With the Major League Baseball preseason in full swing, baseball fans across the country are gearing up for what looks to be another competitive and exciting year for America’s favorite pastime. Along with the excitement and jubilation that precede the start of the regular sea­son this summer, another feeling has been permeat­ing throughout Chicago’s north side: hope. Chicago Cubs fans have plenty of reasons to be hopeful after a 2015 sea­son that was chock-full of accolades and accom­plishments. In his MLB debut, third baseman Kris Bryant was named MLB Rookie of the Year, while manger Joe Maddon was named MLB Manager of the Year after only one season with the Cubs. Ace pitcher Jake Arrieta was also honored...

Many nodded in tentative approval at one of the Super Bowl’s many long-awaited ads on Sunday, which featured an iMessage conversation be­tween two friends trying to make plans to watch the game. One of the friends is clearly be­ing coerced by her partner at home not to leave the house, indicating some history of do­mestic abuse, and she doesn’t know how to respond to her friend’s inquiry of ‘“Are you OK?” before the commercial ends. The organization behind the ad, called NO MORE, post­ed proudly on their website that they had teamed up with a similar organization called Grey Again as well as the NFL to run the ad to “empower viewers to learn the warning signs of domestic violence and sexual assault...

As far as soccer is con­cerned, turf sucks. Granted, it’s definitely a better surface than the lumpy, rocky, un­kempt mini-forests that high school, premier (and even, ahem, college-level) leagues often have as alternative or backup fields. But when it comes to professional soccer, where resources are specially allocated to create beautiful, meticulously trimmed swaths of natural grass that make ev­ery step feel like heaven, grass fields leave turf in the dust. This is for obvious rea­sons. Turf smells. It makes you question if you’re being cooked alive on hot, sunny days. It gives you killer turf burn that you’re certain must be riddled with disease from those shady tire pieces — ner­dles, nubs, niblets,...

With a new college basketball season just around the corner, this coming winter looks like it’s going to be filled with the drama, controversy and entertainment that has traditionally gone hand in hand with Division-I college basketball. In October, basketball fans got a small preview of what looks to be another rollercoaster ride of a season with the release of self-proclaimed escort Katina Powell’s tell-all book, Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen. If you haven’t gotten around to reading it, it’s full of accusations that former University of Louisville basketball graduate assistant Andre McGee arranged on-campus sex and stripping parties for players and recruits. Five former players ...