For many years, I have been very skeptical of the “good guy” image that has been cultivated by Seattle Seahawks’ Head Coach Pete Carroll. He coached USC when Reggie Bush’s family was taking money while he was in college, but ran to the NFL when the NCAA investigated and levied sanctions against Carroll’s replacements.
Ever since he returned to the NFL after a very unsuccessful stint years before, there were stories that Carroll “bent” if not outright broke NFL rules. Carroll and the team were fined in 2012 for conducting off-season contact practices, a practice that is against league rules and also is prohibited under the union collective bargaining agreement.
The previous punishment didn’t go far enough, since this week, the Seattle Seahawks and Carroll have been collectively fined more than $300,000 for violating offseason non-contact rules. In addition, the Seahawks will be docked two minicamp workouts in 2015 after players had excessive contact during a June 16 practice. Carroll’s fine was at least $100,000 and the Seahawks’ exceeded $200,000, according to the report. Seattle lost two OTA workouts and was fined a similar amount in 2012.
Now that the Seahawks have reached the pinnacle of NFL success, a Super Bowl Championship, Carroll again believes that the rules don’t apply to him, just like college. To me, this is serious. I think that most players only have a limited number of hits in their bodies, like the number of pitches a baseball hurler has in his arm. The NFL season is long and grueling enough, and the offseason is supposed to be a time to allow these athletes to heal.
Pete Carroll needs to be reminding, like too many people in this world that you can’t just comply with the rules you agree with.

Network television is now filled with reality shows and the usual cop shows and typical stuff. Fortunately, we have the cable and Internet networks who have provided some quality like Game of Thrones, Penny Dreadful, and The Walking Dead.
In the midst of this television renaissance, it is reassuring somehow that the same creative void that brought us My Mother The Car, and 50 iterations of CSI continues. As a younger man from 1987 to 1995, I was able to avoid the dreadful sitcom “Full House.” The story of three divorced men raising their girls in one house was insipid, uninspired and worst of all, unfunny. It’s biggest claim to fame was getting Bob Saget onto one of the “Candid Camera” type shows, and unleashed the Olsen twins on the world.
The Indignant daughters watch the show sometimes in reruns on Nickelodeon and they like it. Sometimes I sit with them when my brain needs to shut down because there is absolutely nothing in it to think about. Unfortunately, the ratings of the reruns are high enough that some lemming in television is contemplating a “Full House” reboot, and since most of the cast hasn’t done anything of note on television or elsewhere, it is reported that they are on board.
TV Guide reported that Uncle Jesse, a/k/a John Stamos, executive producer Bob Boyett and creator Jeff Franklin are all involved in bringing a new version of “Full House” to television with Warner Bros. TV. Additionally, original cast members such as Candace Cameron Bure, Jodie Sweetin and Andrea Barber are said to be interested in coming back, and Bob Saget and Dave Coulier are reportedly interested as well.
There is no word yet if Lori Loughlin or Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are involved, but Loughlin reportedly said that she would be interested if there’s a good script, but hat maybe old shows should be left alone. There is no word whether the anorexic twins who are better known for the merchandising they initiated and the 40-something year-old men the young women are dating would be interested.
Let’s all hope that, in the name of IQ points, this doesn’t come about. The only thing that would be worse would be a reunion of “Wings,” in my mind, the worst sitcom in history.

If we need moronic racists on television, all we need to do is to turn on Fox News, but CBS has decided to add another one. Former baseball reliever John Rocker will be a cast member on Survivor. There are reports that the former Atlanta Braves pitcher will be competing alongside girlfriend Julie McGee on the show for a $1 million prize.
For those that don’t remember, Rocker made it to the front pages with a Sports Illustrated story that disparaged Asians, African-Americans, and New Yorkers among others. An Entertainment Weekly reporter was curious to know if the former ballplayer’s rampant xenophobia would be held against him come competition time. Rocker doesn’t appear to be too concerned.
“Not really,” Rocker said. “I see these folks that I’m getting ready to play this game with as very similar to the 13 years of professional baseball that I played, and the teammates that I played with. Some of my biggest supporters after that SI debacle were my current and past teammates.”
Rocker also said he’s going to try to keep a low profile in the game, as pro athletes don’t typically make it far on Survivor. “I’m gonna try to play under the radar,” Rocker said. “Hopefully they won’t know that I had a significant career in major league baseball.”
