* The Chicago Cubs owners have not had a great week. Their universally panned rollout of their taxpayer-financed stadium remodeling has been a massive failure so far. And they’ve now even managed to embarrass themselves during what ought to be a wildly favorable publicity stunt.
As you may know by now, Wrigley Field will play host to this weekend’s Illinois vs. Northwestern football game. The Ricketts family has ordered their park’s famous marquee painted “Wildcat Purple.” The outside of the stadium has been “swathed with Northwestern football pictures.” Everybody is just so excited.
Well, maybe not everybody. Because the field of play is so small, the teams will be able to use only one end-zone tomorrow…
The east end zone is feet away from the right-field wall, and although there is padding, there was still concerns that injuries could take place. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald had said he would have different game plans for the different end zones to avoid the possibility of injury.
When a team is on offense Saturday, it will be positioned to head to the west end zone.
From the Big Ten…
* All offensive plays will head toward the west end zone, including all extra points and all overtime possessions.
* All kickoffs will be kicked toward the east end zone.
* After every change of possession, the ball will be repositioned for the offense to head toward the west end zone.
* As a result of a coin toss held by the conference office Friday morning, Illinois will occupy the west team bench in the first half and Northwestern will occupy the west team bench in the second half and for all overtime periods.
Oy.
*** UPDATE *** With a hat tip to a commenter, the endzone FAIL in question…
Oof.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Speaking of failures, remember William Kelly? He ran for state comptroller and failed. He was hired by an independent US Senate candidate to gather petitions and failed. He even failed when he tried to move a sign posted by the Freedom From Religion Foundation in the Statehouse rotunda.
Michael Sneed’s lede this morning…
Conservative radio ranter William Kelly and veteran TV reporter Jay Levine will get their day in court today following a Columbus Day quarrel when the two vied to interview mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel.
• Backshot: Kelly — who owns airtime on WIND-AM (560) radio and who unsuccessfully attempted to rattle Emanuel with a barrage of frenetic questions — filed a misdemeanor assault complaint against WBBM-Channel 2 chief correspondent Levine, who tried to end Kelly’s obnoxious rant by threatening to ‘’deck'’ him. (The videotaped ruckus can be seen on YouTube.)
• The upshot: The case will be heard in Cook County court at Belmont and Western.
You can relive the hilarity by clicking here.
* Alas, another fail. From Kelly’s Facebook page…
Disregarding a textbook case of assault, a Chicago judge granted Levine a “not guilty” verdict. I was hoping for justice today…but justice was not to be found. The fight continues!
Maybe next he’ll follow through with his claims of “assault” against a young woman who works for Rahm Emanuel.
Sheesh.
* And our failure quote of the day comes from failed Green Party gubernatorial nominee Rich Whitney on this month’s election results…
The recent results across the board were “a pretty bitter pill,” Whitney says. “It was certainly disappointing, but in the Green Party we tend not to get too discouraged for too long.”
The Greens need to start learning from their failures rather than just being hopelessly optimistic. This advice from Dan Proft to the Illinois Republicans could just as easily apply to them…
After losing three gubernatorial elections in a row to the corrupt and the incompetent, it is tempting for Illinois Republicans to say, “What the heck is wrong with the voters of Illinois?” when they should be asking, “What the heck is wrong with the Illinois Republican Party?”
- Aaron - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:21 pm:
What the heck is wrong with the Illinois Green Party? They should be trying to affect change inside the Democratic Party by being a part of the process and not being outside of the process.
- Amalia - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:23 pm:
Friday Fun….CapFax Fail Blog!
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:26 pm:
You know, they also have these things called goalposts that are located mere feet from the back of the endzone in every football stadium in the country.
In the exact same location…
- Wally - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:26 pm:
Well, if Proft, AA and Ryan don’t muddy up the primary, Dillard wins.
So, maybe instead of preaching, Proft should have checked his ego at the door about 12 months ago.
And we still need to scratch our heads about voter decisions.
- tominchicago - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:27 pm:
The easy answer to Proft’s question is that right wing of the GOP (where Proft resides) will not permit an electable (read moderate) politician be their slated candidate. Keep it up Dan.
