[NU Sports] Jim Phillips Greatest Hits

[Mike Nolan]

> Please, all you Cubs fans on the List, don't rain on my parade, by
> pointing out the Cubs' drought, and drawing a parallel to NU.  It's
> hard enough for me to resist bringing up my J-E-T-S, who are on the
> schneid since Joe Namath over the Colts back in Super Bowl III.

Naah, unlike Northwestern, the Cubs have had inept ownership and management 
dating back to the post-war era. (Which war is up for grabs.)  

In fact, inept ownership seems to be a common thread among Chicago professional
sports teams for most of the last 50+ years, with occasional exceptions.  

Whether the Ricketts family will be able to turn the Cubs around around remains 
to be seen, many of us in Nebraska aren't that impressed with the family's
managerial expertise, which is why there isn't a Ricketts in the governor's 
office here.  (Nebraska voters also decided against having a former Husker
football coach as Governor, too.)  

But the Cubs front office has been swept clean and I suspect the opening
day roster in 2013 (if not in 2012) is going to have a lot of new names
on it, too.  

Northwestern's worst years on the gridiron coincided with some of the least 
sport-oriented leadership the school has ever had, from the Board of
Trustees on down.  

By contrast, today I think we have the best leadership team from university 
president to AD to football coach that we've ever had.  (The Trustees seem
to be staying in the background doing the heavy money raising, which is what
they're best at.)
--
Mike Nolan