It is a good thing that Baltimore Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos doesn’t own a team in Chicago, or New York, or Boston. One would think that Angelos, son of owner Peter Angelos who bought the team in 1993 would be used to comments from the media and fans by now. However, like Elon Musk, he is showing that money does not bring brains.
Under the Angelos’ ownership, the team has made the playoffs just five times in 30 years, with no World Series appearances. This was a once proud franchise with Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer and teams that won Championships in 1966, 1970 and 1983. The Orioles had Eddie Murray and the league’s Iron Man for consecutive games played and one of the top ambassadors for the game, Cal Ripken, Jr. Angelos’ teams have been lousy for many years with the team losing over 100 games in 3 of the last 4 full seasons. Much like Bill Wirtz in Chicago, the owner was considered a cheap skate who almost demolished a franchise. In May 2009, a Sports Illustrated article reviewing owners of Major League Baseball franchises rated Angelos as the worst owner in the Major Leagues. The article noted that the team’s decision-making methodology “was not scientific” and “weighing heavily in the decision was the team’s success or failure on the field
However, the team is in the middle of a renaissance. After posting their first over .500 record since2015, the posted an 83-79 record. It was still fourth place in the hyper-competitive AL East. This year, the Birds are 32 games over .500, leading the AL East and posting one of the best records in baseball. All should be looking good.
At least it was until Baltimore Orioles announcer Kevin Brown was reportedly suspended for seemingly innocuous on-air comments discussing the team’s former losing ways. Brown was suspended Brown indefinitely after a July series against the Tampa Bay Rays in which he made the comments in question during a pregame segment July 23. He hasn’t been on the air since July 26. Here is the segment that reportedly got Brown suspended (from Yahoo Sports):
Brown said. “The Orioles split a two-gamer with the Rays in June. They had lost their last 15 series here at Tropicana Field. You have to go back to when our now-colleague Brad Brach picked up the win in the series finale June 25, 2017 — the last time the Orioles won a series here in St. Pete. Already gone 3-2 at the Trop this year after winning three of 18 the previous three years combined.”
Brown made the comments while graphics on the broadcast supported the stats he cited, showing that the Orioles were 0-15-1 in their previous 16 series against the Rays. The same stats were cited in the team’s game notes that day.
A source told the Athletic that the Orioles suspended Brown because ownership thought his comments made the team sound cheap. The Orioles are winning this season despite having baseball’s 29th-ranked payroll.
The Orioles denied that Brown had been suspended. They also announced that Brown will return to the booth.
“We don’t comment on personnel matters,” an Orioles official told Awful Announcing, adding, “we look forward to hearing Kevin’s voice soon.”
News of Brown’s reported suspension caught the attention of the baseball world, including New York Mets broadcaster Gary Cohen. The longtime sportscaster blasted Orioles management during Monday’s Mets game against the Cubs. “The Baltimore Orioles organization draped itself in utter humiliation with their treatment of one of their young broadcasters, a guy named Kevin Brown, who is one of the great young talents in broadcasting and this game.” Cohen said. … “Let me just say one thing to Baltimore Orioles management. You draped yourself in humiliation when you fired Jon Miller. And you’re doing it again. And if you don’t want Kevin Brown, there are 29 other teams who do.”
NESN’s Dave O’Brien likewise stood up for Brown during Monday’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Kansas City Royals. “Somebody didn’t like the facts very much, and that’s a fiasco that that’s allowed to happen,” O’Brien said. “I think every announcer in the league feels the same way. … I thought it was a joke when I initially read it.
“I hope he’s reinstated immediately when somebody comes to their senses in the front office of the Orioles.”
White Sox announcer Jason Benetti, meanwhile, quipped that “I hope I don’t get suspended by the Orioles” after discussing the Yankees’ season series with Baltimore during Monday’s game against New York.
It seems to me that Mr. Brown was mentioning that the Orioles had won more games in Tampa this year than in the year years before combined. Notice, nothing was said about payroll, it sounds to me like he was happy that the team was doing so well against the hottest team in baseball at the start of the season, but has recently fell on hard times. I don’t see any complaint there, but John Angelos is proving that maybe ultra-thin skin is a product of inherited wealth, and the IQs of those people are much lower than the general populous by many orders of magnitude.

