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…

In these social media dominated times, when everything almost anyone does is posted online, good or bad. For celebrities, it is much worse – it’s like no one can even go to the bathroom without it being on Twitter.
As such, celebrities’ private lives are much more grist for the public mill than ever. With knowledge comes judgment and opinion and leaves us with a question – when does an artist’s/performer’s life impact your opinion of them, and maybe more important, certainly to the performers and their companies, when will you no longer spend money on their output – records, films, shows, etc.? Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Michael Jackson, how far is too far?
Of course, the most talked about figure of this type is R. Kelly. Facebook “pen pal” is publishing a book on his 25 years in investigating the R&B star for allegations concerning sex with under-aged girls and perhaps holding them against their will. Kelly was indicted this week on more criminal charges in this vein and the case has many facets: race, rich and talented treated unequally, belief in girls’ stories, and more recently the possibility that Kelly is too illiterate to comply with courts. Of course, this is a difficult story for Kelly’s fans, who have paid millions of dollars on his records and concerts, but the gravy train has ground to nearly a stop. Personally, I was never much of an R. Kelly fan – I have his one-time omnipresent Space Jam single, that’s it. I certainly understand and appreciate the sticky sociological issues that the case presents for many, but I can be colder – if he did it – see ya.
However, this piece is not about R. Kelly – its about a music star that I do follow and enjoy – Morrissey. Former lead singer of the Smiths and long-time solo artist has a new CD out this week – California Son. Like the rest of his catalog, this disc is filled with upbeat songs with gloomy and morose lyrics – one of the things that I’ve enjoyed about The Smiths/Morrissey over the years. The new CD is an all covers disc with a Beach Boys feel about it in keeping with the disc’s title. One of the more interesting songs is a cover of “Wedding Bell Blues” (maybe better known as “Won’t You Marry Me Bill” best known as a number 1 hit for the 5th Dimension in 1969).
It’s always been a bit of sticky being a Mozz fan. To the mainstream, questions about his sexuality have abounded (I’ve always assumed he was gay, which, fortunately, is less of an issue today). More problematic has been his uber-vegan stance and a weird worldview. He has been quite outspoken on being against eating meat, which, as an omnivore who loves meat, always just attributed to Morrissey being weird. I just ignored it.
However, it has become more problematic now after Morrissey wore a pin on Jimmy Fallon’s show that supports a far-right wing, anti-Muslim For Britain Movement. Of course, Morrissey is like everyone else, with the right to support who he wishes. However, by wearing this pin in public, he has more publicly than ever before shown his support. Already, at least one record store in England has removed all of the Morrissey product.
After having canceled two Chicago shows that I had tickets for, I have stopped buying tickets for Morrissey shows. He cancels shows like Trump spouts lies. However, I had been curious about going up to the Ravinia Festival to see him. I think I’ll pass again. What to do with Morrissey’s records and videos? I have this history of keeping the music/movies of the troubled artists that I own and enjoyed. I still have my DVD copy of Annie Hall. I have several Roman Polanski directed films. I’m not getting rid of my Michael Jackson records and CDs. I still enjoy the music while being personally disgusted by their behavior. I despise Ted Nugent’s political stance, but I still have his records from the 1970s. I have already purchased California Son (preordered it in fact) and have listened to it. It is an interesting listen, not one of his very best, but not bad either. I guess the question will be how outspoken will he be in the future? Will he be more open about his racism and xenophobia? Maybe his records will end up next to Nugent’s in my “never play” pile?

