With NFL training camps ready to get underway, four NIU alumni are hoping to make it through to the final 53-man roster in the NFL.Jordan Lynch, Jimmie Ward, Ken Bishop and Joe Windsor head into some tough position battles this week.Lynch faces the toughest...

The Midsummer Classic is the biggest all-star game in the world, but it’s so hard to take seriously.For all the good things that come out of Major League Baseball’s All-Star game, the final result of the game ruins the whole affair. Only in baseball...

The Chicago Bulls lined up a nearly wide-open jumper for free agent Carmelo Anthony, but their shot resulted into nothing but an air ball.Anthony opted for the monster contract – sorry, Phil Jackson’s vision – over the chance to win a ring. This...

On the Fourth of July the Chicago Cubs and the Oakland Athletics pulled off the year’s biggest trade, shaming firework displays and front office blustering across the country.The Cubs sent pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel to the Athletics in...

Changes are coming to the Chicago Bulls — big changes that’ll at least spell an end to those feared scoring droughts.The Bulls traded away the No. 16 and No. 19 picks and a future second-round pick to the Denver Nuggets for the No. 11 pick, John R....

As the United States gears up for its round of 16 matchup with Belgium, someone can safely say, “Soccer has never been this popular.”We’re looking at the perfect storm of soccer enthusiasm in this country. Not the George Clooney kind, but the kind...

When NBA commissioner Adam Silver gets ready to announce the Chicago Bulls’ picks in the 2014 NBA Draft Thursday at the Barclays Center, he should be announcing a trade for both first-round picks.It’s been long acknowledged the Bulls need a scorer...

There are two approaches to recovering from disastrous baseball seasons: rebuilding and reloading. Both are on display in Chicago.The question most people should be asking is which scheme is better: rebuilding or reloading? While there isn’t a right...

I’m going to get right to it and lay my cards on the table: I hate saying goodbye, and it’s not something I’m particularly good at.I’ve called the Northern Star my home for four years. It’s where I wrote more than 400 articles and columns, each...

NBA commissioner Adam Silver brought down the hammer on Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for his racism by banning him for life from the NBA. It’s about time.Sterling has been accused of far more terrible things  — criminal things — things...

Turn on ESPN and you’re instantly hammered into submission with the latest wall-to-wall coverage of another athlete’s daily doings.Breaking news: Derek Jeter was hit with a bout of stomach rumbling this morning. We’ll have more when we confirm whether...

Major League Baseball, a league known to be notoriously slow in embracing change, should look to college softball for rule changes that could better the game.Two MLB rules that have always stumped me as to why they can’t be changed are the American...