Sports Saturday

Bulls

Bulls coach Billy Donovan sees plenty of room for a healthy Lonzo Ball

Ball hasn’t played since the 2021-22 season. Since that time, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu have emerged as legit scorers. Has the guard room gotten too crowded? Donovan doesn’t think so.

By Joe Cowley

Cubs

Polling Place: Is it time for the Cubs to pull Kyle Hendricks from the rotation?

Other poll questions: Do you wish Tim Anderson were still with the White Sox? And how sure are you that Caleb Williams is the best QB in next week’s NFL Draft?

By Steve Greenberg

Blackhawks

Analyzing most encouraging, discouraging aspects of Blackhawks’ 2023-24 season

A boatload of people, including two children in life vests, enjoy an outing with Chicago No Limits Fishing on a boat last.

Outdoors

This Chicago fishing group opens the outdoors for people with disabilities

White Sox

Tim Anderson on his rise and fall with the White Sox and trying to 'get back to the player I used to be'

Bears

QB decision is Bears GM Ryan Poles' moment of truth

Chicago Fire

Fire look to capitalize on home-heavy schedule

The match Saturday at Soldier Field with the Houston Dynamo begins a stretch of four home games over the next five.

By Brian Sandalow

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Turkey flocks are among the notes

A question on the size of turkey flocks heads the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

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College Sports

Bracket busters? UConn has been more like bracket gangbusters

Bet on it: Behind genius Hurley, UConn looks to go 6-0 against the spread in NCAA tourney for second consecutive year

By Rob Miech

Bulls

Bulls draw first blood in three-game ‘series' with former coach Tom Thibodeau's Knicks

The Knicks and Bulls hit an odd part of the schedule as the regular season comes to an end, playing three times in 10 days.

By Joe Cowley

Bulls

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau continues to prove old Bulls regime wrong

In building a case for Thibodeau’s dismissal in 2015, the former Bulls front office played the minutes card and played it hard. That false narrative has stuck with Thibodeau, despite the numbers saying something different.

By Joe Cowley

Purdue center Zach Edey dunks against Rutgers.

College Sports

Final Four: Will N.C. State's DJ Burns Jr. — or UConn's Donovan Clingan — neutralize Purdue star Zach Edey?

Here are 10 things to think about during Saturday’s men’s semifinals.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Uncoiling some Chicago outdoors history

Sorting through pieces of change in history related to the natural world from smelt netting in Chicago to Michigan Maritime Museum to American white pelicans in Indiana to trumpeter swans in Palos.

By Dale Bowman

Bears

NFL mock draft: Predicting Bears' picks at No. 1 and No. 9

The Bears are zeroing in on what they want to do in the draft.

By Patrick Finley

Cubs

Polling Place: Here's how you voted on the Cubs', White Sox' outlooks in 2024

Last, we asked where baseball ranks on your list of spectator sports. First? Second? Third? Not even?

By Steve Greenberg

Reporters watch a video screen displaying the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (right) and interpreter Will Ireton.

MLB

Japanese baseball expert wonders what Shohei Ohtani left out in statement on gambling scandal

Ohtani’s 650-word speech hardly qualified as a news conference because those usually entail back-and-forth questions and answers with media figures. Author Bob Whiting has an interesting perspective on the Japanese star.

By Rob Miech

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Making a coot look good and enjoying/teaching suburban wildlife

A striking photo of a coot, an unphotogenic bird, and ruminations on a reader and his granddaughter enjoying suburban deer are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

Bulls

Nets shoot Bulls out of the arena

The Hawks are only a half-game behind the Bulls for the No. 9 seed. DeMar DeRozan said it’s time to treat the remaining games like they’re all “one-and-dones.”

By Joe Cowley

Bulls

Bulls well aware of their perilous position in standings

While the No. 9 seed isn’t ideal, it’s where the Bulls have been for quite some time and where coach Billy Donovan wants them to stay with eight games left.

By Joe Cowley

Terrence Shannon Jr. celebrates during Illinois’ win over Rutgers.

College Sports

Nobody's having more fun than Elite Eight-bound Illinois, but a dark cloud still lingers overhead

As the Illini go deeper in March Madness, more and more of our readers are tuning in — and some of them are only beginning to learn about Terrence Shannon Jr.’s case and consider how it makes them feel to cheer the team on.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Acquisition of Tamarack Farms gives Hackmatack NWR a major addition

The acquisition of Tamarack Farms makes Hackmatack National Wildlife Refuge a more impactful destination and creates within Hackmatack a major macrosite for conservation.

By Dale Bowman

College Sports

March Madness: Which NCAA men's No. 1 will go furthest? And will the South Carolina women go all the way?

Those were two of the questions in this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on the site formerly known as Twitter.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: A buck still holding antlers and dilly-dallying with pickerel

A buck still holding antlers in Crete and a question on pickerel and the Illinois record are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

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College Sports

South Carolina and the Dawn of a dynasty

Staley led the Gamecocks to another undefeated regular season, a feat few pundits thought possible.

By Annie Costabile

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MLB

The A's have it: Storied Tropicana casino will be razed to accommodate ballpark for Athletics.<br/>

Bet on it: While Las Vegas gains an MLB team, it loses part of its storied history.

By Rob Miech

Bulls

Can fearless Bulls shooter Onuralp Bitim become the next Max Strus?

The Bulls let Strus leave after the 2019-20 season, and they could have really used his services since. Now they have a rookie in Bitim who has some similar traits. Is the former Turkish League standout on that path, and does he have staying power with the Bulls?

By Joe Cowley

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Outdoors

Standing tall and peering close at the Illinois Taxidermist Association Convention

The convention provided a chance to learn and see some amazing work up close.

By Dale Bowman

Inside the Blackhawks' process for challenging goals: Camera angles, radios and eagle-eye vision

By Ben Pope

Bears

Polling Place: On NCAA brackets, the Cubs, the White Sox and Caleb Williams

There’s a lot of love for a soon-to-be rookie who’s about three and a half years younger than Justin Fields.

By Steve Greenberg

Outdoors

Chicago outdoors: Mystery gnawing on bird box and Illinois' record bobcat harvest

A mysterious gnawing on a bird box in Tinley Park and Illinois’ record bobcat harvest are among the notes from around Chicago outdoors and beyond.

By Dale Bowman

Red Stars

Mallory Swanson is at the center of the Red Stars new era

Nearly 52 weeks later, Swanson is on the other side of her rehab, gearing up for her fourth season with the Red Stars. Swanson and the team open the NWSL season Saturday on the road against the Utah Royals at 6:30 p.m.

By Annie Costabile

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Outdoors

Tracking the family circle of a bald eagle pair

Tom Schrader is on a quest to document a pair of bald eagles near Hinckley from start to finish in the nesting season.

By Dale Bowman

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Chicago Sky and WNBA

Sky's focus shifts to training camp with free-agency moves wrapped up

The Sky have $391,887 in cap space and three roster spots to fill heading into camp, which begins April 28. For draftees, the Sky present the best opportunity to make a WNBA roster.

By Annie Costabile

College Sports

Illinois rallies to beat Ohio State 77-74 in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals

Might this be the start of a memorable March for the Illini?

By Steve Greenberg

Cubs

Cubs infield prospect Jefferson Rojas on the rise

Rojas, 18, signed with the Cubs out of the Dominican Republic in 2022.

By Maddie Lee

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Bears

Even Vegas insiders can't agree on what the Bears should do with Justin Fields

Bet on it: Pro handicapper Tom Barton, a lifelong Bears fan, says team should trade No. 1 pick to get haul, but others disagree

By Rob Miech