Con Grove

I have very bad sports takes. White Sox - Bears - Hawks - Notre Dame 🏈 - UNC TARHEELS 🏀 - 2025 Red Sox Fan - Wannabe Sports Analyst

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

Kobe.

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

Yeup we aren’t having a season next year, or maybe ever again.

[Jesse Rogers @JesseRogersESPN]

BREAKING: In its next CBA, the league is proposing a max contract length of 5 yrs for free agent players switching teams, 6 years to retain their own players. No deferred contracts. Qualifying offer is gone too. Also, 5 years to free agency for players 30 or older.

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

Dude. Dominguez blows.

[Mike @ChiSoxFanMike]

Tough day for the “nobody goes to White Sox games” crowd.

[FOX Sports: MLB @MLBONFOX]

The FIRST PLACE Chicago White Sox 👀

[Gretchen Montgomery Willock @gmontgomerymd]

Omg…..I have no words!!!

Just a bird’s eye view from our family to yours……

Best debut EVER!!

He’s home Chicago!!

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

@MLFootball GOAT madden player

[Sox On 35th @SoxOn35th]

Len and DJ always deliver 😮‍💨

[Jeff Passan @JeffPassan]

The Chicago White Sox are fun as hell.

[White Sox on CHSN @CHSN_WhiteSox]

Making his debut tonight...👀

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

One Montgomery per lineup I guess... hope Colson isn't hurt...

[Chicago White Sox @whitesox]

Braden Montgomery debut 🔜

[Chicago White Sox @whitesox]

Introducing No. 24, Braden Montgomery

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

@ChuckGarfien With the relative success of the team so far this season, do you think it's smart of them to try to acquire players at the deadline (if so where do you think they can most improve), or run it out with the roster as is & see where you finish, then make moves in the offseason?

[Jake @Jake_B30]

I’m trying to get a feel here

The #Bears offered 2B+ to get the stadium built

The said there would be 20k jobs immediately for construction and around 10k+ consistent jobs when the project is finished

They asked the state to fix fucked up infrastructure that needed to be fixed a long time ago so people could get to and from the stadium

Every NFL stadium has public funds dumped into it, especially new projects… the return is jobs, money put into the economy and multiple other benefits…

And yet all I here is “The Bears wanted a handout”

How fucking dumb can you be?

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Chicago lost the Bears this week. A team that's been in the city since 1921.

They didn't lose them to a bigger market or a better deal. The Bears decided they'd rather be a tenant in Indiana than deal with Illinois for one more year.

Think about how badly you have to run a place for that to be the smart move.

They lost them for two reasons.

The people running Illinois would rather villainize a builder than keep one. And they're bad at their jobs.

In 2021 the Bears spent $197M on the old Arlington Park racetrack.

Before they could break ground, Cook County valued the empty lot at $192M (Bears said $60M). They were salivating at the chance to extort a building that didn't even exist yet.

That fight dragged on for years.

The Bears were ready to put $2B into the stadium. All they wanted was a promise the county wouldn't reassess them into oblivion, plus $855M for infrastructure everyone uses. Roads, transit, utilities. A $3B project, two thirds of it private money pouring into Illinois.

Springfield had since 2021 to get this done. They dragged it to the final night of session, passed it through the Senate at 3:39AM, and the House went home without voting.

So now it's all gone.

The funniest part? This started because Cook County tried to grab the tax early. They knew a built stadium would pay $53M a year. Now they get under $4M on a vacant lot. No jobs, no buildout, no new anything.

Congrats on fighting for scraps and losing the whole prize.

Pritzker: they're "an $8.5B valued business" that doesn't need propping up.

But be smart for a second. Almost every NFL city throws in public money for a stadium. Not charity. The return is real. Tourism, hotels, restaurants, jobs, game days, property tax on a huge development. The math works.

Indiana did the math. While Illinois sat on it for years, Indiana passed a bill in months, put up $1B, and took the team.

And the Bears took a worse deal to get there. In Illinois they were going to own their stadium. In Indiana they rent it from the state. A team that wanted to build its own home gave up ownership just to escape Chicago.

Nobody won but Indiana. The Bears lost their stadium. Illinois lost the team, the $2B, and $53M a year in taxes.

Pritzker after they left: "I wasn't willing to give up billions of dollars of taxpayer money to give it to a billionaire-owned family or team."

