The Sports Curmudgeon

For new arrivals on this meandering vehicle, let me put out the first Football Friday of the upcoming football season.  Please do not take “Friday” literally; there will be weeks when it happens on Thursday; there will be weeks when external events do not allow for one of these at all.  And please note that both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day fall on Fridays this season; so, who knows when/if there will be Football Fridays then.

Over the years, these offerings have come to have a loose format, and I’ll use today to explain what that format is.  Each week, I will offer up a “Six Pack” of suggested wagers.  Do not take “six” literally; some weeks there will be more and some weeks there will be fewer.  And each week, I will offer up some “Money Line Parlays” as long as I find a couple that catch my eye.  And in the week after offering up those suggestions, I will begin with a review of how they turned out and what the cumulative record for the season happens to be.

I will also report on what happened to my “Sleeper Team” in the previous week; for this season, I have picked the Florida Gators, and I hope that once again I predicted a team good enough to get to a bowl game.

Then comes a brief look at the season for the Division III Linfield Wildcats in McMinnville, OR.  I have no ties to the school at all, but their football program is on a roll; they have had a winning season every year since 1956 – save of course for 2020 when COVID eliminated Division III football.

After that comes “College Football Commentary” – just random stuff related to college football that I find interesting.  I have a few things on my plate even now as the season is about to get started so let put those comments in the typical format.

College Football Commentary:

Normally at this point in the season, the dominant narrative relates to projections as to conference champions and candidates for the CFP.  Coaches are all optimistic; it is generally upbeat.  This year, that usual narrative is distracted no little bit by things happening in courtrooms around the country.  Players are suing the NCAA for extra eligibility; players are being cut from NFL teams and seeking to go back and play college football.  As of today, the biggest winner in college football is “Billable Hours”.

Could anyone have imagined ten years ago that a player who signed with an NFL team and went to their training camp could turn around and play more college football when he did not make the NFL team?  Surely, no one in the NCAA who drank the Kool Aid and believed in the amateur scholar-athlete could have done so.  However, the seeds for the current situation in football were planted by the NCAA when they saw fit to allow European basketball players to come to US colleges after playing in pro leagues in their home countries.

The NCAA is an anachronism when it comes to the so-called “revenue sports”;  the NCAA and its guiding principles might have traction in Division II or Division III athletics in 2026, but that is about all.  What a mess…

There is an interesting irony here.  A little over 20 years ago, Maurice Clarett wanted to join the NFL draft and was prevented from doing so because he was not three years removed from his high school graduation; the court ruled that the NFL could do so because that criterion had been negotiated into the existing CBA between the NFL and the certified union of its players.  However, since Clarett had signed with an agent; he was not allowed to return to Ohio State – or any other school for that matter – by existing NCAA rules related to “amateur status”.  If I were the producer for a sports talk radio show, I would try to get Maurice Clarett as a guest to see what his perspective is on the evolution of college football from his time in the sport until today.

Meanwhile, some conferences and schools are issuing rules saying that players who signed with NFL teams may be allowed to play college football but not in those conferences or at those schools.  I am not aware of any legal challenges to such declarations by schools or conferences but somehow those “bans” seem different than a blanket NCAA dictum on the matter.

After “College Football Commentary” there will be a look back at some interesting games from last weekend.  Obviously, there are no such games to deal with today; so, I will move quickly to the next segment on a typical Football Friday;  I look at the schedule for this week and pick out interesting games and look at the betting lines for those games.  The menu for this week is thin, but let me take a look at a few games in the so-called “Week Zero” for college football:

College Football Games This Week:

UNC vs. TCU – 8 (47) [Game played in Dublin, Ireland]: The spread opened at 6.5 points and has been climbing to the point that three sportsbooks have it as high as 9 points this morning.  Also, the Total Line opened at 51 points and has been dropping steadily all week.  I think UNC might gel later in the season as it gets in step with the new Bobby Petrino offense there, but I don’t see that happening from the start of the season.  Give me TCU to win and cover; put it in the Six Pack.

New Mexico St. at Florida St. – 32 (54):  This game is of interest to one specific reader of these rants.  He attended both New Mexico St. and Florida St. in his college and grad school days.

Sacramento St. at E. Michigan – 9 (54):  Sacramento St. was 9-5 last year in the big sky Conference at the Division I-AA level; E. Michigan is in the MAC and went 4-8 in that bottom-dwelling conference.

Hawaii at Stanford – 4 (48.5):  Hawaii beat Stanford by 3 points last year, but before you label this as a revenge game for The Cardinal, recognize that there is a completely new coaching staff there this year and significant turnover in personnel.  Hawaii should be one of the better teams outside the Power 4 and Stanford is one of the weaker teams in the Power 4.  This could be an interesting game to watch.

Memphis at UNLV – 4 (56):  Memphis is a solid Group of Six football program, but it has a new coach and a heavy turnover of personnel for this season.   UNLV won 10 games last year and has aspirations for the CFP this year as the Group of Six selectee.  Just a hunch, but I like the Rebels to win and cover here; put that in the Six Pack.

NC St. at UVa – 4 (51.5):  This is a conference game right out of the box.  The Wolfpack QB is CJ Bailey; keep an eye on him as the season progresses; he looked awfully good to me last year.  This game was supposed to have been played in Brazil but the organizer/promoter for the game had to back out because it could not secure all the assets needed to put on the game nor could it generate sufficient interest to make a “break-even situation” possible.  So, instead of Rio de Janeiro, these guys get to play in Charlottesville, VA.  Bummer…

Jax St. at N. Dakota St – 7 (47):  Jax St has been in Division 1-A since 2023; this is the first season at that level for N. Dakota St.  Jax St was 9-5 last year including a bowl game; N, Dakota St. was 12-1 in Division 1-AA last year.  This could be the most interesting game of the weekend.

And with college football out of the way, the rest of Football Friday will focus on the NFL starting with overall commentary and then a look at the games from last week and finally a look at all the games on the card for the weekend.

Finally, I wrap up with a review of the Six Pack:

• TCU – 8 over UNC
• UNLV – 4 over Memphis

Here are two money line parlays:

• TCU @-340
• UNLV @ -185              $100 wager to win $99

And …

• TCU @-340
• NC State @ +165       $100 wager to win $243

That’s the overview for “Fridays” from now until Feb 12, 2027 – – just before the Super Bowl game in SoFi Stadium in LA.

