The Sports Curmudgeon

Congratulations to the Florida Panthers as the repeat Stanley Cup Champions eliminating the Edmonton Oilers in 6 games.  According to reports I read, there are three historical items associated with the Panthers’ victory:

1. This is only the fourth time in Stanley Cup history that a team has defeated the same opponent for the Cup in two consecutive years.
2. Since the NHL adopted a salary cap in 2005, this is the third time a team has won back-to-back championships.
3. The last time a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup was in 1993 (the Montreal Canadiens).  The loss by the Oilers in the final series extends that streak to 31 consecutive years.

Moving on …  It appears that two US sports franchises are in the process of changing ownership.  According to Sportico.com. the Tampa Bay Rays are “in advanced talks to sell the team” to a bidding group led by a real estate developer from Jax.  Sportico says the selling price will be around $1.7B and that the Rays’ principal owner, Stuart Sternberg has entered into “exclusive negotiations” with the potential buyers.

On one hand, this news is not all that surprising; the Rays have never drawn well in their home stadium and all sorts of negotiations and studies for ways to get them a new playpen in a better location have come to naught.  There was a plan to put the new stadium downtown in St. Petersburg that seemed to have gotten closer to reality than any previous sites, but that one seems now to have run aground.  So, current ownership understandably might be happy to sell the team and let someone else find a place for them to play after a hurricane rendered Tropicana Field unusable and potentially unfixable.

On the other hand, with the lack of a definite home for the team in plain sight, the selling price for the franchise must be in the “bargain basement”.  So, the fact that Sterenberg is looking to sell the team implies that he has had it with the pols in coastal Florida and their unwillingness to make a deal with him.

The reported target sales price of $1.7B is in line with what the new ownership of the Orioles paid for that franchise last year.  David Rubenstein led a group that purchased the O’s for $1.725B 15 months ago.

The other franchise that seems to be changing hands is the LA Lakers.  According to news yesterday, the Buss family – – owners of the Lakers since 1983 – – will sell its controlling majority interest in the team at a price which values the entire franchise at $10B.  The buyer is Mark Walter who is probably best known as the principal owner of the LA Dodgers.  In addition to that position, Walter is also:

• Principal owner of the LA Sparks (WNBA)
• Owner of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)
• Primary owner of the Andretti Global F1 Racing Team
• He owns 12% of the company that controls Chelsea (EPL and RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1.

Walter made his money in the financial world but obviously he has more than a passing interest in sports given the wide range of “sports properties” he has chosen to invest in.  If the reported price tag for the controlling interest in the Lakers is accurate, that would make the purchase a record for sports franchises in the US dwarfing the $6B price that the Washington Commanders sold for less than 2 years ago and the $6B price tag that was on the Boston Celtics last year.  All the other NBA owners should give thanks to Mark Walter today; he just raised the valuation for every other NBA franchise out there and also raised the asking price for two expansion franchises that will be forthcoming from the NBA sooner than later.

Switching gears …  A few days ago, I was unable to find TV data for the UFL Championship Game last weekend.  Well, the news is out, and it is not good for the UFL.

• The Championship Game had an average audience of 983,000 viewers.
• That represents a 40% drop in viewership from last year’s Championship Game.
• This comes on the heels of an average 21% drop in viewership for regular season UFL games.

The league officials are clearly taking a “glass half full” view of this saying that these audience numbers are excellent as compared to other programming available to networks.  Here is what UFL President, Russ Brandon said according to USA Today:

“People would give their eyeteeth for the amount of eyeballs that are watching our games on TV.”

Here is a companion statement from one of the main owners of the UFL, Dany Garcia:

“Our first-year merge was murky for us to understand; what does the market actually think of us, and who are we?  This is the year that we got the clarity, and now we know who we are, and now we push forward.”

The good news for the UFL is that it has TV deals in place with FOX and with ABC/ESPN.  Will that be sufficient good news?

Finally, this from Will Rogers:

“There are three kinds of men. The one that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.”

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

 

 

With the FIFA World Cup kicking off in about a year, there is instability regarding the US Men’s National Team  (USMNT).  The coach and the star player are sniping at each other; the coach – – seemingly to exert dominance – – did not take the best players overseas for some friendlies; the team had lost 4 games in a row.  Just as there was no joy in Mudville when Casey struck out, all was not peaches and cream as the USMNT began play in the Gold Cup tournament.

Not to worry; the opening opponent was Trinidad and Tobago, and they were simply overmatched.  The US prevailed 5-0 which is the soccer equivalent of a laugher.  Next up for the USMNT will be Saudi Arabia and then Haiti.  If the USMNT is to make a respectable showing in the World Cup next year, this is the time to put aside internal squabbles and put the pieces of a competitive team in order.

