The Sports Curmudgeon

Two days ago when I was railing against the NFL proposal to reward teams that hired minority head coaches and/or GMs with enhanced draft order positioning, I tried to make the point that progress toward some sort of racial/ethnic balance in that area had to come from the owners individually.  They are the ones who do the hiring and firing; they need to come to a point where they modify their own behaviors; the NFL as an entity cannot make them do those things.

The next day, there was a story on CBSSports.com that enhances the point I was trying to make.  Sam Quinn is a basketball writer for that website and his article linked here concerns the overt racism displayed by former LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling.  His behaviors were sufficiently odious that the NBA forced him to sell his franchise.  According to Quinn’s article, former Clippers GM, Elgin Baylor, asserted in a lawsuit against Sterling that he wanted the organization run like an old southern plantation – – all Black players doing the work with a White head coach directing their actions.

In addition, Quinn recounts that Sterling almost negated a trade because it would put a white player, JJ Redick, on the Clippers squad.  You should take a moment and read that article because it drives home an important point related to “diversity issues” when it comes to sports.

• If an owner harbors racially based thoughts, (s)he is likely to act on those racially based thoughts.
• Offering marginal incentives for him/her to change those thoughts is not likely to change those thought patterns.
• The league as an entity does,  however, hold the “ace of trump” in this game; it can force the owner to sell the team in order to save the league public ridicule – – but that is really the only card that the league has in its hand.

I purposely used the gender-inclusive pronouns above because Donald Sterling is not alone as a team owner forced to sell the team because of embarrassing racial actions.  Please recall Marge Schott as the owner of the Cincinnati Reds and some of her comments about Black players and in support of Adolf Hitler.  If you need to refresh your memory, you can find one of her obituaries here; it chronicles the high points and low points of her life.

The NFL does not have an owner with a public record of racial/ethnic misbehavior that approaches either Donald Sterling or Marge Schott; it is nowhere near a point where one or more owners need to be called out and threatened with being forced out of the league.  That is why the only real option the league has is to encourage owners to be more expansive in their searching for head coaches and GMs.

Switching sports …  The Triple Crown races this year are in total disarray.  Normally, by 21 May the first two legs of the Triple Crown would have been run with the Belmont Stakes looming as the third race in the series at a mile and a half – – often the longest race that any of its contestants ever run.  Here is the degree to which the COVID-19 outbreak has upset this annual tradition:

• The dates of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness have been postponed.  Tentatively, the Derby will take place on Labor Day weekend and the Preakness will be on a Saturday in October.  The Belmont Stakes is scheduled to take place on June 20 at Belmont Park but will likely be without fans in the stands.
• Note that the order of the events is upended too.
• And – – for some reason – – the folks who put on the Belmont Stakes have decided to run the race this year at a mile and an eighth instead of the normal mile and a half.

If a horse manages to win this year’s version of the Triple Crown, there will need to be an asterisk in the record books…

Finally, Dwight Perry had these suggestions for some MLB public service announcements as we endured COVID-19 shelter-in-place restrictions:

Proposed MLB public-service ad slogans for endorsing stay-at-home edicts during the pandemic:

• You’re safe at home.

• Lay off the curve.

• Don’t even think about leaving the yard.

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

Today I have a perfect example of the logical fallacy known as:

• Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

That is Latin for “After that, therefore because of that”.  Just because one thing happened before another thing in time does not mean that the first event caused the subsequent event.  And here is proof that this is a logical fallacy:

• Yesterday in the morning, I wrote here that the NFL was about to change the so-called Rooney Rule in a way that I thought was wrong-headed.
• Yesterday afternoon, the NFL owners chose to table the proposal to make that change.

Both statements are absolutely correct.  It is also absolutely correct that there is no causal relationship between the two statements.

Here is another example where correlation does not prove causation – – but in this case there may be at least a few threads that link the two events to each other.

• Only a couple of weeks ago, the Governor of NY and the Governor of CA saw no way to hold large sporting events in their states.  Gov. Newsom in CA said that football might be possible by Thanksgiving.  Now, both Governors have done a 180-degree turn on that issue and are open to the idea of limited and controlled circumstances for sporting events in NY and CA.
• MLB and the NBA have supposedly considered playing all their games in one confined geographical area to limit the need for travel and to minimize exposure of players and coaches to multiple areas of the country.

Both of those statements are absolutely correct.  The major shift in position for the Governors of NY and CA might have been caused at least in part by the ruminations of MLB and the NBA because the Governors of AZ, FL and TX all extended welcoming greetings to those leagues.  Since I cannot read minds, I cannot know that the potential loss of sports revenue from NY and CA if games are played but not in those states played any part at all in the decision making.  But I can convince myself that it could have…  It is always a good idea to heed the words of Deep Throat:

“Follow the money.”

