I should know better than to get into Facebook arguments. I got into some in the past and then, I stopped. A simple, one sentence answer to a question led me into a very dark place.
The post was from Pro Football Weekly asking whether or not the fact that quarterback Colin Kaepernick was still without a job in the NFL was based on merit or was in response to Kaepernick’s national anthem protest last season. Most of the responses were that he sucked, someone talked about the “Muslim woman” he follows (which I have no idea where this dim bulb gets this idea from, but I have an idea).
I posted that he had been blackballed and I got a response filled with stats, and a couple that were simply mean. I have been meaning to write on this but I was waiting to see if someone would sign Kaepernick. I thought it would have happened by now, but last week, when the Seattle Seahawks signed journeyman Austin Davis instead of Kaepernick, no longer can it be said that Kaepernick isn’t being shunned by the entire league.
I fully supported Kaepernick during his protest; I even sat for national anthems in sympathy at Northwestern games and other events last Fall. I was less pleased ad stopped my personal protest after Kaepernick stated that he had not voted and that he felt that Trump and Clinton were similar evils. However, he did put his money where his mouth is by donating millions of dollars to various charities. Kaepernick has told all teams that if signed, he would no longer conduct his protest, but all I hear is that “he’s not any good anymore.” Hall of Fame GM Bill Pollian said that according to what he’d heard, Kaepernick wanted too much money. Some players have said that he would be a “distraction,” not worth harming the delicate balance of a football team.
That’s the NFL covering their bases/asses. I have watched the NFL long enough to know that teams/coaches/front offices would hire Michael Flynn out of the Russian embassy if he would score touchdowns. And, I don’t know of any coaches or GMs, serious egos themselves, who don’t believe that they can turn a player around. How many coaches did the Chicago Bears hire to try and get top performance from Jay Cutler?
I’m not saying that Colin Kaepernick isn’t responsible in part for his poor play, but with all of the dysfunction that was the 49ers front office in the war between the team’s GM Trent Baalke and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh is an egotistical man, but he did lead the team to the Super Bowl. The power struggle led to Harbaugh to become head coach at Michigan, where he has shown continued success. The 49ers have fallen from the top of the league to one of the worst. Baalke has been fired, then team brought in former wunderkind Chip Kelly but he failed. They have hired former safety and broadcaster John Lynch in the front office and Kyle Shanahan is the new head coach.
Under the right circumstances, I have little doubt that Colin Kaepernick still has a lot of football left in him. I also know that NFL owners are either racists or cowards or both. Winning cleanses all sins, and if winning is the most important criteria, Colin Kaepernick should have a job in the NFL. Yes, there will be some protestors, like there were against Michael Vick and Ray Rice and many others. What I don’t understand is why Tea Party feelings are so much more important than everyone else’s. Does their money spend at twice the rate of Liberals’ cash?
I have been an NFL fan my whole life, and I am supremely disappointed (but not surprised) by the league that fought against the research on CTE and so many other player safety issues.

My old friend, knowledgeable sports pundit and fan, (and formerly the best bartender on the face of the Earth) Pete Machacek posted a list that I find interesting enough to comment on, both here and on Facebook: your favorite Major League Baseball players at each position. Don’t have to be the best, just your favorites. As one would expect, the players of your youth will dominate, but I found this an interesting exercise, so here’s mine:
Catcher – Manny Sanguillen: Sanguillen was probably the second best catcher in the National League in the 1970s behind Johnny Bench, but I loved him because he never saw a pitch he didn’t like. He was the epitome of “free-swinger.” In 13 years in the majors, he went to the plate 5,062 times and walked 223 times. And, he missed his dearest friend, Roberto Clemente’s memorial service diving into the ocean trying to recover his body.
First Base – Dick Allen: May favorite player of all time. Could hit for average, hit for power, run bases well, played a great first base. He was my childhood hero also because in the turbulent 1970s, he was a proud black man, almost cantankerous. But he had the highest salary after his MVP season of 1972.
Second base – Rod Carew: I just loved to watch him hit. They say that while most batters adjusted their stance/approach each at bat, Carew did the same after every pitch.
Shortstop – tie Ozzie Guillen and Dave Concepcion: Ozzie gets the nod for his outspokenness, as a player and as a manager. He’s a bit nuts. Concepcion was just smooth in the field. While the other members of the Big Red Machine: Bench, Rose, Foster, Perez were big stars, Concepcion just played flawless shortstop.
Third Base – Wade Boggs: along with Rod Carew, perhaps the best hitter I’ve ever seen. One season hit over .380 with two strikes on him. Plus his superstitions with having chicken before every game, and having a mistress in the stands with no underwear – a character. (And, during a home run hitting contest at old Comiskey Park, I was talking with Marty Barrett, a second baseman with the Red Sox and wondered why they put Boggs in the contest. Barrett told me that Boggs could hit home runs in he wanted, but he concentrated on getting the bat on the ball. Sure enough, even with Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, and Ron Kittle in the contest, Boggs won.)
Left Field – Dave Parker: yes, I know he was primarily a right fielder, but I have a right fielder and there were some times that Parker played left. Parker was the heaviest bat in the 1970s “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates outfield. He was a power hitter par excellence, plus he had a cannon of an arm. People did not take extra bases on Parker. Once, he was taking batting practice when I was an Andy Frain supervisor, and we were clearing the autograph seekers away from the wall, and Parker hit a foul line drive that was headed straight for my heart. I knew I was going to die, but at the last minute, the ball came down on the plastic seat in front of me. Phew.
Center Field – Willie Mays: even though he was in the twilight of his career by the time I really was into baseball, Mays remains the gold standard. I always got angry when Joe DiMaggio DEMANDED that he be introduced as the “Greatest Living Ballplayer.” I always said, but isn’t Willie Mays still alive?
Right Field – Roberto Clemente: No offense to Dave Parker (for sure, he could probably still dismember me), but Clemente is my right fielder, the best player I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. Back in the 1960s, the Cubs had Ladies Day, when all women could get into the park for free. One day, my grandmother took me and we sat in the back of the upper deck and watched the Pirates play the Cubs. I don’t remember him at bat, but I do remember him putting on a clinic in right field, including gunning some poor Cub runner down trying to do to third on a single. Amazing player and an amazing man.
Right Handed Starting Pitcher – tie Juan Marichal and Luis Tiant: yes, two Latin American pitchers and both with unorthodox windups. Marichal was one of the best pitchers of the 1960s and with his high leg kick, he was formidable to face. Tiant had that “turn his back to you, peek-a-boo” windup that was just great to watch.
Left Handed Starting Pitcher – Sandy Koufax: I am old enough to have watched Koufax on television and in the mid 1960s, he was a wonder. No one could hit him, and then in the prime of his career, injuries led to his retirement. Like James Dean, he was a comet that flashed ever so brilliantly, but if you blinked, you missed him.
Closer – Bruce Sutter: I saw Sutter a lot when he was with the Cubs and I was working at Wrigley Field. At his best, his pitches just fell off the table, making even the best hitters in the game look foolish.
Utility Player – Jay Johnstone: I got to know Jay when he was a backup outfielder for the Cubs, and he deserved his reputation. During rain delays, he’d be out running the bases, or just messing around with me, because, if he was in the rain, that meant some fans were in the rain trying to get autographs (or worse, run on the field, and as Chief Usher, I had to be out there with the to make sure nothing bad happened. Jay would throw water at me, give me grief, all in fun. Great guy.
Manager – Earl Weaver: Weaver was a character, his arguments were legendary as was his simple philosophy: play for the three-run home run.
OK Pete, there’s mine.

Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mary Mitchell, who mostly writes on local black issues, wrote an article printed today about how the Chicago Cubs’ “super fan” Ronnie “Woo Woo” Wickers was thrown out of the park on April 19th. Long time readers know that when I was an Andy Frain usher at Wrigley Field, there was no greater annoyance than Wickers. He constantly tried to get someone to give him a ticket, since he had no money. Once inside the park, his incessant chant (“ball player name! WOO!”) was loud and never ended. He knew I didn’t like him and he knew it, so he would try to avoid me whenever possible.
The April 19th incident was par for the course with my experiences. According to the article, Wickers was thrown out of the park for trying to get into Wrigley Field without a ticket. He says that he was invited to join a friend, Scott Miller, who had the tickets on an app on his cell phone. When Miller couldn’t recover the ticket, he began cursing at security staff and they were escorted out of the park. Another friend, Janet Tabit, who reported the incident to Ms. Mitchell, also was asked to leave the park.
Ms. Tabit claims that when she asked the security staff why they singled out Wickers, she was told that they had orders to ask for his ticket whenever he was seen in the ballpark. That is a rule that we had way back in the 1970s and 1980s. Some people find Wickers amusing, but many people find his constant chanting annoying, and since he used to sneak into the park, a lot of the time, he wasn’t in the park legally.
Which brings me to perhaps my biggest reason for disliking Wickers in the ball park. He is obviously mentally challenged; he spent over a decade homeless. Yes, he is obsessed with the Cubs, but these are not the reasons that I disliked seeing him. No, he wandered the area outside of Wrigley Field begging for tickets, and often yuppies would give him a ticket and also buy him beers. Wickers would follow them around like a sad puppy, and you could see the condescending looks and sideways smiles that the white guys had for him. He was a laughing stock and a particular embarrassment to me as an African-American.
