PTI: Chicagoist Edition

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Mar 31, 2006 4:57PM

There's a lot going on in the world of sports, and we're busy working on our baseball season preview, so we'll just give you the quick shots:

Remember Walter Payton's stolen ring we mentioned the other day? It turned up Thursday, along with his Hall of Fame ring, at a pawn shop in Aurora. The police have recovered the rings, but so far nobody has been arrested. How on Earth did the pawn shop not call the police when they saw the Super Bowl and Hall of Fame rings? Anyone while that kind of bling would probably be pretty famous, and regardless there'd be much more lucrative ways of selling such hardware were it legit. All they got for the rings was a measly $150! And hadn't the pawn shop heard of the theft, seeing as the guys who pawned the rings didn't even bother to leave town?

The World Champion White Sox open Major League Baseball's season Sunday night, when they host the Cleveland Indians at The Cell. They'll be hoisting up the Championship banner during the ESPN2 nationally televised "Sunday Night Baseball" broadcast. It'll also be one of the rare Sox games heard on ESPN Radio 1000 AM this season -- their regular broadcasts are moving to The Score 670 AM this year.

The Chicago fire kick off their season in Dallas on Saturday, the first game of a 9-game road trip to start the season. They'll open their new Bridgeview stadium June 11th against the New England Revolution.

The Cubs have sold the naming rights to the newly renovated Wrigley Field bleacher section to Anheuser-Busch. The section will henceforth be known as the "Bud Light Bleachers." Because those sitting in the section wouldn't know what to drink otherwise! The Sun-Times's Greg Couch wants to know if they now become Bud Light Bleacher Bums.

Wrestlemania 22 is Saturday at the Allstate Arena. Chicagoist is pulling for Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka.