Category: Daily Rants

Happy Bastille Day to all.  I do not think it wise or fruitful to celebrate today by storming a fortress or a jail; rather, let me suggest a quiet dinner at a French Bistro accompanied by a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape.  Enjoy.

The “Final Four” of the FIFA World Cup tournament is set; people looking for storylines do not have to dig too deeply here.  Less than 50 years ago, England and Argentina engaged in a shooting war over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia; the fighting lasted about 3 months; the conflict involved air, land and naval forces.  The British prevailed in the end; now, England and Argentina face off in the World Cup semi-finals…

Spain and France occupy the other bracket of the World Cup Tournament; anyone who has ever gazed at a map of Europe realizes that this match could be characterized as a “border war”; the two countries share a border more than 400 miles long.  That alone could provide a storyline for the game, but a former Spanish Prime Minister – – Mariano Rajoy – – tossed some gasoline on the embers here.  Rajoy said that the French team in the World Cup this year “does not have any French players”.  That statement has been denounced by a wide range of French folks as a racist – – or at least a racial – – reference to the number of Black players on the French team.  Here is the translation of Rjoy’s complete remark:

“They are currently ranked number one in the FIFA rankings. They also have a top-level squad. That said, they don’t have any French players, and they are playing very well.”

To say those remarks were not well received among a variety of political figures in France would be the understatement of the month.  Just to pick out one reaction, here is what the leader of the French Socialist party had to say about Rajoy’s comment:

“The French team consists only of French people. France is not an ethnic nation; it has no skin color or religion. It is a political nation united around the republican motto. Much to the dismay of the racist right.”

Well, that escalated quickly …  And that is not the end of it all.  Here is the position taken by the French Minister for the French Overseas Territories:

“After each France victory, the same obsessions and racist insults resurface. These are not slips. This is a methodical and normalized hatred of France and what it is.”

And then this Minister called for the French Football Federation to “take legal action” over Rajoy’s remarks.  As if the stakes of the semi-final game in the World Cup were not high enough on their own.  At this point in my reading about this “controversy” I began to think that some of the French reaction here was just a bit over the top.  And then I ran across something that put this in a different light.

After France beat Paraguay last week to eliminate Paraguay from the tournament, a Paraguayan Senator went full racist in her remarks about French star Kylian Mbpappe.  After calling him a “colonized Cameroonian” (poor taste to be sure), she went on to say:

“That brute never even learned to write. Instead of breast milk, he sucked on coconuts, and the most educated creatures he ever listened to were chimpanzees.”

And there you have the standard for “Most Tasteless Remark Concerning the World Cup 2026”.  By comparison, the statement by Mariano Rajoy about the French team not having any French players seems bland indeed.

I am not going to pretend here that I have seen every game or even every team that competed in the World Cup this year; that is not the case.  However, I have seen all four of the “Final Four” teams play; and even in my rudimentary understanding of the game of soccer, I can see that these four teams are more skilled than the others I have seen.  If they are not the best four entrants in the field, they are certainly all deserving of their position in the semifinals.

Here is the schedule for the four remaining games in this year’s FIFA World Cup:

• July 14:  France vs Spain in Dallas, TX
• July 15:  Argentina vs England in Atlanta, GA
• July 18:  Third place game between the two losing teams above in Miami, FL
• July 19:  Final Game in East Rutherford, NJ

Finally, to end today on a lighter note, remember this from Mark Twain:

“Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.”

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

 

The MLB All-Star Break is the unofficial halfway mark in the season.  As noted before, there are plenty of surprises in the standings as of this morning but there is not necessarily correlation between those “surprises” and other data.  For example:

