Quenneville might be out as coach of the Panthers. | Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

There’s plenty of disgrace to go around, but Quenneville will carry an extra-large share. He had the stature to stand up to John McDonough or anyone else and raise his voice so there was no mistaking it.

Joel Quenneville is 31 victories shy of going where only one NHL coach has gone before. Ironically, that coach was Scotty Bowman, whose son, Stan, stepped down as Blackhawks general manager Tuesday amid a sexual-assault scandal that has rocked the organization and outraged the public. The elder Bowman worked for the Hawks, too, when former video coach Brad Aldrich allegedly assaulted then-prospect Kyle Beach in 2010 and the Hawks, according to an independent investigation conducted by Chicago law firm Jenner & Block, failed to take appropriate action in what amounted to a cover-up.

Never has the titanic No. 1,000 looked so small and inconsequential as it does as Quenneville closes in on it. Here’s hoping he never gets there. Here’s hoping the coach known as “Q” remains stuck on 969 — with an asterisk for a grave, inexcusable failure — forever.

The three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Hawks has the resume of a living legend but, after a damning investigation, a Q rating that has never been lower. This won’t soon change after it was revealed that he met privately with then-president John McDonough, Stan Bowman, assistant GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and other team executives after the Western Conference finals in 2010 and prioritized focusing on a title chase above protecting a 20-year-old player — and potentially others — by cutting off Aldrich from the team while dutifully confronting the allegations against him.

Rumors and initial reports began to swirl late Thursday that Quenneville, 63, had been fired by the Panthers, his latest team.

Fans here once loved Quenneville — revered him — for his stoic, no-nonsense, unflappable ways. No matter what swirled around him and a star-studded team that blew up into a dynasty, Quenneville was all about the next game, the next practice, the next shift. Throw in a famous mustache, and he was a distinctly impressive figure who always seemed to give the Hawks an edge. But if all that led to his success, it also seems to have led to his defining failure.

That failure continued Wednesday, when Quenneville inexplicably was allowed to coach his unbeaten Panthers and collect “W” No. 969. A day later, he was in New York meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, potential punishment uncertain. Cheveldayoff, now GM of the Jets, was to meet with Bettman on Friday.

Public reaction to Quenneville coaching Wednesday was swift and severe: What were the Panthers and the NHL thinking? But an equally relevant question: Why didn’t Quenneville himself think better of it?

Call it a simple Q&A, and the answer is that’s just who he is. And who, it turns out, he isn’t.

Meanwhile, the tide of public opinion seems to have turned entirely against an organization that watched Beach come and — deeply damaged, if not broken — go. Franchise icons Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane are among those who are being shredded on social media. That itself is an interesting thing to think about and a complicated thing to talk about honestly.

It’s clear that Toews and Kane — the only players still active from that 2010 Cup run — didn’t actively stand for an assaulted teammate or against a predator in the building. But it’s unclear how much they knew and when they knew it. It’s also true that Toews was 22 and Kane 21 at the time of Beach’s alleged assault, and it’s just not intellectually honest to suggest that’s irrelevant.

“I thought what I’d heard,” Toews said Wednesday, “was the beginning and the end of it. … I thought Brad being let go or resigning from the organization was the way that it was dealt with.”

A 33-year-old player, as Toews is now, might have more maturity, wisdom and perspective to bring to bear. Quenneville, on the other hand, was 51 — a 500-game winner who’d taken 11 teams in three NHL cities to the playoffs — when he decided, the investigation found, to keep his Cup-focused blinders on. For a man with teenagers at home at the time, there seemingly was no instinct to protect players young enough to be his own sons.

Worse still, Quenneville appears to have lied about what he knew and when he knew it. He told the AP in July of this year — after Beach filed a lawsuit against the Hawks — that he’d “first learned of these allegations through the media earlier this summer.”

The investigation concluded Quenneville was well informed in 2010. Beach told Canadian network TSN this week there was “absolutely no way [Quenneville could] deny knowing it.”

There’s plenty of disgrace to go around, but Quenneville will carry an extra-large share. He was the coach. He had the stature to stand up to McDonough or anyone else and raise his voice so there was no mistaking it.

“If I see Aldrich within 50 rinks of one of my players ever again, every one of you will regret it,” is the sort of thing Quenneville might find himself wishing he had said.

But he didn’t, so here’s a piece of advice — call it a Q tip — for a coach who utterly blew it:

Just go away.

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Arlington International Racecourse at 2200 Euclid Ave. in Arlington Heights. The Chicago Bears have a deal to purchase the 326-acre parcel. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Bears representatives so far have only said that the team is performing its “due diligence” in exploring the potential for a new stadium at the 326-acre suburban plot.