- Barton Lorimor - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:28 pm:
What the heck? How did they position the field when the Bears played there? Unless there’s something about those games I don’t know, the confidence level in my team admins has just sky rocketed.
Additionally: the scrolling marquee sign is a city landmark. Do city ordinances allow them to paint it purple?
- bored now - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:29 pm:
i don’t know how this sits in the examining green party failures, but i’m sure that many of you know that rich whitney is looking for work:
Rich Whitney is Looking for a Public Policy Job..
Rich Whitney is looking for public policy advocacy work. Possible areas include economic policy, environmental policy, energy policy, education policy and financing, transportation policy, social justice, equality, especially for women and the LGBT community, civil liberties, criminal justice reform, media reform. Although he is an attorney, the job does not need to be specific to law and he is not interested in carrying an individual client load at this time.
Rich is knowledgeable in and highly committed to the above areas. I’m sure he would consider an academic position also. In the five years I have known Rich through the Green Party, I have been impressed by his intelligence, compassion, and dedication to justice and sustainability. He would prefer to stay in Illinois, but is willing to move out of state.
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:30 pm:
Barton - the Cubs marquee, historically, was blue (instead of red as it is now).
So I think there is some leeway.
- The Mad FAPper - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:35 pm:
Can we *JIM EDGAR* please stop *JIM EDGAR* all *JIM EDGAR* the Kirk *JIM EDGAR* Dillard *JIM EDGAR* worship *JIM EDGAR* please? *JIM EDGAR* *JIM EDGAR* *JIM EDGAR*
- Phineas J. Whoopee - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:38 pm:
William Kelly will find that life tends to get even with folks who are not very nice. People who push people to the point of snapping and then sue them is a pretty good example of a lesser human being. Remember William, the camera is not always running.
- tominchicago - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:42 pm:
Barton Lorimor - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:28 pm:
What the heck? How did they position the field when the Bears played there? Unless there’s something about those games I don’t know, the confidence level in my team admins has just sky rocketed.
Under the old Bears configuration, the southern endzone was only 8 yards in depth. Also the Cubs added some seats behind home plate a couple of years ago thereby moving the wall behind the plate up. As a result, I doubt that you could fit there is now even enough room for a 120 yard field in the north/south orientation that the Bears used.
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:45 pm:
tom - the Cubs removed some seats to put in this football field. They could do that elsewhere.
Also, the Bears field was regulation in depth at some points.
You have to remember, though. Back then, they had the goalpost at the goal line, instead of the back of the endzone. I don’t think they much cared about obstacles then…
- Responsa - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 12:57 pm:
What I don’t get is the purple business. I thought the whole point of using Wrigley for this special event was to highlight the two proud big 10 teams from our state, each with significant numbers of Chicago area alums and fans? For Fighting Illini fans the overt Northwestern purple is sort of a Ricketts “fail”, too, and it would seem to be an unnecessary provocation.
- Served - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:00 pm:
http://yfrog.com/bc5ysj
Here’s a picture of the end zone at Wrigley. What a disaster. Hope no one goes for a diving catch tomorrow.
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:02 pm:
Responsa - It is a Northwestern home game.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:02 pm:
George, you’re right, but Responsa has a good point as well.
- too obvious - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:07 pm:
Good for Jay Levine. He should have been smarter though and not given that guy any ammo like that.
- BigTwich - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:13 pm:
Kelly filed a misdemeanor assault complaint?
You have to be a State’s Attorney to file a criminal complaint.
- bored now - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:15 pm:
Served: oh. my. god. i’m at a loss for words…
- Responsa - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:17 pm:
George, I understand that. And I also understand the purple marquee got a lot of press coverage and put this game in the news. But I seriously doubt changing the Wrigley marquee color is the “thing” that officially denotes it’s classified as a Northwestern “home” game. Obviously in the big scheme of things the temporarily purple marquee is not a big deal, but I just think it could have been handled a little bit better in order to appeal to all fans had it been thought through. Based on the size of the schools and their historically disproportionate emphasis on sports,I would be very surprised if there were not many many more Illini fans than Cats fans in attendance this weekend.
