For the past couple of weeks, I had planned to write about the money/gambling controversy surrounding the best baseball player in the world, Shohei Ohtani. As the major sports leagues become more entwined with sports books, it was only a matter of time before players, coaches, front office staff, even owners now have the opportunity to bet leading to potential cheating. Right before the start of the season, Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired for reportedly stealing money for gambling. It was unclear for a few days, if it was the interpreter who bet or whether the reigning American League MVP was actually betting or Mizuhara was making bets for himself or Ohtani. Making it more problematic is the fact that sports betting is illegal in California. In the early stages, it was quickly determined that the player was not making the bets, but it was Mizuhara. A new interpreter was hired, Ohtani said he didn’t know what was happening and got off to a great start at the plate.
At first, Mizuhara was reported to have embezzled $300,000, then the number became $4 million. Finally, he was charged with bank fraud and accused of stealing more than $16 million from the Dodgers superstar to “finance his voracious appetite for illegal sports betting,” prosecutors said on April 11. Mizuhara allegedly siphoned millions from Ohtani’s bank account, to which he had direct access. Between December 2021 and January 2024, Mizuhara allegedly lost more than $40 million across about 19,000 individual bets, according to a criminal complaint. Ohtani has denied that he had placed any bets or had any knowledge of Mizuhara’s gambling. Prosecutors have also said that Ohtani is a victim and was not aware of the gambling or the wire transfers from his bank account.
Looking at this, a lot of people might be curious about some of the reasoning here, but having some experience with Asians, I just want to make two points. First, while it is a gross stereotype, Asian people do love gambling. The second point is – why didn’t Ohtani notice all of the money flowing away from his accounts? Mizukawa kept the information from Ohtani, from his people who didn’t speak Japanese. However, I want to interject the concept of “saving face.” Many years ago, at an Asian bank branch examination in Chicago. One of the major parts of a bank examination is a review of the loans on the books. Delinquent loans, those past due, are certainly going to be reviewed. At this branch, there was a loan, I think it was for around $180,000 to a young man in the area. The loan was around 180 days past due, which would have required us to note it. So, I asked the branch manager when was the last time he had seen the borrower. He said he had not seen the borrower, a 30-ish year-old Asian gentleman in many months. The branch manager said that he had heard that the borrower had gone back home.
I told the branch manager that I had to classify the loan as a problem loan. The branch manager disagreed, saying that they were sure that the borrower would pay them back, because the man and his family would “lose face” – suffer shame. However, I told the man that the borrower had spent most of his life in America, where the traditional Asian views might not apply as strongly. The borrower never returned and the branch wrote that loan off.
The same level of misplaced trust may have been in the situation here. Mizuhara was Ohtani’s best friend from Japan, his nearly constant companion in the United States. He used Ohtani’s friendship to rip him off, hid his robbery from his business counselors. Perhaps Ohtani thought that friendship and the shame of losing face would be enough. That world is gone.

By now, the entire world knows about the death of Orenthal James Simpson this week at the age of 78 from cancer. As the most controversial man in the last part of the 20th Century, newspapers and broadcast media is covering the death with many thousands of words, as has been the case since that fateful day in 1994 when Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Coleman were hacked to death at her house in Brentwood, California. Still, it was such a titanic event, the murder, the Bronco chase, the trial, the aftermath, that had an effect on everyone, myself included.
At the time of the whole event, I had a sideline job writing for The Sportswriters on TV. I wrote approximately 2,000 – 3,000 words per weeks and FAXed it to the producer. When it occurred, I don’t remember having written about it, but as time vent on, it became such a news event that I felt I had to give the view of a different Black man. First, I never saw myself in O.J. Simpson. He wasn’t a typical Black man, no matter what his poor background was. I admit that Simpson and I have one thing in common, I think he and I both feel that we are men, people first, Black second. In my case, I just have some many experiences, friends, that I don’t think of myself as Black first. Simpson was the same except he was above everyone else because he was O.J., above everyone, even me and people like me. Unlike Ali, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Simpson never stood up for the issues of Black people. He was only about O.J. Of course, at the end of the day, to the world, I am a Black man first. O.J. however, was rich, talented and a huge celebrity, which allows anyone a benefit of the doubt that I will not get.
