With the complete teardown of the Chicago Blackhawks this week: Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach traded; Dylan Strome and Dominick Kubalik not given offers as restricted free agents, there are three remaining players who have no trade contracts: Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews and Seth Jones. Jones was just acquired and is a player that can be built around (the same that could be said for DeBrincat), the last link to the 3 Stanley Cup Championship teams are likely out of here.
There are hardly any of the players from last year’s team, which already didn’t make the playoffs, leading Kane to request a trade effective tomorrow when NHL free agency begins. His preference, the Rangers, where he would be reunited with another former line mate Artemi Panerin. Other teams are apparently interested like the defending champion Avalanche. Nothing has been said about Toews, who would not command a very high return and still has one more year on a huge contract. Taking into account his injuries and illness, one has to wonder if Toews might hang them up?
With that, the Blackhawks’ championship tenure is over. I remember being at the United Center the night a very young Toews skated through 3 Avalanche defenders and the goalie to score – still one of the most amazing goals I’ve ever seen live. The Hawks already had Duncan Keith and Brett Seabrook, but we got lucky and drafted number 1 in the 2007 draft and we able to get Kane. Then came Marian Hossa, who appeared to be a carpetbagger – just looking for a Cup having played for the Red Wings and Penguins in Cup Final losses the previous two years. Annti Niemi, Corey Crawford, Ray Emery and Scott Darling in goal.
The Hawks surprised many in the 2009 playoffs, beating Calgary and Vancouver 4-games-to-2 each in the first and second rounds. They lost to Detroit in the Conference Final and even I was optimistic. The Blackhawks last won the Cup in 1961, I was a toddler and don’t remember it. I always liked hockey and was a fan through the Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito years. By the time I reached high school and university and was able to work Hawk games, I was truly hooked. Despite a few close calls, I had never seen the team win the Cup. It became a bucket list thing – something that I wanted to see once in my life, but maybe never would. The penny-pinching mismanagement of owner “Dollar” Bill Wirtz almost guaranteed failure. He spent so little money on the team in the late 1990s and early 2000s that he couldn’t give tickets away.
Wirtz died and his son Rocky took over and helped bring the team into the 21st Century. The 2010 team was truly amazing, giving up the fewest shots on goal in the whole league. I was in Boston on business when the Hawks played game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Philadelphia. I couldn’t stay in my room; I looked for a bar that didn’t have a band or a musician (difficult for some reason that evening). When I finally found a bar where I could concentrate on the game, I was texting (early level flip phone) back and forth with friends in Chicago. When Kane scored in overtime, I remember yelling – we did it, we did it!! (Yes, I know that I scored no goals and can’t even skate, but it was “we” dammit). When Toews held up the Cup, a tear came to me eye on a barstool in Boston.
The 2011 and 2012 teams were good, but couldn’t get past the conference finals. Finally, a lockout delayed 2012-2013 season started (on my birthday that year) and the season will be remembered for the 24 game point streak (21-0-3); the 3-1 game deficit in the second round against the hated Detroit Red Wings before coming back to win, and the 2-goals in 17 seconds in game 6 against the Bruins for the Cup. Honestly, I didn’t think we were all that great in 2015. I thought we would do respectably, but the experience, grit and toughness of that team led them to their third Stanley Cup in 6 years.
They had a great 2015-2016 season, but the wheels completely came off in the first round against the also hated Blues, losing 4 games to 2. In 2017, the Hawks were completely outclassed by the also now hated Nashville Predators. That was pretty much the end. The salary cap forced GM Stan Bowman to have to reconfigure his roster every year. Bowman was pretty good at bringing in older guys to help the core, but his draft picks for the most part were busts, especially defensemen. Only Panerin and DeBrincat were standouts.
