For months, the relationship between the US Women’s Soccer team and the U.S. Soccer Federation has been contentious. The players have sued the Federation for equal pay, especially after the team won it’s second World Cup title in a row – a historic event. Fans chanted “equal pay” as the women were accepting their Cup and individual awards from the head of the Federation.
One would think that the time for negotiation is now, but once again, the old misogynistic men in charge have taken an aggressive stance (even though the Federation does invest more on women’s soccer that any other country in the world).. the U.S. Soccer Federation has hired lobbyists to essentially discredit ongoing concerns raised by the players. The Federation lobbyists presented a slideshow to lawmakers was in conjunction with a letter that U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro issued to the media last week claiming the women are actually paid more than the men. But again, it’s missing some crucial context and will hardly settle the matter.
While U.S. Soccer and its lobbyists raise some valid points as the federation is under pressure from Congress, their presentation also oversimplifies and misrepresents others, which is sure to only anger the USWNT as both sides are supposedly working toward mediation of the wage discrimination lawsuit the players filed earlier this year.
The Women’s games outperform the men’s team, drawing much larger crowds. The team is embarking soon on a exhibition tour that is expected to sell out everywhere they go. The men? Crickets!
Despite a groundswell of hatred towards women, LGQTB, people of color and immigrants, why has the Federation taken to an attack mode, especially with some questionable facts in its presentation? Especially now with the women having won the World Cup and at their height of popularity and celebrity? Is it just women, or is this an attempt to beat down gays, since there are a fair number of lesbians on the team?
Why fight a battle that you can’t win? (Unless the Federation’s presentation was solely to GOP Congressmen.) The women are going to get paid commensurate with the men, if not more. They deserve it.

Long time readers know that there is no greater target of my ire than Northwestern Football Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall. I have called for his ouster; even writing Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald to complain (Fitz sent back a nice note – you can read it on evilopinion.com – search Fitzgerald). Nothing seems to get through the apparent stubbornness of the athletic department. With top QB recruit Hunter Johnson coming to Evanston, it was time to reach out directly and today I did. Here is a copy of the open letter to Mick McCall:

Dear Coach McCall:
I know that it is rather unusual for a fan to contact an assistant coach/coordinator, but I feel that I must at this point. I have been a season ticket holder for the Cats since Fitz’s senior year as a student/player and also believe that I have some expertise in watching football since I wrote for “The Sportswriters on TV” and “The Back Table with Chet Coppock” television shows back in the 1990s.
I know that it is easy to sit in the stands and complain about players, coaches, programs, but as an alum of NU, who has lived through the very bad and the very good, I am taking this, perhaps unprecedented step in contacting you. Why am I writing now? Why am I bothering you? Why risk an upraised middle finger from you? Because I care about the program – and you have recruited Hunter Johnson, the highest rated prospect perhaps in school history. I have stated in jest that it will be like putting a Ferrari engine in a Yugo. I am imploring you to prove me wrong.
I have been one of your harshest critics over he past few years. As the offense continues to languish around 110 out of 129 FBS schools in total offense, a lot of people have been critical. One of the main problems has been overly conservative and repetitive play calling. When I, sitting in section 107, Row 34 can call out the next play correctly, what are the defensive coordinators of Ohio State or Wisconsin or the other Big Ten schools doing? Being regularly in 2nd down and 12 yards to go to 2nd down and 8 situations significant limit your options on 2nd and 3rd downs.
I felt that this was at its worst when Justin Jackson was in Evanston. He was a singular talent and was one of the best to ever play at NU, but running the same play in hopes that execution alone and/or his own talent would be enough to spring him, was imprudent. I worried that having JJ run the ball the most times in the FBS season after season would lead to injury. Fortunately, that did not occur.
It may seem foolish to look at team weaknesses when you are winning 10 games per year, winning bowl games and appearing in the Big Ten Championship Game, but the good teams look to get better; the great coaches look to improve, and by any measure, the offense has needed to improve. Admittedly, your play calling in certain games last season was improved, but again, there has been no consistency in the improvement. Fitz says that he is teaching the players accountability, but apparently not to the coaching staff.
You have coached NU quarterbacks to the NFL, however, with the exception of Clayton Thorson, it appeared marginal if these guys would make the league much less play. Trevor Siemian did not look to be a top prospect with his play at NU, but he did make the NFL and was a starter for a season. This Johnson kid may have all the tools, but it is up to you to use him to his fullest potential. It has long appeared that you have plugged players into your system instead of adapting your system to the strengths of the players you have.
I wish you success. I wish the team success, but if we have a moribund offense for the seventh consecutive season, saved only by Hankwitz’s excellent defense again, no matter how many games we win, there needs to be accountability in the program. Only then, can we say that we are a top college football team.
Sincerely,
Anthony Fernandez

