Thank God his torture of going to press conferences in the French Quarter for the Super Bowl is almost over! You know he has been going for 35 straight years of just plain hell and he has been able to survive another one!

Of course he is not going to complain about how terrible these things are for him, except when he hosts for Larry or when he is on with BB and Mac and Spiegs! But he is not going to complain...

And of course he has regular conversations with Jim Harbaugh because he is not just a writer to Jim, they are close personal friends because Jim lived 3 blocks from him when Harbaugh played for the Bears and Hub knows him personally (20 years ago), not like all the other scum reporters who want to ask him silly football questions, about the dumb Super Bowl.

Hub, your level of being a pompous twit has reached new heights this week! Why dont we talk about some of your great calls, like Dick Jauron will be a head coach in this league with another team for a long time, or the KC Chiefs in the Super Bowl this year...or my favorite...To not put PFW online until 2 years ago! Nice call on that last one! Maybe you can tell us how Twitter and Facebook are bad for your business too?

Hub, you pseudo intellectual whose Daddy gave you a business and you never played ball anywhere that any of us can find,, Who you crappin!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

u mad

You guys don't know the real Hub!

http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/99 ... oring.html

RIVERWOODS — A father’s untimely death. An FBI inquiry. An NFL work stoppage. Bankruptcy.

Hub Arkush has endured obstacles the size of William “The Refrigerator” Perry at Pro Football Weekly, the national newspaper co-founded by his father, Arthur, in 1967. But a big investment in digital media — including $130,000 for video equipment at its Riverwoods headquarters, which helps the creation of three dozen Internet videos a week during football season — is turning into a touchdown for America’s largest publication devoted solely to pro football.
In the past 18 months, Pro Football Weekly has spent more than $2 million on digital media, prompted in part by investor GateHouse Media. Arkush counts more than 17 million video views a month from its Web offerings, and a number of apps — Pro Football Insider, Fantasy Football, and Best NFL Draft — have been created.

“For the first time in 30 years, we’re ahead of everyone,” said Arkush, publisher/editor of Pro Football Weekly. “ESPN and Yahoo! want to partner with us.”

Back when pro football games were mainly contested in baseball stadiums, Pro Football Weekly also served as a trend-setter. The company created the first computerized set of NFL statistics in 1976. It had previously published the first independent NFL draft rankings in 1970.

“For 20 years, we were the only ones doing draft rankings,” Arkush recalled. “During early ESPN coverage of the draft, you’d see people holding on to our magazine.”
Despite his father’s position, there was no guarantee Arkush would join the family business. The Deerfield High graduate attended Southern Illinois University for a spell, where he ended up “a third- or fourth-string football player.” He transferred to the University of Michigan and, after graduating in 1976, considered law school. Instead, he found himself working at Michigan’s animal medicine spot.

Ultimately, he decided to join Pro Football Weekly as a circulation manager, and he did end up focusing on animals — Bears, Lions, Bengals and others.

“We were a five- or six-man shop. I had no formal journalism training, but I was an English major,” recounted Arkush.

But in 1979, his father passed away unexpectedly while jogging. Hub’s brother, Dan Arkush, took over editorial, while Hub donned the publisher’s hat.

“We didn’t know what we were doing. I was 26,” Hub said.

The principal investor in Pro Football Weekly then was Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, which some considered a conflict of interest, given the publication covered the Raiders among 27 other NFL teams at the time. Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom was an investor, too, but he died under mysterious circumstances a few weeks after Hub’s father.

“The business always struggled. The business always was undercapitalized,” said Arkush, though he noted his father cleaned up the lion’s share of debt before he died.

In fact, the publication made money the first year after his father’s death, mainly from a circulation promotion. But soon, the 1982 NFL players’ strike nearly decimated the company.

“The 50- to 60-day work stoppage just killed us,” Arkush said. “I was begging our vendors to be patient.”

By 1985, Arkush was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Pro Football Weekly didn’t publish that season. Later, Arkush bought the assets through bankruptcy court. In the 1990s, Primedia purchased the magazine, but the fit was unclear.

“They had 204 publications, and most were glossy. We were a weekly tabloid,” Arkush said.

Early in the 21st century, Arkush bought the magazine back from Primedia and raised $1 million in two weeks from private investors and from Liberty Publishing, Pro Football Weekly’s printer. The magazine had started doing better on the advertising side, procuring spots from offshore gaming companies. Those ads, in fact, represented more than 50 percent of ad revenue.

But in September, 2003, an FBI agent appeared unannounced.

“He said, ‘You have done business with offshore gaming companies. You need to cease and desist,’” Arkush said. “We said we weren’t doing anything illegal. We gave them a schedule to phase them out after 18 months. They said we would have to cease and desist. Our lawyer said we would win in 10 to 12 years, and we’d be bankrupted three times over.” Pro Football Weekly jettisoned the ads.