Of course, we cannot say goodbye without mentioning the shameful, detestable behavior of the team in allowing the video tape coach to abuse young players just starting. They’re all long gone – Joel Quenneville, who had been unnecessarily fired, but had continued success in Florida until the situation was publicized. Stan Bowman, already under fire from the fans for firing Quenneville and his lousy draft picks, was also shown the door. Rocky Wirtz didn’t help things by having a major melddown when a newspaper reporter asked what measures the team had made to prevent such a thing from happening again.
And now the teardown. Once again, Hawk fans will be asked to watch has-beens and never-wases play in the best hockey league on the planet. Keeping DeBrincat seemed like a smart move since he was still young, but they decided that the contract he would be looking for after next season was just too rich. I have to decide whether to keep my ¼ season tickets. But I will always bask in those seven years, three Stanley Cups, seven playoff appearances between 2009 and 2015. I have t-shirts, and hats and replica championship rings that I will always cherish. I have autographs from Toews, Kane, Sharp, Hossa, Keith, Andrew Shaw. They will remain with me for as long as I live. And if I know Chicagoans, none of those guys will ever have to buy a beer in this area for the rest of their lives!

The big story in sports this week was last Friday’s announcement that USC and UCLA would be joining the Big Ten, giving the conference the first sea-to-shining-sea conference. All this of course is in light of Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC. The ripple effect continues with the remaining teams in the Big 12 and Pac 12 looking for a possible merger. And all of this is driven by money – how to keep the most of it in the Name-Image-Likeness world of College Sports, especially football.
This will be headline grabbing for the next several months to years: the Big Ten and SEC are the big powerhouses generating the most money and will be duking it out for control. Control? Of what, you ask? Well, several months ago, I wrote that college football is going to be one big “conference” with a whole bunch of divisions based on geography. Maybe it will turn into a league like European soccer – different levels with promotion and relegation – teams move and up and down among levels depending on who’s the best or worse in levels? It will take stages and some growing pains. The SEC and Big Ten will battle for supremacy in the eventual national conference structure, but they will find common ground ($$$$) and there will be one major college football league.
Stay tuned.

I have avoided commenting on the Brittany Griner hostage situation in Russia, mostly because I had hoped this would have long ago blown over. WNBA star Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after Russian officials claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage. A Russian judge ordered Griner, the Phoenix Mercury center who played in Russia during the WNBA off-season, to remain in custody. The Biden Administration classified her as “wrongfully detained” and assigned a “hostage envoy” to work on her case. There has been a general outcry from the WNBA, teammates, coaches, press and fans to get Ms. Griner released.
A tempest in a teapot perhaps? She brought in a fairly innocuous substance into Russia and because Russia and the U.S. are battling on every front except physical war over Russia’s attempted invasion of the Ukraine, this young woman became another sparring situation? The war has cost Russia in many ways: many losses on the battlefield; no quick victory; war crimes being performed by Russian soldiers; sanctions against the country and its billion-dollar oligarchs; athletes being banned from events. What was a major country to do? That’s right, arrest a lesbian African-American woman’s basketball player and hold her indefinitely. Now, Finland and Sweden may be about to join NATO – not a win for Vladimir Putin.
Anyway, last Friday, her “trial” began and today she pled guilty to drug possession and smuggling charges, telling a Moscow court she brought marijuana into the country by accident. “I would like to plead guilty on the charges against me, but I had no intention on breaking any Russian law,” she said in court. “I was in a rush packing and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bags.”
If convicted on drug smuggling charges, Griner could face 10 years in a Russian prison, but this may all be for show. It is said that the “guilty” plea could bring the verdict in her case closer, which would then allow her defense team and U.S. officials to start proceedings to try and secure her release. Russian media had speculated that Griner could be a part of a prisoner swap similar to the one U.S. and Russia arranged in the spring, exchanging former Marine Trevor Reed with pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was jailed years ago on drug smuggling charges. A high-ranking Russian diplomat signaled earlier Thursday that Moscow would be prepared to negotiate Griner’s fate, but only after the court hands its verdict.
