Gentlemen,

I am an alum and a season ticket holder since 1996 (your head coach’s senior year), and I’ve seen at least one home game since 1976 (the year before I enrolled), and it’s getting sickening. Once again, rated in the national rankings and facing an opponent that you can beat, you guys came up with a lackluster performance and lost a very winnable game.
A few weeks ago, you had Michigan State at home; a tough game to be sure, but three turnovers in the first quarter spotted the visitors to a 17-0 lead that you couldn’t overcome. This past Saturday, Indiana had lost five straight games and was ripe for another beating despite it being their Homecoming, but again, you turned over the ball five times in losing 21-19.
There can only be one answer for it and there’s no excuse. YOU GUYS ARE READING YOUR PRESS CLIPPINGS! Because we okay in the Chicago area and are in the Big Ten, we get attention from the newspapers, from the television networks. All of our games have been broadcast, either on ESPN or the Big Ten Network. But, we remain Northwestern. During my four years in the venerable university, the football team won four games TOTAL. You guys have good SAT scores and have to go to class and earn degrees. We don’t have a physical education major to hide athletes.
But we have to compete against schools with athletes who might be in prison if not for athletic talent. Generally, they don’t have to go to class, or at least certainly as rigorous a class schedule as you have. However, they are good athletes; they play tough; and they aren’t intimidated by Ohio State and Michigan (when they’re good) – they certainly aren’t going to lie down and allow themselves to be run over by the likes of you.
It seems that almost every year since Gary Barnett proved that there can be a good football program in Evanston, there is always a bump in the road, a game that the team either loses because it is looking ahead, or believes that they are better than the team they are about to play. The Rose Bowl season, it was Miami of Ohio that broke the winning pattern; last year, it was Duke. Last week, it was Indiana. THERE IS NO WAY, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE, THAT NORTHWESTERN SHOULD EVER BE COMPLACENT!!! If life teaches us anything, it truly is that on “any given Saturday” anyone can win. We should understand that, because all too often, we were on the “overmatched” and underdog side of the equation.
In my opinion, Northwestern teams may lose football games, but they should never be outthought on the football field, or out hustled. We will get beaten by better teams, but we should never be the dumbest team on the field. We are still underdogs, whether we play Ohio State, Ohio University, or the Ohio Players. We should always play as such. If we did, games like last Saturday shouldn’t happen.
Yeah, linebacker and defensive captain Malcolm Arrington is out for the season. Our best running back Tyrell Sutton faces wrist surgery and quarterback C.J. Bacher was hurt in Bloomington last Saturday. As you well know, we have only 7,500 undergraduates compared with 35,000 to over 70,000 at the other Big Ten schools, so we don’t have the depth. So, the backups will have to step up if we are to finish this season a successful one. And I for one am realistic; we are not and never will be a football powerhouse, and that’s fine; the team has, outside of a couple of years here and there, been consistently competitive, which is how it should be. Some years up, some years down, but the lows aren’t as horrible as the team was back in the late 1970s and 1980s. But again, we as a university, and you as a team should never, ever get complacent, because, for us, that’s when we are guaranteed to lose.

Sincerely,

Tony

A topic that gets less attention than it should is the safety of athletes. There’s lots of attention spent on steroids and performance enhancing drugs. Some coverage has been on artificial turf. Not enough attention in my opinion has been paid to equipment, especially in football. I don’t believe that football with the current equipment was meant to be played by guys 300 pounds and over that can run 4.4 40 yard dashes. There is just too much force being applied to delicate things like knees, ankles, fingers, etc.
Also woefully under covered is the problem of staph infections. Some of this lack of attention (I’ve only seen one television piece on infections, and I believe it was on Bryant Gumble’s show on HBO) has been because no big stars had come down with it, but now, at least in the NFL, some of its biggest stars have had additional surgery or time away due to this nasty, very resilient bug.
This week, it was reported that Indianapolis Colts’ star quarterback Peyton Manning had a staph infection that forced doctors to operate on his knee a second time this offseason. ESPN reported previously that the second procedure delaying Manning’s progress in training camp. According to Chris Mortensen, doctors were concerned about fluid that had infected the bursa sac, causing the second surgery.
Manning is joined by the other NFL superstar quarterback this week; Tom Brady of the New England Patriots reportedly had additional, infection-clearing procedures done on his left knee following the initial early October surgery to repair the MCL and ACL. In addition, it turns out that Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow’s “mysterious illness” that caused him to miss the Browns’ upset of the New York Giants, was actually a staph infection that hospitalized Winslow for three days.
Staph infections are a problem in locker rooms and showers throughout sport at every level: from pro to high school and perhaps even younger. But in the cases of Manning and Brady, their infections came after surgeries. I know that the hospital where The Indignant Wife gave birth had those disinfectant dispensers in every room and the nurses used them before coming into the room, and when leaving. This is the first step. More research is needed for stronger antibiotics and disinfectants to counter this new threat.
Let’s hope that now that it has been publicized that even superstars like Manning, Brady, and Winslow can catch this infection, we should be doing more to combat it.