I have said many times that sports is enough “reality television” for me. It’s live, unlike those other shows, its not scripted. I have also said that I would be a fervent watcher of Survivor if, instead of voting people off the island, weapons were issued. Turn the show into a real version of “Lord of the Flies,” and I’d watch it REGULARLY. Is it too late to get that premise to the Survivor producers, just leave Rocker unarmed.

Nine-year-old Antonio Smith got angry yesterday at his mother because she wouldn’t give him a cupcake and went outside of his house on 73rd Street on the South Side of Chicago. It was the middle of the afternoon, but by 5:13 PM, Antonio, who liked to dance, was pronounced dead, shot five times in his little body. The Oldest Indignant Daughter is also 9, and last I saw of her, she was asleep in her parents’ bed, not having to be concerned about stray gunfire.
On the South Side, the cries continue; more people will be praying, toys and flowers will adorn the spot where this young African-American child died. Some gang-banger will soon be caught and be sent off the prison for life. The cycle will continue.
The polls say that most people are for responsible gun control. More people are looking at the cost in dollars and lives of continuing the “War on Drugs,” when we know that all it has done is kept the profit margin on drugs high, keeping it the only alternative to young minorities whose schools are substandard and where jobs are scarce even for the working people. Minorities make up a majority of people arrested and sent to jail (when they’re not killed by over-zealous cops). More people are reportedly concerned about climate change and income inequality.
The NRA, Fox News and the GOP keep yelling, making people just want to withdraw into the cocoon of their homes. I know, I’m tired of hearing them, and I’m even tired of hearing the voices of the people I agree with. I get 20 e-mails a day from liberal causes and politicians using the same histrionic hyperbole to generate donations. I give them nothing.
Meanwhile, it continues to appear that a small, loud, ignorant, racist, misogynistic group of morons are holding the country hostage, refusing to let the nation move forward into the future because change is happening much too swiftly for these people. The President says to mobilize, get active, give money. I don’t have the time, the money or the energy. But I do have one thing, the vote.
According to the media, in the upcoming elections, the House, gerrymandered to irrelevancy, does not appear to be about to change, and since historically, Democrats stay home for midterm elections, the Democratically controlled Senate could easily become Republican, which would mean an all-out war on President Obama. Even less would get done than today, and there would certainly be more government shutdowns as the Ayn Randian/Koch Brother led pack try to starve the Federal Government to death.
Meanwhile, most of the country watches Ferguson, MO and asks if we really don’t give a shit as a society about the poor, the black, the inner city residents. NO HUMAN BEING IS AN ANIMAL OR LESS THEN ANYONE ELSE (despite what that moron two-bit B-actor Kevin Sorbo says). Even internationally, we have to tell the ISIS people that we are not going to let people live in the 5th Century, beheading people who have a different religion.
So, I’m not going to say that you should go out and organize anyone but yourself. Nor should you give your hard earned money to any politician or cause unless you want to. I don’t think at this point we should even discuss important issues with anyone who is incapable or unwilling to even listen to a contrary viewpoint or deal with reality.
I’m done with all of that, but if the polls are right, if everyone who believes in true equality and a hopeful future; not a future of fear and hatred and ignorance, goes out and votes these people out, change may happen. Will the red states and districts continue to send morons like Steve King and Michele Bachmann to Congress? Yes, they will. But if people come out and fill their own districts with people of a more tolerant, more progressive agenda, the lunatic fringe will be even more marginalized.
I have always said that I vote every chance I get because too many people, white, black and other, atheists and people of every religion died so that black people could vote. If everyone takes the time to vote their conscious, if the polls are right, we will emerge victorious.
If we don’t, more Antonio Smiths will die; more prayers will be said, more flowers will be scattered on the ground, and nothing will change. And we will deserve what we get.

A co-worker, a staunch Cub fan who I enjoy joking with almost daily during the baseball season, asked me yesterday if I was going to tease him about the shortened Cub-Giant game this past week, and I said that while I don’t know any of the current ground crew, I knew these guys were hard working and I wasn’t going to blast them. And I still am not, but the Cubs and the Ricketts family, they deserve scorn yet again.
For those of you who don’t know the story, the Cubs were playing the Giants at Wrigley Field Tuesday night and after the teams had played four and one half innings, there was a torrential downpour causing a 4-hour and 34 minute rain delay. The Cubs were leading -0 at the time of the deluge. The Giants are in the heat of a pennant race, 3.5 games out of first in the National League West and tied for first in the Wild Card standings. The Cubs, of course, are about to log their fifth 90 + loss season in a row, so the game was meaningless.
