After putting the Curse of the Billy Goat out to pasture, Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts is looking to make peace with another one of the historical ghosts that have haunted the team over the years.Having ended the Cubs 108-year World Series championship drought, Ricketts now wants to contact Steve Bartman.It was just so important for this organization to put this lovable loser crap to bed, Ricketts told USA Today Sports on Wednesday. ...?We had to get past that and put that in the history of the Cubs, and not the future. We changed that dialogue, and now, its all a thing in the past.Bartman was vilified by some in Chicago for attempting to catch a ball above outfielder Moises Alou along the wall in left field during Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series between the Cubs and Marlins. Bartman made contact but didnt catch it, and neither did Alou, who would have made the second out in the eighth inning but instead jumped up and down in frustration. The Cubs fell apart and lost that game and also Game 7.At the right time, Ricketts said?of his plan to contact Bartman. Im sure well figure something out that provides closure for everybody. Hopefully, we can make it work.I never focused on ghosts or curses or Bartman or any of that stuff. ... We wanted to eventually get to that point where we can pick out rings ... and here we are.Frank Murtha, a lawyer who has served as Bartmans spokesman, told USA Today that Bartman still lives and works in the Chicago area. Bartman has not conducted any interviews since the 2003 incident.[Bartman] was just overjoyed that the Cubs won, as all the Cubs fans are, Murtha said after the Cubs clinched the title. Orlando Arcia Brewers Jersey . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. Ryan Braun Brewers Jersey . Detroit and Boston are deadlocked, 1-1, and Tigers manager Jim Leyland could be forgiven if he was caught rationalizing instead of dissecting how his club could blow a 5-1 lead late in Game 2. https://www.cheapbrewers.com/1959y-chris-capuano-jersey-brewers.html . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. Manny Pina Jersey . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. Devin Williams Jersey .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. LAS VEGAS -- The NBA is taking a step toward trying to reduce the hack-a strategy on poor free throw shooting players.The NBAs board of governors approved rules changes for the 2016-17 season that apply to deliberate fouls that occur away from plays.We had a discussion about so-called Hack-a-Shaq, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said. We adopted a new rule there. I would say it is not everything that some people were looking for us to do and it was a compromise.With the rhythm and flow of some games bogged down by teams using strategy to foul poor free throw shooters like the Los Angeles Clippers DeAndre Jordan and the Detroit Pistons Andre Drummond, the NBA has decided to extend the current rule for away-from-the-play fouls applicable to the final two minutes of the fourth quarter and any overtime to the last two minutes of each period.Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN he voted against new deliberate foul rules.Rewarding incompetence is never a good business strategy, Cuban said.And on inbounds situations, any defensive foul that occurs before the inbounder releases the ball will be whistled in the same fashion as an away-from-the-play foul committed during the last two minutes of any period (i.e., one free throw and possession of the ball).Flagrant foul rules will also be used to protect players from any dangerous or excessively hard deliberate fouls, iincluding if a player tries to deliberately foul an opponent by leaping on an opponents back.ddddddddddddBefore these types of fouls were subject to flagrant fouls but not automatic.Silver said the new rules changes will have a real impact on games, and there will be a reduction of roughly 45 percent of the incidents of the away-from-the-play fouls right now.?I definitely do not accept [the] premise that it is cosmetic and we wouldnt have done it if it was only a cosmetic change, Silver said. ... Remember the change of a playing rule requires two-thirds of our teams. I would say the vote was not unanimous today but obviously in order to make a change we did get two-thirds of the teams. ... Nobody suggested that we will never have to discuss this again.[But] the data shows that it is often used at the end of quarters to foul players who arent even particularly bad free throw shooters to try to gain another possession, Silver added. Incidentally, some of those plays we want to make sure we eliminate, some plays that are more dangerous such as jumping on players backs. But we will see.The NBAs competition committee recommended the new rules changes at the offseason meetings.Information from ESPNs Tim MacMahon contributed to this report. ' ' '