Jim O'Donnell: Pat Fitzgerald is much too happy to coach the Bears
PAT FITZGERALD HAS one glaring blind spot.
It's called "excessive loyalty."
Amid the upheaval and maneuvering of 2020, that should be downright refreshing.
But once in a while, that blind spot hits him on his resolute Irish-Bohemian tail.
Fitzgerald stayed with offensive coordinator Mick McCall too long, finally parting ways after last autumn's 3-9 Cat chill fever.
When he became head coach in July 2006 after the sudden death of Randy Walker, "Fitz" inherited one of the most ghastly sports information departments in America.
It took five long seasons - and repeated "advisories" from more astute media - before administrators hired the capable Paul Kennedy away from the Blackhawks and successfully rebooted.
Now comes speculation the Bears could be interested in Fitzgerald as successor to Matt Nagy.
From Mustard's Last Stand to NU's $270 million lakeside athletics center, the idea of that happening is funnier than a Zoom comedy benefit hosted by alumni Stephen Colbert and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
The chances of Fitzgerald leaving Northwestern are nil - Mach negative "Jeopardy!"
He has repeatedly stated his current position is his "dream job."
He and wife Stacy - his high school sweetheart - have a baronial manor seven miles from Ryan Field.
Sons Jack (16), Ryan (14) and Brendan (11) reflect all of the family-forward attributes of their pedigree.
Jack - a 6-5, 210-pound TE-LB at Loyola Academy in Wilmette - has made it clear that one of his dreams is to play for his father.
Fitzgerald is all about order, integrity and the pursuit of fulfillment - whatever the cost of "excessive loyalty."
He also makes a reported $3.6 million per-year and is signed through 2026.
The highest powers at NU love him and he embraces the values of The Enchanted Lakefront, elitist warts and all.
And some think there's a chance he would trade that for the hollow burlesque of Halas Hall?
Hardy har-har.
THE LONE MEETING WITH DICK ALLEN was brief and not about baseball.
But this can be stated:
With Allen stitching his own combination of Hank Aaron and Sly Stone plus a hungry Harry Caray in the broadcast booth, the 1972 Sox were a tremendously entertaining team.
The mini-meeting occurred in May 2000. It was in the track kitchen at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course.
The racing press was awaiting the romp of Fusaichi Pegasus in the Preakness, which wasn't to be. Jerry Bailey and Red Bullet saw to that.
A few mornings before, a Pimlico staffer escorted a visiting insouciant into the track kitchen for a Danish. Sitting at a table were three of the Allen brothers - Hank, Ron and Dick.
Hank played with Dick on the Sox in 1972-'73 before morphing into a solid middle-class thoroughbred trainer on the Maryland-Pennsylvania circuit.
He even had a Kentucky Derby starter - Northern Wolf - who finished sixth behind Sunday Silence and Easy Goer in 1989.
Ron had a MLB cup o' Cardinals in St. Louis in 1972 and later was Hank's stable foreman.
Introductions were made. The chat was racetrack lite. Dick said little and kept rocking on a plastic cafeteria chair.
The two brothers kept calling him, "Sleepy." It turned out that had been his nickname since he was a kid in Wampum, Pa.
The writer deemed it inappropriate to bring up baseball. He finally asked, "Didn't you guys win a state basketball championship back at Wampum High around 1960?"
Ron said: "Sure did."
And Dick Allen chuckled and said, "And we still probably could."
Who was to argue?
STREET-BEATIN': With five GM jobs open in the NFL, Houston CEO Cal McNair has enlisted TV's Tony Dungy and Jimmy Johnson as members of his "search advisory committee." (When will reality kick in at 1920 Football Drive in Lake Forest?) ...
Is it still billed as "Big Ten Football" or has the marquee been changed to "The Ohio State University Presents Big Ten Football?" (And makes up rules as it goes along.) ...
Mike Krzyzewski suddenly got religion after Ayo Dosunmu and No. 6 Illinois bedeviled host Duke Tuesday, 83-68. Now "Koach Baloney" is wondering if the 2020-'21 season should be played. ...
Andy Masur would be a perfect fit as wraparound host on ESPN AM-1000's Sox coverage. (As soon as the congenial pro stops bleeding.) ...
British Open champ Sophia Popov adds a compelling touch of drama to the 2020 U.S. Women's Open. (She's battling Lyme disease; Coverage starts 11:30 a.m. Thursday on The Golf Channel.) ...
And from downtown media, a non sequitur that's got 'em howling from 35th Street to the 35th Parallel: "With Len Kasper in the radio booth, the Sox have already muted some of the criticism that came with the controversial hiring of (Tony) La Russa."
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.