Category: Daily Rants

Last week, I said that Ernie Banks was the best shortstop in baseball history.  That conclusion came after mulling over in my mind all the shortstops I had seen going back to the 1950s.  I should have known better.  The reader in Houston reminded me – ever so gently – about the existence of Honus Wagner who was also a shortstop and who was even better than Ernie Banks.  I stand corrected…

The Angels released Albert Pujols in the final year of his 10-year contract worth $253M.  The fact is that Pujols had been in a serious state of decline for at least the last two seasons; the last time his batting average was over .250 was back in 2016.  That is why I was a bit surprised to read about his release; if the Angels were willing to keep him around for the last two or three years, I would have thought that he might have hung around until his contract expired in October.

Pujols has been in the major leagues for all or part of 21 seasons – 11 with the Cardinals and 10 with the Angels.  Here is one comparison to show how far from “living up to his billing” he has been with the Angels:

• OPS with Cards for 11 seasons = 1.037.  That is excellent.
• OPS with Angels for 10 seasons = .758.  That is mediocre.

If you look up Pujols’ career stats you will find one stat where he leads the major leagues for a career – – and it is one I am sure he would prefer not to acknowledge:

• Albert Pujols grounded into 403 double plays in his career – – more than anyone else in baseball history.

As the NBA regular season is drawing to a close, here are my picks for various season awards around the league:

• MVP:  My vote goes to Chris Paul.  The Suns have been worse than an also-ran in the NBA West for the last several seasons; they added Paul to the team, and they are going to finish in the top half of the playoff seedings.
• Rookie of the Year:  I think LaMelo Ball earned this honor.  Yes, he was hurt and missed time in the middle of the year, but he is a major part of the reason that the Hornets are likely to be part of the playoffs in 2021.
• Most Improved Player:  I think Julius Randle runs away with this award.  He is the leader and leading scorer for the Knicks who are 7 games over .500 this late in the season.  It has been a while since that has been the case in NYC.
• Coach of the Year:  This is a tough call for me.  Quin Snyder has led the Jazz to the league’s best record at this point; that is quite an item to have on one’s résumé.  Meanwhile, Tom Thibodeau has changed the Knicks from a doormat to a playoff team in the East.  If I had a vote here – which I do not – I would toss a coin here because both coaches deserve this honor.

Next up is a story about shooting oneself in the foot …  The sport of horseracing is moribund; notwithstanding the upbeat story about Medina Spirit completing a rags-to-riches story by going from a foal who was sold at auction for the minimum price of $1000 to winning the Kentucky Derby by going wire-to-wire, the sport of horseracing has found a way to put a downer on that story.  Over the weekend, we learned that Medina Spirit tested positive for excessive amounts of betamethasone in its blood after the race.  As I understand it, betamethasone is a steroid that is administered by injection into joints to alleviate joint inflammation and pain.

According to reports, the concentration of betamethasone was 21 picograms per milliliter which is double the acceptable concentration.  [Aside:  If you are not familiar with “picograms”, 1 million picograms = 1 microgram and 1 million micrograms = 1 gram.]  You might be tempted to dismiss this as much ado about nothing since the amounts here are so small but there are some disturbing elements:

• Betamethasone is the same substance that was found to be in excessive concentration in the Kentucky Oaks winner last year.  That horse, Gamine, was trained by Bob Baffert who is also the trainer of Medina Spirit.
• Justify won the Triple Crown in 2018.  He too failed a drug test, and he too was trained by Bob Baffert.  The “investigation” there was dropped when it was suggested that Justify may have eaten some contaminated feed thereby explaining the failed drug test.
• Last year, the NY Times reported that two of Baffert’s horses tested positive for lidocaine in Arkansas.  Faced with the investigation, Baffert argued that the stewards in Arkansas did not follow their own rules which would have kept the matter completely confidential.

Regarding the positive test for Medina Spirit, Baffert has vowed to “fight the case tooth and nail” because he says he never treated the horse with that substance at all – – let alone to a point where it would appear at twice the legal limit for the drug.  He also indicated that he is beginning to wonder if he – Baffert – is the target of wrongdoing:

”I’m not a conspiracy theorist. I know everybody’s not out to get me, but there’s definitely something wrong. Why is it happening to me? There’s problems in racing, but it’s not Bob Baffert.”

What should have been a positive week for horseracing looking forward to the second leg of the Triple Crown with a storyline that echoed the one surrounding Seabiscuit more than 70 years ago has turned into a week with a sordid mess hanging over the head of horseracing.  And it may not stop there.  Baffert announced that Medina Spirit would be traveling by van to Pimlico for the Preakness Stakes later this week while there are voices out there saying the horse should not be allowed to run anywhere until all of this is cleared up – – which might take months.

Finally, let me close with an item from Bob Molinaro in his column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot related to the Kentucky Derby:

“TV timeout: A reported audience of 14.5 million watched the Kentucky Derby — ‘the most exciting two minutes in sports.’ Meanwhile, 12.6 million watched the first night of the NFL draft — three hours of reading out the names of other people’s children.”

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

 

 

I really like college basketball.  I went to college in Philadelphia in the 1960s when all of Philly’s Big Five – LaSalle, Penn, St. Joe’s, Temple and Villanova – played 99% of their home games at The Palestra.  That meant double headers every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday – – and sometimes another one on Wednesday.  In my four undergraduate years, I missed a total of 4 games at The Palestra.  I really like college basketball and have liked it for a long time.

I have also mentioned here before that I officiated basketball for 37 years – – albeit never at the collegiate or professional level.  I never kept a count on the number of games that I did, but my guess is somewhere in the vicinity of 2500 games.

The preceding paragraphs are there to frame what is to follow here – – commentary on a report that the college basketball rules mavens are about to embark on a discission about 13 different rule changes.  My reaction to these “proposals”/”thought experiments” varies widely; so, let me get to the list.

One proposed rule change would allow the use of laptop computers or tablets on the bench during games “for coaching purposes only”.

• I do not know why this is a necessary addition to the game; college basketball has survived for about 100 years without computers on the bench.  However, I do not see any huge downside here either – – so I will just say “ho-hum” to this change.