• The Chicago White Sox lead the AL Central and are 5 games over .500.  This team has lost 100+ games in each of the last three seasons and has been uncompetitive.  So, in a big city like Chicago, their attendance must be soaring – – right?  Not so.  The White Sox average only 23,137 per game which is about 12,200 fewer fans than the Cubs who are not in first place in their division.
• The Washington Nationals are one game under .500.  The expectation back in April was that the Nats would flirt with losing 100 games in 2026; to do that, they would need to go 14-51 for the rest of the season.  Nats’ games are exciting; no lead is safe for either team in any game.  The Nats have scored 516 runs this year – – more than the Dodgers by the way.  The Nats have also given up 509 runs this year; only the woebegone Rockies have given up more.  So, attendance must be soaring in the Nation’s Capital – – right?  Not so, average attendance is only 23,264 fans per game which is DOWN more than 1500 fans per game from last season.
• The Toronto Blue Jays were in the World Series last season; this year they are dead last in the AL East.  Las Vegas projects that the Jays have a zero percent chance of winning the division and only a 16 percent chance to make the playoffs.  So, naturally, attendance is down in Toronto – – right?  Not so.  The Blue Jays are drawing 9,487 MORE fans per game in 2026 as compared to 2025.
• The Miami Marlins are seven games over .500 and only 4 games behind the Braves in the NL East.  The Marlins lost 100 games in 2025 and finished 33 games out of first place in the NL East.  So, attendance must be up in Miami – – right?  Well, yes; attendance is up but by only 802 fans per game.  The Marlins home attendance is the lowest in MLB save for the A’s who play in a minor league stadium in a city of comparable size to Miami.

            And speaking of the A’s and their band box stadium, the team average attendance in 2026 is actually higher than it was at this point in the 2025 season in Oakland.  The difference is not much, but 634 MORE people in Sacramento come out to see the A’s play there in 2026 than folks in Oakland did last year.  And recall that last year’s attendance average was boosted slightly as fans staged a few “reverse boycott” games where more than 30,000 fans showed up on cue to protest moving the team.

There is a constant in the MLB attendance figures.  The Tampa Bay Rays playing in Tropicana Field do not draw audiences that are commensurate with team fortunes on the field.  In 2026, attendance in Tampa/St. Pete is up almost 7,000 fans per game which makes sense since the Rays are currently leading the AL  East by 3 games and the Vegas oddsmakers give the team a 98% chance of making the playoffs this year.  That is the good news; here is the constant backbeat to that news:

• The Rays’ home attendance is only 16,835 fans per game which is the lowest in MLB save for the Marlins and the A’s as discussed above.

One other note from looking at the MLB standings this morning …  Much as I would applaud and support a new CBA  provision involving a salary cap and salary floor for MLB, I have to admit that the data from the 2026 season undermines my argument that such a salary structure is needed.

• The three lowest payroll teams this year are the White Sox, the Marlins and the Guardians. The White Sox and the Guardians are tied for the lead in the AL Central, and the Marlins are still in contention in the NL East (see above).
• Meanwhile, the Mets have the second highest payroll in MLB and also have the second worst record in the NL beating out the woebegone Rockies by a game-and-a-half.
• Also, the Blue Jays (sixth highest payroll in 2026) are in last place in their division today and the Padres (eighth highest payroll in 2026), sport a meager 47-47 record this morning.
• Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain …

Finally, yesterday marked the anniversary of one of the worst ideas in US sports history – – Disco Demolition Night at Commiskey Park in Chicago.  It ended in a full-fledged riot; it took police about an hour to restore order and 39 people were arrested.  So, let me close with this observation about disco from Martha Reeves – – lead singer for Martha and the Vandellas:

“Disco music in the ’70s was just a call to go wild and party and dance with no thought or conscience or regard for tomorrow.”

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

 

 

If your job is to write about or comment on college football, this is a slow point on your professional calendar; spring practice is long over; transfer portal is closed; the only coaches who might be fired are ones who are caught in flagrante delicto with a household pet.  There’s not a lot of material to work with; so, I sympathize with folks at ESPN.com who threw together an offering to name the ten best college football coaches for 2026.

Before I get to the ESPN List, let me say something about two cognitive effects:

1. Primacy Bias:  When presented with a series of ideas or items, extra weight is assigned to the first one mentioned; the first one sets the tone for the others that follow.  This effect is well known and well-studied.
2. Recency Bias:  When presented with a series of ideas or items, extra weight is assigned to the ones most recently mentioned; they are freshest in mind.  This effect is well known and well-studied also.

            I mention these two phenomena because I wonder if Recency Bias may have played a part in the ESPN Listing.

• The #1 head football coach for 2026 is Curt Cignetti.

Let me be clear; Curt Cignetti has had a marvelous career starting at small schools and then taking over at Indiana, which had not been a major football school in next to forever; and he won the National Championship in his second season at Indiana in 2025.  That is an amazing career arc – – but the list of accomplishments is a short one.  He may indeed be the best college football coach in 2026 – – and may be the best college football coach for each of the next ten years for all I know – – but it seems a bit early to put that label on him today.

