A couple of people have asked me why, with the banner on this site and my previous comments about my hatred for Notre Dame sports, I have not pounced on the story of the six ND players who ran afoul of the law earlier this week. It was wondered if I was losing my edge?
Like Thor in the comics of the late 1960s and early 1970s, I say Thee NAY! I am not here to throw dirt at ND for a number of reasons. First, it’s just too easy – it’s a lobbed softball over the plate, urging you to knock the hell out of the ball.
For those of you who weren’t paying attention, six Notre Dame football players were arrested late Friday night and early Saturday morning in two separate incidents. At approximately 10:07 PM last Friday night, five Irish football players were arrested during a traffic stop in Fulton County, Indiana which is approximately 45 miles south of Notre Dame. Senior safety Max Redfield, sophomore running back Dexter Williams, sophomore linebacker Te’von Coney, sophomore cornerback Ashton White and freshman receiver Kevin Stepherson were each arrested under preliminary misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana, while Redfield, Stepherson and Williams also face a charge for possession of a handgun without a license.
The 2007 Ford Focus, driven by White, was pulled over for a speeding violation and an improper taillight when State Trooper Ben Reason allegedly detected the odor of marijuana coming from the car, according to an Indiana State Police press release. A narcotics dog detected the presence of illegal narcotics inside the car and a subsequent search discovered marijuana and a loaded handgun.
The arrests came just a few hours before senior cornerback Devin Butler was arrested in South Bend. Butler was arrested outside the Linebacker Lounge early Saturday morning on early charges of resisting a police officer and battery against a police officer. Irish head coach Brian Kelly dismissed Redfield from the team on Sunday and suspended Butler indefinitely. Kelly also said the other four players may face internal discipline.
Redfield was a two-year starter at safety for the Irish, while Coney and Williams each saw action last year for Notre Dame. Butler, who started at Stanford last season, has one interception in his three-year Notre Dame career. Butler was expected to compete for a full-time starting role this offseason, but he re-fractured his foot over the summer, an injury that left his health status for 2016 unclear.
Here’s my take: first, unlike Ryan Lochte, these guys truly are kids, and how many kids do dumb things at 18, or 19, or 21, 22, or 23? With marijuana becoming legal in more and more places, soon it will be nearly as common as cigarettes or alcohol. (I personally have never had an issue with marijuana even though I’ve never had it myself. In my experience, stones are just mellow unlike drunks who want to fight.)
We must applaud the Indiana policemen and state troopers who didn’t shoot these young African-American men. We all know the stories of traffic stops that became deadly. (One has to ask what Devin Butler was doing fighting a police officer?) Maybe these are more examples of the young men being recognized as football players, and maybe that helped save them. Which of course leads to one of the major problems that young athletes have: rules don’t necessarily apply to them, so they get used to acting any way they wish, although one would think that there’s more thought process ability of ND players than many other schools.
As I said earlier, I am not jumping for joy over this Notre Dame scandal. It is probably happening everywhere, it’s that these six kids got caught this time. Could it happen at Northwestern? Of course it can; we’ve had point shaving and gambling issues in the past. It could happen anywhere, including Notre Dame.
So, I’m not going to leap on ND or any other school.

I’ve been away for a week or so, but I have been following the Olympics and other than some idiotic behavior by some athletes and the news media, the Olympics came off as a great success. No one was injured by violence (more on that in a moment); we didn’t hear of anyone poisoned by pollution; there were no terrorist attacks. There were no incidents of doping (although the book is hardly closed on that).
Overall, Rio gave the world a good show and the athletes performed to their usual high standards. There were lots of positives, especially if you’re a USA fan; 121 medals overall, more than 50 ahead of China. Forty –six Gold medals including overwhelming performances by Michael Phelps and the swimmers, the women’s gymnastic team together and solo; and US Women’s and Men’s Basketball. Usain Bolt continued being the world fastest human. Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win a swimming medal – a Gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle.
It started off ominously: US athletes reportedly found in a local brothel, but they’re grown men, right? Then came the flak over idiotic NBC announcer Al Trautwig refusing to acknowledge Simone Biles’ adoptive parents. And of course, there is the frat boy doofus Ryan Lochte and his antics.
Overall, the Games were a success, a lot of which can be attributed to Rio – I’ve heard that the people couldn’t have been nicer; any problems other than Lochte were minor ones.
I have to admit, I didn’t think it would happen, but I am very glad they came off without a hitch.