The USMNT is guaranteed a slot in the World Cup because the US, Canada and Mexico are the joint hosts for the tournament and most of the games will be played here in the US.  The competition there will be a bit stiffer than Trinidad and Tobago.  In addition, if the team intends to generate some sort of interest-generating momentum in the months leading up to the tournament, they need to change the narrative around the team and change it quickly.  Beating Trinidad and Tobago is one minuscule step in that direction.

Moving on …  In one sense, it was shocking to hear that the Red Sox were trading Rafael Devers; in another, it was inevitable.  Devers was the Sox third baseman, and he was All-Star quality.  In the offseason, the Sox signed Alex Bregman as a free agent, and he too is a third baseman.  The Sox planned to have Devers play another infield position, but he balked; so, they made him their DH – – but evidently even that was not working out.  So, the Red Sox sent Evers to the Giants for two young pitchers and two minor league prospects.

Two years ago, Devers and the Red Sox agreed to a 10-year contract extension worth $313M; almost $250M of that deal is still outstanding and it is now the responsibility of the Giants to foot that bill.  Devers is only 28 years old, so he has plenty of good years ahead of him from a physical perspective, but his intransigence and general behavior ever since the Bregman signing indicate at least some risk for the Giants in the deal.  The reason I bring that up is that the Giants have an entrenched players at third base – – Matt Chapman.

In another story related to a good MLB player, Wander Franco is on trial in the Dominican Republic for sexual abuse of a minor, sexual and commercial exploitation of a minor and human trafficking.  The minor in question was supposedly 14 at the time of these alleged activities.  As if that were not bad enough, he has also now been charged with illegal possession of a handgun.  What is strange about this additional charge is in the timing.

Franco was arrested last November after an “altercation in a parking lot”.  As part of that event, a gun was found in Franco’s vehicle.  That gun was registered bot Franco’s uncle.  Now, more than 6 months after that “altercation in a parking lot” where the gun was found, charges have been brought forward.  In my simplistic mind, it would appear that the authorities have had more than sufficient time to have made the decision to charge him, and this timing is strange.

Switching gears …  The UFL Championship Game happened yesterday, and the DC Defenders beat the Michigan Panthers 58-34.  That was the first time a UFL team scored more than 50 points in a game, and it was enabled in the second quarter when the Defenders outscored the Panthers 31-6.  Defenders’ QB, Jordan Ta’amu – – out of Ole Miss – – put on a show with this stat line:

• 21 of 28 for 390 yards and 4 TDs.
• [Aside:  Those 390 yards passing set a UFL record for passing yards in a game.]

I have not been able to find any reports on the TV numbers for the UFL Championship Game, but I will keep looking…

Finally, an important insight from Jackie Gleason:

“The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you’re off it.”

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

 

 

As a tip of the hat to the calendar today, let me begin with this:

“Friday the 13^th is still better than Monday “the whatever”.

About a month ago, Antonio Brown was involved in an incident that ended up with him drawing a gun and firing it.  At the time, the story was that Brown had attended a celebrity boxing event in Miami and that he was “jumped by multiple individuals who tried to steal my jewelry”.  Brown was detained by the police but released that night with no arrest or charges or anything like that.  In a statement by Brown the day after the incident, he said:

“I will be talking to my legal council (sic) and attorneys on pressing charges on the individuals that jumped me. I will keep you all posted step-by-step on the process. Thank you for the support and love.”

As of this morning, the narrative here has changed significantly.  According to a report in the Washington Post, the police are now seeking Brown with a warrant for his arrest and the warrant includes a charge of “attempted murder”.  The Post report says that police have video footage of Brown punching a man “sparking a melee” and after that it appears that Brown took a gun from a security officer at the scene and ran toward the man he had punched firing the gun as he approached the man.

Obviously, this is a situation of “innocent until proven guilty”.  Equally obviously this is a situation where the narrative from a month ago and the allegations in the arrest warrant are incompatible.  I suspect there is a lot more to come on this matter.

Moving on …  Ten days ago, the New York Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau even though the Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.  At the time, there were rumors and speculations that the Knicks had their eye on a short list of replacements for Thibodeau.  I take the intervening ten days since the firing with the lack of any announcement of the Knicks signing a replacement to mean that the Knicks had no plan in place as to what to do after Thibodeau was let go.

The Knicks’ job is an attractive one.  They have good players – – albeit not good defenders – – and they occupy an attractive market with a passionate fanbase.  I believe that if the team had a plan in mind, they would have already signed a new head coach; the only issues to be negotiated with the targeted replacement would be annual salary and length of the contract.

Now, if – – I said IF – – my reading of the situation is accurate and Thibodeau’s firing was a knee-jerk reaction and not part of some sort of strategy, that points to the downside of the Knicks’ head coaching job:

• The Owner.

I have to believe that The Owner was consulted prior to the firing.  Were I in that position, I would have asked the people who wanted to fire the coach to tell me who and what they had in mind for the position in the future.  If those folks presented me with a reasonable candidate or two, I would approve and tell them to “get on with it”.  That has not happened and that tells me one of two things:

1. The ”basketball people” had no master plan going forward.
2. The Owner is the guy whose knee jerked and now the “basketball people” are scrambling.

