I love the Chicago Blackhawks. I grew up with them and I became even more of a fan when I worked at the old Chicago Stadium as an Andy Frain usher in the 1970s and 80s. No one has been happier with the three Stanley Cup Championships from 2010 to 2015. I have t-shirts, hats, even replicas of the championship rings. At my old workplace, everyone in the building came to me for my opinion of the team.
Every era has an end. It is said of successful sports franchises that there is a championship “window” – the optimum time when all of the conditions at which a team in successful: youth, talent, coaching for example are in place. For a decade, the Blackhawks have been one of the premiere franchises in the NHL. As of now however – one third of the season is over and if the season ended today, the Hawks would not be in the playoffs for the first time since 2008. Last night, the Hawks lost their fifth game in a row, a 6 – 2 loss to the Washington Capitals. In this streak, the team has been lethargic, and perhaps too old.
Big contracts have been the downfall of the team; being loyal to the guys who won the titles for you has come to roost and the performance of the “core” has not been up to their usual levels. Duncan Keith is still playing well, but no longer at a Norris Trophy level at 34 years of age. His longtime blueline partner, Brent Seabrook has been on the decline for a couple of years now, but his big, long term contract makes him the albatross on the team.
This is true, I think. However, I think that there is just a lot of hockey mileage on the core players. How else can you explain the dropoff of captain Jonathan Toews, who is only 29 years old? Toews had been the top two-way centers in the league, dangerous on the faceoff, a great scorer and assist man, and one of the best defensive forwards in the game. But over the past two years, Toews has not found the net or his linemates sticks consistently. Bringing back 25 year old Brandon Saad has not rejuvenated Toews’ game. The injury to Marion Hossa, albeit 38, has been felt on the ice.
Patrick Kane remains, at 29, still one of the top 10 players in the league. Goalie Corey Crawford has been the Hanks MVP this season – his outstanding play has kept the Blackhawks from being blown out every night. Young phenom Alex DeBrincat has been one of the few bright spots among the newcomers. Center Artem Anisimov has been the team’s leading goal scorer, which is amazing on this team filled with scorers. Thirty-five year old Patrick Sharp has skated well, but he has not lit the lamp. Richard Panik and the other youngsters are not stepping up.
Some hockey pundits saw this coming. Lots of people foresaw the fall, especially after being swept in the first round of last year’s playoffs by Nashville. I have been telling people for the past couple of years to enjoy the ride because it can’t last. I admit that I thought the decline would be more gradual. Maybe the young guys will get better. Crawford being injured has not helped over the past week.
There’s still a lot of hockey left to be played, but history shows that teams in playoffs spots by American Thanksgiving usually are the teams to make the playoffs. By that criteria, the Hawks will be at home in April, May and June of 2018.
I hope the Hawks can turn things around, but they’re my boys, no matter what.

It’s not going well for Russian President Vladimir Putin. His puppet wannabe dictator in the United States is being actively investigated for help from the Russians in last year’s election; the Obama era sanctions have not been removed. Despite the fact that he announced he would, surprise, be running for reelection as Russia’s “President,” where he will undoubtedly get 99% of the vote, something else has ruined Putin’s week.
The International Olympic Committee has suspended the Russian Olympic Committee “with immediate effect,” essentially banning the country from the upcoming Winter Olympics over Russia’s system of state-supported cheating by athletes using performance-enhancing drugs. The IOC announced that Russian athletes will be allowed to compete in the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but these athletes will have to pass strict scrutiny, and instead of wearing their nation’s uniform, they will compete under the title “Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR).” The Russian anthem will not be played; the Olympic Anthem will be played in any ceremony. The scrutiny will consist of proving that the athlete was not involved in the doping program.
IOC President Thomas Bach called Russia’s concerted attempts to break the rules “an unprecedented attack on the integrity of the Olympic Games and sport,” citing the manipulation of the anti-doping lab at the Sochi Olympics of 2014. “As an athlete myself, I’m feeling very sorry for all the clean athletes,” Bach said.
For decades, athletes of the old Soviet bloc were rumored of being on performance enhancing drugs. I’ll never forget the issue of National Lampoon that showed a female athlete wearing a Russian uniform with a distinct bulge in the crotch. With more rigorous testing and real punishment meted out to athletes with failed tests, it would have had to be a country program to avoid detection. A single athlete or small group of athletes would have more problems trying to be in a doping program.
