The Sports Curmudgeon

Tell the truth. Other than hearing some of the marginal MLB players who made the list in the Mitchell Report, were you sufficiently surprised by anything you heard or read such that you even came close to whacking the palm of your hand on your forehead? Didn’t think so…

Since I just alluded to baseball, let me continue with a comment on the recent trade between the Orioles and the Astros where Miguel Tejada went west and five players went to the Orioles. The way this is being portrayed in Baltimore is that the team has recognized the need for radical change and that this trade brings “youth and potential” to the O’s. However, the guy that the Orioles obtained who might actually make it to their starting line-up next year – Luke Scott – is 29 years old. Obviously, he is not ready for the bone yard, but 29 is a bit past the time when you can hang the “youth and potential” tag around his neck.

Remember when Lou Piniella took Carlos Zambrano out of a playoff game, which the Cubs found a way to lose, because he wanted to have Zambrano ready for a Game 4? Well, I think I just figured out what he was actually doing then. Lou can now be absolutely certain that Zambrano will be ready to start the fourth game of Spring Training next February.

Former Brooklyn and LA Dodgers’ owner, Walter O’Malley, was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame recently. I do not want to hear about how he broke the hearts of Brooklyn fans; that was 50 years ago; they have had time to get over that. O’Malley made major league baseball into a truly national sport giving MLB a “national footprint”. That means he had a profound effect on the game and deserves to be part of the permanent history of the game - - and that’s what the Hall of Fame is with regard to persons other than players. His presence in the Hall of Fame does raise two issues:

1. Marvin Miller also had a profound effect on baseball. He is now 90 years old. Why does he need to be elected to the Hall of Fame posthumously?

2. Will it take a full 50 years to “ease the pain” suffered by Cleveland fans such that Art Modell can make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame? He belongs there. And the city fathers of Cleveland were equal partners with Modell in turning the “old” Browns into the Baltimore Ravens.

Here is a Quick Quiz:

New Orleans had Hurricane Katrina. Miami has the Dolphins. Which city got the short end of the stick here. [250 words or less]

The Jets are 24-point underdogs to the Pats this weekend. If you look at the money line on the game, the Jets are +1800. If they were to win the game and spoil the Pats’ run at a perfect season, would that be a bigger moment in team history than the Joe Namath Super Bowl win? As I recall, the Jets were only 17-point underdogs then…

The Patriots surely do not need any help at the moment; but every time the Niners lose, the Pats gain an asset. The Pats own the Niners’ first round pick in next year’s draft and if SF continues to stink out the joint, it could be that the Patriots will have the #2 overall pick in the draft. That could get them a franchise caliber player or could get them multiple lower picks.

How did the Pats come into possession of the Niners’ pick? Well, last year at the draft, the Pats gave the Niners the 28th pick (in the low first round) in return for the Niners’ 110th pick in last year’s draft (mid-fourth round) plus this year’s first round pick. And whom did the Niners draft with that 28th pick last year? That would be Joe Staley, offensive tackle, Central Michigan.

Given all the things that went right for the Cowboys last weekend against the Lions and all the fortuitous bounces of the ball that they had, I think that they provided a good example of a modern update to an old adage:

Old Adage: It is better to be lucky than good.

Update: It is even better to be lucky AND good.

As I suggested yesterday, the Bobby Petrino story is already fading to black and it will get a brief reawakening when the Falcons hire whoever will be their new full time coach. Does Arthur Blank have the cell phone number for one Martin Edward Schottenheimer…? He should.

It must be fallout from the Hollywood writers’ strike, but I just read that Hulk Hogan will be the host/emcee for a revival of American Gladiators for NBC. This time, it will not be Saturday morning fodder; this time it is going to be on in prime time. I am certainly no theologian able to interpret Scriptural references regarding “the final days”, but Hulk Hogan hosting American Gladiators on NBC in prime time tends to make me think that humankind has run out of useful things to do on the planet.

Speaking of Hulk Hogan, here is another activity he will be involved in courtesy of Brad Rock in the Deseret Morning News:

“In an effort to galvanize national pride, a coast-to-coast “rally towel-wave” is being planned for next Independence Day.

“Chosen to lead the celebration: Hulk Hogan.

“Which is a great idea.

“Honestly, what better way to demonstrate what hard-working, everyday Americans are about than a millionaire wrestler leading a giant wave?”

Finally, an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“Figure skater Kimmie Meissner, hockey player Scott Gomez and speedskater Chad Hedrick will join forces in January to promote National Skating Month.

“What, no O.J. Simpson?”

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

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Here’s a column by Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle that deserves to be read in its entirety.