The CEO of the gambling corporation selling Arlington International Racecourse to the Chicago Bears said Thursday he expects the team to build “a world-class stadium” at the storied northwest suburban site.

In the first public comments from an executive on either side of the bombshell $197 million sale agreement announced last month, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen expressed remorse for the loss of one sport at the Arlington Heights oval and excitement for the possible introduction of another.

“Although we are sad to close Arlington Park and would have loved to continue racing and investing in the region, we believe that the Chicago Bears will ultimately develop this prime real estate into a world-class stadium and development, with numerous amenities for fans and residents to enjoy over the coming decades,” Carstanjen said during a quarterly earnings call.

Bears representatives so far have only said that the team is performing its “due diligence” in exploring the potential for a new stadium at the 326-acre plot, where the final thoroughbred races were held a few days before the sale was announced Sept. 29.

Carstanjen called the decision to sell Arlington “a comment on the archaic racing laws that really haven’t been changed in a material way in [Illinois] in 30-plus years, and no longer worked.”

In fact, those laws changed drastically in 2019 with the passage of a massive gambling expansion that allows horse racing tracks to become “racinos” with slot machines and table games as a means of supplementing dwindling purses for the state’s struggling horse racing industry. Churchill Downs had lobbied for that privilege for decades alongside other gambling interests, only to pass on the opportunity, blaming high taxes.

Charles Rex Arbogast/AP file
Spirit One, right, from France, ridden by Loritz Mendizabal, leads the Arlington Million pack at Arlington International Racecourse in 2008.

Carstanjen dismissed that legislation, saying “it wasn’t really passed in a form that was enough to make up for the racing paradigm in the state.”

So instead of investing in the 93-year-old track, the Lousiville-based corporation is opting to sell it to the Bears, who outbid a group led by former Arlington International Racecourse president Roy Arnold that wanted to keep the ponies running.

Despite a Daily Herald report that another racing-minded group was courting the Bears about resuming racing, the team is “not pursuing any horse racing opportunities on the site,” Bears spokesman Scott Hagel said in an email.

The sale is not expected to close until late 2022 or early 2023, contingent on the team receiving approvals from officials in the suburb. Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes said last week that his office has held preliminary meetings with team representatives, but that the Bears have yet to lay out specific visions for the land.

Mark Welsh/Daily Herald
Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes at Arlington International Racecourse.

The team would be on the hook for about $87 million if they were to break its lease at Soldier Field after the estimated five years it could take to finish building a suburban dome.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has beckoned the organization back to the bargaining table in a bid to keep them on the lakefront. The team has expressed interest in opening a sportsbook at the aging stadium, but Lightfoot has been cool on that idea as her office also tries to attract developers for a full-blown casino in the city.

Carstanjen said Churchill Downs will not be one of the bidders for that casino license. Applications are due to Lightfoot’s office Friday.

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Cassie Beck stars in the North American tour of “What The Constitution Means To Me.” | Joan Marcus

A highly entertaining, deeply informative and ultimately hopeful examination of the document that impacts every single one of us, every single day of our lives.

In the second half of playwright Heidi Schreck’s remarkable exploration of the United States Constitution, she cites a statistic that’s jaw-dropping. Since the start of the 21st century, more U.S. women have been killed by their male partners than all the Americans killed in wars.

It’s shocking, until you consider the context provided by the 100-minute, Tony Award-winning “What the Constitution Means to Me.” As the production running through Nov. 21 at the Broadway Playhouse makes clear, we’re talking about a document designed to serve and protect men who owned property, property that included other human beings. It’s tempting to minimize the White Supremacy baked into the Founders work. After all, the Constitution was written centuries ago. We’ve changed so much since then.

But have things changed all that much if men are still killing their female partners in numbers that overtake war casualties and reach the level of a public health crisis? Sort of, according to Schreck’s highly entertaining, deeply informative and ultimately hopeful examination of the document that impacts every single one of us, every single day of our lives.

Directed by Oliver Butler, and set within the confines of an American Legion Hall, the fourth-wall-demolishing, autobiographical play stars Cassie Beck as Schreck. She has the audience in hand from the start, when she asks all male property owners to raise their hands. Everybody else in the theater? Sorry, the Founders said you don’t count, we’re told. At least not as much, Beck-as-Schreck explains before explicating a roster of historical judicial decisions proving the statement, starting with the Dred Scott decision and continuing to present day.

The playwright knows her stuff: At 15, Schreck traveled the country debating other teens about elements of the U.S. Constitution, earning enough prize money to pay for college. On stage, she’s overseen by an unnamed “legionnaire” (Mike Iveson) judging her every emotion and every word.

In viewing the U.S. Constitution through the lens of its impact on her family, Schreck shows in graphic terms that violent oppression, ignorance and misogyny have been woven into the Constitution so finely and so thoroughly, that they seem as natural as the air we breathe.

