Jack M Silverstein
@readjack
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Chicago's Sports Historian. Director, Content Studio, @WTWH_Media . Talking to strangers since 1981. "6 Rings" book coming. Avatar 📸 by @thought_poet77 .
Chicago, IL
Joined June 2009
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The more things change...
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Magic was the
#1
overall pick to a 47-win team bc of a now-obsolete free agent trade rule. He joined a 5x MVP who won MVP his rookie year. He won two titles & got the
#1
pick again in a 1980 trade for a 3 PPG guy. By 1987, Magic was one of four
#1
overall picks on the Lakers.
Magic Johnson on whether he ever wanted to team up w/ Michael Jordan:
"No. I wasnt like that. I never tried to get all the named dudes. Thats what makes sports special - competition. Go make it happen..if you the best"
Seems like every great player has this mentality except one
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After the Bulls won the 1998
#NBAFinals
, which Phil Jackson had nicknamed "The Last Dance" due to Phil + 10 players (including Jordan, Pippen and Rodman) on expiring contracts, Bob Costas delivered an astounding monologue that would predict the NBA's next 20+ years.
Stunning.
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@JussBeKnowin
"That was about my dad."
The story behind the iconic Kobe Bryant shower trophy photo. From
@BillPlaschke
/
@latimes
via
@_newspapers
:
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Mike Royko's column following MLK assassination:
"He wanted only that black Americans have their constitutional rights, that they get an equal shot at this country's benefits, the same thing we give to the last guy who jumped off the boat.
So we killed him."
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25 years ago, for two weeks in May of 1994, the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks played a 7-game playoff series. Its highlights are legendary. Its controversy is iconic.
This is the true story of how seven games in the second round forever changed the NBA.
A thread.
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If you need a pick-me-up today, never forget that Prince held a surprise press conference before
#SuperBowlXLI
, said he would take a few questions, let a reporter get through 7 words and then ripped into a 12-minute set, starting with Johnny B Goode, and then bounced.
#legend
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He earned a championship ring with the Bulls in 1997, gave MJ his chair in the Flu Game but played only 12 minutes all season.
This is the true story of Matt Steigenga, who turns 49 today and owns one of the most fortuitous places in Chicago sports history.
A thread.
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The world feels grim. So if you need a pick-me-up, do what I do: watch Christopher Walken's
@ConanOBrien
appearances. Here he is in 2000 talking about the cooking show he wants to do in his kitchen on the internet and also it's an advice show and a psychic hotline and one-liners.
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Better look at the late hit on Justin Fields. I’m glad the broadcast showed this again. Blatant late hit that was also toward his head and neck.
(And that ball hit the ground — should not have been an interception.)
@WCGridiron
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Until his surprise retirement, Magic played with 1-2 All-Stars every year:
'80: Kareem (MVP)
'81: Kareem
'82: Kareem, Nixon
'83: Kareem, Wilkes
'84: Kareem
'85: Kareem
'86: Kareem, Worthy
'87: Kareem, Worthy
'88: Kareem, Worthy
'89: Kareem, Worthy
'90: Worthy, A.C.
'91: Worthy
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@shornKOOMINS
Thank you for posting this! I had never seen it, nor heard this story, nor knew he ever wrote a fourth verse. Full verse:
So at some point Coolio wrote a FOURTH verse to Gangsta’s Paradise?? He preformed it in an impromptu college house party in the 2010s. This is what I love about music and what makes me jealous of musicians. You can’t do this with an article.
Full:
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It's embarrassing that we got rid of a player as Chicago as Jimmy Butler.
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On Feb. 1, 1995, Michael Jordan was the projected left fielder for the AAA Nashville Sounds while Scottie Pippen was desperate to get himself traded off the Bulls.
45 days later, on March 18, they were reunited.
This is the day-by-day account of those 45 days.
A thread.
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RIP to Norm MacDonald, one of the funniest comedians of his day who on this date in 2006 had surely one of the greatest "too soon" moments in comedy history, riffing on the death of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin just 10 days after Irwin died. Salute to
@ScottKingMedia
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Salaries left to right: $0, $0, $0, $0, $3,000,000, $0, $2,088,577, $0, $0
#nationalchampionship
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So at some point Coolio wrote a FOURTH verse to Gangsta’s Paradise?? He preformed it in an impromptu college house party in the 2010s. This is what I love about music and what makes me jealous of musicians. You can’t do this with an article.