There is no question that the 2023 Chicago White Sox are a dumpster fire, much like the 2022 version. The White Sox are 22 games under .500, after the team became an obvious seller at the trade deadline ridding themselves of pitchers galore. However, it seems that shortstop Tim Anderson has something going on.
Anderson has been one of the most underperforming Sox. In 2019, Anderson led the majors in batting average at .335, then posted averages of .322, .309 and even .301 in an injury hampered 2022. Now he’s hitting .244. He’s never been great defensively, and losing doesn’t help. You can tell that he’s pressing, fearful, frustrated, angry. In addition, Anderson wants a raise. The contract he signed in 2017 is almost over and the Sox aren’t actively trying to resign him. The White Sox hold club options for 2023 at $12.5 million and 2024 at $14 million. If either option is declined, Anderson will receive a $1 million buyout.
Yet he’s egotistical, too. He is very outspoken and believes he is one of the best players in the game, but not this season. Maybe all of the frustration boiled over this past weekend against the Cleveland Guardians. In Friday’s game, replays show that Anderson pushed Guardians rookie Brayan Rocchio off second base with a tag at second base. The Guardians didn’t appreciate it, Rocchio was called out even though Anderson pushed him off the bag rather than simply tagging him. The umpires’ decision eventually led to manager Terry Francona getting ejected. The next day, in the sixth inning of the game, José Ramirez, third baseman for the Guardians, slid into second base between Tim Anderson’s legs. He was announced to be safe but went on to get chippy with Anderson. Anderson threw his mitt down like a hockey player and got into a boxing stance. A couple of punches from Anderson missed then Ramirez landed a punch on the White Sox shortstop that sent him to the ground. Both teams’ players ran out onto the field to either split the two up or throw some blows of their own. Ironically, the Sox won that game.
The right hook Jose Ramirez landed on Tim Anderson’s jaw didn’t look like much of a punch, but Anderson went to the ground and even though Anderson looked like he wanted back in the fight until teammate Andrew Vaughn grabbed him and carried him off. Afterwards, Ramirez said Anderson has been disrespecting the game for too long. Bat flips, trash-talking, arrogance can be considered enthusiasm or immaturity. Indeed, it was remarkable that Anderson still was talking crap even as he was being held up by teammates, his legs like jelly. This is not to exonerate Ramirez. His headfirst slide into second base on a double is a cocky move, a modern move that invites trouble.
The best part of it funniest part of it was Cleveland radio broadcaster Tom Hamilton called it live, “Down goes Anderson! Down goes Anderson!” A direct reference to Howard Cosell’s famous call “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier” from the Goerge Foreman- Joe Frazier fight in January, 1973.
Major League Baseball suspended Anderson for six games and Ramirez three games. Well deserved.

I am expanding on the Tim Anderson story above. The White Sox have been an enigma, tons of talent – on paper, they should have been contenders, but the popular response is injuries, but every team has injuries. I have thought that two of the most injured players are Latin sluggers Luis Robert, Jr. and Eloy Jimenez are too pumped. They look like football players and are always hurting their hamstrings and legs. In baseball, one needs to be flexible, huge muscles don’t necessarily translate into baseball success (at least without PED’s, that is).
It is obvious that there is more going on with this team. They continuously make dumb decisions on the basepaths and don’t seem to have any team feeling. This is borne out by an interview on ESPN with Yankees reliever Keynan Middleton, who was with the Sox until getting traded a week ago. He said that the Sox have ‘‘no rules or guidelines.’’ The team, he implied, was about as disciplined as a Keystone Kops movie. ‘‘He’s not wrong,’’ former Sox pitcher Lance Lynn, now with the Dodgers, told the Los Angeles Times about Middleton.
That indictment covers the entire team and employee: players, manager Pedro Grifol, general manager Rick Hahn, all the multitudinous vice presidents and senior vice presidents on staff including longtime senior vice president Ken Williams, senior executive vice president Howard Pizer, and, most important, chairman Jerry Reinsdorf.
