The newspapers seem to support the decision: both David Haugh and Brad Biggs of the Tribune heralded the move, saying that this was the bold move that the team needed. Of course, those of us who remember the Mirer deal are left cold. Fans of younger vintage remember when the Bears made a bold move in acquiring Cutler.
On the face of it, it does make one wonder. The Bears recently signed the number one free agent QB available, Mike Glennon and it looked like he was the quarterback of the future. And GM Ryan Pace actually was lauded for signing Glennon to a three year deal with most of the guaranteed money paid in the first year. It was believed that the Bears would draft a QB in the later rounds, and even with Trubisky, the young QB has less pressure on him – he is not expected to start immediately, he can watch and learn, and if Glennon does play well, he is trade bait.
There are several problems with this. First, what message does this send Glennon, who is also young with lots of promise? The most popular athlete in Chicago is the Bear back-up quarterback, and now Glennon has a young, first round draft choice on the bench. The first time he throws a crucial interception, some fans with be calling for Trubisky. Second, as I wrote in the earlier piece, the Bears have many needs, and this year’s draft was considered to be a deep draft, with good value available in the third and fourth rounds. Now the Bears have the 4th pick in round 2 tonight, and the 10th pick in round four, but no third round pick, and again, for a team with a lot of needs, betting it all on a player who never graded out that highly in the pre-draft camps and evaluations seems a high risk.
Finally, in today’s NFL, it’s as much the team’s coaching staff and scheme that gives greater likelihood of success, especially at the quarterback position and as I’ve said, the Bears don’t have a good track record of developing quarterbacks. Neither does Head Coach John Fox. He led the Carolina Panthers to Super Bowl XXXVIII where they lost to New England on a last second field goal. The QB on that team, Jake Delhomme had a great season that year, but was never as good afterwards. Fox’s second time in the Super Bowl, had ha MVP and future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning and the Broncos lost badly to Seattle in Super Bowl XLVIII. After a 12-4 season in 2014, the Broncos were surprised in the AFC Divisional Playoff, losing 24-13 to Indianapolis. Fox was considered too laid back to win, so after the playoff loss, Fox was fired and the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 the next season under Head Coach Gary Kubiak.
I was one of the few who thought that the Bears should not have picked Fox. I thought that the “grandfatherly” approach would help the Bears. When the team hired Ryan Pace as GM from the Saints, the youngest GM in the league, I was Ok with it – new blood, successful team in his background as assistant GM. At first, I thought he was too conservative: last two season drafts were decent, if unspectacular, but the hiring of Fox, was too conservative for me. No one can call him conservative now.
We still have more rounds of draft picks to go through and of course, workouts and training camp and then the season. However, as important as picks and performance are, franchises need to keep selling hope to the fans. There was little expectation or hope for last year’s Bears, especially after Cutler suffered another injury filled season. The fans’ hopes are hanging on two very young, extremely unseasoned men at the most important position in the game. They may become good, but will that happen only after one or both play somewhere else? Or, will having this competition ruin both young men?
It had better happen soon. Fox has one year remaining on his contract and he’s 62 years old. Pace is much younger, only 40, but his tenure with the Bears, and perhaps in all of football hangs on the fortunes of these young men and the Chicago Bears.

The sports world was shocked today when it was announced that former New England Patriots All Pro tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez was found dead in his cell having committed suicide this morning.
Hernandez’s story was at the beginning a feel good story. Raised by his mother and father, life changed when Dennis Hernandez died from complications of hernia surgery in 2006, when Hernandez was 16. The death reportedly affected his greatly, making him rebel against authority. Much of his aggression he took it out on the football field – first in high school and then at the University of Connecticut. He was drafted in the 4th round of the 2010 NFL Draft and went on to become one of the top tight ends in the game.
Unfortunately, Hernandez thought that he was untouchable: rich, famous, young, good-looking, talented. He hung out with his same friends from school, some of whom weren’t on the right side of the law. Drugs, parties, were the norm and he was eventually indicted and convicted of murder of Odin Lloyd and he was indicted for the 2012 double homicide of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado, of which he was just acquitted this week. Still, Hernandez, once signed to a $49 million contract with the Patriots, was serving a life sentence for the Lloyd conviction.
The question about Hernandez’s whole life is why? Why, when you are a professional athlete, one of the best in the game, making lots of money, do you need to gangbang? Do you think you’re untouchable? Do you think your fame and money will shield you? And even then, now that you have been acquitted of two murders, you have one murder conviction, And while your sentence is life without parole, maybe he might have grounds to get the conviction retried? Too late for the NFL career, but he has a daughter, maybe try and be a father for her?
Maybe it was all too much? Maybe despite being acquitted de Abreu and Furtado’s ghosts were too much to live with? Maybe Lloyd’s murder was too much to live with? Maybe the day-to-day life of a convict was too much? (It probably would be for me.) Of course, we will never know. Even suicides who leave a note, leave us guessing about what was happening in their heads, and by that time, if successful, it’s too late to do anything about it anyway.
The life of Aaron Hernandez has always had this sad cloud hovering over it. Maybe the people who knew him could see it? We, fans and observers from afar could not; most can’t comprehend the need to be a “gangster” with all of the on field fame and money. Maybe CTE had an impact?
Many people will be satisfied with the death, those who were related to those murdered men certainly. Some people who hate the Patriots may feel a bit of pleasure, even though they certainly shouldn’t. This story just has nothing but sadness surrounding it.