Another proposal would loosen the rule on traveling and specifically allow the so-called “Euro-step” and the step back for a jump shot.

• I hate this idea.  If the traveling rule needs modification, it needs to be modified into a tighter rule not an expanded one.

A third proposed rule change would award possession of the ball to the defense every time there is a held ball.  This would eliminate the possession arrow.

• I always like a rule change that favors the defense simply because almost all of them favor the offense.  I would like to see this one happen.

Someone wants to change the rules to eliminate the 10-second back-court rule.

• This is a rule that would favor the offense and penalize a pressing defense.  I do not like that – – but it does remove one responsibility from game officials to maintain a 10-second count.  I prefer to keep the 10-second back-court rule in place.

Similarly, another rule change proposal is to eliminate the 5-second closely guarded rule.

• This proposal favors the offense again ever so slightly.  Since the violation is called about once a month on a national basis, this is not a big deal but why do the offensive players need yet another rule change in their favor?

On the table is a suggested rule change that would widen the foul lane from 12 feet to 16 feet.

• This may look as if it favors the defenders except for two factors.  First, 3-second violations are called about as frequently  as 5-second closely guarded violations are called, so It really does not matter all that much.  Second, this will enforce more spreading of the court by offensive players and that is a defensive challenge not a benefit.  Widen the lane if you must – – and then make 3-second violations a point of emphasis to get folks out of the paint!

The camel’s nose is already inside the tent so this rule change would get the beast’s entire head in there too.  They want to consider allowing “instant” replay to apply to shot-clock violations on missed shot attempts in the final two minutes and/or overtime situations.

• Oh swell, yet another way for “instant” replay to gobble up time in the waning moments of a game.  We need this as much as Olympic swimming events need lifeguards.

But wait; there’s more…  The camel’s intrusion into the tent could get its entire neck in there with another proposed change.  This other one would allow “instant” replay on basket interference and/or goaltending calls – but only after an official calls the violation in the first place.

• This will consume a lot of time in college basketball games and – most importantly – the use of “instant’ replay here will NOT assure that the officials “get it right”.  Such a bad idea…

Here is a solid proposal.  This rule change would allow a team in the final two minutes to turn down free throws and take possession of the ball on a throw-in.

• This change would probably accomplish two things.  First it will speed up the ends of games because setting up for throw-ins takes less time than setting up and administering free throws.  Second, it should make even more obvious the intentional fouling that is going on to the point that MAYBE there will be a few intentional foul calls made where they are sorely needed.

Next up is a step in the right direction but one that does not go quite far enough.  The proposal is to limit teams to two timeouts in the final two minutes of regulation play and throughout all of overtime periods.

• Good idea – – but a better one would be to limit teams to one timeout in the final three minutes of regulation time and to give teams two timeouts in overtime but only one of them can be used in the final minute of overtime.

The last three proposed rule changes are all bad ones, in my opinion.  I shall try to save the worst for last, but that might be difficult since all three of these are stinkers as far as I am concerned.  The “least worst” of the three is one that would change the disqualification rule of five personal fouls by a player.  The proposal would allow a player to commit 3 fouls per half giving him a total of 6 fouls before disqualification except he would be disqualified if he committed 4 fouls in either half.

• Five fouls before disqualification are sufficient.  There is no reason to reward a player for playing defense poorly enough to commit 6 fouls in a game.

Here is another bad idea.  Break the games into “imaginary quarters” for the purpose of counting team fouls.  The proposal here would “reset” the team fouls to zero at the 10-minute mark of both halves and would have the double-bonus begin with the fifth team foul in any of the “imaginary quarters”.  The one-and-one foul situation would cease to exist.

• Great!  Another element where timing can become controversial so that we can expect to have another rule change in two years to use “instant replay” to find out if a foul call was just before or just after the 10-minute mark.  Also, what is wrong with one-and-one situations – – unless you are a player who just cannot shoot free throws?

This is the rule change proposal I like the least.  The proposal would eliminate offensive goaltending by defining the ball as alive after it has touched the rim on a shot attempt.

• Please note: this rule change proposal does NOT seek to allow a defender to swat a ball away after it touches the rim or is “in the cylinder”; the change only seeks to eliminate offensive goaltending.  Why is that a good idea?

To recap, there are 13 rule change proposals that will be considered by the rules mavens over this weekend at NCAA HQS.  For me, the breakdown goes like this:

• Four of the proposals are GOOD.
• Two of the proposals are UNNECESSARY.
• Two of the proposals are BAD.
• Five of the proposals are UGLY.

Finally, the folks proposing these rule changes can be viewed as missionaries trying to spread a good word to poor heathens wherever they may be.  Oscar Wilde had this to say about missionaries:

“Missionaries are going to reform the world whether it wants it or not.”

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

 

 

Cal State Northridge plays basketball in the Big West Conference along with schools such as Hawaii, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara.  Cal State announced in the last several days that it has suspended its head basketball coach, Mark Gottfried and the other members of his coaching staff with pay pending an investigation into NCAA rules violations.  Here is some of what the Athletic Director said in announcing this action:

“Upon learning of potential rules violations within our men’s basketball program, I directed an immediate review and have placed our men’s basketball coaching staff on paid administrative leave while we complete this internal review.  Our focus will be on the welfare of our student-athletes and ensuring their academic, athletic and personal success. CSUN does not comment on specific employee issues and cannot elaborate further about the nature of the potential violations while the review is underway. However, CSUN is committed to ensuring full compliance with all university and NCAA regulations while maintaining the highest standards of integrity and institutional responsibility.”

This action and announcement caught my intention for two reasons:

1. It is not just one coach who is on suspension, it is the entire coaching staff.
2. Mark Gottfried is involved.

In most circumstances when a school learns of potential NCAA rules violations, the school suspends or fires a coach or maybe two coaches and speaks about righting the wrongs and moving forward.  This announcement is different; since the entire staff is suspended, does that mean that the entire staff was part of an organized cabal to violate NCAA rules?  Or might it mean that the school is confident there were violations but has not yet gathered enough information to know who is responsible?  That is the first unusual aspect of this announcement.

