You have to feel sorry for Conan O’Brien.

Not only does he have ridiculous hair  — as Conan himself admitted in the written statement he issued Tuesday — but he’s the obvious victim in NBC’s most recent late night moves.

In his statement, Conan said he is disappointed that NBC has given him only seven months in the Tonight Show chair to build an audience. He said the network promised to give him a chance to succeed.

But Conan’s right — seven months is not enough of a chance. Jay Leno got much more than seven months to succeed after replacing Johnny Carson. Heck, Conan himself was given ample time to build an audience after taking over for David Letterman. And build an audience he did.

I don’t know if Conan could have ever beaten Letterman at 11:30. Maybe he wouldn’t have. But NBC didn’t even try to find out. And that’s a shame.

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Here’s something I never want to hear again, even though I know there’s no chance of that happening: “(Insert college football coach’s name here) is such a jerk for leaving to take another job! How could he do that to his players and his recruits?”

That’s what everyone is saying in Cincinnati right now after Brian Kelly left to take the Notre Dame job. Apparently, the big sports radio station there started skewering Kelly even before he took the job.

To anyone who believes it’s wrong for a college football coach to leave one job for another, I have three things to say:

• When, exactly, is it okay for a college football coach to leave one school for another? Last time I checked, college football programs always have players. They have new recruiting classes coming in every year. Coaches have to promise those recruits and their parents they’re not going anywhere. What else are they going to say? “Well, Mr. Williams, I sure would like Stephen to come to Arkansas. And don’t worry about me going anywhere. Unless, of course, Texas comes calling. More money… more exposure… a shot at a national championship. That would be sweet for me, huh?” With that approach, you’d end up with Woody Allen at left tackle. So how many years should a coach be expected to stay at a school before it’s okay to leave? Three years? Five years? 40 years? And who exactly is in charge of making that decision?
• I’m wondering if anyone who’s ever ripped a coach for leaving a school has ever had a chance to take a better job themselves. Ask yourself this question: If somebody called you and offered you a chance to make five times your current salary doing the thing you’ve always wanted to do at the place you’ve always dreamed of doing it, what would you say? Ninety-five percent of us would be on a plane before hanging up the phone.
• Which brings me to my last point. I’m always amazed at what ticks people off. A guy you’ve never met, never will meet and know absolutely nothing about leaves one job to take another job, and you treat him like he’s Benito Mussolini? How is it any of your business? Okay, maybe you root for the team. Maybe you pay for tickets to see them play. But you don’t own that coach. He’s a free man living in a free country, free to make decisions about his life just like you are. You can be disappointed he’s leaving. You can plead for him not to go. But don’t launch personal attacks at him and his family. That’s sick and it’s wrong, and if you do it you seriously need to re-evaluate things.

Brian Kelly did nothing wrong. He worked his butt off to reach the pinnacle of his profession and to get his dream job. He’s getting a hero’s welcome in South Bend. But he’s getting a villain’s sendoff in Cincinnati. And that’s just not right.

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I’m getting a kick out of this whole Tiger Woods thing.

Every part of the story amuses me. Don’t get me wrong… I’m a huge Tiger fan. When he’s in contention on the final day of a major, I’m parked in front of the TV. It’s appointment viewing.

But when the most famous man on the planet — a man who transcends his sport and dominates it in a way previously thought impossible — crashes his SUV into a tree after being chased out of the house by his golf club-wielding model wife, the only reaction I have is to laugh.

But this is the gift that keeps on giving. Now we find out that Tiger has been unfaithful to his wife, and possibly several times over. And then there are the text messages, the lurid stories. None of which we know to be true, by the way. But it doesn’t matter. It’s good stuff. And it keeps on coming.

Here’s why I can laugh at the whole deal: this is no tragedy. Is it sad? Sure. But I’m not going to cry for Tiger or his family. This is nothing that at least half the families in America haven’t gone through at one point or another. Tiger will be fine. His wife will be fine. They might not be together as a family anymore, and that’s sad for the children. But the kids will end up fine, too.

