Author: Jack

Today is the winter solstice; in the Northern Hemisphere, this is the shortest day and the longest night of the year.  This astronomical phenomenon happens every year.  That regularity reminded me to look back at this day in 2020 to see what was happening in the sports world then; sadly, that retrospective has an eerie angle to it.

Last year on December 21^st, the NHL and the NHLPA had come to an agreement about how and when they would start a long-delayed NHL regular season.  They had a start date and they decided to separate the Canadian and the US teams into separate divisions and that there would not be any “cross-border games” due to the pandemic.

So, what is going on in the NHL on December 21^st of this year?  Well, the league and the players’ union are still dealing with scheduling issues relative to the pandemic.

• The NHL has postponed all cross-border games from last Sunday through Thursday of this week due to travel restrictions.  There are 12 games involved in this postponement action bringing the total number of postponed games in the NHL this season to 39.
• The Detroit Red Wings have had a sharp outbreak of covid-positive tests and the league has shut down that franchise completely through December 26^th.  The facilities are shut, and players have been sent home for the Holidays.
• In a separate – but related – set of negotiations, the NHL and the NHLPA have agreed that NHL players will not take part in the Beijing Winter Olympic Games in February 2022.  In addition to giving the league more flexibility for rescheduling postponed games – the number is likely to grow from the current 39 games – the abstinence from the Olympics offers another potential benefit.  Imagine if a bunch of NHL players went to China and tested positive over there; that could trigger quarantine restrictions imposed by the Chinese government and possibly by the US and/or Canadian governments as the players finally come home.  That could be disastrous for the current NHL season.

Having seen the fact that the NHL was experiencing covid issues similar to ones they had to deal with a year ago, my mind began to think about the other major US sports and what their status is now.  MLB is in a state of blissful ignorance with regard to covid these days.  There is a lockout; there are no team activities; everyone is focused on CBA negotiations or the lack of CBA negotiations.  To the extent that anyone involved with MLB or the MLBPA is concerned about scheduling issues, that concern would be focused on when the next baseball season might start and how many games will it have.  In terms of covid, baseball is unaffected.

The NBA folks are probably nervous today.  There has been an uptick in the number of covid-positive tests for players forcing the postponement of 5 games this week.  The Bulls had a team outbreak and had to postpone two of their games from last week and one report I read said that the Nets currently have 10 players in the league’s “health and safety protocol” including the Nets’ Big Three of Kevin Durant, James Harden and the recently activated and unvaccinated Kyrie Irving.  That information alone would cause concern for the league and the players, but the timing of this increase in positive covid tests comes just as the NBA gets ready for its annual Christmas Day extravaganza.

Christmas Day has become a showcase for the NBA; for many folks, it is a turning point in their sports calendar; that is when the NBA begins to ascend in importance for many folks with 5 games on TV from about noon to midnight in the Eastern Time Zone.  Teams selected to play on Christmas Day are seen as “the chosen ones”.  The NBA does not want to have to postpone any of those 5 games on Christmas Day and TV execs surely do not want that to happen either because those games bring nice ratings to ESPN and ABC; however, with the Nets’ “Big Three” in the protocol along with Giannis, games involving the Nets and/or the Bucks will not be nearly as compelling.  Yes, both the Nets and the Bucks are scheduled for Christmas Day and if there are no “special circumstances” found regarding star players, they will not be active on Christmas Day.

The most obvious way for the NBA to get out of this situation is to reduce the number of covid tests it administers to its players, coaches and staff.  Fewer tests will not mean a thing related to the spread of the virus, but it will trigger fewer players in the protocols and more players on the floor.  I certainly do not advocate this as an appropriate league response to the situation, but I would not be surprised if that idea had not crossed Adam Silver’s and Michelle Roberts’ minds.

And what of the NFL?  Well, last weekend was the first time there were enough players on several teams testing positive that the league had to postpone games by two days.  There will be two games played today – a Tuesday.  That is a significant schedule burp for the NFL.  Moreover, it comes at a time when the NFL has announced that it has indeed cut back on its testing frequency for asymptomatic players.  Moreover, the league is considering the display of symptoms to be necessary for a player to e ineligible to play; that means – potentially – that a covid-positive player could be on the field if he does not have a fever, cough, etc.  Given the nature of football and the amount of “close contact” involved in a football game, it would seem to me that such a situation would be advantageous for viral spread.

Over the past year, we seem to have done what the Earth has done over the past year; we have traversed a large circle and come back to a similar place.  This coronavirus and its multitudinous variants have not been eradicated or even contained.  It appears that the latest variant is more communicable than the original virus but not nearly as deadly.  We understand the means by which we can mitigate the spread of the virus but not prevent that spread.  And all of those bumps in the road along the great circular journey we have taken with the virus has led to a lot of “Covid-fatigue”.  It seems to me that a lot of people are just “tuning out” and taking the stance that they want life to be as it used to be, and they want no more restrictions or CDC recommendations or the like.  That may be a tolerable path for many to follow in a situation where the omicron variant is less deadly than others – – but what about the next mutant strain???

Finally, we have come this full circle full of experience from the journey; so, let me close with this observation by Ambrose Bierce:

“Experience, n:  The wisdom that enables us to recognize as an undesirable old acquaintance the folly that we have already embraced.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Like the song says, I am going to be “Talkin’ Baseball” today – – but not about Willie, Mickey and the Duke.  I have commented before that the NY Mets have seemingly had a very difficult time finding someone to be their President of Baseball Operations; they have been searching for someone to take that job for about a year now.  The idea expressed by new owner Steve Cohen when he closed on the purchase of the team was to hire that Team President who would then assemble a management team under him of a GM and then a Field Manager.

According to Albert Einstein:

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

Using that yardstick, Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson must be awfully smart, because they just changed course radically.  About a month ago, they announced that they will not hire anyone as a Team President but would only look for a structure with a GM to hire a Field Manager.  They accomplished that task several weeks ago and announced their new field manager last week.  Buck Showalter will take over the NY Mets once MLB gets back to business.  I think this has the potential to be a brilliant hire on the part of the Mets – – and simultaneously, it has the potential to end very badly.  Let me explain…

Buck Showalter is 65 years old; this is Showalter’s fifth MLB managerial job.  He is definitely an “old-school” baseball lifer.  One of the first challenges he has with this job will be dealing with the team’s new owner.  More than a few baseball reporters have suggested that one of the major stumbling blocks the Mets have faced in finding new executives for the Front Office has been a sense that Steve Cohen is going to be a “difficult boss” who loves to use Twitter.

The good news here is that Showalter has been there and done that – – minus the bit about Twitter – – because his first managerial job was with the Yankees when George Steinbrenner owned and operated the team.  It is almost frightening to think of what Steinbrenner might have done with a Twitter account, but Showalter managed the Yankees from 1992 until 1994 in the aftermath of the strike that year that canceled the World Series.  So, the good news is that Showalter has had experience compartmentalizing his dealings with a mercurial boss and his dealings with the team on the field.  The bad news is that if Cohen and Showalter do not get along to the point where Showalter gets fired after public clashes, it will cement Cohen’s reputation as a “difficult boss”.

• [Aside:  Showalter also managed the Orioles for 9 years dealing with owner Peter Angelos for an extended period of time in the process.  I remember a former colleague saying that after dealing with Steinbrenner and Angelos, Buck Showalter should have a surplus of Grace on the books when he meets St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.]

Another challenge for Showalter is the pitching staff the team has assembled for him.  The Mets’ starting rotation could be spectacular with Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer as the #1 and #2 starters – – in whichever order you prefer.  However, an old school baseball guy might recall the 1948 Boston Braves whose pitching staff was characterized famously as:

• Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.

You cannot doubt the skills of either deGrom or Scherzer if you have paid even a little attention to baseball over the past several years but there are question marks that should not be ignored:

• deGrom will be 34 years old in mid-June.  In 2021 he was only able to start 15 games for the Mets.  The reported diagnosis was a strain of the ulnar collateral ligament.  For those who are uninterested in anatomy and physiology, that is the ligament that is the “Tommy John Ligament”.  The existence of the major league lockout prevents deGrom from dealing with the team doctors and trainers as they work on rehab that would – hopefully – obviate a second Tommy John surgery for deGrom; he had that operation back in 2010.
• Scherzer will be 38 years old in late July.  In the playoffs last year, he had to be replaced as the starter for the Dodgers because he said he had “overcooked his arm” in a previous game.  Scherzer has been in the major leagues for 14 seasons and has pitched over 2500 innings during his career.

Certainly, there is no need to panic there – – but managing the pitching rotation could become a challenge for Showalter as the season progresses.

I think a third challenge – and potentially the biggest one – for Showalter will be dealing with the return of Robinson Cano to the clubhouse.  Cano missed all of the 2021 season on suspension for a failed PED test.  I will stipulate that Showalter’s previous managerial times will give him background skills for dealing with this kind of situation, but Cano could provide a burr under Showalter’s saddle outside the realm of his integration into the club house.

As I said, Showalter is an “old school” baseball lifer.  Cano is not renowned for his hustle; when he hits a ground ball to the infield, he will often jog about a half dozen steps toward first base and then walk toward the dugout without ever getting near the bag.  I do not read minds, but I have an idea that will not sit well with the “old school” baseball lifer in the dugout.  Keep an eye out for “insider reports” on this topic.  Cano is signed through the end of the 2023 MLB season.

Finally, Dwight Perry noted another challenge for the NY Mets in his column in the Seattle Times over the weekend:

“Hope the Mets signed 18-year-old Venezuelan outfielder Miriojaycey-Rachidnycander Ray Jean Tadeo Benita.

“Good luck trying to get him to fit all that on an autographed baseball.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

As I commence my 79^th journey on Planet Earth around the sun, I cannot think of a better thing to kick off the trip than a Football Friday.  As usual, things start here with a review of last week’s Six Pack:

• College: 0-1-0
• NFL:  3-1-1
• Combined:  3-2-1
• Money Line Parlays:  1-1  Net “profit” = $23

The cumulative results for the season are:

• College:  14-19-0
• NFL:  23-26-2
• Combined:  37-45-2
• Money Line Parlays:  3-8  Net “loss” = $375

 

College Football Commentary:

 

With the season over and the lack of any surprising news about the coaching game of musical chairs, there is only one comment for this week:

• I really enjoyed watching the Army/Navy game last week.