I wrote after the Bronco chase that I felt that he was guilty. I even went out on a limb to say during the trial that in many ways I wish that he had gone and killed himself as he threatened to in the back seat of the Bronco. In many ways, I felt that I was considered not Black because I thought that Simpson was guilty. (It should be noted that it was yet another way some people didn’t think I was Black enough: listen to rock music, have friends of every race and background.) When the not guilty verdict came down, I was as stunned as many people around me. I couldn’t understand the “Black man gets off” joy that many people seemed to feel. I remember a Black comic asking “where was my O.J. prize” and then laughter.
Then came the civil trial and judgement; getting arrested for trying to take memorabilia from some dealers in Las Vegas; doing time. Eventually he was found guilty ad sent to prison. Then he was released on parole, still being covered occasionally like a bizarre curiosity. It was like seeing Hannibal Lector in real life.
The life of O.J. Simpson is done. He used his football talent to be a Hall of Famer. He used his natural charisma to become an advertising icon, a mediocre sports broadcaster, an actor of limited talent. If you just look at this, the rags to riches story, he would be someone to emulate. Then the allegations of wife beating came out, were generally covered up, leading to a horrible murder. Instead of being famous, he became infamous. He died owing the Goldman family a reported $114 million. He has four children who will always be haunted by their father’s legacy. Some people will rejoice at this news; I guess a few people will be sad, probably Simpson’s family, but like many things in life, there is no joy and no sadness other than a general sadness about the narcissist who was Orenthal James Simpson.

Over the years as a trainer, I have been evaluated by lots of people, and almost every time, there was one person who had to complain about something. Even if I did a fine job and exemplary evaluations from others, there was always someone who had a bone to pick with me. Occasionally, the criticism was warranted, but the great majority was just grousing about nothing. That said, let me be the one critic on the Caitlin Clark bandwagon.
Yes, Caitlin Clark has been a phenomenon – scoring the most points by any player, male or female in NCAA basketball history. I have watched some of her games and marveled at her scoring prowess. I didn’t watch yesterday’s NCAA Women’s final between Iowa and South Carolina, but I had an excuse – I was at the United Center watching the Blackhawks and Wild (and considering how poorly the Hawks played, I probably could have stayed home). I did keep track of the game, but I kept my comments to myself because I was openly rooting against Iowa, but I have my reasons…
As South Carolina’s Head Coach Dawn Staley said from the winner’s platform, Ms. Clark and the other superstars have elevated interest in women’s basketball to all time highs. The Women’s NCAA tournament has drawn better than the men’s tourney, which bores well for the upcoming WNBA Draft and summer season, which is wonderful and I applaud it and will be supporting it. Ms. Clark’s celebrity reminds me of one person – Larry Bird.
Back in the late 1970s and 1980s, Bird was “The Great White Hope.” In a sport dominated by African-American players, Bird was an anomaly. Bird couldn’t leap out of the gym, but he could jump and was an effective rebounder; he could pass almost as well as his chief “nemesis” Magic Johnson. But boy could he shoot the basketball, from anywhere. As it turns out, Bird played the same style as the Black superstars, including a great deal of trash talk, which gained the respect of the Black players, especially Johnson, with whom he has become close friends.
Ms. Clark is white. Very white. The Iowa team is very white, as is the state. Iowa football came under scrutiny because of reports that players of color were not treated very well under still Head Coach Kirk Ferentz. Ms. Clark seems to be a nice young woman – she has handled the attention and the popularity well, so this is in no way her fault. However, in the offices of the television networks and sponsors throughout the nation, having a white girl be the face of college basketball is something they can easily get behind and yesterday’s women’s final was a very white team against a team full of women of color. It was in my mind, as I’m sure it was in every one watching. It also has to be said that Ms. Clark’s apparent heterosexuality also is appealing to the open and quiet bigots in the country. There are some fairly butch women in the sport; it is rumored that there are far more lesbians in the league than straight (and let’s not forget that the great Candace Parker was married to a man for 6 years before divorcing him and marring a woman).