Sports franchise owners are as popular as IRS agents in Chicago and there’s good reason. Money, hubris and mismanagement have been the rule, not the exception for most of the teams. The list of bad cheap owners is a long one: Charles Comiskey (who’s tightfistedness is blamed for the 1919 Black Sox scandal); William Wrigley; Arthur Wirtz; The Tribune Company; Bill Wirtz; the Ricketts family; and of course, Jerry Reinsdorf. Besides being miserly, Reinsdorf’s major problem is loyalty. If you work for him and he likes you, you have long term job security. Bulls’ front office people like Jerry Krause, John Paxson, and Gar Foreman only got fired after public pressure was too much for Reinsdorf to ignore. Meanwhile, the White Sox front office has been virtually unchanged for over a decade: Rick Hahn as GM and EVP Ken Williams. The White Sox went 88 years between World Series wins, 46 years between appearances, and 18 years since the 2005 championship. Hahn and Williams have survived despite the poor performance. And let’s not talk about Tony LaRussa.
It seems to me that Manager Grifol, in his first season, hasn’t been around long enough to be blamed. Bad culture comes from the whole team and the players haven’t underperformed by themselves. Robert made the AL All Star team this year and was in the Home Run Hitting competition, but an injury kept him out of the game itself. Jimenez has had injury problems every season. The same can be said for third baseman Yoan Moncada. Team leader Jose Abreu has left for Houston, so he can’t be blamed for this year. Yasmani Grandal has not been worth the big money contract he signed and the team has acquired a lot of catchers in the trade deadline selloff. Again, Anderson doesn’t seem like a guy who would stabilize a locker room.
Way back when I was working for Andy Frain, I was a supervisor for the only bleacher gate. Decent duty, especially since I got to have a few words with the former White Sox owner Bill Veeck who was allowed in the park early to get his favorite center field seat. One day, a Chicago Tribune reporter asked Veeck what he would do if he owned the Cubs who were solidly in the middle of the 108-year World Series draught. Veeck said that he would build a lot of driveways at Wrigley Field. The reporter was confused – Veeck said – so I can back-up the truck.
It is time to backup the truck on the south side. The current team has a horrible culture, makes mental errors and is a consistent underachiever. Hahn and Williams have presided over this mess and no matter what they’ve done, it isn’t getting better. Reinsdorf is 87-years-old, and while seemingly healthy, the death of Blackhawks’ owner Rocky Wirtz reminds us that tomorrow is promised to no one. It is said that Reinsdorf wants another World Series championship before he leaves this mortal coil, but once again, he is handicapped by his loyalty to the usual suspects. A new view is needed from the front office; a new voice is needed above the din.
One thing we can say about Jerry Reinsdorf, he has a much thicker skin than Orioles’ CEO John Angelos.

One of the legends of Chicago newspaper columnists remains the late Mike Royke. His columns had an acerbic edge that wasn’t for everyone, but was entirely Chicago and genuine. As an Andy Frain usher and supervisor, we all got to know the real Royko – a petty tyrant who threw his weight around as the loudest mouth in the area. Softball games were one of the ways in which Royko would show what an ass he was. Then after games, we often drank at the original Cubby Bear Tavern on lower Michigan Ave. and often, there would be Royko, drunk and even more belligerent than he was on the field.
I guess 50 years ago, Royko staged a beer taste test, comparing American for foreign brews. In 1973, in the Chicago Daily News, the foreign beers won with Royko writing “American Beers taste like they had been brewed through a horse.” Royko had the event in his backyard with 11 judges and 22 beers. Back then, Wurzburger was the winner with Old Milwaukee, Schlitz and Budweiser at the bottom.
Over the weekend, some Royko admirers restaged the event as Royko’s Beer Test 50th at the Old Town Ale House. While it is no surprise that American beers did better than 50 years ago, I am sure that Royko’s judges had much more sophisticated taste buds than the yahoos who came together yesterday afternoon. Let me stop here and say that I consider myself a beer connoisseur, I have a rule that I will drink no beer worse that Stella Artois. Stella is a good beer, but it is like baseball’s Medoza Line. Mario Medoza was a shortstop , mostly with the Pirates who had a lifetime batting average of .200, but he could field and play several positions, so he stayed in the Majors for a few years.
