For the past few years, I have avoided politics here at evilopinion.com. When I first started the column, there were more directly political posts, but as a large segment of the populace absolutely refused to agree and what reality is, it was pointless to address their released their preciously forced silent racism, misogyny and anti-Semitism. Of course, politics made it’s way into the site here, just as politics cannot be excised from sport, much to right winger chagrin. Once again, sport and entertainment are at the forefront of the colossal divide in this country.
As more and more people receive vaccine against the Coronavirus, there remain a great number of people who are scared of being immunized, think has agents to track people’s movements, or just want to retain the right to be ignorant shitheads. There were numerous reports this week that the current Covid-19 variant is more contagious and deadly than earlier strains, and approximately 99% of people newly infected and a similar percentage of deaths are among those who have not been vaccinated.
In earlier pieces, I stated that when organizations, locations, events, restaurants, etc. start requiring all people entering events be vaccinated, the easily outraged and ignorant will feel “persecuted” because they do not have to face any consequences for their shortsightedness, selfishness and hubris. Well, it has begun.
The timing of the mass vaccination and slowdown in infections and deaths pushed back many sports: the NBA and NHL are still playing their postseasons; and the college championships have been pushed back as well. As a result, the College Baseball World Series, which should have been played in May, are just reaching their climax now. Unfortunately, the virus is not finished impacting life and a private institution that can enforce rules received an advantage of a public university that panders to the ignorant masses.
Vanderbilt were scheduled to play N.C. State Friday but N.C. State was disqualified. Positive COVID-19 cases were found via testing of the Wolfpack’s team. N.C. State played Vanderbilt short-handed on Friday, with only 13 players including four pitchers in uniform, and lost 3-1. The teams were supposed to play again Saturday with the winner moving on to the best-of-three College World Series championship series against either Texas or Mississippi State. At 2:10 AM Saturday morning, the NCAA, in conjunction with the Douglas County Health Department in Omaha, Nebraska where the tournament is played, ruled N.C. State unable to continue participating. As a result, the Commodores also find themselves in the College World Series championship series, scheduled to start Monday night.
What’s the difference, you may ask? All of Vanderbilt’s students are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to stay in school for the 2021-22 school year. N.C. State, meanwhile, highly encourages vaccination for its students, faculty and staff as it plans for return to in-person instruction beginning in August, according to the schools’ websites, but being in the heart of the South would never require students to be vaccinated.
Even the N.C. State Manager refused to get publicly involved. Elliott Avent, during a news conference on Friday night, wouldn’t say if he was vaccinated or if he requested or urged his players to do so. “I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to talk about that,” Avent said. “If you want to talk baseball, we can talk baseball. If you want to talk politics or stuff like that, you can go talk to my head of sports medicine, Rob Murphy.”
This is happening more and more frequently throughout the country. There were protesters at last night’s opening of the “Springsteen on Broadway” show because unvaccinated people are not being allowed into the theater. There was a story in today’s Chicago Tribune about students and parents suing the University of Indiana over a similar requirement. Never mind that most universities have requirements for students to have had proof of other vaccines prior to enrollment. Already students are required to have been vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella (German measles), varicella (chicken pox) and meningococcal (meningitis). Most schools will make exceptions in cases of medical and religious issues, but most of the time, no one says a word about the other vaccines. The politicization of the Covid-19 vaccine has made refusal to get vaccinated a cockeyed patriotism among the very stupid.
I have said all along that there is only one positive thing about the Orange Fuhrer being elected president, and that is that the racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism and the ways in which these biases are imbedded in the bedrock of America haves to be identified and dealt with. Drumpf’s outwardly bigoted opinions brought the other racists and white supremacists out of the woodwork. More important, racism was finally no longer identified as an individual’s thoughts or actions, or even that of groups. It’s prevalence in nearly every aspect of American life has now been identified for the “non-racist.”
