There is little question that Shohei Ohtani has already become one of the most amazing athletes in baseball history, perhaps of all sports. Since coming into the Major Leagues, he has won 34 games as a pitcher with ERAs of 2.33 and 3.14 in 2022 and 2023. If that wasn’t enough; he has hit 134 home runs over the past three seasons with 290 RBIs over that time. He has won two consecutive American League MVP Awards playing for the lowly Anaheim Angels, a team despite having arguably two of the best players of all time – Ohtani and Mike Trout, can’t make the playoffs, much less the World Series.
The overwhelming story of the past year has been where would Ohtani sign with his contract up at the end of this past season. The going rate was going to be over $500 million, but would it be $700 million? 800 Million? A billion? All during the speculation, it was assumed that the Dodgers would sign Ohtani. Then, he was forced to have Tommy John surgery near the end of the season which brought his pitching season to an end, although he played on as DH. With pitching out of the question for 2024, would teams still want to pay top dollar for a hitter only? Several teams didn’t care, they pitched Ohtani all while the Winter Meetings went on. Besides the Dodgers, the Blue Jays, and even the Cubs were reportedly in the mix. In the end, the Dodgers walked away, with $700 million for 10 years.
Then the details about the contract came out. The Japanese sensation is allowing the Dodgers to defer $680 million of the contract without interest to be paid at the end of the contract. I have to tip my hat to Ohtani, his people, and the Dodgers. At only $2 million per season, the Dodgers will be able to remain competitive, don’t have to pay as large a luxury tax. Besides, the money is guaranteed, and Ohtani is earning reportedly $50 million per year in endorsements, much like Rich Gronkowski, who banked his football money and lived off endorsements. Very smart.
Also, Ohtani puts fannies in seats. In L.A. with its large Asian population, the Dodgers, already a hot ticket, becomes even hotter. (I was working at Wrigley Field at the height of Fernando Valenzuela Mania. Hispanic people would buy whatever tickets they could afford, then just stood in the aisles and wouldn’t move. They were a pain in the ass, and it wasn’t until fans started getting arrested that they finally went back to their Let’s not forget that the Dodgers will be a huge draw on the road. The Dodgers should remain good, Ohtani remains in the area he’s played in but with a much better, smarter team. Ohtani, his people and the Dodgers are smart, very smart. One has to think that they learned from Bobby Bonilla’s people. The only thing that will be interesting to watch is what the biggest chip available being off the board will do for the other free agents and teams will do.

It’s that time again – time for my less-than-humble list of the best records on the year. I admit that I am 63 years old, so there is little in the way of music by young people (30 or younger). No Lizzo; No Swift; no Kelsey. It’s not that I hate their music, not at all. Some songs I think are very good, I just can’t get into it like younger people do. I like to listen to musicians who I’ve loved for a very long time – the survivors. Our parents didn’t like a lot of our music – it’s the musical circle of life. Music has been and will always be one of the most important things in my life and 2023 has been a fairly good year for new music.
Here we go:
10. Joe Jackson: Mr. Joe Jackson Presents Max Chapman in “What A Racket!” – The first of a completely late releases in the year. JJ has long been one of my favorite musicians and composers, and, like one of my other favorites Elvis Costello, take musical detours into different styles. Jackson has recorded 11 songs by the fictional Max Champion. It is music hall music, sounds totally authentic, but also contemporary and very witty. My criteria has always been that this list is determined by the music that I play the most. In a very short time, this record made the cut.
9. Mike Gent: Career Moves – I have gotten to meet Mike when he was supporting Graham Parker alone or with his band The Figgs. This is a fine selection of songs that I enjoyed immensely.
8. Smashing Pumpkins: ATUM – I admit that I have always loved Billy Corgan at his most musically bombastic. My favorite SP record remains Mellon Collie, and this record is another two disc “statement” that I found nearly irresistible.
7. Foo Fighters: But Here We Are – Very seldom would you find Dave Grohl’s band on my year end list, but perhaps I have gained an appreciation for the melodic rock and hooks that Grohl writes. The untimely death of drummer Taylor Hawkins may have tightened up the music a bit. It is sad that sadness has improved the music, but it certainly isn’t the first time that has happened.