The next three entrants on the ESPN List are not controversial in my mind:

• #2 is Kirby Smart
• #3 is Ryan Day
• #4 is Marcus Freeman

All three of these men are successful coaches over a significant period of time; if you want to debate the order in which they should appear here, have at it; I am happy to accept the three of them in about any order.

I find the fifth coach on the list interesting:

• #5 is Dan Lanning

Dan Lanning has won 10 or more games in the last three seasons and has had his team in the CFP picture for all that time.  However, in that same period his teams played 6 games against the teams that appeared in the CFP Championship Game and their record is 1-5.  So, it seems that Dan Lanning gets this perch on the ESPN List for winning loads of games until he draws a top contender for the year.  As I said, that is an interesting placement.

There is one coach on the list that I think may be undervalued:

• Lane Kiffin is on the list at #7

Early in his career, Lane Kiffin wore out his welcome very quickly at more than one school and with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL.  However, since spending a couple of years under the tutelage of Nick Saban at Alabama, he has had a career arc that resembles that of Curt Cignetti.  Kiffin took non-football schools and made them into winners.  FAU had gone 9-27 in the three years before Kiffin took the job; when he was there, FAU went 27-13.  In his 6 seasons at Ole Miss – – and playing a full SEC schedule every year – – he won 10 games in four of those six seasons.  Lane Kiffin may have his personality quirks, but he is a good football coach.  You could easily convince me that he should be higher on the list.

I have no quarrel with the other coaches on the list except for Kyle Whitingham who has taken a giant step up in competition level going to Michigan from Utah.  It might have been prudent to give him a chance to show what he can do at that level with a better squad of players before placing him on such a list; it seems premature to me.

Finally, here is a perspective from a coach not on the ESPN List this year – – Dabo Swinney:

“For me, and I’ve been on record saying it, let’s create two leagues: one for players who want the college football experience, and another for those that want to get paid, have the NFL help fund it, whatever. Guys who don’t want to go to school to get an education, let them go to work.”

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

 

 

 

There will be a new entity in the sports cosmos starting on August 1, 2026.  The Women’s Pro Baseball League (WPBL) will begin play with four teams:

• The Boston Hunters
• The New York Heights
• The Los Angeles Queens
• The San Francisco Firebells

The regular season will run from August 1^st through September 6^th, and games will be played in Springfield, IL.  Playoffs will commence on September 9^th.  From what I read, there will be broadcast coverage of PWBL games, but the league has not yet identified its media partners or streaming services; with “Women’s Opening Day” three weeks hence, I would expect some sort of announcement and roll-out soon.

Women’s baseball has a history that goes back to the start of men’s baseball in the US; there were barnstorming women’s teams often based on factory workplaces even before 1900.  The high-water mark for women’s baseball came in the 1940s and 1950s when there were two competing women’s baseball leagues:

1. The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).  This league was founded and supported by Phillip Wrigley of chewing gum fame; this is the league that inspired the movie A League of Their Own.  At its peak, there were 15 teams in the AAGPBL and it existed from 1943-1954.
2. The National Girls Baseball League (NGPL).  This league was founded in 1944 by a group of men including Charles Bidwell who owned the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL at the time.  It had 6 teams in the league, and they were all located in the greater Chicago area.  Red Grange was the Commissioner of the NGPL.

Both leagues folded in 1954; the increasing audiences for MLB games on television is often blamed for serious declines in attendance for women’s baseball games.  Back in the 1940s, women’s games were well attended, and some reports say that NGPL teams outdrew the Chicago White Sox in some seasons.  Even if that claim is exaggerated, it probably means that women’s baseball was a decent draw prior to the rise of telecast MLB games.

Justine Siegal is the Commissioner of the soon-to-arrive WPBL and she had this to say about the new league:

“Across the USA and around the world, women have always played baseball. From backyard games with older siblings, to rec leagues across the country, women have found ways to play the sport they love. Baseball is America’s pastime, but the professional game hasn’t evolved to reflect the diversity of those who play, watch and love this sport. That’s about to change.”

Tickets for PWBL games start at $22; for folks who can conveniently get to Springfield, IL, that is a price-point one notch above men’s AA minor league baseball games and men’s AA teams routinely draw crowds of five to six thousand fans per game.  By obviating travel expenditures and playing games in a single location, the economics of this fledgling entity just might make it…

Staying with baseball, two pitchers have been removed from games where they were working on a “perfect game” late:

• Over the weekend, Marlins’ pitcher Eury Perez had a perfect game after seven innings.  He had thrown 92 pitches and was pulled by Marlins’ manager, Clayton McCullough.
• Last night, Pirates’ pitcher, Jared Jones, had a perfect game after six innings.  He had thrown only 77 pitches and was pulled by Pirates’ manager, Don Kelly.