Anniversaries are opportunities to look backward and, if important, revel in self-congratulations. If it’s a media company: television, newspaper, Internet, magazines, even social media, this is an opportunity to publicize it. People like round numbers, so any “big” anniversary provides the opportunity to give even more hype. This is the 50th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine, and so, they are publishing a year full of congratulatory look backs. I have been a Rolling Stone subscriber for a very long time: back in the day, I read it for the music news and reviews; now, I read it for the political coverage, definitely from a Left Wing perspective.
It’s natural to do this – and the current issue, with the late Chuck Berry on the cover, has an article about the music reviews. The article is a good one, discussing the history of the reviews in the magazine, mentioning all of the great writers that have penned reviews for the magazine. Many of whom are renowned writers, revered even.
Unfortunately, however, those days are long past. We here in Chicago who follow rock music and reviewers remember when our local reviewers, Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis were hired by the magazine as music reviewers. I have met them over the years, I always say hello to Kot when I see him at concerts; I am connected with them on social media. Unfortunately, they are men with integrity, they have written bad reviews to major artists’ releases. Despite also having to interview major artists for the newspaper, they still “called ‘em like the heard them.”
That’s not what Rolling Stones’ about now. Many years ago, the movie industry got into trouble for making up “glowing” movie reviews; making up fake reviewers and fake newspapers in an attempt to bamboozle the public into seeing bad films. Again, this is nothing new – rigged game shows on television, payola for songs on radio. Fortunately, Chicago is a blue collar, no BS town. In film, we had the twin towers of movie criticism, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. They championed quality films, and they also called out the bad. Kot and DeRogatis followed in that tradition. Like Siskel and Ebert, you may not agree with their opinion, but you could count on it being honest. Neither Kot or DeRogatis lasted long with RS, with DeRogatis’ departure particularly public and nasty when he refused to give a positive review to a Hootie and the Blowfish album in 1995. The band (which I despise), was on the cover and the magazine wanted a positive review of the second album, an album which crashed after the multi-platinum debut
Rolling Stone however was co-opted years ago. I copied an article here a few years ago that detailed RS reviews of R.E.M. albums. There is no bigger R.E.M. fan than I (shared by DeRogatis by the way), but after drummer Bill Berry left the band due to illness and other issues, the band never put out as good an album as before “New Adventures in Hi-Fi” the last record with Berry. After then, each record, no matter how flawed, received a high review, and each one was called the best record since… (name your favorite early R.E.M. album here). This is despite the fact that “Up” was nearly unlistenable; “Reveal” was a little better, “Around the Sun” was OK; “Accelerate” was actually good, as was the finale “Collapse Into Now.” None however were the equal of Murmur, or Reckoning, or Life’s Rich Pageant. You’d never know that from the 4 and 5 star Rolling Stone reviews.
I stopped relying on the reviews years ago; in fact, I look at them to read about the CDs of artists that I follow and regularly laugh at the often positive reviews of any artist big enough, on any major record label that’s left. If an artist that has had a hit gets a bad review, either the record is a real stinker, or, as a confirmed cynic, did the record company not find enough money to give to Rolling Stone?
Does Rolling Stone have a right to celebrate its anniversary? Of course it does. Does it also have the right to celebrate its history and not necessarily mention its recent history? Sure, but it’s a shame to have such a hard hitting political magazine destroy its integrity on what it was once known for.