6. Metallica: 72 Seasons – After the “Black Album,” which I loved, I became a closet Metallica fan, enjoying earlier music and purchasing the new records as they were released. Unfortunately, the later original music releases (St. Anger, Death Magnetic and Hardwired.. to Self Destruct) had none of the melodies of the Black album, like they went extra heavy just to apologize for the pop sensibility of the group’s biggest hit. The new record, while not the Black Album, has some melody creeping back into the band’s sound and is my favorite after the Black Album.
5. Wilco: Cousin – What year-end list can come without a Wilco record? Jeff Tweedy’s group alternates between more traditional straight-ahead country and soft rock pop and more adventurous flights of fancy breaking out of the traditional songs. This record is more adventurous than other recent Wilco releases, and since the exploratory Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is my favorite Wilco record (along with being an all-time favorite by anyone), I liked this record better than other recent releases. Only the strong records rated higher keeps it from being further up the list.
4. The Rolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds – at this point in their history, one hears of a new Stones album with a air of resignation. Another set of recycled riffs designed to generate funds for Mick Jagger’s latest baby/baby momma; maybe one song that doesn’t suck. Like the music lemming I am, I bought the record and put it on. I had already heard the first single “Angry” and it had a nice riff – a decent Stones song, but as I listened more, there was an energy, a clarity, songs that were actually good, not just tossed off. Shocked, I have listened to this record in its entirety more than any Stones record since Some Girls. I have seen the Stones four times before, I’ll pass on seeing them with 80,000 of my closest friends at Soldier Field this summer, but the record is a very pleasant surprise.
3. Graham Parker and the Goldtops: Last Chance To Learn The Twist – again, a warning – GP is a dear friend of mine, but having said that, this is another fine set of songs with some humor, poignancy, solid melodies and great lyrics. Any other year, this would have been the number one record of the year.
2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Cool It Down – the astute music fan is probably asking: isn’t this a 2022 record Tony? It was released in September of 2022 and it didn’t make your list of the best of 2022, so what’s up?? As I wrote above, my criteria is what gets played the most over the year, and some time early in 2023, I “discovered” this record and played it a great deal. I played it so much that for much of the last half of the year, I thought that it would be the number 1 disc of 2023, but a surprise record was released on December 1, 2023 and took the best record award.
1. Peter Gabriel: i/o – PG released a new song once per month, and I only listened occasionally and often didn’t like what I heard. I was often distracted, didn’t give the song a listen at my full attention and so, I wasn’t impressed. What changed things? I went to see him in concert in September and he played most of the new record and focused on them. There were a few “hits” intersperced in the set list, but the show was like a museum performance piece. The order of the songs; the backgrounds; there was more talk between songs and the audience was very well behaved – listening intently. Once I heard the songs in that context, I couldn’t wait to hear it. The CD came out December 1, and as I type this, it is only December 5th. In that short time, the record (both mixes) has not been off my iPod since it was delivered. Out of right field, comes the best record of 2023.
That’s my list for the year. A pretty good year for music.

The Chicago Blackhawks’ 2023-2024 season has been full of hope and frustration. The hope has been on the back of overall number 1 pick Connor Bedard. Teams were openly tanking for the rights to Bedard and despite late season wins, the Hawks still won the draft lottery. The evening they won the lottery, approximately $5 million in season ticket plans were purchased (including renewing my own plan).
There are a number of young players that the team had drafted and developed in previous drafts that will be the foundation to build upon for the future. To provide leadership, the Hawks picked up veterans Taylor Hall, Nick Foligno, and the formerly hated Corey Perry. The team has still struggled especially with Hall injuring his knee and will be out for the season; Foligno has provided leadership, and Perry was among the team’s leading scorers, knocking in rebounds in the crease. I never warmed up to Perry, he was such a thug when we played his former team the Ducks in the playoffs in the 2010-2015 Stanley Cup years.
Then last week, Perry became a ghost. He was a healthy scratch last week and did not play or practice. The team gave no reason other than it was an organizational decision. Today, the team placed him on waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. The team said that Perry engaged in unacceptable conduct. The Blackhawks said that the team conducted an internal investigation that showed Perry acted in violation of his NHL Standard Player Contract and their club policies “intended to promote professional and safe work environments.” Chicago put Perry on unconditional waivers and said his deal will be terminated as long as he clears Wednesday.