Speaking of football and money, there are reports that the CFL as a league is in financial trouble.  The CFL Commissioner, Randy Ambrosie, testified in the Canadian Parliament that the CFL is in danger of folding if it does not get some relief from the Canadian government.  One rep0rt said that the CFL may need up to $150M in relief if its entire season is canceled.  CFL teams generate most of their revenues from the live gate and sponsorships; there are media rights deals in place, but those deals are nowhere near what the NFL takes in for media rights.  Therefore, if teams must forego games – or play games with no fans in the stands – and if teams must begin to refund money paid in advance by season ticket holders, the financial squeeze is on.

Many of the CFL players are US citizens and many reside in the US during the off-season.  That fact presents the CFL with two special problems:

1. As of today, the border between the US and Canada is closed to non-essential travel due to COVID-19.  It is not clear how “essential” football players might be regarding border crossings.  The current closure extends to June 21; the CFL regular season was scheduled to start on June 11.
2. At least some of the money that Parliament might extend to the CFL would be used to pay players on the CFL rosters.  There could easily be a reluctance on the part of Parliament members from places where there is no CFL team to funnel Canadian tax dollars to US citizens via a CFL team.

I enjoy CFL games; often the CFL Friday night game is more interesting than other Friday night sports offerings on my cable system and I tune in.  For purely selfish reasons, I hope that Commissioner Ambrosie is successful in finding ways to keep the CFL afloat; it has been around for longer than the NFL and it provides an interesting alternative football experience.

Finally, Dwight Perry had this item in the Seattle Times recently:

“May 13 marked the 35-year anniversary of O.J. Simpson and Bill Cosby serving as the groomsmen in ex-football star Ahmad Rashad’s wedding.

“Just for the record, O.J. was the best man.”

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

Last week, I mentioned that I had read somewhere that Tom Brady had been the favorite in 74 consecutive games but that streak was in danger because the Bucs are 4.5-point underdogs to the Saints in this year’s season opener – – assuming there is a season and that the opener is played on time.  The reader in Houston sent me an email yesterday afternoon with a significant expansion on that situation:

“The last time Brady was not favored in the regular season was Week 2 of 2015 when the Pats were 1-point dogs on the road against the Bills, and they ended up winning, 40-32. Since that day, Tom has not been an underdog in the regular season, a streak only Steve Young/49ers came close to between 1993 and 1997 (my spread records go back to 1977). During that span, Young/49ers were the favorite in 63 straight games.

“Currently, the second longest player/team fave streak is Brees/Saints standing at 9 games, going into the 2020 season.”

He also pointed out in his email that the Patriots were underdogs for a game against the Cardinals during Brady’s 4-game suspension in 2016.  Yet one more time, thanks for the explanation to the reader in Houston.

The NFL is poised to make some changes to the so-called Rooney Rule as early as this afternoon.  There is a growing recognition that the current rule mandating that teams interview at least one minority candidate for any head coaching or GM vacancy is not producing the sort of results that were envisioned when it began.  The idea now is to incentivize teams not for interviewing candidates but for actually hiring them.  If a team hires a minority head coach, and keeps him on, that team can move up 6 spots in the third round of a draft and if they hire a minority GM, that would be worth moving up 10 spots.  [Aside: Yes, the “move-ups” can be combined if a team hired both a minority GM and head coach.]  In addition to the “draft incentives” other changes are:

• Teams must now interview at least two minority candidates for any vacant head coach or GM position.
• Teams must now interview at least one minority candidate for any vacant coordinator position.

I know this is a horribly incorrect thing to say, but I really do not like the idea of these changes.  It is not that I deny the obvious lack of minority head coaches and GMs in the NFL nor is it that I have the slightest objection to the presence of minorities in those positions.  My problem(s) with these changes are far more generic.

First, “Rooney Rule 2.0” would provide an incentive for teams to hire someone based on race or ethnicity.  Simply stated, that is merely a wrinkle on the idea that a team would hire someone solely based on that person’s skin color or ethnicity.  I am sorry; but I find both of those situations to be wrong.  Personally, I do not think it is “progress” to correct a “wrong” with another “wrong”.  To accept that as a way toward “progress”, I would have to believe that the end justifies the means – – and I do not.

Let me state my fundamental principle for any hiring decision – in this case specifically for NFL coaches and executives:

• Race and/or ethnic background should never be part of the hiring decision.