I’ll close today with this from Bear Bryant:

“Winning isn’t everything, but it sure beats anything that comes in second.”

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

The news today brings to mind the movie, Weekend at Bernies.  In that flick, two young execs need to pretend that their boss who had been murdered by the mob was indeed alive for a weekend party at the boss’ place.  Some call it a “dark comedy”; I would call it a farce.  And having used the word farce, that brings me to the news of the day:

• The NFL is getting rid of any and all activities related to the Pro Bowl.

Can I get a Hallelujah?

The Pro Bowl game became a sham contest where no one hit anyone else and so the league tried to foist off the “Pro Bowl Games” on its fans ever since 2023.  Finally, and mercifully, the NFL has come to the realization that the time has come to put the whole thing to rest.

Requiescat in pace, Pro Bowl.

The league will still name 88 players who have earned Pro Bowl honors, and the league will invite those 88 players to LA for a “celebration” in February in place of a game of any sort.  Here is a statement from an NFL official:

“The Pro Bowl has always been about recognizing the players who distinguish themselves as the very best in the NFL.  A Pro Bowl selection will return to its original purpose, honoring the best of the best. We want that distinction to carry even greater meaning for the players, their families, their clubs and our fans.”

Moving on, but staying with the NFL …  The NFL has had some restrictions on Tom Brady’s access to coaches and players in preparation for broadcasting duties on FOX.  Even if there were no conflicts of interest, Brady’s partial ownership of the Raiders would create an appearance of a conflict of interest and in the Internet age that “appearance” would be all that the conspiracy advocates would need to go berserk.  And so far – – so good.

The league has a new challenge in 2026 regarding a broadcaster.  Troy Aikman will still call Monday Night games alongside Joe Buck and in his abundant spare time he will also serve as an “informal consultant and strategic sounding board” for the Miami Dolphins.  Basically, the NFL will take the restrictions applied to Tom Brady and apply them equally to Troy Aikman; if it has worked so far, why change anything?

Aikman’s first involvement with the Dolphins was as an advisor to the owners in the hiring of a new GM and a new head coach in the last offseason.  Once that was accomplished, he stayed on as an advisor to “top decision makers” for the team.  I cannot find any specific reference to this specific point, but I wonder if Aikman was in on the decision process to release Tua Tagovailoa and eat the $100M dead cap money hanging over the head of the franchise this year.

In general, here are the restrictions on Brady and Aikman:

• They may attend production meetings virtually, but they cannot have access to practice facilities or practices.
• They may conduct interviews with coaches or players of the GM in places other than team facilities.
• They may broadcast games involving the clubs that “employ” them or that they have partial ownership in.

Frankly, those restrictions make sense to me.  If they are not allowed inside team facilities, that negates any sort of sideways glances involving “espionage”.  And in the interviews with coaches/players, if those people share “inside information”, that is on the one doing the sharing not the one doing the listening.  A former colleague used to say:

• There are no indiscreet questions; there are only indiscreet answers.

I doubt that I will detect a significant drop off in performance from Troy Aikman in the 2026 season based on these restrictions for his access.  The NFL’s schedule for MNF games is set save for a Saturday doubleheader on January 9, 2027; those matchups will be announced later.  So far, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman are not slated to broadcast a game involving the Dolphins.

Finally, this from Troy Aikman:

“Just remember that nothing is as bad as it seems and nothing is as good as it sometimes appears.”

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

I have mentioned this in passing before; so, today I plan to step up on an imaginary soap box to convince you that there is a wrong to be corrected related to professional football.  I will avoid doing this in any way related to how I think either Stephen A. Smith or Pat McAfee might make this case; I will try to maintain the focus and decorum one might expect from Sergeant Joe Friday – – just the facts, ma’am.

Here is the simple statement:

• Marty Schottenheimer is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach, and he should have been enshrined by now.

The key number that supports my assertion is “200”.  Marty Schottenheimer’s teams won 200 regular season games between 1984 and 2006.  There are only eight coaches in the history of the NFL who have won 200 or more games and they are:

1. Don Shula                  347 wins                      Hall of Fame
2. Bill Belichick               333 wins                      Soon to be in Hall of Fame
3. George Halas             324 wins                      Hall of Fame
4. Andy Reid                   284 wins                      When he retires …
5. Tom Landry                 270 wins                      Hall of Fame
6. Curley Lambeau         229 wins                       Hall of Fame
7. Paul Brown                 213 wins                       Hall of Fame
8. Marty Schottenheimer 200 wins                      Not in the Hall of Fame

As they say in those infomercials that run at 3:00AM on obscure cable channels, “But wait; there’s more …”

There are 23 more coaches already inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame whose teams won fewer than 200 games.  They are:

1. Chuck Noll                  193 wins
2. Bill Parcells                 172 wins
3. Bud Grant                   158 wins
4. Joe Gibbs                   154 wins
5. Steve Owen                153 wins
6. Bill Cowher                  149 wins
7. Marv Levy                   143 wins
8. Tony Dungy               139 wins
9. Hank Stram               131 wins
10. Weeb Ewbank           130 wins
11. Sid Gillman                 122 wins
12. Dick Vermeil                120  wins
13. George Allen              116 wins
14. Don Coryell                 111 wins
15. John Madden              103 wins
16. Tom Flores                    97 wins
17. Vince Lombardi             96 wins
18. Bill Walsh                      92 wins
19. Jimmy Conzelman        87 wins
20. Ray Flaherty                  80 wins
21. Jimmy Johnson             80 wins
22. Greasy Neale                63 wins
23. Guy Chamberlin            58 wins

The knock on Marty Schottenheimer has been that his teams underperformed in the playoffs and I am not going to gloss over that or try to deny it.  His playoff record over his career is a less than gaudy 5-13.  However, in 22 seasons of NFL coaching, his teams made it to the playoffs in 13 seasons which seems pretty good to me.  Moreover, in at least two of those playoff losses, Marty Schottenheimer was tormented by situations that were so iconic that they have names of their own:

1. The Drive – – Thank you to John Elway in 1987
2. The Fumble – – No thanks to Earnest Byner in 1988

Underperformance in playoff games has not been held against other coaches already in the Hall of Fame.

• Marv Levy lost 4 Super bowl games in 4 consecutive seasons, and he is deservedly in the Hall of Fame
• Bud Grant had a team in the Super Bowl 4 times and lost every time, and he is deservedly in the Hall of Fame.

