Some clarity has emerged from the incident in which former Bears great Olin Kreutz was fired from a Chicago sports media startup for allegedly assaulting a colleague.
Jeff Agrest of the Chicago Sun-Times reports Kreutz grabbed CHGO co-worker Adam Hoge’s neck after Hoge made a “flippant remark” at a staff meeting on Monday. Hoge reportedly did not require treatment or file a police report.
Hoge, a veteran on the Bears beat who recently left NBC Sports Chicago for upstart CHGO, returned to the network’s YouTube show Tuesday. He did not address the incident with Kreutz.
On Monday, CHGO announced that Kreutz — who stands at 6-foot-2 and weighed 292 pounds during his playing days — had “physically attacked” an unnamed employee and that the ex-Bears center would no longer be employed by the network.
The former offensive lineman responded with a meme of Mike Tyson saying that, “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”
Kreutz played for the Bears from 1998 through 2010. His temper got the better of him in fights with teammates in both college and the pros.
“Twice, he has cracked the jaws of teammates in disputes,” the Washington Post reported in 2007. “The first was at Washington when he punched Sekou Wiggs after a practice argument — a shot that smashed the jaw in two places, requiring it to be wired shut for months. The other came last year when he got into a fight with Bears offensive lineman Fred Miller at an FBI shooting range. Miller missed only a game. Three times Kreutz has been to anger management training.”
The 44-year-old remains an on-air talent at NBC Sports Chicago and 670 the Score.
“We’re aware of the situation, and we’re looking into it,” Kevin Cross, president of NBC Sports Chicago told the Sun Times.