The fact that race and/or ethnicity has been a significant part of NFL hiring decisions in the past does not make it right to institute a rule that would codify just such behavior in the future.  Oh, and by the way, would the hiring of a white woman as a head coach or as a GM get an even bigger incentive since that legally protected class is even less represented in those positions?

Moreover, if this rule is in place over time, it will penalize teams that made good hiring decisions that happen to be white males.  The Patriots and the Chiefs have not had to make a coaching change for a long time because they hired coaches who have been successful.  So, they never get the opportunity to “move up” in the draft because their coaches are successful?  What kind of perverse universe does that make sense in?

Let me game the system for a moment.  Bill Belichick is the head coach and the GM in New England.  If the Pats hire a minority to be the “GM” but (s)he does nothing but sit at the dais during press conferences, is that worth a 10-spot move up in the Draft?

The fact that decision makers in the NFL are even considering this change identifies the core of the problem; those decision makers do not want to admit it, but this sort of thinking lays it bare.  The stark reality is this:

• Hiring decisions for head coaching jobs in the NFL and for GM jobs in the NFL are made by the owner – or in the case where a GM “hires a coach” the reality is that the choice is approved by the owner. 
• White men do not materialize into those positions using the “beam me up, Scotty device”; white men get those jobs because the owners put them in those jobs.
• The “problem” is that the 32 owners are the “problem”.  They can identify it every morning when they look in the bathroom mirror to brush their teeth.  It is staring back at them.

Until and unless the NFL owners individually decide to change their way of doing business, we can look forward to a “Rooney Rule 3.0” sometime down the road.  This situation cannot be solved by Roger Goodell or his successor(s) or the Fritz Pollard Alliance or the NFLPA.  Those folks can be advocates for change – but they cannot effect change.  In fact, I believe that the very act of proposing such a modification to the Rooney Rule is evidence that those folks realize that they cannot effect change here.

By the way, the Cleveland Browns are not the NFL poster children for this issue.  In very recent history, the Browns have had 2 minority head coaches (Romeo Crennel and Hue Jackson) whose combined record with the team was 27 – 76 – 1.  The Browns have also had 3 minority GMs/Front Office folks (Andrew Berry, Sashi Brown and Ray Farmer).  The Browns demonstrate to me the rather obvious situation that can be simply stated as:

• Dysfunctional organizations are dysfunctional because they make dysfunctional decisions.  Forest Gump might say that dysfunction is as dysfunction does.

The Browns are not dysfunctional because of the race or ethnicity of their coaches and GMs; the Browns are dysfunctional because they have made bad choices over the years regarding players, coaches, team philosophy and the like.  They have mixed in some minority folks along the way, but that did not cure the dysfunctionality because that exists at a higher level in the organization.

Consider the Skins for a moment.  For the last 20 years, the Skins have had white men as head coaches and GMs.  Two of those white head coaches had won a total of 5 Super Bowls – but they left Washington as failures.  Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan did not “get stupid” all of a sudden and forget how to coach a football team.  The Skins lack of success – like the Browns’ lack of success – has much less to do with the race and ethnicity of the coaches and GMs than it does with the organizational dysfunctionality around those men.

Finally, having spent a lot of time today discussing dysfunction, let us see what The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm has to say about it:

“Dysfunctional:  Impaired in some way, often as regards the family unit.  A term much overused by a whole generation of the self-absorbed middle class, who seem to have no qualms about looking a deeply scarred abuse survivor in the face and saying that they, too, grew up in a dysfunctional family because mom and dad never gave them the emotional permission to realize their own uniqueness.  It’s all Oprah’s fault.”

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

Phyllis George died last week.  The arc of her life was unique.  She was Miss America in 1970; she was a reporter and studio host for The NFL Today on CBS alongside Brent Musburger, Jimmy the Greek and Irv Cross; she was the First Lady of Kentucky; she was the anchor for CBS Morning News; she was an entrepreneur.  Other than that, she led a quiet existence.  Brad Dickson Tweeted this brief statement to let people under the age of 40 know about Phyllis George:

“Phyllis George – who was Erin Andrews before Erin Andrews was, only a lot better – has died.”

Rest in peace, Phyllis George.

I have no interest in participating in any discussion related to the Second Amendment and/or gun control – – but I suspect that a bunch of folks involved with the NFL would like to put some restrictions on players and guns.  Here is what happened in the last 4 days:

• Quinton Dunbar (CB, Seahawks) and DeAndre Baker (CB, Giants) were arrested in Florida charged with armed robbery.
• Cody Latimer (WR, Skins) was arrested in Colorado on “assault and weapons charges”.
• Ed Oliver (DT, Bills) was arrested in Texas on charges of DWI and “gun violations”.