In today’s “win at all costs” world, the only thing worse than cheating is getting caught. There’s an old quote “one dares not call it treason if it succeeds.” Our political climate is such that winning is worth everything. Certainly not honor or fairness.
However, what happens when you’re a college basketball program – you cheat, but you still lose the majority of your games, and you still get caught? That is the story of the DePaul men’s basketball team. Once of course a national powerhouse when coached by the legendary Ray Meyer led by the likes of Mark Aquirre and Terry Cummings, then coached by Ray’s son Joey. Since that time, DePaul has been an afterthought in the Chicago sports scene.
Attempts to resuscitate the program have been largely failures, with the team now led by Coach Dave Leitao, who, in his second stint as the team’s coach has not produced a winning season. Well, a Division I Committee on Infractions found that a former assistant coach violated NCAA ethical conduct rules. Apparently, the coach instructed an assistant director of basketball operations to provide improper benefits to a player. Leitao was personally implicated for not stopping the infraction from occurring.
The assistants were not named, but the program is now on 3-years’ probation and in an unusual move, Leitao has been suspended for the first three games of next basketball season. To my mind, one has to give it to the Rick Pitino’s and John Calipari’s of the world: their programs have been caught cheating, but they have won national championships. What good is it to cheat and not win? Pitino and Calipari got million-dollar contracts, sold lots of seats, have been able to buy very nice expensive suits (although Calipari’s Kentucky program has not been accused of cheating yet and with their reputation for one-and-done players, maybe he doesn’t need to do it anymore).
The pit that is DePaul men’s basketball grows deeper and one wonders if it can come back?

We knew this would be a crazy offseason when Nashville traded All-Star defenseman P.K. Subban to New Jersey. Unlike when he was traded by Montreal, the reason was obvious – they needed salary cap money, which they used today to sign top forward Matt Duchene. Still, when big names are flying around, it is unusual for the NHL. So, with today marking the start of free agency, we knew it was going to be strange.
We knew that Antemi Panarin would command big money, and pundits believed that he would go to Florida – sunshine, lots of money, a chance to team with Sergei Bobrovsky, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. I however was suspicious of Florida because I didn’t see Panarin wanting to be reunited with Coach Joel Quenneville. Quenneville was unhappy with Panarin’s defense in Chicago, which is why he was traded.
What I didn’t expect was Panarin to be pursued by, much less signed by the New York Rangers. Yes, the rangers have been irrelevant for years, wasting the career of future Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundquist, and Panarin won’t solve all of the Rangers’ problems, but they will be much more interesting and they suddenly have a pulse. Panarin becomes the face of the franchise and is a young man making $11 million per year on the biggest stage in hockey.
I couldn’t help but laugh when the Penguins traded Phil Kessel to Arizona. Regularly considered the most overrated player in the league, he was a valuable third scorer behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Still, Kessel is a defensive liability and not worth the money. Now, he’s been banished to the NHL version of Siberia (even though they showed some signs of life last year).
I wish Scott Darling good luck in Florida. After signing a big money contract with Carolina after helping the Blackhawks win a Cup in 2015, he had hard times with the Hurricanes. (I heard rumors that he was having problems with addiction again. I hope I heard wrong on that one.) With Bobrovsky the number 1 netminder, Darling can get the huge expectations off his back. I wish him luck.
Other big names moving are Wayne Simmonds, former Flyer who did very little with Nashville late last season and in the playoffs. Corey Perry leaves the Ducks for Dallas, who also picked up Joe Pavelski from the Sharks. Both are old; I’m not sure I understand the Stars.
Now, let’s get to the Blackhawks. They picked up code de Hahn from Carolina and Olli Matta from Pittsburgh. Both are stay at home defensemen, which is what they need the most. Many fans were hopeful that the Hawks would go back to Chicago, but honesty, he would have eaten all of the team’s cap room, and the team has too many needs to spend on one guy.
The Hawks continued their tactic of “bringing the band back together again.” After failing in bringing back Kris Versteeg, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp, Marcus Kruger, and of course having a very slow season from Brandon Saad, they brought back Andrew Shaw from Montreal in return for future draft picks. The Canadiens needed salary cap room which they don’t seem to have done much with. Shawzy had his best season as a pro last season, and he will add toughness to the front line plus he will get in the goalie’s way. Only knock – several concussions which limited his playing time in Montreal.

