I admit that I almost feel for the Ricketts family, owners of the Chicago Cubs. They bought the Cubs thinking that it was just real life fantasy baseball, where they could be their own GMs, perhaps bring a title to the North Side after 106 years, and make a tidy profit in the process. Unfortunately, it is obvious that they bit off much more than they can chew.
The ballpark needs extensive renovation, and the rooftop owners negotiated a contract with the Tribune Company when they owned the team that was onerous in the extreme to the ballclub. But that could be easily rectified, right? The family patriarch started Ameritrade: the family was worth a couple billion; money talks, billionaires always get what they want, correct? Well, that’s not how it works in Chicago, especially with patriarch Joe Ricketts being 1) an out-of-towner from Omaha, and 2) spending millions on a smear campaign on Chicago native and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s boss, Barack Obama.
So, it’s been a roller coaster ride for the Cubs: ups like hiring Red Sox guru Theo Epstein against a fight with the rooftop owners. Four years of horrible baseball so bad that fans actually no longer filled Wrigley Field; but hiring Joe Maddon to be the manager and signing pitcher Jon Lester.
So, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that it has been a week of good news and bad news for the Cubs, and it seems for every positive story, there are two negative ones. First came the news (dug out when the Chicago newspapers scoured the real estate records) that the team had purchased three rooftop properties for $4 million. The problem has been that the Cubs want to build a new scoreboard and add seats and other amenities to the outfield bleachers, but most of these changes would limit or even obscure the view of the owners of the buildings across the street who have spent millions to build extra seats on their roofs. The team is not exactly for it since the rooftops only pay 17% of revenues to the Cubs (and have also paid significant money to neighborhood alderman Tom Tunney who has dutifully defended the rooftops at every turn.)
The Cubs foresee turning the area around the ballpark into a hotel/shopping complex that would make the area like a theme park with the historic ballpark in the middle. If they can buy the properties across the street from the ballpark, they can get the city to cut off traffic on Sheffield and/or Waveland Avenues and have a bazaar/beer garden outside of the ballpark.
OK – there’s the step forward but the bad was always lurking in the shadows. The team had started renovating the bleachers in the over 100 year old park. The bleachers are one of the most popular parts of the park for its tradition, for its proximity to the field and outfielders; and also as a sunbathers’ dream and the world’s largest singles bar. But the work won’t be ready in time for opening day; in fact, it appears that people won’t be able to sit in the bleachers until mid May. Of course, the games in April can be pretty cold and rainy, but the fans would have come out anyway. That’s money that will not be coming in.
Then, the rooftop owners who hadn’t had their properties bought yet sued the Cubs and team chairman Tom Ricketts in federal court Tuesday, accusing the team of violating the terms of its revenue-sharing contract and trying to create a price-fixing scheme that would monopolize the market for game tickets.
The rooftop owners, led by Edward McCarthy, own the businesses at Lakeview Baseball Club, at 3633 N. Sheffield Ave., and Skybox at Sheffield, at 3627 N. Sheffield, and are looking for a financial judgment as well as injunctive relief that prohibits the Cubs from blocking the views into Wrigley from the rooftops. As part of the bleacher renovation, the Cubs received approval from the city for six advertising signs, including a large-scale video board in left field. The plaintiffs allege that the Cubs told the rooftop businesses they were causing demand for Cubs tickets inside Wrigley to drop and sought a solution by creating a price-fixing operation. When the rooftop businesses declined, the team used the proposed signs to intimidate them into selling or have their views obstructed.
One of the reasons that I went from being a Cub supporter to hating them was when the Tribune Company set up a scalping operation, scalping tickets to the best games and seats. I have no great love for scalpers, but this was underhanded to me. Major League Baseball wasn’t happy either since, at first, the Cubs weren’t sharing the excess revenue with the visiting team, which is required under league rules a 60-40 split of ticket revenues. The Cubs eventually settled with baseball without litigation, but opened the floodgates as many of the other teams in the league setting up “reselling” operations that boost the cost of tickets to the average fan.
So, once again, the Ricketts family has taken one step forward and two steps back. I would feel sorry for them, but I just can’t.

If the NCAA didn’t have enough problems, the scandal that first arose from a report about the University of North Carolina athletes being unable to read and being kept eligible through tutors and “classes” that athletes never had to attend, just write papers that the tutors actually wrote.
A report was published today that the NCAA is currently investigating 20 schools for similar academic impropriety. While the names of the schools was withheld, the story reported that there were 18 “Division I” schools and one each from “Division II’ and “Division III” (I use quotes because the names of the divisions keep changing.