In addition, the Athletic Director here said specifically that the focus will be “on the welfare of our student-athletes”.  Let me channel Keith Jackson here and say, “Whoa, Nellie!”  Is that just a rhetorical flourish or is this some sort of NCAA rules violation that goes beyond players receiving “improper benefits”?

• [Aside: The business here about “not commenting on specific employee issues” is a convenient dodge.  When/if the school hires or fires a coach or gives him a raise, that is a specific employee issue; and they announce it loudly.]

Let me be clear; I know nothing more specific about this matter except that it seems quite different from other similar situations where schools find themselves on the wrong side of the NCAA rule book.  And, this situation involved Mark Gottfried who has a previous presence in another matter that involved NCAA rules violations and a school announcing that it could not comment on an investigation because of privacy policies.  Let me turn back the clock…

About 5 years ago, the FBI ran a sting operation and discovered that shoe companies were funneling under-the-table money to high school basketball recruits to choose to play at schools that wore that shoe company’s brand.  The DoJ got convictions in this matter for several of the people involved on the theory that the schools were being defrauded somehow.  Mark Gottfried was the head coach at NC State then and the NCAA cited him for failing to maintain oversight in his program when one of his assistants was somehow involved in getting some “Adidas money” from the company to a recruit who spent a year on the NC State basketball team.

Mark Gottfried has been a successful college basketball coach at Murray State, Alabama and NC State prior to his current gig at Cal State Northridge.  When he arrived there, his overall record was 401-240; that will not make anyone forget the coaching achievements of John Wooden, but it is more than a respectable record.  His teams had been in either the NIT or the NCAA tournament 15 times in 20 seasons.  In the last three seasons at Cal State Northridge, things have not been nearly so successful.  His record is 37-51 and the Matadors have only been in post-season play in the CBI Tournament which is clearly a step down from the NCAA Tournament and/or the NIT.

Clearly, there is more to come on this matter – – even if only to announce that the investigation showed only the most minor of  “rule violations” and that everyone on the coaching staff has been cleared of any wrongdoing.  But there is enough about the matter that is “off-center” to warrant paying attention…

Switching gears …  Yesterday, I urged folks to look at Mike Trout’s stats for the first month of the 2021 season.  They are eye-popping, indeed.  Those comments got me an email from a former colleague and long-term reader who is a Dodgers’ fan and not an Angels’ fan.  He said that while Trout was having an amazing season the Angels were – once again – under .500 in the standings and that Trout was saddled again to be on a bad baseball team.  He said:

• Mike Trout is the AL version of Ernie Banks.

I assert that Mike Trout is the best player in the game today and for the past 5 years or so.  Ernie Banks never achieved that status simply because he was a contemporary of Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax to name a few.  Having said that, I am perfectly willing to entertain a motion from the floor to say that Ernie Banks was the best shortstop ever to play MLB.  [I know that may take the breath away from fans around 40 years old who have come to believe that Derek Jeter had no peers at that position, but such is the case…]  Let me list some of Banks’ achievements:

• He was in the major leagues for 19 seasons – – all of them with the Cubs.
• He was an All-Star 14 times.
• He was a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee.
• He was the MVP in consecutive seasons (1958-59) an achievement matched by less than a dozen players in baseball history.
• He was durable – he led the league in games played in 6 seasons.
• He led the league in intentional walks twice.

And with all those achievements, Ernie Banks never played in a post-season game in 19 years with the Cubs.  The analogy by my former colleague is an apt one…

Finally, since today’s rant involved the potential breaking of rules and major league baseball, this item from Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times seems to be a perfect closing:

“Major League Baseball has hired former WWE ‘sizzle planner’ Brian Stedman as its executive vice president of strategy and development.

“Pitchers immediately demanded to know: Are pine tar and Vaseline considered foreign objects?”

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

 

 

Back in February when the Rockies traded Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals for a bag of beans, I thought that the Cards’ GM who pulled ithe deal off must have had a mask on his face and a gun in his hand. It was close to being a criminal act.  The Cards walked off with one of the – if not the – best third basemen in the game in exchange for pitcher Austin Gomber (ERA of 5.90 in 29 innings this year) and a couple minor league prospects.  Then, to show how serious the Rockies were about giving away Arenado, they tossed in $50M so that the Cards would not be “saddled” with Arenado’s salary.

The Rockies seem to have come to the realization that they have been fleeced because they canned their GM who negotiated that deal.  That action may come too late, and the Rockies may be in for some down times in the NL West.

• Back in 2019, the Rockies lost second baseman, DJ LeMahieu to free agency.  Ignoring the truncated 2020 season, all he has done in two seasons with the Yankees since signing on there is to make the All-Star team, win two silver sluggers and finish in the Top 5 in MVP voting twice.
• The Rockies gave away third baseman Nolan Arenado – – see above.
• The Rockies have an outstanding young shortstop – Trevor Story – who is about to become a free agent and who has shown no interest or intention to sign on with the Rockies.

The Rockies had three “All-Star Quality” infielders in their system and could not figure out a way to build around them to be a contender and/or a way to keep those parts together as a functioning unit.  When LeMahieu left after the 2018 season, the Rockies were a 90-win team; in the same division with the Dodgers, that was not enough; but it was a foundation to build on.  As of this morning, the Rockies project to be sub-70 in wins this year.  Is that organizational malfeasance or non-feasance?  You make the call…

I was not the least bit surprised to read about the firing in Colorado but another baseball firing earlier this week did surprise me.  The Mets as a team – and Francisco Lindor specifically – have been struggling at the plate.  Demonstrating all the patience and equanimity that NYC teams and fans are noted for, the Mets fired their batting coach, Chili Davis, and replaced him with Hugh Quattlebaum.  [Aside:  When I first read the report, my brain “transliterated” that name to Hugo Quackenbush – Groucho Marx’ character in “A Day at the Races”.]