As is to be expected, the 4 teams associated with these players have issued statements that they are gathering information about the incidents that they have been in touch with the players and the players’ lawyers and that they are in “wait-and-see mode”.  I suspect however, that at least a few folks associated with those 4 teams have uttered the phrase “WTF” when informed of these arrests.

The 2020 MLB Draft is going to be limited to 5 rounds – in the past it went on until all the teams passed in a round.  Putting a limitation on the number of players selected makes sense when you also consider that MLB is in the process of finalizing an agreement with Minor League Baseball to reduce the number of minor league teams affiliated with each MLB team.  Fewer minor league teams require fewer minor league players; that is not a difficult concept to grasp.

At the same time, teams need to recognize that some rather good players were selected in rounds well beyond Round 5 of previous Drafts.  The one that leapt to mind was Mike Piazza; I thought he was taken in the 50^th round; I was wrong; he was taken in the 62^nd round of the 1988 Draft.

Here are three other players whose MLB careers earned them induction into the Hall of Fame but who did not make it into the top 5 rounds of the Draft in the year they were selected:

• Nolan Ryan – – taken in the 12^th round in 1965
• Ryne Sandberg – – taken in the 20^th round in 1978
• John Smoltz – – taken in the 22^nd round in 1985.

I am sure there are myriad examples akin to these, but I am not in the mood to do the necessary searching to find some more this morning.

The MLB/Minor League Baseball negotiations have their foundations in economics; limiting the Draft is economically driven.  I have come to expect such activities to relate to economics, accounting, finances and the like.  What I do not like to see – and what I saw too much of in the recent off-season that extended into the time when baseball’s regular season should be underway – are baseball decisions that are rooted in economics.

It will take a lot of arm-waving and statistical legerdemain to convince me that the Mookie Betts trade to the Dodgers was based on anything other than economics/cost control by the Red Sox.  Over the winter – and possibly still – there were reports related to:

• The Cubs considering trading Kris Bryant
• The Indians considering trading Francisco Lindor.
• The Rockies considering trading Nolan Arenado.

In previous years, MLB rosters held 750 players at one time.  Let me be clear; the Top 5% of active MLB players would be 37.5 players.  I assert that Mookie Betts, Kris Bryant, Francisco Lindor and Nolan Arenado are all in that Top 5%.  Moreover, every one of those players in the Top 5% of MLB is under 30 years old this morning.  The idea of trading any of them – except possibly one for another – makes no baseball sense.

I would have thought that the Red Sox would be the last team to trade a star player for economics reason given their history in 1919 when they sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees.  Supposedly, the Sox owner at the time used some of the money to finance a Broadway play that did not enjoy along run.  The future of the Yankees with Bab Ruth on the team is known to every baseball fan.

Finally, let me close today with two observations from Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Squeamish baseball fans will want to avert their eyes as owners and players resume a financial battle over the 2020 season that could test the boundaries of mutually assured destruction.”

And …

“In closing: Let’s end on a brighter note. Did you see that Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez are no longer involved in the purchase of the Mets? Who says baseball isn’t producing uplifting stories?”

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

I will spend time this afternoon cleaning up the area here in Curmudgeon Central so let me keep with that theme and clean up my clipboard of stored up bits and pieces…

Everyone likes affirmation.  Seeing someone other than oneself take a position that one has previously taken feels good.  It is particularly positive reinforcement when that “someone else” is a respected individual.  I am basking in that glow at the moment because of a piece that Len Elmore wrote on CBSSports.com last week.  Elmore said that even though several top-rated high school prospects have opted to go to the G-League this year instead of going to play college basketball on a “one-and-done” basis, he thinks that college basketball will survive – – and indeed thrive.  Back on April 22^nd, I took that same position when only Jalen Green had chosen that path for his career.

Here is a link to Len Elmore’s piece.

Here is a link to my rant.

In the realm of college football, Michigan coach, Jim Harbaugh was in the news last week with an idea related to college football eligibility.  The current situation is that players must be 3  years out from their high school graduating class to be allowed to opt for being part of the NFL Draft – – and if they make such a choice, they lose any remaining college eligibility they may have.  You may recall that Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett challenged that rule in court and lost his case and his college eligibility.

Harbaugh’s suggestion is that a player can declare for the NFL Draft at any time but if he is not selected, he can return to college and continue to play college football.  In addition, Harbaugh’s “plan” would allow a player to consult with an agent during the process of deciding to enter the NFL Draft and for the player to retain college eligibility if he is not selected in the draft with the condition that the player did not receive any compensation from the agent.