Of course, the sound out of Moscow is one of outrage and denial. Putin has said Russia will not ban its athletes from competing at the 2018 Winter Olympics, but other officials were in full hyperbole mode. The ban was portrayed merely as the west acting to keep “brave Russia” down. “They are so scared of us,” wrote Irina Rodnina, the former Olympic skating champion who is now a pro-Kremlin MP, on Twitter. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, leader of a pro-Kremlin ultra-nationalist party, called the decision “political and sporting racism”.
Waa! Waa! Waa! Like the famous men who are being outed as sexual predators in the United States, they are outraged victims of the system who are oppressing them. If any apology is given, the truth will be that the guilty are really sorry for getting caught.
Vladimir Putin is the worst kind of Russian – still living in the Cold War, fighting his enemies, real and imagined, and still has the need to prove that Russia is the best, strongest society in the world by any means necessary and despite all stories to the contrary.
Like his American flunky, Putin is learning that just because a powerful person wants the truth to be one thing, the truth has this inconvenient way of going its own way.

With Rolling Stone starting the proceedings, it’s time for the annual exercise to pick the best music of 2017. In so many ways, 2017 has been a horrible, terrible year, but it has been quite a good year for music. Many critics believe that it is their duty to pick the most obscure albums by the most obscure bands imaginable. Unfortunately, radio, especially Chicago radio, does not play new bands or music unless of course, it is the drab, boring, singer songwriters that the major labels are peddling. I admit that there are no really new bands on my list, but not from lack of willingness.
As always, this is simply based on the non-scientific remembrance what I listened to the most this year.
10. Little Steven – Soulfire. The first solo album in decades from Bruce Springsteen’s wing man is what you would expect – straight ahead rock and roll with an R&B flavor. It’s a great record.
9. Randy Newman – Dark Matter. The master of New Orleans influenced music turns to the world today with a record that is thoughtful, at times funny, and always ironic and topical.
8. Arcade Fire – Everything Now. While not as great as earlier records, Arcade Fire churns out a decent record – as usual danceable pop/rock.
7. Squeeze – The Knowledge. My first of two late in the year releases, Squeeze returns with another solid effort of pop music. Again, I really loved 2015’s Cradle to the Grave, and this doesn’t stand up to that release (my number 1 pick in 2015), but worthwhile.
6. Living Colour – Shade. Living Colour played my suburb’s summer festival two years ago and dazzled with a high energy set that was easily the hardest rocking show I’d seen in quite awhile. On the heals of that, the band released an album that was much as one would expect – hard, fast songs with lyrics tackling issues facing black people in America.
5. Roger Waters – Is This The Life You Really Want? When he does make a record, Waters has done everything possible to make music as far away from the Pink Floyd sound as humanly possible, before just touring The Wall all over the world. Now, he comes out with his most directly politic record and to get attention, he took from the Pink Floyd songbook. It helps to be Liberal/Progressive, and I’m not taking a stand on Waters’ Israel/Palestine stance, but if you like Pink Floyd as I do, you’ll find a lot to like here.
4. Morrissey – Low In High School. Speaking of controversial, Steven Morrissey may have gone too far in making comments that support sexual harassers Roy Moore and Kevin Spacey, but like his PETA rants, I can ignore his radical views and just listen to the music (it would be harder if he perpetrated such acts). Another fine effort from Morrissey, with his band getting better.
3. Beck – Colors. While I like Beck, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan even though I have every record. The new CD is more upbeat than previous discs. This received a lot of play from the radio and it deserves it.
2. The Replacements – For Sale: Live at Maxwell’s. I know that this is not a disc of new material, but this official, well recorded concert from 1982 captured the band before it jettisoned guitarist Bob Stinson. Even though the band was renowned for drunken, bad concerts, this performance everyone was on top of its game.
1 Matthew Sweet – Tomorrow Forever. It took a very long time, especially if you participated in the Kickstarter campaign that helped finance it (which I did). What came out was the strongest album of the year, the strongest Sweet has done in a very long time. Worth the wait.