And let me make one last point to commend Marty Schottenheimer for the Hall of Fame.  In the ignominious years when Daniel Snyder owned the Washington franchise, he employed 10 head coaches for his teams.  All but one of those 10 coaches – – including Joe Gibbs 2.0 after Gibbs was inducted into the Hall of Fame – – left with records below .500.  That one exception was Marty Schottenheimer who coached Washington for 1 season.  After losing the first five games of that season, he rallied that club to finish at 8-8; he broke even under Daniel Snyder and no one else could.

Thank you for your attention to this matter; Marty Schottenheimer’s absence from the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a wrong that needs to be made right.

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

When I am out and about in my car, I usually listen to sports radio; the late summer is often a time when the standard hosts are “on hiatus” and they have “rookies” filling in for them.  Such was the case late last week when a stand-in host came up with an imaginative way to fill a couple of 10–15-minute segments.  Here was the question for callers to answer:

• If you had the superpower of time-travel, what great moment in the history of sports would you go back and witness in person?

That is a mindless and harmless set-up for a call-in show and the host was taking calls in rapid fire.  Don Larsen’s perfect game in the World Series; Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run in the World Series; NC State’s upset over “Phi Slamma Jamma” in March Madness were among the early suggestions from callers.  One caller suggested the 1940 NFL championship game where the Bears defeated the Redskins by a score of 73-0; that did not find favor with the host here in the DC area; he didn’t call that suggestion blasphemous, but you got the idea he would like to have done so.

After a few more, someone said he would want to go back and see Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game against the Knicks in the early 1960s.  And that mention triggered a memory of a game I actually saw in person that did not have  a singular attachment to sports history but was probably the best total basketball performance I ever saw in person.  It took me several days to track down the box score for that game because my memory had me looking in the wrong month and the wrong year.  But I eventually found it and want to share today what I was lucky enough to see.

The date was December 8, 1961; I was a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania and a friend’s father had two tickets to a game between the LA Lakers and the Philadelphia Warriors.  At the last minute, the friend’s father could not make the game, so my friend asked me if I wanted to go with him.  That is how I got there.

Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain put on a show that night; here are the data:

• Baylor had 63 points and 31 rebounds in the game.
• Chamberlain had 78 points and 43 rebounds in the game.
• The Lakers won the game in Triple OT and Wilt played all 63 minutes that night.

I was in the right place at the right time and got to see that spectacle.

However, one evolving story today is an example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time for the wrong reason.  Jed York is the CEO of the San Francisco 49ers; he was arrested over the weekend and  plead no contest to misdemeanor charges that stem from a prostitution sting in East Palestine, OH.  According to reports, York responded to an online ad for “carnal services” to cost $140; he was arrested, booked, charged and with his plea he got to spend a day or two in jail and paid a fine around $1000.

Cue the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy here …  If a player or coach or referee behaved like this, you can be sure that the league would suspend and fine the individual and maybe even fire the offender if it were one of the officials.  It will be interesting to see how the league will apply the policy to an owner because suspending an owner doesn’t mean much and the chances that the league could levy a fine that was meaningful to Jed York are pretty slim.

Before anyone jumps to remind me that Robert Kraft did something very similar here and was not punished for his actions, there is a significant difference between the two incidents.

• Jed York plead no contest and was punished by the court for his actions.
• Robert Kraft was never tried; the charges were dropped when the prosectors stood down.

Jed York spent two days in jail; Robert Kraft did not.  As trivial as that “sentence” from the court may be, I suspect The Commish will need to consider it when he renders his decision.

The Niners obviously want this matter to be over and done with posthaste.  Here is the official statement by the team about this “situation” as per Adam Schefter:

“As this is a legal matter, which has been resolved, we will not be providing any further comment at this time.”

Translation:

• Can’t wait for the regular season to start so that people will be focused on the games and not this “legal matter”.

Finally, this statement from Benjamin Franklin seems a good way to close today’s rant:

“Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.”

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

It is that time of the year again – – the time where I demonstrate how indifferent I am to personal embarrassment.  I have already opined on NFL coaches on a hot seat for this year and have penned a synoptic view of the NFL as of this preseason; those expositions provide some room for me to be shown up publicly, but they pale by comparison by what is to follow here.  All I am going to try to do today is to predict the final regular season record for each and every NFL team.

• What could possibly go wrong?

In case anyone thinks the errors of my prognostications here will be buried in the passage of time, I will revisit each of the predications in January or February of 2027 and give myself academic grades for accuracy.  Those post-mortem exercises are sobering and no laughing matter.

There used to be a guy on sports radio in the DC area many years ago named Ken Beatrice.  His mantra was that he would give you his opinion and the data that informed his opinion.  He would then say that is the best that he could do because he did not have a crystal ball.  Ken Beatrice is off in the cosmos somewhere, but I mention him here because his mantra is completely appropriate for this undertaking.  Onward …

I too lack a crystal ball; in fact, even if I had one, it would probably be filled with fog.  So, let me begin with the most global prediction for the day:

• The NFC will have a total of 141 wins in 2026.
• The AFC will have a total of 131 wins in 2026.

Let me start with the AFC East where I predict a cumulative record of 29-39-0.

• Bills – 11-6-0:  The Bills will win the Division this year with a new coach and presumably an improved defense – – not a really good defense, but one that can hold a lead provided by Josh Allen and company.  Just mentioning the name Josh Allen prompts me to say that he is THE engine of any Bills’ success in 2026; he is now 30 years old, and this should be one of his peak performance seasons.
• Pats – 10-7-0:  The Pats are the only team in the Division that can challenge the Bills.  I think the Pats will fall short this year for several reasons:
  • They will have to deal with Super Bowl hangover.
  • They have a much more difficult schedule this year compared to 2025.
  • The Pats will not “sneak up” on anyone in 2026.
• Nevertheless, the Pats did add an important weapon in the offseason when they acquired AJ Brown from the Eagles and don’t sleep on the addition of Romeo Doubs as another improvement for the passing game. They may not win their Division, but I expect to see the Pats in the playoffs and to see them acquit themselves well there.
• Jets – 5-12-0:  Yes, I have the Jets finishing out of the basement in the AFC East this year.  The team traded away their two best defensive players at the trading deadline last year and “stocked up” on draft picks.  I anticipate that Aaron Glenn and his staff recognize that they are coaching for their jobs in 2026 and will have those “young studs” motivated to play hard.  Yes, I know; the Jets also cast their lot with Geno Smith at QB and that he has been an interception machine recently.  So, I think the Jets will be “better” this year which is no high hurdle for them since they finished 2025 with a record of 3-14-0.
• Dolphins – 3-14-0:  This team is under reconstruction and by releasing Tua Tagovailoa in the Spring, they will compete in 2026 with almost $100M in “dead money” on their cap calculations.   The team has a new coach and presumably a new vector heading, but the roster seems a bit thin.  De’Von Achane is a quality RB; but the QB depth chart is Malik Willis, Quinn Ewers, Cam Miller and Mark Gronkowski – – pending final cutdowns.  It will be a long season in Miami.