The game was completely different from your typical college football game in 2021 and that added to the enjoyment.  Darrell Royal and Woody Hayes would have been proud of the game; the teams ran the ball first and foremost and threw the ball only  when pressed to do so.  It may have been more “exciting” to watch Kansas beat Texas 56-55 earlier in the season, but this game was equally interesting to me.

There is an Internet meme out there showing Army and Navy squared off at the line of scrimmage.  The caption on the picture says:

• The only football game where every player is willing to die for everyone watching the game.

Go Army!  Go Navy! – – and Go Air Force! too.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

The biggest news of the week has to be the abrupt firing of Urban Meyer as the head coach of the Jags.  His record in less than a season of NFL football was 2-11 and to say that his time in Jax was “controversial” would be like saying Pavarotti could sing a bit.  It appears that the final straw was an assertion by a former kicker for the Jags who said that Meyer kicked him during a practice while saying:

“Hey, Dipsh*t; make your [bleeping] kicks.”

When the kicker objected and told Meyer not to kick him again, Meyer’s response was supposedly:

“I’m the head coach.  I’ll kick you whenever the [bleep] I want.”

Maybe there was a time when football coaches thought and acted that way and it was generally acceptable behavior.  Such is not the custom in 2021; so even if this story is exaggerated a bit, it is not something that can be ignored these days in light of everything else that has gone wrong during Meyer’s tenure with the Jags.  Here is the statement by Jags’ owner Shad Khan about his decision to look for another head coach:

“After deliberation over many weeks and a thorough analysis of the entirety of Urban’s tenure with our team, I am bitterly disappointed to arrive at the conclusion that an immediate change is imperative for everyone.  I informed Urban of the change this evening.  As I stated in October, regaining our trust and respect was essential. Regrettably, it did not happen.”

All this business about “trust” and “respect” is nice, and it provides a patina of beneficence to the situation, but I think most of it is just that – – a patina.  I believe there are two things at the core of this decision which – if they were markedly different – would make Urban Meyer’s off-center behaviors tolerable if not laudable.  They are:

1. Bottom line is the Jags are 2-11.  If they were even 6-7 coming off a horrible season in 2020, that level of “progress” would tilt the balance in favor of the coach and his “unusual” ways.  However, the Jags are not 6-7 and eight of their eleven losses have been by double-digits.  You cannot squint hard enough to make the situation in Jax look any better than miserable
2. Concurrent with fact that the Jags have been dominated on the field is the observation by folks who follow and cover the NFL that Trevor Lawrence is not improving measurably from week to week.  Unless Lawrence was spectacularly lucky for three years of college football to complete two-thirds of his passes and throw for more than 10,000 yards, his performance this year is simply awful.  Yes, the NFL is a more difficult environment, but Lawrence has been looking like a fourth-round pick hoping to hold onto a job as a clipboard holder than like a first overall draft pick.  The Jags need him to develop, and he is not doing that.

Plenty of NFL coaches last only one year with a team but Meyer joins a much more exclusive club here.  I can only think of three other NFL coaches who did not finish the first year of their employment:

• Bill Belichick with the Jets (his tenure in that position was measured in hours)
• Lou Holtz with the Jets
• Bobby Petrino with the Falcons

Back when Meyer signed on with the Jags, reports said the deal was for 5  years at “between $10M and $12M per year.”  If that money were “guaranteed”, then Shad Khan’s decision to fire Meyer this week would cost him something on the order of $40-50M.  Shed no crocodile tears for Messr. Khan; Forbes estimates his net worth at a cool $8.7B…

Earlier in this week before Urban Meyer was fired, I read a report about the futility of the Jags on the field.  That report said that in the last 7 gamed, the Jags had only scored a total of 28 points meaning they were playing from behind an awful lot.  Now that Meyer is fired, and I had a time to reflect on the lack of progress made by Trevor Lawrence that lack of progress looks even worse.  Lawrence’s miserable NFL stats include lots of “garbage time” yardage wherein the defense knows the outcome of the game and is throttled down to a degree.

One bit of bad news for Jags’ fans is contained in these events but not highlighted.  Shad Khan has owned the Jags for 10 years now.  In those 10 years, he has hired:

• Mike Mularkey – – lasted 1 season and went 2-12
• Gus Bradley – – lasted  4 seasons minus 2 games and went 14-48
• Doug Marrone – – lasted 4 seasons +2 games and went 23-43
• Urban Meyer – – lasted 13 games and went 2-11.

That list tells me that the person making the decision about who to hire to be the head coach of the Jags is not particularly adept at the task.  And that is the same guy who is going to perform that task again this off-season.  A former colleague who is a psychologist was wont to say:

• “The single best predictor of future human behavior is past human behavior by that same human being.”

The other story of the week is another chapter in the investigative reporting done by the Washington Post into the “toxic work environment” in the Front Office of the Washington Football Team under its previous moniker.  The latest report says that owner, Danny Boy Snyder actively sought to impede the investigation done by Beth Wilkinson for the NFL.  There is a lot of “stuff” in the latest report and rather than trying to summarize it to the point that I leave out pertinent information, let me link to that report here and suggest you get yourself a cup of coffee – or a beverage of your liking – and read it for yourself.

This story is not over; the Post reporters have not moved on to find other things to occupy their time and energy – – and no, I have no idea what the next set of revelations might be.  However, I would like to address what was the first thing that came to mind for callers to Washington sports radio shows the day the story hit the papers:

• Can this be the tipping point that forces the NFL to make Danny Boy Snyder sell the team?

For those of you who do not live in this area, you must understand that for a significant majority of the fans of the Washington Football Team there are two  things that they wish for beyond all else:

• A Super Bowl victory
• A new owner for the team
• And for some, a new owner is equal to or greater in value than the Lombardi Trophy.

With that as a predicate, let me say that I doubt seriously that the latest revelations are anywhere near sufficient in gravity to start the ball rolling toward a forced sale of the team by Danny Boy Snyder.  I think there are three reasons to take that position:

1. Snyder’s actions – even if they are as bad or worse than has been reported – have not cost the other owners any money.  The TV deal is not smaller than it would have been had he not been in the league.  The CBA did not have any hang-ups because the players objected to his presence as an owner.
2. Snyder’s teams have not been dominant for the last 20 years or so of his stewardship.  There is no basis for jealousy on the part of other owners nor any reason for them experience schadenfreude as Snyder “twists in the wind”.
3. Danny Boy Snyder is valuable to the other owners because he is the league’s “sh*t magnet”.  Let me explain…

A former colleague attended West Point; he graduated with a degree in electronic engineering; served his time in Viet Nam; resigned his commission to go to grad school and became an excellent program manager.  He often said that at West Point, the most popular guy in the platoon was the guy who screwed up the most; that cadet became the target and focus of attention and discipline by the tac officer meaning other cadets got marginally less scrutiny than they would have if the tac officer had spent equal time and energy on everyone in the platoon.  That person was referred to as the “sh*t magnet” because whenever anything bad had to come down on someone for screwing up, the first place the tac officer looked was the “sh*t magnet”.

My colleague said that once a “sh*t magnet” had been established in a platoon by the tac officer, the identity never shifted so it then became important for the other members of the platoon to see to it that the “sh*t magnet’s” screw-ups were not so egregious as to get him thrown out of the Academy.  If that happened, someone else would then assume that role and no one wanted to take the chance it might be him.

There is no way that any NFL owner under the influence of a working truth serum and hooked up to a polygraph would ever admit to thinking about another owner as the league’s “sh*t magnet.”  But every time one of them – or anyone for that matter – thinks about another person’s misfortunes and says to themselves, “There but for the Grace of God go I,” there is a subtle recognition of that other person as a “sh*t magnet”.  In that sense, I think the other NFL owners have no interest in finding another owner for the Washington Football Team because one of them might then become the next NFL “sh*t magnet”.

Looking quickly at last week’s games…

Rams 30  Cards 23:  The Rams got a needed victory here to close down the NFC West race a bit despite being outgained on offense by almost 100 yards.  The difference here was in turnovers; the Rams intercepted Kyler Murray twice and the Rams’ offense never turned the ball over.  The Cards still lead the Rams by a game in the division but with their 9^th win of the year, the Rams are almost guaranteed a slot in the playoffs even if they do not catch the Cards.

Falcons 29  Panthers 21:  The stat sheet for the game is even except for the fact that the Panthers turned the ball over 3 times (including a Pick-Six) and the Falcons only turned it over once.  The Panthers fired offensive coach Joe Brady before this game and head coach Matt Ruhle said that the basis was a difference in football philosophy.  Well, the offensive philosophy on display in the absence of Brady manifest itself as 334 yards total offense and a platoon system at QB with Cam Newton and PJ Walker. Really…?

Browns 24  Ravens 22:  The Browns led 24-6 at the half and then were shut out in the second half. Lamar Jackson left the game early with an ankle injury and was replaced by Tyler Huntley who produced a more-than-adequate stat line:

• 27of 38 for 270 yards with 1 TD and 0 INTs

Huntley’s only costly mistake was that he was the victim of a defensive superfecta by Browns’ DE, Myles Garrett.  On a play deep in Ravens’ territory, Garrett sacked the QB, stripped him of the ball, recovered the ball, and returned it for a TD.  That would be a good day for many defensive ends; Garrett did that all on one play.  The AFC North is now almost a tossup after 14 weeks of play:

• Ravens  8-5-0
• Browns  7-6-0
• Bengals  7-6-0
• Steelers  6-6-1

Cowboys 27  Football Team 20:  This win belongs to the Cowboys’ defense; they held the Football Team to a total of 244 yards on offense for the day and forced 4 turnovers in the game.  The Cowboys have not mathematically clinched the NFC East race, but they would have to suffer a collapse of massive proportions to lose that race.

Titans 20  Jags 0:  Here is how bad the Jags were on offense in this game:

• Rushing yards:  8 yards on 8 attempts
• Total yards:  194 yards on 48 plays (4 yards per offensive snap)
• Time of possession:  23 minutes and 4 seconds
• Turnovers:  4 – – all of them INTs by Trevor Lawrence

The Jags never got to the Red Zone in the game and the Jags only crossed the 50-yardline twice in the game.