Today PFW attracts more than 100,000 loyal readers, from league executives in New York City to football fans on the West Coast, from sports bettors to fantasy players.

As Arkush worked to keep Pro Football Weekly viable over the decades, he expanded into media beyond print. Pro Football Weekly On TV is celebrating its 25th season, and it now runs three times a week on Fox Sports Net and Comcast Sports Net . Pro Football Weekly On Radio, started in 1987, is broadcast on more than 100 stations in the United States.

On his own, Arkush also works Sunday-night NFL games as a sideline reporter for Westwood One radio. He serves as an NFL analyst for WSCR-AM, The Score, in Chicago. Many remember Arkush in the Bears’ broadcast booth, where he became a color commentator in 1987. He broadcast scores of games featuring the Lake Forest-based franchise before being removed in favor of a two-man crew on WBBM-AM in 2005.

“I grew up a Bears fan. To end up in their broadcast booth was a very unique thing,” Arkush said. “Dick Butkus and I were broadcast partners. What’s cooler than that? I know how lucky I’ve been.”

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Bigfan is wrong again about another great Chicago entrepenuer.

Jealousy is worn well by no one.

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What am I wrong about ? Him being a total Douche this week?

or the fact that he was Wayyy ahead of everyone else at one time and he blew it.

Seacrest (If that is your name) I was the biggest PFW fan around. They had stats like no other. Rankings of every team in every stat, that came out every single week. These guys were the only ones doing it for 20 years...then Hub chose not to get into the Web business. (it's just a fad)

Plus, you have no idea what %'s all these investors have of his business. Going to say it is quite a large %...thus the side gigs....

Hub had almost a monopoly on this kind of weekly rag. They had and might still do, the best draft coverage, the most indepth stats. He just lost that strangleghold, when everyone could get the stats and stories Sunday night, instead of Wednesday in the mail!

And I was very aware of his BK's, investors, etc...know a few people that are owed some $$$'s from those BK's and people who have invested since.

Sometimes you have a really good product and despite your foolishness, it makes money. See the Cubs and the Bears. But the fact remains you could have made a ton more and done so much better.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

It is my name here.

The guy had a great gig going and the FBI walks in and tells him to cease and desist.

I've had a very similiar experience. And to say it's terrifying is the understatement of the year. So he ends up broke, files BK and begins all over again. Other than the BK part, my story is very similiar. I admire the fact that he kept plugging on instead of quitting.

When you take chances in life, sometimes things go bust. You choose to condemn folks for that, my experience has been the opposite.

If you never lost your ass on a deal, or went belly up, I'm happy for you.

If you did and made it back, you have my heartfelt congratulations.

But at least consider the possibility that your life can always be better and that your mistakes, or what other folks call failure, can actually be the best things that ever happen to you or anyone else.

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Is it all that great a gig if the entire business is based in advertising from low end businesses? They should have been able to have beer, soda, car and just about any other advertiser who promotes the NFL product in their magazine.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

PFW didnt go BK because of the FBI...actually if you read the article you realize what a bad businessman HUB is.

The FBI shows up and tells you to stop doing business with WSEX.com (That was the company) and your response is that you will phase out their ads over 18 months? Cmon? You stop doing business with them because you are aware of the entire backstory with WSEX, it's owners and the US government. You don't need a lawyer, you know what you did and you stop!

The first BK, that one you can chalk up to not knowing how to run the business or where to go for help. but he was 26..and remember...a Michigan man

But once again the point of the Db of the week was him telling us normal folk of how bad going to media day at the Super Bowl was, and how he has this close personal relationship with a guy who lived 3 blocks from him 20 years ago!

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

So is Hub wealthy or is he like North where he has to cobble together all these jobs to make a living? He grew up in Deerfield and continues to live in the affluent suburbs. I always figured Hub was rolling in generational wealth.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He has done well. They had a great run in the 90's, he lost his advantage when the web popped. He was Mr.'I want nothing to do with it" Since he came so late to the party he is just starting to see the revenue. The problem is that a huge % of that revenue is no longer all his, thats why he takes the side gigs. He keeps that.

I think he has a great product and has done a poor job of managing it.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

What happened with Hub and the FBI?

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

WSEX.com World Sports Exchange....one of the first online wagering guys, down in Antigua, they used to advertise in PFW and the FBI wanted to get these guys bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Sports_Exchange

One of the owners, Jay cohen, wanted to get gambling legalized and as a pioneer of this campaign, he was No1 on the FBI list...and if Hub didnt know that...then he really is an idiot!

They used to have full page ads in PFW and would get you an ATM card! So if you won money, just go to the ATM and Pull your money out. FBI didnt like that.

