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The White Sox' ballpark will have a new name in 2025.Guaranteed Rate Field will be called Rate Field, the team announced on social media Tuesday. The change reflects the stadium sponsor’s name change that dropped ‘Guaranteed’ from the name in July.The ballpark first existed as Comiskey Park when it opened in 1991, then changed to U.S. Cellular Field with a naming rights deal in 2003. After the 2016 season, the Sox struck a deal with Guaranteed Rate for a reported $2 million per season. The home of the White Sox adopts a new name: Rate Field pic.twitter.com/OiWKxqMqho— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) December 18, 2024 Twenty-two major league stadiums are named for corporate sponsors. The Houston Astros stadium is also changing names, from Minute Maid Park to Daikin Park.A financial services provider in the mortgage industry, Rate said the name change “reflects the company's commitment to innovation, simplicity, and a seamless customer experience.”

Nate Marshall is one of the top football recruits in the country. The 6-4, 265-pound Fenwick senior is a Sun-Times All-Area defensive lineman and has signed with Michigan.So it was no surprise that Marshall was the best athlete on the court on Tuesday in Oak Park. It was a surprise that he was the best basketball player. Undefeated, No. 5 Mount Carmel featured three future Division I players.“[Marshall] is special,” Friars coach David Fergerson said. “You see the way he moves."Marshall’s teammates fed off his energy and enthusiasm, turning in an exceptional 16 minutes of defense in the first half to upset the Caravan 71-58.Marshall is still finding his basketball legs. He didn’t start the game and came in and out in bursts.“I’m about 75% there,” Marshall said. “I’m going to go in, play my hardest for three minutes and he’s going to sub me out.”Marshall had 19 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks. Fenwick (8-1, 2-0 Catholic League Blue) forced Mount Carmel into 12 turnovers in the first half and led 31-17. Fenwick’s Dominick Dupree (0) shoots the ball against Mount Carmel.Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times “We’ve lost to Mount Carmel the last three years, so this was a pretty personal game for us,” Marshall said. “[Two years ago at Fenwick] I missed a game-tying three. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder. And we brought it to them.”The Caravan has one of the best backcourts in the state with seniors Grant Best and Cameron Thomas and junior Noah Mister. Fenwick overwhelmed Mount Carmel in the first half with waves of energetic, relentless defense.“We lost by 25 to them last year and we were still thinking about that and using it as motivation on every defensive play,” Friars senior Ty Macariola said. “Diving for loose balls, boxing out. [Fergerson] told us just to get up and pressure and trust everyone on the team to give us help.”Macariola scored 16 points and Dom Ducree added 11. Fenwick led by 20 points in the fourth quarter before the Caravan (7-1, 1-1) heated up from three-point range.It was a total team effort on defense from the Friars. Kamren Hogan, Jack O’Leary, Deonte Meeks, Tommy Thies, Jake Thies, Jimmy Watts and Raphiel Stewart all hounded Mount Carmel. Fenwick’s Ty Macariola (21) shoots the ball over Mount Carmel’s Keith Jenkins (44).Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times “We have some dogs,” Fergerson said. “We have six or seven basketball guys and six or seven football guys. And those football guys play with a different level of intensity and tenacity. Kind of nasty a little bit. You have to do that when you play football or you’re going to get it handed to you. So bringing that to the basketball court is good for me, bad for the other team.”Mister came alive in the third quarter, scoring 10 points. He finished with 21. Thomas added 24 points and 11 rebounds.“That defense is part of our identity,” Fergerson said. “That’s what we do. We come out and try to play hard. We guarded really good in the first half. In the second half, things got away from us. They made some tough shots.”