Woods is no John Daly. He’s not an alcoholic. He doesn’t have anger issues. He’s a famous man who’s alone on the road all the time. As the great Russell Hammond of  Stillwater once said, you meet a lot of amazing people on the road. Things happen. Does that make it right? No. But it doesn’t make Tiger the devil, either.

The thing that makes me laugh the most is the notion that Tiger’s career could take a major nosedive as the result of all this. Or that he’ll end up being remembered more for this than his incredible golf career. Give me a break. Five years from now, Tiger will still be dominating the PGA Tour. He’ll have reached his career goal of breaking Jack Nicklaus’ major championships record. (I’ve also heard it floated that his fellow players are secretly happy this happened because they think it will hurt him on the course. Yeah, right. Um, have you followed Tiger’s career? The guy’s the fairway’s answer to Michael Jordan. Make him mad, give him extra motivation, and you’re toast.)

And while people will still talk about this dark period of his life, it will be a distant memory. And it will be nothing but a source of jokes. I’m just getting a head start on the laughter.

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Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has had a tough couple of years here. But rarely, if ever, has it been this bad. After Saturday’s 38-34 loss to Michigan, Weis’ detractors are out in unprecedented numbers. They want the big man out.

These boo birds are pointing to the way Weis handled the clock on what turned out to be the Irish’s final meaningful series. The basic idea is that, had Notre Dame run the ball on second and third down and forced Michigan to use their final timeouts instead of throwing two incomplete passes and stopping the clock, the Irish would have won the game.

In a word… hogwash.

To understand why Weis should not only not be criticized for this move but actually applauded, consider the following facts:

• Notre Dame’s defense had been pounded all day. By that point, Michigan, led by a true freshman quarterback in his second game, had rolled up nearly 400 yards of total offense and scored 24 offensive points.
• Michigan was having an awful time trying to stop Notre Dame’s passing game. Jimmy Clausen was firing at will into the Wolverine secondary, which was badly overmatched.
• In college football, the clock stops after each first down
• All Michigan needed was a field goal to send the game to overtime

True, Armando Allen gained 13 yards on the first play of that drive. But, at that point, Michigan figured Notre Dame was going to try to run the ball to make them call their timeouts. So they stacked the line of scrimmage and stuffed the next play. That left the following situation: second down and ten with 2:29 left and Michigan owning two timeouts. Let’s analyze the two decisions Weis could have made here:

1. He could have continued to run the ball to force Michigan to call its final timeouts. This is what all the naysayers are screaming Weis should have done. But Michigan was putting nearly everybody in the box. If you know football, you know there is almost zero chance of gaining significant yards against that type of defense, no matter how well you’ve run it all day. So chances are overwhelming that Michigan stuffs two runs, calls its final two timeouts and forces Notre Dame to punt. In that case, Michigan gets the ball back with the same amount of time it did anyway (actually, a few seconds more since running plays are quicker than passing plays). Two minutes and 15 seconds is an eternity in college football, where the clock stops after every first down. And remember, Michigan only needed a field goal to tie. Maybe they don’t score a TD, maybe they do. But are you going to tell me that 2:15 isn’t enough time for Michigan to go 45 yards to get a chip shot field goal?

2. Weis could have gotten aggressive on second and third downs, which is what he chose to do after seeing how the Michigan defense played first down. Keep in mind Michigan hadn’t stopped the pass all day long. True, Michael Floyd was out with an injury, but Notre Dame still had plenty of good receivers out there. Weis likely said to himself, “There’s only one way to guarantee we win this game — don’t give them the ball back. Clausen’s been scorching them all day. We can’t stop their offense. This game absolutely has the feel of one in which the last team that has the ball wins. Let’s complete a couple passes like we’ve been doing all day and get the heck out of here.”

