The Sports Curmudgeon®

Well, I’m back from my Annual Autumnal Pilgrimage - - to Las Vegas and the sportsbooks out there. I feel rejuvenated and in better contact with my inner grumpiness now that I’m back. And since I got to watch the World Series games and a ton of football games (college and pro), I have some reactions…

People complain about Red Sox fans and their angst and all that stuff. Whatever. Let me tell you that many Colorado Rockies fans are merely annoying people; they haven’t risen to the level of interesting yet. A common theme among the commentaries of these fans on Saturday night and Sunday night every time the Rockies did something positive – admittedly not all that frequently – was “That’s Rockies baseball; that’s how you play the game.” Then when the Series ended in a sweep, they said that the Red Sox should not be all that proud because they just beat a team made up of “kids and players who weren’t good enough yet to earn ten million dollar salaries”. The Rockies were a great story this year; that team overcame humongous odds just to get into the playoffs. It’s fine to root for them but it is not fine to demean the achievements of the team that beats the Rockies by turning on the Rockies and saying that the victors didn’t beat anybody. Like I said, these folks haven’t yet become interesting.

With regard to football, this is a down year for USC. Against Oregon, every time they needed to make a play – on offense or defense – they generally didn’t make it. I don’t read minds so I don’t know if this is the case, but it looks as if the team is not nearly as disciplined or committed as other USC teams have been in recent years.

USC’s cross-town rival, UCLA, also laid a huge egg last weekend losing 27-7 to a Washington State team that is mediocre at best. Talk about a letdown after beating a ranked Cal team…

Michigan State absolutely dominated Iowa in the first half; both of the Michigan State lines dominated the line of scrimmage. Then in the second half, they could not block anyone on offense and the defensive line was routinely pushed back three yards on just about every running play. Did they serve up Quaaludes in the Spartans’ locker room at halftime?

Rutgers’ fans need to accept the fact that last year’s Miracle in New Brunswick is officially over, finished, done, kaput, closed … you get the point.

Lots of folks were upset when Notre Dame fired Ty Willingham a few years ago. After watching Washington give up 48 points at home – and more than 500 yards passing – to Arizona over the weekend, that is the kind of game that gets coaches fired. Arizona is a mediocre team; losing that game by giving up that many points in front of the home town fans and boosters is embarrassing to say the least.

Nebraska gave up over 200 yards rushing in the fourth quarter – to a single player no less – as they found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against Texas last weekend. Bill Callahan needs to rent the movie The Green Mile to find out what it might take for someone to suck all the hate and all the ill will out of his program. At the end of the year, Callahan will be leaving town…

The Washington Redskins were de-pantsed on television over the weekend. The Redskins just stunk; that is actually a polite way to describe how they played. They could not run the ball or pass the ball effectively; they made up for that with a complete inability to stop the Pats from running or throwing the ball effectively. After the game Skins’ reserve LB, Randal Godfrey, said that the Pats had no class and he hoped he could meet them again this year. Yeah, right! What were the Pats supposed to do? Kick field goals when they were up 38-0 or 45-0? That would not have drawn any criticism, would it? Mike Ditka had it right on ESPN. Stop the belly-aching; if you want to get off the field, just stop somebody. Here’s the corollary to Ditka’s comment. If you can’t stop anybody at any time, then just admit you’re not nearly as good or get out of the game and stop cashing those paychecks under the false pretense that you are nearly that good.

The 49ers have seriously regressed on offense this year - - no matter who the starting QB is. Might it be that the loss of Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator is a bigger deal in SF than they would want to let on?

If the Giants/Dolphins game was meant to market the excellence of the regular season NFL product overseas, that was about as successful as “New Coke”. The game stunk; the weather stunk; all the hoopla turned out to be just that.

If the Dolphins played the Rams on a neutral field, I’d set the following lines:

The game would be “pick ‘em”.

The over/under for the attendance would be 15,000.

[For perspective, that’s about what MLS draws for a game…]

The Jets/Bills game was close all the way. Nonetheless, it was painful to watch. Imagine watching someone getting oral surgery; that’s what that game looked like. The Titans/Raiders game was similar to the Jets/Bills game except the weather was better.

For the record, the Bengals’ defense is actually as bad as advertised… If you haven’t seen them play recently, you might want to tune in for a series or two if they are televised in your area soon just to marvel at how a defensive coach like Marvin Lewis could put together an agglomeration of guys who play defense so ineffectively.

The Bears offense scored all of 7 points on the Lions defense last weekend and QB, Brian Griese, threw three more INTs. Can someone explain to me just what it is in that showing that is beyond the capability of Rex Grossman? Bears’ fans and Chicago writers clamored for Lovie Smith to bench Grossman and go with Griese. Now they want Kyle Orton. Here’s the problem:

No one on the Bears’ roster is a top shelf NFL QB. Any one of them can have a good game once in a while but the weighted average of their performances will be sub-standard at best. Deal with it…

Watching the Colts dismantle the Panthers in the second half was like watching a cat “play with” a mouse before devouring it.

The Eagles scored two TDs in the red zone last weekend. That’s news all by itself. Oh, and Vikings Coach Brad Childress challenged two calls in the first half that were so clearly called correctly on the field that you have to wonder what kind of TV his coaches in the booth were watching. I didn’t know they still made those old round screen black and white sets…

One final note about Las Vegas. They still have shows featuring Celine Dion, Carrot Top and Blue Man Group. My personal form of Hell would be having to see those three acts over and over and over again.

Finally, Scott Ostler had this comment recently in the San Francisco Chronicle regarding the Patriots and “Spygate”:

“It should have been obvious long ago that the Patriots were cheating.

What’s more suspicious than a video-cam guy on an NFL sideline with his camera pointed at something other than cleavage?”

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