Chiefs 48  Raiders 9:  On the first play of the game, the Chiefs’ defense forced a fumble, recovered it and returned if for a TD.  Then things got worse for the Raiders…  The Chiefs forced 5 turnovers in the game that led to 28 points.  The halftime score was 35-3 and even that was embarrassing; on the final play of the first half with the score 35-0, the Raiders opted to kick a 26-yard field goal – – meaning the ball was inside the Chiefs’ 10-yardline.  That is tantamount to running up a white flag of surrender.  In addition, in that first half alone, the Raiders committed 7 penalties costing them 75 yards  Since losing to the Titans in late October, the Chiefs have gone 6-0 and the defense has led the way.  In those 6 games the Chiefs have given up a total of 65 points or 10.9 points per game.

Saints 30  Jets 9:  The Jets only trailed 13-6 when the fourth quarter began.  The Saints ran the ball for 203 yards in the game including 73 yards by QB Taysom Hill.  Jets’ QB, Zack Wilson, struggled in the game completing only 19 of 42 passes for 202 yards.  The Jets got into the Red Zone 3 times in the game and scored 0 TDs…

Seahawks 33  Texans 13:   It was 16-13 at the half; then the Seahawks’ defense pitched a shutout for the second half.  Texans’ QB, Davis Mills, was 33 of 49 for 331 yards in the game and that led coach David Cully to announce that Mills would be the starter for the Texans for the rest of the 2021 season.  Here is what Dwight Perry had to say about that in the Seattle Times:

“Rookie Davis Mills has been named the 2-10 Houston Texans’ starting QB for the rest of the season.

“That’s the sports equivalent of someone pulling the pin on a grenade and handing it to you.”

Broncos 30  Lions 10:  So much for the possibility that the Lions might execute a winning streak…  The score was 17-10 at the half; here are the results of the Lions’ possessions in the second half:  [WARNING: This is not a pretty picture.]

• Lost Fumble
• Turnover on Downs
• Turnover on Downs
• INT
• Final Whistle

Meanwhile, the Broncos’ offense was a model of efficiency on the day.  They got to the Red Zone 5 times and scored 5 TDs.

Chargers 37  Giants 21:  This game was not this close; the Giants scored 14 meaningless points in the final 5 minutes of the 4^th quarter when the outcome had long been decided.

Bucs 33  Bills 27 (OT): This game was an aerial show; combined the two teams dropped back and threw the ball 100 times for the day.  The two QBs completed 67 of those pass attempts for a combined 644 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT.  The biggest difference on the stat sheet for the game was in third-down conversions.  The Bucs converted 8 of 16 while the Bills converted only 2 of 13.  Nevertheless, the time of possession was a total of 13 seconds in favor of the Bills for the game.  This was the most entertaining game to watch on Sunday…

Niners 26  Bengals 23 (OT):  Here is another game that was dead even on the stat sheet save for 2 turnovers by the Bengals (lost fumbles) and 0 turnovers by the Niners.  The win keeps the Niners playoff chances alive, but they trail the Cards by 3 games with only 4 left to play meaning they are all but eliminated from winning the NFC West.

Packers 45  Bears 30:  Justin Fields had a mediocre day throwing the ball; he had 2 TDs and 2 INTs.  However, he was also the Bears’ leading rusher in the game gaining 74 yards on 9 carries.  The Bears led 10-0 early in the second quarter and led 27-21 at halftime; then the Packers scored 24 unanswered points in the next 25 minutes of the game putting it on ice.

Vikes 36  Steelers 28:  The Vikes dominated the first half; the Steelers dominated the second half.  Not much else to say about this one…

 

NFL Games:

 

The good news is that there are no more BYE Weeks in the 2021 season.

The scheduling quirk of Saturday games begins this week with Saturday games on NFL Network.

Last night’s game was an offensive showcase; the teams combined to gain a total of 924 yards on offense.  It took overtime to give the Chiefs the win because the stat sheet was as even as could be.  The Chargers lost the ball on downs three times in the game and each time they had a makeable field goal as their option.  Analytics say they made the “right decision”; the problem is that the game outcome went counter to the numbers.

Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill had big games.  Hill caught 12 passes for 148 yards and a TD.  Kelce caught 10 passes for 191 yards and 2 TDs including the game winner in OT.  This victory gives the Chiefs a 2-game lead in the AFC West.

A quick aside here before I get to this week’s games…  I am going to find six selections from the list only because there is something about a Six-Pack that requires six selections.  I may have to violate one of my “principles” and opt for selecting a team in a game with a double-digit spread.  The card this week is simply a mess and the covid lists for various teams makes it impossible to know who will actually be able to play.

(Sat 4:30 PM EST) Raiders – 1 at Browns (38.5):  This spread opened with the Browns as a 6-point favorite; then the Browns saw 11 players and head coach Kevin Stefanski go on the covid list this week.  Baker Mayfield is one of those players on the list.  As of this morning, the Browns have a total of 13 players on the covid list and the Raiders have none.  This is a must-win game for the Raiders if they want to keep their faint playoff hopes alive.  I am not enamored of the Raiders over the past month or so, but this looks like a situation where they will face the Browns’ JV team.  I’ll hold my nose and take the Raiders to win and cover on the road; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sat 8:20 PM EST) Pats at Colts – 2.5 (46):  This is my Game of the Week, and it is on a Saturday night on the NFL Network which is unavailable in lots of homes.  The Pats have won 7 games in a row and hold a 2-game lead in the AFC East; the Colts trail the Titans by 2-games in the AFC South and the Titans hold the tiebreaker; this is not an elimination game for the Colts, but it is an important one.  The Pats won their last game two weeks ago over the Bills by running the ball all the time; I do not think they can be as successful doing that against the Colts’ defense.  By the same token, I do not think the Colts can count on Jonathan Taylor to dominate the game against the Pats’ defense.

Football Team at Eagles – 12.5 (44):  This spread opened with the Eagles as 3-point favorites and then the covid lists started to grow in Washington.  As of this morning there are 20 players on the list for the Football Team including 6 defensive linemen.  Who knows who will be playing or not playing in this game?

Panthers at Bills – 11 (44.5):  I can see the Panthers’ defense putting up resistance here, but I cannot see the Panthers’ offense doing any meaningful business against the Bills’ defense.  The “two-platoon QB concept” from last week is not the answer

Jets at Dolphins – 9 (41):  The Jets are a mess; there is no way to ignore that reality.  I am not impressed by the Dolphins’ offense, but I am even less impressed by the Jets’ defense.  I’ll take the Dolphins at home to win and cover with only marginal enthusiasm; put it in the Six-Pack.

Cowboys – 10.5 at Giants (44):  The Cowboys appear to have gotten things back on track; they dominated the Football Team last week.  On the other sideline, the Giants are in disarray.  I like this game to go OVER because I see the Cowboys scoring in the 30s here; put that in the Six-Pack.  Only because I need to find six selections on this list let me try another one here.  I’ll also take the Cowboys to win and cover on the road; put that in the Six-Pack too.

Packers – 5.5 at Ravens (43.5):  The Ravens only have 2 players on the covid list – – but their injury list looks like the old Manhattan Telephone Directory.  That spread tells me the oddsmakers expect Lamar Jackson to play in the game; we shall see.  This game got some consideration as the Game of the Week since it matches two Division leaders.

Titans – 1 at Steelers (43):  This is not an elimination game for the Steelers – – but it’s close.  Meanwhile the Titans have a 2-game cushion in their Division, so the “urgency factor” is clearly on the Steelers’ sideline.

Texans at Jags – 4.5 (39):  I don’t care if one of the teams in some other game  has so many players on the covid list that they have to quickly sign up local high school kids to play this Sunday; this game would still be the Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  The spread for this game is all over the place with the Jags being favored by 5 points at some sportsbooks and by as few as 3.5 points elsewhere.  There must be something more interesting for you to do compared to watching this mess of a game.

Cards – 13.5 at Lions (47):  The Cards lost on Monday night and now have to go on the road on a short week of preparation.  Normally, that is a reason to play the opponent – – but there are two realities to this matchup:

1. The Cards are 7-0 on the road this year.
2. The opponent is the Detroit Lions.

Falcons at Niners – 9 (46.5):  Neither team is consistent week to week.  The Niners are the better team and might win this game by 3 TDs – – or they could lose outright.  The Falcons are 5-2 on the road this season and the Niners are 2-4 at home this season.  You would need Ouija board to unravel this one…

Bengals at Broncos – 3 (44):  Both teams need to win this game badly to stay in the playoff picture.  Neither team has an extensive covid list for this week and I think the game will come down to the Bengals’ offense versus the Broncos’ defense.  The Bengals have lost 2 games in a row so the coaching staff there has been able to chew on the players to get them ready here.  I’ll take the Bengals on the road plus the points; put it in the Six-Pack.

Seahawks at Rams – 5.5 (45.5):  The Rams won a huge game on Monday over the Cards; I smell a let-down game coming here.  Meanwhile, the Seahawks have won 2 games in a row and have shown some energy in those wins scoring a total of 63 points in those two games.  Purely a hunch, but I’ll take the Seahawks on the road plus the points here; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sun Nite) Saints at Bucs – 11 (46.5):  This spread varies significantly from sportsbook to sportsbook; this morning I can find it as high as 12.5 points and as low as 10 points; this number seems to be the fulcrum.  If the Saints lose here, they will be eliminated from the NFC South race and their wildcard chances will take a serious hit as well.  The Bucs are clearly the better team, but I do not like them nearly enough to lay that many points in a game that is far less meaningful to them than it is to the Saints.

(Mon Nite) Vikes – 4.5 at Bears (45):  The Bears are 4-9 and yet, they are still mathematically in the playoff race in the NFC.  Do not waste your time searching for how that can happen; it will not happen.  Obviously, it starts with the Bears “winning out”.  The Vikes are 6-7 and are in the thick of the wildcard scrum; the Vikes have been playing close games all year and seem never to miss a chance to make the game go down to the final drive or even the final play in the fourth quarter.

So, let me review this week’s Six-Pack:

• Raiders – 1 over Browns
• Dolphins – 9 over Jets
• Cowboys/Giants OVER 44
• Cowboys – 10.5 over Giants
• Bengals +3 against Broncos
• Seahawks + 5.5 against Rams.