He takes a current “story” and puts it into some historical perspective…

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Please note that I am writing this on the day that the “Mitchell Report” will finally become known to the public but that I am writing it and posting it prior to its release. The two main reasons that I am not going to wait to read about it before writing this essay are really very simple:

1. I do not think that this report will shock me in any way and

2. I think that the importance of the report will be as extensive as the cultural impact of the Labrador Surfing Team.

Seriously, I would not be stunned to learn that any player in MLB over the past 15-20 years has used steroids, amphetamines, or painkillers as a way to enhance his performance on the field. [And I mean to include specifically here even those players of that era who have already been elected to the Hall of Fame.] We have already had pitchers named and disciplined for steroid use and these guys are not blowing the ball past anyone. Each and every player has to be a suspect in this matter because there is no testing of the players that is meaningful and there are huge financial gains to be had for outstanding performances on the field. The entire situation is akin to the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Poverty” that this country has waged over the past four decades. In case you hadn’t noticed, drugs and poverty are still here in almost the same proportion that they were prior to declaration of these “Wars”.

I think that the shock value of whatever names are contained in the “Mitchell Report” will last less than 72 hours. By the time the NFL Pre-Game Shows hit the air on Sunday morning, this story will be old news and it will be all but forgotten – even on “SportsTalk Radio” – by Sunday evening.

The huge story of the moment – also soon to be forgotten – is the resignation of Bobby Petrino as the coach of the Falcons and his move to be the head coach at Arkansas. Here in the DC area where there is precious little emotional connection with either the Falcons or the Razorbacks, this story has poured a lot of gastric juice into a lot of stomachs and caused a lot of vitriol to spill out over the airwaves of DC’s sports radio stations. For the life of me, I do not understand why…

Bobby Petrino is a football coach. In the perspective of society and world events, he is only a bit more important than that Labrador Surfing Team I mentioned above. To him, football is a business and a career. He is not a fan to whom football’s importance is just slightly below the importance of God, country, family and honor. To him it is not a whole lot different from the guy who drives a delivery truck for UPS quitting that job and taking a similar position with FedEx – maybe even on the same day. In addition, the job switch doesn’t matter a whole lot more either to him or to me.

All of the emoting about how this tawdry episode will come back to haunt Petrino when he tries to recruit players for Arkansas because they won’t believe what he tells them, does not amount to a mite of moose mucous. Young athletes have been conditioned to have people fawn over them because of their athletic skills; they do not look beyond the fawning of the recruiting process. They too are looking at football as a career or a business; if they get to the pro level, it’s all good; if they merely get a free ride to college for a degree or for fun and games, it’s all good. Like coaches, most players do not put nearly the same percentage of their psyche into football that the rabid fans do.

Bobby Petrino has learned as a football coach to tell people – prospective players, athletic directors, general managers and beat reporters – what he thinks they want to hear. Does that make him a hypocrite and a lying weasel? Yes. However, he is a football coach and part of the knowledge/skills/abilities requisite to be a good football coach is the ability to lie convincingly. If you think I am being cynical here, recall that the only difference between a cynic and a realist is whether or not you agree with him. Recall some of the other honorable and truthful men in the football coaching profession and their abilities with creative truth-telling such as Nick Saban, Gary Barnett, Rick Neuheisel…

You want some real irony about this Bobby Petrino situation? Lou Holtz quit as the coach of the Jets in his first year in the NFL. Where did he go? He went to Arkansas just like Petrino. But the coincidence doesn’t stop there. Consider:

When Holtz left the Jets in 1976 for Arkansas, they were 3-10.

When Petrino left the Falcons yesterday for Arkansas, they were 3-10.

On the day Petrino left the Falcons for Arkansas, the Jets were 3-10.

No, I did not play “310” in the lottery yesterday. But I did check and it did not win in the Virginia Lottery or the DC Lottery yesterday. So much for numerology…

In response to my comments yesterday about the Washington Nationals acquiring Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes, I got this note from a friend and former colleague. I thought it was worth sharing:

“There was a time in pro sports when some organizations did quite well by acquiring highly talented meatheads from other organizations. The old Oakland Raiders come to mind. The Redskins of George Allen succeeded at this game, too.

“This operating strategy doesn’t seem to work anymore. The Oakland Raiders still try to do it, and they stink on a consistent basis. You cited Portland. How’s that working out? The Bengals come to mind as an organization that cannot straighten out the meatheads. (Randy Moss is a recent exception to this rule.)

“For some reason the leopards could change their spots 20 years ago and cannot today. The answer probably lies in big money and guaranteed contracts. But I don’t know the answer.

“I expect that the Nationals will quietly jettison Milledge and his new buddy after some kind of run in with teammates or the law. They are smart enough to do that. Well, at least people are talking about the Nationals…..”

I mentioned the Jets above. They get to play the Pats this weekend as 24-point underdogs. Let me give you three stats that put that spread into perspective.

1. The Jets have scored a total of 239 points in their 13 games.

2. The Pats have scored a total of 503 points in their 13 games.

3. The Pats have outscored their opponents by 281 points in their 13 games. That cumulative margin of victory is 6 TDs more than all of the points the Jets have scored all season long.