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, and in this case, it is the fight against “Critical Race Theory” and having it taught in schools. The same can be said for the “rugged individualists” (delusional) who want to do what they wish, think what they wish, and have no repercussions. No consequences, no understanding of how their standing, their net worth, has been at the price of others, often people of color.
Do I feel for the baseball players at N.C. State? I do, especially those who have been vaccinated. Do I feel for the university and coaches who must leave an out for the stupid and racist students and parents? Not a bit.
Go Vandy!

I could never imagine what it would have been like to be an alum or fan of the Penn State Nittany Lions football team when the allegations surfaced about Jerry Sandusky’s predatory sexual history with young boys. As horrible as that was, the fact that Hall of Fame Coach Joe Paterno and members of the Athletic Department knew and did not report it to the police. Sandusky’s in jail; Paterno is dead; other members of the athletic department have been found guilty of lesser charges.
By the same token, what is it like to be an Ohio State fan, or even represented by Congressman Jim Jordan, who was an assistant wrestling coach from 1987 to 1995, during that tenure, there were allegations of sexual misconduct against former wrestling team physician Richard Strauss; at least eight former wrestlers said that Jordan had been aware of, but did not respond to, allegations of sexual misconduct by Strauss. Jordan is in Congress; Strauss committed suicide.
The latest are the allegations made against University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler. Schembechler’s stepson along with a number of players have stated that they were sexually molested by team doctor Richard Anderson. Except for the victims, Schembechler, his wife and the doctor are all deceased. These incidents happened to other teams, all college teams. I never thought I team I followed faced similar allegations.
The Chicago Blackhawks are my favorite hockey team – one of my most loved teams. Little did anyone know that they may have been harboring a sexual predator. The Hawks are in the midst of a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court from one of the two former players identified under the pseudonym ‘‘John Doe,’’ alleging that former Blackhawks video coach Bradley Aldrich sexually assaulted him during the 2010 Stanley Cup Championship season. As horrible as that is, the suit says that the senior management of the team knew and did nothing.
According to the suit, quoted by the Chicago Sun-Times, Aldrich ‘‘sent .?.?. inappropriate text messages,’’ ‘‘turned on porn and began to masturbate in front of [Doe] .?.?. without his consent’’ and ‘‘threatened to injure [Doe] .?.?. physically, financially and emotionally if [Doe] .?.?. did not engage in sexual activity,’’ according to the lawsuit filed May 7. The player reported Aldrich’s assault to skills coach James Gary, but Gary ‘‘did nothing’’ and instead ‘‘convinced [Doe] .?.?. that the sexual assault was his fault,’’ according to the lawsuit.
A report yesterday in the magazine The Athletic said that the incidents were known about by the entire team during the 2010 playoffs. ‘‘Every single guy on the team knew,’’ an unidentified player from the 2010 Stanley Cup-winning team told The Athletic. Nick Boynton, a defenseman on the 2010 team, said that he was aware of the incident and trusted then-skills coach Paul Vincent to alert upper management and take the necessary steps to remedy the situation. Vincent told TSN this month that he informed then-president John McDonough, general manager Stan Bowman, executive Al MacIsaac and skills coach James Gary about Aldrich’s alleged assault at a meeting in 2010, but that the group of Hawks executives rejected his request to report the incident to the police.
Brent Sopel, a defenseman and Stanley Cup winner on the 2010 team, tweeted Friday that The Athletic’s report was ‘‘accurate.’’ ‘‘The front office staff should be in jail,’’ Sopel said in a separate tweet. ‘‘The NHL is showing [their] true colours. .?.?. This is absolutely disgusting that the NHL is doing nothing.’’
I think the attitude is that macho hockey players would fight off sexual predators but when you’re young and the predator is a member of the staff of the team, someone who is supposed to coach and protect a young person, a predator can thrive. Maybe that played into the attitude that that can’t happen here, and if it did, the young person was to blame.
The lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages from the Hawks and claims the player continues to suffer from the trauma of the incident. The player told local public radio station WBEZ that the sexual assault ‘‘took me out of the high point of my game.’’ Personally, $150,000 is too little – the damages are probably much more serious to the young man’s hockey career, and worse, on the man’s mental health and life.
The Hawks filed a motion June 14 to dismiss the lawsuit, but that motion was based on legal grounds, arguing the statute of limitations had expired and the player didn’t exhaust his legal options before suing rather than the alleged facts of the assault. The Hawks also filed an objection to discovery requests by the player’s lawyer. The team denied wrongdoing in a statement last month to the Sun-Times but haven’t responded to repeated requests for comment since. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Athletic on Friday that the NHL has ‘‘been in contact with the [Hawks] regarding the matter, but there is no ongoing investigation.’’
While Bowman, MacIsaac, Gary and Sutera are still employed by the Hawks and Vincent now works as a volunteer assistant coach at Dartmouth University. Aldrich left the Hawks in 2010 but has continued to take advantage of minors. He was briefly employed by the Miami (Ohio) University men’s hockey team in 2012 but resigned ‘‘under suspicion of unwanted touching of a male adult,’’ the university’s general counsel told a Michigan police officer in 2013. Miami University recently hired a third-party firm to investigate Aldrich’s time at the school. Aldrich later became a volunteer coach with the Houghton (Michigan) High School boys’ hockey team. He pleaded guilty in December 2013 — and was sentenced in February 2014 to nine months in prison and five years of probation — for a criminal sexual-contact incident with a 16-year-old member of the team.
I am horrified at the Aldrich’s behavior, but I am unfortunately not surprised that the hockey community has rallied around Aldrich, protecting him and the Blackhawks even reportedly giving references to Miami University (the Hawks are being sued by former students at the university for providing references in light of what they knew about Aldrich in 2010).
Once again, it is a case of who knew what and when did they know it. If true, all of the members of the team who knew in 2010, especially those who remain employed by the team, need to be fired, if not prosecuted. This is a black eye on the team, the league, the sport, and all who are in positions of authority at all levels of hockey.

One of the most heinous rules in sport is for college athletes not to be paid for their services beyond a scholarship, room and board. This is the frame work for the multibillion-dollar NCAA to even exist, but the tide has been turning. Federal antitrust lawsuits have slowly eroded strict amateurism rules during the past decade. Nineteen states including Illinois have passed laws in the past two years that will soon allow athletes to start making money from third-party endorsements. There are at least half-a-dozen bills in Congress that will irreparably change the NCAA; probably destroy it in its current form. However, yet another nail in the coffin of the business model is about to change.
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously affirmed a ruling that provides for an incremental increase in how college athletes can be compensated. limited the scope of its decision on those education-related benefits rather than delving further into questions about the association’s business model. While the high court limited the scope of its decision on education-related benefits and did not delve further into compensation, the ruling opens the door for future legal challenges that could deal a much more significant blow to the NCAA’s current business model.
The Court’s decision is particularly telling in two ways: first, the opinion was written by Justice Neil Gorsuch and the concurring opinion was written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, two of the three justices appointed during the Trump administration which is thought to be pro-big business; the other sign was that it was unanimously held. Even the more liberal of the court concurred.
The ruling comes in the NCAA v. Alston case which was filed originally in 2014 by former West Virginia football player Shawne Alston. The case wound through the legal system for five years before Judge Claudia Wilken ruled in 2019, determining that schools should be able to provide their athletes with educational equipment, study abroad programs, internships and even cash rewards in exchange for academic accomplishments. The NCAA’s attorneys argued that these measures were “micromanaging” rules that should be determined by the NCAA’s members and that the added benefits were “akin to professional salaries.” (I hate to bring it up, but it should be noted that Mr. Alston is a person of color.)