And here is a Money Line Parlay for your viewing pleasure…

• Bills @ minus-600
• Dolphins @ minus-400
• Cowboys @ minus-500
• Bucs @ minus-500
• Bengals @ +140     A $100 wager here wins $404

Finally, in the aftermath of the Niners game in Seattle two weeks ago, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle offered this Tweet:

“I’d like to thank the Seattle Seahawks for fighting global warming by keeping press box at 30 degrees. Looking for dog with a flask of brandy.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The MLB lockout continues into its third week of existence.  Since there is not yet a serious threat to the detriment of the normal baseball calendar, lots of people are simply focusing attention elsewhere; if this mess is not settled – or if at the least there are not reports of negotiating progress to reach a settlement – by February 1^st, lots of fans will start to try to catch up on how this mess came to be and to choose sides.  I already know that there is enough to dislike about both the owners’ side and the players’ side of this stand-off that my preference would be for both sides to lose.  The problem with my wishful thinking is that the only way for both sides to lose is for me to lose too; they would have to cancel the 2022 season.

I read a report right after the lockout was announced on December 2^nd that said the two sides met for 7 minutes and then adjourned to do whatever each side is wont to do when there is no CBA and there is a need for a new CBA – – but they are not negotiating.  That report cemented in my mind that I want both sides to lose and suffer at the end of these negotiations even though I am pretty sure that will not happen.

Dwight Perry had this observation in the Seattle Times back when the lockout was fresh:

“Baseball owners locked out the players when their CBA expired Dec. 2.

“Things got so heated, one union rep was credited with an exit velocity of 120.8 mph leaving the last bargaining session.”

So, after 25 years without any lockouts or strikes, how did things get to this stage?  I will not pretend to know the inner workings of either side in this matter, but I do think that a work stoppage of some kind – – lockout or strike – – was foretold by the “COVID negotiations” back in 2020.  Back then, here is a sequence of events that did not put an aura of “good will” over and around the interactions of the owners and the union:

• In March 2020 when things were initially locked down and events like March Madness had to be canceled, the owners and players agreed that players’ salaries for 2020 would be pro-rated to the number of games played.  That agreement seemed to me to be clear and obvious and never hinted to me that it could be hugely problematic.
• By the time it became clear that most jurisdictions were not going to allow fans to attend MLB games for much if not all the whole of the 2020 season, the owners sought to renege on that agreement and wanted the players to take less than a pro-rata share of their salaries.  Unsurprisingly, that did not go down well with the players and the union.

[For the record, the 2020 regular season was 60 games meaning players were paid 37.04% of what their contract called for.]

• As soon as the owners used that gambit, the union began to push for as long a season as possible for the obvious reason that would put more money in the pockets of its members.  The owners – looking at next to zero ticket revenue – obviously objected to that and tried to minimize the number of games to be played.
• The two sides could not even come to a compromise on the issue of the length of the 2020 season and the only way it was fixed at 60 games is that Rob Manfred as Commish issued a fiat that it would be 60 games – – period, exclamation point.

In retrospect, I should have realized at that moment that there was no way on the planet that the two sides were going to agree on a new CBA without some sort of aggressive labor action by one side or the other.  However, I naively thought [hoped?] that as functioning adults who are partners in a business with annual revenues of $10B, the two sides would see their way clear to getting a deal done.  Forget that…  there is obviously no deal in place, and I am beginning to wonder about that assumption of the existence of “functioning adults”.

As time passes and there is reporting on the negotiations and on the lack of progress in those negotiations, you will certainly read reports about the owners’ finances.  Because MLB teams are not owned by publicly traded corporations, the degree of transparency into teams’ finances is severely limited.  In the NFL, fans can get a tiny peek through the curtains because the Packers are publicly owned and must report a lot of specifics because of that public ownership.  That does not obtain for MLB.

And that lack of transparency will become a major stumbling block in the negotiations with the union claiming huge profits for owners based on whatever and however they do the math while the owners will “cry poor” and use their own math to demonstrate their plight.  When things get into that phase of reporting on negotiations, please keep this in mind:

• Using perfectly legal accounting practices, it is possible for accountants to make profits appear as losses and vice-versa.  Items such as “amortization” and “depreciation” and “recapture” can turn simple cash-flow calculations into a labyrinth of numbers.  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

I bring that up because when all of this becomes front and center in the reporting, what you must remember to do is not to believe either side when they represent profits and losses.

• The owners are highly motivated to minimize their gains and they have the cover to make things look the way they want them to look.  Do not be surprised or offended when they take advantage of the situation here.
• The union cannot be trusted in this realm either because they too have a vested interest in the bottom line AND remember they do not have all the numbers because the owners have not shared them.  The union cannot complain about lack of transparency and simultaneously claim to know enough details to present credible figures.
• BOTH sides are prevaricating here and the only way either side presents an accurate picture is either by accident or by dumb luck!

I have suggested this before and I continue to believe that this is a path to stability for MLB and the MLBPA even though I know it will never happen.

• Baseball needs a salary cap and a salary floor.  That means owners will need to do revenue sharing similar to the way the NFL does it and it means that the NFLPA will have to tell the myriad player agents to go suck eggs.  I shan’t hold my breath waiting for either of those two things to happen.
• A cap-and-floor salary structure will improve competitiveness and will discourage tanking .   It will also create new forms of baseball contracts that are adaptable to the new cap-and-floor structure.
• This regimen works in football, basketball and hockey; I think it will work in baseball too – – but neither side will even pretend to consider it.

Finally, I’ll close today with an observation by George Orwell:

“Serious sport has nothing to do with fair play.  It is bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence; in other words, it is war minus the shooting.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Recall that the Brooklyn Nets put Kyrie Irving on ice at the beginning of the season because he refused to be vaccinated and because NYC and Brooklyn had local ordinances on the books requiring him to have one-shot of the vaccine to play in the venues where games were being played.  The Nets said they did not want a part time player and asked Irving to stay away.  Given all the hullabaloo over that story at the start of NBA Training Camp and through until now, it is amazing how little it seems to have mattered.  You would have thought the Earth was going to reverse its rotation and the sun would be coming up in the west by now given the back-and-forth over that issue.

In the last 48 hours, I have run across 3 reports that seem to run in different directions related to the Kyrie Irving/Brooklyn Nets “situation”:

1. CBSSports.com reported that the Nets might be willing to have Irving back on the team as a part-time player and there was cautious optimism about making that happen.
2. The Athletic reported that as of 15 January, the Canadian government would require NBA players who come to Toronto to play to be “fully vaccinated”.  If that means two shots plus a booster shot – separated by the appropriate time spans – that would keep Irving out of any game(s) in Toronto until a potential late-round playoff encounter.
3. Various news outlets reported that NYC would require “full vaccination” – – two shots but not a booster – – for all adults and children over 5 years old when they are dining indoors or are at an “entertainment venue.”

Unless Kyrie Irving has relented and taken a shot and not let anyone know about it, I think the Nets’ cautious optimism may be trumped by the increasing levels of vaccine protection required by localities germane to the NBA.  Obviously, I have no knowledge of Kyrie Irving’s thinking on this matter as of this morning; but somehow, I doubt that he has been “secretly jabbed” and is ready to get back on the floor.

Switching gears …  Last week, I read that RG3 announced that he is writing a book that will be out in August 2022 and that it will be a “tell all book” about his time with the Washington Football Team – – under the team’s previous name.  Griffin is out of the NFL now and is not likely to get any significant offers to return to the league for reasons having to do with his performance and nothing to do with any sort of “tell all” activities.  What RG3 is doing now is color analysis of college football games for ESPN.  At the time he signed on with ESPN, he made sure to make it clear that he had an “out clause” in that contract should he get an opportunity to go back to the NFL.

The working title for Griffin’s book is Surviving Washington.  In the announcement of the impending release of the book, RG3 obliquely referred to sexual harassment which is a smoldering topic pertaining to the Washington Football Team in the wake of that “investigation” for which there is no final report.  The statement was obviously very carefully worded to be sure to use the hot-button phrase “sexual harassment” but not to reveal what he might have to say about it and the team environment.  When pressed, he responded:

“The book is not about other people’s experiences with sexual harassment in Washington.  It’s about my experience with sexual harassment in Washington.”

Reading that response, the door is left wide open to address that issue from a variety of standpoints.  Was RG3 harassed?  Was he a harasser?  Was he encouraged to harass?  Obviously, the idea is for everyone to buy the book to get the answers to those sorts of tantalizing possibilities.

There is an aspect of Griffin’s time in Washington that could make for interesting reading.  All during his time with the team, there were sporadic reports that Griffin had a sufficiently cozy relationship with owner Danny Boy Snyder that allowed him to end-run the coaches and the team Front Office when he felt that he needed something from the team he was not getting.  There were no first-hand accounts of any such player/owner interactions or dealings nor were there any denials.  There is something that RG3 can clear up – or at least shed light on – in his “tell all” narrative.

Until I read reviews, I am not signing up to buy a copy of the book the day it hits the shelves.  There have been a couple of tell all books that have been important contributions to sports.  Ball Four by Jim Bouton and Juiced by Jose Canseco come to mind.  If folks who review Griffin’s book say it is of a similar caliber, I will surely buy it and read it – – but I really do not understand why he is writing the book and why now.

As I noted, RG3 is a color analyst for college football games on ESPN and in the times I have heard him on a broadcast, he is already far above average among the cadre of college football color analysts.  As I said, he is not likely to get another shot at playing QB in the NFL, so TV talking is his most logical career path forward.  And that brings me to a failure to comprehend:

• How does a “tell all” book about things that happened between 2012 and 2015 advance the author on a career path as a TV color analyst?
• If happenings back then were sufficiently dire to create a book title as stark as Surviving Washington, why the silence until 2022?