Often, rumors swirl in such circumstances and there is discussion that perhaps Perry had a romantic liaison with Bedard’s mother. Both of the Bedard women, the mother and the younger daughter are quite attractive. One team beat reporter – Charlie Roumeliotis reported has already posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the rumor is absolutely untrue. This isn’t the first sports tryst to hit the rumor mill: it was believed that former Bulls Coach Doug Collins was involved with players’ wives, and Michael Jordan’s son is reportedly engaged to Scottie Pippen’s ex-wife.
I hope that the story is untrue. Bedard is only 18 and has enough on his plate to worry about. I have tickets to tonight’s Blackhawks-Seattle Kraken game, and the atmosphere may be a little weird. Perry is a husband and father, if he’s out dallying with someone, especially a teammate’s wife or mother I was right about him being a scumbag.

For years, the people said that the NFL stood for “No Fun League” – touchdown celebrations were prohibited, messages on uniforms, helmets, and shoes elicited fines. Eventually, the NFL lightened up quite a bit, although I admit that I am tired of the end zone pantomimes that defensives feel they need to have on every turnover whether it’s a touchdown or not.
At the same time, I am skeptical of any corporation that advertises its support for left wing causes, because most often, it is a minimal effort to build goodwill with progressives. Sometimes however, the institution shows its hypocrisy. The NHL has, for several years advertised various specialty nights for Black History Night, Military Appreciation Night and Pride Nights. Special jerseys were often worn in warmups and either raffled off or auctioned to support the cause of the night.
Should be easy and straightforward, sure, some people will be offended, there’s always people who are insulted by everything. That is, unless some of the players take issue. Problem with Blacks? No, at least not openly. The military? Only scumbag ex-Presidents do that. The LGBTQ+ community? It’s open season on them. The big bad monster in every MAGA’s closet and easy for the righteous to attack. While not alone, the most outspoken player was Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov who refused to participate in the pregame skate wearing a Pride sweater because of his Russian Orthodox beliefs. At the time, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman asserted that the incident has not overshadowed the league’s messaging around inclusivity.
Soon after, the league released a memo to all 32 teams which stated on-ice uniforms and gear cannot be altered for themed nights. The guidance prohibits players from using special tape, like rainbow-colored Pride tape, on their hockey sticks. The NHL encouraged players to “express themselves off the ice” according to the AP. Several players—including Edmonton Oilers player Connor McDavid and New Jersey Devils player Jack Hughes—have used and vocally supported the Pride-themed tape on their sticks during games, and the company Pride Tape, an NHL partner and LGBTQ advocacy organization that sells Pride-themed sports merchandise, stating it is “extremely disappointed” in the NHL’s decision and urged the league and players to stand against homophobia.
According to reports, the NHL backed down from its ban, but it is interesting that the league would fold to bigots first, but maybe that’s the ugly underbelly of hockey. The league wasn’t through, however. Future Hall of Fame goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, now a member of the Minnesota Wild announced that we would be wearing a Native American themed mask for last Friday’s game against Colorado, which was Native American Night. The league threatened Fleury’s agent and the team that fines would be levied if he wore the mask. Despite not playing in the game, Fleury wore the mask and said that he would pay the fine. Part of the reason Fleury had a special mask made for the game was that he wanted to pay tribute to his wife who is an Indigenous woman. He collaborated with a local artist in Minnesota.
As of this writing, no fine has been assessed against the team or the goaltender. Is this a boneheaded, racist move by the league? Considering how poorly the league often handles PR issues, I believe that they didn’t think anyone would notice. I think that they just hoped that the issue would quietly go away on its own. It always makes me wonder why the league pays Gary Bettman so many millions when he often can’t get out of his own way.

Whenever there’s an anniversary of a event, historic, cultural, whatever, there is a rush to look back at it, discuss it’s relevance, impact, legacy. The urge is even greater when it’s a “big” anniversary – a number with a zero or five at the end. In the case of a pop culture phenomenon, there is a urge to make money print and sell new books, and in the case of movies especially, re-release the original film in theaters or in new versions on video, and sometimes to have foresight enough to film remakes or sequels to the original film.
The current anniversary is of The Exorcist, arguably the most effective horror film in history. The recently deceased director William Friedkin’s film pushed filmgoer’s buttons. People were fainting, people were leaving theaters, and as a result, the lines were around the block in most cities. What made this film so powerful was that it taken seriously, filmed in a very documentary style, without the overbearing music, garish images and overwrought camera angles. Instead, the hospitals looked like regular hospitals, churches looked like real churches. Priests are people with real world issues; they commiserate over beers. The actresses at the center: Ellen Burstyn and Linda Blair were normal people, albeit rich and privileged people. Their house was tasteful and affluent. Ms. Burstyn played a successful actress, daughter Regan was a young girl who had issues like many girls especially with divorced parents/inattentive fathers who was possessed by a demon.