Perfect games are rare birds; there have been more than a quarter-million MLB games to date and there have been a total of 24 perfect games.  I have seen two of them on TV; I have never seen one in person.  Given the actions of the last week, perfect games may become rarer than they are today; the analytics and pitch-count dominance of MLB strategy works against perfect games.

To be fair to the managers in these recent pitching change decisions, the two pitchers involved had both already had Tommy John surgery and both are in their early 20s.  The less benevolent interpretation of those pitching decisions is that those managers are slaves to the computer probabilities and have no sensitivity to baseball history.  Pick the side you like …

Finally, since today was about baseball, let me close with this from Babe Ruth:

“Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”

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

 

 

Allow me a moment here …  Exactly sixty years ago, my long-suffering wife and I were married.  I don’t know what the OVER/UNDER line in Vegas was for that marriage, but I have to think that we made it to the OVER by now.  That has been my genuine good fortune.

Major Legue Baseball employs 76 full time umpires; at the end of the 2026 season, seven of those umpires will either retire or take a buyout.  That represents almost 10% of the officiating workforce.  Interestingly, six of the seven departing umpires came up to the major leagues together in 1999.  One of the names on the list of retirees is C.B. Bucknor; he is not someone that I will miss in the future.

Moving on …  If you have been watching World Cup action, you may have missed promos for a new show on FOX.  It is a “quiz show” called “America’s Dumbest”.  How would  you like to be known as the Ken Jennings of “America’s Dumbest?”

Sticking with the World Cup for a moment, some commentators have developed a line of patter that labels the USMNT’s campaign here as a “magical run” and an “international showing”.  Sorry, but I think that is pure nonsense.  In the Group Stage, the US beat Paraguay and Australia; then rested key players against Turkey.  I may not be a noted FIFA historian, but beating Paraguay and Australia does not imply “magical” to me at all.  Then in the newly created knockout round of 32 teams, the US beat Bosnia/Hercegovina; I don’t think that was the stuff of banner headlines around the soccer world.  Then came the bed-wetting performance against Belgium …

One more World Cup observation.  Soccer is a worldwide game – – probably the most widely distributed game in the world.  And yet, Europe seems to dominate the sport.  There are eight teams still in the running for the championship; six are European national teams:

1. Belgium
2. England
3. France
4. Norway
5. Spain
6. Switzerland

The remaining field of eight rounds out with Argentina and Morocco.

Switching gears …  I mentioned the upcoming MLB Trade Deadline in recent rants and that reminds me that this is the time of year for a signature refrain which should get started in the next couple of days:

• “The Angels ought to trade Mike Trout; he deserves to be on a contending team.”

Mike Trout is a future Hall of Famer; he has been the MVP 3 times.  Notwithstanding his talents and abilities, the Angels have not been in the playoffs since 2014; and in fact, have spent more time languishing near the bottom of their division than at or near the top since then.  Trout is 34 years old meaning he is closer to retirement than to his peak performance years.  Having said all that, the Angels should not consider “doing Trout a favor” by trading him to a contending team because:

1. Mike Trout has not asked to be traded and has proclaimed that he does not want to be traded.
2. According to Spotrac.com, Trout has a full no-trade clause in his contract, and he has not hinted that he would waive that clause.
3. The Angels are not in “tear-down mode”; any prospects they might get for Trout will not help the team on the field which seems to be the team that ownership is sticking with.
4. Trout’s contract is not nearly expiring; he is signed with the Angels through the end of the 2030 MLB season at $37.1M per season.

Until and unless we hear from Mike Trout that he wants out of Anaheim, please put this narrative to sleep.