As I wrote above, Justice Gorsuch wrote the court’s opinion, which upheld Judge Wilken’s decision that the NCAA was violating antitrust law by placing limits on the education-related benefits that schools can provide to athletes. The decision allows schools to provide their athletes with unlimited compensation as long as it is some way connected to their education. Justice Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion takes a harder line, suggesting that the NCAA’s rules that restrict any type of compensation — including direct payment for athletic accomplishments — might no longer hold up well in future antitrust challenges. “The NCAA is not above the law,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The NCAA couches its arguments for not paying student athletes in innocuous labels. But the labels cannot disguise the reality: The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”
This is a monumental decision, one that will resound through all of college sports. Of course, this will not change the NCAA immediately, but over the next few years, we may see a dismantling of many rules related to compensation to athletes. It is far too early to ascertain all of the ramifications, but they will be gargantuan. Small schools may stop providing sports because they can’t compete for talent with the big schools. There may be open bidding on talent. Colleges and Universities may be required to provide comprehensive health insurance coverage for injuries incurred while playing sports.
It isn’t a huge stretch for me to write that college athletics will look VERY different in five years, and today’s NCAA will be destroyed and what’s left will be unrecognizable to college sports fans today. It is long overdue.

In a story late this afternoon, it was announced by team President and CEO Ted Phillips that the Chicago Bears recently submitted a bid to purchase the property at Arlington International Racecourse. Churchill Downs, which currently owns and operates the racetrack, announced this past winter that the property would be up for sale for redevelopment opportunities. And the Bears have now expressed at least preliminary interest in building a stadium and developing the land around it.
There are a couple of big problems with this plan. First, the Bears are the McCaskey family’s only major asset. Unlike so many other NFL owners, there are no deep pockets in the McCaskey family and there are a lot of sons, daughters, cousins, in-laws and kids to feed.
The second and sticker issue is the relationship with the City of Chicago. The Bears have played their home games at Soldier Field since 1971 and their current lease at the stadium runs through 2033. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot previously threw cold water on the idea the Bears might move to Arlington Heights, saying she’s seen reports in the media but the team has a lease until 2033. There are still a lot of locals who remember the attempted civic extortion that the Bears and Phillips have tried in the past. It is my firm belief that former Mayor Richard M. Daley gained votes every time he announced the hardline stance against the Bears, who wanted the city to build a new stadium for them. In the end, the Bears had to put up a lot more money than they wanted to in order to get the Close Encounters type space ship that landed in the middle of old Soldier Field. The Bears did get a much higher percentage of parking, concessions, skyboxes and the rest. But if they think that the City is going to let the Bears move without significant pain, they have to be insane. Or is this just saber-rattling?
Of course, the Bears are renowned as being one of the most poorly run franchises in all of sport. It is well within belief that the Bears are making another dumb move.

Major League Baseball tweaks its product more than George Lucas to the Star Wars films. Too much scoring? “We’ll take care of that,” says the league. Too little scoring? “We’ll take care of that too.” One of the best things about baseball is that there is a continuum of statistics, and since the dimensions of the infield haven’t changed, the distance from the pitching rubber to home plate hasn’t changed (although that might be next), we can compare players from different eras and make judgements. The fact that the available statistics for the Negro Leagues have been compiled and added to the official register.
We even know when baseball makes changes because weird things happen: raise the mound by a few inches in 1968, Bob Gibson is nearly unhittable, move it back down in time for the next season. Despite denials, it has said that the baseball has either been juiced (strings would tighter inside the ball) to add home runs, or “deadened” to reduce home runs (strings loosened). Again, the powers that be say that nothing’s changed, but the players, pundits and people calculating the statistics think otherwise.
What’s worse is that no sport is as willing to run around worried about abnormalities in the game like a load of Chicken Little in suits, like Major League Baseball. Personally, I have always felt that the game should decide on a standard and stick with it. If there’s something odd in a given year, go with it.
It is a standard adage of baseball that coming out of Spring Training, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters. The first month or so of the season, while it cold in most MLB locales, pitchers absolutely rule. Batting averages are down, as are home runs. As we get into June and things heat up, the batters also start to heat up.