Finally, let me close today with an observation by Bertrand Russell that just seems appropriate:

“Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The CFL Grey Cup game was Sunday evening and it conflicted with the late NFL game and Sunday Night Football; not to worry, this is why God provided the inspiration for man to invent DVRs.  I watched my replay of the game yesterday and it was really enjoyable.  The teams were evenly matched; the game was close throughout; the game went to OT and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup for the second time in a row by a score of 33-25.  [There was no Grey Cup game in 2020 because the CFL was dark for all of 2020.]  The Blue Bombers have won consecutive Grey Cup games twice before in history, but it was a long time ago; they accomplished this feat in 1958/59 and then again in 1961/62.  In order to force the OT, Winnipeg had to come back from a 22-10 deficit in the 4^th quarter; the game had plenty of exciting moments.

I really like the CFL version of OT better than the college football version because in the CFL teams take possession at the 35-yardline instead of the 25-yardline.  Those 10 yards can make a difference when a team gains little or no yardage on the first three downs; in college football, there is still a relatively easy field goal try available; in the CFL, that field goal try is much more difficult.  Moreover, in Sunday’s game, the wind was a significant factor; had one of the teams needed to try a field goal  from more than 40 yards out, it was not going to be a “gimmee”.

Another plus for the CFL OT rule is that when a team scores a TD, they must go for a two-point conversion.  I like that and would also put that in the college football OT system too.  As for the NFL, if they ever seek to take kickoffs out of their OTs and go to a formulaic drive starting point, I would put the ball on the 50-yardline to begin each team’s OT possession.

The Blue Bombers got a TD and a two-point conversion in the first possession of OT.  Then on the Tiger-Cats’ possession the Blue Bombers intercepted a pass that was deflected twice before the Bombers’ player secured the ball.  Game Over!

There were rumors/reports back in the summer before the CFL got underway that the league was talking with the new owners of XFL 2.0 perhaps about some sort of joint operation/collaboration/whatever.  Nothing came of that, and I hope nothing comes of it for two reasons:

1. CFL football is sufficiently different from US football that the two games will not “merge” easily.  And CFL football is an entertaining product because it is different.  Cooperation/collaboration with XFL 2.0 would probably wind up with a product that is not as good as either one would be separately.
2. The CFL tried an expansion into the “Lower 48” back in the 1990s.  The “experiment” was short-lived and did not end well.  The US-based teams had sparse attendance – to be polite about it.  The CFL game is extremely popular in Canada; it did not sell here in the US.

The Baltimore Stallions (grown up versions of the Baltimore Colts?) were one US-based team that had decent attendance.  #2 son and I took in a game at the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore when the Stallions played there; my recollection is that the stadium was more than half-full on that day meaning the crowd was at least 25,000 folks.  Had other teams drawn that well, the expansion into the “Lower 48” might have survived more than 2 seasons, but that was not the case.

There is an excellent book on that attempted CFL Southern Expansion written by Ed Willes, End Zones & Border Wars.  I recommend it as a “stocking stuffer” for football fans on your gift list.  The next-to-last chapter in that book is titled, “Half the People Here Couldn’t Even Spell Saskatchewan”.  I think that chapter explains clearly why that “expansion” was doomed from the start.

While I do not think CFL football has a natural home here in the US, perhaps the time has finally come – after 50 years of hyping and prognosticating – that soccer might break through and become much more prominent here.  I read a report that NBC Sports has extended its ownership of television rights here in the US for English Premier League (EPL) games for 6 years and a total of $2.67B.  NBC has been televising Premier League games here in the US for about 10 years but the latest report I could find about the rights fee they are paying put the number at $180M per year.  It does not take a math genius to see that NBC Sports thinks there is significant potential for growing the audience over the next 5 or 6 years.

More importantly than just the significant jump in the annual rights fee here is the report that NBC Sports did not get these broadcast rights easily.  Reports say that ESPN, CBS and Amazon also bid for those broadcast rights.  People have been predicting the explosion of soccer in the US for at least the last 50 years; maybe now that will actually come to pass?

The acid test for soccer growth in the US should be the growth seen by teams in MLS and the NWSL.  It could be the case that American soccer fans recognize the significant difference between the way games are played in the EPL – and La Liga and Serie A etc. – and in MLS.  If those American fans turn to watching foreign league games because of the higher caliber of play rather than US-based soccer teams, then whatever growth in popularity happens will have a cap on it.  Time will tell…

Finally, let me close with this item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times from last week.  This play on words is so bad, he should be sent to bed without supper…:

“A fan in Las Vegas took off her prosthetic leg and beat another fan with it during the Golden Knights’ 3-2 loss to Edmonton.

“Lucky she wasn’t whistled for a gam misconduct.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

Late last week, there was a report that the NCAA has suspended Auburn basketball coach, Bruce Pearl, for two games this season and put Auburn basketball on 4 years’ probation for “unethical conduct” by former assistant coach Chuck Person.  You may recall that Person was one of the coaches swept up in that FBI investigation of improper payments given to basketball recruits.  Pearl was not charged by the Feds, but the NCAA somehow determined that he “violated head coach responsibilities because he did not adequately monitor” Person’s recruiting actions and because he “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.”

Even without knowing everything – or even anything – about basketball recruiting at Auburn, I find the NCAA’s rhetoric here laughable.  Please ask yourself:

• If you believe – as I do – that basketball recruiting at major schools never complies fully with NCAA rules and regulations, then how and why would a coach at one of those schools “promote an atmosphere of compliance” and lose out on most if not all the “prime recruits?
• If you believe that Bruce Pearl knew nothing about who Person was recruiting and how things were going in terms of getting commitments from those recruits, you probably also believe that you can save time by putting your alarm clock in the bank.  He monitored his assistant the way every head coach monitors their assistants involved in recruiting, no?

And then the NCAA rhetoric takes flight and travels to an unknown dimension even beyond the Twilight Zone:

“Further, when the head coach became aware of potentially problematic situations involving the assistant coach, he failed to ask reasonable and pertinent questions.  These shortcomings allowed violations to go undetected.”

Two comments on that paragraph:

1. The NCAA admits here that its “compliance officials” were inadequate in this situation because the lack of “reasonable and pertinent” questions from the head coach made the improprieties go undetected.  If you must punish the coach and the school, you also should fire all your compliance officials who were clearly incompetent to do their jobs.
2. The NCAA cannot know that Pearl never asked “reasonable and pertinent questions”; all they can know is that nothing was reported to them.

It seems to me that Bruce Pearl is seeking to become the latter-day Jerry Tarkanian – the coach who is always skirting around the edges of the rules and who gets caught “over the line” every once in a while.  Recall that Pearl was fired from the head coach position at Tennessee when there were NCAA violations there and then Pearl behaved unethically by covering them up and lying to the NCAA about events.

• Memo to Coach Pearl:  It would not be tremendously difficult for you to find another college basketball figure to emulate who might be a tad more admirable,

I mentioned that Auburn would be on 4-years of probation as a result of this NCAA ruling.  I guess that is important but the rest of the sanctions against Auburn are meaningless:

• The NCAA fined Auburn $5,000.  That is less than what individual recruits were improperly paid.
• The NCAA fined Auburn 3% of the Auburn basketball budget.  Just a guess here, but two boosters can probably cover that.
• Auburn will vacate any wins it accumulated if any player who was improperly recruited played in the game.

If anyone at NCAA Hqs wonders why these sorts of rule-breaking episodes continue to take place, all they need to do is look at the level of punishment a school or a coach might get because of breaking the rules.  The cost/benefit calculation here universally comes out in favor of “cheating”.

Moving on …  In today’s Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone has a column decrying the choice of Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics because the Olympic Charter contains this statement:

“The enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Olympic Charter shall be secured without discrimination of any kind such as race, colour, sex, sexual orientation, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Blackistone lays out the clear and obvious contradictions that exist when one juxtaposes the Chinese treatment of minorities and political opponents with that statement of principles in the Olympic Charter.  He acknowledges that the Biden Administrations enactment of a diplomatic boycott is “the weakest of sauce.”  He points out correctly that the Olympic ideal is not tied to politics but that having nations send teams to the games inevitably makes the games political.  At the end, he says that nations seeking to host future Olympic Games need to demonstrate their adherence to these principles and not simply acknowledge them.  And it is with that closing argument that I take issue.

Yes, the IOC and the “Olympic Movement” like to portray the Games as beacons of all that is good and worthy in the world.  Maybe there is a nugget of that sort of thing inside the morass that is the IOC – – but the first and foremost driving force for the IOC and the sine qua non within any bid to host any Olympic Games is MONEY.  China can and will spend lavishly when given the chance to host Olympic events; some of that lavish spending winds up in the coffers of the IOC and most probably in the pockets of some IOC officials.  Until we all stop viewing the Olympic Games through rose-colored glasses and recognize that they are a fiscal entity at the core, these sorts of statements of outrage will happen repeatedly.

Finally, on the subject of “principles”, consider this observation by author, Somerset Maugham:

“You can’t learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

It is time once again for a Football Friday.  As will become apparent throughout today’s offering, last week’s presentation was horrendous.  As usual I will begin with a review of last week’s Six-Pack.

• College:  0-3-0
• NFL:  0-3-0
• Total:  0-6-0
• Money Line Parlays:  0-2  Net was minus-$200

Once you have stopped snickering at the ineptitude evidenced above, look at the damage last week did to the Six-Packs’ overall record:

• College:  14-18-0
• NFL:  20-25-1
• Total:  34-43-1
• Money Line Parlays:  2-7  Net “profit/loss”:  Minus-$398.

 

College Football Commentary:

 

The season came to an end for the Linfield College Wildcats last weekend when they lost in the quarterfinal round of the Division III football tournament to Mary Hardin Baylor University by a score of 49-24.  Linfield finished the season with an 11-1 record and won the Northwest Conference Championship for the 11^th time in the last 12 seasons.

Sonny Dykes took the head coaching job at TCU.  Sonny Dykes is the son of Spike Dykes who was a good football coach at Texas Tech and one of the more colorful characters involved with college football in the 80s and 90s.  Rather than limit himself to “coachspeak” when interviewed, Spike Dykes became known for his quips.  Here are two of my favorites:

After taking a drubbing on the field his assessment was:

“Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.”

After hearing a defensive tackle try to sing the national anthem before a game:

“He won’t weigh 285 (pounds) for long if he has to do that for a living.”

I wonder if Sonny can match his father quip for quip…?