Here is a key part of Harbaugh’s suggestion:

“There are ‘early bloomers’ capable of competing in the NFL and earning a livelihood at an earlier age.  The goal would be to create a scenario that makes adjustments for all current and future student‐athletes that puts the timeline for transition to professional football at their discretion and that of their family. I propose an option that allows them to make the decision that is best for them.”

The “Harbaugh Plan” and the situation created by high school basketball players opting for the G-League are similar but not identical.  The basketball players are immediately being paid for their time in the G-League meaning they forfeit their college eligibility immediately and completely.  There is room in the “Harbaugh Plan” for a player to continue his college career – – and presumably his college education.

Moreover, the “Harbaugh Plan” recognizes that there are a few college players who would indeed be ready physically for the rigors of NFL football before spending three years at the college level.  Herschel Walker, Bo Jackson and Randy Moss leap to mind.  Note that I said they would be “physically ready” for NFL football; the question of maturity and/or socialization is another dimension.  On balance, I like the “Harbaugh Plan”.

Here is my assessment of the likelihood that it will be adopted by the NCAA and the college football mavens:

• You will see a horse climb a tree before this plan is adopted as proposed.

Back when the top story of the week was Tom Brady’s decision to leave New England for the sunny Tampa climate, I read somewhere that he and his Patriots teammates had been the Vegas favorites in 74 consecutive games.  It was not worth the aggravation to go back and see what that “75^th game” was or how it turned out; I just made a note of it to use whenever the Bucs wind up as an underdog this year – – assuming there is a “this year”.  Just for giggles, I checked the Vegas line for Week 1 of this year about 10 minutes ago and here is what it is 4 months in advance:

Tampa Bay at New Orleans – 4.5 (49.5):

Trust me; I know that the line on this game could move wildly between now and September 13^th.  However, I think it is interesting to note that not only would that streak be broken but that it would be broken in a division game.  That did not happen to Brady and the Patriots very often in the AFC East…

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

“President Trump pardoned former 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr., 73, who was convicted in a gambling fraud scandal.

“But the president did, however, refuse the Niners’ request to commute the last nine minutes of Super Bowl LIV.”

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

About two weeks ago, USA Gymnastics – the organizing and oversight entity for gymnastics in the US – suspended coach Maggie Haney for 8 years.  The suspension came after a hearing into charges that Haney “verbally and emotionally abused her gymnasts”.  The next day, the Washington Post had a story that called this suspension a “micro step long overdue”.  Haney’s accuser won an individual silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and was part of the US women’s team that won the team gold medal.

Since I did not witness any of the alleged incidents of abuse here nor do I follow gymnastics at all, I do not know if this was either a “micro step” or if this is “long overdue”.  What I will say is that an awful lot of successful coaches (for both male and female athletes) have behaved in ways that were not always totally supportive or uplifting for the athletes on the receiving end of the coaching.  Maybe it is indeed a micro step but is it necessarily one in a positive direction?  Time will tell…

Last week, the NCAA Board of Directors for Division 1 chose to table a recommendation for a full vote on a recommendation from a working group set up by the NCAA.  That recommendation would allow athletes in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and men’s hockey to change schools and be eligible to play immediately.  The current rule is that these athletes must sit out a year at their new school unless they are granted a specific waiver from the NCAA allowing them to play immediately.  The sports identified here are the so-called “revenue sports” meaning that colleges take in some revenue because of the games played in these sports.  It is interesting to note that most of the athletes in the “non-revenue sports” can transfer and participate immediately.  So, why the distinction here?

Far be it from me to assert that I have mind-reading skills sufficient to plumb the depths of the intentions of the folks who create the NCAA rules.  I would need the combined powers of Rasputin, Wolf Messing and The Amazing Kreskin to be able to do that.  However, here is an indicator of why the rule exists and why it is not a candidate for change:

• Coaches – highly regarded by alums and donors – are almost unanimously against relaxing that rule.

If I set out to try to convince you that most college coaches in the “revenue sports” are control freaks who do not like surprises, I do not think it would require the persuasion skills of Clarence Darrow for me to accomplish that objective.  Allowing athletes to transfer at will would diminish their control over a critical aspect of their programs and I doubt there is a single coach out there in the “revenue sports” who thinks more randomness in the program is likely to breed more success into that program.  Of course they do not like the idea of easy transfers.

I think there is another force at work here that may not be as obvious as the one above.  There is a pecking order on college sports.  Take men’s basketball for example:

• Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan St. and UNC are on one level.
• Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Louisville and Villanova are on a lower level
• Gonzaga, Ohio St., Syracuse, Tennessee and Wisconsin are on a still lower level…

The teams closest to the top of the hierarchy can “poach players” from teams lower on the pecking order.  The three levels I listed above may not be sufficiently far apart to allow a lot of such poaching, but remember there are more than 350 Division 1 basketball schools and lots of them have one really good player who is “toiling in anonymity” at a place like Whatsamatta U.  The big time coaches can – should they choose to do so – poach players from the schools that are way down on the totem pole but might have more difficulty doing that in an environment where they have to defend their flock in addition to “go out hunting”.