What is the cause of that? Rules established in the 1990s that a certain percentage of athletes in revenue sports, that is football and basketball, must graduate or the schools cannot even compete in bowl games or the NCAA Basketball Tournaments, huge revenues to the schools. So, schools started just coming right out and cheating more flagrantly than ever before.
Trust me, if the NCAA is investigating 20 schools, there are many more who haven’t been under suspicion yet. It’s not going to be pretty…

Well, we have the final two teams remaining in the NFL who will play on February 1 in the Super Bowl from Glendale, Arizona. The two games couldn’t have been much different. The Packers led the NFC title game against the Seahawks for 58 minutes in which time, Seahawk QB Russell Wilson threw 5 picks and it looked like Seattle would be done in at home.
But the Seahawks came back, scoring a touchdown, recovering an onside kick and taking the lead before MVP (In my opinion – we’ll see if he wins) Aaron Rodgers led the Packers to a tying touchdown. In the overtime, Wilson threw a perfect strike to Jermaine Kearse ended it in overtime, not allowing Rodgers on the field.
It was an EPIC fail – the Packers had numerous chances to put the defending Super Bowl Champions away, but they were only able to get two field goals in the second half (after being up 16-0 in the first. As a Bear fan, it was good that the Packers lost, but even better for them to lose in such heartbreaking fashion.
The AFC Game was over nearly when it begun; the New England Patriots outclassed Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts 45 – 7. The press have all of the stories ready: Aged champion (Tom Brady) vs. young upstart (Wilson). East Coast vs. West Coast; Seattle trying to become the first team to repeat as champion since, who else, New England did it in 1994 and 1995. There are many stories that we will be inundated with over the next 13 days.
There is no story more interesting to me is that of the coaches: two men who have proven that they will do anything to win, especially cheat. When the matchup was decided, I posted on Facebook that it would be like the old MAD Magazine series Soy vs. Spy, both trying to cheat on the other coach while trying to stop the other coach from cheating. First we have Pete Carroll who ran a notoriously dirty program at the University of Southern California which included payments to running back Reggie Bush and his family that the NCAA removed wins, and the New York Athletic Commission stripped Bush of his Heisman Trophy.
Carroll did like many college coaches do when they see the posse riding into town: he split for the NFL and the Seahawks. Carroll had been a disaster as a pro coach in the past, but I guess he learned his lesson at least about coaching, winning last year’s Super Bowl and trying to win for the second time. However, he also brought his “win at any costs – rules are made to be broken” approach: the team has been penalized twice for inappropriate practices (the NFLPA and the league have, as part of the CBA, a limit on number and times during the year that players can practice).
In 2014, Carroll was fined at least $100,000 and the Seahawks were also fined over $200,000 for having a practice with excessive contact. The team will lose at least two minicamp practices before the 2015 season over the practice. This wasn’t the first time, either. In 2012, while evaluating wide receiver Terrell Owens, he practiced in pads. Considering the concern for player safety, and the fact that these extra practices are not allowed by the players’ own union, one would think that Carroll would play by the rules.
Of course, Belichick has been caught cheating (Don Shula called him “Beli-cheat” last week). The league levied the largest fine ever against a coach when they fined $500,000 for “Spygate,” the controversial secret videotaping of New York Jets’ defensive coaches during a 2007 game that cost the Patriots an additional $250,000 fine and a first-round draft pick. At the time, Belichick apologized, calling it a mistake and saying that he misinterpreted the rules. Sure, you did Bill.
Belichick continues to play fast and loose with the rules. In the Conference Semi-Final game against Baltimore, Ravens Coach John Harbaugh was livid due to a fullback reporting to the officials as ineligible, causing coverage problems on a long touchdown pass. This week, the NFL is investigating whether or not Belichick and the Patriots allegedly used overly deflated footballs during the AFC Championship game Sunday to make it easier for players to handle the ball in the inclement weather. Of course, if both teams were using the underinflated balls, there’s no advantage, but if the NFL finds out that the Pats were the only ones using deflated balls, I think that Belichick should receive a Sean Payton-type long-term unpaid suspension.
In light of the Ray Rice and other violence against women incidents that have topped the headlines this year, and the concern about head trauma, the image of the league and its Commissioner Roger Goodell are in the toilet. People love football, so they still pay the money for games, jerseys and the like; the NFL is the biggest money maker in the casinos in Las Vegas. What would happen if the bettors and weekend fantasy football players think that the game is rigged?
