The Sports Curmudgeon

Congratulations to the Spanish National Team; they have won the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and they did so in dominating fashion.  As noted in a prior rant, the Spaniards play a swarming and suffocating defense that gives them control of the ball and the game; at the time when the teams regrouped for Extra Time, the Spanish had taken 15 shots on goal, and the Argentinians had taken zero.  The Spanish goalkeeper could have filed for unemployment benefits at that point.

That Spanish goalkeeper and the Spanish defenders played 7 matches; ignoring Extra Time and Stoppage Time, the team played 630 minutes of soccer or 10.5 hours.  In that time, the Spanish team gave up exactly one goal.  You cannot lose a game if you don’t give up any goals…

Some folks were sentimentally rooting for Argentina so that Lionel Messi might end his World Cup career with another trophy; indeed, it would have been a good storyline.  However, if anyone is looking for a feelgood storyline from this year’s tournament, look no further than the team from Cabo Verde.  The estimated population of the islands that comprise Cabo Verde in 2026 is 560,000; that is not a huge base from which to draw talent, but their national team made it to the World Cup tournament for the first time ever in 2026.  Then, Cabo Verde made it to the Knockout Round in its first tournament ever.  Moreover:

• Cabo Verde played Argentina (Finalist) in the Knockout Round and lost 2-1
• Cabo Verde played Spain (Champion) in the Group Stage to a scoreless draw

There is the “Cinderella Story” emanating from this year’s tournament.

Looking back on the showing by the US team, they started well and inflated expectations.  For the first time, the US looked like an offensively capable team in this year’s competition; as is often the case, lots of folks willingly put on rose-colored glasses and imagined the possibility of the USMNT making it to the Finals.  Heck, even in the Group Stage loss to Turkey when the US rested many starters, the team scored 2 goals…

That all came to an end in the Round of 16 when Belgium won 4-1 and completely outplayed the US team.  Watching the Final game yesterday, it hit me that players on both teams seemed to know what they were going to do with the ball before it arrived at their feet or at their chest; the American team seemed to “capture the ball” and then figure out what to do with it next in its games.  And that momentary delay might explain how the US might dominate a game against Bosnia/Hercegovina or Australia, but why they do not measure up to competent European or South American teams.  And if my thinking is correct here, the solution to the problem probably lies in a total restructuring of Youth Soccer in the US.  And that leads to the question:

• Did the US sports audience fall in love with soccer during this tournament to the point that the relationship will last and carry through the 4  years until the next World Cup tournament?

If, indeed, this was a watershed moment regarding the interest in and the popularity of soccer in the US, perhaps there will be momentum to change the way soccer players are “grown” here in the US.  Many among the “soccer-faithful” think that this year was a turning point for soccer in the US.  If they are right, I expect someone will propose a sweeping overhaul of the “development process” for players here and that there will be momentum behind those proposals.

We shall see …

In “Breaking News” this morning, Michigan AD, Wade Manuel will step down from that role at the end of this calendar year.  Michigan spent $12M on an investigation of the Athletic Department and the various scandals perpetrating from there and now they have chosen to keep those findings “in camera” and offer only generalizations such as “failures to quickly and effectively act on allegations of wrongdoing by Athletic Department employees.”

Call me a cynic, but the idea that he will “step down in 5 months” says to me that the school does not have a “smoking gun” to fire him for cause immediately but that they have negotiated a palatable end point for this embarrassing situation by letting him stay on for a while and then to – seemingly – leave the job in a mutual parting of the ways.

Finally, an observation by Mike Ditka:

“If God had wanted man to play soccer, he wouldn’t have given us arms.”

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

 

 

NFL Training Camps are about to begin.  Coaches will begin to assess how their rookies and practice squad members from last season might assume a more regular/productive role for the team in 2026.  And while that process gets underway, it seems to me that there is another set of considerations in front of coaches and GMs around the league:

• There are veteran players who are still unsigned who can still be positive contributors in 2026.  So, how do they factor into roster building around the league?

I am sure this is not an exhaustive list, but I believe the following defensive ends/edge rushers are still available to any team that can sign them:

• Joey Bosa:  He has had “injury issues”  in the past and is unlikely to be able to play as a starter, but he can rush the passer in passing situations.  Last year, he cost the Bills $12M; he appeared in 15 games in 2025; he led the league in “forced fumbles”; he had 5 sacks and 9 tackles for a loss.
• Jadeveon Clowney:  He played for $3.45M last year – and was a bargain at that price.  In 13 games last year, he recorded 8.5 sacks, 10 QB Hits and 12 tackles for a loss.
• Leonard Floyd:  His contract in 2025 was worth $10M.  He appeared in 15 games and recorded 3.5 sacks, 5 tackles for a loss and 11 QB Hits.
• Von Miller:  His contract in 2025 was for $6.1M.  Miller is 37 years old but has said he wants to play again in 2026.  He appeared in 17 games for the Commanders last year and produced 9 sacks, 6 tackles for a loss and 15 QB Hits.