Switching gears …  Once again, I want to take a peek at the MLB standings this morning specifically to gaze one more time at the pathetic Colorado Rockies.

• The record today is 13-55 (win percentage = .191)
• In 68 games, they have been outscored by 201 runs.
• Their projected record is now 31-131.

Now, brace yourself because one of the sad sacks from that team is going to be a National League All-Star on July 15^th, 2025.

• Memo to Rob Manfred:  The idea that every team needs to have at least one player on the All-Star roster needs examination.  Once examined, it needs to be expunged.

Finally, I’ll close with this:

“If you need to get out of doing something today, just say, “I don’t think so, it’s Friday the 13^th.’”

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

 

 

Earlier this week, I said that I did not understand how the settlement of the lawsuit against the NCAA squared with Title IX and that I needed to hear from a legal commentator on that point.  Well, maybe the news this morning will clarify that issue.  Here is the headline over an article in today’s Washington Post:

“Female athletes appeal NCAA settlement”

So, instead of hearing from a “legal commentator”, it appears that I will hear from an appellate court on that question.  The women who have appealed the settlement decision are ones who have competed in women’s soccer, volleyball and track.  According to the report here, they have standing in the case allowing them to appeal the settlement because they filed objections to parts of the settlement when it was proposed and prior to the decision of the judge in the matter.

It seems that the crux of the settlement appeal is this:

• The payout from the NCAA and the major conferences is set at $2.2B.  The appellants argue here that Title IX demands that $1.1B of that amount go to participants in women’s sports.

As the settlement terms were reported, the money for athletes who competed in collegiate sports before and the terms of the agreement going forward favor participants in the “revenue sports” which are predominantly male athletic endeavors.  The appeal will be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco but no schedule for any events related to that appeal were in the report.  It ain’t over, folks …

Switching gears …  The field is set for the College World Series, and several things make the field itself interesting:

• Coastal Carolina is not a baseball program that leaps to mind as a perennial powerhouse in college baseball.  Nonetheless, Coastal Carolina arrives in Omaha for the start of the College World Series on a 23-game winning streak.   The Chanticleers are no strangers to this event; they won it all in 2016.
• Murray State is this year’s Cinderella team.  To give you an idea of the stature of the baseball program there, the team coach, Dan Skirka, also mows the grass at the Racers’ home stadium as part of his job description.
• None of the eight teams from last year’s College World Series tournament are back in the field this year.  The last time that happened was in 1957.
• Arkansas is the betting favorite to win it all at +200; LSU is the second choice at +230.
• Murray State is the longest shot on the board at +3500.

Moving on, but sticking with college sports …  Deion Sanders has been absent from the public spotlight for more than 6 weeks and then he missed a speaking engagement last week with no explanation given.  Sanders has had some serious health issues in the past that led to speculation that he was not well; he suffers from blood clots in his legs, and he also had to have at least one toe amputated about 5  years ago.  Since Deion Sanders is not one to avoid public events, that “medical history” was the basis of the concern.

Earlier this week, Sanders was a guest on a podcast run by Asante Samuel.  Sanders used that appearance to thank the people who had wished him well based on the “health concerns” and to say that everything is OK and:

“I’m excited to get back to Colorado to be at home with my staff, team & all associated to our program. When we arrive back to Boulder you will be updated on everything.”

One last note related to college sports today …  It is not exactly shocking to learn that a college football player or some other athlete has been arrested and charged with some sort of misdemeanor or felony.  However, a report from a couple days ago said that Angela Suggs – – the Vice President and Director of Athletics at Florida A&M – – was arrested and charged with various counts of fraud and theft.  The charges do not involve actions in her current position with the school; the charges stem from activities in her previous job as the CEO of the Florida Sports Foundation.  According to the charges, Suggs used a business credit card to pay for personal expenses and then falsified travel accountings; the alleged fraud totaled $24K.

Florida A&M took the only rational position available to them at this point; here is what the interim President of the school had to say:

“While the matter is unrelated to her duties as an employee at FAMU, we are monitoring the situation and will respond in the future as appropriate.”

Finally, this from Marcus Aurelius:

“The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.”