Well, there’s my list. I’m sure that some of you would have expected U2 on this list like most of its earlier brethren. It’s not because it came out so late – I have it and I’ve listened to it and while it’s not bad, it is kind of drab. A lot of mid-tempo songs, none of which stand out to me. Perhaps over further listenings, I will warm to it, but as of not, it’s just blah (and no, it’s not payback for Rolling Stone listing it as the third best album of 2017 because the band is friends with Jann Wenner).
Let’s hope that 2018 is better on every level, music included.

The media is under fire. The Executive Branch lists anything published that calls out their incompetence and/or racism, is blatantly labeled “fake news.” Still, the Washington Post’s exposure of a woman trying to peddle false news, shows that ethics are still being used by the major outlets.
I have had a subscription to Rolling Stone magazine for over a decade, and I have to admit that I am often impressed by some of the national news pieces, which I admit, ranges toward my liberal sensibilities. On the other hand, the music reviews are about as honest as a Chicago alderman. I have written here about their history of giving positive reviews on late age R.E.M. albums, and a recent incident puts this into sharp focus.
The current issue has a long story called “Pizzagate,” titled “Anatomy of a Fake-News Scandal” by Amanda Robb. It is a six page expose that provides a good audit trail of how right wing media led to Edgar Maddison Welch to shoot up the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor near Washington D.C. At the same time, the magazine released its top 50 albums of 2017 and at number 3 is “Songs of Experience” the new CD from U2; a CD that isn’t released until this coming Friday. Furthermore, there are rumors that RS Publisher Jann Wenner pressured staff to put U2’s new album on the list and to have it high.
Again, I am a Rolling Stone subscriber and a longtime member of the U2 fan club. I have preordered the new CD and what I’ve heard, while decent, has not blown my mind. I will listen when I get it to make up my own mind, but if Wenner ordered his friends to be ranked, it follows the magazine’s reputation. For years, no major rock or pop album has received a bad review in the magazine. The current issue gives a four star review of the new Taylor Swift CD, a disc that has received respectful, but not as laudatory as RS. Swift, the Rolling Stones, U2, Coldplay; no major act gets a bad review in Rolling Stone. As a result of course, their reviews are about as honest as Breitbart.
After 50 years, Wenner has put the magazine up for sale, and one might think that Wenner would like to have music reviews held to the same journalistic standards that the news part of the magazine is held to, but I guess he has decided to go out like he always ran the magazine.
There was a payola scandal in the 1950s and often I believe that it still occurs for magazines and the radio. I think that is the story at Rolling Stone.

Long time readers of this column know that I hardly ever post “I told you sos.” It seldom means anything except to the person that writes or says it. No one much cares. On top of that, because I’ve lost my job a couple of times with long unemployment periods (one of which remains ongoing today), I very rarely write that people should be fired. It’s a terrible experience, even though the coaches, players and even owners are in a pay grade far beyond mine. However, with Chicago Bear Head Coach John Fox’s seat hotter than Hades in the middle of August and the fans resembling the mob in a Frankenstein movie, I had to say something.
Back when Fox was hired, all of the local newspaper writers went with the “traditional” wisdom – John Fox, who had been fired by the Denver Broncos because he didn’t have enough “fire in the belly” according to Bronco GM John Elway, was the correct hire for the Bears. Fox was more experienced than the outgoing Marc Trestman, and had taken two losing teams to Super Bowls in his second season. He was the most experienced coach available.
Only three writers openly were against the hire: Pro Football Weekly’s Hub Arkush, the Sun-Times’ Rick Telander and me. If you can’t win with Peyton Manning setting the league record for touchdown passes, what would it take? I have always been a critic of the constant recycling of coaches, many of them with losing records, but get hired as part of the “Old Boys’ Network.” The NFL, NHL and especially the NBA had the same guys get fired then rehired. It has gotten better over the past decade or so, but it’s still bad.
Over the weekend, the a Sun-Times columnist printed a story that when the Broncos lost the Super Bowl 43-8 to the Seattle Seahawks in 2014, Fox said something like – hey, we won the division, didn’t we? Of course, the Broncos won the Super Bowl after Gary Kubiak was hired, essentially the same team that Fox had two years before. The stories about Fox being too passive were just rumors when he was hired, but if I had known about it at the time, I would have shouted even louder than I did three years ago (not that it would have made any difference of course).
