You hear that? It sounds like circus music.

Where is it coming from? Why, it sounds like there’s a circus going on at U.S. Cellular Field. You know, the home of that other Chicago baseball team.

Its been a rough decade for the White Sox, who have only made the playoffs one time since their World Series victory in 2005. White Sox fans haven’t had much to cheer about and have fallen into baseball purgatory, being just good enough to hover around a .500 record, missing the playoffs consistently, and not making any major transactions to improve the team.

This past spring training the Sox once again re-entered the national spotlight, but for all of the wrong reasons. Aging White Sox first baseman Adam LaRoche retired after the front office told him to stop bringing his 13 year old son, Drake, into the clubhouse. The story recieved national attention, and sparked strong reactions from baseball fans and players alike. White Sox ace pitcher Chris Sale publicly criticized the front office, saying they should stay out of clubhouse affairs and called Drake LaRoche a “leader” in the clubhouse.

Sale made the idiotic Drake LaRoche situation even worse by his childish behavior, going so far as making a small Drake LaRoche shrine in his locker.

Amazingly, however, everyone forgot about all that nonsense when the Sox powered their way to a 23-10 record at the beginning of the season. For the first time in years, the Sox gave us hope. Then in mid May, like they do every year, crushed all of it.

The Sox went on a downward spiral that still hasn’t stopped, and entered last Saturday’s game with a 46-50 record.

I was at the game. The Sox were giving away throwback uniforms to the first 20,000 fans that entered the stadium. Sale was supposed to pitch, so I, like many other fans at the game, was excited. Then news broke that he got scratched from his scheduled start. Trade rumors began to spread throughout the stadium. Then the Sox released a statement that Sale had been sent home after an “altercation” in the clubhouse before the game.

The White Sox came out in different uniforms than the ones they were supposed to wear, confusing a lot of people in the stadium. It was revealed later that Sale objected to wearing the uniforms the Sox were supposed to wear and, when ownership refused to make a jersey switch, cut up the throwback jerseys to make them unfit to wear.

It was the Drake LaRoche situation all over again, although somehow seemed more ridiculous. This is a grown ass man taking a knife or scissors to team uniforms and cutting holes in them. You can’t make this stuff up.

I asked myself “How are the White Sox going to screw this situation up worse than it already is?” I got my answer the next day.

Sale was suspended five games for his actions, which seems like a slap in the wrist for a guy who derserves a slap to the face. In addition, White Sox general manager Rick Hahn seemed to indicate that he would face no further discipline and remain on the team past the July 31st trade deadline.

This is the culture that has been created by White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf and the rest of the front office. They have screwed this organization up enough, and it seems they won’t make any big moves at the deadline to help out the future of an organization that desperately needs a future. Their best player is an overgrown crybaby who vandalizes property and clearly has issues with the front office.

The White Sox have officially become a circus, and Chris Sale is the ring leader. The country is laughing at them while the team located at the north end of the city has an exciting team and future.

From a disgruntled White Sox fan, all I can say is, enjoy the show everyone.

Well. That escalated quickly.

On Wednesday afternoon, in the span of 15 minutes, an entire offseason worth of activity happened in the NHL. I’ve never seen anything like it.

First, all the Taylor Hall trade speculation ended when the Edmonton Oilers traded him to the New Jersey Devils for young defenseman Adam Larsson. That’s big news, but everyone forgot about it two minutes later after an atomic bomb exploded in the form of a trade between the Montreal Canadiens and the Nashville Predators.

The Canadiens dealt their superstar defenseman P.K. Subban to the Predators for their superstar defenseman, Shea Weber. That’s like trading Mike Trout for Bryce Harper.

While all of us were still trying to comprehend the chaos around us, years worth of Steven Stamkos speculation came to a sudden end when he signed a contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He won’t go to Toronto, or Detroit, or anywhere. Wow.

The outlook of several NHL franchises changed today, all within the span of 15 minutes. You don’t see that everyday.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks traded forwards Teuvo Teravainen and Bryan Bickell to the Carolina Hurricanes for a second round draft pick in 2016 and a third round draft pick in 2017.

The Blackhawks made it their mission this offseason to get rid of Bickell’s massive $4 million cap hit, and they accomplished that mission early, but at the expense of losing one of their best up and coming players. Teuvo was thought to be a future cornerstone of the franchise, but now joins Brandon Saad as a young Blackhawk player getting traded out of town because of Bickell’s contract.

This trade may hurt a lot of Blackhawks fans, but finally Bickell’s contract will no longer affect the Hawks. Now the Hawks are likely to resign restricted free agent Andrew Shaw. Let’s just hope his contract situation doesn’t end the way Bickell’s did.

I meant to blog this before the series started, but I completely forgot. *Insert shoulder shrug figure here*

Anyway, the Pittsburgh Penguins currently have a 2-0 series lead going into Game 3 tomorrow night. Here’s my preview for the rest of the series.

Stanley Cup Final: San Jose Sharks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

The HBK line of Carl Hagelin, Nick Bonino, and Phil Kessel has powered the Penguins all throughout the playoffs and continue to do so in the Cup Final. The Penguins have also been getting help from unlikely heroes in Bryan Rust and Connor Sheary, and Sidney Crosby continues to look like the best player in the world. If the Sharks have any chance to beat the Pens, they need to regroup and play the sound team game they’ve been playing all postseason. They also need more help from goaltender Martin Jones, who has looked below average so far this series. They also need help from their superstars Brent Burns, Joe Thorton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and Logan Couture.

