching the broadcast on TV. I won’t soon forget the moment when everybody in the room jumped up with their cameras raised to watch Johnson answer his phone and cry and hug his family.
Jeremy Mikula
Micheal Azira’s unbelievable journey
If Micheal Azira’s life story sounds incredible, that’s because it is.
Growing up in a one-bedroom house with five siblings, the Chicago Fire midfielder escaped poverty, traveled 8,000 miles for a college scholarship in the U.S. and worked his way through the lower rungs of American soccer before finding his way to MLS and the Ugandan national team.
Azira isn’t a flashy player nor is he a big name, but his life story deserves top billing — not that he seeks the spotlight. Azira is as humble as his origins and focuses his attention on paying it forward, helping teach about 1,500 kids in Uganda the importance of education.
“Growing up with that kind of life, I use it as a motivation to pursue everything that I do,” Azira told the Tribune. “It motivates me every day to wake up and work as hard as I can to be able to achieve what I’ve achieved so far. And because of what I’ve achieved, I need to try to help other kids because a lot of people have been able to help me get here.”
Months after the story ran, Azira came up to me during the Fire’s media day in January, thanking me for telling his story and showing photos of his most recent trip to Uganda to organize a youth soccer tournament.
The Red Stars’ historic day
The parking lot: jammed. The concourses: packed. The atmosphere: buzzing.
It’s not every day women’s sports receive the same attention — and media coverage — men’s sports do, which is why July 21, 2019, was a historic day for the Chicago Red Stars. A club-record 17,388 attended a welcome-back match for their World Cup players against the North Carolina Courage at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview.
“That’s what it’s all about,” Red Stars captain and U.S. national team member Julie Ertz said. “We want to make sure this is a place that has young girls we can play in front of and have them dream about filling our shoes eventually. It was so cool.”
Women’s soccer fans are nothing if not dedicated and passionate, driving long distances to support their team even while nine months pregnant. To see a packed stadium with a hot atmosphere for a women’s sporting event was not just special, it was historically significant.
As for the game itself? The Red Stars leaned on the big crowd to spur a comeback victory.
LaMond Pope
Tim Anderson’s hot start
I’ve been fortunate to cover many major-league games through the years, including the 2006 World Series for the Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette. But there was another level of excitement having the opportunity to contribute to the baseball coverage for one of the papers I grew up reading.
That first chance came last April 9, when the White Sox played the Rays. I caught up with shortstop Tim Anderson, who was on a tear during the first two weeks of the season. He would continue to roll, becoming the first Sox player since 1997 to win the American League batting title. And my role would officially change in June, when I became the Tribune’s Sox beat reporter.
Phil Rosenthal
Mike Adamle’s toughest fight
Former running back and sportscaster Mike Adamle has always been a fighter, and he’s not backing away now, even facing a challenge he can’t beat. His mind is eroding, yet the determination and dignity he shows is truly inspirational.
Ron Coomer’s dream come true
Ron Coomer, a former American League All-Star, comes across as an everyman as an analyst on Cubs radio broadcasts alongside Pat Hughes. There’s a reason for that: He is one. The difference is the dreams almost every kid has came true for him.
Shannon Ryan
Kofi Cockburn’s family inspiration
I knew Kofi Cockburn was big and strong and off to a great start. The 7-foot Illinois center had already broken a school record for rebounds in a game by a freshman.
What I wanted to learn was how he made his way from Jamaica to Champaign and who in his track-and-field-obsessed home country had inspired him to get into basketball. Years ago as a reporter for another outlet, I traveled to Jamaica to write about some of their youth track stars. I witnessed how many of the island’s best athletes become stars with very few athletic resources.
That also was true of Cockburn, whose older brother pushed him toward greatness. I talked to Nagash Cockburn in mid-November through WhatsApp. He was hesitant to dole out anything that sounded overly complimentary, but he was bursting with pride.
Kofi Cockburn is about a foot and a half taller than I am. His voice is a deep baritone. Billboards show him flexing and screaming. He’s a statue of power.
But when we talked, he sounded like a college freshman, a kid. He was concerned about pleasing his coach, a little homesick for his family and eager to please his old home (Jamaica) and his new home (Champaign). Even after dominant double-double performances, he was clearly eager to improve and deflected to his teammates.
The Glasnost Bowl
Shortly after Illinois announced in October it would open its 2021 football season in Ireland, my editor, Joel Boyd, sent me an email that included a three-paragraph article from a university archive he had stumbled upon. He messaged me something along the lines of “speaking of international games …” and thought maybe we would find more to the story.
The story of the 1989 Glasnost Bowl — a wild idea to play a college football game in Moscow near the end of the Cold War, right? — turned out to be one of my favorites of the football season.
People most closely involved with the Glasnost Bowl hadn’t really thought it was much of a story over the years. Isn’t it almost always that way? But sometimes those overlooked stories that seem so mundane and unimportant in our own lives are the ones people are most eager to hear.