For the past decade, the Dallas Cowboys lived and died on the right arm of quarterback Tony Romo. Romo was a great story, unheralded player out of Eastern Illinois, Romo became a star. Not one of the elite QBs like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Aaron Rodgers. Romo couldn’t take his place among the tops in the sport because mostly, no Super Bowl appearances or wins. Part of the lack of success was because the team wasn’t good enough to win consistently. The other part, was Romo, who was known for throwing the troubling interception in clutch situations.
Over the past three years, age had caught up with Romo, and injuries kept Romo off the field, which many believed was the reason that the Cowboys didn’t make the Super Bowl. Romo played very little in 2015, which led the Cowboys to take Dak Prescott in the fourth round of the 2016 NFL Draft. Prescott was from Mississippi State, but continuing injuries to Romo put Prescott in the running for the starting job, and he went out and grabbed it. Prescott produced the 3rd best QBR rating in the league. With fellow rookie Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys unexpectedly won the tough NFC East with a 13-3 record before losing to the Packers 34-31 in the divisional round.
Despite the success, the ghost of Tony Romo hung over the team. Was Prescott keeping the spot warm for Romo? (If so, the racial message that a black man playing at a high level would be replaced by a white player who had not contributed to that year’s success, would have been problematic from a PR perspective and possibly, on the team.) Since the season ended, the speculation was endless: would the Cowboys keep Romo or give the team to Prescott? Would the Cowboys trade Romo? Would they release him? Where would Romo play this coming season?
With no trade suitors willing to give up assets for Romo, various stories were released that said that the Cowboys were listening to offers, and then, gave Romo and his agent the opportunity to talk with other teams. The Broncos, despite having Northwestern QB Trevor Siemien starting and Paxton Lynch the heir apparent at the position, were considered a logical team that may have been a quarterback away from a championship, and Romo could be the one year stop gap before the young men took over. The Houston Texans seemed the likeliest location – in Texas, a very good team plagued by poor quarterback play and a dumb front office decision. Before last season, the Texans signed Brock Osweiler who had shown promise as a backup to Peyton Manning in Denver. The Texans signed the free agent to a four year, $72 million contract with $37 million guaranteed. Osweiler had a horrendous season in Houston and was traded to Cleveland. That was the point where most fans and media thought that the stage had been set for the Texans to get Romo.
Those plans evaporated today when ESPN and other sources reported that Romo would retire as a Cowboy and become a television analyst. It makes sense, Romo was a favorite son of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, was now at the end of his career with a long history of injuries. With the fears of CTE, I’m not surprised that Romo decided for himself and his family that this was a good time to call it a career.
Earlier this week, ESPN announced that controversial former head coach Rex Ryan would be joining its Sunday Morning Countdown show, and now Romo is going to CBS according to reports. Honestly, I don’t see that Romo is particularly interesting, but he’s well known and a decent looking white man. Just what we need… I give him credit however. He could easily hang on for another season or two and make loads of money, but he is not. For an athlete, especially one who came close to a championship, but whose teams never even got to the Super Bowl, that’s a tough pill to swallow. I have to give it to him to quit now.
Still, what are the Houston Texans going to do now? And do they have the worst front office in football (yes, even worse than the Bears)? Or was it the just the most snake bit?

I am, as readers know, am an opinionated sort. Otherwise, why would I be here, writing these opinions? Most of the time, I mind is clear and my opinion direct (not that I can’t change my mind over time, or based on new knowledge). Sometimes however, there is a news item where there is a valid argument on both sides.
This week, the NHL announced that it would not shut down for the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. The announcement was met with disappointment from the NHL Players Association. Playing for one’s country is the highest honor, one that the players all dream of all their lives. I admit however, that the Olympics in their present form are an outdated, unworkable concept. First, having billions of dollars spent by cities and nations with the revenue mostly taken by the International Olympic Committee, a cartel of scoundrels and thieves, is coming to an end. Many officials are under indictment with more to come probably. The economic gains promised by the IOC never materialize, the Games end up losing money, and the monies that could have been used for education, infrastructure, and aid to citizens, is gone.
Second, the massive structures built for the Games often are never used again – bloated white elephants that go to seed. The whole charade has been exposed so much that IOC bidding process and announcements, which once had numerous suitors; now the IOC can’t find cities/countries willing to take the Games, and even those who do are considering temporary structures and better revenue sharing.
I also believe that globalization has hurt the Olympics. Without a Soviet bloc, the best athletes in the world already compete. In hockey especially, the best from around the world are already playing in the NHL, so it’s not as special as it was in the 1960s and 1970s, when one had to watch the Olympics in order to see Slava Fetisov, Vladislav Tretiak and Sergei Makarov and the great Russians. Fetisov and Makarov made the break to play in the NHL and now the best players in the world are already in the NHL – the only ones we’re missing are those playing in the KHL.
On top of that, as a fan, I’m always worried about injuries of the players participating in the Olympics. Not to mention the fact that top teams with a lot of Olympic participation play extra games and could lose to the more rested non-participant teams. My beloved Blackhawk players played a lot of games in 2014, which I think has hurt them in the longer run.
The owners, as announced by their puppet, Commissioner Gary “The Count” Bettman, are concerned about their investment. The possibility of injury as well as the lost revenue from shutting the league down for three weeks has caused this, which will probably add another grievance in the upcoming negotiations toward the collective bargaining agreement, already nervous with former baseball head Don Fehr in charge of the hockey union. The argument against this is that the owners will still have the games played, so they’re not losing money, and the Olympics brings attention to the sport, not subtract from it.
Should the NHL players play in the Olympics? I think that they probably should, but it’s not a slam dunk.