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

 

 

Every year about this time, NFL teams hold their “mandatory minicamps” and every year there are a few quality players who do not show up because they are in the midst of a contract squabble.  This year I count three such holdout situations:

1. Trey Hendrickson – – Bengals:  The pass-rushing defensive end has one more year on his contract worth $15.8M.  Given his performance (17.5 sacks last season), he is underpaid as compared to other defensive ends and he wants a contract extension.  The Bengals have given the nod to Hendrickson’s agent to go and set up a trade with a team willing to extend the player, but so far, that has not borne fruit.  The fact that he has an existing contract with a year to go complicates things.
2. Terry McLaurin – – Commanders:  He too has a year to go on a 3-year deal he signed in 2022; he would earn around $16.5M for this year.  He wants an extension and the team has said they want to retain his services “for a long time”.  The Commanders signed Deebo Samuel in the offseason to team with McLaurin, but McLaurin is still the #1 WR in DC.  I expect this one to be resolved amicably and quickly.
3. TJ Watt – – Steelers:  Once again, there is a contract in place for 2025 and the price tag here is $21M.  Reports say that Watt wants a “substantial offer” from the team; it seems to me that $21M for a season of NFL football is pretty substantial all by itself.  According to Spotrac.com, the cap mavens there say that Watt’s salary plus cap deferments means that Watt accounts for almost 11% of the total salary cap allotted to NFL teams in 2025.  This one might become acrimonious.

Micah Parsons – – Cowboys’ DE/OLB – – will also play in the final year of his rookie contract.  The talks about an extension seem to exist in a “kick the can down the road” mode ever since Parsons let it be known that he wanted an extension and thought he had earned a lucrative one.  The big difference here is that Parsons has been participating in OTAs and has reported to minicamp.  At some point Parsons and the team will reach an agreement; the Cowboys’ braintrust cannot be dumb enough to let him play out this year’s deal and then become a free agent.  Parsons has been in the NFL for four seasons and has been an All-Pro twice.

In other NFL news involving a quality player, the Packers announced that they have released CB, Jaire Alexander.  I shook my head when I first read about this move but the Packers’ GM, Mark Murphy, put it in perspective.  He said that Alexander was an “elite talent” and that is clear; and then he added:

“The reality is, for the last four years, it’s about half of the games [Jaire] has been able to play, so we’ve kind of been used to it.”

Alexander has been in the NFL for 7 seasons and has only played in every game once (2019).  Over the last two seasons he has played in 14 out of 34 regular season games; I had not noticed that level of “absenteeism”, but it does provide some context surrounding Murphy’s statement above.

It will be interesting to see which teams seek to acquire him as a free agent and how much they are willing to commit to him.  When he was healthy enough to play in 15 or more games (2020 and 2022), he was a Pro Bowl selection and was named to the second All-Pro team.

Alexander’s search for a new team might be complicated by events in Miami.  The Dolphins have made it clear that they are seeking to trade Jalen Ramsey and Ramsey has made it clear that he wants out of Miami.  So, there are now two “elite talent” cornerbacks there for the taking if you are a “cornerback shopper”.  With the release of Alexander, the supply of good and available cornerbacks just increased; if demand for cornerbacks remains the same, that could depress the offers that the two players receive.  Keep an eye on these players and who goes after them.

Moving on …  The semi-finals of the UFL Playoffs happened last week; the Finals this weekend will pair the DC Defenders and the Michigan Panthers.  The TV numbers were not good.

• The “early game” started at 3:00  PM ET and drew an average audience of 1.1M viewers (peak audience was reported as 1.6M).   It was telecast on ABC, ESPN+ and Disney+
• The “late game” started at 6:00 PM ET and drew an average audience of only 873K viewers (peak audience was reported as 1.05M).  It was telecast on FOX.

The UFL has media deals with ABC and FOX in place.  However, those are not audience numbers that the networks are going to like for very long.  I mentioned about a week ago that regular season audiences for UFL games were down significantly in 2025 as compared to 2024.  This is not a good vector heading.

Finally, something from P. J. O’Rourke:

“There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.”

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

 

 

Benjamin Franklin supposedly said:

“There are two things you can count on: death and taxes.”

I have no intention of upstaging one of our Founding Fathers, but those are but two of the certainties of life.  Others might include:

• Next year, there will be a new “fad diet”
• Politicians prevaricate
• Every posting on the Internet is subject to “debate”.

In the world of sports, it seems that there are two ongoing examples of what appears to be “certainty”.  The first one comes from Buffalo where the Bills announced that Joey Bosa is injured – – already and again.  Bosa was working out with the Bills prior to mandatory mini-camp and pulled a calf muscle in those workouts.  He is scheduled to miss minicamp entirely, but the prognosis is that he will be ready for Training Camp in mid-July.

Bosa was a significant signing by the Bills in the off-season despite his injury history with the Chargers.  He has been in the NFL for 9 seasons but has missed at least 1 game in 7 of those seasons.  Over the last 3 seasons, Bosa has appeared in only 28 of 51 regular season games.  Standing in opposition to that injury history, he was the Defensive Rookie of the Year and has been selected to the Pro Bowl 5 times.  When healthy, he is valuable.

Basically, the Bills decided to go with Bosa as a replacement for Von Miller and that move makes sense so long as Bosa is on the field.  An injury this early in the cycle is not an encouraging sign – – but it is not exactly something out of left field if you will pardon the mixed metaphor.