The line between comedy and tragedy in the script is whisker-thin: When the audience hears the (all-male) 1965 Supreme Court attempting to discuss female birth control, it sounds like an outtake from “Love, American Style” starring the Three Stooges. The irony of men who can’t bring themselves to say “I.U.D.” or “uterus” out loud while making the laws governing both is inescapable.

Joan Marcus
Jocelyn Shek (left) and Cassie Beck debate many issues in the North American tour of “What The Constitution Means To Me.”

It’s crucial to stress that “Constitution” is as hilarious as it is harrowing, incongruous as that sounds. Schreck’s family provides a lens for immigration issues, domestic violence and reproductive rights and how they shaped her family, from the great-grandmother who died of “melancholia” in an asylum to Schreck’s abortion generations later.

Set designer Rachel Hauck’s version of an American Legion hall is a canny reminder of the rights and privileges under the microscope: Dozens of photos of men stare down as Schreck battles to earn the approval that will lead to scholarship funds.

The play flags in the finale, when Beck and L.A. high schooler Emilyn Toffler (Jocelyn Shek at some performances) face-off for an extemporaneous debate, moderated by the “legionnaire.”. It’s an impressive but wholly unnecessary display of quick wits and amazing research skills, an addendum that dilutes the power of what preceded it. But these are minor issues; this is a four-star script delivered with power to spare.

That a battle speaks to the heart of who we are, and how we treat each other both now and historically.

Joan Marcus
Mike Iveson portrays the judgmental legionnaire in “What The Constitution Means To Me.”

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Joel Quenneville remains the Panthers coach as of Thursday. | AP Photos

Quenneville met Thursday with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, but there hasn’t been a decision yet.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Three days after an investigation found former Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was involved in the Hawks’ 2010 sexual assault scandal, his seemingly tenuous future as Panthers coach remains unknown.

Quenneville met with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in New York on Thursday. He was accompanied to the meeting by Panthers president Matt Caldwell and general manager Bill Zito, ESPN reported.

But there has been no resolution yet. All options — termination, resignation or suspension — remain on the table, TSN reported.

Ex-Hawks GM Stan Bowman told Jenner & Block investigators that Quenneville lobbied against taking immediate action regarding former Hawks video coach Brad Aldrich’s alleged assault of Kyle Beach during a now-infamous May 2010 meeting of Hawks leadership.

On Wednesday, Beach added to the pressure against Quenneville, saying he witnessed meetings about the assault in Quenneville’s office and that there’s “absolutely no way that he can deny knowing it.”

Meanwhile, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff — a former Hawks assistant GM who was found to have also been in that 2010 cover-up meeting — moved up his scheduled meeting with Bettman to Friday, TSN reported.

Beach: Hawks trying to ‘destroy’ lawsuit

In a new statement Thursday, Beach thanked the hockey community for its “outpouring of endless love and support” this week.

But Beach also said his “battle is really just beginning,” alleging the Hawks “continue to attempt to destroy my case in court.”

The Hawks did file a support to their motion to dismiss Beach’s lawsuit Tuesday. But they said Wednesday that was done only to meet an unfortunately timed, court-mandated deadline and that they do intend to settle the case, with initial talks scheduled with Beach’s lawyer next week.

The legal proceedings have been lengthy and convoluted all summer, so it may take weeks to determine each side’s true intentions moving forward.

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It’s been a difficult week for the Bears. | Kyusung Gong/AP

It’s just one thing after another for the Bears.

Patrick Finley and Mark Potash detail the Bears’ week from hell and pick different winners for Sunday’s game against the 49ers.

New episodes of “Halas Intrigue” will be published regularly with accompanying stories collected on the podcast’s hub page. You can also listen to “Halas Intrigue” wherever you get your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Luminary, Spotify, and Stitcher.

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Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 members and their supporters protested against COVID-19 vaccine mandates outside City Hall on Monday. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell said he will issue his ruling Monday. On Friday, a federal judge could issue a ruling in another lawsuit over the mandate brought by a group of firefighters and water department employees.

A Cook County judge said he will deliver a ruling next week on whether the city must halt its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for police officers.

Judge Raymond Mitchell heard arguments in the case Thursday afternoon from attorneys for the Fraternal Order of Police and the city of Chicago.

The FOP is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the city from enforcing its order requiring all city workers to share their vaccination status on an online portal and submit to twice-weekly testing if they are not fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. All employees must be vaccinated by Jan. 1.

Joel D’Alba, the police union’s attorney, argued an arbitrator is needed to help negotiate the vaccine mandates, and the city should be ordered to stop enforcing its mandate until the matter is resolved.

Mitchell interjected with questions occasionally, such as asking why the FOP is against requiring officers to disclose their vaccination status to the city when they are already “required to supply all kinds of medical information.”

