Midwest

The Cubs announced the successful completion of the team's first annual "Spring Fantasy Camp" held concurrently during the first week of spring training games. Clients such as Micah Hoffpauir, Tyler Colvin and Casey McGehee paid $7,000 for the privilege of doing sit ups and wind sprints with Cubs stars like Derrek Lee and Alfonso Soriano.

Charlie Lane, head janitor at Halas Hall, was finishing his day of work late Monday afternoon when he heard on the radio that the team had traded Thomas Jones to the New York Jets. The news didn't surprise Lane, who knew the move was another way for the team to save a few dollars, just as was the team's decision earlier in the day to slap the janitor with the vaunted franchise tag, keeping him from performing maintenance at other buildings in the Lake Forest area.

With nothing left to play for--not even pride--the Chicago Blackhawks were embarrassed by the Detroit Red Wings again Friday night, this time by the miserable score of 6-2. They were able to snag a rare shootout win on Sunday, however, as they beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3.

The White Sox unveiled a new media campaign for the 2007 season, complete with a Web site introducing "The Southside Chicago Board of Tourism," or TSSCBOT. Like the "Grinder Rules" and "These Kids Can Play" campaigns of previous seasons, the ads are designed to bring much-needed attention to the White Sox. Unlike previous ads, however, a notorious street gang already took this name.

After fending off a motivated Hornets team at the United Center Friday night and coming back from 18 points behind in the fourth-quarter to beat the Bucks in OT in Milwaukee Sunday, the Bulls suddenly find themselves on a roll. And according to general manager John Paxson, the frenzy for the streaking Bulls has hit a fever pitch in Chicago.

Spring is almost here-though you wouldn't know if you're a Chicago resident-and that means it's time for meaningless baseball games held thousands of miles away. The Cubs and White Sox kicked off their first week of Cactus League play by combining for six losses. Fortunately, the two teams faced off Sunday at HoHoKamPark in Mesa, Ariz., ensuring that one Chicago team would finally come away with a win.

Quick to hire deposed Cubs skipper Dusty Baker over the winter, ESPN was just as swift to cut ties with the former three-time NL Manager of the Year Thursday, canning him after only one-hour on the job.