A second sports example of what seems to be “sports certainty” is another injury report out of Indy.  Colts’ QB, Anthony Richardson has an injury to the “AC joint” in his throwing shoulder and is out “indefinitely”.  Richardson has been in the NFL for only two seasons; he has appeared in 15 out of a possible 34 games over that time span.  Making this news potentially dire is the fact that the reason he missed 13 games in 2023 was an injury to that same AC joint and that required surgery in the offseason.

Colts’ coach, Shane Steichen said that Richardson will miss mini-camp and that he will not begin throwing until Training Camp and then “we’ll ease him into throwing and then we’ll go from there.”  During the off-season, the Colts signed former Giants’ QB, Daniel Jones as a free agent and declared that there would be an open competition for the starting job between Jones and Richardson.  In addition, the Colts took QB Riley Leonard (out of Notre Dame) in the late rounds of this year’s NFL Draft.  Once again, not good news for the Colts or their fans – – but not exactly surprising.

Moving along …  When the Steelers finally signed Aaron Rodgers, it set up a story line that is almost like a screenplay plot element.  The Steelers (and Aaron Rodgers unless he is injured) will open the regular season on the road in NY to play the Jets (and Justin Fields who was in Pittsburgh last year).  Please do not be surprised when you hear about that coincidence 3 bazillion times between now and Week 1.

And since I am in the mode of looking ahead at football scheduling, let me point out the “Football Orgy” that awaits fans over the Christmas/New Years season.  Buckle your seat belts:

• Thurs Dec 18:  Rams at Seahawks
• Sat. Dec 20:  Packers at Bears and Eagles at Commanders
• Sun Dec 21:  Normal 12-game slate of NFL games
• Mon Dec 22:  Niners at Colts
• Thurs Dec 25:  Cowboys at Commanders and Lions at Vikes and Broncos at Chiefs
• Sat Dec 27:  5-games from the normal 12-game slate of NFL games
• Sun Dec 28:  Remaining 7-games from the normal 12-game slate of NFL games
• Mon Dec 29:  Rams at Falcons

Intermixed with those NFL games from December 18 through December 29 will be 17 minor college bowl games along with the 4 first round games of the CFP.  If I counted correctly, that means there will be 53 football games available somehow for fans to watch or wager on in 11 days.  And if that is not enough, the second round of the CFP games will take place on December 31 and January 1.  You can exhale now …

Finally, this from former Steelers’ coach, Chuck Noll:

“A life of frustration is inevitable for any coach whose main enjoyment is winning.”

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

 

 

Today’s rant is going to be different.  I want to lead off discussing something that is only tangential to sports; I only came across the topic because it was written about by a sportswriter and it has to do with sports only because tennis was the subject of the interaction described.

Please take about 7 or 8 minutes and follow this link to read Sally Jenkins’ column yesterday in the Washington Post.  I think this is an important exposition.

It is not surprising to me to learn that Artificial Intelligence has not yet perfected the ability to be cross-examined as Jenkins did in her interaction with ChatGPT; it is, however,  surprising to me that the AI agent has learned to lie as a way to cover up being uninformed.  Frankly, I find that status to be a bit chilling.

Before someone asks, I have never submitted one of these rants to AI for “polishing” and I would not know how to set one of them up for analysis/review as Jenkins did.  So, I have no experience that is parallel to hers.  What I use AI for routinely is as a tool for quick searches – faster than a Google search.  [Aside:  I prefer to use Microsoft Copilot because it is a shortcut on my computer toolbar but that is beside the point.]  In the times I have  used AI for such tasks, I have never had occasion to doubt the results or to be suspicious of the included footnotes I received as part of the answer to my question(s).

For example, I might want to know the naming sponsors over time for the Oakland Coliseum because it has had a slew of them.  According to Copilot, the stadium is simply the Oakland Alameda County Stadium since 2023; the history of naming sponsors for the facility includes 5 different sponsoring entities dating back to 1966 with periods of no sponsorship intermingled.  That history sort of jogs my memory to the point that I believe it to be factual.

The lesson I take from Jenkins’ column and her experience with AI is that one must be ever-so-slightly wary of glib answers and perhaps it would be worthwhile ever so often to ask it a question to which you are certain you know the exact answer.  As they used to say in the arms control treaty negotiations, you need to:

“Trust … but verify.”

And now let me do a 180-degree course reversal and discuss a topic much earlier than I should.  It is the story du jour related to college sports; the NCAA will now start paying its players as the result of a settlement agreement attached to a lawsuit that was approved by the presiding judge in the matter.  This settlement will alter – not eliminate – the NIL dominated situation that exists in the collegiate revenue sports today and I believe that the potential avenues for the final course are so varied that no one knows what the equilibrium state is going to be.