My Prediction: Sharks Win Series in 7 Games

Earlier today, before Game 5 of their Eastern Conference Final series against the Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan announced defenseman Trevor Daley will miss the rest of the postseason with a broken ankle. Daley sustained the injury during the Penguins Game 4 loss to the Lightning on Friday.

Daley, a 32 year old left shoot defenseman, was an important part of the Penguins blue line. He began the season with the Chicago Blackhawks, where he scored no goals and six assists in 29 games. Unhappy with his role in Chicago, Daley requested a trade, which he got on December 14th when he was dealt to Pittsburgh in exchange for Rob Scuderi. Daley took off in Pittsburgh, scoring 22 points in 53 regular season games for the Penguins. In the playoffs, Daley scored one goal and five assists in 15 games for the Penguins.

I know this is late, but here is my preview for the Conference Finals round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Western Conference Finals: San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues

Last night, the Blues won game one of this series 2-1. The Blues have looked good all postseason, and goaltender Brian Elliot has been spectacular all playoffs long and continued that trend last night. Captain David Backes continues to lead the team forward by scoring timely goals, and rookies Robbie Fabbri and Colton Parayko have had an immediate impact at the NHL level.

The Sharks played well last night, but just couldn’t beat Elliot. They’ll have to find a solution to that problem and a way to contain Blues superstar Vladimir Tarasenko and offseason acquisition Troy Brouwer, whose having a memorable playoffs. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones has been good all playoffs, but can’t let in cheap goals like he did last night. Joe Pavelski, Joe Thorton, and Logan Couture have carried the Sharks all postseason, and Brent Burns has been a rock on the blue line and has chipped in offensively. These trends will have to continue for the Sharks to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

My Prediction: Sharks win in 7 games

Eastern Conference Finals: Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

On Friday, the Lightning won game one of this series 3-1 in Pittsburgh despite injuries to goaltender Ben Bishop and Tyler Johnson. Johnson seems ok, but Bishop’s status is uncertain. His status, along with the status of Lightning superstar forward Steven Stamkos, will have a big impact on the rest of this series.

Coming off an emotional series win against the Presidents Trophy winning Washington Capitals last round, the Penguins just couldn’t get anything going against the Lightning in game one. Rookie goaltender Matt Murray looked human once again in game one, and will need a big bounce back game tonight to avoid putting his team in a 2-0 series deficit going to Tampa. He’ll need help from the players in front of him, especially the superstars. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin combined for only four points the entire series against Washington, and will need to get going in order to advance.

My Prediction: Penguins win in 6 games

Jaromir Jagr has signed a one year, $4 million contract with the Florida Panthers. Next season will be Jagr’s 24th season in the NHL.

Last season, 44-year-old Jagr scored 66 points in 79 regular season games and two points in six playoff games with the Panthers. Jagr has scored a total of 1,868 points in 1,629 career regular season games and a total of 201 total points in 208 career postseason games.

A major trade just happened in the world of football. No players were involved, but it could have a massive impact on the future of the two teams involved.

The Philadelphia Eagles have acquired the number 2 overall pick in next weekend’s NFL Draft and a 2017 4th round draft pick in exchange for picks in the first, third, and fourth rounds in 2016, a 2017 first round pick, and a 2018 second round pick. The Eagles are in need of a quarterback, and are expected to take either Carson Wentz or Jared Goff with the second overall pick.

Well, here we are. The final football game for six months will be played on Sunday. Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco. Possibly Peyton Manning’s last ever game. Let’s get into it.

Carolina Panthers vs. Denver Broncos: Sunday at 5:30 pm on CBS

The Broncos barely got past the Patriots in the AFC Championship game. Their defense looked incredible while their offense looked sluggish. The Panthers blew past the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game in which both their offense and defense looked spectacular. The Panthers have gotten off to huge leads early in both of their previous two postseason games. If they get off to another one this game, the rest of the game will be pretty boring because no way the Bronco offense will be able to catch up against that Panther defense. Peyton Manning can’t throw the ball like he used to anymore, and Denver’s run game has been spotty. If the Broncos are going to win this game, they’re going to have to do it like they did against the Steelers and Patriots by keeping the score close and getting a score late. Newton will have to keep his composure against the intimidating Denver defense, but he has enough weapons with him on offense to be effective.

My prediction: Carolina wins their first Super Bowl in franchise history by a score of 34-17.

Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Thursday after he cross checked a linesman during the Flames’ game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

In that game, Wideman was checked near the boards by Predators winger Miikka Salomaki. Wideman wanted a penalty, but none was called. Cameras caught Wideman cross checking linesman Don Henderson on his way back to the bench. Wideman wasn’t penalized and played the rest of the game. After the game, Wideman said he apologized to Henderson and the hit wasn’t intentional.

Wideman will have a hearing at League headquarters in New York City on Tuesday to explain his side of the incident. League commissioner Gary Bettman will then decide how long his suspension will be.

According to the NHL rule book, the minimum amount of games a player can be suspended for intentionally hitting a referee is 20 games. The only player to ever be given a lifetime suspension by the NHL is Billy Coutu, who was kicked out of the league after assaulting a referee after Game 4 of the 1927 Stanley Cup Finals and starting a bench clearing brawl.