The Bears will start Kyle Orton at QB this weekend against the Vikings. It seems that yet another coaching staff in yet another NFL city has come to realize that Brian Griese is not the answer when it comes to a starting QB. Lovie Smith says he thinks Orton gives the Bears the best chance to win on Monday and this is not an “audition” for Orton nor a demonstration of a lack of faith in Griese. Stop the snickering; he’s a football coach; he’s lying; what else would you expect him to say? Smith told reporters in Chicago that the time had come “to see exactly what Kyle can do.” Now does that sound like a coach describing a QB undergoing an audition or a QB he is confident gives the team the best chance to win this Monday night? The great orator, Cicero, would probably call that comment a lapsus linguae.

Meanwhile, the Bears put two DTs on injured reserve this week and signed/activated a DT who has one game of NFL experience as a starter. The Vikings like to run the ball and run the ball and then run the ball some more. If the Vikes avoid turnovers and stupid penalties, this game might get very ugly.

Finally, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle had this comment recently related to coaches and the way they paint rosy pictures that do not always coincide with reality:

“Mike Nolan has defended [Niners’ O-Coordinator] Jim Hostler by explaining that Hostler works his tail off. Chiefs coach Herm Edwards recently defended his O-coordinator, Mike Solari, by saying, ‘He’s working his tail off.’

“Coaches, please listen carefully: We are not impressed. If I work my tail off digging a ditch with a TV remote, I’m still a lousy ditch-digger.”

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

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Now that at least some of the moaning and complaining about the college bowl pairings have abated, let me try to address some of the silly gripes that were floating about out there.

Georgia Coach, Mark Richt, wondered aloud why voters did not elevate his team into the BCS Championship Game saying, “I do think we were unofficially disqualified for not winning our conference.”

Memo to Coach Richt:

1. Then win your conference next time.

2. Oh, and to do that you will also need to win your division of the SEC next time too. You failed to do even that this year.

Here is a flat-out fact for the college football season that was:

Every team that harbors some thought that it ought to have been put into the Championship Game had a real opportunity to put itself there without debate.

No one did that.

So none of the whining is really appropriate here.

Do I think that the LSU/Ohio State pairing matches the two best teams in the country? No, but they are both in the top five or six. Do I think that the other BCS games are compelling events? No, but they rarely are.

The reality is that there is no playoff system for Division 1-A college football and the BCS is what we have. Complaining doesn’t do much of anything except to create a need for BCS apologists to open their yaps in response to the complaining. Mike Bianchi summed up the situation well in the Orlando Sentinel:

“Don’t you love the BCS apologists who continue to say that the system is good for college football because ‘people are talking about it?’ Yeah, well, people are talking about the collapse of the housing industry, too, but that doesn’t necessarily make it a good thing.”

Looking at the “major” bowl games, Hawaii (the only undefeated team in the country albeit with narrow escapes against San Jose State, La Tech and Washington) will travel to New Orleans to take on Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. If the Dawgs take this game for granted and go out there with a half-assed effort, they will lay an egg of gigantic proportion. SEC teams are not supposed to lose to WAC teams – if you believe the dogma of those who live in SEC territory. And Hawaii can score points if you let those receivers run their routes in the secondary.

Va Tech and Kansas play in the Orange Bowl. The Hokies are the team that lost to LSU by 41 points earlier in the season and then coughed up a hairball in the final two minutes of a game against BC to squander a 10-0 lead. Kansas is another team in major BCS bowl game action that didn’t win its division of its conference; Kansas also lost to Missouri who got chased out of the big time bowl game picture; Kansas’ strength of schedule ranked 109th this year out of 119 teams. Tell me why this game is compelling…

Illinois and USC play in the Rose Bowl; these teams combined for five losses this year including the gag job that USC pulled to lose to Stanford when the Cardinal was a 41-point underdog. Why is this game even interesting?

Oklahoma and West Virginia meet in the Fiesta Bowl and this game might be the best of the lot. However, West Virginia will have to find a way to leave behind the pants-wetting performance that they offered up against Pitt. Even after Pitt beat the nominally second-best team in the country, the Panthers did not make it to bowl eligibility. If the Mountaineers pull that kind of rock out of their pocket again, this game will be awful; if they play solidly, this game could be exciting.

Enough college football for now. I will have some remarks to make about a few of the “minor bowl games” when their time draws nigh. Meanwhile, in baseball the winter meetings produced a trade that had the TV analysts in full throat. The Tigers’ acquisition of Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera caused the analysts to proclaim that the Tigers were now one of the three best teams in baseball. Maybe so, but I think we do need to wait just a bit to see how three things shake out:

1. Will Dontrelle Willis’ record improve because he will have a real major league team behind him such that he will not have to treat each batter as a potential game-breaking experience?