Rather than just identify problems, let me try to offer a solution here.  I would like to use such an opportunity to pay tribute to something that the NCAA pretends to hold in high esteem – – the student-athlete.  And I suggest that in this matter we put the emphasis on “student”. So, suppose the NCAA would allow the transfer and the immediate eligibility of a “revenue sport athlete” under these circumstances:

• The student-athlete must have achieved class status equal to the number of years it has been since his high school graduation AND (s)he must be carrying a GPA of 3.0 or better AND (s)he must be majoring in an academic subject.

Or …

• The head coach who recruited the player to come to Wherever Tech has left and gone to some other job.

If those were the two open-door transfer policies, coaches would no longer have the “control argument” in their favor because once they leave Wherever Tech, they should not care what decisions their former players make.  In addition, if the path to a transfer demands academic achievement in addition to athletic achievement, then the NCAA golden calf – the student-athlete – might make a comeback on some college campuses.

Having offered those suggestions, let me be sure to note that neither of them will happen…

Finally let me close today with an entry from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Endangered species:  an organism that faces the risk of becoming extinct.  Among the most widely known endangered species are the Siberian tiger, the blue whale and people who still have a landline.”

And – maybe – the “student-athlete”?

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

I want to begin this morning with a reference to Cassandra in Greek Mythology.  Cassandra was given the gift of seeing the future by Apollo; but when she did not “deliver her favors to him”, Apollo added a curse to her gift:

• She could see the future, but no one would ever believe what she foretold.

[Aside:  Most of her prognostications fell into what we would call the “gloom-and-doom category making her acutely aware of her “gift”.]

With that brief introduction, let me assure everyone here that my middle name is not Cassandra.  The following juxtaposition in time is purely coincidental:

• Yesterday – writing about MLB’s possible reopening – I said that MLB and the MLBPA must not get into a public spitting contest over pay issues when MLB’s fanbase is in a far more economically precarious state than either the owners or the players.  I stand by those remarks.  If you want to re-read them, you can scroll down below this rant and find yesterday’s rant directly below.
• As if on cue, the Washington Post currently reports that “… the union is already rejecting MLB’s economic proposal before even receiving it.”

One of the buzzwords of the day is “optics”; we talk about the “optics” being wrong when some public figure does something outrageously gross or something that is highly privileged.  Even though I have no idea what the MLB proposal might be – and even if it is something that would make Ebenezer Scrooge look generous – it is BAD OPTICS to reject something before you know what it is.  I said yesterday that MLB and the MLBPA “have a history of finding ways to shoot themselves – and each other – in the foot.”  In this instance, it seems to me that the union could have waited until the proposal arrived on their desks to let it be known that they disagree.

Please take a moment to read Thomas Boswell’s column on this mater in today’s Washington Post; here is the link.

Obviously, this situation is going to be messy.  Even the ongoing pandemic cannot get these two sides to come to their agreements privately, constructively and expeditiously; both sides are hopeless.  Having the recent memory of watching a Senate Committee receive testimony from Dr. Fauci and three other medical folks regarding the state of play between US citizenry and COVID-19, I can easily picture in my mind what “feckless” and “meaningless” and “pompous” mean.

• The only way the MLB/MLBPA situation can get worse would be for the Congress to convene a hearing on that matter and to have it televised nationally.
• The owners and the players will have already aggravated the fans.
• The Congress has aggravated political partisans – and could use those hearings to aggravate baseball fans turning partisans from both sides against them.

If there are any adults in positions of responsibility at MLB HQs and at the top of the MLBPA, please come to an agreement quickly and keep the story as an internal one instead of a media circus.

All during the time of the pandemic spread – and the suspension of sports events worldwide – there have been speculations about reopening sports without fans in attendance.  There has been a UFC event without fans; there are horse racing events without fans at the racetrack; stretching the definition of sports, Wrestlemania happened without fans in the arena; the English Premier League is planning to play games in June without fans in the stands.  Here in the US, leagues have acknowledged that such may have to be the case for their return to action but only the NFL seems to have said clearly that if that is the price of playing a normal season then that is how it will have to be.

• Translation of the NFL position:  We can make do with the money we take in from TV, radio and “corporate partnerships”.