What has baseball’s collective undies in bundles this year? The number of no-hitters and the ridiculous stats that pitchers like Jacob DeGrom are posting this year. Already there have been seven no-hitters thrown: the Padres’ Joe Musgrove threw the first one against the Rangers on April 9; five days later, Carlos Rodon downed Cleveland on April 14; Baltimore hurler John Means no-hit the Mariners on May 5; Reds starter Wade Miley threw the season’s second no-hitter vs. Cleveland on May 7; the Tigers’ Spencer Turnbull no-hit Seattle on May 18, the second time the Mariners have been no-hit this season; finally the Yankees’ Corey Kluber no-hit Texas the next night, May 19, the second time the Rangers have been no-hit this season. (It sounds like they need hitting coaches/better hitters on Cleveland, Texas, and Seattle since they were the victims of six of the seven no-hitters.) The MLB record for no-hitters in a season (since 1900) is seven, which has happened four times: 1990, 1991, 2012 and 2015 (and I say it has already been broken since Madison Bumgarner held the Atlanta Braves to no hits through seven complete innings, but unfortunately in the eyes of the MLB, it doesn’t officially count as one – and I hate the seven inning games).
What did the league do? This week, Major League Baseball released a memo that detailed the new rules that will go into effect beginning on June 21 as the league cracks down on pitchers who use illegal sticky substances on the baseballs. Now, using illegal substances on baseball is as old as the game itself. Phil and Joe Niekro, Gaylord Perry, even reportedly Don Sutton are among the most illustrious pitchers in the Hall of Fame and there were rumors, or even outright admitted that they doctored baseballs.
The reason for now? The usual chasm between the pitchers and hitters got too big, with offense reaching historically low levels this season.
The chief offender is something called Spider Tack. It is a very sticky substance used by weightlifters and others who want a very tight grip. Now comes the science; illegal sticky substances help pitchers add spin rate and movement to their pitches. Spin rate can be explained this way: let’s assume that a “normal” fastball approximately 92 MPH will have a spin rate of 2200 Revolutions per minute (RPM). In reality pitchers can throw 92 and have spin rates ranging from 1800 RPM to 2400 RPMs. Why this happens can be explained by some simplified physics, in this case we’ll focus on the Magnus force. A 92 MPH fastball at 2200 RPM is going to travel on an ‘average’ path to the plate. If this 92 MPH fastball is thrown at 1800 RPM that means less spin, less Magnus force meaning the ball will drop further over its course to the plate than the ‘average’ fastball described above. If this 92 MPH fastball is thrown at 2400 RPM that means more spin, more Magnus force meaning the ball will drop less over its course to the plate rising more than the ‘average’ fastball. These are small enough differences that a batter would not be able to tell before they decide to swing, but the balls will end up at different heights by the time they reach the plate.
Major League Baseball is bringing in the heavy weaponry to combat this “problem” (too bad they can’t issue suspensions for teams cheating by tipping off batters by banging garbage cans in the dugout).
• To ensure that enforcement of the rules is even and consistent, umpires have been instructed to perform checks periodically throughout the game of all starting and relief pitchers on both teams, regardless of whether they suspect a violation of the rules.
• Starting pitchers will have more than one mandatory check per game, and each relief pitcher must be checked either at the conclusion of the inning in which he entered the game or when he is removed from the game, whichever occurs first. In general, inspections will be conducted between innings or after pitching changes to avoid a delay of the game and to allow the umpire to perform a thorough check, including the hat, glove, and fingertips of the pitcher.
• A player who possesses or applies foreign substances will be immediately ejected from the game and suspended (with the team not allowed to replace the suspended player on the roster). The umpiring crew shall be the sole judge as to whether the rules have been violated. The use of foreign substances is not subject to challenge using the replay review system. MLB cited prior precedent for the length of a first suspension being 10 games.