I would like to know who these “judges” are because they wouldn’t know a good beer if it bit them on the @$$. One has to go no further than the fact that they awarded the prize to Old Style. It’s an OK cheap beer, but it has little taste and is best used if it is 100 degrees outside and it’s the only drink around (including water, milk, juice,,,).They did a little bit better with number 2 – Anchor Steam; but then listed Miller High Life number 3 and Budweiser 4. Both of those beers are “alcoholic’s beers:” have little or no taste, cost very little and have a higher alcohol content than other beers. I would let my dogs drink either of them. It actually gets worse: number 5 is Schlitz – I didn’t know they even made that anymore. I used to say back when I was an usher, you could tell the class of the audience by the beer served. The Stadium, Wrigley Field, sold Budweiser; Comiskey Park sold Falstaff, and the International Amphitheater sold Schlitz and Blatz.
Number 6 was Stiegl Goldbrau, the best beer on the list so far; 7 was Coors Banquet. I think of an old joke – the CEOs of Anheiser Busch. Coors, Miller and Heineken went to a bar after a meeting. The Busch CEO ordered a Bud Lite (before the boycott); the Miller CEO order a Miller Lite and the Coors CEO ordered a Coors. The CEO of Heiniken order a glass of water. The three other men asked why he was drinking water and the Heiniken CEO said, you were all drinking water, so I figured I would too (and for the record, I’m not a big fan of Heiniken.)
Coming in at number 8 was Seipps which I admit, I’ve never heard of or drank. Going to the website, it is a Chicago beer. I can’t explain why I’ve lived 63 years living in the Chicagoland area and never had one. (A quest!) Number 9 was Spaten, I assume the lager. It’s a good beer, it is certainly better than the mass produced swill that finished higher (I must admit that I prefer the double bock Optimater from Spaten, but the lager is very tasty). Ten was Miller Lite, the favorite of my friends out in the NY/RI/Bos area. It’s water, which I think is the point – it tastes like water, has few calories so you can drink a lot of it without getting seriously drunk or weighting 600 pounds, Eleven is Pilsner Urquell, which is a good beer and finishing last was Point Special, which was not very good in my memories of it.
I would rather have a taste test of my own with some friends of mine who’s opinions I respect rather than these thrown together guys who were just looking to drink for free. Sounds like something I’ll have to pull together one day.

With the sudden death of Blackhawks Owner Rocky Wirtz, it is an apropos time to discuss the future of sports ownership in Chicago. Families have generally been the owners of the professional franchises, often for decades and many generations. Unfortunately, these owners have mismanaged their teams, been PR disasters to the media and fans, but still fans support the teams. However, the winds of change are blowing. Original owners are very old or have died, younger generations are either worse business people or have no interest in owning/running a sports franchise – an endeavor that while often profitable, generates the big windfall only when the franchise is sold. Let’s take a look at the Chicago ownership groups:
Chicago Blackhawks: Naturally, in light of Rocky Wirtz I’m going to start with the Hawks. The Wirtz family has owned the Blackhawks since 1954. As I mentioned in a previous blog, Artur and Bill Wirtz were among the most despised by the fane base. Of course, one Stanley Cup championship in 56 years, cheap management and high prices took their toll. Rocky Wirtz revived a dying Original Six franchise when he took over in 2009. Embracing tradition, building a great team and 3 Cups will make you beloved. He has been I think the most loved owner in Chicago (not a high bar). Of course, the sexual abuse scandal was a blackeye on the franchise and Wirtz.
Rocky’s son Danny has been the CEO for the past couple of years and so far, he has had the luck to win the NHL Draft lottery bringing in uber prospect Connor Bedard. At any rate, the Hawks have become relevant again, and a big step in competing for another Cup. More important, the Wirtzes are worth billions in diversified industries: liquor (Breakthru Beverage Group – I mistakenly called it by its old name Dolph and Phelps the other day – my error); real estate, banking and other interests. The family has plenty of cash flow, not needing to offload the team. Besides, they seem to enjoy the legacy. NOT CHANGING.