Again, Ms. Griner is probably lucky that she has the notoriety of being a professional basketball player. If she’d just been an African-American tourist, we would never see her again (although she probably not be a very attractive hostage/exchange candidate). Of course, if she were LeBron James or a famous male athlete, he’d have been long ago released, if arrested at all. Also, if it had been a big male star, the entire American Consular Service would have been brought in – just another of the many injustices of being female and of color in America.
Let’s hope this whole sad business ends very soon. There has been enough phony gestures and saber-rattling – let’s get this woman home.

The owners, players and coaches of the National Football League are a collection of greedy sociopaths, billionaires, multimillionaires wrapped in a cloak of phony morality. The super macho aesthetic of the (mostly) male world is old and easy to find. I just watched “North Dallas Forty” the other week and while the clothes and hairstyles are dated, the basics of players, coaches and owners are not.
This week however, the sleaze factor increased by a function of 100. Long time readers know that I have been very hard on Deshaun Watson, former QB of the Houston Texans who was not indicted by two Grand Juries in Texas, but has been sued in civil court by approximately 24 massage therapists for sexual misconduct. The “ick” factor only increased when the Cleveland Browns signed Watson to a $230 million dollar, fully guaranteed contract even as the lawsuits continued to roll in and the NFL promising a suspension of some amount of time. The contract however, allows for Watson to be paid a minimal amount per game this season (I want to say $20 to $50 thousand per game, so that when the NFL levies its punishment, Watson will lose very little money. (Although, the contract will help other players in the league in that superstars will be requiring fully guaranteed contracts going forward.)
This week, it was reported that 20 of the 24 lawsuits had been settled, meaning that money is saving Watson’s ass, like it has many rich people. Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents all 24 women, said in a statement that once the paperwork is finished on the 20 settlements, “those particular cases will be dismissed.” He added that the terms of the settlements are “confidential.”
However, Buzbee said he plans on taking the four unsettled lawsuits to trial, including the first one that was filed by Ashley Solis, who has previously made her name public. In an interview with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Solis said she felt threatened by Watson after their massage session when he told her that she had a career to protect and “I know you don’t want anyone messing with it just like I don’t want anyone messing with mine.”
Watson still faces discipline from the league, which conducted its own investigation into the 26-year-old’s behavior and is expected to make a decision before the Browns open training camp on July 27. NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the agreements have “no impact on the collectively bargained disciplinary process.” Another league official told the AP “settling doesn’t give someone a pass” and indicated a lengthy suspension remains in order. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn’t concluded.
However, Watson may not be the man in the most trouble this week. Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder may be the most hated owner in football. Stubborn not to get rid of the offensive “Redskins” for years, putting sub-par teams on the field, and generally being a conceited ass, are just some of Snyder’s issues. For the past several years, the Washington Football Team (which should have remained the name instead of the “Commanders”) has been the subject of 2009 sexual misconduct allegations against Snyder which weren’t originally reported until 2020.
A culture of sexual harassment at all levels of the team’s organization including acts by Snyder has been alleged, leading to an investigation by the NFL, law enforcement and eventually the House Committee on Oversight and Reform in Congress. Snyder had been called to appear before Congress yesterday, but the team reported that Snyder was “out of the country on team business”(although it i=has been said he spent the day on a yacht in Europe).
With Snyder a no show, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell testified before the committee via Zoom about the league’s internal investigation into workplace misconduct within the Commanders. The Commissioner testified to the toxic, inappropriate, and unacceptable culture amongst the team at all levels as Snyder himself “glorified drinking and womanizing.” The league imposed a $10 million fine on the team as well as requiring improved accountability and HR staffing and procedures. However, Goodell said that he has no power to remove Snyder or force him to sell (although perhaps NBA Commissioner Adam Silver‘s ruling to remove Donald Sterling from ownership of the L.A. Clippers may provide a precedent).
