Chicago Cubs outfielder Ian Happ in December paid $3.09 million for a 3,395-square-foot condominium in a newly constructed, 16-story luxury condo building in the West Loop.

Happ, 29, has spent his entire seven-year career with the Cubs, and was an All-Star in 2022. He signed a three-year, $61 million contract extension with the team last year.

In the West Loop, Happ’s three-bedroom condo is one of 58 in its building. His unit has 3 ½ bathrooms, herringbone entry floors, arched doorways, top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, cabinetry by Bovelli Custom Millwork, bathroom fixtures from Lefroy Brooks and a living room fireplace provided by South Side fireplace manufacturer Atelier Jouvence.

The real estate agent who represented Happ in his purchase, Nancy Tassone, declined to comment on the purchase.

The unit has a $937 monthly homeowners association fee, in addition to an unspecified property tax bill.

Happ is one of the few current Cubs to own a place in Chicago. Shortstop Dansby Swanson and his wife, Chicago Red Stars forward Mallory Swanson, paid $3.5 million last year to buy a six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot mansion in Lakeview from former Cubs President Theo Epstein and his wife, Marie. And starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks has owned a six-bedroom house in Lakeview since buying it in 2017 for $2.18 million.

Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.

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The back-to-the-SAT bandwagon rolls on. As swiftly as they followed the leader in dropping the standardized test as an admission requirement, the elite schools are reversing course. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was an early re-adopter, back in 2022. Earlier this year, Dartmouth followed suit. In February, Yale hopped aboard. Brown joined them this month, and although other Ivies say they’re holding firm on keeping the SAT optional, news reports suggest that Penn, too, might soon be headed back to the future.

It seems increasingly clear that the anti-SAT movement was just a fad. Like many fads, this one had people joining in without taking the time to think things through. The determination to do something about racial injustice was in the air and activists had been campaigning against standardized tests for years. They made an easy target — and once one or two schools dropped them, following along was the path of least resistance.

It’s called the bandwagon effect — the tendency to do what other people are doing without pausing to figure out whether those others are right. The schools now reversing course acted too fast in dropping the tests, without the thoughtful consideration that higher education should exemplify.

This bandwagon effect was first noted in politics, but recent decades have seen a deluge of papers using the theory to analyze the behavior of consumers. Institutions, too, like to climb on bandwagons. A much-cited 2000 study found that firms that adopt trendy management techniques tend to be more admired, even when the innovations don’t yield better results compared to peers. A 2020 literature review shows little has changed.

Bandwagon thinking is forgivable when people are deciding which sweater to buy or which country to visit. But it’s troubling that institutions of higher learning should be so hasty to join the crowd.

In explaining the school’s long-expected decision to reinstate a standardized test requirement for applicants, Brown’s provost put it this way: “Our analysis made clear that SAT and ACT scores are among the key indicators that help predict a student’s ability to succeed and thrive in Brown’s demanding academic environment.”

The sad part is that we already knew that. We also knew, as many an analyst has lately pointed out, that the tests had been a help — not a hindrance — in diversifying the campus. Surely the colleges that rushed to abandon them were aware of their utility; if they didn’t know, shame on them for not troubling to find out. The re-adopters all commissioned formal studies prior to reversing themselves. But the time to undertake analysis was before deciding to drop the tests in the first place. Instead — as the bandwagon effect predicts — colleges hopped aboard without making a serious effort to determine whether the wagon was rolling in the right direction. All they knew for sure was that they didn’t want to be left behind.

Don’t get me wrong. The tests have their limitations. But they’re higher education’s version of Churchill’s mot about democracy: in this world of sin and woe, they’re neither perfect nor all-wise; they’re the worst admission requirement except for all those others that have been tried from time to time.

As the over-hasty colleges now sheepishly concede.

I recognize that the elite schools are in a tough position. They want diverse student bodies, but last year the Supreme Court put a damper on their ability to work directly toward that end. I thought the majority was wrong, but the decision is what it is.

The main loophole it left was enabling students to tell stories of how they’d overcome the costs exacted by race. This makes sense, given that for disadvantaged college students, “grit” seems to be a strong predictor of academic success. (At least in the first year.)

But measuring grit is hard. One promising suggestion that deserves further study is to compare the test scores of applicants with those not at the same school but in the same zip code. Of course, the admission essays might be the best tools, except that now they’re being written by generative AI.