Not only was this a totally acceptable football decision, it was one of which fans should be proud. In calling those pass plays, Weis did what every sports fan in America wants his team to do in any sport: play to win the game instead of not to lose it. Weis went for it. He tried to deny Michigan the one thing you need to score points — the football. He knew that was the only way to guarantee victory. Giving the Wolverines the ball back, with or without timeouts, was not something he wanted to do. And for good reason.

That’s smart, aggressive coaching. Unfortunately, smart, aggressive coaching doesn’t always result in wins. But that doesn’t make it wrong. If Clausen completes just one of those two passes, Notre Dame wins and today everybody’s talking about how Weis took the bull by the horns and won the game like a man.

Charlie Weis certainly deserves criticism for decisions he has made since he came to Notre Dame. But yesterday’s decision was not one of them.

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I bought the album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” today. The digitally remastered Beatles catalog came out today and since I lost my “Sgt. Pepper’s” CD years ago (it’s the only one I don’t have), I bought it.

I got into work and read a CNN review of the remastered albums. The review said the new recordings were great and you can really hear the difference. They specifically mentioned the song “Lovely Rita” on “Sgt. Peppers’.” Having uploaded the album to my iPhone as soon as I got it home, I plugged my headphones in and listened to the song. I’m surprised and thrilled to say it’s TOTALLY different. It almost sounds like a completely different recording – and much better! The sound is much clearer and has a bit of a raw edge the original release doesn’t.

As I write this, I’m listening to “Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.” It’s just as good. I’m hearing things I’ve never heard before. John whispering… Paul’s raw background shouts… Ringo’s joints cracking. (Okay, I made that last one up.)

I might just have to buy the whole remastered catalog. This is a revelation. It’s a Revolution!

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After hearing of the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, I did what I always do when big news breaks. I rushed to the World Wide Web to learn more about Kennedy and his life.

Even though Wikipedia is by no means infallible, it is still an amazing resource, especially for us journalist types who are looking for a quick, Cliffs Notes-like description of important persons, places and things.

I read all about the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident, which resulted in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. I didn’t find anything there that I didn’t already know. But a couple clicks away, I found a Kennedy family tree. (You can click here for the link.) Here, I learned some things that I didn’t really know. For example, Bobby Kennedy and his wife, Ethel, had 11 children in 17 years. How’s that for some work? Also, according to Wikipedia, President Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, thought Bobby’s kids were so wild they refused to let their children play with them. (I have no idea if this is true. It sounds difficult to believe, but I’ll let you do the research on that one.)

Regardless of what you thought of their politics, you have to admit all of the Kennedys led incredibly interesting lives. But what I found out about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was mind-boggling. What that woman went through in the late 1950s and early 1960s was enough to break any human being. It was enough to break ten human beings.

In 1953, Jackie married then-Senator John F. Kennedy. That wedding began arguably the most eventful and stressful decade a human being has ever endured. Here’s how the next ten years of Jackie’s life unfolded:

• In 1955, she had a miscarriage
• In 1956, she gave birth to a stillborn baby girl named Arabella
• In 1957, she gave birth to Caroline
• On November 8, 1960, her husband was elected president of the United States, instantly making her the most visible and famous woman on the planet
• Seventeen days later, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was born
• On August 7, 1963, she gave birth to Patrick Kennedy, who died two days later
• Three months later, her husband was killed

During those ten years, the woman essentially lived the life of a soap opera character. It would be difficult to imagine anyone outside of a war prisoner going through more trying times. And, of course, after the assassination she still had two young children to raise by herself in a world that, nearly 50 years later, still hasn’t stopped thirsting for Kennedy family information.

The amazing thing is that Jackie somehow managed to keep her children out of the public eye as they grew up. Both Caroline and the late JFK, Jr. turned out to be well-grounded, productive members of society. If you think about the troubles famous children have had over the years, that’s a pretty amazing feat.

