How is everyone? Happy New Year! We can still say that (for a few more days at least).
Good to back publishing The Kerr Report and Sunday Six. Looking forward to the new year and what lies ahead. Many thanks for making the Six part of your Sunday and for being loyal subscribers.
Let’s get right to it.
WHAT THE MEDIA IGNORES ABOUT J.J. MCCARTHY
The college football season concluded Monday night. Michigan won the national title. There are many sports fans conflicted about that reality. For non-alums, the Wolverines are a program hard to like.
They clearly broke the spirit—if not the letter––of sportsmanship rules by stealing signs. Jim Harbaugh, the Michigan coach, is both admirable in his taking-on-the establishment contrarianism but insufferable by his obstinance to retraction. Harbaugh is a “burn the boats” guy even when the island is under water.
Indisputable? Michigan had the best team in 2023.
The Wolverines quarterback is J.J. McCarthy. Taking away whatever Michigan bias a sports fan may possess (I certainly do, admittedly, as a Michigan State graduate) it’s difficult not to be fond of McCarthy from afar. He comes across as affable, humble, relatable. We’d want our sons to be him and daughters to date him.
After the Wolverines victory Monday against Washington, McCarthy gave a short soundbite to an interviewer, a comment aligned with his image, yet revealing about his origins:
I think I’m JJ McCarthy, a kid from LaGrange, lllinois just trying to be the best I can possibly be every day, that’s all I think of myself as
In that moment, we were reminded that McCarthy was born and raised in Chicagoland.
He grew up to be a star quarterback at Nazareth Academy, a private Catholic school in south suburban LaGrange. In 2018, McCarthy and the Roadrunners won a state title. They were poised to make another run in McCarthy’s senior season of 2020 but never got the chance. The Monarchal political class that rules Illinois canceled the high school football season, concocting fables over the transfer of “dangerous spit and saliva” during Covid Mass Hysteria.
McCarthy bailed, landing at IMG Academy in Florida, a free state, where he finished his prep career.
By 2021, McCarthy had taken his talents to Ann Arbor and the rest, as they say, is now history.
At least the football portion.
There were plenty of stories and write ups leading up to the championship game about McCarthy’s Illinois ties. But as is typical with Chicago and most national media, none provide context. Here are a few quotes pulled from various articles and television pieces about McCarthy fleeing his home state in 2020:
“in order to play as a senior, McCarthy transferred to IMG Academy”
“because the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out that IHSA season”
“struggling with his mental health, McCarthy moved to Florida”
It’s all filler, meaningless wallpaper to get to the feel-good, Twinkie and apple pie narrative they want to tell. I’m all for that as it pertains to McCarthy. He’s worth it.
Who else is worth it? The thousands of athletes not so fortunate as McCarthy. They never had the opportunity to finish their careers and have a completed athletic experience. And they still have yet to get an explanation. Likely never will.
McCarthy’s moment, while cheerful, was a missed opportunity.
Because of his NFL prospects, McCarthy will likely be a national figure for some time.
I hope he uses his platform to push more meaningful conversation around his departure from Illinois and “mental health struggles.”
But if he gets drafted by the Bears, don’t expect any in depth coverage by Chicago media. It’s more convenient if they pretend 2020 never happened.
Lets proceed with the Six.
1. Donald Trump, America’s Comic.
Every four years all political eyes convene in the state of Iowa, host of Monday’s Republican Caucus. This past week, residents got treated to town halls, debates and coffee diner sit downs with the candidates. But the star of the show is of course, Donald Trump. Matt Taibbi, who publishes the excellent Racket newsletter, spent time on the ground in Iowa and presents this piece on the stand up routines that are now the tenor of so many Trump rallies: “Listening to this stuff is like watching a Pope throw open the Vatican door with his balls hanging out. The brain screams to laugh at the situation, but everyone pretends it’s not funny.” It’s going to a wild ride until November.
2. Can Nikki Haley Knock Off Trump?
In the Taibbi article, one gets the sense Trump is no longer concerned with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as a main adversary. He saves his sharpest comedic barbs for whomever he deems the strongest rival. That appears to be Nikki Haley, former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor. According to Politico, “In an unstable, unconventional time, it’s not inconceivable to imagine a scenario in which the bottom suddenly falls out for the former president and a rival ambushes him on his way to the GOP convention in Milwaukee. Like Nikki Haley.” We’ll know if this statement has any merit by mid-week.
3. ESPN Sold Out To Pat McAfee.
What a week in sports media! I suppose it was only a matter of time before the legacy brand ESPN clashed with its newest employee, upstart frat bro commentator Pat McAfee. A former NFL punter, McAfee built a massive media brand on his own, then took an eight-figure licensing deal from ESPN. His weekly chats with NFL QB Aaron Rodgers are always entertaining as Rodgers says whatever the heck is on is mind, rare for an active professional athlete. But when Rodgers tied network Big Pharma flack Jimmy Kimmel to Jeffery Epstein, the internet blew up. And when McAfee called out an ESPN employee as being a “rat,” well, this kind of stuff just doesn’t happen at everything-is-sunshine-and-marshmallows ESPN. I love these big media stories and Outkick does a nice job synthesizing what all the internal––and public––strife is really about.
4. Damages.
Judging by the online reviews, Dr. Javaid Perwaiz built a thriving ob-gyn practice of grateful patients in Virginia. But according to the author of this riveting Atavist piece, Dr. Perwaiz’s practice was actually built on a mountain of lies. He gave people false cancer diagnoses. He changed surgical consent without patients’ knowledge. He put expectant mothers and their babies at risk by inducing unnecessary early labor. His motive: to amass as much money as possible from health insurance companies. Many of Dr. Perwaiz’s victims were women on Medicaid, who valiantly fought back.
5. What Was Nick Saban Worth To Alabama.
A absolutely bonkers week in football coaching news. In the span of 24 hours, three shoe-in HOF coaches––Pete Carroll, Bill Belichick and Nick Saban––all retired or left their positions. Saban, the Alabama coach, retired Wednesday. He leaves behind a legacy of six national championships but his long term economic impact on the university is incalculable. Sportico analyzes some of the data and finds out that over the course of his run as head coach, Alabama’s athletics budget has soared to $195.9 million, the third-highest among public schools in America. The fruits of victory have registered on campus, as well: fall enrollment was 25,580 when Saban first began coaching the Crimson Tide in 2007, and as of 2022 that figure stands at 38,645, up 51 percent. Even at $11M per year, Saban may have been the most underpaid coach in sports.
6. Mexican Moms Rank American Fast Food Tacos.
Watching people eat food is big currency on YouTube. Hot Ones, where celebrities eat wings, is massively popular and the channel First We Feast has over 13M subs on YouTube. There’s another million-sub channel that shows Mexican women eating American-style food. This one has them chowing down on tacos, but not the street, al pastor kind on every street corner in Mexico. There’s something inherently amusing watching a woman named Lupe be fed a Jack-in-the-Box Breakfast Taco.
Thanks for reading everybody and have a great rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com.