I asked Illinois equipment manager Trent Chesnut if there was any leftover memorabilia. Less than a half-hour after we spoke, true to his masterful organization, he sent me a photograph with three jerseys. One said “Reagan” on the back. Another read “Gorbachev.” The third had “Bush.”
There’s no spring football this year at Illinois — or anywhere. But let’s hope there’s a kickoff next season in Champaign … or at least by game time in Ireland.
Paul Sullivan
The death of Jim Bouton
Of all the players I admired growing up, none fascinated me as much as Jim Bouton, who humanized players in the epic baseball diary “Ball Four.” When Bouton died last summer, I wrote an appreciation of the book and its author.
The Cubs’ changing of the guard
As the Cubs collapse unfolded before our eyes, talk at Wrigley Field turned to who would replace Joe Maddon as manager. The obvious choice was right in front of us all along, and eventually it came to fruition with the hiring of David Ross.
Phil Thompson
Mike Ditka’s ‘look-alike’
Ever since I moved to Chicago more than 20 years ago and a saw guy unironically rocking Aviator glasses, a satin jacket and a Ditka ‘stache on one of my first rides on the Blue Line, I have been intrigued by this persona of the old-school Chicagoan, parodied to great effect by the “Saturday Night Live” Super Fans sketch.
I’ve met a few real-life old-schoolers with that quaint accent and bushy mustache (including an overzealous security guard I used to know), but as the years go by, those run-ins seem fewer and farther between. So even if Don Feuling hadn’t been sporting Ditka’s signature sweater vest, slicked-back hairdo and sunglasses when I spotted him during the NFL Kickoff Experience at Grant Park, I would like to think I could’ve picked him out of a crowd anyway.
Feuling insists he doesn’t try to mimic “Da Coach,” but he has a Ditka vibe just being himself. You might think that in a Bears town, one eventually would get sick of hearing, “Hey, you look like …,” but trust me, Feuling eats up every second of it.
And he loves sharing his Bears passion with his three grandchildren. He recalled grandson J.J. Feuling’s birthday cake that was a replica of Soldier Field.
“It was only his third birthday and he knew the Bears fight song. … And he refused to let us sing ‘Happy Birthday’ before we sang the Bears fight song.”
Charles Tillman crosses Lake Michigan
Sixty-five miles. Twenty-five and a half hours.
That’s how far and how long former Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman and his friend, tech-based marketing executive Jacob Beckley, had to row across Lake Michigan to raise nearly $200,000 in donations for their respective pediatric cancer charities.
It was a physically grueling trip — Beckley was hooked up to an intravenous drip while we talked — but they kept their humor.
I asked Tillman if the overnight rowing adventure had him seeing things.
“I thought I saw a starship cruiser, like an aircraft carrier,” he said. “But I knew I was tripping because it was 4 in the morning. It’s like, ‘Nah, you can’t have an aircraft carrier on Lake Michigan.’ It was a long night.”
I asked Beckley about their roughest stretch and he deadpanned, “About 2 miles.”
But seriously, “it got bad I’d say around 3 or 4 in the morning,” Beckley said. “The winds really picked up, so we were doing negative pace. Then we got to like 1 mile an hour for like 10 hours. It was bad.”
Tillman said he was glad he took on the challenge, though he’s not looking to repeat the feat: “I’m good. One and done.”
Dan Wiederer
Buy me some … what?
It was a beautiful July Wednesday, and Rich Campbell and I had just finished our 36th hole of the day. (We had permission. I think.) With only eight days until the opening of training camp, a clubhouse beer was mandatory. It happened to come during the seventh inning of a Cubs-Reds game at Wrigley Field, with Matt Nagy the scheduled guest conductor.
Pretty soon, on NBC Sports Chicago, there was the reigning NFL Coach of the Year energizing the crowd with his enthusiastic rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” Suddenly, Rich’s head twisted toward me. “Did you hear that?” he asked. I hadn’t. “I don’t think he said ‘peanuts.’ “
I chuckled at Rich’s juvenile mind. But he wasn’t alone. Nagy’s Pennsylvania Dutch accent had confused quite a few people. It required a Tribune investigation. When training camp opened, Bears players acknowledged they were in on the laughter and certain to stay away from one of Nagy’ favorite toppings at the team sundae bar. Hard-hitting stuff, I know.
Andrew Luck’s sudden retirement
The Tribune’s usually robust Bears coverage team had been thinned out. Two writers were back home dealing with newborns, with another tending to a pressing personal matter. But it was only a trivial preseason road game against the Colts in August, made even more meaningless by the Bears not playing any of their key starters. Sure, I could handle the night solo. Easily. Just dial in on the Elliott Fry versus Eddy Pineiro kicking battle. Crank out a story postgame. Hit the road. What could possibly happen?
Except for the mid-third-quarter revelation that Colts quarterback Andrew Luck was retiring. Followed by several hours of confusion and locker-room availability and an impromptu news conference at Lucas Oil Stadium featuring Luck, Colts owner Jim Irsay, coach Frank Reich and general manager Chris Ballard. So much to sift through. So much to keep track of. What a wild and dizzying night but a unique chance to chronicle a big moment in NFL history.