2. Will Miguel Cabrera start the season near 250 lbs or near 310 lbs? If he hits for the cycle one day, will someone be able to point out that he got one hit for each of his chins?

3. Will any Tigers be on the much-anticipated “Mitchell Report” list of steroid users and face suspensions? Gary Sheffield all but admitted he was a user when he talked of his training time with Barry Bonds. Pudge Rodriguez bulked up fast and then slimmed down just as fast and all of that happened as steroids became a really big deal. Coincidence? We shall see…

The Washington Nationals may be trying to secure that niche in baseball that the Portland Trailblazers once occupied in the NBA and that the Cincinnati Bengals occupy in the NFL. Recently the Nats acquired Lastings Milledge from the Mets. Milledge is supposed to be a huge vat of potential but he wore out his welcome in NY awfully quickly. He was involved in a situation related to sexual misconduct with a minor and then put out a rap song that was lewd even by the yardstick of rap songs. In the clubhouse, he reportedly pissed off teammates with his nonchalance sufficiently that someone posted a note on his locker saying “Know your place, Rook.”

Then, obviously, to help keep Milledge on the straight and narrow the Nationals went out and acquired Elijah Dukes who has had more than a couple of incidents involving threats, abuse and a lack of anger management. His estranged wife went to court to get a restraining order to keep Dukes away from her because she alleged that he threatened to kill her and her child. Dukes is also a prodigious young talent at the plate so the Nationals’ offense has gotten a whole lot better in the past six weeks – assuming of course that both of these guys can maintain behavior that is acceptable for your average housebroken hominids.

Finally, Greg Cote had this item in the Miami Herald recently. It sums up the status of men’s tennis very well:

“In tennis, the U.S. defeated Russia for its first Davis Cup title in 12 years. Peculiarly, nobody I’ve asked since has any idea who Davis is or was.”

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

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With three weeks to play in the NFL season, three of the NFC Divisional races have already been decided; and the Tampa Bay Bucs have a comfortable if not insurmountable lead in the fourth. In the AFC, one divisional race is over; two races involve a team with a two game lead and three games left to play; the fourth is the only division race left in doubt. So much for parity in 2007…

It’s not just that teams at the top of the ladder are running away from the pack this year. Take a look at the two “national games” that the NFL schedule makers decided to “feature” on Thursday and Saturday nights this week. On Thursday, the Houston Texans host the Denver Broncos. That may have looked to be a marginally meaningful match-up back when the TV schedule was being finalized for 2007 but it now pairs up two teams that need a win to crawl back to a .500 record. Yes, I know that Denver can still theoretically win the AFC West and that both teams have a mathematical shot at making the playoffs. In addition, I also know that neither team is all that good.

On Saturday night, the NFL schedule makers have a real rotten rutabaga on the menu for us. The Cincinnati Bengals make a cross-country journey to San Francisco to play the Niners. The combined record going into that game will be 8-18. This is a game that you can turn on to provide a little background noise in your home; it certainly is not one that will interfere with anything else you are planning to do on Saturday night.

There are some interesting games on Sunday/Monday this weekend. The Ravens go to Miami and try not to be “the team that found a way to lose to the hapless Dolphins”. Miami managed to give up 38 points to Buffalo last weekend; the Bills had been averaging just over 15 points a game prior to the coin flip in that game. Meanwhile, the Ravens gave up 44 points to the Colts last weekend and the Colts had it on cruise control for the second half. People went into the season pointing to these two defenses as units that might be able to carry two inept offenses to playoff spots; the Ravens’ defense did just that last year. However, both defenses seem to be equal in ineptitude to their offenses. Consider:

Miami has given up 355 points – second most in the NFL. That’s just under 4 TDs per game.

Baltimore has given up 314 points – 88 points more than the Ravens’ offense has scored. That’s just over 24 points per game.

Jax travels to Pittsburgh this weekend for what is probably going to be the best game of the weekend because both of the teams are good; both need to win the game for playoff positioning and both teams like to play actual smash-mouth football – not the kind of smash-mouth football that lots of other teams like to say is the basis of their identity. The Jaguars have lost four times – twice to Indy. After this weekend, the Jaguars have a soft schedule with Oakland and Houston left to play. Meanwhile the Steelers have also lost four times this year but in an enigmatic pattern. The Steelers lost to the Pats, as has every other team that played the Pats but the Steelers also lost to the Cardinals, Jets (!) and Broncos. Pittsburgh also ends the season against two inferior teams (Rams and Ravens) after this weekend, but both of those games are on the road. Maybe the Steelers need this game just a tad more than the Jags?

Just down the road from Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Browns host the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. The Browns are only a game behind the Steelers in the AFC North and would be the AFC’s second wild card team if the season were over now. The Bills are over .500 and are still alive for that second wild card slot if they win on Sunday. It has been a while since a Browns/Bills confrontation in December was a meaningful game to both teams.