In any event, TCU fans are in for a philosophical change in their football program.  The previous coach, Gary Patterson, was there for more than 20 years with a defensive mentality.  Sonny Dykes will bring his version of the Air Raid offense to TCU – similar to the offense that Mike Leach runs at Mississippi State.  Another interesting thing to watch for with this coaching move is that Sonny Dykes came to TCU from SMU – two schools that are less than 50 miles apart.  Reports say that Dykes will bring several assistant coaches with him from SMU meaning that this rivalry could be enhanced in the next several years.

Fresno St. needed to find a new coach when Kalen DeBoer left to take the job at Colorado State.  They convinced Jeff Tedford to come back to Fresno St. earlier this week.  Tedford stepped down from that job in 2019 for health reasons, so I must assume that whatever those issues were, they are now obviated.  Tedford was 26-14 in three seasons at Fresno St. before he stepped aside; prior to that he was the head coach at Cal for 11 seasons going 82-57 there.

If you had to select the College Football Coach of the Year, I think your choice should come down to two folks:

1. Luke Fickell – Cincinnati:  The Bearcats kicked the door down and inserted themselves in the CFP for the first time and finished the season 13-0.
2. Jim Harbaugh – Michigan:  He finally beat Ohio State; he has Michigan in the CFP.  Last year he took a pay cut as part of a contract extension.

Baylor 21  Oklahoma St. 16:  Baylor scored 3 TDs in the first half over a span of about 13 minutes and held on to win by the skin of their teeth.  The Cowboys had the ball first and goal at the Baylor 2-yardline with a minute and a half left in the game.  Here is the sequence from that point on:

• First down:  Run the gall and gain 1 yard to the 1-yardline
• Second down:  Run the ball for no gain
• Third down:  Incomplete pass
• Fourth down:  Run the ball for no gain
• Baylor takes over on downs and runs out the clock…

Utah St. 46  San Diego St. 13:  This is an interesting result because San Diego St. had been winning its games with a stingy defense.  The Aztecs rank 15^th in the country in Total Defense yielding only 321.5 yards per game.  Here, it was Utah St. showing defensive prowess holding San Diego St. to 1 of 14 on third down tries.  The fact that the Aztecs also committed 9 penalties contributed to this debacle.

Cincy 35  Houston 20:  The outcome here was still in doubt at the half until the Bearcats scored 3 TDs in 8 minutes in the third quarter.  Houston acquitted itself well holding Cincy to zero for 8 on third down conversions.  Houston finished the season at 11-2 and will play Auburn in the Birmingham Bowl on December 28^th.

Alabama 41  Georgia 24:  Going into this game, Georgia had never given up more than 17 points in a game and had only given up double-digit points 4 times in 2021.  Then Alabama amassed 536 yards of offense converted 7 of 14 third down tries and scored 41 points.  I surely did not see that coming.

Michigan 42  Iowa 3:  It was not a huge surprise to see Michigan’s defense stifle whatever it is that Iowa calls an offense this year.  However, Iowa’s defense is above average and the idea that Michigan might gain 461 yards and score 42 points was a surprise.

Pitt 45  Wake Forest 21:  At the end of the first quarter, Wake led the game 21-14.  Then the Deacons’ offense went into hibernation.  Throwing 4 INTs certainly did not help Wake’s cause.

Utah 38  Oregon 10:  The Utah defense dominated the game allowing Oregon only 221 yards of total offense for the day.  As the PAC-12 champion, Utah will go to the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day for the first time in school history.

I cannot ever recall thinking that the State of Utah was a focal point of football excellence for a season.  However, Utah is the Pac-12 champion and Utah St. is the Mountain West champion and BYU finished the season at 10-2 ranked #12 in the latest polls.

Looking back at the 2021 season through the other end of the telescope, I wondered which team was the biggest disappointment for the year.  I came up with 5 candidates:

1. Clemson:  Despite losing Trevor Lawrence to the NFL, there were more than a few folks who follow and analyze college football who figured Clemson to be in the CFP again this year.  Even after Georgia held them to single digits in Game 1, most folks felt that Dabo Swinney would get the Tigers on a roll.  That never happened – – and prized QB recruit DJ Uiagalelei looked more like a walk-on than a 5-star recruit.
2. Indiana:  They were ranked 16^th in the nation in the pre-season polls and finished 2021 with a 2-10 record.
3. Texas:  Steve Sarkissian was supposed to be the coach to prove that “Texas is back” and relevant in college football once again.  Well, Texas lost to Kansas this year giving up 56 points to the Jayhawks.
4. Texas A&M:  At the start of the season, no one had the Aggies as a serious CFP contender – – and then they beat Alabama.  Expectations soared and then Texas A&M proceeded to lose 4 conference games…
5. UNC:  The Tar Heels were ranked 10^th in the country in the pre-season and finished the season at 6-6 barely making it into a meaningless bowl game against South Carolina three weeks from now.

You make the call…  Personally, I think it would come down to a toss-up between Clemson and Texas.

 

College Game of interest:

 

Army – 7 vs. Navy (34):  This game is always of interest; you will never see a player “dogging it” in this one.  Army is 8-3 this year and their offense has scored more than 30 points 7 times this year.  Navy is 3-8 for the season but they played teams like Houston, Cincy and SMU close.  I know both teams will run the ball and that both teams know how to defend the triple option offense the other guys will run.  Nevertheless, that Total Line is too low to ignore.  I like the game to go OVER – but not by much – so put it in the Six-Pack.

 

NFL Commentary:

 

            Before focusing on NFL matters, this is the weekend of the Grey Cup Game in the Canadian Football League.  The game will be played in Hamilton, Ontario and will feature the Hamilton Tiger-Cats against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  Hamilton is 10-6 this year and Winnipeg is 12-3 coming to the game.  Over the regular season, the Blue Bombers led the CFL in scoring at 25.6 points per game; the Tiger Cats averaged 22.3 points per game putting them 5^th in the 9-team league.  Winnipeg also led the CFL in points allowed and in Total Defense; Hamilton was second in the league in points allowed and third in Total Defense.

These teams met on the first weekend of the CFL season back in August.  The Blue Bombers prevailed then 19-6.  This matchup is a repeat of last  year’s Grey Cup Game; Winnipeg won that game 33-12.    This year’s game will take place on Sunday evening at 6:00 PM EST and will be on one of the myriad ESPN networks.  Check the listings…  And here is the line for the game:

 

• Winnipeg – 2.5 at Hamilton (43.5).  Money Lines:  Winnipeg -135 and Hamilton +115.

 

The following item comes from Dwight Perry’s Sideline Chatter column in the Seattle Times:

“Can you get a 15-yard taunting penalty if you’re dead?

Pittsburgh fan Wayne Alexa, 76, got in one last shot at his favorite NFL team in his obituary, posted on PittsburghCremation.com: ‘Passed away on Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021, after a long bout with the Steelers. He was at his home with family when they went into overtime against the 0-8 Detroit Lions, and that was all he could take.’”

Presumably no charges for involuntary manslaughter will be filed against Mike Tomlin in the matter…

Reacting to Monday night’s Pats/Bills game where the Pats only threw the ball 3 times, NFL historian, Dan Daly, issued this Tweet:

“Washington Football Team had consecutive games at the end of the 1940 season where the Giants threw 7 passes against them and the Eagles threw 60.  Gotta be some kind of record.  The Bills might be looking at a similar situation with the Pats and Bucs.”

The Houston Texans continue to confound; if they have any quality players left on the roster, the Texans seem hellbent to purge themselves of such a commodity.  This week they chose to waive linebacker Zach Cunningham who is only 26 years old and who has already led the NFL in tackles in his brief career.  Last year, the Texans thought he was worth a 4-year contract extension worth $60M.

Evidently, Cunningham and Texans’ coach, David Culley did not see eye-to-eye and reports say that Culley had “disciplined” Cunningham several times this year.  Here is what the coach had to say when asked about the personnel decision:

“We have standards; I didn’t feel like those standards were being met consistently. It wasn’t tough at all (to waive Cunningham). It’s about the team. It’s not about one individual player.”

Cunningham can be claimed off waivers by any team who would then inherit his current contract.  If he is not claimed, he will become an unrestricted free agent and can choose where he wants to play for the rest of this season.  I refuse to believe that he will be out of the league; he is much better than that.

The Washington Football Team has been playing well – particularly on defense of late.  Call me a cynic if you want, but I believe that the ascension of the defensive unit began when Chase Young incurred a season-ending injury.  Let me explain…

Chase Young is a 5-star physical talent; make no mistake about that.  Chase Young is also a “look-at-me guy.”  I do not know this for sure because I have no idea what the defensive scheme was when he was in the game, but it looked to me as if Young was doing a lot of “ad-libbing” on defense trying to make big plays after which he could dance in the spotlight.  The defensive ends who have been playing since he and the other defensive end, Montez Sweat, have been out are folks you have probably never heard of:

• Bunmi Rotini
• James Smith-Williams
• Casey Toohill
• Shaka Toney
• Daniel Wise

However, these guys never seem to be lured out of position and forced to chase down a play on their side of the field.  Chase Young will be a fine player in the NFL when and if he becomes more disciplined and more of a team guy instead of a “look-at-me guy.”  According to reports, Young attended none of the teams OTAs or mini camp last year; maybe that would be a place for him to start reinventing himself.

Moving on to last week’s games…

Cards 33  Bears 22:  The Bears held the Cards to only 257 yards of offense but turned the ball over 4 times on 4 INTs by Andy Dalton.  That is how the Cards got so many points without gaining a lot of yards.  Three TD drives by the Cards were 12 yards, 20 yards and 28 yards in length.

Colts 31  Texans 0:  The Texans managed only 141 yards of Total Offense here and only crossed the 50-yardline once in the entire game.

Chargers 41  Bengals 22:  The stat sheet for the game is almost dead even; a big difference here is that the Chargers scored TDs off their drives/turnovers and the Bengals did not.

Lions 29  Vikes 27:  The Vikes are 5-7 and 11 of their 12 games have been of the “one-score variety”  The Vikes trailed 20-6 at halftime and fought back to take the lead at 27-23 with just under two minutes left in the game.  The Lions then drove 75 yards and scored a TD with no time left on the clock to win their first game of the year.  Justin Jefferson had a huge day for the Vikes caching 11 passes for 182 yards and a TD.