Finally, here is an observation from George Burns:

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”

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

 

 

 

The MLB regular season is more than half into the books and the standings as of this morning are a mix of surprises and “Ho-hums”.  Let me start with the “Ho-hums”:

• In the NL West, the Dodgers lead by 14 games and are the only team in the division with a record above .500.  Any mystery about the division winner here was resolved about a month ago.
• In the NL Central, the Brewers and the Cubs are at the top of the division; the fact that the Brewers lead by 6 full games is a bit surprising but not shocking.
• In the AL West, the Mariners, Rangers and Astros are bunched at the top of the Division, and the Angels are at the bottom.  No real surprises there …

If you don’t do more than skim over the MLB standings,  you might get the idea that there aren’t any big surprises as compared to expectations back in March/April of this  year.  And if you have that idea in your head, this would be a good time to exorcise it; there are plenty of surprising numbers in the standings today:

• The White Sox lead the AL Central and are five games above .500 so far this year.  Consider that the White Sox have lost more than 100 games in each of the last 3 seasons (Combined record for those 3 years was 162-324).
• The Rays lead the AL East by 4 games despite a sub-.500 record on the road and a run differential of only 35 runs
• The Red Sox have seemingly imploded and are dead last in the AL East.  They are 12.5 games behind the Rays despite having a run-differential of +5.
• The Astros’ record is 45-47 and they are 2.5 games behind the Mariners in the AL West.  Somehow, they have stayed close in this race despite having a run differential of minus-44.
• The Phillies have closed to within 3 games of the Braves in the NL East.  Six weeks ago, that would not have seemed to be possible.
• Staying in the NL East, both the Marlins and the Nationals post records above .500.  Who had that as a possibility on the Fourth of July?
• Obviously, the Mets are the disasters of the NL East; pre-season analysis had the Mets fighting for the Division lead; this morning they are 16 games behind the Division-leading Braves.
• Both the Cards and the Pirates have records above .500 in the NL Central and both are solidly in the Wild Card race.

Back at the start of the MLB season, I made some predictions about outcomes.  It looks like a very mixed bag as of today:

• I had the Yankees winning the AL East.  They are in 2^nd  place but are not playing like champions as of late
• I had the Mariners winning the AL West.  They lead the Division as of today but only by 1.5 games.
• I had the Tigers winning the AL Central.  The Tigers are 10 games below .500 and 7.5 games behind the White Sox.
• I had the Phillies winning the NL East.  They had a disastrous start and are racing to catch up to the Braves.
• I had the Cubs winning the NL Central.  They are 6 games behind the Brewers as of this morning.
• I had the Dodgers winning the NL West.  That looks like a mortal lock now.

I made 5 win projections back in March.  Here is their status around the halfway mark in the season:

• Orioles UNDER 86.5 wins.  The current record is 42-49 which projects to only 75 wins.  This looks good.
• Tigers OVER 8.5. wins.  The current record is 40-50 which projects to only 72 wins.  This is not happening …
• Mets UNDER 90.5 wins.  The current record is 37-53 which projects to only 67 wins.  This looks solid.
• Reds UNDER 81.5 wins.  The current record is 41-48 which projects to only 75 wins.  This is on track for now but is not comfortable
• D-Backs OVER 79.5 wins.  The current record is 44-45 which projects to 80 wins.  As Ian Darke might say this  race is on a knife’s edge.

Finally, since today has been all about baseball, let me close with these three observations about the game:

“Baseball is 90 percent mental.  The other half is physical.”  Yogi Berra

And …

“There are three things you can do in a baseball game.  You can win or you can lose or it can rain.”   Casey Stengel

And …

“It took me 17 years to get 3000 hits in baseball.  I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.”  Henry Aaron

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

 

 

The Buffalo Bills will inaugurate their new stadium in the 2026 NFL season; reports say it will be a spectacular facility.  However, there is something interesting about the new playpen for the team that goes beyond “sight lines” and “fan experience” and “the game experience”.  According to the Bills’ COO, Pete Guelli, the team will not include OJ Simpson in the new stadium.

There will be no team “Wall of Fame” in the new stadium; rather, the history of the team and the great players from the past will be commemorated in an area labeled as “the Family Circle”.  According to Mr. Guelli:

“We have made an organizational decision that he is not a fit to display inside our new stadium and Family Circle.”

It will be interesting to see what – if any – the fan reaction to that decision will be.

Moving on and staying with the idea of “new stadiums” …  It appears that Manchester United of the English Premier League is going to be able to build a new stadium to replace the venerable Old Trafford and the new stadium will seat approximately 100,000 fans.  Old Trafford is already the largest stadium in the EPL seating approximately 75,000 fans; the next largest would be the recently constructed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London that seats 63,000.  I point this out because many top-shelf English – and European – soccer teams do not play home games in huge stadiums because most of them are in densely packed European cities and there is not a footprint that would allow for such facilities.