My single mother was a movie fan, and she needed someone to see films with her. As a result, I saw lots of films that were well above my age level. Shaft, The Godfather, Cotton Comes To Harlem, many other films that were definitely R rated when they were just starting to rate films. I begged my mother to take me to see The Exorcist, and I needed an adult – they were strict about R-rated movies and minors back in those days. I have to admit that the first time I saw it, the movie theater, the long-gone State-Lake Theater, was packed with mostly Black people. There was a Black woman in the theater who I never saw, just heard, thought that the film was hilarious, and I thought she was right, it was hilarious. The first 2 times I saw the film, I laughed nonstop. The third time however, I took the movie more seriously and saw the scare factor, which has been my impression ever since.
I don’t think I have ever shared the fact that my mother was an alcoholic, and a binge alcoholic since she worked 3 or 4 days per week, alternating weeks, 12-hours per day. When she was off, she was often on a bender. It was my childhood trauma, that which I still have therapy for. Sometime in the past, I determined that The Exorcist is the ultimate Adult Children of Alcoholics film (even though I have never been involved with the organization or attended a meeting). Every time a character went into Regan’s room, you never knew what to expect. The priest goes in and one time she’s strapped to the bed to have a conversation. Another time, all of the toys are flying around in a one room tornado. A separate time, she throws a man out of her window (off screen). Then she floats in the air; the famous crucifix masturbation scene. Obviously, my mother was not possessed, but one could never know what version of my mother you would get: sober, communicative, or; passed out on the couch or the floor or; combative and mean.
I post this not for sympathy, or even to get this off my chest. It’s just that with the commemoration of The Exorcist’s 50th anniversary, I’m fairly certain that no one other than my friend Wendi Walker and myself have ever interpreted the great horror film in this way.

Somehow, I never thought this day would come. I always thought about the jokes they make about Chuck Norris: Death once had a near Chuck Norris experience; Chuck Norris doesn’t cheat death, he wins fair and square. That is how I felt about Dick Butkus. He was the epitome of tough; best inside linebacker in NFL history; so great that his stories are legendary. His name is synonymous with linebacker – the best college linebacker of the year wins the Butkus Award. A Chicagoan through and through – played at Chicago Vocational High School; All-American at the University of Illinois; drafted by the Bears with the 3rd overall pick in the 1965 Draft. (It could be said that the Bears made the greatest back-to-back draft picks in NFL history: they had the Steelers 1st round pick at number 3 and their own pick at #4, where they drafted Gale Sayers.) Principled – when he felt that the Bears mistreated his injuries and underpaid him, he walked out, being a pariah to the ownership for decades. Loyal – married to his high school sweetheart for 60 years; once the McCaskeys realized that he was loved more than they were, decided to retire his jersey and bring him back as an ambassador.
Also, he was a smart, well-read man who used his fame and his reputation to become a character actor, sometime a tough guy, but more frequently, as a big softy. He was never a “star” on TV or movies, instead being a reliable actor like other former footballers like Bubba Smith, Fred Dwyer, Carl Weathers and yes, even O.J. Simpson.
While I only met the man twice, he was a force in my house. My grandfather, being light skinned and with wavy hair, had been able to pass for a white man for decades and spent many Sundays at Wrigley Field with my mother’s first husband. I always wanted to go to a game with him, but he got sick and died of cancer when I was 10. I remember watching the Bear roads games with him (they only showed road games back then) and he got me hyped up on number 51. After he died, I was able to go to one Bears game in which Butkus played, a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills and future double murderer O.J. Simpson. In an interview published later in his career, Simpson was asked whether he was ever scared on the field. He said that after a long run up the middle, Butkus yelled at him “if you run up the middle again, I’ll break your f^&*ing legs.” Sure enough, later in the game the play was called and this time, Simpson was tackled before the line of scrimmage and he could feel himself being lifted in the air, body slammed, and his legs getting twisted. Butkus is smiling “I told you not to run up the middle.”