Dolphins 20  Giants 9:  The Giants never got to the end zone; in fact, they only got to the Red Zone once in the game.  The Dolphins did not dominate on offense, but they did score 2 TDs that put the game on ice.  Speaking of scoring 2 TDs, that is how many touchdowns the Giants have scored in their last 3 games.

Eagles 33  Jets 18:  Gardner Minshew II filled in for Jalen Hurts at QB and showed why the Eagles were comfortable trading Joe Flacco over to the Jets at the trading deadline.  The Eagles gained 415 yards on offense and Minshew posted this stat line:

• 20 of 25 for 242 yards with 2 TDs and 0 INTs

Not bad for a backup QB making his first start of the season…

Bucs 30  Falcons 17:  The game was close at the half with the Bucs leading 20-17; then the Falcons were shut out in the second half.  The Bucs sacked Matt Ryan five times in the game and Tom Brady feasted on the Falcons’ pass defense:

• 38 of 51 for 368 yards with 4 TDs and 1 INT.

Here is a fun fact …  Tom Brady has never lost a game he started against the Falcons.

Rams 37  Jags 7:  The Rams were winless for the entire month of November, but that bad spell came to a halt quickly here.  The Jags only produced 197 yards of offense in the game. The Jags scored on a 13-play 61-yard drive in the second quarter to make the score 10-7.  After that drive, here are the results of the Jags’ subsequent possessions:

• Three plays and a PUNT
• Three plays and a PUNT
• Halftime
• Three plays and a PUNT
• Seven plays and turnover on DOWNS
• Five plays and a lost FUMBLE
• 8 plays and a PUNT
• Final whistle.

Football Team 17  Raiders 15:  Since 2002, the Raiders have had 1 season with a record over .500.  Their coach for that season (2016) was Jack Del Rio; last week, Jack Del Rio was the defensive coordinator that beat the Raiders.  This is the 4^th win in a row for the Football Team

Steelers 20  Ravens 19:  When the Ravens kicked a field goal halfway through the third quarter to make the score 10-3 in their favor, I thought the game was over.  In no way could I see how the Steelers would score 17 more points – – but they did.

Seahawks 30  Niners 23:  The Seahawks’ defense came to life in this game and held the Niners to only 71 yards on the ground.  Russell Wilson and the offense also awoke from a slumber and posted 327 yards of offense.  Was that a sign of a turnaround or just a one-off good game?

Cowboys 27  Saints 17:  Saints QB, Taysom Hill threw for more yards than Dak Prescott did here.  That is the good news for Saints’ fans.  Hill also threw 4 INTs in the game.  That is the bad news – – and the difference in the game.

 

 

NFL Games:

 

The teams on their BYE Weeks are:

• Colts:  Given their defense and the productivity of RB, Jonathan Taylor, how is it that the Colts are only 7-6?
• Dolphins:  The Dolphins have won 5 in a row after starting the season at 1-7.
• Eagles:  Did Gardner Minshew’s performance create a QB controversy in Philly?
• Pats:  The Pats have won 7 in a row after starting the season at 2-4.

This is the last of the BYE Weeks in the regular season.

In last night’s game, it was really two different games from half to  half.  The Vikes led 23-0 at the half and totally dominated the game.  After kicking two field goals in the third quarter, the Vikes led 29-0 with 6 minutes left in the third quarter.  Then the Steelers offense arrived; the Vikes’ defense went passive; the Steelers defense picked up the pace and the Vikes’ offense stopped functioning.  As a result, the Steelers scored 3 TDs in a span of 5 minutes and 4 seconds turning a laugher from the first half into a nail-biter that was decided on the final play of the game when a Ben Roethlisberger pass to Pat Freiermuth in the end zone fell incomplete.  Final score was Vikes 36 and Steelers 29…

The Steelers played terribly for the first 40 minutes of the game; the Vikes played terribly for the final 18 minutes of the game.  It was not an artistic game by either team, but it made for entertaining television on a Thursday evening.

Raiders at Chiefs – 10 (47.5):  When these teams met a month ago, the Raiders were a small favorite and then they lost to the Chiefs 41-14 in a game that was not that close; it was Patrick Mahomes’ best game of the season.  Since then, the Chiefs beat the Broncos and the Cowboys holding both teams to 9 points.  Meanwhile the Raiders also beat the Cowboys (in OT) but lost to the Bengals and the Football Team.  The Chiefs have a 2-game lead over the Raiders in the AFC West; a win for the Chiefs here would make that the equivalent of a 4-game lead given that the Chiefs would own the tiebreaker between the teams.  The Raiders’ offense is clearly struggling so here is the question:

• Who do they miss more, Henry Ruggs III or Jon Gruden?

Saints – 5 at Jets (43):  The Saints have lost 5 in a row and have not looked good doing that.  The Jets are 3-9 and have not looked good doing that either.  There was stiff competition this week, but this turns out to be my Dog-Breath Game of the Week.  Alvin Kamara should be back this week for the Saints if that makes you any the more interested in this dumpster fire of a game.  The game boils down to this in my view:

• The Saints’ offense is anemic
• The Jets’ defense does not stop anyone
• Something has got to give…

Niners – 1 at Bengals (49):  The spread opened the week with the Bengals as 1-point favorites.  The line stayed that way until Wednesday when it flipped to the Niners as the favorites.  Both teams need this game for their playoff pushes; I have no idea which version of either team will show up here; both teams are inconsistent.  Purely a hunch, I like this game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

Jags at Titans – 8.5 (43):   The Titans had last week off and they get Julio Jones back from injury this week.  The Jags stunk out the joint against the Rams last week.; the Jags’ offense is only scoring 15 points per game; no wonder their record is 2-10.  Moreover, this is the second straight road game for the Jags – – something Urban Meyer has had little experience with in his collegiate coaching days.  The Titans are not a reliable team, so I need to talk myself into taking them here even though I know they are clearly the better team.  OK, I talked myself into it; I’ll take the Titans and lay the points; put it in the Six-Pack.

Ravens at Browns – 2.5 (43):  The Browns had their BYE Week last week and this is the second straight road game for the Ravens.  Both teams struggle to score so defensive play is really important here.  This is a big game for both teams regarding the playoff hunt.  The Ravens have a 1-game lead over the Bengals and a 1.5-game lead over the Steelers and a 2-game lead over the Browns going into the weekend.  A victory for Cleveland here would put a blanket over the entire AFC North.  Lamar Jackson has regressed as a passer so this could come down to a battle of running games.  If that is the case, give me Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Falcons at Panthers – 2.5 (42):  Let me wrap myself up in my “polite scarf” and say that these are two mediocre teams.  The Panthers just fired their Offensive Coordinator; whoever inherits those duties will not be helped by the absence of Christian McCaffrey.  The Falcons’ defense stinks; the Panthers’ defense is much better.  Consider this:

• Falcons’ record is 5-7; their point differential is minus-116
• Three other teams are 5-7; their point differentials are minus-17, minus-2 and +3.
• Lions’ record is 1-10-1; their point differential is minus-113

This is the runner-up for Dog-Breath Game of the Week…

Cowboys – 4.5 at Football Team (47.5):  This is not the best game on the card for the weekend, but it might be the most intriguing game on the card.  Dak Prescott has started 8 games against the Football Team – or its predecessor – and his record is 7-1.  As noted above, the Washington defense is on the upswing; at the same time, the Dallas offense is not as explosive as it was 4 or 5 weeks ago.  I think the Football Team has a real chance to win outright, so, I’ll take them here plus those points; put it in the Six-Pack.

Seahawks – 8.5 at Texans (41):  Above, I wondered aloud if the Seahawks came to life in their win over the Niners last week.  Well, here is a litmus test.  The Texans are just miserable; so, a living, breathing Seahawks’ team ought to throttle them  We shall see…   Even if the Seahawks prevail here by 4 TDs, I will not yet pronounce them “back” and “a serious playoff threat”, but they should still stomp the sorry-assed Texans.  I’ll take the Seahawks on the road to win and cover; put it in the Six-Pack.

Lions at Broncos – 10 (42):  This line opened with the Broncos as a 7-point favorite; the line eased up to 8 points by Wednesday night and then flew up to this level in the next 18 hours.  Just as a trend note here:

• In 2021, the Lions are 1-10-1 but they are also 8-4 against the spread.

The Broncos can still make the playoffs notwithstanding the facts that they have lost 6 games; 2 of those losses have been in the division and 5 of the losses have been in the conference.  But a loss here would be extremely injurious to those playoff hopes.  Believe it or not, even at 1-10-1 the Lions are not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs but can flip that status here with a loss.  Hey, I am grasping at straws here to make this game seem relevant; this was a contender for Dog-Breath Game of the Week.

Giants at Chargers – 10 (43):  The spread line has been steady all week long; does that mean bettors do not think there might be a difference for the Giants at QB if Mike Glennon plays or if Jake Fromm plays?  The key here – no matter the NY QB – is the Giants’ running game.  The Chargers’ run defense is bad; it ranks 31^st in the NFL giving up 141.2 yards per game; the only team worse than the Chargers would be the woebegone Houston Texans.  The only reason I will not select this game is that I hate double-digit spreads in NFL games – – but the Chargers need the game and are the significantly better team.

Bills at Bucs – 3.5 (53.5):  Tom Brady is 32-3 against the Bills over his career and has won his last 9 starts against them.  You can be pretty sure that the Bills will not face weather conditions in Tampa thar are reminiscent of what they saw last Monday night in Buffalo.  I think the Bills can score on the Bucs’ defense and I think the Bucs can score on the Bills’ defense.  That Total Line is high, but I will still take the game to go OVER; put it in the Six-Pack.

(Sun Nite) Bears at Packers – 13 (43):  The last time these teams met; Aaron Rodgers made it known to Bears’ fans who were flipping him the bird that he “owned them”.  Coming off a BYE Week, he will retain custody here…

(Mon Nite) Rams at Cards – 2.5 (51):  For the second week in a row, the Monday Night Football game is the Game of the Week.  The Cards won the first meeting between these two teams by 17 points; as of this morning the teams are separated by 2 games in the NFC West standings; a win for the Cards will not guarantee them the division title – – but it will make that status much more likely.  The Rams may have seemed to come back from a deep sleep last week – – but the opponent then was the Jags.  The Cards are a much more potent opponent this week.