Recently, the team announced that it had acquired a 25-acre site just to the northwest of Old Trafford and that acquisition plus the land on which Old Trafford sits will accommodate the larger facility.  Man U’s minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has promised that the new facility will be the “Wembley of the North”.  Surely, there are approvals and procedures that need to be followed in getting final approval for “New Trafford” along with timelines and other realities; but it surely seems as if Manchester United is on a course to get a newer and bigger facility in the foreseeable future.

According to reports, a large hurdle to be crossed is financing.  The architectural estimate for the project is about £2B ($2.65B) and Man U as a club already carries debt to the tune of £728M ($962M).  I am hardly an expert in banking or financing, but that does seem like an awful lot of debt for a sports team to be carrying already let alone joining in on a venture that would triple the debt.

Switching gears …  In the Group phase of the FIFA World Cup, Tunisia lost its first game to Sweden by a score of 5-1.  That result caused such consternation that Tunisia fired its coach in the middle of the tournament.  That impulsive decision seems not to have had much of a positive effect because Tunisia lost its second game to Japan 4-0 and then its third game to the Netherlands 3-1.

Two more tidbits from Group play in the World Cup this year:

1. Egypt won its first World Cup game ever when it beat New Zealand 3-1.
2. Curacao lost its first game to Germany 7-1.  Howiver it earned a point in its next game tying Ecuador 0-0.  In that tie-game, the goalkeeper for Curacao made 15 saves.  That is a lot of “shots on goal” for a top shelf soccer game.

In the Knockout Round of 32, Canada advanced to the next round for the first time in Canadian soccer history beating South Africa 1-0 with the goal coming in stoppage time.  Canada looked like the better team for most of the match but could not get that final push until about the 93^rd minute.

One more thing …  It should not surprise anyone that I have begun looking ahead to my annual college football preview rant(s) and have started scanning reports and schedules.  There are a few interesting stretches of games for some top teams to look forward to:

•             Alabama: Vs. Georgia – – at Tennessee – – Vs Texas A&M – – at LSU
•             Texas:  At Tennessee – – At Oklahoma – – Vs. Florida
•             Ohio State:  At Indiana – – At USC – – Vs. Oregon
•             Michigan State:  At UCLA – – At Michigan – – Vs. Washington – – Vs. Oregon

Should be interesting …

Finally, with all the talk above about Man U perhaps getting a new stadium, I’ll close with this from its former manager Sir Alex Ferguson:

“I think you have a duty and a responsibility to entertain. We have to always remember that there’s a public to be entertained.”

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

 

 

I hope no one came here today seeking insight – – let alone clarity – – on the latest vector heading in the Brendan Sorsby Saga.  Yesterday, the NFL announced that it would not accept Sorsby’s application for Supplemental Draft eligibility and with no other applicants in the hopper, there would be no Supplemental Draft in 2026.  The league presented its “reasoning” in the matter and all of it sounds good, but it seems to me that it does two things that are not positive things for the league:

1. It merely kicks the can down the road on the question of whether Sorsby’s “gambling addiction” and/or gambling activities in the past and/or his recovery from his “addiction” will eventually lead to him being given a chance to make an NFL team.  Whether Sorsby gets drafted now or next April when he will be “Regular Draft Eligible”, those questions loom and the league needs to make a decision.
2. It opens the NFL up to a legal situation that would not exist if the Supplemental Draft application had been accepted.  Sorsby was represented by Jeffrey Kessler in his suit against the NCAA; Kessler has long been an antagonist for the NFL and if you are not familiar with his background, he was the lead attorney in the lawsuit against the NFL in the 1990s that established player free agency – – something everyone takes for granted these days.

Jeffrey Kessler is not a shrinking violet; yesterday he declared that the league’s action was illegal since the process for holding such a Supplemental Draft and the conditions by which it would happen were collectively bargained with the NFLPA and therefore, the NFL could not summarily cancel the Supplemental Draft without the players’ affirmation.  I don’t pretend to understand the legal theory there but let me try to translate that into English.  I think Kessler is saying:

• “See you in court, gentlemen…”

And why the NFL would conclude that a lawsuit on this matter at this time is somehow beneficial to the league is not in my cognitive space this morning.  In the letter from the league to Sorsby – – and Kessler too of course – – the NFL leans on the fact that Sorsby’s application was not filed until 3 days before the deadline thereby giving the NFL insufficient time to go over all the issues in the matter to make a judgment.  That is probably exactly correct but that is what deadlines are all about.  If you have to have something done by a specific date and you get it done 3 days before that date, it should not be a basis for denying an application for too little time.  The deadline should provide for sufficient “pondering time” or the deadline should be changed.

Adding to the foggy nature of the situation this morning is a line on the report in this morning’s Washington Post on the matter.  A “person with knowledge of the NFLPA’s thinking” said that the union “has not made a determination on if, how or whether there are legal grounds” to challenge the NFL’s decision there.  I understand that the union would not want to make a pronouncement on this without time to “get it right”, but there is a fundamental element here that I do not understand:

• The union represents the body of players in the NFL, and it negotiates with the NFL to assure players’ rights and responsibilities as employees of the league.
• Brendan Sorsby is not a player in the NFL.
• So, I do not understand how or why the NFLPA can or would take up an action on his behalf.  If I had applied for the Supplemental Draft, the NFL would have turned down my application too; would the NFLPA consider legal action on my behalf?  I doubt it …

And speaking of the Supplemental Draft and by extension NCAA eligibility, the NCAA also announced yesterday new eligibility rules.  Division 1 athletes will have five years of eligibility to complete five seasons of competition at the collegiate level.  The idea is to severely limit college careers that can span 6 or even 7 years of eligibility as was the case for Tyler Shough now with the New Orleans Saints.  Assuming that this new rule stands up to legal challenges that are sure to come, it should put an end to such things as “redshirt years” and “medical waivers”.  As proposed, the exceptions allowed for extending college eligibility would be limited to:

1. Religious missions
2. Military service
3. Maternity leave  [Aside:  What about “paternity leave”?]

There does not seem to be any new regulation of the Transfer Portal in this new eligibility  system that has acquired the name “Five-in-Five”.  Perhaps that is coming later?  Or will transfers just happen as they do now except with a time limit of five years?  Still TBD …

Finally, since there is not a lot of certainty contained in the verbiage above, let me close with a pertinent observation by Groucho Marx:

“Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.”

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

 

 

Lots of “breaking news” from yesterday; where to start?  The Milwaukee Bucks have traded Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat; in return the Bucks will get:

• Four players
• Three first round picks (2026 2031 and 2033)
• A first round pick swap in 2030
• A second round pick in 2033

Historically, when an NBA team trades away a superstar player, they do not get equal value in return.  This haul looks like a lot – especially given that Giannis is 31 years old and only hit the floor in 36 games last season – but unless one of those first round picks wins the newly constructed NBA Lottery, this looks like a major tear-down and rebuild for the Bucks.

Clearly Giannis was the foundation of the Bucks’ franchise for the last 13 seasons which saw him win the MVP award twice and until last year’s injury-impacted season, he had made the first team All-NBA team seven straight times.  However, that sterling string of accomplishments may have elevated some rhetoric about this trade just a bit.  In announcing the trade and the details, writers for The Athletic said in the opening paragraph:

“The Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, the most accomplished player in franchise history, to the Miami Heat just before the team’s self-imposed deadline of the 2026 NBA Draft, league sources confirmed to The Athletic.:

“The most accomplished player in franchise history”?  Really?  In 1975, these same Milwaukee Bucks traded someone named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers for 4  young players.  I will humbly submit here that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is more accomplished as an NBA player than is Giannis Antetokounmpo notwithstanding Giannis’ lofty achievements.

Moving on …  Lionel Messi is en fuego in this World Cup tournament.  In Argentina’s first game, he scored all three of the team’s goals; in Argentina’s second game he scored both of the team’s goals.  The team has scored 5 goals in two games and Messi has them all.  He now holds the record for most goals scored in World Cup competition with 18 goals and is three goals clear of the second place player.  Not bad for a guy pushing 39  years old…

Next up …  The College World Series came down to a winner-take-all game in Ohama last night.  UNC was favored to win the title, but Oklahoma clearly had different ideas there.  The final score was:

• Oklahoma 13   UNC 2

Congratulations to the Sooners on this win; it is their first College World Series title since 1994.  UNC looked to have an advantage in the game.  When Caden Glauber pitched in a game, the Tar Heels were 29-0 this season; Glauber pitched last night but the outcome was not as previously encountered.

Switching gears …  Linda Cohn announced that she will be retiring in July of this year leaving ESPN and the SportsCenter anchor desk where she has made more than 5500 appearances over the last 34 years.  I liked Linda Cohn simply because she did what SportsCenter was designed to do – – deliver the sports news of the day.  She did not try to turn the program into a comedy act or engage in schtick; she gave us the news.  Thank  you for that…

Bonne chance, Linda Cohn.