Many Chicago Bulls fans lay the blame for the team’s lack of success in recent years to the two headed monster President of Basketball Operations John Paxson and GM Gar Foreman. There have been so many hours of sports talk radio, online petitions, even billboards taken out to fire “GarPax” as they’re called. However, the only man whose opinions matter is owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who, has valued loyalty above all else, media and fans be damned. To all of the haters however, there may actually be light at the end of the tunnel and it may be due to luck.
As most people know, the Bulls finished with the seventh worst record in the NBA last season, which gave them a 12% chance to end up with the first pick and a 50% chance of getting one of the top four picks. Of course, this year’s draft is the Zion Williamson sweepstakes – whoever got the number 1 pick would be in the cat-bird seat. The Blackhawks had just come up big in the NHL draft lottery, moving from 12th to number 3; maybe the fairy dust would rub off? The lottery was here in Chicago too and the Palmer House. The stars were in alignment…
Unfortunately, since the team was able to win the draft lottery in 2008 and get number 1 pick Derrick Rose and have him win the MVP then tear his ACL in the 2012 playoffs, luck has been scarce around the Chicago NBA franchise. In this year’s lottery, the team could do no better than get the 7th pick for the third consecutive year. Yes, they have gotten Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter with the number 7 picks and they are good players who form part of the core that the Bulls will need to return to being a quality team, but they aren’t Zion Williamson or studs that are among the best players in the league when they first put on the team’s jersey.
So, they have number 7 again (the Pelicans won the lottery with the number 1 pick), but this time, expectations are higher. After many years of having no shot at the playoffs, this pick had better boost the team to at least being competitive. Another 20 win or less season should spell doom for GarPax. Remember, even Jerry Krause got fired eventually…

Despite my advancing age, I don’t think about death too frequently. It’s going to happen to us all, and yes, I am seeing more celebrities who I looked up to or admired passing away. Some, I’ve met (Stan Lee for example), most I have not. However, it is rare for two sports/broadcasting people who I considered friends at various times die, suddenly and surprisingly.
Long time readers know that a great deal of my exposure to athletes and broadcasters came when I was an Andy Frain usher. I worked both baseball parks, the old Stadium for basketball and hockey, Solider Field for football and the Amphitheatre for wrestling and a million other events. As an usher, sometimes you got to meet athletes and broadcasters – most of the time, it was just a nod; some players were jerks and were mean; more often than not however, the person was nice, especially if you interacted with them in a respectful way.
Occasionally however, players became friends. You got to know them, they knew you on a first name basis. As an usher, often you got to know players through their spouses, and the Cub wives back in the 1980s sat behind home plate, by the handicapped section. A lot of the wives were a bit flighty and full of themselves, but some were very nice. One of the nicest was Cathleen Sanderson, Scott Sanderson’s wife. Through her, I met Scott and we socialized back then – they were completely down-to-earth, some of the nicest people around.
Since then, Scott finished playing, became an agent, they had two kids, and our paths diverged, but they lived in the area I heard, and I got to know some distant relatives and a few friends of theirs and I asked to send them a message, but I don’t know if it ever happened. But I was very shocked that Scott Sanderson died the other day at the very young age of 62, leaving Cathleen and the children.
If that wasn’t shocking enough, today broadcaster Chet Coppock died from injuries obtained in an auto accident in Georgia 10 days ago. You all know that I wrote for The Back Table with Chet Coppock. I was writing for The Sportswriters on TV and the producer of that show, John Roach, was also producer of Back Table. John wasn’t happy I guess with the questions his staff was giving Chet, so he asked me to do it. It was more exposure; it paid, unlike Sportswriters; and the show interviewed numerous sports figures and it gave me the opportunity to write questions that I always wanted to ask.
As it turned out, I had a run in with Chet as a Frain some years ago. I tried to stop him, but he was trying to go live from the old Aisle 7 on the Main Floor at the Stadium during a hockey game. The problem is that the TV lights could be clearly seen by the players, which got the referees skating the length of the ice to get him to stop. I didn’t get into trouble because I tried to stop him. That was the story about Chet, the 10 O’ Clock News was a lot of filler leading up to him on sports. He was a big man – 6’5” and constantly fighting with weight, but he was really bigger in person. Big personality, big voice, big presence.
He seemed full of himself, but you could never tell if that was Chet or CHET the character. Kevin Matthews’ “Chet Chit-chat” was a parody, but how close was it to the real self-promoting, egotistical Chet?
During Back Table time (1995-1998) Chet was working in New York at the time, so he would fly into town for the day, Roach’s staff would line up 4-5 guests, and we would tape the shows. A couple of days before, I would FAX (pre-Internet days) to Chet’s house in the New York area. Chet would sometimes call me for clarification. As I have said for the past 20 years, I wrote the 30 second question – Chet added the 3-minute preamble. When we had guests like Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany, I had some questions, some tough for him, and I was always disappointed that the questions never got asked. Chet would say “I’m not Mike Wallace” (60 Minutes’ legendary interrogator).
After the show went off, I would see Chet occasionally: at the Blackhawk convention in 2010, sometimes at the Unite Center, and I was always amused when he would come up and say “Hey Big Fella.” He knows my name, but moreover, he and I were often of similar girth and he was 3 inches taller than me, making him “the bigger fella.” But he was always nice, he remembered Back Table shows calling me his “authority,” especially on hockey.
As former Roach producer Rich Schwartz wrote today on Facebook, we are all shocked because Chet seemed invincible. He had some health issues, but it seemed that he had beaten them. His daughter just got married and Chet was engaged again (time number 3?). Scott Sanderson was a very young man. I will try to attend any visitations for them because they were both kind and important to me.
I miss seeing Scott all those years and I will miss Chet.