Both major Chicago papers reported today that a September 26th party for new students of the Kellogg School of Management at my alma mater, Northwestern University at the Field Museum of Natural History turned into an event for Neanderthals.
Reportedly, at the party at which about 700 students attended, students threw things at Sue, the museum’s famous dinosaur fossil; drunks were vomiting on themselves and on the floor; students were spitting at people; and some students drunkenly passed out in public high-traffic areas.
While the museum has denied that Sue was the target of drunks, and a spokesperson said that neither the museum nor any exhibits were damaged, the incident has embarrassed the university, and led to an e-mail from a Kellogg student leader sent last week to all students lecturing them about proper conduct. It was this e-mail that found its way to a financial gossip Web site called Dealbreaker, led to the mass media coverage, and a statement from Kellogg. Spokeswoman Megan Washburn confirmed that a small group of students misbehaved at the student-sponsored party and apologized for the conduct. Ms. Washburn would not describe the misconduct at the party, but stated, “the school is still investigating these infractions, and courses of action against individual students haven’t been determined at this time.”
On the face of it, this sounds like some elitist grad students got drunk and acted a fool, and that’s correct. With the pressure of getting into such a prestigious and exclusive school, some may have felt justified in getting plowed in the museum. There is no excuse for this behavior, but like Chris Rock said in his monologue about O.J. Simpson in his first HBO special, “He shouldn’t have done it; but I understand.” To be honest, I partied entirely too hard in Evanston, which was much more difficult than today because the suburb was dry. In retrospect, if I had drank less, and studied harder, who knows where I’d be today. That said however, I have a good job that I generally enjoy; and a terrific family that I might not have if my path had taken me elsewhere.
So, this shows that Northwestern is a university comprised of different kinds of people, just like every other university; that’s not news. It also shows that young people often get drunk and do stupid things, but that’s not news either. I’m glad that the Field Museum remains unscathed, and the worst offenders will be punished. But, I’ve been in that position, and I do understand.

We all know that sports and television are joined at the hip like demonic Siamese Twins: what’s good for one is good for the other and vice versa. In that vein, the “conventional wisdom” has been that when teams from small or middle market size cities make playoffs or finals in most sports, the ratings suffer, which means less money for the broadcast network and, in greater frequency, the leagues themselves as a result of revenue sharing deals. But is this true, and if it is, should people who don’t watch the games be labeled as “not true sports fans?”
I bring this up because tonight is the first game of the World Series between Philadelphia and Tamp Bay, and the predictions are that the ratings for the series may be way down, because there’s no New York, or Boston, or Chicago in the final two. Yes, but the Rays are the feel good story of baseball: a team that sucked for all nine years of its life; lost over 90 games last year in the most competitive division in baseball, the AL East; and turned it around with some young players and are now four games away from a championship in its 10 year of existence (compared with 100 years of futility on Chicago’s North Side).
While there’s not a lot to love about the Phillies, particularly their fans who still have the reputation of having booed Santa Claus; they have some great stories of their own. Ryan Howard is a superstar who still gets an allowance from his mother. On the other hand, Jamie Moyer is 1,000 years old in baseball years. Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins are great players who haven’t received the national celebrity they deserve.
Now, I can understand “fair weather” fans in Chicago, New York, Boston and elsewhere not watching the Series, but they are fans of just their teams, not of baseball. They aren’t true fans. The World Series is tradition; the touch of winter in the air; but the two teams will still be out there fighting for a championship. There is a lot of drama in the World Series, no matter who’s in it, and anyone who doesn’t see that, is missing the boat.

