Mark Potash
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Everything Ben Johnson touches turns to gold, or so it seems. He's making a quarterback out of Caleb Williams and a general manager out of Ryan Poles. Every player introduced to the Bears offense under Johnson has been a plus – from All-Pro guard Joe Thuney and center Drew Dalman to rookie tight end Colston Loveland and seventh-round running back Kyle Monangai. When 2024 undrafted free agent Theo…
With the dust still settling on PSA's impact as a competitor to CGC in magazine grading, the decision to cross over CGC slabs to PSA remains a difficult one. Early returns supported the notion that PSA slabs would command a premium, so when I submitted five slabs to Goldin Auctions in March, I agreed with the decision to send all five to PSA for crossover grading. An overview: I went 5-for-5 in…
Position battles in NFL training camp are favored storylines but generally overrated. If you have two players competing for one position — it's unlikely the winner is that much better than the loser. Even when Rosevelt Colvin beat out rookie Brian Urlacher at weakside linebacker in 2000, it wasn't like Urlacher was going to wither on the bench all season. In fact, it made it even easier for…
It's forgettable now, but in 1999, Bears offensive coordinator Gary Crowton created a Ben Johnson-level excitement about the Bears' offense. With Crowton's inventive, screen-heavy passing game, the Bears improved from 23rd to third in the NFL in passing yards, from 21st to eighth in total yards and from 23rd to sixth in passing touchdowns. The Bears were still 25th in points scored, but the…
It wouldn't be a Bears preseason if there weren't an eve-of-training-camp issue to worry about. Slot cornerback Kyler Gordon being put on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list with another soft-tissue injury certainly merits the usual concern and skepticism. But it comes with a twist that defines the 2026 season: As long as Ben Johnson is on the sideline and Caleb Williams is healthy, the…
Babe Ruth appropriately put an indelible stamp on the inaugural All-Star Game in 1933 at Comiskey Park by hitting the first home run in All-Star Game history — a two-run shot off the Cardinals' Wild Bill Hallahan in the third inning of a 4-2 victory for the American League. But it's lesser known that Cubs pitcher Lon Warneke hit the first triple in All-Star Game history — a hit to right field in…
Michael Jordan has been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's weekly issue 50 times — more than any athlete in the 72-year history of the magazine. But it actually took him awhile to get on the cover for the first time. Jordan should have been on the Nov. 30, 1981 cover with North Carolina teammates James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Jimmy Black and Matt Doherty as a ballyhooed freshman starter…
The grandaddy of them all. You know a Monopoly game is vintage when the hotels and houses are made of wood! The classic 1960s/1970s version of Monopoly. All-Star Baseball was a classic board game of the 1960s — not only fun to play with the spinner and strategy, but it used Wrigley Field as it's background. Through the magic of baseball-reference.com, this background shot was taken on Aug. 21,…
The '69 Cubs have their own special place in baseball's Hall of Infamy — a team still beloved if not revered despite a horrific collapse that ruined the greatest summer of our lives. Do the 1964 Phillies or 1978 Red Sox get the same kind of love that the '69 Cubs get? Probably not. Despite the scars of that dreaded finish, the glory of the 1969 season can't be forgotten, or ignored. Why? Timing…
Chicago was the pinball machine capital of the world in the 1940s-70s. Many of the leading pinball manufacturers — including Gottlieb, Williams, Chicago Coin, Bally and Stern — were based in Chicago in pinball's heyday. It was an ironic distinction, because pinball had been illegal in Chicago since the 1940s, as a gambling device that attracted organized crime. Pinball, in fact, was also illegal…
