ricketts Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

We didn’t even get four hours of optimism
I, and every other Bears fan, have become far too used to this Black Monday cycle. Third time in eight years, seventh time in my lifetime. And there’s supposed to be a routine to it. News of whichever dope your team is firing leaks in the morning. You then hear of a press conference scheduled later ...

Javy Báez, the most interesting man in baseball
I wouldn’t pretend to not have a personal connection to Javier Báez, who is signing with the Detroit Tigers at some point today for six years, $140 million. He’s always been the most interesting player to watch first on the Cubs, back when I cared a lot, and in baseball overall. And it was both good...

The Cubs finally let go of the burden of being good
It started before Kris Bryant was called up. Fuck, it probably started the day Anthony Rizzo signed his extension. This was the day the Cubs told everyone they dreaded, but secretly couldn’t wait for....

Deadspin fixes American sports: We need to abolish trades
Admittedly, I’ve spent the week in a blind rage thanks to the trade deadline in MLB. And that’s due to my former baseball flame, the Cubs, making a spectacle of themselves. But I’ve written that article, and may have to write it again later today should this be the day the Cubs ship Kris Bryant off ...

So what are the Red Sox doing here?
It used to be that when the Yankees were good (which definitely isn’t the case now), not only did it piss everyone off, because YANKEES, but it was an indictment of the whole league. The Dodgers have taken that mantle for the most part, but seeing either team atop the standings, past or present, mea...

Cubs’ City Connect jerseys advertise a neighborhood they killed
Spend enough time raging against the dying of the light and all you end up with is a sore throat and in the dark. Some things just can’t be prevented, no matter how hard you try and how right you are. The minute you learn that fact is probably the exact minute your childhood dies. ...

The Chicago Cubs are the real-life team from 'Major League'
Now you have to imagine Tom Ricketts in her dress. Have a nice day....

With Francisco Lindor and Anthony Rizzo seeking extensions, it's a tale of two owners
Lindor-palooza has apparently begun. News broke last night that the Mets have offered Francisco Lindor a 10-year, $325 million extension to his deal that ends after the season. Lindor is apparently after a 12-year, $385 million deal. As always, both sides are making noise about negotiations being cu...

The last Opening Day
Of course it’s not the last Opening Day this week. There will be a baseball season after 2021. It’s likely that it will be in 2022. But it could not be! You can’t imagine that MLB owners and the MLBPA would lose a full season and another World Series to a work stoppage. But also, you can’t rule it o...

Joe Ricketts, the man who burned down a newsroom for trying to unionize, is at it again
Joe Ricketts, actual owner of the Chicago Cubs and producer of a special class of doofus-progeny, wants to get back into the news game. You can look forward to any personality that attains any popularity on this network to be shipped off as soon as they ask for a raise, replaced by a college sophomo...

If ‘small-market’ teams like the Cubs can't make it, what hope is there?
If this is the reality of baseball, then something about the system needs to change. Trades of top talent for prospects are nothing new in the game, of course, but you don’t expect to see the teams giving up on frontline starting pitchers to be making those trades when they’re in the middle of a win...

2020 Idiot of the Year: Deeper into the abyss with Dwayne Haskins, Lou Holtz, and Trevor Bauer
UPDATE: We have compiled all 50 items into one handy list, for your reading convenience. It is available here....

Chicago gives Cubs pandemic tax reprieve — residents get tax hike, thumb in eye
There’s seemingly a parade of stories about how the only people not getting utterly fucked during this pandemic are the ones who never get utterly fucked. If you feel like you see something like Tom Brady’s boat purchased with money meant for small businesses, it’s because you do. And if there’s a g...

Ricketts family gets a landmark tax break on Wrigley Field just in time to gut the Cubs
There is little question that Wrigley Field is not just a Chicago landmark, but an American one. It is the second-oldest ballpark in the land, housing the game that we still at least partially pretend is our pastime and some slice of Americana. It is a major tourist attraction, and one of the more i...

How much should Cubs fans care about their team's horrendous owners?
Todd Ricketts is a petulant child, and he’s mad because his awful brother, Tom, gets all the attention as chairman of the Chicago Cubs. Todd and his sister, Laura, also run the franchise, but Todd doesn’t care about Laura. He just wants you to know that he’s one of the people who owns the team....

Wrigley Field, Smothered With Ads, Looks Stupid
Do you love advertising in ballparks? Then do we have a stadium for you!...

MLB’s Milquetoast-Ass Protest Statement Is Infuriating, But No Surprise
Major League Baseball took until Wednesday to finally join the parade of somber plain-text public relations statements acknowledging that racism is, in fact, bad....

Report: Cubs Co-Owner Todd Ricketts Has Been Getting Away With Not Paying His Full Property Taxes
Thanks to an open records request filed by the Chicago Tribune, we now know that Todd Ricketts, finance chairman of the Republican National Committee and co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, has been getting a substantial tax break that he doesn’t deserve thanks to false documents filed by his attorney....

Read All The Snippy Emails The Ricketts Family Sent Each Other While Trying To Buy The Cubs
Earlier today we published a (very long) story that provided a detailed insider’s view of the Ricketts family’s 2009 purchase of the Chicago Cubs. Included in that story are a bunch of emails revealing that a significant amount of intra-family squabbling took place during the sale process. In the in...

The Inside Story Of How The Ricketts Family Schemed And Feuded Their Way To Owning The Chicago Cubs
On October 27, 2009, the Ricketts family officially purchased a 95 percent ownership stake in the Chicago Cubs from the Tribune Company, bringing an end to a long, arduous, and complex sale process. Now, thanks to a cache of emails and documents obtained by Deadspin, more details from that process c...