When the ground crew tried to resume the game, there was so much water on the field that it was called unplayable, and the game was called – a 2-0 Cub victory. The Giants protested, which under ordinary circumstances is a wasted effort. There used to be a couple of protests that were upheld per decade, but there hadn’t been an upheld protest in MLB in 28 years, until this week. MLB executive vice president for baseball operations Joe Torre agreed with the Giants that this was unfair (reportedly, even the Cubs agreed) and ordered the game to be restarted yesterday afternoon (after yet another rain delay) before the regularly scheduled game.
The Cubs ended up winning the game 2-1, but Gordon Wittenmyer, who has detailed the financial problems that the Ricketts family has encountered since buying the team on credit four years ago, wrote that the problem was that there weren’t enough members of the grounds crew to handle the rain. The Cubs apparently sent several members of the crew home early sp that they would not work more that 130 hours in a month, which would require the team to pay for medical benefits under the Affordable Care Act a/k/a Obamacare. One executive from another team, one without the financial resources of the Cubs called the action “cheap” and that they had gotten caught in the article.
It probably shouldn’t be much of a surprise that the Ricketts are trying to control costs wherever possible; the interest and principal payments on the acquisition debt are crippling the attempts to put a good team on the field. Theo Epstein, lured away from the big money Red Sox, must be frustrated by the penny-pinching. In the midst of this, the Ricketts have an ongoing battle with the rooftop owners; Wrigley Field desperately needs structural work (more than the extra scoreboards and advertising revenue streams even); and the family has overseen the worst four year run of baseball in the team’s history, which of course includes 104 seasons and counting without a World Series Championship (69 years without a World Series appearance). On top of that, the team has had to walk a tightrope between their Republican leanings and in the very Democratic Chicago.
Patriarch Joe Ricketts, the billionaire founder of Ameritrade, is a noted 1% conservative Republican who got into trouble with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who had been President Obama’s Chief of Staff, by financing a smearing campaign ad before the last presidential election. Reminded that the Cubs needed governmental approval to renovate Wrigley Field, the elder Ricketts walked back his money behind the ad fairly quickly.
The Ricketts recently held a fund raiser for son Peter, who is the Republican nominee for governor of one the reddest of red states, Nebraska. (While I hate to bring it up, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the family is Roman Catholic.) It must be remarkable that in all of this, the family appears to be behind daughter/sister Laura, who is openly gay (a fact that I commend the family for – but like so many of the GOP, obviously they want to pick and choose who they hate and discriminate against).
So, here is this billion-dollar organization that is venal enough to deny benefits to their grounds crew, forcing an embarrassing incident in a fairly pro-union, pro-employee benefit city. They can’t be as openly 1 percent-ers, putting down the rabble – you and me – the normal people who actually work for a living and want to get a decent living and support from their employers.
Perhaps Chicago is too liberal for the Ricketts family? Perhaps the Cubs need to be owned by a person or person with even deeper pockets than the Ricketts? Maybe the owner of the Cubs needs to build positive relationships with its neighbors, local governmental entities, and its non-playing employees, who shouldn’t be nickel-and-dimed out of health care? Perhaps the owner(s) should be appreciative of their fans, most of whom are in the 99% of wage earners in this country. If the Ricketts can’t understand that and can’t afford the team, it is time to sell. And they’d make money; they purchased the team for nearly $900 million, Forbes prices them at $1.3 billion, so the Ricketts would make a tidy $400 million profit.

Johnny Manziel may be the current poster boy for too much, too soon. Ever since he entered Texas A&M University then led the team to a win over then number 1 Alabama and won the Heisman Trophy, he has skirted the rules. Remember when he was photographed autographing memorabilia and taking money for it, but he didn’t get punished on a technicality?
After a less sensational second campaign, Manziel turned pro and the questions began as to who would draft the quarterback, who was an excellent runner but only decent passer in college. Would he be like Robert Griffin III or Russell Wilson, mobile QBs who have had success in the pro game, or would he be like Eric Crouch and so many other running QBs who weren’t good enough passing to make effective pros? The Browns, desperately needing a quarterback and also someone who would energize the fan base (before LeBron James’ return home) took a chance on Manziel. Unfortunately for them, most of his headlines at the draft and afterward weren’t positive. First, after being picked, Manziel waltzed across the stage at Radio City Music Hall running his fingers together like he was “in the money.” After being drafted, Manziel was reportedly in Las Vegas and other places partying hard and very publicly. The fans were out purchasing Manziel jerseys; NFL insiders and observers questioned his focus and maturity.