Full:
Remember when Coolio did a gig in Preston, ran into a group of random students outside afterwards and went back to their place, where he made Caprese Salad, Chicken á la Daaaamn and Peach Crumble, and they jammed Gangster's Paradise. What a guy.
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When you label a quarterback a “running back,” not only is it insulting but it leads to refs officiating a QB like a RB. This should clearly be a flag to protect Justin Fields but too often we see refs not protecting Black dual-threat QBs.
@SeeDaneRun
@TJenkinsElite
@P_Shels
@loumoore12
@firstandpen
Column A, as it were, is part of Column B. Josh Allen has been celebrated for his running but no one calls him a "running back." And when that label takes hold, refs start officiating a player like a running back instead of like a quarterback.
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20 years ago today, Michael Jordan retired for the 2nd time. This set off a 10-day chain of events unprecedented in pro sports, transforming a 62-win, three-time defending champ into a 13-37 nightmare and changing the Bulls franchise in ways that still reverberate.
A Thread.
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If you want to understand Larry Bird's famous "God disguised as Michael Jordan" quote after MJ's 63-point game in 1986, three days prior Bird called Jordan "no question ... the best basketball player in the league."
Larry Bird won his 3rd straight MVP that year.
#TheLastDance
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10 years ago today, the Bears lost the NFC championship game at Soldier Field against the Packers. It was a franchise turning point for us and the defining Bears game of the past decade.
Here are my top 10 thoughts on the game and its legacy.
A depression thread.
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Colin Kaepernick, watching Blake Bortles, Mike Glennon, Brian Hoyer, Tom Savage, and Scott Tolzien start games today:
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I need to just bask in my favorite Chicago sports moments. Here they are, as they come to me.
A feel-good thread.
Let’s start with a two-parter: Mike Brown!
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ANNOUNCEMENT.
I am writing a book.
"6 Rings: The Bulls, The City, and the Dynasty that Changed the Game"
Coming in 2021.
Want to join me for my research ride?
Subscribe to my newsletter, right here:
What will this be? Let me tell you.
A thread.
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602 touchdown passes
* Tom Brady: 2001-2021
* Chicago Bears: 1989-2021
It's just exhausting loving this team.
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Ravens are figuring out how to get the most out of Sam Mustipher and the Bears staff can't figure out how to get the most out of Justin Fields.
"Sam Mustipher deserves a lot of credit."
Coach Harbaugh on the O-line:
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Rams points by game, 2018:
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OH HEY BEARS FANS, YOUR TEAM DID THE 6
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Forget the 6 rings. Forget the scoring titles. Forget the Flu Game. Forget the last shot.
In honor of MJ’s birthday and tonight’s
#NBAAllStar
Game, here are my top 10 underappreciated Michael Jordan feats.
A thread.
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In retrospect, I should have been worried when we hired a GM with no experience who drafted a QB with no experience and then hired a coach with almost no experience.
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This is what
@michaelharriot
just wrote about. This is not just anti-mask behavior. This is white people behavior.
Last night at Miami Int’l Airport. Another FL anti-masker covidiot. (Strong language).
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In 1992, Deion Sanders was an NFL All Pro at two positions and hit .533 in the World Series. That's just one year.
Show respect.
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This impending Bears-Giants showdown has me thinking of
@D_Hest23
,
@hthill
,
@peanuttillman
,
@BUrlacher54
,
@iidonije
,
@ManningUp38
,
@alexbrown96
and the execution of one of the greatest team plays in modern Bears history.
@WCGridiron
#BearDown
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Mitch needs to be held accountable. He needs a quarterback in the QB room who is not his buddy, and a quarterback in the room who is a legit threat to his job.
Want to shake him out of his malaise?
SIGN KAP.
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YOU BULLS FANS SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED. Booing Jerry Krause, and with his widow Thelma there?? GET LOST.