Again, this is not Ms. Clark’s burden to carry. She has already lifted the sport to a level of popularity that it has never known. I hope she has a terrific career and a great life. Eventually, I came to not only respect but really appreciate Larry Bird. I’m better than I was – I already respect and appreciate Caitlin Clark despite the attendant undercurrent.

I have long stated that owners of professional sports teams are selling one of two things: wins, or hope for the future that there will be lots of wins in the near future. For decades, the Cubs didn’t sell hope or wins – they marketed a beautiful day outside at the ballpark. That was an aberration, built on a historic park; a superstation that at the time showed every game to nearly the entire world, and the fallacy of the team being loveable losers.
Unfortunately, there have been times when there were no wins, and apparently no hope for wins. I think back to the 2021 Chicago Bears season. After going 12-4, and 8-8 in two consecutive seasons, the Bears bottomed out. The unpopular Matt Nagy seemed incompetent as head coach, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was showing that he was a bust and therefore GM Ryan Pace’s big move was ludicrous, the team had no talent and they stumbled to 6-11 record. I said that the Bear management had once again left the fans out in the cold, while still expecting fans to come out. Looking back, that travesty may be prologue for the 2024 Chicago White Sox.
Yes, it’s very early in the season, four games into the 162-game marathon that is a baseball season. The White Sox were swept over the weekend by the Tigers, then were stomped by the very good Atlanta Braves 9-0 last night in a rain shortened game at Guaranteed Rate Field. Everyone knew that the White Sox were in full rebuild mode, with any valuable players, including starting ace Dylan Cease shipped off for prospects. The only talent on the team is Luis Robert, Jr. and the oft injured Eloy Jimenez. The team has a hitting line of .168/.230/.320, which has to be among the worst in the league. Pitching has been little better with the pitchers posting a 4.70 ERA.
Two things make this even more dire. First, Jerry Reinsdorf is trying to get state and local authorities for $2 billion for a new stadium. It worked before, threatening to go to Tampa if they hadn’t built US Cellular/Guaranteed Rate. Reinsdorf went and spoke to Nashville about a new stadium, but Nashville is the latest municipality to be skeptical of the former conventional wisdom that stadiums lead to economic rebirth. Most times, they are just places where sports owners print more money. Many Sox fans still hold a grudge against Reinsdorf. As problematic, the dysfunction that Reinsdorf ruled over for decades that led to underperforming teams got rid of VP Kenny Williams and GM Rick Hahn (very necessary), Cease, Jose Abreu; even lifelong Sox fan – announcer Jason Benetti left for the Tigers.
As Reinsdorf should know, Guaranteed Rate is no Wrigley Field. White Sox fans take a definite “wait-and-see” approach to attendance. If a team has hopes for wins, which this team does not, nor the chance of wins (I read somewhere that the White Sox may threaten the worst record in baseball history – around the 20-134 record of the 1899 Cleavland Spiders). Even if the team is not projected to do well, a quick start to the season will lure fans to the ballpark once the weather improves. But the best effort the Sox have shown this season was a 7-6 loss to the Tigers, wasting Robert Jr’s two home runs.
If it weren’t for the centenarian Virginia McCaskey, the owner of the Bears and the sudden death of Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz, Reinsdorf is the oldest owner in town – 88 years of age. Never particularly beloved here in Chicago despite the Bulls championships (since he allowed his minion Jerry Krause to dismantle the team), Reinsdorf coming with his hands open for more revenue then putting a subpar product on the field may make him the most hated owner since the death of Bill Wirtz. Not a club I’d want to be in.