- LincolnLounger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:20 pm:
When Illinois and Mizzou play in St. Louis, they don’t “bathe” the venue in black and gold.
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:22 pm:
The Bears field was short in the end zone and the players were professionals in a time when things were viewed differently (concussions, etc).
The Big 10 and both schools signed off on the field layout and Big 10 inspectors on-site approved … until today.
Kudos for putting player safety first… but how angry would you be if you had tickets in an endzone they are moving away from for the entire game?!
- Who Cares - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:23 pm:
Dumb question so forgive me but re: the Illini/NW game, what happens in the case of an interception or fumble?
- No Peotone Airport - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:24 pm:
I hope Bud Selig is paying attention. The Cubs should be required to relocate home plate to deep center field, with teams hitting toward the grandstand. It’s too dangerous to play outfield defense with the present configuration.
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:26 pm:
It’s a Big Ten conference game — somebody has to be the home team. It’s not a bowl game.
Back when the Bears played at Wrigley, both end zones were short of regulation.
From the leather helmet days, there’s a famous story of Bronco Nagurski putting his head down, knocking over two Packers, running through the end zone and slamming his head directly into the brick behind home plate.
He allegedly ran to the sidelines and told Halas, “That last guy hit me pretty hard.”
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:26 pm:
All offensive plays will go same direction, a “pick-six” would go back the other way, but the extra point, as an offensive play, will again face the safe endzone.
Much discussion on the score today over such scenarios.
- Demoralized - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:28 pm:
They will have to head towards the forbidden end zone . . .
- Demoralized - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:30 pm:
They could have just played football in the streets like we all did as a kid.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:30 pm:
Whatever it takes to dump on the Cubs, eh Rich? Nice password this week too, I really enjoyed typing that in. Sort of juvenile, don’t you think?
Speaking of failures, how come the big news from the South Side hasn’t been covered here yet? Are you waiting for the arraignment to write about the former top Sox executive busted for ripping off the team and its recruits? Is Kenny Williams going to be held accountable? Or is that just how they roll down there?
- OneMan - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:34 pm:
Wow, little touchy there dude…
I don’t blame the Cubs for this, I blame the brilliant folks at Northwestern.
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:37 pm:
You think allstate is happy about their advertisement in an endzone that won’t make tv?
- soccermom - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:39 pm:
I understand that it’s a Northwestern home game. But this Illini grad is getting pretty sick of hearing that Northwestern is Chicago’s home team. Will all the Illini grads in Chicago raise your hands? Now Wildcats? Is that all of you, Wildcats?
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:40 pm:
Responsa and Rich - 75% of the the tickets went to Northwestern to sell. They are the “Chicago” team, and they have the more significant football team of the two over the past 15-20 years.
And you can’t ask a team to give up one of 5 home games they have all year to play on a neutral field.
Regardless, I would hardly say that they went overboard with the Northwestern stuff.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:41 pm:
===Whatever it takes to dump on the Cubs, eh Rich? ===
They do a good job of bringing this on themselves.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:44 pm:
Lol, they sure do. Despite your anti-Cub bias, I still love you man. Have a good weekend.
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:45 pm:
Again, not a Cubs thing. The Big 10 and both universities approved the layout and last minute Big10 (to their credit) pulled the plug
- Amalia - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:46 pm:
over on the Tribune Board and on the Score, there’s a major scorching going on over the game at Wrigley. As a Sox fan I find this all wildly amusing. Two schools sign off on field of a game and this happens?
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 1:48 pm:
All in all, though, the old timers will tell you that Wrigley, especially from the upper deck, is an excellent venue to watch a football game. You’re right on top of the action.
Soccermom, Illini Nation has always struck me as having a love-hate relationship with the city. They go through spurts where they seemingly ignore the Northeastern corner of the state in recruiting — and they pay for that neglect, especially in basketball (although Weber has put together a couple of excellent recruiting classes from up north the last two years).
There are big-time fan bars for all the other Big Ten teams all over the city. Not so much with the Illini.