Nonetheless it is widely reported and discussed, so I feel the need to offer up some comments.  Let me begin with some things I simply do not understand about the settlement:

• Some NCAA Conferences have said they will “opt in” to the settlement and others will “opt out.”    Why someone or something that was not involved in the lawsuit would opt in and agree to pay out $20M or so annually to its athletes is not clear to me this morning.  Also, if a conference “opts out” – – as the Ivy League has said it would do – – does that mean that the Ivy League would no longer be part of the NCAA?
• The money schools must pay to players is capped at about $20M per year and most of that money – – one report I read said 94% of that money – – will go to athletes in the “revenue sports”.  As of today, the collegiate revenue sports are:
  • • College football
    • Men’s college basketball/Women’s college basketball
    • Men’s college baseball/Women’s college softball
• It is not clear to me how that portion of the money can be allocated in a way that complies with Title IX nor is it clear to me what restrictions might exist for schools as they decide how to allocate that “other 6%” of the funding.
• By the way, if schools offer academic scholarships to athletes, are the values of those scholarships part of the $20M payments or are they add-ons?

Most commentators have praised the settlement terms and have labeled this as a great leap forward for college athletics.  Just as Sally Jenkins’ column yesterday made it clear to me that a pinch of skepticism never hurts when something seems too good to be true, let me apply that lesson here.  Recall how most commentators said the allowance of NIL payments would be a boon to college athletics.  And didn’t that evolve into a monstrosity?

I am not going to be a cheerleader for this brave new world of college athletics just yet nor am I going to be the old codger who can only pine for a return to the calm and quiet days of the 1950s.  [Aside:  Nevertheless, I do plead guilty to being an “old codger”.]

Nothing I have read says to me that the settlement agreement would address what I consider to be the most negative thing about college athletics today – – the dreaded Transfer Portal.  Here is my solution to that problem – – if the presiding judge would agree that it be part of the approved agreement:

• Make the agreements between the athletes and the schools into binding contracts.  If a school signs a player to a deal, that deal should have a starting date and a termination date.  If a deal is for 3 years, then there is no portal for the athlete until that time passes – – and there is no way for the school to rescind the payments to the athlete.

Finally, let me end today’s rant with this from Aristotle no less:

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

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

 

 

With mandatory minicamp about to happen in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers reached the conclusion that he would – – indeed – – play one more season at QB in the league and decided that Pittsburgh would be his chosen venue.  In human history, only Hamlet ever had such a momentous choice to make; and yet, Hamlet made it in something less than 3 months of anguishing.  Perhaps you may think that this is the time to step back and consider Gerald Ford’s remark as he assumed the Presidency when Richard Nixon resigned:

“Our long national nightmare is over.”

Hopefully, that is the case – – but Rodgers and the team are reportedly still working on “details” for the contract.  Supposedly, the deal is for one year and $20M; there must be more to it than that; how long might it take to iron out all the other wrinkles?  So let the speculation begin; here are what seem to be three pluses for Rodgers and the Steelers:

1. Even at age 41, Aaron Rodgers is probably a better option as a starting QB than Mason Rudolph.  The Steelers seem to be better at QB today than they were yesterday.
2. Rodgers is not expected to resuscitate a moribund franchise.  The Steelers under Mike Tomlin have not had a losing season in 18 years.
3. The Steelers’ defense is a formidable unit; whatever “magic” Rodgers has left in his game, need not put 30 points on the board every week to be competitive.

With those pluses come three burdens:

1. Who will get the blame should the Steelers go 8-9-0 this year and post a losing record?  I suspect it will not be “team culture”.
2. What does the Steelers’ schedule portend?  Well, in addition to 4 challenging games against AFC North opponents, the Steelers will face all the teams in the NFC North this  year and three of those four teams made the playoffs last year.
3. How good is the Steelers’ OL?  Rodgers had to deal with a substandard OL last year with the Jets and the results were not awesome.  The Steelers’ OL is young and still in developmental mode.  Rodgers will be 42 during this year’s regular season; he and the rest of the team needs that unit to “reach its potential” now and not three years from now.

Moving on …  I mentioned recently that the UFL was not doing as well in its second year of existence.  Well, the UFL regular season is now over, and the playoffs are set to begin this weekend.  Here are the semi-final games on tap for Sunday:

• Michigan Panthers (6-4) vs Birmingham Stallions (7-3)   Game is on ABC
• DC Defenders (6-4) vs St. Louis Battlehawks (8-2)  Game is on FOX

The league must be hoping for some good news involving ratings this weekend because other data are not encouraging.

• Viewership for regular season games decreased by almost 20%.
• “Fannies in the seats” for regular season games decreased by 5%.
• As mentioned before,  attendance for the Memphis Showboats was a disaster; it was down more than 40% from 2024.
• Only the Michigan Panthers increased attendance in Year 2 as compared to Year 1.  However, the Panthers “improved attendance” only saw an average of 11,681 fans per game.