• Rosin bags on the mound may be used in accordance with the rules. To ensure standardization of the rosin bag, Clubs must submit the rosin bag along with the game balls to be reviewed by the umpires before the start of each game.
• The league will also hold each team and team personnel accountable for making sure the players follow the rules, with harsh penalties being levied on team employees who violate them.
I think it is a bit foolish to suspend players with pay, but I guess the MLB Players’ Association would not submit to these Draconian rules if players were suspended with out pay. That said, the real teeth to the directive is prohibiting teams from replacing suspended players on the roster. You lose a starting pitcher for 10 games, which is only two starts, but you cannot replace them on the roster.
The main problem is that MLB missed an opportunity to separate Spider Tack and other newer, specialized concoctions from the normal (and widely accepted) mixture of rosin (which is legal) and sunscreen (which is not legal) that many pitchers have been using for a very long time. And under the new rules, Spider Tack will be treated the same as a simple rosin and sunscreen mix — resulting in ejections and suspensions.
I hope that maybe baseball will see how much this impacts the time of games and player attitudes and morale. Maybe the fans will revolt for the added time or as more pitchers get suspended without replacement. At the same time, I am certain that players will be looking for loopholes in the rules. Or maybe everyone should plan a trip to Gaylord Perry’s house; he’s still alive.

You may remember the objections that LeBron James cited before the NBA started its pandemic slowed 2020-2021 season. James complained about the short time period between the end of the 2019-2020 shortened season, which was prolonged by the fact that the Lakers won the championship and therefore were the last to play. James was against the next season beginning so soon thereafter, because it would give his Lakers limited time to recover from their championship run. In addition, the non-bubble compressed schedule with travel has certainly been unique and extra stressful.
Still, the league was able to produce a solid and meaningful 72-game regular season. James is likely correct that the limited offseason and unusual schedule from last season to this season has thrown off players and led to more injuries. That outcome was probably to be expected. This week, James has come out saying that these problems have helped drive the sheer number of All-Star players who have been injured and unable to play at playoff time – the time they are needed the most. Of course, James saw up close how important Anthony Davis was for the Lakers; James was unable to win the team’s first round series by himself without Davis.
There are All-Star injuries that have and will impact the eventual NBA Champion. The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t the same team with Joel Embiid. Trying his best to playing through a slight tear in his lateral meniscus in his right knee. The 76ers were able to get past Washington in the first round, but the second round series against Atlanta has been hard fought and was even until Philadelphia squandered a 26-point lead in the fourth quarter against budding superstar Trey Young and Atlanta last night to defeat the 76ers and take a 3-games-to-2 lead in their series. Embiid had 37 points, but most of them came in the first quarter. Atlanta can close out their series tomorrow at home.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn suffered two injuries that has led to doubts: first, guard Kyrie Erving suffered a high ankle sprain that kept him out of last night’s game; along with the hamstring injury to superstar James Harden. It looked like the Nets all-star team was in trouble. They may still be, but not on if the third member of the superstar triumvirate, Kevin Durant has anything to say about it. Durant posted a game for the ages Tuesday night finishing with 49 points on 16-of-23 FG shooting and 13-of-16 from the foul line; 17 rebounds, 10 assists, three steals, two blocks and four 3-pointers while playing every second. His team needed all 48 of those minutes too, as they were down as many as 17 points in the third quarter and looked like they had run out of steam at times. Durant is the first player in NBA playoff history to tally at least 45 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, and he also notched the third-highest field-goal percentage (69.6%) in a 40-point triple-double in the history of the playoffs. The Nets head to Milwaukee for what could potentially be a series-clinching Game 6 tonight.
Utah’s Mike Conley’s absence has been very evident to the Utah Jazz. The Jazz won the first two matches riding on Jordan Clarkson and Donovan Mitchell’s scoring. However, the LA Clippers have had to fight back for a second time from a 0-2 position and now lead the series 3-games-to-2. Utah may be in luck as the Clippers have a big problem of their own. Kawhi Leonard suffered a knee injury in the game Monday and he is expected to miss significant time. The Jazz had the best record in the entire league before the playoffs and now need to beat the Clippers in Los Angeles to force a Game 7 tonight.