I cannot swim. I’ve never known how to swim, which is a bummer for the rest of the Indignant Family who all swim like fish. But Daddy doesn’t go further than my neck in great part, because I almost drowned once. Looking back on it, pools and beaches have never been a big thing for me, and perhaps now I understand why.
During the Rio Games, Simone Manuel became the first African-American woman to win a swimming medal – a Gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle and my old college friend, Kevin Blackistone wrote a great article on how Ms. Manuel’s victory was a long time in overcoming Jim Crow laws. These laws did not allow integration of the races in public toilets, voting and especially at pools and beaches. Whites of the time were concerned that the melanin in the skin of black people would somehow rub off in the water and make their kids black. Plus, they didn’t want black men and white women to suddenly see each other and have sexual attraction.
As a kid, I just knew that we couldn’t go to any pools and we never went to Rainbow Beach, the only one that allowed blacks as I remember. My folks didn’t make a big thing out of it; they couldn’t swim either, and I do remember seeing stories on the television news about whites rioting when blacks tried to use the same beaches they used. We just never went, and so I never understood the interest in swimming and pools. I never understood the historic reason of my aversion to pools and why so many black people my age don’t swim.
Overall, this was a very good Olympics for people of color to celebrate: Ms.Manuel, Simone Biles’ success in individual and team gymnastics, the U.S. men’s basketball team; Gabby Douglas who went from winning Gold in 2012 in London to helping the gymnastics team wins the Gold; Daryl D. Homer, who won a silver medal in fensing; Michele Carter who is the first African-American woman to win gold in the shot put; Usain Bolt – the fastest man alive; the three women who won all three medals in the in 100 meter hurdles: Brianna Rollins (gold);Nia Ali (silver) and Kristi Castlin (bronze). These were far from the only people of color doing wonderful things at the Games.
Even more than usual, I’m proud to be dark skinned; I’m just a little surprised at how I had repressed my memory of events involving pools.

Often, sports fans see and hear the talking heads on television or radio and say: I can do that. (As someone who worked in television, I have that feeling whenever I see Jeremy Schapp on television – if it weren’t for his dad…) The good and great broadcasters add insightful analysis, become like friends, and sometimes add a touch of class to the show. The others do not. We have three broadcasters who will not be broadcasting in the future; one is a good thing, one is good because the man is leaving on his own terms, the last shockingly passed away.
John Saunders died today at the age of 61. He was a skilled broadcaster, who brought analysis, wit and style to ESPN for nearly 30 years. He was the host of the Sportswriters on TV knockoff The Sports Reporters, but he was always tasteful; he never went for the easy joke, never talking down to the audience. I also appreciated him because he was one of the only ESPN reporters who knew and loved hockey. Saunders was born in Canada and played hockey as a kid up through college. My friends used to joke that he was the only black person who knew more hockey than I.
My sincerest condolences go out to his family and all who knew him.

Then, there are people who leave on their own terms. This past weekend, ESPN NFL analyst and former NFL linebacker Tom Jackson announced his retirement after 29 years. He and Chris Berman anchored the NFL pre- and post-game programs, and as Berman became a parody of his former self, Jackson remained a rock. While the other NFL analysts like Mike Ditka and Keyshawn Johnson said ridiculous and often silly things, there was Jackson, steering the conversation back to football and what was important. Jackson was often the elder statesman, especially on matters of race and controversy.
There was some talk of Jackson leaving at the end of this football season when Berman will step down, but Jackson said goodbye this weekend. He will be missed, we wish him the best.

Then, there’s people you’re glad are leaving Tony Siragusa has been a sideline analyst on Fox NFL broadcasts for 14 years, but he will not be returning for the upcoming season. First, it should be said that sideline reporters add nothing to games. Either they try too hard to be funny, like Siragusa, or are just pretty faces like Erin Andrews, or are talented reporters in a crappy role like Suzy Kolber or Pam Oliver.
Despite being one of the only sideline reporters to have actually played the game, Siragusa added no insight to broadcasts, in fact, unlike the other sideline reporters who spoke about injuries and things happening on the sidelines (material that could easily be reported by the main announcers), Siragusa tried to be funny and wasn’t. He talked about the weather, especially when it was cold or snowing. The booth crew often tried to have conversation with him, but it was forced and trite and slowed the pace of the broadcast to a crawl. He will certainly not be missed.

So, we have three recognizable broadcasters leaving the air this week. Two will be missed, the other… not so much.

Stories came out this week that former NFL Quarterback Tim Tebow is now trying his hand at being a baseball pitcher. Some of the usual suspects followed with jokes and comments. Long time readers know that I have been down on Tebow since he entered the NFL and started proselytizing his religious beliefs every chance he got.
Which would be bad enough if he were a good quarterback, but he wasn’t; he had some success against prevent defenses, but the Religious Right deemed him football’s version of Joel Osteen and thought he should play every week. NFL Coaches, players and fans don’t really care about a player’s religious beliefs if they win games.
One would expect perhaps a snarky comment from me, but I don’t have one to give. He wants to try baseball, fine. He does have decent athletic ability, and to be honest, that is what he has most going for him at this point in his life. I don’t have any problem with him trying to make a living, and if he can do it in baseball, that’s ok with me, even if he is playing a few miles away from my home, playing in Schaumberg, Il.
What I find cringe worthy will be his preaching if he does do well, and the lemmings that will hang on his every word and suggest he play even if he doesn’t give his team the best chance to win. I really don’t have anything personal against Tim Tebow; I hope he catches on somewhere if he’s good enough. I only hope that if he does play baseball, it will be easy for me to ignore his religion.