Eye of the Tiger
I thought that Tiger Woods would never win another major championship. Disasters in his personal life, severe back and leg injuries, and the never-ending tide of age made it almost a certainty that Woods would not approach Jack Nicklaus’ 18 titles. After all, it had been 11 years since he’d won a major and 14 years since he had won the Masters.
Then again, there was Woods – winning not just a Major, but in many ways THE Major – the Masters for the fifth time (again second only to Nicklaus). All of a sudden, the golf and sports worlds alighted. The fans cheered, celebrities Tweeted congratulations, there was a beautiful picture of Woods sharing a hug with his son, who had never seen his father win a major championship.
The happiest people in the world – the golf industry and the television networks. Despite all of his faults, Woods has a very deep following, especially among African-Americans. He was the biggest star in the game, most wanted to see him win again, some rooted against him. Either way, the game of golf, falling in popularity and revenue, needed Woods, or some other charismatic star to bring attention back to the game.
I am not a golf fan at all, but I admit to following Tiger during his heyday. Like most of the world, I think his issues with women, and end of his marriage made him a despised figure in many circles. I didn’t despise him, but I had little respect. But I did watch a little bit of the replay after it was announced that he’d won (I guess bad weather made Augusta move up play before the rain).
Now, ever major will get more attention, especially if Tiger makes the cut. Just like before…

I’ve been very busy which took me away from the column, but here are just a few briefs to follow:
• Joel Quenneville gets big money to go to Florida – a young team with some talent and plenty of salary cap room. I’m happy for him – he was the scapegoat for GM Stan Bowman’s mistakes.
• I’ve said for years – you don’t want the President’s Cup (to the team with the most regular season points). The President’s Cup winner wins Lord Stanley’s Cup only about 35% of the time (last team to do it, the 2013 Blackhawks). After tying the all-time record for wins in a season, Tampa Bay is one game away from bowing out in the first round to Columbus. If this happens, it would be one of the great choke jobs in NHL history.
• Getting less attention, the New York Islanders were supposed to be a bottom dweller as they have been mostly for the past decade. Losing John Tavares to Toronto over last summer and the issues over home stadium (Long Island vs. Brooklyn) made the Isles a “to be avoided” destination. In trying to convince Tavares to stay by showing that the owners and management are trying to win, they hired Barry Trots, fresh off coaching the Washington Capitals to their first ever championship. Trots has the Isles one game from bouncing perennial contender Pittsburgh. Hats off the them.
• Speaking of the Maple Leafs, they stole game 1 against the Bruins in Boston and while the B’s came back to win game 2, this series is knotted at 1 game apiece. As are the Predators/Stars series, the Flames/Avs series – that is what makes playoff hockey so great.
• I certainly hope Winnipeg can bounce back and beat St. Louis. Just because they are St. Louis.
• I wish the Sharks/Golden Knights games weren’t so late…