Even the conference finals have injuries overshadowing the games. Phoenix, the only team who has already clinched a berth in the next round will be without guard Paul George who is in Covid protocol.
Can we blame all of these injuries on the shortened offseason and compressed season? Sure, I’m certain it has something to do with it, but is it the only cause as LeBron James suggests? I think King James is upset he is sitting at home watching the playoffs for a change.

Joe Paterno was a football coaching legend. He held the all time record for victories in big time college football. Then came the, at first allegations then proven that assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was sexually assaulting young boys in a program Sandusky headed for underprivileged boys. Paterno lost his job, his record for awhile, and shortly thereafter, his life to cancer. Three other Penn State officials still face charges in the scandal. Penn State was penalized by the Big Ten involving loss of scholarships. Many of us thought that this was the nadir of college scandals, but maybe another Big Ten school is saying “hold my beer…”
Stepson of the legendary Bo Schembechler, Matt Schembechler at 10 years-old summoned the courage to tell his new stepfather a horrific, uncomfortable and humiliating truth: during a physical examination he’d been fondled and digitally penetrated by the Michigan team doctor, Robert Anderson. The younger Schembechler held a news conference this week quoted by Yahoo! Sports.
The incident happened in 1969, and according to Matthew, Bo told him he didn’t want to hear about the incident and even struck the child hard enough to knock him across the kitchen in the family’s Ann Arbor home. “My effort earned me a punch in the chest,” Matt Schembechler said.
Undeterred, Matt said his mother, Millie, had Michigan athletic director Don Canham over to the house to hear the story. Matt described what happened and said Canham went to fire Anderson, only to have Bo step in the way and save Anderson’s job. Anderson would remain the Wolverines’ team doctor until 2003, which spanned 13 Big Ten championships won by Schembechler during a heralded career.
It also resulted in some 850 allegations from former players that Anderson would routinely fondle, abuse and rape them during routine physical therapy and checkups. The allegations against Anderson, who died in 2008, aren’t new. They were so prevalent at the time that Anderson was dubbed “Dr. Anal” by members of the football program. Also not new is the idea that Bo Schembechler, who died in 2006, knew generally of Anderson’s abuse. A recent university-funded report even detailed numerous stories of Bo being directly told. That included one from Daniel Kwiatkowski, an offensive lineman from 1977-79, who on Thursday detailed his own molestation by Anderson and his reporting of it to Schembechler. “Bo said, ‘Toughen up,” Kwiatkowski said. “Bo knew.”
Gilvanni Johnson, a Michigan wide receiver from 1982 to 1986, while fighting back tears. Stated that Anderson’s behavior was so well-known that coaches would threaten trips to see him as a motivational ploy. “Only now do I realize how crazy it was to threaten rape as a way to make players work harder,” Johnson said.
Anderson, Canham, Bo and Millie Schembechler are all dead, so trying to conduct a full investigation into these claims is nearly impossible. However, the breadth of the accusations and the emotional testimony of the men is a fresh stain on the University of Michigan and it’s Hall of Fame coach. It really isn’t fair to penalize the university since everyone involved is dead and none of the current players, administrators, or coaches, with the exception of current Head Coach Jim Harbaugh who says he was never molested. Still, the university should be paying for mental health and support for the athletes molested by Anderson. I’m certain that there will be calls to rename any buildings, fields or other locations named after Bo Schembechler and the removal of any statues, much like Paterno’s statue was removed during the early days of the Sandusky scandal.
Still, one has to ask – why are these coaches who were renowned for helping players become better men have this hole in their conscience concerning their assistant or team doctor? To allow your stepson to be molested and then push the kid and support a molester over a family member is very frightening and sad.