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@koliikat
@angie_goodwood
This reminds me of Woody Allen seeing a 14-year-old Mariel Hemingway in a movie, being attracted to her, and casting her in "Manhattan" two years later. Her first kiss in real life was on screen to her 43-year-old director.
Oh ha ha ha ha here's a funny story from 1979 about Woody Allen seeing a 14-year-old Mariel Hemingway in the movie "Lipstick" and thinking she was "the most beautiful woman that the world has yet seen," while calling her "kidlike" and a "kid."
This is what she looked like at 14:
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@JMcDonald_SAEN
He did!
2-22-87: 43 points, 8 steals, 5 blocks, Bulls win
2-24-87: 34 points, 5 steals, 5 blocks, Bulls win (and 12 boards)
H/T
@bball_ref
@_newspapers
@MrCraw4D
@Kevin_NBCS
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Gale Sayers, Dec. 12, 1965
🏈 9 carries, 113 yards, 4 TD
🏈 2 catches, 89 yards, TD
🏈 5 kick returns, 134 yards, TD
NFL record: 6 TD in a game
NFL record: 22 TD in a rookie season
(That's 21 yards per touch, by the way.)
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"And here he goes!"
15 years ago today, Devin Hester gave sports fans one of the most memorable plays in
#SuperBowl
history.
This is one for the ages.
#BearTFDown
#WindyCityFlyer
#Anytime
@WCGridiron
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It's unsettling.
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🏀Oldest player in NBA history to score 50
🏀Oldest player in NBA history to score 40
🏀Oldest player in NBA history to average 20
Some people look at MJ’s Wizards years like it was some black eye on his career. As a 40-year-old in his last season MJ averaged 20, played all 82 games, and scored at least 40 3 times!!! Imagine if that happened in the social media era.
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The game’s best player. Its best coach. Its best GM. Disgruntled Hall of Famers. A quiet owner. The feud that consumed them all.
Why did a thriving dynasty become a lame-duck season?
This is the true story of how the 1998 Chicago Bulls became
#TheLastDance
.
A thread.
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“Just kick it away from Devin Hester!”
If only it were that easy.
Let’s take a look at the hopeless task of keeping the ball away from a soon-to-be inductee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame 🐐🐻⬇️
@WCGridiron
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Chicago is so segregated that even Chicago Twitter is segregated.
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@TomFornelli
@DragonflyJonez
The pre-NBA Nike commercial says it all. Got his first NBA opponent, including the team owners, to co-star for him.
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The Bears host the Eagles next week in the Wild Card round. The last time these teams played in a Wild Card game was 30 years ago tomorrow: The Fog Bowl.
Legendary. Bears won 20-12 in a game the television cameras couldn't even film.
@WCGridiron
#BearDown
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Also on the subject, Magic and Kareem beat Doc's Sixers in the Finals in '80 & '82. So the Sixers traded for the defending MVP in Moses Malone and ripped off one of the greatest seasons in NBA history, sweeping the Lakers in the Finals with four All-Stars + Bobby Jones.
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No Chicago athlete was more beloved than Walter Payton.
His death 20 years ago shook Chicago, and led to one of the most emotional, stunning, Bears games ever.
This is the true story of Sweetness, Bryan Robinson, and The Block.
A Thread.
#BearsPackers
#SavoringSweetness
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Magic and Bird played the teams on their schedule with the guys on their roster. They elevated their teams every year at every level. But "Did you want to team up with Jordan?" is a bogus, disingenuous question. They didn't have to.
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I was talking to a Bears fan friend today after the press conference, discussing the basis for Bears fan fury, and it led me to look at some key numbers of the past 25 years comparing us, the Packers, and the Lions. And frankly, we're closer to being the Lions than the Packers.
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@JustinTinsley
Haha for real. I love Magic! And he transformed that team, and he really did play center in Game 6, and he's an absolute gamer who elevated everyone. But come on.
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If Ryan Poles retains Matt Eberflus I might take a year off from Bears fandom. I know that’s easier said than done but he has no business coaching our team another year.
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The last time the
#NBAAllStar
Game was in Utah, the three-time defending 3-point shootout champion was nearly left out of the competition. He eventually competed despite not being on a roster.