Last Sunday, FoxSports.com reported that former Packer great Brett Favre called then Lions’ President Matt Millen the Sept. 14 Packer/Lion game and was said to have spent more than an hour giving coaches information on nuances of the offense he used to run. Despite denials via text message from Favre on Sunday and a formal denial Tuesday to the press, the number of “no comment” quotes does make one think Favre may have helped the Lions. “We do not have a comment,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail to The Associated Press on Monday morning. “Even if it were true, there would be no violation of league rules.” Millen has not been quoted; presumably, he is still in hiding from disgruntled Lions fans still angry despite his being fired weeks ago. Lions coach Rod Marinelli said after the game that he had no comment.
Even the Packers have no comment. Packer Head Coach Mike McCarthy called the situation “disappointing” Sunday night and declined further comment and stated that the team did not plan any recrimination against Favre.
Favre said at his Wednesday news conference that Millen called to invite him to go hunting, then briefly talked about football. Personally, I think that Favre is a “good ole’ boy” who probably doesn’t have the most smarts in the world, nevertheless has a great football mind and I can think of several reasons that he would give aid to the Lions:

1. Matt Millen had shown complete ineptitude as President of the Lions, and there’s no reason to believe that he could have done anything with the information if he had gotten it.
2. The Lions with the current talent couldn’t have beaten the Packers if Favre was playing for the Lions 10 years ago in his prime.
3. Don’t you think that the Packers would have changed the offense significantly, if for no other reason than to augment the talents of the guy who is the current QB of the Packers, Aaron Rodgers?

It’s all a moot point: the Packers beat the Lions 48-25.

For those of you who wondered where I’ve been, The Indignant Wife had Indignant Daughter Number 2 last week, and I was busy trying to help the wife out, and get her and the baby home healthy. All of that has occurred, so, back to the salt mines…

While I was away, Denis Savard was fired as coach of the Blackhawks. As long time readers already know, I have been beating the proverbial drum for the Blackhawks over this offseason, and on the surface, it appears that this was the first sideways or backwards step that the team has made since Dollar Bill Wirtz died in 2007.
Now, I’m not as big a hockey expert as others, but is was weird to fire Savard after only four games, but “Savvy” was in a losing situation from the time he got the job. After toiling selflessly as an Assistant Coach for the team under several head coaches, none of whom picked him, Savard was given the head coaching job by Old Man Wirtz, but with little talent and poor prospects for the future, Savard did the best that he could having had no head coaching experience.
But times change. For those of us who believed that the hiring of former Red Wings Hall of Fame Coach Scotty Bowman was just brought in as a figurehead, we learned differently. Bowmen brought in former Blues head coach Joel Quenneville as a scout about 1 month ago, and the writing was on the wall. Despite going 5-1-1 in the preseason games, the vultures were circling over Savard’s job after the team turned in a 1-2-1 start. So, while I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that Quenneville was brought in to replace Savard, I was surprised nonetheless. Now, look for Scotty’s son , to become GM replacing Dale Tallon.
Meanwhile, in football, another couple of genuinely nice guys are/may be about to be involved in coaching changes. First, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t wait for the bye week; instead, the pulled the trigger on firing head coach Mike Nolan this week. Yes, the 49ers had higher expectations than the current 2-5 record, and winning is the bottom line, but another nice guy and Hall of Famer, Mike Singletary is the new Head Coach. Singletary has been in the running for any number of head coaching vacancies recently, but never got the big job, but now that Nolan is out, the 49ers’ linebacker coach moved into the top spot. I wish him luck, but I wonder if anyone could turn around this snake bit franchise?
And up the coast from San Francisco, Ty Willingham is about to get he axe at the University of Washington. Willingham was run out of Notre Dame three years ago after having had success at Stanford and in his first year in South Bend. But since coming back to the west, Willingham’s teams have not done well; this year’s edition has yet to win a single game and the vultures are circling.
Coaches are hired to be fired I know, but there are people who are better than the coaching position, and it hurts to see good men get fired, no matter what the win-loss record happens to be.