I do not want to make Chili Davis out to be an all-time great player in MLB history, but he did play in the major leagues in 19 seasons, made the All-Star team 3 times, had a career batting average of .274 and a career OPS of .811.  I consider that sufficient “street cred”…

Hugh Quattlebaum spent 5 years in the minor leagues and in those 5 years he played exactly 3 games above A-level baseball.  His minor league career produced a batting average of .241 and an OPS of .676 at that level.

Looking at the last two paragraphs in juxtaposition, the line from George Bernard Shaw’s play Man and Superman comes to mind:

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

And speaking of hitting, let me point you the 2021 stats for Mike Trout.  He has been the best player in MLB for a while now and his start to the 2021 season indicates that he may be having his best year ever.  I know; the season has hardly begun to unfold.  Nevertheless, please consider these numbers:

• Trout has been to the plate 105 times; he has reached base via base hit or walk 53 times.  His OBP is .514.
• His batting average is .407.
• His slugging average is .779 and his OPS is a stratospheric 1.293.

Mike Trout is not going to end the season with those numbers intact; but those numbers represent an amazing way for a player to perform in the first 25 games of an MLB season.

Switching gears …  I have been trying here to stay abreast of the challenges facing the folks in Tokyo who are organizing the Olympic Games there.  Moreover, I have over the years been universally critical of the IOC and its less-than-fully-honest ways of doing business.  However, today I am more than willing to take a back seat to Sally Jenkins whose column today in the Washington Post runs under this headline:

“Japan should cut its losses and tell the IOC to take its Olympic pillage somewhere else”

Just in case you might think that the headline writer went overboard with that verbiage, here is Ms. Jenkins’ lead paragraph:

“Somewhere along the line Baron Von Ripper-off and the other gold-plated pretenders at the International Olympic Committee decided to treat Japan as their footstool. But Japan didn’t surrender its sovereignty when it agreed to host the Olympics. If the Tokyo Summer Games have become a threat to the national interest, Japan’s leaders should tell the IOC to go find another duchy to plunder. A cancellation would be hard — but it would also be a cure.”

Please take about 3 minutes to follow the link above and read this column.  Not only is it brilliantly written, but it is also illuminating.

Finally, since I referred to George Bernard Shaw above, let me close with one of his observations about governments:

“Alcohol is a very necessary article.  It enables Parliament to do things at eleven at night that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.”

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

 

 

About 20% of the MLB regular season is in the rear-view mirror and there are more than a few oddities when you look at the standings.

• The NL East is led by the Nats with a record of 12-12.  The Nats have a run differential of minus-14.
• In fact, in that NL East division, only one team out of the five – – the Marlins – – has a positive run differential and the Marlins are in last place in the division.
• In the NL Central, the Brewers are tied for first place with the Cardinals at 17-12.  However, the Brewers’ run differential is minus-2 while the Cards’ is +20.
• In the NL West, the Giants lead the Dodgers by a half-game.  The Giants’ run differential is +25 but the Dodgers’ run differential is +45.  [Aside: The Dodgers have the highest run differential in MLB now by a wide margin.]
• In the AL Central, the Royals lead the White Sox by a game.  Nevertheless, the Royals’ run differential is minus-5 while the White Sox’ run differential is +28.
• In the AL West, only the Astros have a positive run differential at +32; the Astros are only in second place in the division; the A’s lead the division with a run differential of minus-5.
• The worst run differential as of this morning belongs to the Tigers in the AL Central.  It stands at minus-62 after only 29 games.  The Tigers have lost by an average of just over 2 runs per game so far in 2021.  Yowza!

The season still has a long way to go, and some of these trends might be interesting to track.  Here in Curmudgeon Central, we focus on the negative trends more than most folks do.  So, considering the Tigers’ record of losing games by a little over two runs per game consider this yardstick:

• The last MLB team to lose by an average of just over 2 runs per game were the Detroit Tigers in 2003.  [Clearly, Detroit fans are not looking for an encore here.]  The 2003 Tigers’ season record was 43-119.
• The worst record in MLB since the days of the Cleveland Spiders was 40-120 by the 1962 NY Mets – an expansion team.

As I said, it is still early in the season – – but there is potential for high ignominy here…

If the numbers above seem a tad confusing, let me say that there is another baseball story that might cause you some bemusement if not bewilderment.  Last week, Roberto Alomar was fired as a consultant to MLB and placed on baseball’s ineligible list by Commissioner Rob Manfred.  That means Alomar is banned from baseball for life; he cannot work for any entity associated with MLB unless Manfred or a future Commish removes him from the list.

This action came as a result of an investigation by a legal firm hired by MLB to look into allegations made by an employee of MLB about sexual misconduct on the part of Alomar in 2014.  MLB said they would not be releasing the report to protect the identity of the person who came forward, but the findings of the investigative report must have been pretty damning given the action taken by MLB and the lack of an outcry from Alomar and/or a threat from him about legal action on his behalf.  Just to be clear, I do not even know what allegation(s) may have involved here let alone any details of the investigation; I am engaging in deductive reasoning and nothing more…

Moreover, the story has another wrinkle…  Roberto Alomar served on the Board of Directors for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY and he was elected to be in that Hall of Fame based on his career in MLB; he was inducted in 2011.  Alomar sent a resignation letter to the Board of Directors as this saga unfolded but – interestingly – the Chairperson of the Board, Jane Forbes Clark, announced that Alomar’s bust and plaque would remain in the Hall of Fame because:

“… his enshrinement reflects his eligibility and the perspective of the BBWAA voters at that time.”

Well, isn’t that special?  Alomar can be banned from baseball for life but can be in the Hall of Fame because his misdeed(s) took place after he was inducted and/or because any such disqualifying behaviors were not known at the time the BBWA did their voting.  However, if a player did something in a time period where his misbehavior was known to the voters, that player should not be in the Hall of Fame notwithstanding accomplishments on the field.  It is that sort of moral tightrope walking that creates the following situation for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum:

• The player with the most base hits in MLB is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
• The player with the most home runs in MLB is not enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
• Roberto Alomar joins a cast of other ne’er-do-wells who got into the Hall of Fame before some of their infamous acts came to light so it is OK for them to remain.