Twice now, Snyder has declined to appear before the committee, but this time, the Committee released a 29-page memo detailing the evidence it found against Snyder. That included an allegation that Snyder tried to discredit former team employees, their attorneys and journalists with a “shadow investigation.” Snyder allegedly hired private investigators and lawyers to find inappropriate emails and evidence, per the memo, to send to the NFL and attorney Beth Wilkinson during the league’s investigation. This included sending investigators to the homes of former cheerleaders to gather emails from former Commanders president Bruce Allen and blame Allen for the toxic environment within the team.
Lawyers for Mr. Snyder used their shadow investigation to create a 100-slide dossier with emails, text messages, telephone records, and social media posts from journalists, victims, and witnesses who had made credible public accusations of harassment against the Commanders,” according to Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), the author of the memo.
The memo featured a significant amount of damning allegations against Snyder, including testimony from former employees that said Snyder played a role in covering up allegations of workplace misconduct while they were happening as well as during the NFL’s investigation. The report also concluded that Snyder used fear tactics to stop employees from speaking out against the toxic workplace environment.
Along with the millions paid to the NFL, Snyder reportedly paid $1.6 million to settle with the accusers. Snyder also faces allegations of fraud by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, but now Rep. Maloney said that she plans to issue Snyder a subpoena that would compel him to testify. “Mr. Snyder has not been held accountable. His refusal not to testify sends a clear message that he is more concerned about protecting himself than coming clean with the American people. If the NFL is unwilling or unwilling to hold Mr. Snyder accountable, then I am prepared to do so,” chairwoman Malone said. That is why I am an announcing now my intent to issue a subpoena for the testimony of Mr. Snyder for a deposition next week. The committee will not be deterred in its investigation to uncover the truth of workplace misconduct at the Washington Commanders.”
The NFL has many issues that threaten the sport’s livelihood if not existence: CTE, the impact of legal gambling and deals made with sports betting casinos and online books, corruption in the league and owners’ offices. There has always been the issues between men and women, players and owners taking advantage of and often abusing women and spouses. The NFL’s shield often appears to be made of Teflon so that none of these issues stick to the multibillion-dollar per year enterprise, but will the overwhelming number of black eyes give the league a concussion?

The NFL has done an excellent job in sweeping the Deshaun Watson situation from the front pages. In case you’ve forgotten, Watson was accused by 22 massage parlor women of forcing them into sex and sexual acts. The NFL suspended Watson and he did not play one game for the Houston Texans last season. Two Grand Juries failed to indict Watson for breaking the law, but there were still 22 lawsuits out there, and the women have retained the same attorney, making for a do-it-yourself class action.
Watson was traded to the Cleveland Browns, given a $250 million, fully guaranteed contract (which pays him nearly nothing per game for next season, so if the NFL suspends him for X number of games, he will lose a very small amount of money). The Browns Owners – Jimmy and wife Dee Haslam signed Watson to the contract, defending the move the day of the trade that the team did “significant due diligence” before the trade.
This week, two more women joined the litigation, but more damming was an excellent article by Jenny Vrentas of the New York Times. The article showed that what we know was just the tip of the iceberg. Watson says that he hired 40 different therapists during his five seasons in Houston, but the Times found that there were 66 different women hired in just a 17-month period. Many of them did not wish to sue, and one reportedly asked him – what’s it like to be a celebrity? You are going to mess up your career doing this.
One of the women interviewed stated that when she threatened to go public, Watson gave her a nondisclosure agreement provided by the Texans, which leads to the old Watergate question – what did the Texans know and when did they know it? Houston is a major city, no question, but in many ways, many southern cities are like small towns in terms of having lots of gossip around town. Were the Texans aware of what was going on? (Some of the attacks reportedly occurred on Texans’ property.) We all know that in football, talent outweighs questionable conduct. There’s other issues here – first, is Deshaun Watson a sex offender? I think that we can all agree that he has a real problem, and what does it say that many of the massage therapists are Asian women? On top of that the Haslams were not the most popular people at the recent owners’ meeting because by giving Watson a fully guaranteed deal, has now opened the floodgates to that demand from other superstars.