Montini's Peyton Farrell didn’t start her senior season as strongly as she would have liked. She had trouble finishing in the paint while also assuming a role in the starting lineup, an adjustment that would be tough on any player.Playing a key role on a Montini team with high expectations can be difficult, but Farrell said the support of her teammates and coaches helped her as she acclimated. Farrell is also playing more of a forward rather than on the perimeter, as she’s more used to. However, throughout her struggles, persistence helped her battle through it. That support was vindicated after Farrell’s 22-point, eight-rebound performance in Montini’s 59-42 win over Mother McAuley. Montini (7-3, 2-0) won Tuesday’s game against Mother McAuley (8-4, 2-1) not by playing the prettiest brand of basketball — save for Missouri commit Nikki Kerstein’s offensive brilliance — but by outhustling and outworking the Mighty Macs.“It starts with rebounding drill after rebounding drill [in practice],” Farrell said. “Having that grit and ‘I want the ball’ mentality is a huge part of why we won tonight.”A Broncos player seemingly corralled every loose ball and rebound and Farrell was in the mix for the majority of them. Despite not sporting prototypical size for a forward, she still grabbed eight rebounds — and to think, Farrell grew up playing more as a perimeter player.Farrell guarded the Mighty Macs’ Taji Alexa — who’s one of the best scorers in the Girls Catholic Athletic Conference — and held her to 14 points.And while Farrell admitted it’s been an adjustment to playing in the paint, she’s taken her lumps in stride. Coach Shannon Spanos said the team is “hard on her in practice” and hit her with pads to help improve her finishing through contact.“I was a little frustrated, but it's all about consistency and repetition,” Farrell said. “In practice, all I was doing was trying to focus on just lay up after layup, shot after shot.With the Broncos returning just one starter from last year’s team that finished third in the IHSA Class 4A state playoffs, they wouldn’t be able to lean on experience. Instead, there’s grit and determination that fuels this Broncos team.“We talk about it in practice all the time, about those second-chance points and just giving 100% effort at all times,” said Kerstein, who finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. “We were able to do those things and give ourselves second-chance opportunities that were big for us and impacted the game in a huge way.”The Broncos out-rebounded Mother McAuley 30-19. The Broncos chased down any loose ball, giving them endless opportunities to get baskets. Their defense was also smothering, blanketing Mother McAuley and holding the team to five first-quarter points.When Mother McAuley threatened to make another run in the fourth quarter after a quick 5-0 run, Spanos subbed Farrell in after only over a minute of rest. In the third quarter, the Mighty Macs started making a run after forcing two turnovers, and Farrell was able to quell their momentum by scoring off a putback.Farrell’s season has mirrored her team’s start to the season in many ways, dealing with the ebbs and flows. Tuesday's win was important for Montini as it attempted to right the ship in conference play and heading into its Christmas tournament.“We had some ups and downs and some tough losses that we probably shouldn’t have had, but we just do a good job of riding it out as a team and buying into everything that our coach tells us,” Kerstein said.

A man was hurt during a fight Tuesday at the CTA Red Line 47th Street Station in Fuller Park.The 35-year-old was on the mezzanine level about 3 p.m. arguing with another person who pulled out a “cutting instrument” and swung it at the man, Chicago police said.The man suffered cuts to his face and hand. He was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition, police said.No one was in custody.

I love fish stories.Regular readers figured that out about 25 years ago. I would love records kept for even all Illinois native suckers, chubs and sunfish. Currently the Illinois Department of Natural Resources recognizes 58 species/hybrids (listed in the fishing regulations book), emailed fisheries biologist Nerissa McClelland, keeper of Illinois fishing records. When I suggested expanding the records to IDNR fisheries chief Mike McClelland, he took it seriously, but nixed it. "Strictly with new record establishment – to provide a fair process, I think we would have to consider what a standard would be for the species we would incorporate," he noted. "If an individual catches a fish not currently listed in the records, do they automatically get the record, or do we have a minimum standard that has to be bested? That likely requires a data analysis approach for a weight standard by species and then setting the records policy for all the species we would consider. Along with that, we would expect some species records to be broken more frequently, since they are new, which adds to time spent verifying and processing records by our staff. "We do have staff priorities and time limitations to always keep in mind, establishing and maintaining new records may take away from other priorities. Not to say it couldn’t happen in the future!" I suggested something similar to Ohio, where the Outdoor Writers of Ohio keeps the fish records. "Hey, I like that idea Dale!" McClelland replied. The OWO launched keeping the record fish in the late 1940s, said Fred Snyder, a past president of OWO and chairman of the state record fish committee of OWO since 2011. He's a professor emeritus from Ohio State University in fisheries. Fred Snyder, who oversees Ohio’s unique record-fish program through the Outdoor Writers of Ohio.Provided "It's a point of pride with us," he said. "We consider it one of our premier programs." Their basic requirements are similar to Illinois: Weighed on a certified scale with two witnesses, scale must be certified by an auditor, need visual confirmation and species identified by a fisheries biologist of the Ohio Division of Wildlife. Here's the difference. Snyder receives the record application and checks it. Once clean, he sends it to a committee of five. "They often have questions," he said. "I insist on a unanimous vote. No shadows over the record, no questions. I really work it over hard. I am satisfied it is good before I send it to the committee." To add a category, committee makes a recommendation for a full membership vote. When I said I would like Illinois to expand its record listing to include all native suckers and chubs, he cracked, "If it gets to that, I will give it to someone else." I need an ally. Illinois hunting When deer harvest numbers come, I will post at chicago.suntimes.com/outdoors. Wild things Snowy owl sightings have started in the collar counties. Do not be surprised to spot one around the Chicago the lakefront. Stray cast The International Game Fish Association's world record Wels catfish (297 pounds, 9 ounces, Attilla Zsedely, River Po, Italy, March 11, 2010) is easier to comprehend than Juan Soto's $765 million deal with the Mets. Juan Soto of the Yankees hits a solo home run in the fifth inning, one of three in the game for Soto, as White Sox interim manager Grady Sizemore looks on from the dugout at Guaranteed Rate Field on August 13, 2024 in Chicago. Quinn Harris/Getty