Let me move now to the AFC North where I predict a cumulative record of 34-34-0.

• Ravens – 11-6-0:  I see the Ravens winning the Division with Lamar Jackson shrugging off a 2025 season that was mediocre by his standards.  The Ravens have a new coach, and Jesse Minter arrives with a defensive pedigree which is the part of the game where the Ravens stumbled most in 2025.  In addition to a defensive focus on the coaching staff, the Ravens acquired Trey Hendrickson in the offseason which should help with on-field performance.  One cautionary note here; the Ravens have only two dependable WRs on the depth chart as of this morning (Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman).  The team cannot afford longstanding injuries in that department.
• Bengals – 10-7-0:  It has been a while since the Bengals invested significant resources in their defense; that showed clearly in 2025 as the Bengals gave up 28.9 points per game.  In this offseason, the Bengals acquired the services of Dexter Lawrence for the DL and Boye Mafe as an edge rusher to replace Trey Hendrickson who is with the Ravens now.  In recent  years, the Bengals have started very slowly and then had to work to dig out of the hole they put themselves in.  Hopefully, the coaching staff has figured out what they need to do to avoid such a start in 2026.
• Steelers – 8-9-0:  That’s right; for the first time in 18 seasons, the Steelers will have a record below .500.  The Steelers are not just an experienced/veteran team; the Steelers are an old team.  There is plenty of talent there but much of that talent is reputation built in previous seasons.  Mike McCarthy is a good coach – much better than the reputation he carries around – but he will need to pull multiple rabbits out of multiple hats along the way in 2026 to get the Steelers over .500 once again.
• Browns – 5-12-0:  This is the same record the Browns posted in 2025, and I have no reason to think that the team will be significantly better or worse in 2026.  Todd Monken is the new coach, and he will be the one who gets to figure out if Deshaun Watson or Shedeur Sanders gives the team the best chance to win games.  The defense will still be good even with the removal of Myles Garrett who cannot be replaced by anyone else on that roster.  Browns’ fans should start looking forward to a nice high draft pick starting around Halloween.

Next up will be the AFC South where I predict a cumulative record of 34-34-0.

• Texans – 11-6-0:  The Texans have an elite defense – one that is good enough to get them to the Super Bowl; that defense only gave up 17.3 points per game in 2025.  What the Texans also have is an unreliable offense that sometimes sputters to the point where is struggles to make double digits on the scoreboard.  The biggest weakness on offense was not CJ Stroud – even though he did regress in his performance in 2025.  The biggest weakness was the OL which had Stroud scrambling for his life too many times.
• Jags – 10-7-0:  Losing LB, Devin Lloyd, who had an All-Pro season in 2025 is going to cost the Jags’ defense.  The same goes for the loss of two DBs (Andrew Wingard and Greg Newsome).  Yes, Trevor Lawrence and the offense came to life under Liam Coen last year, but I don’t think the offense can account for all those losses on defense and hence, the record shows 3 fewer wins in 2026.
• Colts – 9-8-0:  The importance of Daniel Jones to the team was clearly on display in 2025; before he was injured, the Colts were flirting with the best record in the league; then they stumbled home with an 8-9-0 record losing their last 7 games in a row.  So, is Daniel Jones fully recovered such that he can pick up where he left off in mid-season last  year?  That is the biggest question surrounding the Colts as of now, but another puzzler is the defense up front; I am not convinced that is a stalwart unit.
• Titans – 4-13-0:  This is a team that could surprise on the upside; Cam Ward has Brian Daboll as the Offensive Coordinator and Daboll is good in that role.  So, this will be an interesting test to see if Ward really has the makings of a “franchise QB”.  If Ward disappoints, there is not much success behind him in the QB room (Mitchell Trubisky, Will Levis and Herndon Hooker).  I also expect that the Titans’ defense will be better this year than last year with Robert Saleh settling in on the sidelines; last year the Titans gave up 28.1 points per game, and the offense simply could not keep up.

Now, on to the AFC West where I predict a cumulative record of 34-34-0.

• Chargers – 10-7-0:  I think the acquisition of Mike McDonald as Offensive Coordinator will be a big deal for the Chargers.  He may have washed out as the head coach in Miami, but he has a solid résumé and an OC.  And he has a talented QB to work with in Justin Herbert this year. The “concern” this year is the same as the one last year – – the OL.  Injuries to both offensive tackles were impossible to overcome; can both guys be back and hold up in 2026?  The Chargers acquired center, Tyler Biadasz, in free agency this year and he will spend 2026 on Injured reserve.  Ladd McConkey is a solid WR; it would be very nice for another player on the roster at that position to assert themselves in 2026.
• Chiefs – 10-7-0:  They lose the Division on a tiebreaker with the Chargers but will make the playoffs.  Obviously, the key question here is the degree to which Patrick Mahomes has recovered/rehabbed from his surgery late last season.  Adding RB, Kenneth Walker III, from the Seahawks is a big plus for the team; losing Trent McDuffie in a trade that brought back draft picks will be a negative for the team in 2026.  One other question mark for the Chiefs is the production they can get from Travis Kelce; last year was far from his peak productivity so can that be reversed in 2026?
• Broncos – 9-8-0:  I realize that I am in the minority here, but I am not sold on Bo Nix.  I recognize that Sean Payton is orchestrating that offense and that he has had plenty of success with QBs whose skill sets were limited, and I know that the Broncos defense is very good.  But when I look at the schedule, I don’t see the Broncos being much better than .500.  [Aside: Be prepared to laugh at me when the Broncos go 14-3-0 and have home field advantage in the AFC playoffs …]
• Raiders – 5-12-0:  This is an improvement over 2025 of two full wins.  The team is undergoing major reconstruction, so this is the price the fans have to pay.  There is lots of hope around Fernando Mendoza and his potential upside, but the best thing that could happen to the Raiders is to play Kirk Cousins through Thanksgiving and then let Mendoza finish out the season after the team’s BYE Week in December; that would be 5 starts for the rookie after his sideline tutorial in September, October and November.  Klint Kubiak takes over as head coach, and he comes with impressive offensive cred.