- Responsa - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:05 pm:
==And you can’t ask a team to give up one of 5 home games they have all year to play on a neutral field.==
George, I’m sorry but how can you possibly have construed anything that either I or Rich said in several different posts above as asking Northwestern to give up a home game or play on a neutral field? Geesh! We’re only discussing the color of the Cubs’ famous Marquee as it is seen by fans coming in for goodness sakes. How on earth does that translate for you as somehow trying to rob the Cats of a “home” game?
And Soccermom, you made a most excellent point about “Chicago’s home team”. The last Northwestern game I attended in Evanston, (in September on a gorgeous day) there were quite a few empty seats that “Chicago” could have filled to support “their” team had they been so inclined.
- OneMan - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:10 pm:
I understand that it’s a Northwestern home game. But this NIU grad is getting pretty sick of hearing that Northwestern is Chicago’s home team. Will all the NIU grads in Chicago raise your hands? Now Wildcats? Is that all of you, Wildcats
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:13 pm:
I think you guys are all taking the marketing line for the Northwestern athletic department a wee bit seriously.
I dont know what Illini fans or NIU fans are complaining about - the UIC Flames and Chicago State are the public “hometown teams”… Loyola and Depaul are the private “hometown teams” and… everyone else is just a bunch of alumni living here.
Like most urban schools, none of the true Chicago schools play football.
- George - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:25 pm:
University of Chicago - original big ten
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:26 pm:
Thank you George - I was just listing hometown schools in Chicago that play Division 1 sports, but of course there are other schools.
- 47th Ward - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:29 pm:
I’m pretty sure DePaul played in the last college football game held in Wrigley, way back in 1938. Now of course, they don’t play football, and you could argue, they don’t play much basketball either. The Big East is a beast.
- Vote Quimby! - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:31 pm:
==more significant football team of the two over the past 15-20 years==
George conveniently overlooks Northwestern had a title drought of nearly 50 years–rivaling only the Cubs.
- Vote Quimby! - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:32 pm:
Plus Northwestern is the reason the Big Ten didn’t worry about changing its name when they added Penn State…
- MrJM - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:37 pm:
Who could have guessed that the Big Ten would ultimately find the Friendly Confines… uh… “confining”?
– MrJM
- Dirt Digger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:41 pm:
I think I’m going to DVR this game for atrocity tourism purposes. Who could possibly think this would work as a promotion?
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:45 pm:
Vote Quimby @ 2:31 -
I am a fan of neither NU or Illinois (another Big10 team, much more successful than either, holds my allegiance) but, for the college students currently attending Illinois and/or Northwestern, strange as it sounds to us oldtimers, by far Northwestern has been the more successful football “power” during their lifetime. It’s the same way with Notre Dame. Us old timers think of it as a football “power”, but no one under the age of 30 does the same. The same way my grandfather’s generation thought of Army as a collegiate football power, and no one under the age of 60 would think that now. Things change.
- eastsider - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:51 pm:
Why would we expect anything less from the Cubs? If the Cubs were a football team, they probably wouldn’t spend much time in the end zone, so maybe they didn’t see how it was a problem.
- MrJM - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:54 pm:
eastsider: If the Cubs were a football team, they probably wouldn’t spend much time in the end zone
I believe you’ve overlooked the the safety.
– MrJM
- Excessively Rabid - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 2:59 pm:
The Wiki version of that Nagurski story goes like this:
A time-honored and perhaps apocryphal story about Nagurski is a scoring gallop that he made against the Washington Redskins, knocking two linebackers in opposite directions, stomping a defensive halfback and crushing a safety, then bouncing off the goalposts and Wrigley Field’s brick wall. On returning to the huddle for the extra point try, he reportedly said: “That last guy hit me awfully hard.”
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:00 pm:
–there were quite a few empty seats that “Chicago” could have filled to support “their” team had they been so inclined.–
Northwestern has less than 9,000 undergrads, not like some of these Big Ten powers that have 60,000. Plus, Chicago’s not a college sports town. Five major pro teams playing in the city.
Northwestern has not been the Big Ten doormat in football for some time. That would be Indiana.
That’s pretty amazing because at Northwestern there are no remedial, ballroom dancing or basket-weaving classes for football players like some of these other Big Ten citadels of higher learning (cough, Michigan, cough, Wisconsin, cough, Iowa).