Chicago Cubs: Cub fans are among the most loyal, even being willing to overlook the far-right politics of the generation of the main owners and the neo-Nazi writings of their father. While the Ricketts sons have tried to appear to be regular people, a rich fan among fans. However, both primary owner Tom and brother Pete Ricketts have been chair people of Donald Trump’s election campaign. Pete Ricketts is the junior Senator from Nebraska and has generally supported the GOP agenda, but mostly being smart enough not to spout some of the idiotic things that the MAGA Republicans make stupid and racists comments. Brother Todd Ricketts is the Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Sister Laura Ricketts is the liberal of the family and seems to be the one embraced by the Chicago faithful. Of course, the father, Joe Ricketts who has been linked to racist and anti-Semitic emails and statements, tries to stay far away from the team
The Ricketts aren’t going anywhere. They got everything they wanted to buy most of the land around Wrigley Field to fund a kind of Cubland theme park. The team broke a 103 year World Series draught, but sell offs, tanking teams to build contenders has upset some Cub fans. They bought the team for $885 million and it is easily worth $2 billion. Like the Wirtzes, they have interests in TD Ameritrade, so there’s no need to sell. NOT CHANGING
Chicago White-Sox and Bulls: Both teams of course share the managing owner Jerry Reinsdorf. On the positive side, Reinsdorf wants to win and has been willing to make moves to win. On the negative, he is excessively loyal to the management teams, who get to keep their jobs despite less than impressive results.
The Bulls have the memory of the 6 NBA Championships, the Jordan years, but the team was disassembled and outside of the draft of local star Derrick Rose, there hasn’t be anywhere near that level of success. The architect of the championship teams, Jerry Krause, was eventually moved back to scouting baseball and then John Paxson was GM and then Paxson was promoted and Gar Forman was GM. Years of poor results and complaints from the fans and media went unheard by Reinsdorf. Only after the team became a nonentity did Reinsdorf finally fire the pair, known colloquially as “GarPax.” The current management EVP Arturas Karnisovas and GM Marc Eversley did not have a first round draft pick in the recent NBA Draft and the team has been a good but not great team in great part due to the unbelievable injury to guard Lonzo Ball. With Ball, the team was one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference; after his injury, the team has been able to make the playoffs and an early exit.
The White Sox are a consistent underachiever. After tanking to be able to draft young stars like Eloy Jimenez, Luis Robert, Jr., Dylan Cease, on paper, the White Sox have been contenders, but for two years the made the playoffs and were bounced early, but the last two seasons have been frustrating for fans. Injuries (Yoan Moncade, Jimenez), sudden slumps (Tim Anderson), inconsistent pitching, and bad base running and fielding. For the past many years, Ken Williams was GM until he was approached by Toronto to be President and Reinsdorf gave him the same title to keep him in Chicago. Rick Hahn has been GM and has to also be held accountable for the team’s woeful performance on the field, but both still have their jobs (although Hahn’s seat is considerably warmer).
Jerry Reinsdorf is 87 years old and he wants another World Series title. A lifelong baseball fan, he is probably prouder of the 1985 World Series Championship than anything else in sport, even the Michael Jordan Bulls. He probably also wants to return the Bulls to prominence. With his son Michael taking the day-to-day operations and real estate and other investments, the family may not be interested in selling. However, who knows what will happen when the elder Reinsdorf dies. NOT CHANGING IN SHORT TERM BUT THAT COULD CHANGE.
Chicago Bears: this is the most interesting situation. Everyone knows that the Bears are owned by the McCaskey family, blood relations of Founder George Halas. Except for the 1985 Super Bowl team, the management of which was hired by Halas, the team has shown mismanagement, dumb decisions, bad head coaches and GMs. This is the team that most fans would pitch in to donate to sell the team. Current moves seem like the team is trying to move into, at least, the last part of the 20th Century. They hired Kevin Warren as President and CEO. He had previously been the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, and while with the Minnesota Vikings, negotiated the building of U.S. Bank Stadium. The Bears’ most important issue financially is the building of a new stadium and to move forward purchased the old Arlington Park Race Track (although problems between the team and the government of Arlington Heights has led to overtures from other suburbs).
The Bears are the main asset of the McCaskeys. Matriarch Virginia McCaskey is the last remaining child of George Halas, and has always staunchly refused to even entertain selling. Her son George is the Chairman of the Board and he is mostly there to do his mom’s bidding. George and his late brother Michael weren’t known as especially skilled businessmen/negotiators. The biggest asset they have are the Bears and the team is hindered by a bad deal with the Chicago Park District for the use of Soldier Field. A new stadium that the team would own and control of the parking and sky boxes would make the team much more valuable, easily close to the $8 billion Dan Snyder and his investors received for the Washington Commanders.