 So, here is my prediction for the AFC Playoffs:

• Seed #1:  Ravens
• Seed #2:  Bills
• Seed #3:  Texans
• Seed #4:  Chargers
• Seed #5:  Chiefs
• Seed #6:  Pats
• Seed #7:  Bengals

And with that as the prelude, let me turn to the NFC and start with the NFC West where I predict a cumulative record of 35-33-0.

• Rams – 12-5-0:  In 2025, the Rams scored 30 points per game and gave up 20 points per game.  The offense is pretty much the same and they added Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie to the defense.  The reason why I don’t think their record will improve over last season’s is that they have a very difficult schedule and have 4 guaranteed difficult contests against the Seahawks and the Niners.  Last year, Matthew Stafford was questionable with a back injury; that did not debilitate him in 2025 and there seems to be no focus on that again in 2026.  Will Aaron Donald return from retirement this year to join in the fun and games?
• Seahawks – 11-6-0:  The reigning Super Bowl champs are not going to win their Division this year but are going to be a force majeure in the playoffs.  Why the 3-win dropoff for 2026?
  • Every team on their schedule will be gunning to prove that they are equally as capable as the Super Bowl champs.
  • It is unlikely that they can match last year’s points per game allowance – – 17.1 points per game.
  • The “Super Bowl Hangover” is a real thing.  Most reigning champs do not repeat.
• Losing OC, Klint Kubiak, to the Raiders as the head coach there, is unlikely to help Sam Darnold continue his miraculous in-career renaissance; if reports I have read are correct, Kubiak’s replacement, Brian Fleury has never had a season’s worth of play calling responsibility.
• Niners – 10-7-0:  I recognize that Kyle Shanahan has always found ways to plug in behind injured players and come up with winning records.  In fact, that is why I have them with a winning record here; injuries always haunt the Niners, and this season does not look as if it will buck the trend.  Can Nick Bosa and Fred Warner stay available on defense in 2026?  If so, this win estimate may be a bit low.  Injury reports out of training camp are always gut-punches to fans; Niners’ fans have become inured to injury reports.
• Cards – 2-15-0:  Yup.  This is the team that needs its college scouting department to do an outstanding job because I think the Cards will have the lead-off pick in the important Draft rounds in 2027.  The Cards finally reached an agreement with Jacoby Brisset to play QB for them in 2026.  Brisset is not a franchise QB; Brisset is a competent game-starter.  His performance is not the reason the Cards went 3-14-0 in 2025 – – but he is also not the reason the Cards are going to win a bunch of games in 2026.  Running back, Jeremiyah Love, is used to running behind dominant offensive lines at Notre Dame; he Is in for a shock with the group in front of him this year.
  • Memo for Cards’ fans:  Watch lots of college football games to convince yourselves that salvation for the Cards is just a couple of proper picks away.

Off we go to the NFC South where I have the cumulative division record at 32-36-0.

• Bucs – 9-8-0:  I have the Bucs returning to the top of this division after posting a losing record (8-9-0) in 2025 and losing the tiebreaker to the Panthers for the Division title.  I know that Baker Mayfield is the Bucs’ QB; even so, I still believe the Bucs have the best starting QB in that Division.  Here is a “franchise-level question”:
  • IF Todd Bowles and his team win the Division with a 9-8-0 record for the fourth time in five years and then go “one-and-done” in the playoffs, will that be enough to keep the team together through the next offseason?
• Saints – 8-9-0:  The Saints rallied from a horrendous start to the season to finish at 6-11-0 last year.  I don’t see them as a threat to any of the top contenders in the conference, but they could well post an improved record in 2026.  Losing their first-round pick to an injury in Training Camp was not positive news for a franchise seeking to elevate.
• Panthers – 8-9-0:  I vacillated on this one a lot; in one of my record considerations, I had the Panthers at 4-13-0 with the franchise undergoing a catastrophic collapse under a mercurial owner.  8-9-0 is the same record the Panthers achieved in 2025 when they won the Division and went to the playoffs for a cameo appearance.  Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan can provide some offensive firepower, but will it be enough?  The  Panthers were in the playoffs in 2025 even though they gave up 69 points more than they scored in the regular season.  I don’t see that happening again…
• Falcons – 7-10-0:  Harnessing your team to either Michael Penix, Jr. or Tua Tagovailoa is pretty much like choosing between Scylla and Charybdis – – if you will allow me a reference to The Odyssey here.
  • Penix is often injured and not overly accurate when he is in the game.
  • Tagovailoa is often injured and “erratic at best” from game to game.
• The Falcons have an elite RB and a couple of top-shelf pass catchers, but until and unless someone asserts himself at QB, they will be wandering in the wilderness.  If the Falcons were in a more dominant division, I would not have them anywhere near 7 wins for the season.

Next up is the NFC North – – the strongest division in the NFL for this year – – where I predict the cumulative record to be 40-28-0.

• Lions – 11-6-0:  I have the Lions winning the Division.  The offense will be top-shelf, and I think the defense can show better than in 2025 when injuries played a big part in the season results.  FYI, the Lions finished last in the Division last season and by finishing last in the División they draw an easier schedule this year than their Division rivals.  Check this out:
  • Lions – Division Losers in 2025 – play the Cards, Giants and Titans as their differentiated schedule from the rest of the Division.
  • Bears – Division Winners in 2025 – play the Eagles, Jags and Seahawks as their differentiated schedule from the rest of the Division.
• Losing David Montgomery to the Texans is a big deal, but the Lions hope to share snaps at RB between Jahmyr Gibbs and Isiah Pacheco this year.
• Bears – 10-7-0:  The Bears surprised just about everyone last year posting a record of 11-6-0 and winning the Division by a game-and-a-half.  There is no element of “surprise” left for the Bears and the schedule is not an easy one by any means (see above).  I believe that Ben Johnson’s offense will give major amounts of agita to defensive coordinators around the league and it would not be a huge surprise to see the defense improve just a bit.
• Packers – 10-7-0:  Put the Packers in third place in the Division based on tiebreakers.  The major question overhanging the Packers this season is really two questions:
  • How long until Micah Parsons can return to action?
  •  How long until Micah Parsons can return to action and play like Micah Parsons 1.0?
• Vikes – 9-8-0:  This prognostication could easily be off by 4 wins in either direction.  Kevin O’Connell might just resurrect the career of Kyler Murray the way he did for Sam Darnold, and the Vikes just might win 13 or 14 games.  On the other hand, Murray may be a certified mediocrity at QB and JJ McCarthy is no better and the Vikes in this tough division might finish with only about 5 wins.  The only prediction I feel comfortable about related to the Vikes is that Brian Flores’ defense will be efficient and effective and they will blitz a lot.