This is the story of how in 1993, Craig Hodges became a man without a team.
A thread.
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Bears really milked a 12-4 one-and-done, Pro Bowl alternate QB and a 100th season celebration for all they were worth
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I could compile stats for days on why
@LanceBriggs
is a Hall of Famer, but sometimes it's just best to remember how you felt watching the dude. To remember a linebacker with the power to wreck Calvin Johnson and speed to run back 70+ yard INTs. 55 was no joke.
#BearDown
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Anyhow, I’ll give Kobe the last word.
Lbj doesn't need to prove that
@PaulBrahan
I had Shaq + Pau Mj had Pip Magic had Worthy + Kareem etc AND we all had great teammates
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Charles Tillman is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame next year. His case for induction is even stronger today than it was when he retired.
I broke it down this week on
@CLTVSportsFeed
.
@peanuttillman
@WCGridiron
🥜 🥊
🐻⬇️
@peanuttillman
@WCGridiron
@aarontor
@LaurenceWHolmes
This is how nuts
@peanuttillman
's 2012 was.
Khalil Mack, edge, 2018-2019: 11 forced fumbles
Charles Tillman, CB, 2012: 10 forced fumbles
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Just realized something.
Games played:
Khalil Mack + J.J. Watt combined: 214
@peanuttillman
: 168
Forced fumbles:
Khalil Mack + J.J. Watt: 43
Peanut: 44
Like, how is that even possible? This man was unreal.
@WCGridiron
#BearDown
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With apologies to the Wolves, we’re gonna need O’Hare to get
@chicagosky
into the parking game.
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"Is Michael Jordan's 1987-88 DPOY justified?"
Yes. Next question.
A new report from Yahoo Sports takes a deep dive into potential falsifications of Jordan's statistics from his DPOY season 👀
Here's what they claim:
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Oh my. 60 is so young. Condolences to Lance Reddick's loved ones. RIP to our Lt. Daniels.
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When the Bears wear their 1936 throwbacks, they will inadvertently pay homage to a shameful period of league history: the 12-year ban on black players.
I examined the ban, and the role George Halas played in its creation.
Now at
@WCGridiron
:
#Bears100
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Chicago teams now hold the record for largest margin of victory in both a
#WNBAFinals
game and an
#NBAFinals
game
WNBA:
@chicagosky
, 36 points, Game 3, 2021
NBA:
@chicagobulls
, 42 points, Game 3, 1998
#SkyTown
#SeeRed
🐐
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Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen
If you could put any 2 NBA players on the same team.
Who would it be?
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10 years ago today, the finale of arguably the greatest season in television history aired:
Season 4 of The Wire
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10 years ago this week, the finale of arguably the greatest season in television history aired:
S4 of The Wire.
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Please keep your "Should the Bears get rid of Kyle Long?" tweets to yourself. Let's focus on the person here, who for six years has given everything to this team we love. He's not an "asset" and this isn't fantasy. Let's just pull for his health and wellness.
#BearDown
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One of my favorite Bears memories was truly historic:
2012, Weeks 4 and 5,
@peanuttillman
&
@LanceBriggs
become the first — and still only — set of NFL teammates to each score TDs on interceptions in back-to-back games. Gotta love that Briggs cutback against Dallas!
@WCGridiron
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@theoceanblooms
Bob Hoskins had a more impressive acting job that year than Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man.
Biggest Oscar snub ever: Bob Hoskins, WFRR.
Accent + performance + MADE YOU BELIEVE HE WAS LOOKING AT A CARTOON RABBIT
#OscarRealKeeping
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@LisaLeslie
We appreciate you 🐐! Can’t find that game — maybe
@NBACobwebs
@Ballislife
or
@DimeDropperPod
can help — but here’s a tribute video I just found. Thanks for bringing home the gold… four times!
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One of my favorite Blake Griffin moments: Griffin and DeAndre Jordan learning that the Clippers had traded for Chris Paul, with Griffin inventing “Lob City” on the fly.