That’s a problem for another day. For now, let it suffice to say that the schools that dropped test requirements, in their rush to showcase their support for diversity, acted too precipitously. They had nothing to guide them but the choices of their peers. Nobody wanted to be the kid in last year’s outfit. And so they went along with the crowd.

That’s always the risk when one hops aboard the bandwagon: Somebody else is in the driver’s seat.

Stephen L. Carter is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of law at Yale University and author of “Invisible: The Story of the Black Woman Lawyer Who Took Down America’s Most Powerful Mobster.”

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Faux SoxFest weekend begins Friday, with White Sox fans seeking a proper substitute in the absence of the annual fan fest and the team trying to make some news in the dead of a Chicago winter.

A season ticket holders event Friday at the Field Museum basically takes the place of the traditional SoxFest, which was canceled during the pandemic in 2021 and never resumed. The Sox aren’t promoting it much, hoping not to look as if they’re simply responding to fans who believe SoxFest was canceled to avoid the expected griping.

As of Thursday, no media availability was scheduled for Friday’s event, suggesting the Sox want this to be a private gathering between the organization and its most loyal, paying customers. Hors d’oeuvres will be served, which also might explain why the Sox don’t want the media around.

The Sox are betting they still can garner media attention on a slow sports weekend in Chicago, without the bother or expense of planning a huge, multiday event.

On Friday, the Sox announced the return of SoxFest in January 2025 to mark the 20-year anniversary of the 2005 World Series team and the 125-year anniversary of the organization.

If the Sox make any news from the Field Museum, it likely would be leaked first by individual fans, perhaps via Sox Twitter (or Sox X, if you must), to the fans who weren’t invited. Obviously fans have many questions for the Sox brain trust, from the lack of major offseason moves to the Dylan Cease situation to the possibility of a new South Loop stadium.

There’s also newly signed broadcaster John Schriffen to discuss, as well as the one he replaced, Jason Benetti. And what’s the progress of the investigation into the mysterious gunshots in the left–field bleachers?

Any new theories, chairman?

If a normal SoxFest were in place this weekend, it would be the first time for general manager Chris Getz to explain his plan to fans, just as former GMs Ken Williams and Rick Hahn faithfully did most of the last two decades, with mixed results. A SoxFest without some creative tension is not a true SoxFest.

It would be a great opportunity for manager Pedro Grifol to explain why he expects things to be different in 2024, with a lower payroll and holes in the rotation, bullpen and infield. And marketing boss Brooks Boyer could explain how he plans to get people in the seats in a ballpark the team seemingly admits is not worth preserving.

Meanwhile, the potential South Loop Park has gotten a generally positive reception without any details being announced. Wouldn’t it be perfect to reveal the renderings at SoxFest?

Alas, for those fans who aren’t invited to the Field Museum, a Faux SoxFest will have to suffice.

What is that? According to reliable sources, a Faux SoxFest contains all the elements of the real deal, except without players to sign autographs, executives to yell at about their decisions or memorabilia booths selling action photos of former catcher Carlton Fisk tagging two guys out on one play at the plate.

At Faux SoxFest, there’s no need to drive to McCormick Place or a downtown hotel and pay for parking, an admission fee or maybe even a hotel room. All you need is a few chairs, some cold beverages and three or more fellow Sox fans to discuss the state of the organization. Malört is optional. Anyone bringing up Justin Fields is promptly shown the door.

Sox therapy is free to dispense and always welcome, no matter what time of year. A Faux SoxFest would reduce the team’s carbon footprint while helping fans relieve stress caused by the compulsive and unnecessary refreshing of the mlbtraderumors.com website.

It’s undeniable this has been a lousy winter for Chicago baseball fans, no matter which side of town you call your own. But the fact the Cubs held their downtown fan convention while the Sox had none is particularly galling to some Sox fans. A new season deserves to be celebrated in the winter, when there are no losses, no injuries and no random shootings.

Players are usually in a great mood, including Eloy Jiménez, who recently told A.J. Pierzynski’s podcast, “Fair Territory,” that he would hit more than 40 home runs in 2024 “if I’m healthy.”

That’s not exactly his MO, but it’s never too early to think big. The ‘24 Sox have to rely on Jiménez, Luis Robert and Andrew Vaughn to carry the offense, assuming they don’t deal Jiménez along the way.

But that’s a topic to be discussed this weekend at your local Faux SoxFest, where people are all the same — and where everybody knows your name.

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