Just imagine if the so-called “cancel culture” ever comes to Cooperstown, NY…

Finally, having dealt with the “morality” of Roberto Alomar remaining in the Hall of Fame, let me once again let H. L. Mencken close out this rant:

“Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 percent of them are wrong.”

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

 

 

These days, there is an app for just about everything.  And if there is no app available, there is probably a database on the web somewhere containing finely sliced-and-diced information about anything.  A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in passing the number of players on baseball’s Injured List – – formerly the Disabled List but that has become a politically incorrect term in 2021 – – and what it costs baseball teams in terms of salary to maintain those players on the roster.  That got a response from “the reader in Houston” who provided me with a link that gives you every player on the IL, how long he has been there and how much he has made on his contract while there.  Of course, there is such a database out there – – and doubly of course, the reader in Houston knows exactly where it is.

MLB began its season on 1 April; so, on 1 May I went to the database and found the following:

• 191 players have been listed – or are still listed – on the IL.
• 129 of those players are pitchers.
• The total number of “player-days” accumulated on the IL is 4247.
• The total salary collected by those 191 players is – rounded off – $80.5M.
• The player who earned the most while on the IL is Justin Verlander who earned $5.85M.

The season will run for 6 months; I will try to remember to check that database on the first of every month just for the halibut…

A lead story in today’s sports section of the Washington Post indicates that the IOC is moving ahead confidently to stage the Olympic Games in Tokyo starting in about 10 weeks.  Over the weekend, they announced updated plans for staging the games using typically bold and optimistic language regarding the “promise to ensure the safety of the athletes taking part but also of the Japanese public during a global pandemic.”  If that is not sufficiently uplifting, here is another part of the IOC announcement:

“The Japanese people have demonstrated their perseverance throughout history and it’s only because of this ability of the Japanese people to overcome adversity that these Olympic Games under these very difficult circumstances are possible.”

I hope the IOC is right and that the Games go off as scheduled with no “COVID Consequences”.  At the same time, I recognize that the coronavirus has shown its own ability to “persevere” and to continue to spread even under circumstances where medical science and political leaders have tried to squash it.  I am in a position where I will just wait and see how all this unfolds.

However, there was a story from a week or so ago related to the IOC that was not nearly as positive or as uplifting as this one.  Olympic officials announced that “Rule 50” which condemns any form of “demonstration or political, religious, or racial propaganda” in Olympic venues will be enforced.  Athletes who decide to do something as outrageous as “take a knee” or possibly to “raise a fist” will be punished.  Such demonstrations are to be banned inside the stadium, at ceremonies and at the podium during the Games.

The IOC asserted that it came to the conclusion to enforce “Rule 50” after a survey of more than 3500 Olympic athletes past and present where “more than 70%” of the athletes surveyed favored enforcement of “Rule 50”.  Obviously, that is like waving a red flag in front of a bull; athletes – – and associations of athletes – – condemned that announcement and proclaimed their support for protesting athletes assuring them “legal assistance” if they suffered any punishment by the IOC.

Let me take a contrarian stance here…  The fact that the IOC intends to enforce ‘Rule 50” and intends to “punish” demonstrating athletes or other sorts of national officials involved in the Games is vital to the protestors.  If the IOC were to say that “Rule 50” is hereby null and void and that the Olympic officials welcomed and encouraged knee-taking or fist-raising or audience-mooning as protests against any and all things that might be an affront to any athlete anywhere, there would be no protest.  After all, how can you protest someone or something that agrees with you.

The IOC announcement that “Rule 50” will be enforced is more than merely “necessary and sufficient” for protests by athletes in Tokyo; the real or imagined strict enforcement of “Rule 50” is a sine qua non for there to be a protest.  Absent “Rule 50”, any gesture by the athletes is merely a demonstration and not a protest.  Therefore, the most important thing for athletes who might be contemplating a protest at the Games this year to do is to complain loudly about the unfairness of ‘Rule 50” without being sufficiently convincing to make the IOC change its stance.

John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised a fist with a black glove as a protest at the 1968 Olympic Games; it is remembered today because it was an affrontery to the rules and to the authorities that made and enforced those rules.  I suggest that the world would not recall that moment in Olympic history nearly as vividly had all the Olympic officials joined in the “protest” and raised fists and patted John Carlos and Tommie Smith on the back for their action(s).  Protests require opposition to have meaning; “Rule 50” and its threatened enforcement is that sort of opposition.

Finally, let me close today with an observation by a curmudgeon who would certainly be in the Hall of Fame of curmudgeons should there ever be such an institution – – H. L. Mencken:

“Democracy is grounded on so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even half-wits would argue it to pieces.  Its first concern must thus be to penalize the free play of ideas.”

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

 

 

So … would anyone here be surprised to learn that I spent last evening watching ESPN’s coverage of the first round of the NFL Draft?  I should certainly hope that is not the case.

I recognize the importance of making the programming “compelling” and “commanding”; ESPN does not want thousands of viewers tuning away after the first couple of picks.  Nonetheless, some of the deathless prose offered up by the ESPN Draft experts simply fell flat.

Let me point out ever so gently here that at least 20% – and maybe 40% – of the first-round picks will never live up to that billing for the entirety of their professional football career.  I say that with confidence because that is what has happened in many of the previous years of the NFL Draft.  And in fact, there was a free agent signing about 10 days ago that points out the fact that drafting football players is not a science.  It is two parts art and one part luck.

• In the 2014 NFL Draft, Jadeveon Clowney was the overall #1 pick.  Everyone raved about him and how he was a dominant defensive end/edge rusher; his highlights from college days at South Carolina were nothing short of amazing; none of the draft experts thought that was a “reach”.
• Clowney spent 5 seasons with the Texans followed by one year with the Seahawks and another year with the Titans.  He signed about 10 days ago with the Browns on a one-year deal.
• In his seven seasons in the NFL, Jadeveon Clowney has a total of 32 sacks.  That is not remotely close to what the “draftniks” projected for him on Draft Night in 2014.

