After a long and grueling slog toward Election Day, we all could use a Jason Heyward rain delay speech right about now to let us know everything is going to be all right.

Most everyone I know has been a little anxious and depressed over the possibility of the end of democracy as we know it, not to mention the Chicago Bears’ sudden downturn since the nightmarish ending to the Hail Mary loss to the Washington Commanders.

But in the end we’ll all persevere, even if the Bears are probably toast.

Here are eight things from the sports world to think about as all the ballots are being counted and we refocus on things that don’t really matter.

1. White Sox general manager Chris Getz went through 60 candidates for the managerial vacancy before deciding on Texas Rangers associate manager Will Venable.

That’s twice as many candidates as the last managerial search in 2022 that netted the immortal Pedro Grifol. Two years ago, former GM Rick Hahn said he originally had 22 candidates to replace Tony La Russa as Sox manager, but the list swelled to 30 after listening to people in the organization and “friends of the program.”

Suffice to say I was not consulted in either decision, though some “friends of the program” in the local media claim to have been asked about Venable, a former Cubs coach.

2. Could we really be looking at spending the entire winter without the Bulls or Blackhawks on the biggest local cable provider and a popular streaming service?

It’s starting to look that way, and without an uprising by viewers, there is no urgency for Comcast to negotiate a deal with the Chicago Sports Network. Losing Monday to the previously 0-6 Utah Jazz won’t help matters for the Bulls, though the Hawks might be antenna-worthy if they continue to improve.

3. The Bulls recently unveiled their new City Edition uniforms that celebrate the 30th anniversary of the United Center, the functional building that replaced the beloved Chicago Stadium.

The Bulls said they used “history as an accent, nodding to various elements of the United Center that fans know and love.” Among those personal touches are a jersey font they said “matches signage throughout the United Center” and a pale brown and white color scheme that “mirrors the building’s exterior.”

Yeah, if there’s anything Bulls fans know and love, it’s the signage and the color of concrete. The uniforms will debut Nov. 23 against the Memphis Grizzlies. Be warned.

4. With Kyle Hendricks leaving as a free agent, the Cubs claimed left-hander Rob Zastryzny from the Milwaukee Brewers, ensuring they still would have one player from the 2016 championship team.

The return of “Rob Z” might be the most Cub-like move possible to start an important offseason for President Jed Hoyer.

5. Ian Happ might have deserved his third straight Gold Glove Award, but Cubs teammate Pete Crow-Armstrong had a much better defensive season, tying for fourth in the National League among all positions with a 10.4 SABR Defensive Index.

Crow-Armstrong spent the early part of the season at Triple-A Iowa and played only 117 games in center field as a Cub, while Colorado Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle, who won the Gold Glove, played 149 games there and had an 11.2 SDI. That appears to have made the difference.

Still, the statistical component accounts for only about 25% of the Gold Glove selection criteria. The 30 MLB managers and six coaches per team account for the rest, and they dropped the ball on Crow-Armstrong’s season.

6. ESPN analyst Jason Kelce apologized on the “Monday Night Football” pregame show for his actions Saturday at Penn State, where he was videotaped apparently smashing the phone of an abusive fan who made a homophobic slur about Kelce’s brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

“I’m not proud of it, and in a heated moment, I chose to greet hate with hate and I just don’t think that that’s a productive thing,” Kelce said.

The heckler who accosted Kelce was fortunate he wasn’t sent to the hospital with multiple broken bones, as would’ve happened had Kelce not shown such great restraint. Instead of apologizing on live TV, Kelce should’ve just quoted the lyrics to the Taylor Swift song “Look What You Made Me Do.”

7. Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly is a classless dolt who helped destroy the White Sox both on the field and in the clubhouse in 2022 and ’23.

True to form, after the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the World Series, Kelly claimed on a podcast the Yankees would’ve been ranked eighth or ninth if the playoff teams were reseeded, then implied their stars were “lazy.”

“We have a bunch of superstars in our clubhouse, but also the superstars care and aren’t lazy and play hard, so that’s the difference and the biggest separator,” Kelly said.

Kelly, who of course was injured again and didn’t make the World Series roster, is once again a free agent. He’ll no doubt find another sucker to sign him, despite a 5.59 ERA in 1 ½ seasons on the South Side and a 4.78 ERA this year with the Dodgers. Hopefully, that sucker is not named Jed Hoyer, who is looking for lefties.

8. Joe Ricketts and his son, Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts, aren’t shy about donating their money to former President Donald Trump.

Both attended a dinner last month at which Trump reportedly referred to Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris as “retarded.” Todd Ricketts later sent a statement to the New York Times that said: “President Trump was in good form. It was a great dinner and we left more emphatic than ever to help get him back into the White House.”

Words to remember the next time you’re shelling out your hard-earned money for Cubs tickets.