Reading the piece, it was Mr. Miller’s fault. If you can’t show a ticket, the ushers and security are supposed to ask you for one or you are supposed to be removed from the premises. Why did this guy feel the need to start cursing at the security people? I can tell you that I wouldn’t have took it back in the day; I can’t imagine today’s security personnel standing for it either. But like many privileged white Cub fans, they think that they’re special because they have nice jobs, or their fathers are rich, or just because.
Did the security target Wickers? Probably. Like the rule in place when I worked there, Wickers is annoying to some people and since he does have quite a powerful voice, I’m sure they want to make sure that he has a valid ticket in which case he does have the right to be there. Were the people with Wickers insulted with the other side of fame – being picked out because of factors beyond their control? That’s what started it, Miller getting indignant because he couldn’t get his cell phone to work. I don’t know if Mr. Miller and Ms. Tabit are Wickers’ “friends” or enablers, or just more white people who like to have the now 75-year-old man-child around. For their amusement? For local celebrity?
I only occasionally read Ms. Mitchell’s column. Sometimes I agree with her Afro-centric articles; other times, I disagree. Unfortunately, this time, she is taking up the cause of a black man who has been mostly treated like a circus side show attraction – “Come see the silly Cub negro!” There are much more important stories about indignities to black people than Woo Woo Wickers being singled out at Wrigley Field with his white zoo keepers.

We are winding down in the NHL playoffs and over the weekend, the Nashville Predators knocked off the St. Louis Blues 4 games to 2 to reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history. Now, I’m no great fans of the Preds since they unceremoniously ousted my beloved Chicago Blackhawks (and the fact that they refuse to sell home tickets to people who may be Chicago fans. Still, I have to admit that I am happy for one man: defenseman P.K. Subban.
Subban has been one of the best defensemen in the league, having won the Norris Trophy in 2013. He is a great defenseman, albeit an offensive one, meaning that he is about moving the puck and getting shots on goal (and scoring a fair amount of the time). He has been a regular All Star. He played most of his career in Montreal, where his philanthropic efforts became legendary. After signing a huge eight year, $72 million contract, Subban committed a large sum to a local children’s hospital.
While not doing anything embarrassing or illegal off the ice, Subban is a flamboyant personality. A clothes horse who often models for magazines, he also shows his personality on the ice with large goal celebrations. This is not the type of performance that the staid, conservative coaches and front office was used to from the “Habs” The team often seemed ill at ease with the young defenseman (he’s still only 27 years old – 28 next week, just hitting his prime). It was said that Subban was not a good teammate, so this past June, the Canadiens traded their top blueliner for Nashville’s top defenseman, Shea Weber. Weber is seven years older, so one had to question the logic, but at first, the Canadiens roared out of the gate, leading the whole NHL in points over the first month. Eventually, the league caught up and passed Montreal, who had real problems scoring goals and are now out of the playoffs.
At the time of the trade, I wrote here that I believed that the reason that the Canadiens traded Subban was that Subban was “too black” for the team. The flamboyance and the outspoken personality is something that you would never have seen from Guy Lafleur, or Rocket Richard. It was funny because the fans seemingly embraced Subban, who was born in Toronto, which was a welcome sight from a sport where racial slurs have been thrown toward non-white players for years. While the coaching staff benched him, the fans seemed to be solidly behind their guy.
So, while the Canadiens sit at home and await next season, P.K. Subban is still playing. And while I can’t say that I’m rooting for them at all, I do have a bit of silent satisfaction for the young black man.

To many Chicago Bears fans, the Jay Cutler era ended none too soon when the team released the veteran quarterback after 8 years in which the team won one playoff game, but Cutler broke most of the team’s passing records, but only in between making bad plays and turnovers. At 34, Cutler should have a few more years to his career; he still has one of the most powerful arms in the league, and one of the oldest axioms of sports, especially football is that every coach believes he can get a player to play up to his potential, even if he never has in the past.
Cutler has always been a surprise, so, rather than find an NFL job, he retired and took a job with Fox Sports covering NFL football. There is little doubt that Cutler is a smart guy – he attended Vanderbilt, a fine school, and he should know the game as a former quarterback. Still, it is an odd choice for Fox. Cutler’s public persona with the Bears was one of aloofness. Cool and distant, Cutler’s demeanor caused fans to hate him, believing that there was no “fire in his belly” toward winning. His coaches and teammates often stood up for him, saying that he was a good leader and teammate.
We will find out. Cutler will be the analyst for the number 2 television team on Fox and already it has been announced that he will be covering some Bear games. Will he blast the team and coaching staff? Will the fans want to watch Cutler? Will he be the outspoken man his ex-teammates say he is; or will he be the sullen, taciturn guy on display in interviews and press conferences?
One thing I do find interesting: I assume that Cutler is ending his career in part because of the greater knowledge and fear of permanent head trauma as a result of football. I find it incongruous because he and wife Kristin Cavallari have steadfastly refused to vaccinate their three children. There is no proven link between vaccines and autism and the lack of vaccination is a public health risk to their children, but also to the children their kids will interact with.
