“R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS now to the temporarily devalued 2026 White Sox.
The hallowed Otis Redding classic — popularized by a young Aretha Franklin — has seldom had more pleaful resonance on the South Side of Chicago.
That's because what should have been some multiple marches to the 2026 All-Star Game by the rarified of Rate Field instead has slipped into the Snub City Blues.
THE YOUNG AND THE RESTORED OF THE AL CENTRAL were supposed to send three chart-toppers to next Tuesday's ASG at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
Instead, results were more disappointing than the “Just Say No” votes at America's Second Continental Congress, where the Declaration of Independence was drafted.
Only third baseman Miguel Vargas was selected.
Shortstop Colson Montgomery and ace starting pitcher Davis Martin were not.
THE GAME'S TOP EXPERTS HAVE duly noted the passovers. The micro-arguments are many, most favoring the inclusions of both the slugging Montgomery and the rock-steady Martin.
From a grander overview, what the exclusions suggest is that the MLB establishment is still having trouble embracing the quick flip-around of manager Will Venable and his youthfully re-energizing.
Three consecutive seasons of 100-plus losses plus the cynical career ownership vitae of Jerry Reinsdorf as Sox chairman can do that to the most learned baseball minds.
BOTH MARTIN AND MONTGOMERY STILL HAVE outside chances of dinging the ASG Liberty Bell.
Martin needs a couple of fellow star SPs to opt out because of rotation schedule conflicts, injuries or other factors. Montgomery is a longer shot to make the final 32-man roster of AL boss John Schneider (Toronto).
THE BIG PAYBACK FOR ALL hanging their baseball caps on West 35th Street this season would be that surprise AL Central crown and an October harvest of high hopes.
In the meantime, it'll be nothing but continue to sock-it-to-'em on the South Side for “R-E-S-P-E-C-T.”
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“THE UGLY AMERICAN” WAS a now chillingly memorable 1958 political novel made into a movie starring Marlon Brando five years later.
Brando played the scheming U.S. ambassador to Sarkhan, a fictional Southeast Asian republic clearly intended to be Vietnam.
Brando's character made a lot of dark happen favorable in the moments to Sarkhan's American-leaning South at the expense of the truly populist North.
The ending was as hollow as the real-life Vietnam War that would ensue. The phrase “Ugly American” lingered globally as representing imperious American exceptionalism.
THE TITLE REENTERED THE FRAME THIS WEEK with FIFA's pressured decision to allow U.S striker Folarin Balogun to play vs. Belgium in Monday night's World Cup Round of 16.
Prior, Balogun was red-carded and suspended for one game after a wicked VAR override in the USMNT's knockout-opening 2-0 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
That call was wrong. But the FIFA marshmallow letting Balogun play against Belgium was worse.
AS HARD AS IT MAY BE to recall in the America of 2026, there is still nobility in playing by the rules.
A deviation from agreed-upon parameters is generally diminishing to the dignity of the herd and an open invite to karmic consequence.
Balogun was incidental. The optic was awful.
But amid the American fireworks of 2026, how many really care?
STREET-BEATIN':
Two-time Cub Doug Glanville will serve as analyst on ESPN Radio coverage of the 2026 MLB All-Star game next week alongside Karl Ravech. The eminently likable Ivy Leaguer (Penn '92, systems engineering) would be a sensational permanent upgrade in the Marquee TV booth. …
Six months after WFLD-Channel 32 News pried open a major shot at addition by subtraction with the exit of sports mannequin Lou Canellis, premier anchor Dawn Hasbrouck has “retired” after more than 16 years at the station. That's rough for a balky news operation that's closing out four decades of unsuccessfully chasing full traction in the market. …
With all of the Chicago sports bric-a-brac being sent the way of Pope Leo XIV, is there a Public Storage site near the Vatican? What was once clever has now devolved into default papal cliché. After all, the South suburban-spawned holy man tends to a flock of roughly 1.3 billion globally, most of whom do not subscribe to Chicago Sports Network. …
NASCAR's return to the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet reminded what a dreary place that is to watch a race. And it came to be during the same nutty period when West suburban Sportsman's Park — a successful horse track with roots to Al Capone — was being disastrously converted to a thoroughbred/auto gulag by the unlikely trio of Chip Ganassi, Charlie Bidwill III and Arlington Heights-based hustler Ed Duffy. (The land is now a liquor distributorship and a Walmart.) …
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports and Media column appears each week on Sunday and Wednesday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com. All communications may be considered for publication.