Major League Baseball attendance has continued its downward trend of the past several years so far this season. It could be attributable to the rotten weather the country has generally experienced this Spring, although, the game seems to be losing its appeal to younger fans. There have been many ideas to speed up the game, make umpires more accountable for balls and strikes with the use of technology, timing mound visits and even trying to limit time between pitches.
Almost every idea is being considered except for the one that makes most sense, contraction, especially of the franchises that generally don’t make money. One of those franchises is the Tampa Bay Rays. A small market team in a division, the American League East, with two of the most free-spending franchises in the sport – the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rays have fielded somewhat competitive teams over the years, but they just cannot keep up with the Joneses.
Add to that a home, Tropicana Field that was mediocre at best when it opened in 1998, but now has all of the allure of an old, empty, dilapidated shopping mall. Baseball and the NHL both bet mostly wrong on trying to cater to people moving from the urban centers to the south – retirees either don’t have that much money, or generally don’t want to come out for sports. Without large stadium revenue and no base for a big broadcast contract, the Rays are in trouble. There has been talk of moving, but nothing is in place and no one is, to my knowledge, building new baseball stadiums to attract baseball teams.
Baseball is reportedly now considering splitting home games for the Rays between Tampa bay and Montreal. Of course, the Expos failed, moving to Washington D.C. in 2004. Stuck in a truly obsolescent stadium in a city where baseball is not a traditional attraction, the Expos were a problematic franchise financially most of its time in existence.
The question is – is Montreal ready for baseball after all these years? Yes, Toronto has embraced the Blue Jays and has gone crazy for the NBA Champion Raptors, but Toronto is an American city in many ways. While clearly Canadian, Toronto feels more like an American City. Montreal on the other hand remains very French in nature and more provincial.
The bigger question is: is this real or is this just saber-rattling? Already the mayor of St. Petersburg (where the stadium is located) Rick Kriseman said he would not grant the team permission to discuss any proposal with Montreal. The Rays’ lease with Tropicana Field runs through 2027. This appears to be another step in the ongoing negotiation over a new stadium, which have gone nowhere in the past.
It could be real since Stephen Bronfman and Mitch Garber, both very rich, well-connected men want baseball back in Montreal. Baseball wouldn’t risk pissing off two super rich guys who could spend potential billion-dollar expansion fees if this was just a saber-rattling exercise. Despite the wishes of two boys who want their toys, I’m still not convinced that Montreal people would get into baseball.
The biggest roadblock is that this plan would require TWO new stadiums – one in the Tampa area and another in Montreal. Neither of which are approved, funded or any ground broken. Stadiums in general, and taxpayer funded ones in particular, are a tough sell politically (except it appears, for NFL stadiums), and many local politicians can garner real support by thumbing their noses at rich sports owners.
Nothing will happen in the short-term, for sure, but it will be interesting to see how this baby is split.

What can you do when someone doesn’t get a hint? Guests who stay too long at your house? Politicians like pedophile Roy Jones who lost the senate election in Alabama and now wants to run again? Many coaches in all sports who either are caught cheating or in unethical behavior, or just coach bad teams who have never won?
An example of the latter is Rick Pitino. Pitino had been president and coach of Panathinaikos, the franchise he led to a Greek League championship this season, but he turned down an offer to return according to ESPN. Pitino said that he wants to return to the full-time pursuit of a job in the NBA — as a coach or in a player personnel or advisory role.
Pitino led Panathinaikos to a Greek Cup title, completing a 15-0 season. I’m not sure how much of an impact Pitino had since the team was 7-0 when he arrived.
Pitino, 66, won NCAA titles at Kentucky and Louisville, reached seven Final Fours and led his teams to conference titles in the Big East, SEC and ACC. Controversy and scandal have followed Pitino throughout his career. In January, 2001 in the fourth season after having signed what at the time was the biggest coach/executive deal up to that time with the Boston Celtics (10 years, $70 million), Pitino resigned with his teams having posted a 102-146 overall record. He was considered to have been overwhelmed with the dual jobs. After returning to college and having great success, especially at Louisville, he had a juicy scandal about marital infidelity which included having sex on top of a restaurant table.
The final straw at Louisville came in the aftermath of an FBI investigation into college basketball recruiting. While testimony and recordings of government-taped calls suggested that Pitino was unaware of the payments made to a former Louisville recruit’s family, I still cannot believe that any coach of a major program is not aware of payments going to athletes. Should a coach be responsible for knowing if one of his players is smoking a doobie in his dorm room? Of course not, however, for something as important as recruiting a top talent to your program and the possibility of punishment if caught, I’m certain Pitino knew, they just can’t prove it. Finally, in light of stories about strippers and prostitutes used during recruiting visits to the school, that was enough, and Louisville fired him in October 2017.
Obviously, he will never get a big time NCAA program ever again despite being in the relatively young age for coaches of 66 (although I can see a small school hiring him). Yes, it is a big difference between dealing with college athletes (“amateurs”) and professionals, especially regarding payments, behavior, responsibility. Maybe he is a good teacher and he certainly knows the game, but isn’t it time for someone younger to get an opportunity? Hasn’t Rick Pitino had his day in the sun? I understand the “fire in the belly” but maybe the fire in your belly gives the sport indigestion?