However, the McCaskeys don’t have another source of cash flow. I would doubt that they have enough to finance a $2 billion stadium. The NFL prohibits having a team held as collateral for debt. The Bears are counting on big support from the local government, but there is substantial resistance to putting this on taxpayers, It is said that there would be a sportsbook and/or casino as part of the stadium. While I think that these entities are also not permitted to own a portion of a franchise, but I could very easily see some billionaire put up money for a small piece of ownership. We are several years away from a new stadium, but, like the Bulls and White Sox, if Virginia dies, all bets are off.
Again, the McCaskeys don’t have other significant sources of cash flow and there are a lot of kids, grandkids, nephews, nieces, cousins that are feeding out of the Bears’ trough. I can see many of the younger relatives who didn’t know George Halas probably don’t have any great loyalty to the family tradition. I would believe that at least some of the younger McCaskeys would like to invest or just piss the money away. WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS, SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN.
So, that is my crystal ball into the future of the Chicago major sports franchises. I think that the Cubs and Blackhawks will remain with the same ownership; the other three will depend on the health of their senior citizen owners.

“He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again” – Hamlet Act I Scene II

The sports world was shocked yesterday when word came out that Chicago Blackhawks Owner W. Rockwell “Rocky” Wirtz died suddenly, reportedly of a heart attack. We Blackhawk will always revere him in some way for overturning the 19th Century management decisions of his father “Dollar” Bill Wirtz and grandfather Arthur Wirtz. However, like every one of us, there was a yin to go with the yang of his life.
First, the turnaround: Arthur Wirtz bought the team in 1954 and had Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita and many other stars who were competitive every season, remembering of course that there were only six teams in the NHL up to that time. The team was able to win the 1961 Cup, but after that the league expanded and player salaries went way up. Arthur Wirtz allowed Bobby Hull to leave in 1970 for the WHL’s Winnipeg Jets, It’s not as though the Wirtzes were like the McCaskeys, owners of the Bears. The McCaskeys have one major asset – the Bears; the Wirtzes own Dolph and Phelphs, the largest liquor distributor in the Midwest, most of North Shore Drive – prime real estate on Lake Michigan, plus ownership stakes in banks and many other enterprises. Still, Arthur kept tight reigns over the team, not allowing home games to be broadcast because he wanted to get the ticket money, parking and concessions.
When Arthur died, his oldest son Bill took over and if anything turned the screws tighter. There is a reported quote that when Bill interviewed Craig Hartsburg Wirtz told the aspiring coach “forget about Stanley Cups, they’re too expensive.” With poor decisions, signing over-the-hill former stars, the team was horrible and old fans stopped coming to games, and there were no young fans because they had never seen the Hawks, or the NHL in general during that time. In an Original Six city, Bill almost killed hockey in Chicago. Exceptional luck and solid talent management brought players who would lead to 3 Stanley Cups: Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Corey Crawford, and all the rest. The team was supposed to be run by one of his brothers who had worked with the team under Bill. Bill’s stubbornness brought a terrible team, fan apathy and was a losing proposition.
Rocky took control of the team and started making changes: he put home games on local television; brought back Hull and Mikita and Tony Esposito along with other alumni. He hired John McDonaugh, a marketing pro from the Cubs and made him president. He fired Hawk legend Denis Savard who was probably in over his head as a head coach, and brought in Joel Quenneville as coach, Stan Bowman as assistant GM and his father, Hall of Fame and winningest NHL coach Scotty Bowman as special consultant. Winning fills seats and the Hawks sold out for 13 years.
They should be building a statue for the man, but it was revealed that the video coach of the team in 2010 had been sexually abusing prospects. Since the team was in the heat of their first Stanley Cup championship season in over 45 years, everyone in senior management decided to keep quiet. That was bad enough, but the coach remained with the team after the championship, including a ring, and participation in the championship parade before being quietly allowed to leave, but with no warning to future employers where he continued to abuse young hockey players. Wirtz cleaned house – Quenneville, Bowman, McDonaugh were all let go.
However, at a press conference the next season an African-American newspaper reporter asked a straight-forward question about what steps had been taken to prevent the abuse happening again. Wirtz went off – saying that it was in the past and unless the questioner had stock in the team, he had no right to ask or get an answer to the question. Wirtz was noticeably less visible in team functions, with his son Danny taking over the running of the team.