Let me review this week’s Six-Pack – – which cannot possibly do worse than last week’s:

• Army/Navy OVER 34
• Niners/Bengals OVER 49
• Titans – 8.5 over Jags
• Football Team +4.5 over Cowboys
• Seahawks – 8.5 over Texans
• Bills/Bucs OVER 53.5.

And for good measure, let me throw in 2 Money Line parlays:

• Football Team @ +175
• Titans @ minus-420.  $100 wager wins 240

And …

• Titans @ minus-420
• Seahawks @ minus-370
• Chargers @ minus-440
• Packers @ minus-650  $100 wager wins $123.

Finally, here are some words from comedian Fred Allen on the subject of Hollywood:

“You can take all the sincerity in Hollywood, place it the navel of a fruit fly and still have room left over for three caraway seeds and a producer’s heart.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

The name change is official and you can now purchase Christmas presents with the new and official logo of the Cleveland Guardians as Christmas presents – – for someone you don’t really like but are socially pressured into purchasing a gift for.  The Cleveland Indians are no more; hail to the Guardians – – I guess.  The new team name may not be offensive to anyone yet, but it surely is silly given that the name derives from some large statues at the end of a bridge in Cleveland said to be guardians of the city.

The nonsensical basis for that name got me to thinking that there might be something in the air in Ohio because there are several silly team names in that state.  And then I realized that California also must be afflicted by whatever is in the air in Ohio because there are plenty of dumb names there too.  And then my mind just started to wander, and I came up with this manic ramble on silly team names.

University of Arkansas – Monticello Boll Weevils.  Someone thought it would be a good idea to name a team after a pest that people expend time, money and energy to eradicate.  I guess it is a better name than “Smallpox”, but not a lot better.

Stanford Cardinal.  No, it is not named after the bird; it is simply a color, a hue.  The team used to be the Indians, but that name was far too horrible for sensitivities in Palo Alto and they came up with this new name; it probably just managed to beat out “Mauve”.  Oh, and Stanford is in California…

Williams College Purple Cows.  There must be a rare breed of cattle in the western Massachusetts area…

Cal – Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.  Another team named after a pest that people try to eradicate.  And it is in California…

Cal – Irvine Anteaters.  The best I can say is that it is not a pest nor is it a prey animal.  It is another entry from California.

Delta State Fighting Okra.  What might okra be fighting about and against what other sort of opponent?  I am trying to picture in my head a battle between okra and ashwagandha, but nothing happens.

Toledo Mud Hens:  The only appealing feature of this name is that it was the favorite team of Corporal Max Klinger on M*A*S*H.  Please note that Toledo is in Ohio…

Akron Zips.  The name derives as a shortened form of “zippers”.  As if that were not dumb enough, the school mascot is a kangaroo which has exactly nothing to do with zippers.  Akron is close to Toledo in Ohio…

Akron Rubber Ducks.  The city of Akron has plenty of ties to the rubber industry but why it was a good idea to name a minor league baseball team after a child’s bath toy is not immediately obvious.  Maybe you have to live in Ohio for a while to get it…

Savannah Sand Gnats.  More fascination with naming a team after a pest…

Montgomery Biscuits.  The name is silly to be sure – – but at least the possibility exists that the biscuits will be tasty and enjoyable.  Moreover, there is no stupidity included here as would be the case if they were the “Fighting Biscuits”.

Binghamton Rumble Ponies.  The city of Binghamton considers itself the focal point of carousels; carousels have horses on them; somehow, those horses became known as rumble ponies.  Aren’t you glad you came here today to learn Useless Fact # 36775?

Hartford Yard Goats.  It is certainly important to keep goats in a yard lest they get out and roam about thereby creating a giant “Goat Rodeo” in the neighborhood…

Lehigh Valley IronPigs.  Yes, IronPigs is one word and not two – – if that makes any difference to you…

Long Beach State Dirtbags.  Only the baseball team bears this nickname; the other teams are called the 49ers – – which might make sense if the school mascot was something other than a shark.  Of course, all of that takes place in California…

Campbell Fighting Camels.  Camels spit but are not necessarily fighters.  I guess I should be thankful that Campbell University chose not to be called “Soup”…

Syracuse Orange.  The mascot is a large, orange-colored sphere indicating that the team is named after a fruit – – which grows exactly nowhere near Syracuse, NY.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons.  I find a more than sufficient level of cognitive dissonance here with “demon” and “deacon” in juxtaposition.

Fort Wayne Mad Ants.  Yet another team named after a pest – – and without any explanation as to why they are angry…

Scottsdale Community College.  They are the Fighting Artichokes.  How an artichoke might engage in a fight is an exercise left to the reader…

Southern Illinois Salukis.  According to Wikipedia, a saluki is an Egyptian hunting dog – – which is not native to the southern part of Illinois or any other part of Illinois.

Utah Jazz.  The name made sense when the team was in New Orleans, but Jazz and Salt Lake City are associated about as closely as mustard and vanilla ice cream.

Enough tomfoolery for today…  yesterday I mentioned that Antonio Brown was suspended for 3 games by the NFL for presenting a forged vaccination status record to the league.  Here is how Dwight Perry saw that situation in the Seattle Times:

“Topps, Donruss and Score are scrambling to produce the first fake Antonio Brown trading card.

“Or is it Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson?”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………

 

 

I want to make only one comment about the death of Medina Spirit – the Kentucky Derby winner back in May of this year – at Santa Anita earlier this week.  After the horse collapsed, vets took samples of hair, blood and urine to assist in the determination of the cause of death.  Please recall that blood samples – and presumably urine samples too – were taken back in May after the Derby and those tests showed positive results for betamethasone which is a banned substance.  The retesting of a separate sample and the adjudication of that matter remains “a work in progress”.  Please do not hold your breath until there is a result of this postmortem and if you want to be suspicious about the findings, go with it; the horseracing stewards have given you ample latitude for skepticism.

Antonio Brown – along with teammate Mike Edwards – has been suspended for 3 games by the NFL for acquiring and presenting a false vaccination record to the team and the league.  The players are not going to appeal the suspensions and the NFLPA was part of the investigation/adjudication processes.  I read one report that said that a forgery of a record that included the seal of the CDC was a Federal crime; I have no idea if that is correct, but it does seem reasonable.  On the assumption that is correct:

• Antonio Brown and Mike Edwards get 3 games off (without pay) for endangering the health of others, lying to league officials and possibly violating Federal law.
• Tom Brady got 4 games off (without pay) for allegedly underinflating a football.
• Got that…?

A week or so ago Vikings’ DE, Everson Griffen was in an armed standoff with police in Minnesota at his home.  He said someone was in his house trying to kill him; he was armed and ready to defend himself.  Police found no evidence of any intruder and after a lengthy standoff, Griffen was taken into custody and taken for a psych evaluation.  The results of that evaluation are in; Everson Griffen suffers from bipolar syndrome.  Taking his statement regarding the results of the evaluation at face value, Griffen may be on a path to managing his condition:

“It’s true; I am bipolar.  I will embrace it and I will be an advocate for mental health.  I been running from it a long time. I’m not ashamed of it anymore. It all started when my mother passed away. Went into a dark place, thought I was great for many years. I promise this time I will do everything the experts say and my wife. I love my family and I miss my friends. Thank you for all the love and support, but most of all thank you for all the prayers.”

Griffen is on the “reserve/non-football illness list” at the moment with no reports as to when he might return to the Vikings active roster.  The Vikings can use his presence and his pass-rushing skills as they scramble for a wildcard slot in the NFC playoffs.  He is not the first defensive end associated with the Vikings to suffer from bipolar disorder.

About 20 years ago, the Vikes drafted Dimitrius Underwood, a DE from Michigan State in the first round of the draft.  Underwood walked out of training camp a day or so after signing his rookie contract and said that he could not play football and be true to his Christian faith.  Later that year, he cut his throat and was running down the street when apprehended by police and put into protective custody; he too was diagnosed with bipolar syndrome.  Underwood has been in and out of jail and/or hospitalization since he left pro football.  I hope that Everson Griffen deals more positively with his affliction than Dimitrius Underwood did.

In recent years, the NBA faced the issue of “load management” for players; many fans felt they were victims of “bait and switch” when they paid premium prices for tix to see top-shelf stars when they came to their town to play the locals and then the top-shelf stars simply showed up in street clothes and sat on the bench.  Load management is still happening, but it seems to have become sufficiently mainstream that fans are not as exercised over it as before.  However, there is a new NBA phenomenon this year:

• Healthy star players who never play for their teams by mutual consent.

Ben Simmons does not want to play for the Sixers and the Sixers seem not overly anxious to find a way to get him to want to play for the team.  The team has suspended him and fined him; his salary is in escrow until he returns to action – – whatever that might mean in this circumstance.  Fans who go to see the Sixers – – in Philly or elsewhere – – will not see Ben Simmons in a Sixers’ uniform even sitting at the end of the bench.

John Wall wants to be traded from the Rockets and the Rockets want to trade him.  That seems like a solvable situation, no?  Well, Wall’s super-max contract along with the fact that he is still recovering from a devastating leg injury gives other teams sufficient pause when it comes to handing over a bounty to the Rockets.  (Wall will make $44M this year and $47M next year on that deal.)  And the Rockets are not interested in giving Wall away for a bag of beans.  So, when fans go to see the Rockets play, they get to see John Wall in street clothes sitting on or very near the team bench so as not to risk any sort of reinjury to that damaged leg.

Those situations are not a good image for the NBA nor is this a brand-new phenomenon.  Last year, the Thunder sat Al Horford down at the end of the bench and did not use him late in the season with the clear intention of trading him once the season was over.  Horford went to the Celtics in the off-season but fans who paid full price for a Thunder ticket late last year did not get to see the best team the Thunder could put on the floor.

I do not know what the solution is here, but it does seem to me that teams like the Rockets this year and the Thunder last year are not trying to win games as a priority and that tarnishes “the integrity of the game”.  This is a problem for the NBA and the NBPA to address and resolve.

Finally, a definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Ikea:  A retail furniture warehouse whose motto is ‘Here you freakin’ build it.’”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………