So as we pause to honor the man whom President Obama has called “the greatest United States Senator of our time,” it’s difficult not to think about the Kennedy family as a whole. And, in particular, a woman who always made the most out of a nearly impossible situation. What a life. What a mother. We should all be as successful in what we do as Jackie was in dealing with tragedy.

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Fox 28’s Nadia Crow is doing a story tonight about the return of high school football and what it means to people who have been struggling recently in this down economy.

For tens of millions of people across America, the beginning of the football season is a lot like the first day of spring. Check out any sports bar around 12:45 pm on a fall Sunday afternoon, and you will see a sea of jerseys wrapped around the (often rotund) bodies of rabid football fans.

Many of those jerseys, though, will belong to women. Probably more than you’d guess. In fact, the NFL tells us that nearly half its fans are female. So why do so many wives and girlfriends across the country dread the start of the season?

These “football widows,” as they’re known, trudge through September, October, November, December and, yes, January (playoffs, baby) knowing that Sundays are no-fundays. Not for them, anyway. Their husbands and boyfriends plop in front of the television at 1o’clock and don’t move a muscle (except for their thumbs on the remote control) until the prime time game is over at 11:30.

And it’s even worse now thanks to fantasy football. Now, guys want to watch every game, not just the one involving their favorite team. It’s enough to make a football widow want to blow the whistle and call illegal procedure.

I should know. My wife’s a football widow. I even gave up college football for her when we started dating and have stuck to it for the most part. But that means nothing come Sunday morning, when she knows I’m about to be as helpful and attentive around the house as a 13-year-old boy with a new Xbox.

Ours is a particularly bad case. You see, my wife literally wasn’t sure what a touchdown was when we started dating. And I’d be willing to bet she couldn’t even begin to explain what a first down is even now. To make matters worse, despite my efforts to get her interested, she has no desire to learn. To her, watching grown men play sports on television is about as interesting as a Dick Cavett rerun. She says the only way she’ll ever get interested in sports is if our daughter starts to play when she gets older.

Ah, our two-year-old daughter… my secret weapon. She’s old enough now that she will sit in front of the TV and watch sports if she’s interested. Fortunately, for me, she seems to like just about every sport there is. She even watched the final round of the PGA Championship with me last week. If I can get her to watch football with me, this season (and future seasons) will go so much more smoothly.

So that’s my plan. I don’t like that my wife is a football widow any more than she does. But if that’s the way it’s going to be, the least I can do is turn it into some quailty time with my daughter.

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It was 26 years ago, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday.

The day after Michael Jackson debuted his signature dance move, the “moonwalk,” there wasn’t a kid in my 7th grade glass who wasn’t talking about it. It was May 1983, at the beginning of Jackson’s reign as the undisputed King of Pop. When he took the stage for Motown’s nationally-televised 25th anniversary show, the world stopped. At least our world did. The hat, the glove, the way he slid across the floor in a manner none of us had ever seen – that’s an image that sticks with you forever.   Watch Michael on Motown 25   I love that move so much, I learned how to do it as a kid. And I’ve passed it on, teaching it to my two-year-old daughter.

You can say what you want about Michael Jackson. He did himself no favors with his ever-changing appearance, the child molestation accusations and hanging his son over a balcony. But none of those things tarnishes Jackson’s true legacy — that of arguably the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen.

He entertained us with his voice and he entertained us with his moves. And he did it for decades. Rarely does a successful child entertainer find further success as an adult, let alone become even more successful. Jackson didn’t just re-establish himself; he became the biggest star in the world.

How popular was Michael Jackson? Eight years after the release of his last album, and 15 years since he appeared to lose his musical relevance, Jackson sold out 50 shows that were to take place later this summer in London. That’s more than a million tickets sold. How many acts could do that at the height of their popularity, let alone decades later?