Last week, I mentioned that Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would provide the halftime “entertainment” at the Super Bowl. I said then that I did not know anything at all about Tom Petty or why any of the other members of the group qualified as “heartbreakers”. A loyal reader sent along this note in an attempt to make me interested in finding out who these people might be:

“One of his hits is You Don’t Have To Live Like A Refugee.

“Glad the game is not in New Orleans.”

Now that Michael Vick has been sentenced by a Federal judge for dogfighting – remember, there are still pending Virginia charges related to the same kinds of crime – there is speculation about whether or not Vick can/will return to the NFL. Interestingly, most of the analyses begin with the statement that Vick could be out of prison earlier than the 23-month sentence would indicate based on good behavior. Let me ask rhetorically, what would indicate to anyone that Michael Vick could recognize “good behavior” if it ran by him and swatted him on his derriere?

In addition, he is suspended indefinitely by the NFL and would need to be reinstated by the NFL before he would be allowed to try to play in the league again. Forget the fact of dogfighting for a moment and the gut reactions that it evokes in many people; there are allegations of gambling involved in these activities and the NFL just doesn’t like gambling on “sporting events” in any way, shape or form. This matter is not resolved.

Speaking of gambling on sporting events and leagues’ aversion to that activity, here is something I find interesting. There are lots of people who make the argument that Michael Vick should not be denied an opportunity to earn a living in his chosen profession once he serves his prison term and pays his debt to society. Fans demonstrate in support of him, and last night on TV, there were more than a few Atlanta fans in the stands wearing Vick’s jersey. And since everyone is entitled to express their opinion, that’s just fine with me.

However, note that no one has yet suggested that Tim Donaghy be afforded the same set of opportunities when he has paid his debt to society. Think about it. Once he is out of prison, he will still be young enough to officiate basketball for another 10-15 years; so where are the demonstrations in support of putting him back on the court with whistle in mouth? I guess it must be a racial thing …

Finally, here is something from Dennis Miller’s TV show, Sports Unfiltered:

‘’Barry Bonds’ former mistress will testify against him at his upcoming perjury and obstruction of justice trial. Defense lawyers plan to portray the woman as an angry, bitter, vindictive liar. You know, Barry’s soul mate.

“This is just another blow to the Bonds defense team, coming on the heels of the judge’s decision to empanel an entire jury equipped with vision.

‘’In other steroid news. The international track and field council has voided all of Marion Jones’ results dating back to the year 2000. To her credit, Jones has taken the punishment like a man.'’

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

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Last January, I offered up here and here – free of any charge – a laundry list of suggestions on how the NFL can improve its already excellent product. The reason it’s fun and interesting to think about things like this is precisely because the product is so good already; finding ways to improve other sports isn’t nearly as challenging. Therefore, in the spirit of the Holiday Season and flush with a generosity of spirit, I have a few more suggestions for the NFL mavens.

The NFL schedule – with regard to who plays whom – is set up on a rotation system. It does not take long to figure out who will be on whose schedule next year once a season is over; the questions left are where and when will the games be played. And it is exactly in those dimensions of “where/when” that the NFL can make improvements. Let me explain.

Division rivalries are big things in the NFL. Some of the rivalries are bigger than others; some have waxed and waned over the years. However, interdivisional games are a big deal for the teams and for the fans. Particularly important for the teams and the fans is that the division champion gets a spot in the playoff despite its record; mathematically, it is possible for a team to go 4-12 and win their division; that hypothetical 4-12 team would still be in the playoffs. So why not use the divisional games in a larger way. Why not begin every season with every team playing its first three games against its division opponents? That makes those early season games just a tad more important than they might be with a random schedule.

Then, to put the icing on the cake, assure that every team closes out the season in December by playing its last three games against those same division opponents. The rivalries will be enhanced and the games are likely to be even more meaningful. Moreover, the teams are going to play each other twice in the season under any circumstances so why not use the division games to bracket the season?

Each team plays four out-of conference games each year. You could talk me into the idea of playing all of them in the weeks between the end of September and the beginning of November except for the fact that there has to be at least one inter-conference game on Thanksgiving in order to give both FOX and CBS a game on Thanksgiving under the current rules for televising games. If the NFL can work out a way to handle the “Thanksgiving issue” and simultaneously play all the inter-conference games at the same time, I think that would be a good idea too.

The other scheduling issue that needs a change is the Exhibition Season. The fact that teams require season ticket holders to buy two extra tickets to meaningless exhibition games where the only real objective is to avoid injury to key players goes beyond shameful and all the way to obscene. Fans have to pay regular season prices to see the scrubs play football - - and in some cases they are not even seeing the scrubs because the majority of the guys on the field for most of the game will never make it to the regular season roster/practice squad. This price gouging behavior has gone on for so long that the owners seem to have taken it to be a grandfathered license to pick the pockets of their fans. It really is amazing how those owners can stand up and say that they value their fans and care about them and all that bunkum and still foist that horrible Exhibition Product on the fans and jam it down their throats.

