Well, I was wrong. I expected Northwestern to suspend Fitzgerald, not fire him, but the hazing scandal, an interview by ABC7 Chicago with a former player (face obscured) who said that hazing occurred and there were stories about racism. Reportedly, Fitzgerald told African-American players with dreadlocks cut them while not forcing white players to cut longer hair. Plus, there are stories of hazing in the baseball team.
As I’ve written here numerous times including in the past few days, I thought that Fitzgerald believed he had absolute power (which corrupts absolutely). I never ever believed that Fitzgerald didn’t know about hazing. The stories from The Daily Northwestern detailing what the hazing occurred were stunning and horrific and the scandal adverse Northwestern, with an AD who’s only been in the job for less than two years and a university president who just got confirmed in the job had to move, and there was less loyalty to Fitzgerald than the previous AD and President.
So, the question is: now what? It is far too late to do a job search; all of the head coaches with experience are busy as are the offensive and defensive coordinators. One would think that the university would hire someone from the current staff, but now the question is – were any or all of them involved in the hazing? Can NU hire a whole new staff in time to field a successful football team? Will players start pulling out before the season starts? I don’t know the particulars of the transfer portal but I don’t think players can leave now.
Who is the next head coach? A friend asked me what Gary Barnett is doing? (Analysis for the Big Ten Network.) Of course, Randy Walker passed away. My own pick would be to see if Mike Hankwitz, the former defensive coordinator would be willing to come out of retirement for a year? The bigger point is, where goes the Northwestern athletic program? Aon Chairman emeritus Pat Ryan has put forth just short of one half billion dollars to build a new stadium. Will a third consecutive horrible season put a damper on those plans that already faces opposition for a lot of residents? They were already planning huge price increases for Ryan Field tickets including skyboxes and personal seat licenses.
Will the baseball team issues also bring about the end of Athletic Director Derrick Gragg’s tenure? What about Baseball Manager Jim Foster, in his first season in Evanston? One would believe that since President Michael Schill was just brought on board at the end of the Spring semester, his job is probably safe (other than being embarrassed with the original two week suspension, harkening back to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s decisions in the Ray Rice incident.)
Northwestern athletics is in a world of hurt right now. At least we don’t have to worry about the National Champion Women’s Lacrosse Team…

I admit to being rather loyal to Northwestern, especially sportswriters who came out of the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. Some have been friends like Bill Jauss, Rick Telander, Willie Weinbaum, Kevin Blackistone, or Michael Wilbon. Some I’ve only met like Christine Brennan, and J.A. Adonde. There’s one however whom I’ve never met and don’t read, the Chicago Sun-Times’ Rick Morrissey. First, he was part of the Evans Scholars, a group who were caddies at the nearby Chick Evans Golf Course and got scholarships. That wasn’t the problem; these were the most entitled, spoiled, frat boy types who tried their best to hide the fact that their families weren’t rich enough to pay for NU outright. They were in effect a fraternity, they had their own house, had parties like frats, and were obnoxious like frats. We enjoyed playing them in intramural football and basketball, a chance to inflict some pain on these “scholars.”
Since the story came out that NU Football Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald had been suspended for two weeks without pay, it seems like lots of my alum friends and other friends and neighbors are all reaching out to me with their thoughts and asking for mine. Then, the story was released from the student newspaper The Daily Northwestern, who interviewed several of the players involved and confirmed that it was much more than “good spirited hazing “ (if that even exists), but involved “running” players who made mistakes which involved being held by upperclassmen and dry humped like in a strip club. Once this got out, recently appointed university President Michael Schiff released a statement that perhaps the two week suspension was too lenient.
I began this post (once again breaking the age-old rule of burying the lede) talking about NU journalists, and Rick Morrissey, who I believe is a poor man’s Jay Mariotti, just stirs up controversy and often changes his opinions, not as often as Mariotti did (nicknamed “the Wind Sock” by Rick Telander), but writing that Fitzgerald must be fired. Whenever we have one of these incidents, there is always a usually small, usually very vocal contingent of people who want the coach fired. There are others who want Fitzgerald’s head on a pike. There is some merit to this; if he know it was happening and I believe he did to some extent (despite having filmed a video on coaching in the mid 2010’s in which he stated that hazing was not to be tolerated) then certainly more severe punishment than two weeks without pay is nowhere near sufficient.
It this enough however to merit Fitzgerald being fired? Like I wrote before, he is the winningest coach in NU Football history. Generally, the program has stayed out of college scandals. Fitzgerald literally bleeds purple; he is so “up” in his speech that one wonders whether he is on heavy drugs. As I have noted on almost every one of my NU Football posts, the problem with Fitzgerald is extreme hubris. He continues to mollycoddle assistant coaches who are inept; he has learned nothing about time management at the end of the half and the game; he is pricky whenever he or the coaches are criticized. Yes, I know that it takes a great deal of ego to be a big-time college football coach, but for a team with a history like Northwestern, a little bit of humility would be nice, especially since the alums are a bit less rabid and a tad more analytical.