Here is the essence of the problem of projecting a player from college into the NFL.  If you think the word “projecting” is too high-fallutin’ let me say it is not much more than a guess on the part of the “scout”.  The issue here is that college football is a totally different game than NFL football for one simple reason:

• In college, a potential high draftee is playing against an opposing unit that may have one or two NFL caliber players on the field in most if not all games.
• In the NFL, that same draftee will take the field against an opposing unit with 11 – and sometimes more – NFL caliber players.

Not only does it make a difference – – it makes a BIG difference…

Moving on …  If anyone actually believed that there was even a shred of ambiguity as to whom the Jaguars would take with the first overall pick, that person probably thinks the way to save time is to deposit an alarm clock in your bank account.  Notwithstanding the fact that the top draft pick had no mystery surrounding it, the folks who make their living turning the days leading up to the draft into a vaudeville show felt the need about a week or so ago to create doubt about Trevor Lawrence’s ”worthiness” of such an exalted status.  Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginia- Pilot summarized that nonsense in this comment:

“What a warped world — sports division — we live in when Trevor Lawrence finds himself defending comments that he doesn’t carry a huge chip — real or manufactured — on his shoulder. After dismissing one of the fundamental tropes of sports hagiography, the presumptive future Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback was run through the mill by football analysts needing more grist, no matter how nonsensical. Worse yet, Lawrence said that his self-worth is not entirely tied up with football. Oh my. He’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma. Or what some might call a well-adjusted person.”

Another “lead-up to the draft narrative” concerned the intentions of the Denver Broncos with their first-round pick.

• Would they take a QB?
• Would they trade up to get a QB?
• Would they trade down if the QB they may have wanted was off the board?

Just before draft day, the Broncos seemed to settle that speculation by trading a 6^th round pick this year to the Panthers for Teddy Bridgewater who has one more year left on his current contract.  The Panthers will also pay part of Bridgewater’s salary this year as part of the deal.  If you are wondering how or why the Panthers would give up such a large amount for a 6^th round pick, the answer is that in the world of NFL salary cap financials, the Panthers gain about $8M in cap space to spend on some other part of their team.  Remember, the Panthers acquired Sam Darnold from the Jets for 3 draft picks about 3 weeks ago.  The fact that they let Bridgewater go means that the Panthers’ braintrust is convinced that Sam Darnold can be “the guy” in Carolina.

The fact of this trade says something else from the Broncos’ side of the transaction.  What it says to me – loudly and clearly – is that Drew Lock is going to have to up his game to the point where he beats out Bridgewater for the starting job in Denver.  Lock played well in 2019; he started 5 games then and the Broncos were 4-1 with him as the starter.  However, last year he started 13 games and the Broncos’ record was 4-9.  Here is the most telling stat to me:

• In 2019, Lock completed 64.1% of his passes; and in 2020, he completed only 57.3% of his passes.

That is a significant decline, and the sample size is adequate – – 443 pass attempts in the 2020 season.

With the Draft over and with the owners’ meeting over where they would decide on any rule changes for 2021, the next big event for the NFL as it seeks 12-month news prominence will be in mid-May when it announces the full schedule for 2021.  Until then – and after that until minicamps and training camps begin – the league will have to settle for news about how the owners and players are disagreeing on this or that issue and how everyone on both sides is pissed off to the Nth degree.  Hi … Ho!

Finally, let me close today with one more observation by Bob Molinaro from a couple of weeks ago:

“Future watch: If Mike Tomlin coaches through his new three-year extension, the Steelers will have had only three head coaches in 56 years. The Browns have had four since 2018.”

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

 

 

Kim Mulkey is a force majeure in women’s college basketball.  She will be inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in a couple of months; she has won national championships as a player and as an assistant coach and three times as a head coach; she was also part of an Olympic Gold Medal team as a player.  Her record as the head coach at Baylor over the last two decades is 632-104 with 3 National Championships and 17 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances – – not counting 2020 when there was no NCAA  Tournament.  Her Baylor teams have finished first – or tied for first – in the Big 12 Conference standings for the last 11 consecutive seasons.  Kim Mulkey is still looking up at Pat Summit’s achievements in women’s college basketball and at Geno Auriemma’s accomplishments there, but there is no way to deny that she is among the elite coaches in that sport.

It is precisely because one cannot deny her prominence that it is unusual to report that she is leaving Baylor to take the head coaching job at LSU.  One might create a story where this is a homecoming of sorts because Ms. Mulkey was born and raised in Tickfaw, LA.  [Aside:  Tickfaw is about 50 miles east of Baton Rouge and across the breadth of Lake Ponchartrain from New Orleans.  I present that datum because I had no idea where Tickfaw was; according to Google Maps the nearest town would be Natalbany, LA, which for many of us is three miles from the end of the Earth.]  That “homecoming narrative” is enticing and comfortable; it may also be overly simplistic.

Let me make two things clear before I launch into a possible analysis of this situation:

1. I do not read minds.  I have no idea what the internal motivations of Ms. Mulkey may have been in making this decision.
2. I do not know Kim Mulkey from a toaster oven.  We have never met; everything I say here is speculation based on “analysis” from afar.

Kim Mulkey took the head coaching job at Baylor in 2000 and her Lady Bears won her first national championship there in 2005.  Around that time, Baylor’s athletic department and structure was not exemplary, and her teams were the major source of athletic pride on the campus.  In 2007, Baylor hired Art Briles as the head football coach and the Baylor football fortunes improved dramatically.  Briles took a football team that was a perennial also-ran in the Big 12 and won the conference title twice in his eight years at the helm.  Then came the outrageous scandal involving Briles and the Baylor football program in 2016.

When Baylor dealt with Art Briles as it did, Kim Mulkey took exception to those decisions and that began a situation where she and the folks running the university would not see eye-to-eye on several future issues.  But with the football program in disarray and with the men’s basketball team still rebuilding from the disastrous days of Dave Bliss, Kim Mulkey was a force majeure on campus in Waco, TX just as she is in women’s college basketball.  Her Lady Bears already had 2 national championships by that time and consistently made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament; she had major influence in the school even though her sport was a women’s sport in a conference where football – clearly a men’s sport – is king.

With all that as a backdrop, Kim Mulkey decided to leave Baylor and her established program there to take the job at LSU where – to be honest – the women’s basketball program has not been particularly successful or important in the past several years.

