Northwestern's Randy Walker dead

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010806/ai_n13918597

 

As is his career-spanning custom, he carried on this diatribe for months on end. He wanted Walker lynched at high noon in the middle of Lake Shore Drive.

 

I didn't think that column was too bad, esp by Jay's standards and what he would write later.

 

As noted above, he carried on for months in his usual hysterical-screeching-banshee fashion. Maybe years, considering the court case did drag on, as those things tend to do.

 

This question of how to handle this is one of the more interesting things on here recently, I think. Is this Wheeler thing a huge part of his obit? If so, how is it different from what happened when other coaches had deaths? Bobby Bowden had one (rememer the Gary Smith article about the Darling twins). So did the Vikings (under Dennis Green, right?)
Is it just that this is the only thing we know him for (especially if you're not a Big 10 guy)?
Is it fair to call this lady who hates him?
I'm asking....

 

Is it the biggest part of his career? No. I like how I've seen it handled so far by the media: passing mention of the situation and the way he handled it. But to not mention Rashidi Wheeler's death at all is an omission, because Walker was such a focal point of it.

That whole situation became quite chaotic very quickly, with Jesse Jackson getting involved and Johnny Cochran as counsel for the mother, who went on a psycho courtroom bender to the point where the judge sanctioned her. Add Mariotti's continuous spew of calling for Walker's head. Bobby Bowden didn't go through all that.

But the most impressive thing is that the school - the AD and president - backed Walker 110%. They could have thrown him under the bus when faced with a multi-million dollar lawsuit and NCAA investigation, but they didn't. I think that fact should be a large part of his obit, and it was alluded to in today's press conference.