The fact that other pro sports here have not made the same sort of commitment made me wonder why the NFL figured it could get by but entities such as MLB or the NBA might not.  The following are not accurate calculations; they are guesstimates and nothing more.  I have tried to use reported values for TV rights contracts along with estimates of total league revenues based on team salary caps as a percentage of that total league revenue and guessed at “sponsorship fees” to arrive at what portion of league revenue comes from fans in the stands.  Here are my guesstimates:

• NHL:  50-55% of the revenue is from “fans in the stands”
• MLB:  45-50% of the revenue is from “fans in the stands”
• NBA:  45-50% of the revenue is from “fans in the stands”
• NFL:  15-20% of the revenue is from “fans in the stands”

Note: I could not find enough data even to come up with a guesstimate for MLS.

If I am even close to accurate here, the reason the NFL can be as resigned about playing in empty stadiums is because that revenue source is not nearly as critical to the NFL as that revenue source is to the other sports.

Finally, I mentioned above that I had spent some time today watching Senate hearings involving Dr. Anthony Fauci and three other health experts from the US government.  In light of that, let me close with this Tweet from humor writer, Brad Dickson:

“I wouldn’t say he’s on a lot of TV shows but it turns out Dr. Anthony Fauci was this week’s Masked Singer.”

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

Yesterday was the he tenth of May – that day should always be remembered as “Woolworth Day”.  If you are under the age of 30, Google is your friend…

Last Friday, I offered up a couple of quick observations about the NFL schedule that was released late last week.  Over the weekend, I certainly did not have any live sports action of any consequence to distract me; so, I looked more carefully and deeply into the NFL schedule for 2020.

Before we get to specifics, let me be clear that I give the NFL kudos for producing a schedule for an entire season – – 256 regular season games that will lead to a 14-team playoff schedule in January.  I really hope they can pull that off; I am not convinced that will be the case, but I am rooting for them.

Here are six more schedule specifics that I noticed/found interesting:

1. The Seahawks will play in NYC two consecutive weeks – – against the Giants and Jets.  Why go home?
2. The Pats see the Seahawks schedule anomaly and take it one step further.  The Pats fly to LA to play the Chargers on Sunday and then have the Rams scheduled in LA for the following Thursday.  No way they are flying home and back for that second game against the Rams…
3. Thursday Night Football will have one of its games on Friday night this year.  That Friday would be Christmas night.  Whatever NBA game(s) are scheduled head-to-head with the Vikings/Saints game in that prime-time slot will not do nearly as well as anticipated.
4. In both Weeks 15 and 16, there are 5 designated games where the date and time are listed as “TBD”.  What that means is that as many as 3 of those 5 games may be played on the Saturday of that weekend and not Sunday.  The NFL is going for even more “national exposure games” – – assuming there are games that weekend…
5. The Jets travel to play the Dolphins.  The next week, both teams have BYE Weeks.  The week after the BYE Week, the Dolphins travel to play the Jets.  Strange…
6. In Week 17 – the final week of the season in the first week of January – all 16 games will be division games.  That should mean more games will “matter” when it comes to playoff berths.

I would also like to point out a soupçon of hypocrisy on the part of the NFL.  For decades, the NFL vehemently opposed legalized sports betting on pro football arguing that it would corrupt – even destroy – the “integrity of the games”.  The NFL encouraged the passing of PASPA in 1992 and fought the legal challenges to PASPA undertaken by the State of New Jersey a few years ago once again trying to convince the Supreme Court that the integrity – the very existence – of pro football required limiting gambling on those games.  The Supreme Court eighty-sixed those pleadings; now you can gamble on sports – including pro football – in more than a dozen States, and there has been no crumbling of NFL football as a sports attraction in the US.  And now … in 2020:

• The NFL will have a team in Las Vegas – – that den of iniquity where sports betting has been legal all along and where bettors weekly threatened the “integrity of the games”.
• Moreover, the NFL will showcase that team – the Las Vegas Raiders – as the hosts in 4 of the league’s national telecasts.

And if you confronted Roger Goodell with that hypocrisy on live TV, I am sure that he would immediately revert to his animatronic suit-dummy mode and say that the NFL has always thought that Las Vegas would be a great place for a franchise because of the passion of the fans there…  Give me a [bleeping] break!  A United States Marine Corps Honor Guard could not execute an about face any more quickly.

Bob Molinaro of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot had this observation regarding the recently revealed NFL schedule for 2020:

“Truth teller: Lest some fans get too excited over the release of the NFL’s 2020 schedule, Saints coach Sean Payton tactfully reminds people that only ‘10 or 11 teams are relevant each season.’ I don’t think he cleared that statement with NFL headquarters.”