My grandmother was a sports fan – she loved the Cubs and to a lesser extent, the Bears. My mother however, who was not a sports fan at all, loved football, the Bears and Butkus. In 1997, he wrote with Pat Smith another autobiography – “Butkus, Flesh and Blood” (the first was “Stop Action with was much more sugarcoated). There used to be a bookstore on the ground floor of the old Sears Tower (now “Willis Tower”) and Butkus was doing a signing. I had purchased three books, one for my grandmother, mother and I and I went to get them autographed. He looked at me ad said three? And I told them who they were for, and her personalized each one, and I was taking pictures of him and he asked didn’t I want one of us together, and I said yes, and he told the store manager to take our picture together. The pictures were Christmas presents to my folks that year. Years later, there was a Sports Illustrated party downtown and I was invited along with the Sportswriters TV group. Once again, I met him and he said that I looked familiar and I told him the story and asked about my folks.
I have followed sports my entire life and, in that time, I’ve been lucky to meet lots of athletes through work and happenstance. I met most of my heroes: Sayers, Ken Stabler Julius Erving, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; got autographed pictures that I acquired over the years: Walter Payton, Dick Allen, Bjorn Borg. None of them mean quite as much to me as the memories of Dick Butkus. RIP…

Politics Spoiler Alert – I have stayed away from politics here on evilopinion.com unless it involved sports. My far left wing standing is easy to read. By the same token, I do not read current political books, Right or Left; tiresome preaching to the choirs, or books from disgruntled politicians or helpers of sycophants looking to save their reputations or gain a measure of revenge on their enemies. There are so many of these books, I have no time for them. The last “current politics” book I read was President Obama’s “A Promised Land,” and this week, former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows Cassidy Hutchinson had her book published. Ms. Hutchinson came to prominence after having testified both privately and in public to the January 6th Congressional Committee. The biggest “scoops” from her testimony involved Trump’s actions on January 6th, his wish to head to the Capital with the insurrectionists which was denied by the Secret Service, and his actions back in the White House, where he watched it all unfold on television while refusing to make a statement for the people to go home (that is, until 4 hours after the insurrection had begun).
At the time of the testimony, I asked myself why did it take until January 6th for this young woman, then 24-years-old, to finally say “Enough?” She worked with Meadows for months during which time the administration mishandle the COVID-19 pandemic to the tune of over 1 million deaths, many of whom died because of ignorance and misinformation from the now four times indicted former Chief Executive; the roll back of abortion rights; cuddling up to Putin and Kim Jong Il. Why was it January 6th that finally got to her?
Again, I have no intention of buying much less reading this “book,” but I was intrigued enough to watch Ms. Hutchinson’s interview on left wing MSNBC with their star host Rachel Maddow. After the televised committee hearing a few months back, MSNBC and other more progressive news outlets started claiming Ms. Hutchinson as some kind of hero. Yes, I do applaud her courage in stepping up to tell the truth, but I have always been a bit skeptical of the hagiography made around anyone. So today, I watched a replay of the interview and am even more skeptical.
Yes, Ms. Hutchinson is an attractive young woman, but Ms. Maddow mentioned how she mentioned in the book that she “loved President Trump” for awhile while working in the White House and believed that the administration was doing good things. She proudly states that she remains a Republican, in the Mitt Romney/Ronald Reagan school. Of course, Reagan was one of the worst Presidents in history for the majority of people. Ms. Hutchinson admittedly was a military kid, so it makes some sense that her views would skew right wing.
The ante is raised by Ms. Hutchinson in her book accusing now disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani for fondling her on January 6th. Further comments were made about Right Wing Rep. Matt Gaetz, basically saying that he is a jerk. Of course, there has to be more than just the testimony to make people buy the books, and I fully believe that the Pervert Nosferatu put his hands on the woman, but there is a bigger issue here. Up until the insurrection, she was surrounded by people who were basically corrupt and morally abhorrent, including time with Donald Trump, the malicious narcissist who nearly destroyed American democracy and is still trying through the Big Lie, running for president again and fighting to beat 91 criminal charges in Federal and state court.
So many of Trump’s enablers have written books – John Bolton, Michael Cohen, Michael Wolff, and so many more and let’s add Cassidy Hutchinson. People who will make a few bucks, hope they aren’t in prison, and pray that they can find meaningful work and/or live normal lives without having the constant cloud of notoriety hanging over their lives like Monica Lewinski. I do hope that Ms. Hutchinson goes on to a fine life. I also hope that she will learn to question the extreme positions of many of the people she follows.