Last but not least, here is the NFC East where I see a cumulative record of 34-34-0.

• Eagles – 10-7-0:  Yes, I have the Eagles wining the Division again in 2026, but rest assured that this is the most tenuous division winner in this entire set of predictions.  I will defer to many reporters who say that Sean Mannion is the next offensive wunderkind in the NFL even though he has never had the responsibility for calling plays.  I will assume that Jalen Hurts can adapt to yet one more new OC this season.  I will assume the OL will open more holes for Saquon Barkley this year than they did against stacked defenses in 2025.  And most of all, I will assume that with Devonta Smith taking over “WR #1 duties” that someone else on the roster will become a better-than-average “WR #2”.  Other than those minor worries, I have the Eagles winning the Division and making the playoffs in 2026.
• Cowboys – 9-8-0:  Here is another tricky one.  The Cowboys’ offense is elite and should be able to score even more than the 27.7 points per game from last  year.  So, can the defense hold up its end of the bargain?  In 2025, the Cowboys’ defense was embarrassing; they don’t need to be “historically great” in 2026 to make the Cowboys serious opponents week to week, but they have to be better than they were last season when they gave up 30 points per game.
• Commanders – 8-9-0:  Jayden Daniels’ multiple injuries derailed the Commanders’ season in 2025 leading to this year’s question:
  • Is Daniels back to his 2024 form or has the elapsed time allowed defensive coordinators to devise ways to make him less explosive?
  • Of course, the secondary question there is can Daniels avoid more injuries this year; he was of injury concern coming out of college and has had a full year of injury history in his young NFL career.
• The Commanders revamped their defense entirely over this offseason and that is a good thing because that defense stunk in spades last season.  One interesting thing to watch on defense is that a rookie – – Sonny Styles – – is being called on as the play-caller on defense in his first year.  He is replacing future Hall of Famer, Bobby Wagner, in that role and even though Wagner had lost a step or two in 2025, he was always near the ball if not on the ball.  Can Sonny Styles equal that as a rookie?
• Giants – 7-10-0:  The biggest positive change for the Giants in 2026 is that with John Harbaugh on the sidelines, the team is under adult supervision.  The last time I could confidently say that was in 2015 when Tom Coughlin was the Giants’ head coach.  I like Jaxon Dart; I like the Giants’ front seven on defense; I like the Giants’ OL.  This is a team on the rise with more than a handful of very good young players.

So, here is my playoff seeding in the NFC:

• Seed #1:  Rams
• Seed #2:  Lions
• Seed #3:  Eagles
• Seed #4:  Bucs
• Seed #5:  Seahawks
• Seed #6:  Bears
• Seed #7:  Niners

And before I sign off today, here are my thoughts on which team will go “worst to first” in their divisions this year:

• Cards:  Last in 2025 and will be last again in 2026
• *Saints:  Last in 2025 but could win a bleak division here in 2026
• *Lions:  Last in 2025 and I have picked them to win the NFC North this year
• Giants:  Last in 2025; they will be better in 2026 but not that much better
• Jets:  Last in 2025; they will improve in 2026 but nowhere near the division champs.
• Browns:  Last in 2025 and last again in 2026
• Titans:  Last in 2025; they should improve a little but not nearly enough in 2026
• Raiders:  Last in 2025 and last again in 2026.

And one last thing to look for this year is a team that won their division in 2025 who might finish last in that division in 2026 – – the “first to worst” horror show:

• Seahawks:  No way they finish below the Cards
• *Panthers:  Prime candidates for this ignominy
• *Bears:  The Division is so tough that this could happen
• Eagles:  They may take a step back in 2026 but not so far as to trail the Giants
• Pats:  They are safe given the presence of the Jets and Dolphins in the Division
• Steelers:  Could take a step back but enough to finish below the Browns?
• Jags:  Not happening in 2026 with the Titans in the same Division
• Broncos:  Will not finish below the Raiders.

            Finally, since embarrassing myself is such a large part of this offering, let me close with a few notes on embarrassment:

“For my first show at ‘SNL’, I wrote a Bill Clinton sketch, and during our read-through, it wasn’t getting any laughs. This weight of embarrassment came over me, and I felt like I was sweating from my spine out. But I realized, ‘Okay, that happened, and I did not die.’ You’ve got to experience failure to understand that you can survive it.”  [Tina Fey]

And …

“Embarrassment is where growth happens.”  [Jaylen Brown]

And …

“The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the embarrassment he can tolerate.” [Douglas Engelbart]

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

There have been reports this week that the Seattle Seahawks have signed/are in the process of signing “free agent” Terrion Arnold.  I put quotation marks there because Terrion Arnold is facing criminal charges such that if convicted, he might be spending life in prison.  That could change the meaning of “free” in the sentence above.  Let me do a reset here:

• Terrion Arnold is a highly regarded CB from Alabama; he was a first-round pick by the Detroit Lions in 2024.
• Arnold was arrested and charged with eight felony counts including kidnapping and robbery in June of this year.
• The Lions released him soon after the arrest.  Dan Campbell said Arnold was a “cool dude” and was sorry that the Lions had to do what they did.
• A judge released Arnold on $1M bail and allowed him to visit other NFL teams for workouts.
• Character witnesses including Nick Saban who coached Arnold at Alabama say he is a model citizen, and he carried a 3.8 GPA in high school.  Arnold’s attorney – naturally – says there is no evidence that Arnold is guilty of these charges.