Personally, I believe that if true (and there’s too many different victims to say that they are all lying) Watson should not be allowed to play another minute in the NFL. If true, he should be charged and tried for criminal behavior; I don’t care how football players can damn near get away with murder in Texas – these are crimes. The Haslams and every Texans owner or front office person who knew what was going on and even abetted Watson’s behavior should also be run out of the game and perhaps prosecuted as accomplices.
I am an old-fashioned person – I was raised hoping for every despicable, heinous crime was not done by a Black person. It was embarrassing. And Deshaun Watson is a true tragedy – a talented kid, a once in a lifetime talent, who could have done many great things on the field and off the field. Instead, he could not control his libido and treated women like prostitutes or worse.

Long time readers know that have no interest in golf, so, I’ve not really commented on the apparent golf civil war between the established PGA and the LIV Tour which is backed by Saudi Arabian oil billions. in oil money. I did not have much to say when Phil Mickelson’s first joining LIV while admitting that there is a cloud over the Tour as a result of the murder of Jamal Khashossi and many other human rights violations. Mickelson was shouted into silence and self-inflicted exile, then returning to LIV and interviews.
This weekend, the LIV has it’s first event in London, and Mickelson is back being interviewed, Major champions Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed have joined, along with Dustin Jonson and Sergio Garcia. Since the PGA did not grant players an exception to play in London this week, several have resigned their memberships in the PGA.
Interest in golf is down; fewer young people are playing. It’s expensive; time consuming, seen as something for Dads and old men. Maybe a rival league will bring interest to the sport, maybe not. None of the LIV tournaments are in Saudi Arabia, I believe, so the tournaments will be played in the U.S. and Europe. Plus, it is hard to criticize golfers for doing business with a horrendous regime when the United States and other Western governments do business with them. The tour is the latest effort by Saudi Arabia reposition itself as a backer of lavish sports events rather than one associated with human rights abuses, which rights groups call ‘sportswashing.’
For the players, this is easy – huge, guaranteed money to play golf, compared to less money for playing in tournaments because the PGA as a nonprofit, cannot sign golfers to contracts. The biggest way that the PGA could keep golfers in line are the Majors, but as it turns out, the Masters, British Open and The Open Championship are all “invitation only” (I cannot say if the fourth major, the PGA Championship could keep them out because the PGA sponsors that tournament. If the players can make millions of guaranteed money and still play the Majors, there is absolutely no downside.
However, I ordinarily wouldn’t write about this, but there was a comment that one of the new LIV pros stated that I think was disingenuous at best, pure BS at worst.
In a press conference earlier this week, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell accepts it is “incredibly polarizing” to join the Saudi-funded golf tour while trying to avoid discussing the specifics of the country he is effectively working for. He went on – “I really feel like golf is a force of good in the world — I just try to be a great role model to kids,” he said. “We are not politicians. I know you guys hate that expression, but we are really not, unfortunately. We are professional golfers. If Saudi Arabia wanted to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be and they have the resources to accelerate that experience, I think we are proud to help them on that journey using the game of golf and the abilities that we have to help grow the sport and take them to where they want to be.”
The reporters jumped on the inconsistency. McDowell was asked, how is that journey helping women who are oppressed in Saudi Arabia, the LGBTQ individuals whose rights to live freely are criminalized, the migrant workers whose rights are violated, the victims of the Saudi-led bombing of Yemen, or the 81 men who were executed by the kingdom in March? “I wish I had the ability to be able to have that conversation with you,” McDowell said. “As golfers, if we tried to cure geopolitical situations in every country in the world that we play golf in, we wouldn’t play a lot of golf. It’s a really hard question to answer. We’re just here to focus on the golf and kind of what it does globally for the role models that these guys are.”