So, the football career of Jay Cutler ends as unusually as it occurred. I have no hard feelings, nor should Bear fans. He tried, he disappointed, now he’s moved on. Will he be a good NFL analyst? We’ll see.

Yesterday, ESPN broadcast the final installment of its talk program “The Sports Reporters.” Today, there were numerous articles written about the show’s end. One of them came from Mitch Albom, who used the publicity to help him become a bestselling author of “Tuesdays with Morrie” and other sentimental books.
I used to watch the show too, back in the day. I was a fan of New York sportswriter Mike Lupica, who later became the show’s host. I don’t watch it anymore, mostly because of family stuff or the rare opportunity to sleep in.
Nowhere in any of the stories was its obvious failure to mention the show’s precursor, The Sportswriters on TV. Ben Bentley, Bill Jauss, Bill Gleason, Rick Telander, Lester Munson, all of the other writers who came on the show, headed by Producer John Roach blazed the trail that the ESPN show only followed. Our show (I provided research and some opinion) showed that people would watch four guys sitting around a table talking sports.
The one thing that the Sportswriters had that the Sports Reporters did not was the warmth. The Sportswriters were all friends, friendly competitors, guys who had known each other for years. The stability of the panel and the obvious familiarity gave viewers a certainty of product. The Sports Reporters was a constantly changing group, who, while knowledgeable on the topics, never got beyond a certain civility. Albom and Lupica, as long-time panelists, and the late John Saunders as host, tried to bridge that gap a bit, but the constantly shifting panel did not allow for any genuine feeling, I believe.
A personal example – when I was first a big fan of the show, I wrote a long letter to Rick Telander about college football. I later met Rick at a Northwestern football game, and he said he received my letter, but it was so long and covered so many topics, he didn’t get to it. I later me Bill Jauss, and he invited me to come to a taping, which led to an introduction to Roach and got me involved, for the next 8 years as it turned out.
I sent a letter to Lupica, probably in the late 1980s. That letter remains unanswered. Part of it may have been that Lupica is a native New Yorker, more brusque, busy and perhaps, self-important. I remember when I would bring guests to The Sportswriters, Gleason would make sure to get everyone’s name so that he could announce their presence on air; the others would talk to everyone, and Jauss always thanked people for coming to the taping and for watching the show.
So, I congratulate The Sports Reporters on their long run. It was a good show. (However, ours was better.)

A Bad Feeling In Chicago, Part 1: The History
I have been a Chicago Bear fan all of my life. My grandfather had season tickets for decades, but I was never old enough to accompany him to a game. For years now, I have always wondered why the Bears have been snake-bit at the quarterback position for nearly their entire history? Why is it that the best quarterback the team has ever had was Sid Luckman who played from 1939 until 1950? Since then, the Bears have drafted, traded, swapped, done just about everything to get an elite, franchise signal caller.
Part of it, I think has been the team’s culture. The Bears have always been built on great defenses. Bill George, Dick Butkus, Mike Singletary, Brian Urlacher: these were the heart of the team – middle linebackers. On offense, the Bears used great running backs to eat up clock, gain yardage and score just enough to allow the defense to hold the other team. We have never seen a wide open offense – it just didn’t seem right.
The only two men to come close to being elite were Jim McMahon and Jay Cutler. McMahon is the only Bear QB to win a Super Bowl, but it was the defense and Hall of Fame runner Walter Payton who were the centerpieces. Still, the only thing that kept McMahon from greater heights were injuries. Cutler was recently cut by the Bears, and while he supplanted Luckman as the holder of most of the team’s passing records, Cutler’s inconsistency and poor decision making on throws, especially at crunch time, kept Cutler from being a top QB and the Bears from serious Super Bowl contention.
The current Bears went 3-13 last season, the team’s worst record since the NFL went to a 16 game season. The Bears have needs in numerous positions: defensive secondary, wide receiver and tight end, and of course, quarterback. However, the 2017 Draft crop of quarterbacks is not considered that great; a lot of potential but no “sure things.” Despite that, four quarterbacks went in the first round last night, although none of them are considered ready to start right off the bat.
The Bears had the number 3 overall pick and speculation was that a defensive lineman or safety would be their pick, but last night, long time Bear fans like myself may have had visions of the nightmare that was the 1997 Draft. The Bears also had the third overall pick, but they traded it to Seattle for QB Rick Mirer, who became another in the long line of Bear QB busts. Already with the third pick, the Bears swapped picks with the San Francisco 49ers at two in return for a third and fourth round pick this draft and a third round pick next year. The Bears then used the pick on North Carolina QB Mitch Trubisky, a young man who had only 13 starts in college.