Besides, who are you going to get as a coach mere weeks before the season? As far as I know, there’s no big-time head coach who wants to come in and sub and what name coach would want to come to Evanston where ths stadium is small, the backing uncertain and a history of mediocrity broken up by occasionally good teams. Even coordinators who would love a shot are busy prepping their own teams now. Who’s left, disgraced coaches with a trail of NCAA violations behind them, untested or failed assistants.
I predict that the school will suspend Fitzgerald for the first 3 games of the upcoming season. Yes, that means suspension for the first game, a conference game against Rutgers (in the screwy schedule the Big Ten has been using to sandwich the nonconference games with a conference game to start), and the 2 nonconference games against Duke and UTEP before Minnesota and Penn State. Maybe Fitzgerald will learn from this; learn to temper his inflated sense of self a bit. As I mentioned above, you need a huge ego to be a successful college or pro football coach, but unless you’re Bill Belichick, Nick Saban, or Andy Reid, you aren’t perfect, or invulnerable.

Sometimes, it is tough to be a Northwestern sports fan. On the one hand, we like to think of the programs as clean (at least no NCAA violations), but we must realize that the nature of college athletics has always been dirty, and student athletes are subject to many more temptations than ever= before, but with cameras on every phone, so your indiscretions hit the Internet almost immediately.
NU football had it’s gambling scandal/throwing a game back in the 1990s, and I’m sure that there are many other transgressions that athletes have done that were either minute in scale, or that the university has been able to cover up. Again, I don’t think NU is turning into SMU circa 1987, but it is the world we live in.
So, it was a bit of a surprise to find out this morning that Northwestern has suspended Football coach Pat Fitzgerald for two weeks without pay following an independent investigation into allegations of hazing. The university received a complaint last November detailing hazing in the locker room and at “Camp Kenosha” in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the program has held preseason camp.
“Hazing in any form is unacceptable and goes against our core values at Northwestern, where we strive to make the University a safe and welcoming environment for all of our students,” Northwestern president Michael Schill said in a statement announcing the decision posted by the Chicago Tribune. “Our athletics programs are held to the highest standards, and in this case, we failed to meet them. I expect that today’s actions will prevent this from ever happening again.” Fitzgerald will begin serving his suspension immediately, the university said.
“I was very disappointed when I heard about the allegations of hazing on our football team,” Fitzgerald said. “Although I was not aware of the alleged incidents, I have spoken to University officials, and they informed me of a two-week suspension, effective immediately.”
Of course, let’s not cry for two weeks pay to a multimillionaire. However, I have long been uneasy with Fitzgerald. Coddling ineffective assistant coaches, taking responsibility for problems at press conferences, but bristling at criticism from the press or fans. He can do almost anything he wants at NU; he has a long term contract and the rumor is that Fitzgerald will have the job for at least as long as billionaire NU super supporter Pat Ryan is alive.
I have met Fitzgerald on a few occasions and I have long wondered if his main fault is hubris? Yes, one needs to be supremely confident to coach big time football, but, after 11 years in the top spot, he still is horrible at clock management near halftime and at the end of games. He has taken it on the sword for his assistants who often seems to be better suited as Fitzgerald’s drinking buddies than coaches.
That said, I cannot believe that the controlling coach knows nothing about hazing. It still exists in sports teams, fraternities and sororities. Since Fitzgerald played for NU, I would not be at all surprised that he might have been involved in hazing. I’m pretty certain that he knows about hazing on former teams he’s coached. I don’t believe that he engaged or staged the hazing like Nicholson in “A Few Good Men,” but I believe that Fitzgerald knows almost everything that is happening in his locker room.
I this a serious charge? Moderately – if you send your child to school, you want him protected and taken care of by the coaches. However, in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t. Fitzgerald will serve his suspension, maybe do some gardening, read a book or two. The best outcome would be if Fitzgerald showed a little humility and introspection. It would make him a better coach at least. Will it happen? Unfortunately, I don’t think so.

I can never feel good about someone being let go. I have lost jobs several times over the years, and it is never fun. By the same token, it could be easy to be happy when sports broadcasters that you don’t like get canned, but even if I don’t like someone’s style or mode of presentation, I cannot bring myself to cheer for these people being terminated, even if their earnings are far beyond what I make, and they should have sufficient money to not have to work for quite some time.