• LSU’s last conference championship was in 2008.
• Since 2014, LSU has not advanced beyond the first round in the NCAA Tournament and has not been in that tournament at all in four of those six seasons.

So, is the “homecoming narrative” reflective of reality or is it a wonderful feelgood story applied to a highly regarded coach in a less-than-clear situation?  I will buy the “homecoming narrative” to some degree but not as an exclusive explanation.  Kim Mulkey – in addition to her obvious capabilities as a basketball coach – is not a shrinking violet.  She is a person who has definite views on things and has no compunctions about letting the world in on those views.  For years, she was the loudest voice in the choir that was Baylor athletics; the university was set to build a new arena for basketball, and she opposed the administration’s plans because she said the arena was too far from the main campus.

Just this year, she “suggested” that the NCAA hold its women’s Final Four without any imposition of COVID-19 testing:

“They need to dump the COVID testing. Wouldn’t it be a shame to keep COVID testing and then you got kids that test positive or something and they don’t get to play in the Final Four?  So you just need to forget the COVID tests and get the four teams playing in each Final Four and go battle it out.”

Of course, the NCAA ignored that “suggestion” recognizing that it should not be in a position to loosen health and safety protocols at the 11^th hour with the potential for some athletes to contract COVID-19 in those final weekend games.  I mention this only to demonstrate that Kim Mulkey is not afraid to take controversial stances on issues.

However, I do think there are three other ripples in the pond here that may have had influence on her decision to move from Waco ,TX to Baton Rouge, LA:

• Baylor football made a dramatic comeback under Matt Ruhle going 11-3 (with a loss in the Sugar Bowl) in 2019.  At Baylor, football will always be a bigger deal than women’s basketball.
• Depending on the report you read, Mulkey will get a nice raise based on the move from $1.5 – 1.8M per year at Baylor to $2.7M per year at LSU.
• Baylor men’s basketball just won the NCAA Tournament championship.  Yes, Mulkey’s Lady Bears won 3 NCAA titles – as recently as 2019 – but this year’s title for Scott Drew and the men portends a recession in the pecking order for Mulkey and the Lady Bears on campus.

Only Kim Mulkey will ever know the full story of why she has chosen to make this move; I certainly do not claim to have insight here.  However, the convenient “homecoming narrative” has a few potential tears in the fabric and they are sufficiently obvious to me that I look at the decision and simply say:

• I hope all of this works out for Kim Mulkey and for LSU and for Baylor University.

Finally, apropos of nothing, here is an item from Dwight Parry  of the Seattle Times from a few weeks ago:

“A stray dog who stole a player’s cleat and ran onto the field, interrupting a soccer match in Bolivia, has been adopted by Tigre player Raúl Castro — the one who caught the dog and carried him off the field.

“In a related story, they’re still waiting for someone to step forward and claim the Super Bowl streaker.”

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

 

 

Yesterday, I mentioned that a pet peeve of mine involved NFL WRs and DBs throwing imaginary flags on half the pass plays as they were begging for a pass interference call.  As I was in the process of posting that rant, it set in motion some thinking about my pet peeves in sports in general.  So, today I want to list the ones that came to mind.

• [If people can abide the concept of “Christmas in July”, then simply consider this as “Festivus in April”.]

I am tired of turning on an NBA game and watching it turn into a three-point shooting contest.  Just last night, the box score for the Nets/Raptors game showed a total of 88 three-point shot attempts.  For those of  you who are keeping score at home, that is a three-point shot every 32.7 seconds for 48 minutes.  I do not find that entertaining enough to hold my interest for a full regular season NBA game which is only marginally important to begin with because there are too many of them.  The only logical cure I can see for this – ignoring the option of getting rid of the three-point shot all together – is to cap the number of three-point shots for each team in each game.  Once the quota is met, any other shots made from “downtown” would be worth only 2 points.  Don’t hold your breath for that…

Sticking with basketball – at all levels – for a moment, intentional fouling at the end of just about every game is annoying on several levels.  Very obviously, it contributes in a major way to the fact that the final two minutes of a basketball game might take 20 minutes of real time to unfold.  However, there is another problem here.

• A foul in basketball is a violation of the rules.
• The team that is trailing in the game is intentionally violating the rules of the game to gain an advantage.
• Somehow, that behavior has become acceptable…

I am tired of tuning in to ESPN and/or FS-1 only to find faux-debate programming.  At least 90% of the “disagreements” vocalized on screen are trivial at best because the “issues” at hand are insignificant.  And to make things worse, when there is not some current “issue” worthy of time on the air – – but that time on the air has to be filled with theatrical acrimony – – the shows turn to hackneyed topics that have been “debated to death” such as:

• Michael Jordan or LeBron James as the GOAT?
• Belichick or Brady as “the reason” for the Pats’ dominance?  [No consideration given to “both” as an answer.]
• Greatest baseball player NOT in the Hall of Fame.

You get the idea here…

How many of the faux-debate shows do you think “argued” about whether Madison Bumgarner’s 7-inning no-hit game should count – – since the game was only scheduled for 7 innings and he allowed no hits?  Well, every one of the ones that I tuned in to the next day covered that critical issue.

Speaking of annoying TV programming, can someone explain to me why all the TV programs that are lead-ins to NFL games consist of a bunch of people sitting around a table yukking it up and generating phony laughter on the set?  Wow!  Someone just made a cute remark about Jimmy Johnson’s hair; no one ever did that before; let’s all guffaw for 10 seconds…

I am tired of seeing football coaches – NFL or collegiate –  racing down the sidelines to call for a timeout often leaving the player/coaching area on the sidelines to accomplish that without any consequence for leaving said area.  Here is my solution:

• A timeout can only be called by a player on the field.
• If a coach or player leaves the designated team area on the sidelines, it is an automatic illegal procedure penalty.

Speaking of timeouts, there are clearly too many timeouts per team in basketball games given that there are automatic “TV-timeouts” built into the event.  In addition to reducing the number of team timeouts, I would like to revert to the rule that timeout can only be called by the player in control of the basketball.  There is only one person who can possibly be in control of the basketball at any instant without the call on the floor being a “jump ball”.