But I think it will be funny to watch Carroll and the Star Wars’ Jawa/Grim Reaper looking coach-in-a-hoodie Belichick trying to cheat or better yet, trying to keep the other coach from cheating before the game. It could be quite a show if something happened. I just imagine them running around like the MAD Magazine Spy vs. Spy characters running around trying to spy on the other. I don’t think the NFL will rule on the deflated ball incident before the game, but it could also be interesting if Belichick was caught again on the verge of the sport’s biggest stage.
I have in-laws and two nieces who live in Seattle, so that gives me a rooting interest in the game, Patriot fatigue is reportedly keeping scalpers prices for the game going for 20% less that last year, and I admit that I have that illness myself.
Once again however, I wonder if both of these teams can lose? Their coaches are both sleazy as hell.

The Bears did the safe, expected thing, hiring John Fox as the new Head Coach. As I wrote the other day, he will make the team better than it was last season, but that’s not saying much. I seriously doubt that Fox will lead the Bears to a Super Bowl; I think they’ll be competitive perhaps if new GM Ryan Pace makes good draft picks and they both make smart personnel decisions.
I just doubt that the Bears will make the Super Bowl with Fox. Isn’t that what it’s all about?

Even though the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal still has criminal trials left to adjudicate, one piece of litigation has been settled. The NCAA and Penn State University have settled a suit to end litigation filed by the university that the punishment levied on the university was too harsh. It seems like one of the main points were the wins that were vacated as a result of late head coach Joe Paterno’s apparent failure to do all he could to report Sandusky and stop the abuse.
Under the agreement, Paterno’s 111 victories over the 14-year period from 1998 through 2011 will be restored. In return, Penn State will commit $60 million to programs designed to prevent sexual abuse against children and treat victims. It will also enter into a new Athletics Integrity Agreement, among other things. Penn State’s board of trustees unanimously voted to ratify the settlement, according to Charles Thompson of The Patriot-News. (It should be noted that there was considerable concern as to whether the NCAA actually had the power to levy such a harsh penalty over Penn State over this case, so the settlement also allows the NCAA to retain the power to punish member institutions.)
So, Paterno is once again the all time winningest college football coach, the 111 wins taking him again past former Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden. While I agree that the players who won those games should not have their efforts erased, this bothers me.
As part of the Freech report on the scandal, it was detailed the importance that football program had on the university, to the point that Sandusky’s conduct was covered up to protect the program. I would probably be less concerned except for the way Florida State, and more worryingly, the Tallahassee, Florida Police Department covered up an alleged rape by Heisman Trophy winner and probable first or second pick in April’s NFL Draft, Jameis Winston. The attitude that wins on a football field, or a possible national championship are more important than protecting little kids, or making sure that justice is served when a player commits violence against a woman, is sickening. If this case caused college athletic departments, players, administrations and local police departments to take a stand to stop covering up for these people, then I would have less of a problem with this settlement. But there’s no evidence of that happening.
Joe Paterno is gone; perhaps this makes his family, the university, and so many people whose self-importance is linked to the performance of some college kids on a football field (or basketball court or other athletic endeavor) happy. It is just another case of people enabling horrible, criminal behavior by coaches and players in the name of wins; it is disgusting.

Sportswriters make lousy front office officials. Like fans, they tend to think with their hearts, not their brains. Or, more cynically, they write with what will be the best story or most profitable, not necessarily what is best for the team. Plus, other than access to the players/managers/coaches and owners, journalists’ opinions are generally not much better than the average Joe. (Look at how poorly Ken “The Hawk” Harrelson did for the White Sox as GM? Terrific announcer, bad executive.)
So it has surprised me that all of these columnists for the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times are pushing young Bear GM Ryan Pace to hire recently released from Denver John Fox as the new head coach. Only Hub Arkush with his experience from the late lamented Pro Football Weekly called it right: Fox is a mediocre coach; why waste years on him?
All fo the columnists are saying that Pace, the youngest NFL GM at 37 needs a “seasoned” coach with experience. Why? Yes, Fox coached in two Super Bowls, but lost them both. The first time in Carolina, he did a decent, but not great job, but the team went downhill after that, finishing 2-14 in his final season before he got fired. Timing was on Fox’s side again because the Broncos job was open, and let’s be honest, you or I could be a successful head coach if we had Peyton Manning at QB. Overall, Fox has a 119 – 89 record, but .507 winning percentage at Carolina.
Besides, if you are clearing house, why bring in some retread? If you want to bring a young feel on a team, why hire an old guy? And if you were concerned about Pace’s age, why hire him in the first place?