So I was surprised and unhappy when it was announced that ESPN would be gibing through yet another round of layoffs, and some are truly quality broadcasters. The network’s top NBA color commentator, former coach Jeff Van Gundy, and longtime reporter Suzy Kolber are among the cuts. Former NBA player Jalen Rose and former NFL stars Keyshawn Johnson and Steve Young were also among the layoffs, according to reports. Friday’s are the latest cuts at ESPN this year after prominent contributors Chris Chelios, a former NHL star, former NFL player Rob Ninkovich and long-time SportsCenter host Neil Everett did not have their contracts renewed in recent weeks.
I admit that I am often jealous of the people on television and radio, many of whom I feel, couldn’t do nearly as good a job as I could do. As a result, I watch ESPN broadcasters closely and then seethe when they make mistakes when they should know better. Not mouth flubs, but outright errors.
Yes, I have favorite broadcasters on “the Worldwide Leader” and of course, my least favorites but having been laid off several times in my life over the years. Those laid off Friday will still have their contracts paid in full. By laying the employees off now, ESPN can clear their salaries from the fiscal year 2024 books, an accounting tactic that allows ESPN’s parent company, Disney, to deliver the cost savings that CEO Bob Iger promised to Wall Street.
It is further horrendous is that Disney gross profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2023 was $7.199B, a 8.17% increase year-over-year. Let’s look closer:
• Disney gross profit for the twelve months ending March 31, 2023 was $28.739B, a 11.01% increase year-over-year.
• Disney annual gross profit for 2022 was $28.321B, a 27.07% increase from 2021.
• Disney annual gross profit for 2021 was $22.287B, a 3.62% increase from 2020.
• Disney annual gross profit for 2020 was $21.508B, a 21.92% decline from 2019.ESPN continued a summer of layoffs Friday, announcing cuts that are expected to claim around 20 on-camera and potentially high-profile jobs as the sports giant downsizes for the streaming era.
I don’t watch much NBA basketball, but I didn’t mind Van Gundy, 61, who has been calling the NBA Finals for ESPN and ABC since 2017. I never warmed to Rose, part of Michigan’s fabled Fab Five and a 13-year NBA veteran. I also was meh on Young, a Hall of Fame quarterback, but brought very little insight to the broadcast. He was nice enough, but nothing special as a broadcaster. By the same token, Johnson has never been much to me, because I’m not to into guys with a “hip hop” vibe. I know that there is a younger audience who like that approach. On the other hand, Suzy Kolber has always been a true professional. Yes, she is attractive, but she knows her stuff. Combined with contracts that haven’t been renewed and personalities that have signed elsewhere, the notable talent that has left the network during that period is significant, including Jemele Hill, Kate Fagan, Mike Golic, Trey Wingo, Matthew Berry, Dan LeBatard and Kenny Mayne.
These people are being laid off in order to afford the current business model, built around live sports and a smaller number of mega-stars like Stephen A. Smith (who reportedly earns more than $10 million annually), insider reporters Adrian Wojnarowski and Adam Schefter (reportedly between $5 and $10 million) and Monday Night Football commentators Joe Buck and Troy Aikman (more than $30 million together, according to people with knowledge of their deals).
Of course, I am the head of the Stephen A. Smith Hatred Society. To me, 50 Suzy Kolbers are more valuable than one SAS. I’m certain that the announcers will find work, I certainly hope so. Meanwhile, I do wish the people making the decisions someday get to feel the same feelings the laid off peoples are feeling.

After months of discussion, the pain of people who work, live, even be tourists downtown, we have finally reached the weekend of the inaugural NASCAR Chicago race. It will be different from normal NASCAR as this will wind through Grant Park like an F1 race instead of just going around an oval. The tickets are very expensive, between $200 and $300 and up. The thinking is that it will open up a new market for the sport.
With a population that is largely Black and Hispanic, this may be a stretch. Yes, there are people of color who are race car fans, but I don’t see this making much of a difference. This is preaching to the choir, a small number of Chicagoans who are fans or want to be seen at such a rare event. Many people are like me, which is that I will probably tune in to see the cars driving through the race course. I’ll watch for a few minutes and once I’ve seen it, I will get bored and either continue channel surfing or get up and do something else. There is supposed to be another race next year, but unless the race this weekend is a huge success, it may not happen again next year. One can only hope.

I haven’t writing much on the phenomenon that is Shohei Ohtani. He is a physical wonder, a great hitter and an excellent pitcher, the first player to do both since the early years of Babe Ruth. He is a wonder. In case you’ve not been paying attention: Ohtani leads the Angels in runs, hits, triples, home runs, RBI, OPS, batting average, wins, strikeouts (as a pitcher), and WAR. Unlike his previous years in the MLB, the Angels are currently good. The team is in 3rd place in the tough AL West, 43-35 but only 6 games behind division leading Texas, ad ½ games behind defending World Series Champion Houston Astros. Before, the Angels were known as the most underachieving team, possessing two of the best players in baseball. Ohtani and Mike Trout, who is having another banner season. This is important because most players and pundits see Ohtani playing for the Dodgers next year when he becomes a free agent. If they stay in the race, or even win the division, Ohtani may decide to stay in Anaheim.