Most analysts said that it was just a matter of time before the highly paid Manziel was the starter in Cleveland over Brian Hoyer, who played well last season before going down with a season-ending injury early last season.. Neither QB has been particularly sharp in the preseason, but it appeared that Hoyer would get the nod, at least at the beginning of the season with Manziel taking over after getting some practice and getting used to the pro game.
Well, this is exactly how it has worked out, but now Manziel may be grabbing bench because he is in Cleveland Browns Head Coach Mike Pettine’s doghouse. Manziel reacted to taunting from the Washington bench in Cleveland’s 24-23 loss Monday night, by extending his middle finger back at them after a third-quarter incompletion. “Johnny Football” went 7-for-16 passing and Pettine announced that Hoyer would be the starter at the start of the regular season, and said that he was disappointed in Manziel’s reaction. (There are reports that the gesture will cost Manziel $12,000.)
Now, I don’t mind quarterbacks with swagger as long as they can play well on the field. Joe Namath was a ladies-man who got it done. So was Ken Stabler, my all time favorite quarterback. Here in Chicago, Jim McMahon was “the punky QB” and he drove Mike Ditka and the other coaches mad, but on the field, he got it done. As Reggie Jackson was quoted as saying, “it ain’t bragging if you can do it.”
So far, Johnny Manziel has just proved that he was a good college quarterback, and so far, he has shown that he is a little punk; the jury is still out on whether he will be a star or a bust. Unless he steps up very soon, he may need to keep all of the money that is flowing through his fingers right now.

Mike Ditka is a beloved figure here in Chicago. A Hall of Fame Bear as a tight end; the only coach to lead the Bears to a Super Bowl Victory with the Super Bowl Shuffle Bears in 1985-1986, Ditka is an icon here. Add the “Super Fans” sketch from Saturday Night Live and now in commercials and the ESPN job Ditka has and one can say that the 74 year old coach has it pretty good. While I think his television commentary is fairly standard and not particularly insightful, Ditka has done a great job standing up for the rights of retired players who were injured and did not have medical coverage.
Of course, being Ditka, he thinks he can weigh in on any topic, and this week, he leapt into the Washington Redskins issue. Of course, many people, me included, think that team owner Daniel Snyder should just bite the bullet and change the name of the team since it is so disparaging to Native Americans, but like the spoiled rich brat that he is, Snyder refuses, even after the government stripped the copyright from the team since it is considered offensive.
In a recent interview with RedskinsHistorian.com, Ditka said, “What’s all the stink over the Redskin name? It’s so much horse s%^& it’s incredible. We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world. It was said out of reverence, out of pride to the American Indian. Even though it was called a Redskin, what are you going to call them, a Brownskin? This is so stupid it’s appalling, and I hope that owner keeps fighting for it and never changes it, because the Redskins are part of an American football history, and it should never be anything but the Washington Redskins. That’s the way it is.”
Ditka wasn’t done. “Really, I think it’s tradition, it’s history, it’s part of the National Football League. It was about Sammy Baugh and all the guys who were Redskins way back then I didn’t think that Lombardi and Halas never had a problem with it, why would all these other idiots have a problem with the name?”
Since Ditka brought up the “liberals” of whom I am one, let’s look at this closer. If you look at the majority of people who consider themselves “conservatives,” they are mostly old and white. They fondly look back at a past that never existed – fiercely resisting change. Ditka is right in that group – “things were fine (for me) back then, and they should never change.” I have heard for decades about people who were and are offended by the nickname, and, in the scheme of things, a nickname that insults should be changed, but it won’t be until Snyder sees lost money that he may see that he should change the name.
Football coaches are the last bastion of “he men” – tough leaders of football players – all of them drenched in so much testosterone that their brains are overwhelmed. Just because football coaches retire from the game, it doesn’t change them, especially when they are given a platform for expression on television. Ditka and Tony Dungy are against change: Ditka about changing the nickname; Dungy’s anti-gay, fundamentalist Christian hater philosophy (although even Dungy has said that he will not be using the nickname on broadcasts)..
Mike Ditka is a Chicago icon; he’s also an opinionated jerk on social issues. Just because he is a football celebrity, he doesn’t need to spout his ignorance all overt he place.