Rocky Wirtz was a great businessman, a philanthropist, a player in the NHL like his father and grandfather. According to his biography, he detailed a very dysfunctional family. I have heard more stories that he was an approachable man, talking with the fans and his seats were in the stands, not in a skybox. I admit that in my Andy Frain days, I met both Arthur and Bill and both were cold people (in part because I’m black???). Maybe that explains his surprising outburst. But still, he seemed to be a decent man and I send my condolences to Rocky Wirtz’ family, the team, and all who’s lives he touched.

If it seems that all I write about is Northwestern and Pat Fitzgerald, and that is certainly true. Perfectly understandable considering that I am an NU alum, have had football season tickets since the 1996 Rose Bowl, live approximately 3 miles from Dyche Stadium, I mean Ryan Field, drive past it to go to doctor appointments. While not as through as Pat Fitzgerald, it has been said that I bleed purple. I don’t think I’m am a big fan, but I also believe I have a clean view of the positive and negatives about my alma mater, and it is often not pretty, Here are just a few of the storms that will be hitting the Evanston shores in the coming weeks and months:
• Fitzgerald said in a statement that he was surprised by the change from suspension to termination and he would aggressively protect his rights. Meaning that Fitzgerald hired former District Attorney and top attorney Dan Webb to represent him. Apparently, the Trustees looked at the report and helped change President Michael Schiff’s mind on the lesser punishment and pushed for something more stringent. This is going to be ugly, and public and there’s nothing NU hates more than bad publicity and having to open the velvet curtains that NU trustees want closed so they can do whatever they wish.
• It had looked as though the efforts to get the new billion-dollar upgrade to the football stadium had succeeded, but this mess has the anti-Ryan Field groups more active than ever. Of course, since the relationship between NU and Evanston has always been rocky because, since NU was there first, in the charter for the city of Evanston, NU is granted exemption from property taxes in perpetuity, it is always a sticky negotiation whenever the university has to come to the suburb for approval to do anything.
• Reportedly, brand new defensive coordinator David Braun will be “in charge” of the football program for the time being. Makes sense since he was just hired after the season and should have had nothing to do with the old culture. Technically, when a coach gets fired, players can transfer immediately, but due to the timing, will any players wish to leave? Would you leave unless you were going to start somewhere else? The person I feel most for is Fitzgerald’s oldest son, a freshman tight end entering the school.
• What does it say about the university culture? As a person of color, I am certainly offended by the racism apparent along with the hazing. I, like most alums I think, thought that NU was one of the cleaner programs – NU has never been subject of major NCAA violations. There was lots of talk that NU did things “the right way,” but Fitzgerald was lying; the university was lying; past and present administrations were lying. NU alums and fans should feel betrayed today and have to question the strength of their loyalty.
Now, my own thoughts: I am indebted to Northwestern, the degree I earned has allowed me career possibilities I probably wouldn’t have otherwise. More important, some of the best times I’ve ever had were in Evanston, and certainly most of my best friends in the world, people who I know are my friends for life, the brothers and sisters I never had are people I met at Northwestern. I love them all. That said, I never felt particularly warm and fuzzy toward the university itself. The football scandal and the reported baseball team scandal reminds me that the university itself doesn’t give a damn about the students.
Yes, lip service is paid to caring about the students, but the university is set up as a pressure cooker, and many kids have had mental health issues and the response has been weak at beat. The fact that cheerleaders had to sue because they were being sexually assaulted at big money donor events, gives you a feel for their attitude toward the students. Have you paid the tuition (either scholarship or by mommy and daddy)? Are your grades enough to keep you in school? If not, get out. I always felt as though NU looked at the washouts as a badge of courage. Admittedly, I was not the strongest student, I partied too much and studied too little, but I got out with my degree (by the skin of my teeth). Often however the university kept an eye on my grades to see if they could justify booting me out.
I have often told friends that I’m not sure I would allow my daughters to attend NU. Not that they aren’t smart enough, it’s just that I don’t know if I would want them to face that “dog eat dog” university. Yes, it prepares one for the world (it certainly did for me), but kids have the rest of their lives to get that message, can they not get it thrown at them like a bucket of ice water waking them from a deep sleep?
So, like most things, I have mixed feelings about Northwestern University. In many ways, I love it and the times I had there; in other ways, it was a difficult and at that time especially racist institution.
Only time will tell.