D’Alba said the portal for reporting vaccine status is untrustworthy and is different than how traditional medical records are stored.

The city agreed there was a need to go into arbitration but its attorney said it needs to be able to enforce the citywide mandate for its employees.

But Mitchell said this current mandate presents a unique issue in this labor dispute if arbitration isn’t complete by Jan. 1. How can an officer seek remedy through arbitration if they’ve already been vaccinated?

“With regard to reporting and testing — an arbitrator decides that wasn’t proper, [and then] the reports, the tests can be purged but the vaccine can’t. That can’t be undone,” Mitchell said. “Isn’t there a real risk that the plaintiffs will, if you will, not lose their day in court but lose their way in a meaningful arbitration if they have to submit to the vaccine before the arbitrator has adjudicated their claims?”

Michael Warner, an attorney for the city, said that risk doesn’t justifies issuing a restraining order. If an officer doesn’t want to get a vaccine, they would be placed on a no-pay status — which is not the same as being suspended or fired — and wait until an arbitrator rules.

Mitchell said his ruling will be issued Monday afternoon. On Friday, a special meeting of the City Council has been called in an attempt to force a vote on an ordinance that would repeal the mayor’s vaccination order.

Meanwhile, a group of Chicago firefighters and water department employees have gone to federal court to challenge the vaccine mandates from City Hall and Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Their bid to block those mandates is set for a potential ruling Friday before U.S. District Judge John Lee.

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The Chicago Bulls are the surprise team of the NBA starting the 2021 season 4-0 for the first time since 1996. Next up is the much improved 3-1 New York Knicks- making this the marquee match up of the evening. While the Bulls have started the season undefeated, they have had the luxury of facing […] Chicago Bulls: Upcoming schedule will be a great benchmark – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & MoreRead More

Chris Tabor has been the Bears’ special teams coordinator since 2018. | David Richard/AP

If Nagy, who tested positive for the coronavirus Monday, isn’t cleared by Sunday, Tabor will handle challenges, timeouts, going for it on fourth downs and other head-coaching duties.

The Bears are on the brink of having special teams coordinator Chris Tabor run the team Sunday against the 49ers, and he was already in full head coach mode during his press conference Thursday morning.

Among the many questions Tabor dodged was what his coaching style will be when it comes to overarching game-day decisions like whether to go for it on fourth downs. His 10 minutes on the mic were every bit as exasperating as coach Matt Nagy’s sessions have been lately.

“If I gave you how I really feel about everything, I guess it wouldn’t be much of a surprise [on game day],” Tabor said. “So I guess we’ll just have to pull off on that one.”

One more titillating mystery for the 49ers to ponder. They’ll have to study the 2001 Culver-Stockton College Wildcats to get a glimpse of Tabor’s tendencies. In nearly three decades of coaching in high school, college and the pros, that was Tabor’s one season as head coach.

And he actually did pretty well. The Wildcats went 6-5 in NAIA play, putting up their first winning season in 25 years, and broke the school record for points in a season. You should’ve seen the 54-21 thumping they laid on William Jewell College.

Considering the Bears are 30th in the NFL at 14.4 points per game, maybe they could borrow a page from whatever worked so well for Tabor’s Eagles.

“I learned things from learning how to line the field to ordering the equipment to leading a team and handling different situations,” Tabor said. “I got a little taste of that, and you know if something ever happens down the road, you always feel like you’ve been prepared by what’s happened in the past.”

It seems unlikely that much from that experience will translate to coaching an NFL game 20 years later, but maybe Tabor has a killer pre-game speech he’s been waiting to deliver.

He had zero interest in discussing his current head-coaching duties, preferring to stick to his usual purview of special teams — which hasn’t been going great — and maintaining that Nagy is still steering the Bears despite testing positive for coronavirus and having to work remotely.

As Tabor portrayed it, Nagy is still doing almost all his normal duties other than conducting practice. Nagy said he watches live via an iPad.

Nagy said Wednesday he had no idea how soon he might be back, which implied that he had yet to test negative. He must do so twice, 24 hours apart, to be cleared to rejoin the team. If that doesn’t happen by Sunday, Tabor will fill in for him.

Most of the basics will stay the same. Tabor isn’t about to switch back to Andy Dalton at quarterback or take play calling back from offensive coordinator Bill Lazor or anything crazy like that.

But he will oversee plenty that will be new to him. He’ll be in charge of timeouts, challenges and big decisions like going for it on fourth down or springing a trick play in a crucial spot.

“If that ever came up, you’ve always been preparing yourself your whole life to do that,” Tabor said. “I’ve watched a lot of football games and have thought about those types of things, so if it ever did come up, put yourself in a good position to help the team.”

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