The NFL Draft approaches, meaning that the official start of the league’s year in very near. Many free agents have been signed, especially the most valuable. There are still lots of players available, but the most glaring one is quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
Kaepernick of course is the controversial figure who, as a result of the number of unarmed black men and women being killed by police officers, refused to stand for the National Anthem before games. Despite being a silent protest – not bringing attention to humself at all until captured by television cameras, this of course made the multi-racial Kaepernick Public Enemy No. 1 among the Conservative/Fox News crowd.
Let’s remember that Kaepernick led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance and nearly defeated the Ravens. Defenses seem to have figured out Kaepernick (along with Head Coach Jim Harbaugh leaving San Francisco for the University of Michigan), he hasn’t been the same player. It should also be noted that the 49ers organization is as dysfunctional as any in the NFL and the team has suffered on and off the field.
Colin Kaepernick however, hasn’t even been given a tryout. This is stark because 1) coaches always think they can turn around a player who has had performance issues; 2) no position is as necessary as quarterback, but most important 3) the Saints gave Johnny Manziel a workout this week. Manziel, with the substance abuse problems and numerous arrests for beating girlfriends, has gotten a workout, which Kaepernick cannot. Kaepernick has said that he will no longer kneel for the anthem in the future, and has put his money where his mouth is by chartering a plane with supplies to troubled Somalia. Here is a man who has shown conscience, but it goes against the Trump/Bannon/O’Reilly/Ryan group think.
Johnny Manziel has shown very little in his short time in the NFL, Colin Kaepernick has led a team to the championship game, coming up just short. No one doubts that Kaepernick and Manziel need a change of scenery from their most recent teams/situations, and they should get the chance to show what they can do. All Pro Cleveland tackle Joe Thomas says that no team wants Kaepernick because of “the distraction” of a backup QB. Thomas of course says nothing about Manziel or the numerous chances given to Tim Tebow.
If Roger Goodell wants to earn his millions per year, he should be leaning on some team to give Kaepernick a chance. It’s always said that NFL Coaches and Front Offices will sign anyone who can help them win (including women beaters and drug cheats); well, here’s a chance to prove it.
The key thing here is – Kaepernick’s black.

Over the years, I have tried to avoid loud, stupid, opinionated sports writing and sports casting. I never liked it growing up and I was fortunate to be a part of The Sportswriters on TV, which had journalists who argued and disagreed, but never vindictively or viciously. Which is one of the reasons that I have always despised ESPN’s obnoxious, loud and ignorant talking head Stephen A. Smith. I thought that the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” improved significantly when they let Smith’s First Take partner Skip Bayless go to Fox. Bayless is the ignorant Southern White Boy version of Smith – the stereotypical black man.
I had not written previously about my alma mater Northwestern’s men’s basketball team qualifying for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history, but I am very proud of them and was in full NU purple regalia yesterday as they defeated Vanderbilt in the first round of the tournament. Despite having many journalism school alums in sports media (the list is huge – Michael Wilbon, J. A. Adonde, Kevin Blackistone, and of course Rick Telander among so many others), there was no trash talk that I know of; perhaps some friendly bets. Northwestern alums and fans have seen far more losing than wins. We have seen more than our share of poor play, being overmatched and outplayed. Only over the past 20 years have we seen victory on the football field. In basketball, we have come close, with numerous NIT appearances, but never the “Big Dance” until this week.
As it turns out, guess who attended Vanderbilt? Our old “friend,” loudmouthed, broadcasting provocateur Skip Bayless. A man whose mouth has no filter of what goes through his head and who has profited from it at every turn, instead of pushing the feel good story, or at least saying it’s a good game while rooting for his alma mater, Bayless tweeted his usual harsh invective:
“Vanderbilt drops anchor on Northwestern’s fairy tale. Better school, better alumni, better ex-player coach, far better basketball tradition.”
Rooting for your team is fine and to be expected, but personal insults should be beneath a national writer; but it is not beneath a slimy writer and broadcaster like Bayless.

As we all know now, Northwestern won the game and will face former number 1 ranked school in the nation Gonzaga on the second round tomorrow. It will be a difficult game, and Northwestern will not be favored to win, but as I’ve said many times, if the team that is favored to win did so all of the time, there’d be no need to play the games.
Northwestern Athletics remembered the tweet and responded with their own: “We hear you, @Twitter. But not *everyone* in the media went to @NorthwesternU.#B1GCats | #PoundTheRock | #ItsTime https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/841068113051361280 …”
Bayless only tweeted out the following: “I guess Fisher-Davis thought Vandy was a point down instead of a point up or he thought Bryce Drew was calling for an intentional foul???”

Long time readers of this blog know that I have no respect for Skip Bayless. That hasn’t changed, but now he has to eat some crow – it’s something that he knows very well how to do, because he has to do it very often.