Over the years, it has been an regular fight between the owners of major sports franchises and municipalities and states over taxpayers subsidizing new stadiums for the teams. The people don’t want to use money that could go for things like schools, roads, police and fire departments, hospitals instead to go to billionaire sports owners. The teams came back with the benefits of increased jobs, increased ancillary income from hotels, restaurants and bars, and the civic goodwill of the fans in the city/town.
Over time, the Olympics and the World Cup have shown what a fallacy this is. White Elephant Sports Stadiums are scattered all over the world: Russia, Japan. Brazil and many ither locales see unused, deteriorating stadiums that were never used again. Billions of dollars (in whichever local currency you wish to use) were wasted with no winners except for the International Olympic Committee, local contractors, and government officials and others who profited off kickbacks and other grift.
Here is Chicago, I believe that politicians have been able to run on fighting back against the owners. I firmly believe that both Richard Daleys, J. – the father, and M. the son gained political advantage from telling the teams no. The Bears back in the 1990s were headed by the late Michael McCaskey, who was unaware of his soft demeaner being anathema to Bear fans. Jerry Reinsdorf attempted to extort the city for a new White Sox park, threatening to move the team to a then new ballpark in Tampa Bay. (Despite better overall success of the Tampa Bat Rays, attendance has been a struggle.) It should be noted that in both of these cases, it was the state and county who pumped most of the money into the Close Encounters of the Third Kind spaceship that landed in the middle of Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field.
After the renovation of Soldier Field, the Bears were never happy mostly due to the fact that although the Bears get a sizeable portion of the revenue generated, the Chicago Park District gets a sizeable portion. This is less profitable than the revenue deals other teams have. The Bears have always threatened to move outside of the city, to the consternation of many fans who believe that the “Chicago Bears” should be playing in Chicago. The Bears made a bold statement when they purchased the old Arlington Park race track. Despite getting the building knocked down, no construction has been started. As I wrote some time ago, the McCaskey Family is the poorest ownership group in the NFL, with the Bears as their only large asset. They paid $190 million for the land, and want to build a $1-2 billion stadium. The McCaskeys don’t have that kind of money; they would need outside investors in a multi-use project or sell part of the team. The latter will never happen while matriarch Virginia McCaskey is alive. Plus the NFL generally frowns on teams taking on excessive long term debt, so the Bears new President and CEO Keith Warren, who was brought in because of his history in getting stadiums built (and take some heat off former CEO and face of the family George McCaskey). With Arlington Heights balking at giving the project billions of dollars, Warren has come back to Chicago to see if they can get an deal there.
Meanwhile, intent on taking a page out of his old playbook, White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf has been making moves with the lease on Guaranteed Rate Field expiring in 7 years, first meeting with Nashville, then announcing a plan to build a stadium in the South Loop. While a positive plan, Reinsdorf, while fabulously rich, does not have the money or controlling ownership percentage of the team to finance he own stadium. He, like Warren has come hat in hand to the city looking for $2 billion each. There are a lot of things that could be done with $4-5 billion: infrastructure improvements, schools, improving city services. The average tax payer is already reeling under high property taxes from the city and Cook County. While a lot of people like the idea of having the Sox playing nearly downtown, no one wants to pay for it. If that isn’t enough, the Chicago Fire soccer team has come to the city asking for money for their own new stadium, which will never happen, soccer just isn’t that popular in Chicago. Their only hope would be to partner with the White Sox or Bears or both.
Already hotel room taxes and other taxes have been used and considered again as revenue generation, but the taxpayers don’t want higher taxes, especially after a large increase went through this year. The Sun Times reported today that the Bears and White Sox may work together on one building to share. Still, while the economy is strong, regular people are still hurting and don’t want to give money to a family that has mismanaged the Bears for decades, or to the owner who has mismanaged the White Sox since their 2006 World Series victory and mismanaged the Bulls once Reinsdorf allowed the other Jerry – Krause, to blow up the 6-time championship team in 1998.