There it is. "Billionaire-owned."

That's how Democrats talk about any business right before they run it out of town. Call them a billionaire, act like you're saving working families, take a victory lap while the tax base drives across the state line.

Meanwhile they're running the whole state into the ground. And you already know how this ends. You're living in it.

Pensions are $143B in the hole, worst in the country and not close. You pay $6,285 a year in property taxes, double the $2,969 national average, for a city that's $1.15B in the red. The mayor called its finances "the point of no return."

When you run things this badly, you sell what's left.

They leased the parking meters for 75 years to Morgan Stanley and a sovereign wealth fund in Abu Dhabi. Took $1.15B and burned through it in two years. The investors already made it all back, with 58 years left to collect.

Sold the Skyway. Sold the downtown garages. Every asset that made money, gone for one check.

But a fixed property tax rate for a team that's been here 106 years? That's "propping up billionaires."

Companies are leaving. Boeing for Virginia. Caterpillar for Texas. Citadel for Miami. In 2023 alone Illinois lost 56,000 people and $6B in income to other states. The ones who left earned a third more than the ones who moved in.

Indiana didn't outbid anyone. AAA credit, 16 years straight. A $676M surplus. Fourth-lowest debt per person in the country. They just weren't a disaster.

Illinois could have collected $53M a year. It chose zero. Ignore all the bad management but make sure to stick it to those evil, pesky billionaires.

[Con Grove @GroveCon]

Indiana wants this, Illinois doesn’t. It’s as simple as that. Failure by the politicians in Springfield, Arlington heights & Chicago are the reason for this move. Sucks but honestly I wouldn’t expect anything else from the state of Illinois.

[Governor Mike Braun @GovBraun]

Hoosiers, help me welcome the Chicago Bears to our great state!

We look forward to building a partnership as strong as the '85 Bears defense, creating opportunities and economic growth that will benefit our state and the Bears organization for decades to come.

An NFL franchise in Northwest Indiana will be an economic boost to the entire region like we haven’t seen before.

Thank you to Speaker Huston, the legislature, and Mayor McDermott for their partnership. I also want to thank the entire Chicago Bears organization for their partnership and commitment in making this move a reality.

Welcome to Indiana!

[Big Cat @BarstoolBigCat]

I can’t believe they bluffed themselves into this.

[Clay Harbor @clayharbs82]

Wow!

Chicago had every opportunity to figure this out. The state had every opportunity to find a compromise. Instead, we got delays, finger pointing, posturing, and no real solution.

As a lifelong Bears fan and former player, I hate the idea of the Chicago Bears not playing in Chicago. That part stings. The Bears are part of the fabric of this city. But from a business standpoint, it just makes sense.

The NFL is a business. The Bears are a business. And at some point, ownership is going to do what gives the franchise the best chance to build a modern stadium, control revenue, create a year-round entertainment district, and stop waiting on politicians who can’t get out of their own way.

This is not just a Bears decision. This is a Chicago and Illinois failure.

You can criticize the McCaskeys. You can criticize Kevin Warren and the process. But if another city or state is willing to make it easier to build, easier to operate, and easier to grow the value of the franchise, then eventually the business is going to go where it is wanted.

That is the part Chicago politicians didn’t seem to understand.

You don’t keep iconic businesses, franchises, or institutions by assuming they have nowhere else to go.

Eventually, they do. #DaBears #Bears #ChicagoBears

[College Baseball News @CollegeBSBNews]

On April 3rd, Milwaukee was 5-22 and one of the worst teams in the country.

Some of their losses:

Run-ruled 21-7 by LSU
Run-ruled 20-3 by Duke
Run-ruled 14-4 by Minnesota
Run-ruled 12-2 by SEMO
Run-ruled 17-1 by Purdue
Run-ruled 14-1 by NKU
Run-ruled 13-2 by Wright State
Run-ruled 16-2 by Notre Dame
Run-ruled 14-4 by UNLV

They finished the regular season 22-31, but won the Horizon League tournament and earned an autobid to the NCAA tournament.

Milwaukee beat #4 Auburn 13-8, beat UCF 13-6, and is now in a regional final, one win away from going to supers.

College Baseball.

[Lenford “Lenny” Leonard @Leonard42]

The Essence of this meme

[Dan Hill @dandinohill]

How did a country of 300 million mostly honest, hardworking people end up with so many leaders who are corrupt?