The owners are not lining up in soup lines to get sustenance nor to find shelter with other homeless and downtrodden folks. They can afford to take a little less money in the short run – and maybe “grow the brand a bit” by separating the Exhibition Season games from the season ticket sales and letting anyone/everyone pay lower ticket prices for those games. The marketplace will determine what the traffic will bear rather quickly and the owners will still take in gobs of revenue for games that mean nothing and feature B-List and C-List players for the majority of snaps.

A friend has had Redskins’ season tickets since forever in his family – I think he said his father bought them originally in 1956 so even if I’m off by a year or two in my recollection, he’s had them for a while. He LOVES the Exhibition Games every year because that is when he says he can focus on the draft picks and the free agents on the two teams to see of there is a “diamond in the rough”. That’s fine; and maybe there are hundreds of other folks who would want to do the same thing. After all, there are folks who go to watch NBA Developmental League games too. However, the difference here is that the people attending D-League games are not paying $1000 a seat to park their buns in a chair at courtside; those seats are not even going to cost them “three-digits” – if that is how closely they want to take a look at those “diamonds in the rough”. That is a more equitable way to deal with fans who might want to see an exhibition version of the real product - - sort of like spring training baseball.

The NFL needs to reconsider the way that it maintains its records and stats. Marvin Harrison is a great receiver and he has caught passes in a large number of consecutive games – near 180 as I recall. He is chasing Jerry Rice’s record in this category at 274. However, Harrison has been inactive for many games this year due to a nagging knee injury and that is not enough to “break the string”. When Harrison returns to the line-up for even one snap of the ball, then he needs to catch a pass in that game to keep the streak alive. Somehow, I find that less than satisfying – and I purposely used Marvin Harrison as an example here because I bear no dislike for him at all and I hugely admire the way he has conducted himself on the field for his entire career. I am trying to separate the player from the concept here. A “consecutive game streak” should require that all of the games be consecutive ones in which the players team participated. Oh, by the way, Rice achieved his record under the same rules; he too had some injury time off.

That’s all I have at the moment - - unless of course the people who are outraged at the end-zone call against Kellen Winslow in the game with the Cardinals get their way and have force-outs become reviewable by replay officials. That would be monumentally stupid. The standard now is for “indisputable visual evidence” to exist in order to change a call. What are they going to do for indisputable evidence here; put a super-computer up in the booth and use Newton’s Laws to calculate the position of a receiver’s toes on the sideline given the impact of the bodies involved and all that stuff? Give me a break!

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

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I will be traveling starting later today until early next week. I will try to post something later this week. More than likely, I won’t be “on the air” until next Tuesday.

Stay well.

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I just finished watching the New England Patriots keep their undefeated season alive with little to spare against the Baltimore Ravens. Kyle Boller played the best game I have ever seen him play; Willis McGahee ran the ball as well as I have seen him do that; the Ravens’ offensive line actually dominated the line of scrimmage for extended segments of the game. That’s why it was a close game but the penalties killed the Baltimore defense. At one point, there was a graphic saying they had been penalized 13 times for 100 yards; I understand that football is a game of aggression, but there needs to be a bit more control on the “aggression throttle” or a team’s aggression will cost them a game. To a large extent, that is what happened last night.

The ESPN telecast took a turn in the right direction. Even though they crowded the booth with a guest for an elongated period of the second half, that guest was Don Shula. That’s OK with me because:

1. He knows football.
2. He has ties to Baltimore where he played and coached.
3. He has a tie to the Pats’ pursuit of a perfect season.
4. Oh, did I mention that he knows football…

Would that ESPN could find it in their corporate soul to make those kind of links and knowledgeability sine qua non for guests in the booth from now on. Let it be said; let it be done.

As I have said many times here, I live in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC. The death of Sean Taylor was big news here; and as a fan favorite here, there was a week’s worth of grief expression and mourning among Redskins’ fans. That is well and proper; that is as it should be. At every NFL game over the weekend, there was a moment of silence observed to pay respects to Sean Taylor as the NFL lost “one of its own”. And the moment of silence in the stadium in Washington was polluted by a small segment of Redskins’ fans who seemed to think that their expression of their grief was more important than the recognition of Sean Taylor.

During the moment of silence, several folks shouted out their personal feelings such as “We love you, Sean!” Then others joined in and cheered. Folks that is about as inappropriate as it gets. The moment was to honor and remember Sean Taylor not to provide a stage for the self-absorbed egotists who had to take that moment to call attention to themselves. Moreover, it all happened in the stadium where Sean Taylor was nominally most appreciated as a football player. It was a revolting display.