There is no serious question about Terrion Arnold’s ability to play in the NFL; there are serious questions about his availability to play in the NFL over and above the charges pending in court; the NFL has yet to weigh in with any action related to putting Arnold on the “Commissioner’s Exempt List” which means a player can be signed by a team but cannot practice or play for that team until whatever landed him on that list is sufficiently resolved to convince The Commish to remove him from the list.  This situation bears watching not only because of the extraordinary charges in the case but also because several NFL teams have shown interest in signing him despite the charges and the potential suspension.  Stay tuned …

Moving on …  The CFL season is half over; the East Division is a runaway; the West Division is tightly contested.  In the East, the Montreal Alouettes are 9-1-0 and their nearest rival would be Toronto Argonauts at 4-5-0.  At the bottom of the East are the Ottawa Redblacks who are winless at 0-10-0.

The West is much more tightly bunched.  The Edmonton Elks lead the West at 7-3-0 while the fifth-place – – last place – – Calgary Stampeders are 4-6-0.  I will be paying a lot more attention to those western teams from here until Halloween when the CFL playoffs begin.

Switching gears … NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was speaking with some folks in Germany, and he said he was certain there would be NFL teams (plural) in international cities one of these days.  In 2026, the NFL will have 9 regular season games in 6 different countries and usually NFL games draw significant attendance in overseas venues.  So where might they be?

• London has hosted more NFL regular season games than any other international city and has two stadium venues that have hosted NFL games.
• Munich and/or Frankfurt in Germany have hosted successful NFL games in the past.
• Mexico City has the advantage of being in the same time zone as other NFL teams mitigating some of the travel scheduling quirks for teams playing in international games.
• I do not think any Canadian cities would be strong candidates because the NFL has 4 teams up against the Canadian border (Seahawks, Vikes, Lions and Bills) and the Canadian cities in the “gaps” between those existing teams seem smaller than optimal for a new NFL franchise.

Next up …  ESPN is going to add Pat McAfee to the cast of Monday Night Countdown.  I am not a Pat McAfee fan; I think his bombast is overdone and is distracting from what is the purpose of a “countdown show”.  But McAfee draws a loyal audience and that is more important to ESPN than content.  There is also a rumor that ESPN will try a Pat McAfee version of the Manningcast on those weeks where the Manning brothers are off doing other things.  For now, there are supposed to be 10 Manningcasts meaning there are at least a half-dozen open weeks for the “McAfee-fests”.  Given his daily show on ESPN and his time on College Game Day, the addition of him to “countdown” and potentially to have him do an alternate telecast of MNF, will certainly have me in an overload situation.

Finally, this from George Burns:

“When I was a boy, the Dead Sea was  only sick.”

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

The WNBA finds itself in the middle of a societal scuffle over trans athletes and their rights.  This is a self-inflicted wound; the league did not have to chime in; but it has.  Now with former NBA males saying they will declare for the WNBA Draft if all they have to do is proclaim their womanhood, the league is conferring to see what to do next.  That “conferring” has been ongoing for a week or more.

My position here is unchanged.  Post-pubescent males are on average much bigger, stronger and faster than post-pubescent women; to allow most post-pubescent women to stand a chance in competitive sports involving strength and speed, society has created “women’s leagues” in baseball, football, basketball, soccer and ice hockey.  That the women’s leagues would be severely damaged if transgendered males were allowed to play seems as self-evident to me as were the truths that Thomas Jefferson identified in the Declaration of Independence.

And as the WNBA continues to discuss and debate its future position(s) here, the league has become a laughingstock on social media.  Someone who identifies himself as “@matteubanksonline” posted something that sums up where the WNBA is about now:

“The WNBA:  Women, running a women’s only sports league, are meeting with other women to make a decision on what a woman is, so that they can then decide whether to let fake women compete in a league specifically created for women.”

There is no need for pejorative or stigmatizing language there; so, other than the words “fake women”, I think that posting sums up the situation very well.  Bonne chance to the league officials and other conferees in coming up with something that will appease everyone in this matter so that the league can get on with doing its primary function – – entertaining an audience.

Moving on …  Back in 2017, Charles Oakley was “escorted out” of Madison Square Garden allegedly at the instruction of Knicks’ owner James Dolan and Oakley filed a suit against Madison Square Garden and Dolan over the matter.  The charges against James Dolan were dismissed by a judge in 2020, but the action against MSG continued until earlier this week when a judge issued a summary judgement and said the case was over.  Not so, say Oakley’s attorneys who will appeal that judgment and seek an “immediate jury trial”.

This matter has been “backing and forthing” for nine years now; how could either side assert the need for anything labeled as “immediate”?  Oakley claims he was assaulted by the security guards that escorted him out of the venue back then and he was barred from entering the Garden for a short time at the instruction of James Dolan.  That ban on his entering the Garden was reversed in 2017, but Oakley has chosen not to attend Knicks’ games ever since because he demands an apology from Dolan.

Frankly, this sounds like a schoolyard clash of personalities carried out by two chronological adults and not by two teenagers…

Finally, author Margo Jefferson provides a fitting epilogue to today’s topics:

“We Americans are childish about our celebrities and icons. We worship, then we denounce; we identify passionately with them and then, if they do something – anything – we dislike, we cast them off.”

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

There have been many temptresses – real and imaginary – over time including:

• Cleopatra
• The Sirens
• Madame du Barry
• Theda Bara

Well, the NFL and the NBA might be vying for a place on lists such as the one above when you look at their schedules.  Christmas Day is a “family day”; kids get presents; adults come together in celebration often from remote locales; Christmas dinner is an event.  Well, the NFL and the NBA are hellbent to tempt people this year to abandon the traditional family aspects of Christmas and to plop themselves down in front of their TV sets with fresh batteries in their remotes.  Here is what they have planned; times are Eastern Time:

• Noon … NBA … Spurs/Knicks
• 1:00 PM … NFL … Packers/Bears
• 2:30 PM  … NBA … Heat/Celtics
• 4:30 PM … NFL … Bills/Broncos
• 5:00 PM … NBA … Sixers/Lakers
• 8:00 PM … NBA … Thunder/T-Wolves
• 8:15 PM … NFL … Rams/Seahawks
• 10:30 PM … NBA … Nuggets/Warriors

Or, if you prefer, you can watch the 627^th rerun of Miracle on 34^th Street … it’s your choice.