The point that I am making is the very first sentence quoted – “golf is a force for good in the world.” Is it? Only in recent years have country clubs opened their memberships to Jews, Blacks, women, and other minorities. I scoured the Internet looking for a number of “exclusive” clubs, but they still exist. Five in South Florida alone. How can something be a force of good in the world and discriminate?
More, Tiger Woods has been the biggest star in the sport, drawing lots of people of color to begin playing the game. Yet the tournaments I flash by on the TV headed to something much more interesting are mostly played by white men. Tiger’s first major win was at the 1997 Masters, 25 years ago. Yet, why are there no great POC players on the links?
Maybe that’s the reason I have always been ambivalent toward the game? Maybe because I don’t want to wake up in the dark to go and hit a white ball and walk after it? Perhaps I don’t need an excuse to drink – I’ll just go to a bar.

Tonight will be the final broadcast in the 39-year, Hockey Hall of Fame career of Blackhawk announcer Pat Foley. It’s going to be an emotional night, the only reason to watch the listless, playoff eliminated Blackhawks against the also eliminated San Jose Sharks. I will be watching for the legend and all of the festivities.
It is somehow fitting how this final chapter has played out for the most honest broadcaster in town. Foley has gotten into trouble several times for things he said on air, most problematic being criticism of the team, especially during the team’s darkest times, the 1980s and early 1990s when Owner Bill Wirtz and his toady GM Bill Pulford put a lackluster team on the ice but still demanded big money for the “privilege” of watching these guys. Foley called the players out for substandard effort and the front office for not building a winner. When Foley’s contract expired in 2006, he was not retained.. Foley went over to broadcasting the Wolves AHL team, but when Bill Wirtz died and Rocky Wirtz took over, his hiring of Cub executive John McDonough was contingent on being able to rehire Foley. Since 2008, Foley has been on the air again.
I admit that this is a little more bittersweet than ever because it still doesn’t seem to me that Foley wanted to quit. Again, his contract was up, and Foley admitted that travel no longer appealed to him, which says to me that he offered to do home games, or at least some home games. Suddenly the team announced (not Foley) that this would be his final year on the air. It seems to me that the Blackhawks and NBC Chicago just can’t get past being cheap.
Still, Foley, the gentleman gives credit to the Wirtz’s. “Some people want to compliment me on telling it like it is,” he said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “But Bill, Michael and Rocky Wirtz were the reason I could do that. They didn’t mind hearing the truth. I asked Rocky recently, ‘What’s the maddest you’ve ever been at me?’ He said he didn’t have anything. Of course, they were winning when I came back. I did it and would’ve done it anyway, but remember, I was allowed to speak my mind. All it means is that I would’ve been fired sooner (without ownership’s support).”
A personal aside – I knew Pat, WAY back when I was an Andy Frain Chief Usher. The Andy Frain supervisors of the ballparks would let Pat into baseball games on both sides of town, and then send him down to see me in the old Golden Boxes at old Comiskey Park or the club boxes at Wrigley. He was as unassuming and friendly as he is on air. I used to tease him that in return for the seats, he would have to get a ticket to “Winnnnepppeg” I said in an imitation of his famously drawn out words. He would come back that the loser got two tickets to “Winnnnepppeg.” A few years ago, when he returned to the Hawks, I spoke with the late Chet Coppock, asking him to contact Foley to congratulate him on being voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Chet said that Foley thanked me, but would not accept my contact information because he is very private.
The rest of the season will be announced by Chris Vosters, Foley’s successor, not a bad announcer but about as distinctive as a slice of Wonder Bread. Of course, we will still have Eddie Olyczyk, who I have never liked as a broadcaster (too many “tips” to young hockey players in an attempt to be an NHL Coach someday), but it will definitely not be the same.
So, I wish Pat Foley nothing but the best. He deserves it because he is a decent man who became the soundtrack of hockey in Chicago for those who aren’t old enough to remember the great Lloyd Pettit. How many of us realize that we will have had the honor of listening to a legend? I had the honr of knowing him a little bit.
Bye Pat – don’t be a stranger.