Memo to Self-Absorbed Fans: What can possibly be confusing about the phrase “Moment … Of … Silence”?

As the Patriots continued to march toward a perfect season, the Dolphins continued their march to perfect ignominy. They lost to the Jets by 27 points on Sunday and the Jets are a bad football team. John Beck may be the “QB of the Future” in Miami but in the recent past – like last weekend – he threw 3 INTs and lost two fumbles. There is no polite way to describe a game like that. The Jets are now 3-9 on the season but against teams not called the Miami Dolphins, the Jets are 1-9. Here is all you can rationally conclude from that game on Sunday:

The Jets aren’t nearly as miserable a team as the Dolphins at this point.

Do you realize that the McCown brothers – Luke and Josh – both won NFL games on Sunday? Luke does not start for the Bucs all that often so he does not get to win too frequently. Josh plays for the Raiders so even when he does start, he usually loses. So, this had to have been a banner weekend for Ma and Pa McCown. Between the two brothers, they were 43-58 passing for 454 yards and 5 TDs. That’s not bad by any yardstick.

Here is an interesting way to look at the performances by “The Brothers McCown” on Sunday. They threw 5 TDs; that is the same production on the same day by “The Brothers Manning”.

Even with Josh McCown leading the Raiders to a victory over the Broncos last weekend, his performance was overshadowed to some extent because Raiders’ #1 pick JaMarcus Russell actually saw the field for the first time this year. Russell played a couple of series in the first half completing four of seven passes for 56 yards before returning to the bench putting on a baseball cap. To fans in Oakland, any JaMarcus Russell sighting doing anything more athletic than jogging from the locker room to the sidelines to don a pair of earphones is a huge deal.

Speaking of the Denver Broncos, their pathetic defense is on pace to allow 440 points this season. The Broncos used to have a defense called the Orange Crush. This iteration of the Broncos’ defense plays like a pile of crushed oranges.

With the Colts’ win over the Jags on Sunday, they lead their division by 2 games and they hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Jags by virtue of a season series sweep. There are four games to play; consider the Colts as the AFC South Division winner and move on.

The Tampa Bay Bucs – led by the redoubtable Luke McCown – beat the Saints in an NFC South match-up. That gives the Bucs a 3 game lead in that division with 4 games to play and the Bucs have to wind up with the best record in division games of any team there. Count the Bucs as NFC South division champions even though they are not mathematically assured of that status.

Speaking of the Saints and their come-from-ahead-loss to the Bucs on Sunday, some people have pointed to a flubbed reverse play in the late stages of the 4th quarter as the cause for defeat and the potential undoing of the Saints’ season. That may be the icing on the cake but here is something you are unlikely to see/hear from the national media because it contradicts their adoration of Reggie Bush.

The Saints are the only team in the NFL that has not had a player rush for 100 yards in a game so far this year. Yes, Deuce McAllister has been hurt; but Reggie Bush has been healthy for every game. In fact, Reggie Bush has now played in 27 NFL games and has precisely one game with 100 yards rushing since he was anointed as the guy who should have been picked first in the 2006 NFL draft and who took down a guaranteed $31M contract in New Orleans. This season, Reggie Bush is averaging a pedestrian 3.5 yards per carry and less than 6 yards per pass reception. I think those numbers speak very loudly and very eloquently as to the reason that the Saints are still looking up at a wild card spot in the playoffs after their strong showing last season.

The NFL announced that the halftime show at the Super Bowl in February 2008 will feature Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The only reason I might be able to tell the difference between these folks and Gladys Knight and the Pips is that Gladys Knight is female and most people named Tom are male. My presumption is that the NFL mavens have scoured the performance record for Tom Petty and each and every one of the Heartbreakers to be confident there will be no wardrobe malfunctions any more severe than an untied shoelace during the act.

Finally, Greg Cote noted this ominous trend recently in the Miami Herald:

Something is wrong. O.J. Simpson has gone several days without doing anything new that is embarrassing.

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

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I do not want to get into any arguments about the BCS. The BCS stinks; there isn’t a whole lot of debate possible around that point. At the same time, the BCS is better than the bowl system that used to exist where every conference champion of any importance was contractually bound to a major bowl game and the possibility of having the two best teams meet - - even in years where there would be consensus on who #1 and #2 were - - was remote at best. So, let us agree to dispose of any irrelevant arguments around that subject. Now, we are able to look at some of the nonsensical happenings in college football.

Somehow, Missouri went from the #1 team in the country to a team left out of the BCS bowl games in the span of about 18 hours. Meanwhile, the Kansas team that Missouri beat just a week ago on the field sat at home and got themselves invited to a BCS bowl game as an at-large invitee. How does that make any sense at all? Mind you, I have no personal ties to either Kansas or Missouri; there is no self-interest involved here; that situation is simply bizarre. At the same time, it sets up a very interesting game in the Cotton Bowl between Missouri and Arkansas. Both of those teams have shown they can move the ball and that one could be a track meet as the opening game on New Years Day. The game won’t mean anything, but it might be fun to watch if both teams actually show up ready and interested in playing a football game early on New Years Day.