And speaking of sports on TV, let me go back to the Tony Romo arrest and his subsequent “indefinite suspension” by CBS.  Previously, CBS announced that JJ Watt would move up from the #2 announcing team to join Jim Nantz as the color analyst in the “top slot”.  This week, they announced that Ross Tucker would replace JJ Watt on the #2 announcing team paired with Ian Eagle.  Neither of those two assignments were portrayed as temporary or as a “fill-in”.

From the time of Romo’s arrest, there were people speculating that CBS would use the arrest as a way to separate from Tony Romo because he has a huge contract ($18M per year according to reports) and because his favorability had been declining in recent years.  After this week’s announcement regarding Ross Tucker, I am now inclined to agree with those who think Tony Romo’s days at CBS are numbered.  Obviously, the parties here will keep any employment decisions separate from the adjudication of the charges arising from that arrest; but here is my guess as to what is going on now – – based on gut feel alone and zero direct information:

• I think the CBS lawyers are pointing to a clause in the contract that says it can be terminated if the talent commits a crime or withholds services or brings ill-repute upon the network.  [Aside: I don’t KNOW there is such a clause, but it seems to me there must be something like that in all such contracts.]
• Romo’s lawyers are saying that his actions are not criminal offenses in Wisconsin and that he faces no jail time and is at the ready to show up at work and do his thing.  Ergo, if CBS wants to separate him, they can cough up the $18M per year for the four years left on Tony Romo’s contract – a cool $72M.

The parties will threaten and cajole; it will be analogous to Kabuki Theater – – minus the musical accompaniment and the kumadori makeup that are key elements of Kabuki.  CBS wants to pay Romo nothing; just have him go away.  Romo – through his lawyers – wants the $72M that has not been paid to him yet on the contract he signed.

I think the parties here will agree on a payment somewhere between zero and $72M and once that agreement is in place, all other issues will magically disappear, and the parties will sign a non-disclosure agreement and fade to black.

That is what my crystal ball says today; we do know, however, that my crystal ball is often foggy; so, we shall see.

Finally, since I mentioned Christmas Day above, let me close with this thought from humorist, Andy Borowitz:

“Christmas sweaters are only acceptable as a cry for help.”

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

Don Nelson died last weekend.  Most basketball fans recall him for his highly successful coaching career in the NBA; his teams won over 1300 games, and he was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a coach.  Some of  us are old enough to recall that he also had an 11-year career as an NBA player in the 1960s and 70s and was on five of the Celtics’ championship teams of that era.

Rest in peace, Don Nelson.

Sticking with basketball for a moment, the WNBA needs to find its way out of a sticky situation of its own making.  In its attempts to welcome all flavors of fans and participants, the league has become embroiled in the controversy of “trans women playing in women’s sports”.  As I have argued before, allowing post-pubescent males who have transitioned to female status to compete against women in sports that involve strength and speed is to put ciswomen at a disadvantage.  What makes this issue dicey is that some folks believe that a simple declaration by a male that he sees himself as a woman and wants to project himself as a woman is sufficient for him to “qualify” as a woman.

Well, two former NBA players have said they are going to declare for the WNBA Draft next year and assert their womanhood as the basis for them being drafted.  Their NBA days are well in the past, but they are larger than WNBA  players (6’8” – 6’10”) and about 260 lbs.  Ignoring any ideas about dominating play in WNBA games, their size and strength would raise the possibility of injury to women players significantly; these men are double the weight of some WNBA players.

The league is holding meetings and consultations to decide what it should do.  I think the end result ought to recognize the physical realities of men’s basketball and women’s basketball as the same sport but different games.  The CBA under which the WNBA exists states that the league is for women; what the league now needs to do is to define what it believes a woman is and that plays against a backdrop of high emotion when considering the issue.

Given that the league has not been able to make it clear that intentional fouling and dangerous fouling during games is inappropriate behavior – – something that is ingrained in men’s basketball at multiple levels – – this decision making must be causing mass agita among the league’s movers and shakers.

And one more item today about basketball …  The LA Lakers have been sold.  Yes, you remember correctly, it was only a year ago that the Buss family sold a majority stake in the Lakers to Mark Walter for $10B.  Well, Walter has now decided to sell that stake to a group led by Bob Iger (former CEO of Disney) and Joshua Kushner (Jared’s brother), and the sale price now values the Lakers at $12.5B.  That is a tidy 25% capital gain in just over a  year for Mr. Walter.

According to reports, this deal came together over a weekend of negotiation; there was no “auction bidding” to drive up the price.  Some folks believe that a Federal investigation into some of Mark Walter’s other financial dealings may have been a motivation for his selling his stake in the Lakers; only time will reveal if those speculations have any basis in reality.  And of course, the NBA governors – – not owners, please – – will have to approve the sale.

This purchase by Iger and Kushner might have a small deleterious effect on the NBA expansion franchise expected to be in Las Vegas because Iger and Kushner were reported to be seriously involved in the planning for that team.  There are some deep pockets involved in the pursuit of that new franchise and some “blue ribbon” individuals.  An heiress to the Walton money is supposedly involved and another group is fronted by Magic Johnson.  And there are at least a couple of other potential bidders.  About a month ago, I read a report saying that the two new franchises in the NBA would cost $7B to $9B; with the Lakers going for $12.5B, I suspect the expansion cost just went up.

Obviously, I don’t have tens of billions of dollars lying around doing nothing important; but if I did, I am not sure I would be looking to buy into the NBA as opposed to taking a piece of an NFL team or a club in the English Premier League.  Having said that, the investment in the Lakers just a year ago turned into a tidy profit for Mark Walter – – so what do I know?

I mentioned Bob Iger as the Disney CEO above; Disney owns ABC and ESPN and ESPN has continued its purge of on-air talent this week.  Yesterday, Damien Woody was let go by the network after 15 years there.  One report said that Woody’s contract was worth “almost 7 figures” and if that is accurate it seems as if ESPN is trimming pretty close to the bone here.    I liked Damien Woody when he appeared on Get Up!; I thought that his comments and contributions were always measured and thoughtful.  If this separation had happened a year ago, I would have suggested that Woody could find a home at NFL Network; but today, ESPN owns NFL Network so that seems an unlikely landing spot for Woody.  Nonetheless, I hope to see him on the air again somewhere down the road.

Finally, this anecdote from Jim Valvano:

“I asked a ref if he could give me a technical foul for thinking bad things about him. He said, of course not. I said, well, I think you stink. And he gave me a technical. You can’t trust em.“

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