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The easy explanation for the Chicago Cubs’ 17-1 loss to the New York Mets on Wednesday (June 26) at Wrigley Field? Well, they could have been anticipating participating in Kerry Wood’s celebrity bowling tournament later in the day at 10pin Bowling Lounge to benefit the Wood Family Foundation.
Kim DeJesus and comedian/author Finesse Mitchell bowled on the same lane.
That might sounds better to Cubs fans than hearing about starter Jeff Samardzija struggling. At the Wood event, he did spend some time as a celebrity bartender (in case he ever might need another occupation to fall back on?).
Cubs fans and beautiful people (not necessarily two separate groups all the time) were there. So was I.
Among those attending were wrestler CM Punk, actor John Mahoney, comedian Finesse Mitchell, former Chicago Bears defensive tackle Steve McMichael and tight end Desmond Clark. Late in the night, actor John Cusack show up. During the live auction portion of the proceedings late in the night, Cubs owner Tom Ricketts and Cubs right-hander Ryan Dempster each kicked in $15,000 for funds that will go to helping youngsters.
Your humble correspondent had the pleasure of being coaxed onto the lanes to fill the spot of Starlin Castro on a team that included pitcher Paul Maholm, Irv Herschman (who recorded a turkey — that’s three consecutive strikes) and good friend Michele Sotak (the former Chicago Bliss Lingerie Football League player who is a personal trainer at HiFi Fitness and who keeps threatening/promising to provide personal training for yours truly).
Finesse Mitchell knows how to roll -- a bowling ball and otherwise.
Let the record show in a battle of left-handers, Elliott Harris actually outrolled Maholm (no clue how that actually happened) by 11 pins and edged Michele by 5. There’s no need to embarrass anyone boast by revealing the actual totals. Irv bested Elliott by 52 pins.
Everyone appeared to have a good time regardless of whether they were knocking down pins or merely enjoying the food and/or the opportunity to hang with members of the Cubs. If nothing else, the bowling provided some of the most unusual styles known to man (or woman).
Speaking of females, Comcast SportsNet’s Sarah Kustok demonstrated fine form and should be leaving to joing the Women’s Pro Bowling Tour any minute now. Kim DeJesus, wife of outfielder David DeJesus, showed she could bowl as well in high heels as in bowling shoes. A definite threat on the lanes. Or possibly to the lanes.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun. Or what some of us — if we’re really fortunate — get to call work.
You want happy campers on the Chicago Sky? Well, the WNBA team might want to reconsider having Camp Day. The Sky held another one Wednesday morning (June 26). And lost another one. Since 2006, the Sky is 3-11 in camp day games.
The Indiana Fever defeated the Sky 81-72 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill. Indiana has won the last three in the series and is 21-5 all-time.
Sylvia Fowles had a game-high 19 points for the Sky (7-4). Swin Cash added a season-high 17 points. Guard Ticha Penicheiro returned from a nine-game injury absence and had three assists. Tamera Young had 15 points, her first double-digit game as a starter. The Sky outrebounded an opponent for the ninth time this season (32-28).
So how did the Fever win?
Well, Indiana made 11-of-19 three-point attempts. Shavonte Zellous had a season-high 18 points. Tamika Catchings had 17 points (3-of-15 from the field; 3-of-6 three-pointers) and a season-high nine assists. Jeanette Pohlen scored a season-high 14 (including 4-of-6 three-pointers).
“You look at the stat sheet and Catchings goes 3-for-15, [Katie] Douglas goes 2-for-8, and [Erin] Phillips went 0-for-3, but when you let shooters like Jeanette Pohlen get open off of dribble penetration and let her get her feet set, it’s not enough against a quality team coming off a tough loss. It seemed like every time we had a breakdown off the dribble or didn’t rotate, they punished us. I think that is just a part of being mentally tough for 40 minutes. If you aren’t, you will pay on those possessions.”
” knew they were going to come in hungry after losing to Atlanta,” Cash said. “We didn’t do everything we need to do for the whole 40 minutes to win the game, and we understand that. There are things we can correct in this offense.”
“I don’t think we have a mental edge over them,” Zellous said. “I think on any given night, they can beat us and we can beat them. Chicago’s a very good team, especially with Syl down low. Epiphanny’s out right now, but they have very talented girls. Tamera stepped up, Swin played well. It was just our night tonight.”
“Our bench was huge tonight.” Catchings said. “Jeanette coming off the bench and knocking down some tough 3’s was huge for us.”
If it’s Thursday (which when I looked at the clock and calender, it indeed is as this is being typed), then it is time once again for your weekly dose of “Sports & Torts,” co-hosted by David Spada and Elliott Harris. Scheduled guests for the June 28 show are former big-league baseball players George Altman and Roy Sievers and Hall of Fame golfer Kathy Whitworth. Altman will be in suburban Chicago over the weekend for a sports collectibles show at the Stephens Center in Rosemont. For persons who might be interested in advertising on the show, kindly contact david@injuryinillinois.com. Or unkindly contact David, if that’s the way you want to be.
With warm weather (well, if your idea of warm weather is 100 degrees in June) is scheduled to be part of Chicago’s short-term forecast. To provide the proper mind-set, here are three videos to help out (best viewed indoors where air conditioning or a fan might be available):
Some of us who never met Norah Ephron still are thinking about her. She died Wednesday. Among her writing and directing credits was “Sleepless in Seattle.” Among the tunes in that movie was “Make Someone Happy.” Not a bad philosophy to have. Not a bad song to listen to, either — especially the Jimmy Durante version that was in the film:
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