Naturally, there is no hint of gloom and doom from league officials as the second set of playoffs is about to kick off.  All the pronouncements from the league carry the message that the league is in it for the long haul and that the UFL will persevere.  I doubt that the numbers from 2025 represent a fatal blow for the league; I expect it to be back in 2026 – – but those TV numbers in particular need to reverse the trend from this year or the UFL will join the half-dozen other profession spring football leagues that went extinct over the last 40 years or so.

Switching gears …  Tyreese Haliburton hit another game-winning shot in the final seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night.  As a fan, it would be hard to ask for much more than the Pacers’ comeback and the final moments of that game.  And yet, I was underwhelmed.  I’m sorry, but the announcing team is just not up to the mark there.  Mike Breen was outstanding as usual last night on play-by-play, but let me venture into dangerous territory and suggest that:

• Doris Burke is the wrong person for that announcing team.  She may be a “glass-ceiling breaker” and a “role model for female sports broadcasters everywhere”, but she is just not that good.
• Richard Jefferson seems to have chosen the wrong character for the job.  The position does not need someone with comedic skills; this is a basketball game and not a comedy club; use your basketball expertise (which should be on display) and lose the stand-up comic manifestation.

Finally, these words from my favorite curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken:

“Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

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

 

 

I got an email yesterday from Gregg Drinnan, the former sports editor of the Kamloops Daily News, reminding me that the CFL regular season kicks off tonight when the Ottawa Redblacks hit the road to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.  Both teams finished the 2024 regular season with records of 9-8-1; the Redblacks were unimpressive as a road team last year posting a road record of 2-7-0.

Here in the US, some CFL games will be shown on CBSSports Network, and all games can be livestreamed for free at CFL+.  If someone is a football junkie and if the UFL does not satisfy your cravings, the CFL offers an alternative football experience.  I have watched some CFL football for decades now and I still have to reset my thinking in the first possession or two as an adjustment to the rules about backs in motion on offense and about down and distance differences.

The defending Gray Cup Champions – – Toronto Argonauts – – will open on the road tomorrow night when they visit the Montreal Alouettes.  Last year, the Alouettes had the best regular season record in the CFL but were eliminated in the playoffs by the Argonauts.

Readers here know that I like to have fun with player names, and I have a favorite player name in the CFL.  BoLevi Mitchell is the starting QB for the Hamilton TigerCats; I always hoped he would get a shot in the NFL so fans could hold up signs that said:

• “I’m A BoLevier”  or “I BoLieve In BoLevi”

Too bad …  Thanks to Gregg Drinnan for the reminder.

Moving on …  The NHL Stanley Cup Finals began last night, and Game 1 merely provided an overtime game for fans.  The Edmonton Oilers came from behind to tie the game in regulation forcing the overtime and then won the game with a goal in the overtime period.  In the playoffs, the NHL uses a sudden death format unlike the OT rules that obtain during the regular season.  This overtime period almost went through the full 20 minutes before the Oilers scored the deciding goal on a power play.  It was a very entertaining contest.

Switching gears …  Taking a glance at the MLB standings in early June shows that several teams appear to be significantly improved in 2025 as compared to recent seasons:

• The Tigers lead the AL Central Division with a record of 41-22 (win percentage – .651).  For the record, the last time the Tigers had a win percentage this high for a full season was in 1934 when the team lost in the World Series to the Cards.  Last year, the Tigers finished with 86 wins and that was the first time the team was above .500 since 2016.
• The Cubs are on the upswing too.  As of this morning, the Cubs are 38-23 (win percentage = .623) and that puts the Cubs on pace to win 101 games in 2025.  If the Cubs manage to hit triple figures in wins, it would only be the fourth time the team accomplished that feat since 1900.
• The Giants have a record of 34-28 today (win percentage = .548).  That projects to 89 wins and if the Giants reach that level, it would be only the second time the team has won that many games in a season since 2012.

Of course, looking at the MLB standings also allows me to check on teams having disastrous seasons.

• The White Sox have the worst record in the American League at 19-43 (win percentage = .306).  The White Sox are on track to win only 50 games in 2025, which is an awful season.  Nonetheless it represents a significant improvement over the team record in 2024 which was 41-121.
• The A’s have a miserable 23-40 record (win percentage = .365).  In addition, the A’s have far and away the worst run differential in the AL at minus-128 runs.  The White Sox have a worse record than the A’s, yet, the Sox have “only” been outscored by 58 runs.
• The Pirates are a disappointing 23-39 today (win percentage = .371).  That puts the team on track to lose 102 games in 2025.  For the last two years, the Pirates had only lost 86 games in a season and the last time they lost more than 102 games was back in 2010 when they lost 105 games.
• The Rockies continue to be a hapless bunch; their record this morning is 12-50 (win percentage = .194).  If that continues to be the team “success rate”, their final record in 2025 will be 31-131 which would be 10 games worse than last year’s White Sox embarrassment.