For me, if the Blackhawks are not playing, I start the NHL Playoffs by picking the teams that I don’t want to win. Usually, that is Detroit (of course), Nashville (a more recent addition), Columbus (just because of Coach John Tortorella, who is a world class jerk), and old rivals St. Louis Blues. I haven’t posted here, mostly because I’ve been busy as hell with work and life, but now that the Blues have broken their string of non-championship seasons, I guess I should congratulate them because it truly has been a magical season for them.
Early in the year, it looked very doubtful that the Blues would make the playoffs, much less win the Cup. As of December 31, 2018, the Blues were mired in last place in the Western Conference’s Central Division at 15-18-4 for 34 points, 2 behind my beloved Blackhawks. Bringing up Jordan Binnington in net settled that down immensely, and Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly, they could already score, championships are won with defense. They bought into Craig Berube’s system and off they went.
First, they finished with 99 points amassing 65 points in their final 45 games. They came into the playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets, a team that was among the best in the conference during the regular season but played poorly down the stretch. They were ripe to be knocked off, and they were. The Blues’ second round opponent, the Dallas Stars stunned Nashville in the first round, but I had a feeling they weren’t going far – on the last weekend of the season, with playoff berths still up in the air, the Blackhawks, who fought hard for the playoffs after a horrific start after Joel Quenneville got fired, went into Dallas with both teams needing points and beat them decisively. The Stars gave the Blues a fight, but in the end, St. Louis was just deeper and better on the back end.
The Western Conference Final was against the San Jose Sharks, but the Sharks are notorious for underachieving in the postseason and the Blues outlasted them. Now, I was starting to get worried. The other team that I wanted to get eliminated – Nashville, was out, but the team I hated most next to the Red Wings, the Blues were in and playing well. The Finals were tough – Boston fans, spoiled by the Red Sox and Patriots, are obnoxious and loud. They have the most hated player in the sport, Brad Marchand (sorry Sidney Crosby haters), who punches people and skates away, licks other players, is just a general ass. Too bad he is also one of the most gifted players in the game. However, I used to work for a bank headquartered in Boston/Providence and I still have a number of friends who work and live there, so as the old saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
They couldn’t get past Binnington and O’Reilly especially and game 7 was definitely a letdown, a 4-1 Blues win. For the first time since joining the league in 1970, the Blues hoist the Cup – 49 years. (I admit being disappointed that I could no longer lord that fact over them, especially after our 3 wins, the first of which in 2010 also came after 49 years.) Last year, the Capitals started the trend by winning the Stanley Cup for the first time in that team’s existence – 44 years. The Canucks and Sabres have never won, both coming into existence in 1970 – 49 years. That still isn’t the current title holder, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have not won since 1967. Next season is the 53rd season without a title, only one short of the 1993 New York Rangers who went 54 years before winning in 1994 and have a current streak of 24 seasons without a Cup afterwards. (While it won’t be the same, if the NBA Raptors win the title over the Warriors, Canada will still go crazy – it’s been since 1993 since the Blue Jays won the second of their World Series titles, the same year that the Montreal Canadiens won the last of their record 24 Stanley Cups.)
So, a less than completely hearty congratulations to the Blues and their fans. Life goes on, I will get over the Blues having won (just like I’ve had to do for the Red Wings in times past), but don’t expect that to happen until next week…