So the FBI went to PFW (and I am sure 100's of other companies) and told them to stop.

yet, Hub makes it sound like he was singled out by the FBI and a SWAT team showed up. Very North like of Hub.

WSEX was featured on inside sports on HBO...and they used to have a great Sports futures market

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Yeah, the cease and desist was most likely just a letter but Hub has it as guys in black suits and sunglasses showing up on his front door. Also, no lawyer told him it would take 10-12 years. He would have continued taking the money, the Justice Department would have taken him to court, his attorneys would have gotten an injunction against them stopping him and the case would have proceeded at a brisk pace in the federal court.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Hub , fucking Drama Queen!

Maybe Seacrest can enlighten us a little more on the Cease and Desist when they broke down Hubs front door and Hub has managed to keep his business in working order.

If Seacrest wants the story of a guy with great info , who did it the right way and hub wishes he could have come close, Jon Dewan starts STATS in his basement in 1992? by himself, sells it for $30 mill and opens a baseball camp and another baseball info solutions.

Hub had that kind of information and stats in the 80's and didnt know what to do with it.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

You grew up in Winnetka and life was made easy for you. I don't envy you. I'm pretty sure that Hub doesn't either.

I find Hub's story of some interest. He made mistakes like the rest of us. That doesn't appear to be your story. Congratulations.

I'll let you get back to playing Monday Morning QB now.

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1. I didnt grow up in Winnetka but we all know everyone from Winnetka is rich and set for life.
2. You have no clue of what my life was
3. Hub made his mistake out of his own pompous thoughts of doing nothing. SO he didnt go for it and lose, he did nothing because he thought he was better then the rest. Just like when he doesnt like going to Press conferences and makes them sound like torture.
4. You fell for his FBI cease and decease crap....nice business sense.
5. I am sure Hub had a hard life in Deerfield and then U of Michigan .

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

1. Ok
2. You and Hub are even
3. Hub made a mistake. I don't know you but you seem to be an expert on Hub
4. Now you are judging me too. You are a real expert on other people's lives. Congrats again.
5. This has no relevance to the conversation. None.

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Man, the feds are really ramping up the threats.

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Well Seacrest, in your own Words "The guy had a great gig going and the FBI walks in and tells him to cease and desist."

So you thought he was shut down by the feds and came back from this tragic event. Which is what he wanted you to think.

As GD pointed it, it not only didnt happen, it was probably nothing more than a letter to stop taking ad money from one client.

...but I am sure you have another take on this

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

What? You don't believe the FBI doesn't walk in and harass people all the time? Geez.

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Middle Aged Crazy, like Uncle Terry

I found some never before seen pictures of that fateful day so many years ago....poor Hub would never be the same.

I can't really blame him for that. Even Bill Gates thought the Internet was a fad and didn't understand that it would eventually become the desktop. Larry Ellison knew that a long time ago. Gates had to scramble and use unfair trade practices to regain market share he should and could have have easily locked up from Netscape. And then Microsoft was slow to recognize that the new "desktop" would not really sit on a desk and they have probably put themselves in a hole that will be impossible to climb out of in spite of the huge advantage they could have had by linking the PC to the smartphone in the first place. So even now that they are doing it and the new Windows phone is a great product, they are probably too far behind to ever catch up.

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The Court will accord substantial deference to the government's immigration policies, particularly those that implicate matters of national security.

What I saw GD point out was that every lawyer will take you for as much cash as they can, for as long as they can. He thinks some things based upon his own worldview which is strikingly similiar to yours.

So let me put a bow on this for everyone.

Hub was late to the internet party and even misread the situation costing himself a lot of money.

I'm posting on a site to a guy who had the forethought to start a site, but didn't charge anyone for advertising here for a number of years missing out on potential revenue himself.

Did I miss anything other than the interpretation of the FBI visit?

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So, I think the real question is, what did Hub have to do with the untimely deaths of Misters Arkush, Rosenbloom, Davis and President Lincoln?

These are the questions that should be asked.

Yes, one guy it's his living, the other guy it's a hobby. Little bit of a difference,

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

So in conclusion, you will accept mistakes from people who are hobbyists, but not from people in business?

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The conclusion would be he has been a douchebag this week complaining about going to the Super Bowl to do his job, even though he didnt want to, because we all know it would be terrible and none of us would want to go.

Mistakes are fine, especially when done in an attempt to do something good. When the mistake was just thinking you didnt need something like 'the Web' after failing twice before, for no specific reason...Not impressed at all. You might be, I am not.

Picking the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl, doesnt say much either.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

When people step out and take chances in life, sometimes they fail. That's the lesson here.

You don't stray too far from the sidewalk. I understand that.

Those that do are always at risk of being judged by those that don't.

"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

"Citizenship in a Republic," Theodore Roosevelt

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