It’s a sad day. Michael Jackson is gone, and part of my childhood is gone with it. But it hasn’t all been taken away. I can still moonwalk. I’m pretty good at it, too.  And so is my daughter.

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Don’t tell anybody this, but I used to be a huge American Idol fan.

In fact, I used to write a live American Idol blog that my old co-workers read religiously. (Yes, I understand that I need to be stripped of my “man” card.) It was funny stuff. It was irreverent stuff. It was the kind of stuff you could not write in a blog associated with a local television affiliate. I would have rated it PG-13.

Now, I’m back in television anchoring a 10 pm newscast. Even though we’re a Fox affiliate, I don’t get to watch Idol anymore. Traci and I see five or six minutes at the end of the show when we’re out on the set getting ready for the news to start. Sometimes it kills me that I can’t watch the whole show. I guess I could DVR it at home, but it’s just not the same.

Even though I don’t blog Idol anymore, we still have you covered here at Fox 28. Colleen Bormann does an American Idol blog every week when the show’s on the air.  But Idol is really a year-round phenomenon. Kris Allen was crowned just a few weeks ago, but auditions for the 2010 season have already begun.

Colleen will be in the Windy City Monday to cover the Chicago auditions. She’ll report on those auditions Monday night on Fox 28 News at 10. One of the stories she’ll be following is that of Courtney Myers, the 17-year-old Niles High School student we profiled on Thursday night’s newscast. Courtney has a really good voice. Here’s hoping the Idol producers and judges agree.

Oh, and by the way, you can catch the ninth season of American Idol right here on Fox 28 starting in January! (I had to write that to make my boss happy.)

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Has anyone else noticed Super Bowl XLIII seems to lack heat? Not sure what it is, but I don’t hear people talking about the game much. Maybe it’s because last year’s game was so interesting with the Patriots bidding for a perfect season, and this year’s Super Bowl seems boring in comparison.

Regardless of the buildup (or lack thereof), nearly 100 million people will watch the Steelers battle the Cardinals on Sunday in Tampa. And since it’s un-American not to choose sides, here’s my take…

If you’re not from western Pennyvlania, you should be rooting for Arizona. The Cardinals are a seven point underdog, but it goes so far beyond that. This franchise has been the NFL’s doormat forever. Even before they moved to Phoenix, the St. Louis Cardinals were nobodies. The team hasn’t won an NFL title since 1947, when they played in Chicago. Harry Truman was president in 1947. That’s 61 years of frustration. How can you not root for a team like that? (Even if their own fans couldn’t have cared less about them when the playoffs started — but that’s another story.)

So cheer like crazy for the underdog. Just know that your cheering probably won’t go rewarded. There’s an old adage in sports that you’ve probably heard: good defense beats good offense. There’s a reason people have been saying this for decades. It’s the absolute truth. It works for every single sport — at least the sports we care about. In baseball, good pitching always beats good hitting. In basketball, high-scoring teams nearly always lose playoff series to tough-nosed defensive squads. And it’s no different in the NFL. Just look at last year’s Super Bowl. The Patriots had arguably the best passing attack the league had ever seen, but that passing game became ordinary when the Giants started putting Tom Brady on his backside.

As great as Arizona’s passing game has been this year, the Steelers secondary has been even better. If you saw the AFC Championship game, you saw Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco with literally five full seconds to throw the ball on several occasions. Yet he still couldn’t find open receivers because the Steelers defensive backs were all over them. True, the Cardinals receivers are superior to Baltimore’s, but Arizona has shown cracks along the offensive line. So expect the Steelers to get some heat on Kurt Warner, and since the Cardinals have zero running game, that’s going to spell doom for the Cards.

Plus, even though they’ve played decent football in the playoffs, the Cardinals defense is nothing special. The Steelers are going to get their points. Probably lots of them.

The Cardinals are a great story, but that story won’t have a storybook ending.

Steelers 34, Cardinals 17

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