“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.

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.