Oh, by the way, Illinois is also going to a BCS Bowl game and Illinois also lost to Missouri earlier this year. The Illini will travel to the Rose Bowl in January to meet USC. Illinois played giant-killer earlier this year beating Ohio State and have to hope that Juice Williams can muster up enough juice to get lightening to strike twice in a season. That’s probably the only reason to care about that game.

Last Saturday morning, the BCS Championship Game would have been Missouri/West Virginia until both of those teams coughed up a hairball this weekend. Then the movers and shakers of college football were able to get themselves together under sufficient cover and announce an LSU/Ohio State match-up in that championship game. My guess is that the partying in the FOX Sports’ offices along “Mahogany Row” will be over sometime mid-day on Wednesday. You don’t think those FOX Sports execs had any input into that selection process? Right, neither do I …

With regard to meaningless bowl games, UConn will play Wake Forest somewhere, sometime. In its final game of the season, UConn gave up more than 500 yards of offense and 66 points. How lame is that? Last year, Wake Forest was “The Little Engine That Could”; this year they are “The Little Engine That Tried Hard But Didn’t”. Call that one the Who Cares Bowl…

At one point in this season, the “experts” thought Cal was the #2 team in the country. One way to improve college football rankings would be to take any poll voting privileges away from all the people who voted for Cal in the Top 5 and never give those privileges back. Cal is still riding whatever recognition/momentum it had from that ranking by getting into a meaningless bowl game with a 6-6 record after closing the year losing to Stanford and losing 6 of its last 7 games. Call that one the Ennui Bowl…

Oregon and South Florida each spent time as the #2 team in the country earlier this year. Oregon finished the season with three bad losses after Dennis Dixon got hurt. They could stay with anyone as long as Dixon was there to run the show; when he got hurt, Oregon not only looked “ordinary”, they looked “mediocre”. Oregon and South Florida will meet to see which former #2 team in the country was the more outrageous occupant of that slot. Call that one The Great Pretender Bowl and cue The Platters…

Alabama is 6-6 this year; Colorado is 6-6 this year. They will play each other in Shreveport, LA on 30 December. Prediction for the game? Lots of empty seats in the stands. Call this one the Blue Funk Bowl…

Ball State and Rutgers will play a bowl game in Toronto in January for monetary reasons only. Neither team is particularly good; neither team is particularly attractive. Why are we sending them to Canada to play? I thought Canada was one of our allies. Call this one the Indifference Bowl…

Michigan will play in a bowl game on New Years Day; it will be Lloyd Carr’s final game on the Michigan sidelines. He has been to a bowl game in every year he has been at Michigan although he hasn’t been exactly successful in the last four appearances. Maybe he was trying to emulate the beatified Bo Schembechler who virtually perfected the art of losing the final game of his season when he was at Michigan. Probably not, because Lloyd Carr actually won a national championship once and “Beatified Bo” never did that.

In other offbeat college football news, a multi-year legal wrangling ended last week when a court ruled that Penn State University had to release the salary made by Joe Paterno. It turns out that Paterno makes a little over $500K and is grossly underpaid if his coaching colleagues are used as a yardstick. I think there is something else in this story that has not received sufficient attention:

Why was this matter so important that it consumed the time and energy of the judicial system? Does anyone feel more secure or happier now that the inhabitants of Planet Earth know Joe Paterno’s salary than that same person felt a week ago?

File this datum under Facts – Not Worth Remembering…

According to the LA Times, UNC gave head coach Butch Davis a contract extension at the end of the season. Davis’ contract now runs through the 2014 season and with the raise he received, his salary is now in the $2M neighborhood. UNC in their first year under Davis was 4-8 and he got an extension and a raise. What might he get if UNC ever went 11-1, won the ACC and played in the BCS Championship Game? The deed to the Outer Banks?

As college Athletic Directors scurry around to find new coaches after the maelstrom of firings that just happened as the season drew to a close, it seems that a prevailing opinion among many of them is that money will buy coaching success, which then translates into on-the-field success. Somehow, tossing $2M a year or so at a coach is presumed to be an unerring path to winning. Wouldn’t it be interesting to have all of those Athletic Directors attend a symposium and invite Danny Boy Snyder to be the keynote speaker on the subject of:

Throwing Big Bucks At A Football Coach With A Recognizable Name?

Finally, I have been doing some etymological research into the evolutionary development of the Italian language and have come to the following conclusion:

Latte comes from an Etruscan word meaning, “Dude, you paid way too much for that coffee.”

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

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