Like most sports people, I congratulate Ichiro Suzuki on reaching the 3,000 hit mark, Since coming to America from Japan, Ichiro has been a veritable hit machine, amassing the 3,000 hits in 16 seasons for an average of 188 hits per season (and this year isn’t over yet. The diminutive outfielder is a great hitter, no doubt, and definitely worthy of Hall of Fame induction when the time comes.
But I have never really warmed to Ichiro as one of the best hitters of all time, and maybe it’s because he didn’t score enough runs for me. Of course, this is in great part because people have to knock you in to score, but when you look at it, Ichiro can get on base from the plate, but he has never had the ability to really be a danger once he got on base. For example, Ichiro has 507 stolen bases, enough for 36th in history, but unlike the Rickey Hendersons and Lou Brocks of the world, he was never a true threat to steal – not enough to disrupt pitchers and infield defenses. Ahead of Suzuki on this is are the speedsters – Henderson, Brock, Vince Coleman, and Tim Raines, but there are some other guys who are also ahead of him on the list like Joe Morgan and Kenny Lofton and Bert Campaneris, and even Cesar Cedeno and Barry Bonds. Maybe Ichiro never was adept at the art of stealing as much as other players?
Ichiro has scored 1,379 runs, ranking 100th in total runs, but there are so many Hall of Famers and 3,000 club members ahead of him, with 3,000 hits and some speed, he should have scored more runs in my opinion. And of course, he may be thought of forever as a key member of the 116 game winning Seattle Mariners from 2001 who flamed out in the playoffsand lost in the American League Championship Series. Is it fair to blame it on one man? Of course not, and I’m not; I’m just saying that Ichiro’s teams have never won a title, which also cements the legacy.
There are many others in the 3,000 hit club: many with power Mays, Ruth, Bonds, Williams; and many others could flat out hit: Wade Boggs, Rod Carew, George Brett, Tony Gwynn.
Ichiro belongs in the 3,000 hit club certainly and eventually the Hall of Fame, but in some ways, he’s more of a Paul Molitor or a Craig Biggio – very good players with great numbers, but not superstars.

Hurt much of the season and hitting abysmally when he does play, the Yankees decided to place Alex Rodriguez on Waivers effective after Friday’s game, and Rodriguez announced his retirement from baseball will be official after that game as well, bringing to an end one of the most divisive careers in baseball history.
It was 22 seasons ago that the baby faced shortstop came to the majors with Seattle, forming a formidable 1-2 punch with Ken Griffey, Jr., who just entered the Baseball Hall of Fame. When Rodriguez approached free agency, he hired agent Scott Boras, who made his name in getting the Texas Rangers to bid against themselves to sign A-Rod to the biggest sports contract of all time – a quarter of a billion dollars.
At that point, baseball fans outside of Texas began booing Rodriguez, complaining about how much he made per at bat, per put out, per home run. In a team sport, Rodriguez was above them all. Still, Texas did not come close to World Series glory, and, if you believe his account, the pressures of the contract led Rodriguez to begin to take performance enhancing drugs. He failed drug tests at least twice, a fact that was hidden for a few years as the collective bargaining agreement between baseball and the players’ union forbade it. But when the sides were negotiating the last contract, the owners wanted mandatory drug testing, but the union refused unless over 5% of players tested positive. To prove their point, the owners showed that there were a lot of players tested and caught in 2012 and one of the biggest “catches” was A-Rod although there was no way to punish him under the old CBA. He went on television to admit to doping and cried and promised never to do it again, but then just a couple of years later, he was caught again and this time received a season and one-half suspension which was reduced to one full season. In many ways worse were the tactics that Rodriguez’s people took to discredit and silence anyone who said he was doping. It was not as bad as Lance Armstrong’s vendetta against his enemies, but it was close.
On the field wasn’t the only place that Rodriguez was controversial. Married very young to an older woman, many thought that Rodriguez was being led by his first wife, but as it turns out, it appeared that Rodriguez couldn’t keep it in his pants. A-Rod was
Since returning, Rodriguez has been a shell of his former self and with the Yankees uncharacteristically building for the future instead of just outspending the other teams to contend, it was time for Rodriguez to give way and let the younger players show what they can do. The next question will come in 5 years, when Rodriguez is eligible for the Hall of Fame. So far, none of the supposed “juicers” have come anywhere close to getting the votes necessary to gain the Hall. As to numbers, A-Rod is among the very best to ever play: 696 home runs, 2,084 RBIs, a career .295 batting average, 3,114 hits. Unlike the others that are eligible: Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, MacGwire and others, Rodriguez admitted PED use, and then got caught again. How can anyone vote for him? I certainly would not.
The other big question is: why does baseball give jobs to the steroid era elite? Rodriguez is supposed to be a “Consultant to the Club” when he retires on Friday, following in the footsteps of Mark MacGwire who is a hitting coach, Barry Bonds who does the same for the Miami Marlins. What does Rodriguez bring to a clubhouse? While they could all hit a baseball, which steroids wouldn’t necessarily help, what do they bring to young players – how to cheat?
So, here ends the baseball career or Alex Rodriguez, with a whimper not a bang. We will probably never see his like again, and they may be for the better.