While I am at it, bring back the jump ball.  The possession arrow was a nice experiment but there is no reason to posit from the outset that each team deserves 50% of the possessions there.  If that were the case, the visiting team would start every game with possession of the basketball and the game would unfold from there.

I did not like the designated hitter rule when it was adopted by the AL back in the 1970s; I still do not like the designated hitter rule; after more than 40 years of living with the designated hitter rule, I think I can safely say I am never going to like the designated hitter rule.

I am also on record as having had enough of “instant replay” and its expansion into areas of the game that make it more intrusive to the flow of the game while not fulfilling the “promise of instant replay” that lured everyone into the goat rodeo that it has become:

• Instant replay will “get it right”.
• Well, evidence is that it does NOT always “get it right” and anyone who calls what replay is now anything related to “instant” needs to consult a dictionary.

Finally, I mentioned Madison Bumgarner’s 7-inning no-hitter above.  For the record, MLB will not recognize it as a no-hit game which is OK with me.  The existence of MLB 7-inning games however gave rise to this comment from Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Everybody up: Now that MLB seven-inning doubleheader games are here to stay, it’s time to get accustomed to the fifth-inning stretch.

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

 

 

Yesterday was all about college football; today I will begin with news regarding other levels of football.  I learned from reading Gregg Drinnan’ s, Taking Note blog, which you can find here, the CFL plans to have a 2021 season albeit one that is postponed from its normal schedule.

Normally, a CFL season would begin in mid June and run through to a Grey Cup game at the end of November.  The coronavirus pandemic shut down the CFL entirely in 2020 putting the entire league in jeopardy economically; but with a recent announcement, it would seem that the CFL has made it through the worst of times.  For 2021, the CFL hopes to begin on August 5^th – – or 8 weeks later than a normal season kickoff.  Training camps will be opening around the time when a normal regular season would be starting, and the idea is for players to report and then go immediately into a 7–10-day quarantine before team activities begin in earnest.

To compensate for the late start, the regular season will be compressed from 18 games to 14 games and the Grey Cup game will be held in mid-December this year.  There remains one potential fly in the ointment:

• The CFL still needs approval from public health officials in a variety of local jurisdictions as well as getting approval from provincial and national government and health officials to put on games where there can be enough fans in the stands to make the league economically viable.

A CFL season for 2021 is not guaranteed – – but at least there is a plan for how one might come to pass.  Compared to the situation about a year ago, that would have to be categorized as good news…

Last week, I mentioned some NFL rule changes that would be in effect for 2021 – – and presumably beyond.  In addition to the rule changes I noted then, there will be a point of emphasis this year to try to limit “taunting” in NFL games.  I think that is a good idea and one that could easily have been  put forth 5 years ago if not more.  I have another “pet-peeve” about modern NFL games that I would like to see as a “point of emphasis” and I wonder what readers here think of the idea:

• I have had it up to my eyebrows with WRs and DBs throwing imaginary pass interference flags on about 50% of pass attempts downfield.
• I think each team – not player, but team – should get one of those pantomimes per game.  After that, the act of throwing an imaginary flag is an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.
• Put that into effect and coaches will see to it that the “imaginary flag toss” will come out of the game in about 2 weeks.

Enough about football for now; it is April; there needs to be something going on in baseball that deserves attention.  About a week ago, MLB umpire, Joe West, won a defamation lawsuit against former major league player Paul LoDuca and West was awarded $500K by the judge.  Here is the salient point in this matter:

• LoDuca said on a podcast that he was involved in a game catching relief pitcher Billy Wagner and that West’s calls of balls and strikes in that game was “influenced by bribes” from Wagner to West when Wagner allowed West to drive one or more of Wagner’s antique cars.  According to podcast, the game ended with a Wagner strikeout of a Phillies batter called out by West.

As I understand libel and slander and defamation, the truth of the statement is an airtight defense.  Lacking the ability to prove the veracity of the statement, another defense when the plaintiff is a “public figure” is that the alleged defamer uttered the statement that cannot be proven to be true with malice.  That is a high hurdle, and it is probably why many politicians, celebrities and other “public figures” choose not to sue for slander/libel/defamation.

In this case, the extensive nature of MLB stats was an asset for Joe West.  He denied being “bribed” by Billy Wagner (of course) and showed that he was not the home plate umpire in the game against the Phillies where LoDuca claimed all of this happened.  There was only one Mets game where West was the home plate umpire, LoDuca was the catcher.  In that game the Phillies were not the opponent and the game ended on a home run and not a strikeout by Wagner on a “fortuitous call” by West.

In this particular case, the evidence provided by baseball stats pretty much established that LoDuca’s statement was defamatory.  The judge also determined that there was malicious intent in those remarks – – although I am not in a position to describe how he arrived at that conclusion.  The judge did say that the statement made by LoDuca on the podcast – if it were true – would have accused West of accepting a bribe which is a crime.

West’s attorneys convinced the judge that West’s name needed to be cleared because with an allegation of bribery hanging over his head, he would likely not be considered for or elected to the Hall of Fame.  [Aside:  The fact that his lawyers asserted this says to me that the sin of hubris is not a crime that might keep one out of the Hall of Fame…]  The attorneys also convinced the judge that there were economic ramifications for West here also.  If he were to be in the Hall of Fame, he could charge far more for speaking and appearance fees in his retirement – – which coincidentally is planned for the end of the 2021 MLB season.

The bottom line is that LoDuca owes West ”$500K plus interest” – – I am not sure if the interest is from the time the fine was levied or from the date of filing of the lawsuit or from the date of the alleged bribery incident about 15 years ago.  If West’s attorneys are correct that West as a Hall of Famer could charge $20K for a speaking engagement, that means West just got paid for about 25 speaking engagements he did not have to attend.

Finally, here is an item from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times from a couple of weeks ago:

“Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com, after Ravens coach John Harbaugh paid the entire $2,000-plus restaurant bill during a Baltimore charity event: ‘Harbaugh covered the spread.’”

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