In sports, time passes faster than normal. Teams have a window to win championships: youth, experience, drafts all play into the opportunity to win. Some franchises, like New England in football, and Detroit in hockey do a great job retooling players to remain perennially in contension, but most teams have a few years, then people start to age, drafts don’t pan out like expected, and teams fall from the top of the heap. Look at Vancouver in the NHL or Green Bay in the NFL if they don’t win their next two games and win another title. In Vancouver, they were one game away from a Stanley Cup but lost to Boston. The Sedin brothers who anchor the team remain out there, but Ryan Kesler left for Anaheim; goalie Roberto Luongo is now back where he started in Florida. Vancouver is certainly in the mix, but a lot would have to go absolutely right for them to win. The odds are much longer that they will win than 2-3 years ago.
Look at the Packers: they won the Super Bowl in 2010 and one local pundit looked at the then young lineup and predicted 3-4 more Super Bowl titles. How did that work out? The Packers have been competitive, but not championship caliber until this season. So, why potentially waste 2-3 years on Fox when a better, younger, hungrier candidate could do better?
I would be VERY disappointed in John Fox became the next head coach of the Chicago Bears. They would be better than last year’s team, but that wouldn’t take much, but if John Fox can’t win a Super Bowl with a Hall of Fame QB, what do you think he would do with the Bears? And, if Fox was such a great coach, why didn’t the Broncos want to retain him?

With football, both college and pro, winding down, if you are a fan of a team who will not be vying for a championship, you really have three options: first, you can ignore the playoffs entirely, or second; you can watch just for the sport; or three you can have a rooting interest, either motivated by greed (betting) or my method, which is to root against teams I dislike. When it comes to both the NFL and tonight’s College Football Championship Game, it is difficult.
Let’s start with the NFL. Many fans, myself included, were pleased to know that the fix wasn’t in for the NFC Playoffs after all. Last week, there was a lot of media babble about the Cowboys not being called for pass interference against the Lions that could have decided the game for Detroit. This lead to a game of mixed rooting interests – am not a long time Cowboys hater, but the scene last week of Jerry Jones and pompous New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sharing man hugs in the owner’s box in Dallas made me want to retch. And I hate the Packers – always have, always will.
As every fan, casual and rabid, knows by now, Dallas’ Dez Bryant’s catch at the goalline yesterday was reversed on video appeal and the Cowboys lost. Irony? Payback? Karma? Perhaps, but the mean person in me kinda wanted to see the 80,000 at Lambeau Field depressed, going back to their trucks and drinking to relieve their sorrows in beer before becoming road menaces on the way home.
Later yesterday, I really had no rooting interest in the Colts-Broncos game. I used to be a passionate Bronco hater (and still don’t like horse face GM and former Denver Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway), but it is hard to hate Peyton Manning. The Colts have Andrew Luck and he seems to be a nice kid, as well as being one helluva QB, so I could live with either team. I think its sad that Manning may want to retire after this, I hope he stays one more year. (As it turns out, Manning played with a torn quad muscle, so it makes sense why he didn’t look like the Hall of Fame QB that he had been earlier in the season.) in his On the other hand, I’ve never been a fan of Denver’s coach John Fox. I never thought he was particularly good in Carolina and I was surprised when he got the Denver job. Like Denis Savard and Doug Collins in Chicago with the Blackhawks and Bulls respectively, Fox just isn’t good enough to win a Super Bowl. With Manning, he can win division titles and make playoff appearances, but his teams always fall short.
So, this leads up to this coming Sunday: Packers at Seattle first, then Colts at Patriots in the evening. The NFC Championship game features the Packers, who I hate, against the Seahawks, trying to repeat, but with Pete Carroll as coach, a sleazy cheater who has broken NCAA and NFL rules regularly. I think Seattle is on a roll, and in their stadium, which will be louder than a fleet of 747s, plus an injured Aaron Rodgers, I like Seattle.
I will be rooting for the underdogs in the AFC Championship game. There’s nothing to hate about the Colts, meanwhile, I and so many other fans have Patriots oversaturation disease. On top of that, I don’t like Suaron-in-a-hoodie, Bill Belichick. We have Carroll the cheater in the NFC and Belichick (called Beli-cheat by no less than Don Shula recently), who has been accused of spying on other teams in previous Super Bowls; if Seattle and New England do face off in the Super Bowl, it could be quite interesting to see the two unscrupulous head coaches try to out-cheat each other.
I think it will be the Cheat-Bowl: Carroll’s Seahawks vs. Belichick’s Patriots, but there are always upsets….
Next – the College Football Championship Game