            I commented recently that I was surprised at the home attendance for the Rockies given their miserable state on the field.  Well, it must be the fans and/or the stadium in Denver that is the attraction because the Rockies are not a huge draw on the road.  Granted this week the Rockies were in Miami to play the less-than-sterling Marlins. But consider these data:

• June 4^:  Rockies 3 Marlins 2  Attendance = 6,251
• June 3:  Rockies 3 Marlins2  Attendance =  5,894
• June 2:  Rockies 6 Marlins 4  Attendance = 5,922

Yes, the Rockies swept the series in Miami and still post the record reported above.  Yes, those are the reported attendance figures and teams suffering at the gate have been known to inflate those embarrassing totals. And here is the kicker:

• The Marlins play in a stadium that seats 37,442 souls.
• If you add up the reported attendance for the three games between the Rockies and the Marlins, that combined attendance would represent one event at the stadium where the stands were only at 48% of capacity.

Finally, having begun today with comments on Canadian sports, let me close with this observation by actor Ryan Reynolds:

“I’m not a hockey fan, which is probably why I had to leave Canada in the first place.”

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

 

 

Yesterday’s rant was posted at 12:08 PM EDT.  In that rant, I said that lots of folks were suggesting that the Knicks should fire Tom Thibodeau despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals this year.

Later yesterday afternoon at about 3:00 PM, I was running an errand and turned on the car radio to see what the local sports radio folks were discussing.  Turns out they were dealing with “Breaking News” that indeed the Knicks had fired Tom Thibodeau.  I did not get it at 12:08 PM yesterday; I did not get it at about 3:00 PM yesterday; I still don’t get it.

The Knicks won 51 regular season games this year and won two playoff series.  Somehow, that performance has been deemed sufficiently below standard(s) that it deserves separation from the organization.  Really?  If that is the case, there should be about 25 NBA Head Coaches looking for work this week.

Thibodeau has been criticized for his very short bench in the playoffs this year.  Kenny Smith had the best line dealing with that issue when he said:

“Tom Thibodeau would not play nine players in a baseball game.”

Maybe that short bench led to fatigue which led to the losses?  If so, Thibodeau deserves blame.  However, that same team with his short bench proclivities did pretty well in the 82-game regular season and in the two playoff series that went before its elimination by the Pacers.

The statement by the team regarding the firing emphasized that the goal for the organization is to “win a championship for our fans”.  If there is even a shred of truth in those words, the higher-ups must be convinced that the Knicks team as constituted was indeed the best team in the NBA and should be in the Finals against the Thunder where the Knicks would emerge victorious.  I find that sort of thinking delusional; the Knicks are a very good team, but they are not nearly the best team in the NBA right now.

As is always the case, speculation about Thibodeau’s successor began about 10 nanoseconds after the announcement of the firing.  If you cruise around the Internet commentary this morning, the two names in the lead are Mike Malone – NBA Championship with the Nuggets in 2023 – and Jeff Van Gundy – a nostalgic rehiring situation.  We shall see …

As I said yesterday, the Knicks are a sub-standard defensive team not because of coaching but because of the roster construction.  Moreover, in the process of amassing this defensively-challenged roster, the team traded away three players and two draft picks to acquire Karl-Anthony Towns; that represents a lot of assets for a player whose only defensive credential is his height of 7-feet.  That roster needs a major tweak if in fact the idea of a “championship” is anything more than a fantasy in the minds of the Knicks’ braintrust.

Mentioning Jeff Van Gundy brings to mind a bone I want to pick with fans of the NY Knicks.  During the Eastern Conference Finals, far too many Knicks’ fans bitched and moaned about having Reggie Miller doing color commentating having been a star for the Pacers in his NBA career.  The assertion was that Miller was biased and intentionally derogatory in his comments about the Knicks and their performance.  As H. L. Mencken would proclaim at this point:

“Buncombe!”

First, I am not the least bit surprised that Reggie Miller would be inclined to favor the Pacers in any NBA game.  Having said that, I found none of his commentary to be wildly biased or derogatory in the least.  Reggie Miller is not the best color analyst in the basketball business, but he pretty much played it down the middle for that series.

Second, Knicks fans need to take a deep breath and think about what they are complaining about.

• Jeff Van Gundy coached the Knicks for 5 years; then he became an excellent color commentator for NBA games for more than a decade.  Van Gundy was never accused of being “biased for the Knicks” and Knicks’ fans never worried about that possibility.
• Mike Breen does NBA games with the Knicks on the court for the national telecasts and has done that for years.  Mike Breen also does the Knicks’ home games that are not nationally telecast.  Mike Breen is – in my opinion – the best NBA play-by-play guy on the air.  Knicks’ fans never suggest that he might be biased toward their team.

Finally, I shall close today with this advice from Judith Martin a/k/a “Miss Manners”:

“If you can’t be kind, at least be vague.”

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