GM Ryan Pace is very young, and may have wanted to hire someone more experienced, or perhaps, he may have been pressured to hire a more experienced coach by the McCaskey family and President Ted Phillips, who are about as radical as Mitch McConnell. After going out on a limb for Trestman, whose only head coaching experience was in the Canadian Football League, probably wanted to go with the tried and true. Perhaps football consultant Ernie Campese advised them on Fox.
I said that Fox’s hiring wasted time for the franchise. Sports teams sell two things wins and hope. People pay to see their teams succeed, or have hope that success is near. The 2017 Bears came into the season with quarterback questions – big money was spent on Mike Glennon, who bombed out in four games; then traded up one pick to take Mitch Trubisky. There were little to no expectations of wins, and little if any hope. It was expected that lots of ticket holders would be disguised as empty seats.
The original plan was for Trubisky would sit out the year, watching Glennon, then be ready to play in 2018. Glennon, the top free agent QB according, again, to the conventional wisdom, showed slow footwork, poor decision making and inability to get the ball out of his hands quickly. Fan and media calls for Trubisky were initially, stubbornly ignored by Fox until it was clamor became deafening. Then something happened, the Bear defense started to come together and the Bears won a few games, and with Trubisky and a solid running game, the Bears were almost respectable. They were even favored at home against the hated Packers a week ago Sunday, especially with Packer QB Aaron Rodgers injured. They laid an egg, losing 23-16 and they appeared unprepared, which is usually coaching. The Bears narrowly lost yesterday to the Detroit Lions, a game that could have been at least tied and sent the game to overtime as Connor Barth’s field goal pushed wide right. Now, instead of being a longshot contender with interesting games remaining, the Bears are headed for the expected exit and another high draft choice.
There was no chance that the McCaskeys would fire Fox in the middle of the season; the franchise has never done that in the team’s history. It appears that Fox is a dead man walking, which, at 63, may mean time to retire, if he wishes. There are fans that would like Pace to hit the road along with Fox, but the young man has made some decent personnel decisions. The mid-season hope that bloomed and the improvement in the defense will probably keep Pace employed. (Bear fans love defense. Even with horrendous offenses over the years, if the Bears are tough defensively and can beat the Packers every once in awhile, they are a pretty happy bunch.)
Like I wrote three years ago, Fox was a bad hire and a waste of three seasons in a league with a “win now or else” mentality.
I told you so.

Aaron Hernandez, Dave Duerson, Junior Seau, Mike Webster. These are just a few of the NFL players, all dead now, who were discovered to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (“CTE”), a progressive brain disease linked to repetitive head trauma. It helped cause their deaths, caused deterioration of their businesses, caused wild, often violent mood swings. Family members traumatized; divorces; and in Hernandez’s case, the murder of others.
The brain of someone with CTE is marked with abnormal clumps of the tau protein in a pattern unique to the disorder. Unfortunately, the only way to confirm CTE was by autopsy. As a result, the threat of CTE hovers over football, boxing, hockey, every contact sport. Already, parents are not allowing their kids to play football. Some pros have retired early just due to the fact that their mental health over the rest of their lives is much more important than playing football, even with the riches and fame that go with it.
Fear of the unknown is one of the most potent drivers in humanity. Wars have been fought over it; people killed. On the other hand, this is what has driven discovery: land; stars, vaccines. Despite being under attack from many sides, science may be taking the first baby step in the fight against CTE. Dr. Ann McKee of Boston University’s CTE Center has identified a certain protein found in brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid. Levels of this protein are significantly higher in the brain samples and spinal fluid of people with diagnosed CTE, as opposed to people with Alzheimer’s disease or no brain disease at all.
The protein in question, CCL11, is made in the choroid plexus, the part of the brain that produces cerebrospinal fluid. McKee and her colleagues wanted to explore the relationship between CCL11 and CTE by comparing levels of the protein in brain specimens from football players, people with Alzheimer’s disease and people who died with healthy brains. Dr. McKee analyzed brain specimens from 23 male college and professional football players who had been diagnosed with CTE after death, specimens from 50 people who’d had Alzheimer’s disease but no history of military service or contact sports, and specimens from 18 people who died without a neurodegenerative disease. McKee found that the men with diagnosed CTE had significantly higher CCL11 levels than the people with Alzheimer’s disease or the control group.