Last item for the day …  The Dallas Mavericks have a new head coach; it will be Dusty May who just led the Michigan Wolverines to the NCAA Championship in April.  May’s coaching credentials are solid; in addition to the recent NCAA Championship, he also led Florida Atlantic to the Final Four three years ago.  Coaching in the NBA is different; in college the head coach pretty much controls players’ minutes; that control is much more tenuous in the pro ranks.  May will need to make an adjustment there.

I believe that his departure from Michigan is a not-so-subtle indicator that collegiate coaching has become far less enjoyable in the era of NIL and Portal Transfers.  College coaches need to recruit and re-recruit all their players every year – – and still find time to get new ones who can play at a high level.  There does not appear to be any “time off” at the college level whereas there are times on the NBA calendar when nothing is supposed to be happening.

Dusty May is another name on an expanding list of top-shelf college basketball coaches that have “moved on” in the last several years:

1. Tony Bennett
2. Jim Boeheim’
3. Mike Krzyzewski
4. Bruce Pearl
5. Roy Williams
6. Jay Wright

I think there is more than coincidence at work there …

Finally, this observation by Hunter S. Thompson:

“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.”

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

 

 

The negotiations between MLB and the MLBPA have only just begun; right now, almost everything that is exchanged between the two sides is as firm as a cloud; it is not quite Kabuki theater, but it’s close.  Last week, the owners made a “sweeping proposal” that would provide a “massive overhaul” of the MLB Draft.  Here are the highlights:

• No high school players would be eligible for the domestic amateur draft.  Like in the NBA and the NFL, there would be age restrictions for draft eligibility.  MLB proposes that to be draft-eligible, players must be at least 20 years old.
• MLB Draft would be reduced from 20 rounds to 12 rounds.  This seems to be a trend in major sports; the NBA Draft used to be 10 rounds; the NFL Draft used to be as high as 30 rounds; in MLB there was a time when the draft went 50 rounds.
• MLB proposes an international amateur draft.  To be eligible players must be 17 years old.  There would be a set amount of bonus money for the draft ($200M) and players not chosen in that draft would be free agents who could sign anywhere to fixed/structured contracts.

            Note first that nothing in these proposals has even a smidgen of relevance to anyone involved in this current set of negotiations.  No players in the deepest minor leagues – let alone players in MLB – would be affected by anything in this new construct.  Nonetheless, since we are in the “Kabuki theater phase” of the talks, the players have taken the required pose and have  categorically rejected the idea and labeled it as demonic.  Here is the players’ response:

“Today, MLB made another set of proposals that are flat out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game. They would, among other things:

“Eliminate over a billion dollars in player compensation from the international and domestic system over the next five years, with a $400 million reduction from 2026 to 2027 alone.

“Destroy fundamental player rights and remove talent from our sport by barring high school and junior college players (anyone under age 20) from the domestic draft.

“Abolish an entire year of international signings by delaying the first draft until at least September of 2027 (and as late as March of 2028), denying young international players the ability to start their professional careers.

“Players remain committed to bargaining in good faith and leaving baseball better than they found it — the league’s proposals fall woefully short.”

I am not into Kabuki theater; so, let me ignore the posing and the drama contained in the above.  The real winner if the owners proposal were to be accepted would be college baseball.  The best high school players would have to spend at least one  year and probably two in college baseball honing skills there before being draft eligible.  But don’t get too excited because there are still more than 5 months until the current CBA expires and nothing meaningful is likely to happen before Halloween.

And speaking of college baseball, the College World Series will be decided tonight.  Oklahoma and UNC have each won one game in Omaha over the weekend.  So, tonight’s game is for all the cheese.  Game time is 7:00 PM ET and  you can find it on ESPN.  The oddsmakers have UNC as the favorites in the game at odds of minus-158.

Sticking with baseball, there was an odd game last week between the Angels and the A’s:

• First, the A’s took a 4-0 lead.
• Then the Angels scored 11 unanswered runs to lead 11-4.
• The A’s rallied to tie the game in the ninth inning with a home-run when they were down to their last hitter.
• The A’s won 12-11 in the tenth inning scoring on a bases-loaded walk.

In that up-and-down contest, the Angels hit 5 home runs, had an inning where they scored 7 runs and had a 7 run lead at one point in the game.  And they lost …

Finally, some advice from Warren Buffet:

“Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget Rule No.1.”

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