@DimeDropperPod
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@HOGS_BY_90
@TeaTimeTroy
@espn
@DeionSanders
Deion in 1992:
🏈All Pro cornerback (1st team NEA - players vote)
🏈All Pro kick returner (1st team AP)
🏈Pro Bowl starter at corner
🏈Led NFL in KR yards and KR TD
⚾Led National League in triples
⚾Hit .304
⚾Led Atlanta in World Series with 8 hits and .533 average
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Top 10 Michael Jordan underappreciated feats
#1
1988: MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, scoring champ, dunk champ
The greatest all-around season in NBA history. MJ achieved four things that are often bagged by four different players. The greatest tribute to his talent.
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Bill Burr in 90 seconds lighting up the ‘03-‘04 Colts, the 2011 Colts, the 2012 Colts, Jim Irsay, Deflategate, the Black Sox and the sign-stealing Astros. Troy and Joe got nothing on this.
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And if you want to talk about surmounting impossible odds, Isiah Thomas leading the Pistons to back-to-back championships against Magic, Bird and MJ — and winning 63 games in 1989 without an All-NBA selection 🤔— is one of the great feats of my sports-watchin’ life.
@Premium_Dell
@IsiahThomas
@Stathead
@bball_ref
@Wikipedia
In the era of three All-NBA teams (starting in '88-'89), 70 teams have either won 60+ games (or the % equivalent) and/or won the NBA championship. The 1989 Pistons are the only team to win 60+ and the championship and have zero All-NBA players.
The All-NBA teams:
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@MalcolmJamalWar
“No 14-year-old boy should have a $95 shirt unless he’s on stage with his four brothers” 😂😂
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@thomasqjones
@robertkschmitz
@alexbrown96
@Jmack37
@WCGridiron
@olin_kreutz
Bears-Saints today! Here's one of my favorite Bears-Saints moments:
8 plays. 8 runs. One back. One touchdown.
This is how you run the ball!
salute to
@thomasqjones
@Jmack37
@olin_kreutz
@Roberto_Garza63
@Ruben7974
@dezclark88
@MooseMuhammad87
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🤷
From the Editorial Board:
The foul committed by Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter on Caitlin Clark was egregious. Outside of a sporting contest, it would have been seen as an assault.
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The Ewing Dunk was amazing because it was Pip, after this roller coaster season and series, saying: “The dynasty is not ending in Chicago.”
This was the final game of consequence at Chicago Stadium, and Pip protected home court.
Bye Pat. Bye John. And as Pip said: Bye Spike.
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Mike Brown Part 2!
The games that taught a generation of Bears fans a vital lesson:
Never. Leave. Early.
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I hear there’s a discussion underway about which NFL franchise has the best running backs. A
#BackfieldBattle
, I hear.
Let me introduce you to the clear winner.
Our Chicago Bears.
A thread.
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Question! If you live in Palos Heights, rent in Bridgeport, are CEO of a charter school in Arkansas and applied for that charter school using your New Orleans 504 area code phone, how do you answer the below? 🤔🤔
We are live with our last "Race for Chicago's Mayor" survey.. Take it now:
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Red Grange was impossible.
Seriously, dude averaged more than four yards a MINUTE in his first two years of
@IlliniFootball
. He had his jersey retired nine years before the first professional athlete did. Holy moly.
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@goffdrm
@LeChina17
Jokic is in his 8th season and turns 28 in two days. Duncan after 8 seasons:
* 3x champ
* 3x Finals MVP
* 2x MVP
* 22.5 / 12.2 / 2.5 blocks / 3.1 ast / 51% FG
* 7x All-Star (no ASG 1999)
* 8x All-NBA 1st team
* 6x All-Defensive 1st team
* 8x top-5 MVP
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@bigdogpistons
@Halbridious
The issue is that it's disingenuous for him to make that critique when he was never in the position to do so. Like when Forbes called Kylie Jenner a "self-made billionaire." (Magic is better at what he does than Jenner, to be clear.)
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Some stats in the NFC championship game they won:
Rex Grossman: 73.2 rating, 1 TD, 0 INT
Aaron Rodgers: 55.4 rating, 0 TD, 2 INT
Pass completion % in their respective Super Bowls
Grossman: 71.4%
Rodgers: 61.5%
@WCGridiron
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