Preach on, Brother Molinaro…

While on the subject of professional football in the US, there were reports over the weekend that the XFL is “For Sale”.  Axios reports that Vince McMahon has sought the services of an investment bank to solicit letters of intent and ultimately formal bids to purchase the XFL in its entirety.  If you are thinking that it might be a hoot to put in a bid for “3 easy payments of only $39.95”, let me offer a word of caution and suggest that you might wind up as the owner.  There might be a really rich guy out there who is not quite rich enough to buy an NFL team when one hits the market or maybe one who knows he will not pass the muster of 24 affirmative votes from the current owners, so maybe that guy steps up and tries to buy “the next best thing”.  I have my doubts – – but I do not hob-knob with folks in that sphere of society, so I do not know.

Finally, Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times had a great comment that marries the release of the NFL schedule with its inherent uncertainty:

“How soon before we see these odds listed among the tiny type in the sports section: ‘Sept 10: COVID (-19) vs. NFL opener?’”

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

Seventy-five years ago today was V-E Day – it was the day that Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Forces in Berlin.  The world is suffering today from COVID-19; however, if the world can be cleansed of the likes of Adolf Hitler, it can also be cleansed of COVID-19.  World War II took the better part of a decade to resolve itself; hopefully, the current struggle will not be as long.

Soon after the signing and the subsequent ratification of the NFL’s new CBA with the players’ union, two players launched legal challenges to the agreement.  One was a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board filed by Russell Okung claiming that the union – not the league – had engaged in an unfair labor practice.  That challenge always surprised me because Okung had been part of the union’s executive committee during much if not all the negotiation process, but I figured that it would all become clear with time.  Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board rejected the complaint filed with it and so I guess clarification is not going to happen unless Okung appeals yesterday’s denial.

The other challenge came from Eric Reid.  I do not know its status at the moment, but its allegation was simple to understand.  Reid asserts that the CBA that was ratified by the players – in a very close vote – is not the same document that now exists as the CBA.  He alleges that changes in the wording in some sections was changed after the ratification vote.  Obviously, I have no idea if that happened, but the basis for the complaint there is pretty easy to understand.

I mention those legal situations involving the NFL here because the league unveiled its 2020 schedule yesterday.  As presented, the schedule calls for a full 16-game season that will begin at the normal starting time of 10 September – the Thursday after Labor Day.  Outside events may cause schedule disruptions but this is the NFL’s baseline plan; given the bleak nature of most news today, maybe we should be glad to see the NFL being optimistic.  It can’t hurt…

With the schedule on the table, there are a couple of things that jump out at me:

• The Ravens have a relatively easy schedule given that they are a defending division winner.  They face the other three AFC division winners and get both the Chiefs and the Titans to come to Baltimore while the Ravens travel to play the Pats in Foxboro.  I am not going to forecast a complete fragmentation for the Pats, but they should be more vulnerable this year than in recent seasons.  Moreover, the AFC North rivals appear to be a few strides behind the Ravens.
• Of course, I looked at the Bucs schedule.  We will get to see Brady vs Brees twice this season – starting in Week 1 no less.  In addition, we will see Brady vs Rodgers (Week 6) and Brady vs Mahomes (Week 12).
• The Niners will need to fight the “Curse of the Super Bowl Loser”.  They need to travel to New York in consecutive weeks to play the Jets and then the Giants and they have a very tough mid-season stretch between October 18 and December 7.
• The Colts schedule is pillow-soft at the front end; they could begin the season with a 6-1 record.  Then they get Ravens, at Titans, Packers, Titans at Texans, Raiders, Texans at Steelers; they could go 2-5 in that part of the season.  Interesting…
• The Bengals had the #1 overall pick in the Draft a couple of weeks ago and the Skins had the #2 overall pick.  Those teams will meet in Washington on Sunday November 22.  Oh thrill; oh joy…
• The Bengals will host the Jags on Sunday October 4.  I suspect we will all be able to find something better to do than pay attention to that game.

Parallel with announcing the 2020 schedule, the NFL also set out the protocols that will allow the teams to open their practice facilities and begin to hold “team events”.  These protocols are serious and may be difficult to achieve.  The thumb-nail list of hurdles faced by the league and its teams is:

• Permission from local and state governments to open.
• Establishment of a robust infection test and response plan.
• Temperature checks for all people entering and leaving the facilities.  Club employees – not players – would always be masked .
• Social distancing rules including limiting the number of players and staff permitted in the facilities at any given time.

Finally, since I mentioned the Niners need to fight the “Super Bowl Loser Curse”, consider this comment from Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times:

“San Francisco has been named the healthiest city in the US according to WalletHub number crunchers.

“At least until the final nine minutes of Super Bowl LIV.”

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