This season, after winning an MVP Award and finishing second the other years, he is on a pace to eclipse the other seasons:
2021: .257 average, 46 HR, .965 OPS
2022: .273 average, 34 HR, .875 OPS
2023 pace: .300 average, 52 HR, 1.015 OPS
That’s only on the batting side. He is currently 6-3, with a 3.13 ERA, and he has struck-out 117, tied for most K’s in the majors.
I admit that I thought he was a publicity stunt when he first came to America, but he has proven to be the real deal. I don’t see many Angels games, mostly because the games that are available to me (I don’t have MLB TV) are played in the Pacific Time Zone, so I can’t stay up that late. I have now watched Ohtani and he is everything the stats show.
I only wish the White Sox could sign him.

Hockey is known as a tough sport: tough skating, tough checks, the occasional fight. Old time fans believe that the league isn’t as tough as it used to be, and they are probably right, but the faster, more telegenic game without turning into Wrestlemania at any given moment has brought more casual fans interested (although ratings were down this season, but I blame that on ESPN/ESPN+/TNT’s programs).
As a long-term fan from an Original Six city, I appreciate well rounded players, who can play offense and defense, someone who plays “a 200-foot game.” I am much more impressed by players like Jonathan Toews, or Pavel Datsyk, Matthew Tkachuk. Even the guys who score the most play defense occasionally. Nikita Kucherov, Connor McDavid, David Pasternak are more than one-dimensional. I admit that I don’t like one-dimensional players. While a scoring machine, Alex Ovechkin didn’t start playing defense until the Caps won their Cup. One season, Ovechkin posed one of his many 50+ goal seasons but he also posted a NEGATIVE 56 plus/minus. I know the drawbacks of using =/- as a statistic but this means that Ovechkin was on the ice for over 100 goals. For all of that, you do see Ovechkin on both ends of the ice.
Which brings me to players you learn to hate. There are the tough guys who beat your team up all of the time like Bob Probert; there are players who just wear your favorite team out like St. Louis’ Bernie Federko or Vladimir Tarasenko when he was with the Blues. Then, there are the pucks – players who start fights when no one is looking then get lost behind his teammates like Dino Ciccarreli and the current ass Brad Marchand. Then there’s another category: Phil Kessel.
Kessel can score, he has 413 goals and 579 assists, 8 points from having 1,000. When he was signed by Toronto, he was supposed to be the centerpiece for a ravenous fan base. The Maple Leafs never found success in the playoffs. All this time, the NHLPA player only vote regularly voted Kessel as the most overrated player in the league. He won this several years in a row, and Kessel always looks more like a guy who is sitting on a couch rather than a hockey player. He has a reputation of not training very hard and not apparently caring much.
Eventually, the Leafs tired of him and they shipped him to Pittsburgh. There, he wasn’t the centerpiece with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang. He settled to a second-third liner and the team won two Stanley Cups, but not as a result of anything Kessel did to bring them the Cup. Haters like myself were disgusted to have him get his name engraved on the Cup, not once, but twice. After that, Kessel found himself on the horrendous Arizona team where he became the consecutive games played leader. It’s really easy to play every night when you don’t hit anyone and are only looking for the one-timer. Looking to him for some veteran leadership, Kessel provided none in the desert. Late in the season, the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Las Vegas Golden Knights picked him up, and he scored a little bit, but once again was a defensive liability. In the playoffs, Kessel played only in the team’s first round against Vancouver. After that, Kessel did not step on the ice for 1 minute of time, but when the Knights won, suddenly, he was on the ice, crowing about having been on three Cup winners.
Since then, Kessel has been all over social media bragging with pictures of himself and three Stanley Cups photoshopped into the picture. And he looks like he just woke up, wearing a robe, two-day beard growth. Not buff like one would expect to see from a hockey player. Players on Vegas and Florida were playing with broken bones and strains and many injuries that would sit the normal player and send any of we non-athletes to a hospital. Today, it was reported that Kessel eat hot dogs out of the Cup.
I am not a prude – the Stanley Cup has been all over the world. It was dented after Dallas won the Cup in 1990 at a party, reportedly at Ed Belfour’s house. Who knows what other shenanigans the Cup has been a part of? Babies have sat in it. Who knows was sexual positions have involved Lord Stanley. But Phil Kessel flaunts his lack of work effort, lack of defense, even the fact that just because he was I the Golden Knights but didn’t play a minute in the final three rounds of the playoffs.
Maybe it’s in part of being a worse hockey player than his sister Amanda. I don’t think she’d brag about being a Stanley Cup Champion if she wasn’t on the ice.