The tag line “Chicago’s Hometown Team,” is working if people are talking about it.
The Wrigley gimmick is working, too. Lee Corso and the College Game Day crew are going to be hosting their show outside Wrigley. The Illini-Wildcat game wouldn’t be on the national radar if it were in Evanston or Champaign.
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:13 pm:
Following up on Wordslinger above -
What else are you going to do in Bloomington, Iowa City, State College, et al, on a fall weekend? Even if the student bodies were identical in size, NU would get less turnout with anything other than a spectacular team.
I like college towns as much as the next guy, dont get me wrong, they were fun from 17 - 23, but let’s be real.
- No Peotone Airport - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:18 pm:
If the Bears had not left Wrigley Field in 1970, and it was still their home field today, in what year between 1970 and 2010 would the NFL have come in and said, “You can no longer use one end zone?”
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:24 pm:
No Peotone Airport -
My guess - the year the field-goal posts went to the back of the endzone. Having one team kick field-goals into an 8 yard deep end-zone would have been a competitive advantage… unless they backed the team up those 2 yards on the field to compensate. Still, that is my guess.
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:33 pm:
I’m really digging this. I’ve been begging Rich for an Illinois college football thread forever. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.
Watch outfor NIU. Ever since their loss to the Illini, they’re hot as a pistol. I was in DeKalb last week for the pounding they put on Toledo. Northern could end the year in the national Top 25. Kill is going a great job building on Novak’s program.
Illini are having an unexpectedly good year, with a big Penn State road win, tough game against Ohio State, crazy game against Michigan — and awful, awful, loss to Minnesota. Zook’s a class act. He’s the guy who built that Florida program, recruited Tebow, and Urban Meyer got all the credit.
Northwestern is incredibly well-coached. I was on the sidelines for warmups before the Michigan State game and with all due respect to the Wildcats, they simply don’t have the athletes that the big Big Ten schools do. But they sure do get the most out of them. Big win against Iowa last week, sorry to see Persa go down. Pound for pound, toughest player in the college ball this year.
It’s going to be hard for the Cats to hold on to Fitz. Watch out when Kelly gets fired at Notre Dame, which might happen sooner rather than later for the neglect and recklessness he demonstrated in the death of the young man filming practice.
- Mike Ins - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:50 pm:
Wordslinger -
You know, and I have no real idea on this - I am not sure Fitzgerald would go to ND at this point. He is a former NU player, so he has that connection with NU, and I just dont know that by the time ND hires again if that position will have any attraction (leaving $ aside) for anyone under the age of 45.
I could see Harbaugh at Stanford leaving for Michigan before I saw Fitzgerald leave for ND, frankly.
- cermak_rd - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 3:51 pm:
Perhaps if U of I would expand its Chicagoland campus to become a high quality university, then the Illini could also be considered a home town team. I attended and graduated from Loyola, another place with a Chicago hometown team. There calleld home town teams because they are actually located in Chicago or its immediate environs.
- wordslinger - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 4:01 pm:
–He (Fitzgerald_ is a former NU player, so he has that connection with NU, and I just dont know that by the time ND hires again if that position will have any attraction (leaving $ aside) for anyone under the age of 45.–
Fitz makes $750,000 a year at Northwestern. Kelly makes $3 million a year at Notre Dame. That’s quite an alma mater discount for Fitz if the job comes open.
- Skeeter - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 4:07 pm:
The comments on Kelly’s facebook page are hilarious.
“It is all a conspiracy!”
- Amalia - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 4:11 pm:
really, Fitz to ND? have you read about what he thinks about ND? didn’t he get a salary bump with the contract extension?
but, now we know the real reason for endzonegate….cover for the Cub pitching coach leaving for the Yankees.
- Skeeter - Friday, Nov 19, 10 @ 4:18 pm:
Another quote for consideration Failure Quote of the Day:
From Kelly’s Facebook page (comment from Kelly):
“he judge’s reasoning seemed to be that since Levine said “or” I’ll deck you” - I had the option of not asking questions in order not to be decked. I am looking into pursuing the case in civil court - since it raises constitutional law issues.”
Constitutional issues. Yeah, that suit is going to fly