I don’t see how any of the building will get built. There is no significant increase in jobs from a new stadium except for the construction period. Temporary workers work as ushers, who work for minimum wage, vendors who are independent contractors as it were, get paid in cash at the end of every game. Since the buildings are usually owned by the city/county/state, there’s no increase in property taxes. Who will finance a stadium, much less two or even three?

This week, the star guard for the Iowa Women’s Basketball team, Caitlyn Clark was nearly run over by Ohio State fans on January 21st when the Buckeyes upset Iowa 100-92. The issue came up again this past Saturday when Duke star Kyle Filipowski suffered a knee injury when court storming fans collided with him after Wake Forest’s 83-79 win. As usual, all of the sports pundits started talking about security and protecting the court, and punishment for anyone who ran on the court, including dismissal from school if it was a student. Of course, fans storming the field after an upset is great television, and I think, probably good for the school’s students, faculty and fans. While I have never run on a court/field, I am exhilarated when Northwestern wins in football or basketball.
Stopping hundreds of fans is not an effective solution. The only way to effectively stop people would be to have police on the court/field ready to reenact the 1968 Democratic Convention. I have been on the security side a couple of times as an Andy Frain usher: in 1983 when the White Sox clinched the American League West title. We surrounded the infield with ushers and police and let the fans celebrate in the outfield. A few people got through, but we saved the infield. Then there was September 25, 1982. Northwestern had lost a then NCAA record 34 straight games, NU came into Dyche Stadium and defeated Northern Illinois 31-6. Again, all of the ushers and as many of the NU police (then called “Public Safety” but I called them “Pubic Safety”) tried to protect the goal posts. We were able to protect one, even though it sagged like a drunken student, but eventually, the university told us to back off and let them have one. They worked and worked and finally got it out of the ground, then like a sacrifice to the football gods, it was carried out of the stadium, down Central Street, stopping for a few minutes at the University President’s residence, and then was taken to Lake Michigan and chucked into the waters. No one was hurt that I remember.
As someone who was in crowd control, I have an idea. The players that everyone is rightfully worried about – the opposing team, since if it’s the home team winning, the fans will go out of their way to be celebrating with the players, not hurting them. Anyway, prepare security behind the visitor’s bench area at the end of upsets. Make announcements to the crowd that it is unlawful for them to come on the court/field and touch any player. Let it be known to all NCAA players that when a game ends, run straight to their bench, behind the security officers. Then the players are led off the court behind the security. Very much like the White Sox and Northwestern, let the fans/students bask in the joy of the accomplishment, and the players are protected.
But that’s my idea…

Yesterday, flush off leading his alma mater, the University of Michigan to a College Football National Championship, it was announced that Head Coach Jim Harbaugh was leaving to return to the NFL as HC of the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers are arguably the most talented team not to make the playoffs. Most often, they were the Keystone Kops of the NFL, finding ways to lose despite having Joey Bosa, and Kahlil Mack on defense and elite level quarterback Justin Herbert.
Of all the open head coaching jobs, Herbert has to be a major deciding factor. The other recently filled or still vacant jobs have no established QB or have a young QB who needs to develop. Herbert has already shown Pro Bowl level effectiveness and has already gotten his big, long-term deal. The pundits I hear on television keep talking about it was logical: Harbaugh led the 49ers to a Super Bowl but didn’t win, and his brother John already has one Super Bowl title in Baltimore and stands one win away from another Super Bowl appearance.
What I don’t hear is exactly why Jim Harbaugh is leaving Michigan. The school tendered a contract extension that would have made him the highest paid college coach (especially with Nick Saban retiring). I think that Harbaugh felt unappreciated in Ann Arbor. In January 2021, Michigan gave Harbaugh a five-year deal worth $21 million. Harbaugh’s previous deal paid him $8 million per year – the new deal gave him the opportunity to make that much, but only with incentives tied to winning Big Ten titles and appearances in the College Football Playoff. He was guaranteed only $4 million in 2021, $4.1 million in 2022, $4.2 million in 2023, $4.3 million in 2024 and $4.4 million in 2025. Of course, Michigan played very well over that period including three consecutive wins over hated rival Ohio State, and the university reportedly did give him a bigger contract over time and as noted above, a huge money deal to stay. While money isn’t an issue, perhaps Harbaugh felt a little bit unappreciated.