If the finding is replicated in larger samples, doctors might be able to use spinal taps to analyze spinal fluid and diagnose CTE in living patients. This, in turn, could transform how doctors treat the condition, and give people ways to protect themselves from further damage, McKee says.
This is one of the best pieces of news to come out about the disease since it was discovered. This is important for the players and families. If they had any sense, the owners of the NFL franchises, college athletic directors, high school and Pop Warner coaches, the NHL and many other sports coaches and officials should be lining up to support this research. The long term fate of their sports depend on it.

I haven’t written in the past about Lonzo Ball and his father LaVar Bell. Since I don’t follow basketball much anymore, I only caught news articles and broadcasts occasionally. I know that Lonzo Ball is a highly touted guard who has been regularly compared with Jason Kidd.
He was drafted first by the Lakers, but Lonzo has been known more for his brash father and a ridiculous shoe deal.
LaVar is apparently the 21st Century poster boy for bad parenting. Bragging, over the top behavior, comparing his son to the all time greats before he’d ever set foot on an NBA court. Also, before playing in the NBA the Balls made a shoe deal for a pair of gym shoes costing $450/pair. There have been bad parents in sports before but mostly in tennis: Michael Chang’s parents; Steffi Graf’s dad; Mary Pierce’s dad; the Williams sisters’ father. But the elder Ball took the cake. It seemed like the media didn’t like LaVar at all, and as a result the steely knives are out for his boy.
And so far, hopes for Lonzo being a bust are right on schedule. A week ago Sunday, he scored nine points, dished out nine assists, and grabbed five rebounds in a 107-102 win over the Memphis Grizzlies. Last Wednesday, he had a similar stat line and put up nine points, six assists, and five rebounds in a 107-96 loss to the Boston Celtics. And last Thursday, the Lakers fell to the Washington Wizards 111-95, as Lonzo scored 10 points with eight assists and eight rebounds. Worst has been his shooting percentage, shooting 3-13 (23.1 percent), 4-15 (26.7 percent), and 3-12 (25 percent) in the three games.
It is still very early in Lonzo Ball’s career, but what has happened to his younger brother LiAngelo has taken the Ball family saga from the sublime to the ridiculous. LiAngelo is a player for UCLA who, for reasons that only make sense to the NCAA and UCLA and the other teams’ bank accounts, was playing in China. This would only be news to those who watch SportsCenter, except that Ball and teammates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill were accused of shoplifting sunglasses at the hotel’s Louis Vuitton store and were facing 3 to 10 years in a Chinese prison.
The three young men were held on the hotel grounds in Hangzhou, China; not allowed to play their opening game against Georgia Tech, and for some time it was apparent that they would not be allowed to go back home until they faced the charges. Trump, on a diplomatic trip to Asia reportedly intervened on their behalf and reportedly, they are returning to the United States.
All the while, LaVar Ball seems like he is only interested in the family reality show that is being produced. Ball said “I’m going to wait until I get more intel on what’s going on. He’ll be fine. Everyone’s making it a big deal. It ain’t that big a deal.” According to ESPN reporter Arash Markazi, LaVar’s comment “did not go over well,” and it led to him being told not to comment on the matter at all until his son returns home.
Although LaVar Ball has been hushed, it hasn’t stopped the film from rolling. The film crew for the show is with them in China, as the other brothers, LaVar and LaMelo were also are in China because their Big Baller Brand did a pop-up shop that was scheduled to open last Friday morning, a day before UCLA and Georgia Tech played.
I have so many questions and reactions to this whole thing. First, did the young men really shoplift? If true, one must ask how stupid can you be to commit a crime in a foreign country not exactly known for just courts and human rights? If they didn’t do it, why would the government frame these kids? Why let them go home? I have a tendency to go along with the popular opinion that I would like to see LaVar Balls plans end up in ruins. I hate reality shows anyway, so that’s easy enough to ignore.
Personally I don’t bear any animosity toward Lonzo and DiAngelo – I hope they are successful in whatever they do. I hope they don’t have to carry the sins of their father.