This feeling probably did not subside when word came out about violations of NCAA rules. The violations don’t really look like much: practices with too many coaches on the field; contacting prospects during the COVID-19 dead period; and unauthorized video observation of practices. The most serious violation was because of a receipt from an Ann Arbor watering hole. Reportedly, Harbaugh took two recruits to lunch at a local bar/restaurant called The Brown Jug and, when confronted about the literal receipts, Harbaugh “wasn’t completely honest” about them. Ultimately, not cooperating with NCAA investigators was the reason Harbaugh was suspended. The university negotiate with the NCAA to suspend Harbaugh for the first three games of the season. Coaches in trouble always get a suspension for the first three games of the season – nonconference games, easy wins, opponents willing to be cannon fodder to bring in huge money to the institutions (this season they played East Carolina, UNLV and Bowling Green and they won by a combined score of 96-16).
On October 18, after the first suspension had ended, the NCAA notified the Big Ten and Michigan that it had received allegations that the Wolverines were involved in a sign stealing scheme and sent representatives to games to scout future opponents (which is not permitted). The scope of the alleged sign-stealing operation included video evidence of electronics prohibited by the NCAA to steal signs and a significant paper trail, sources told ESPN.
After further investigation including a conference call with the conference and the other teams demanding punishment, on Nov. 6 the Big Ten formally notifies Michigan that it could be facing disciplinary action from the league, a university official told ESPN. The letter sent to Michigan is part of the Big Ten’s sportsmanship policy, which requires a notice of disciplinary action “in the event it becomes clear that an institution is likely to be subjected to disciplinary action.” The Big Ten’s letter alludes to evidence of the illegal signal stealing, which compromised competitive integrity and other principles of the sportsmanship policy. Four days later, the Big Ten suspended for the remainder of the regular season (games against Penn State, Maryland and Ohio State.” However, Harbaugh was allowed to coach the team during the week and be present at all activities outside of the games. All in all, Jim Harbaugh may not have been feeling the love from the University.
Of course, all ended well for Michigan with the National Championship. However, I have another reason, a disease I call the “John Calipari Syndrome” Calipari is the Head Basketball at the University of Kentucky, but has been in the head coaching business for 36 years during which time, he bounced from college to the NBA and back like a ping pong ball in an earthquake. At UMass, he coached a powerhouse team, but the program was about to be investigated for NCAA rules violations. Before the “revenuers” could show up, he left for the New Jersey Nets. The team had one good season under Calipari before being fired. After a short stretch as an assistant to Larry Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers. After that, Calipari took the head job at the University of Memphis. Much success came his way, building one of the best teams in the country. In 2008, the NCAA vacated the team’s entire season because the Educational Testing Service which administers the SAT college admissions test invalidated Derrick Rose’s score on the test. (It is not very secret, that someone took the test for Rose.) Rose left to be drafted by the Bulls and Calipari left for Kentucky – again, one step ahead of the law. I believe that Jim Harbaugh’s main issue is hubris. He was the head coach at Michigan, anything he did was OK, like his coach Bo Schembechler (who had a team doctor sexually molesting players), or Joe Paterno at Penn State or Urban Meyer. All of them believed they were above the law (NCAA certainly and perhaps criminal law), and that led to the violations/criminality.
It will be very interesting if Michigan faces NCAA and/or Big Ten punishment for, as yet unknown violations, but Jim Harbaugh will be sunning himself in Los Angeles, with a college national title on his resume and a pretty good pro football team to coach. Somehow, it doesn’t seem that fair.