            None of those four players are foundation pieces for a team anymore; they are long in the tooth but can still do what they were originally drafted to do in the NFL – – pressure the QB.  I will be surprised if they go unsigned for the 2026 season.  Just as an example of teams that might kick the tires on these defenders, consider two rivals in the NFC Central.  The Lions can use an edge rusher to pair with Aiden Hutchihnson while the Packers can use an edge rusher because they really don’t have to top-shelf player at that position.

There is another cadre of unsigned veteran players who could become valuable contributors to teams in 2026.  Consider this group of experienced WRs:

• Brandon Aiyuk:  At the moment, he is probably the biggest diva among NFL players – – and that is saying something.  Technically, he is not a free agent, but the Niners say they do not want him and Aiyuk said he will never play again for the Niners – – so he is a “free-agent-in-waiting”.  He did not play in 2025 and had a serious knee injury in 2024; but when healthy he was a serious offensive weapon for the Niners.  His contract for 2026 is only for $13.7M but it then balloons to over $40M for both 2027 and 2028.  He is only 28 years old; and if that injury is healed and rehabbed …
• Stefon Diggs:  He is 32 years old, so a long-term contract might not be prudent; but in 2025, Diggs had 85 receptions for over 1000 yards and he has been a reliable target for most of his 11-year career.  He has had more than 1000 yards receiving in 7 of those seasons.
• Tyreek Hill:  If Brandon Aiyuk is not the biggest diva among NFL players, then Tyreek Hill might just be the one.  Like Stefon Diggs he is 32  years old, but Hill is coming off major knee surgery that limited him to only 4 games in 2025.  Nonetheless, his speed – – presuming it is as it was pre-injury – – is something that cannot be taught and is something that has to be accounted for by defensive coordinators.
  Deebo Samuel:  He is not your typical/prototype WR, but he can be an offensive contributor at that position as well as a threat to run the football.  He had 72 receptions last season in 16 games and averaged more than 10  yards per catch.  Samuel is only 30  years old.

            I just don’t see a scenario where these eight veteran free agents go unsigned for the 2026 season; it will be interesting to see which team lands which player and when that happens.

Finally, I’ll close here with this remark from Sir Winston Churchill:

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

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

 

 

You can learn a lot by listening to sports radio – – and sometimes you wonder if you need to know what you just learned.  Here in the DC area, fans are suddenly not only interested in the Washington Wizards, some fans have them in the NBA Finals next year.  The spark for that surge of optimism – – or fantasy if you prefer – – is the Wizards’ good fortune to have acquired the overall #1 pick in the NBA Draft where they took AJ Dybantsa out of BYU.

I like AJ Dybantsa; I would have taken him with that overall #1 pick; he would be a positive addition to any team in the NBA.  Nevertheless, he still has more than a bit to show before he might be anointed as a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee and a multiple time NBA champion.  Not so in the minds of some callers to sports radio in Washington…

Their euphoria was taken to an even higher plane of existence when Dybantsa scored 28 points in his first game in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.  [Aside:  He was playing against other draftees and various G-League players there; you should expect him as the overall #1 pick to play well against that competition.]  That performance proved conclusively to the local fans that he will lead the Wizards to glory starting today and that he is the best thing to happen to “Washington Sports” since the retirement of St. Joseph of Gibbs.  Then came Game 2 of the NBA Summer League – – and AJ Dybantsa sat out the game…

Not to worry proclaimed the callers; that decision was part of a long-term strategy by the team to assure Dybantsa’s health and fitness; why risk injury in a meaningless game?  As soon as I heard that “take” on the decision to sit out the game, I learned that AJ Dybantsa has achieved “sports sainthood” among the fandom of the DC area; anything and everything he does can only be seen in a gloriously radiant light.  The heresy of all heresies would be to suggest that in missing Game 2 of the Summer League, Dybantsa was acclimating to the habits of NBA players who exercise load management and sit out games randomly and frequently.  But that is what curmudgeons do for a living …

Moving on …  A former colleague sent me a note alerting me to the fact that Warren Spahn won 363 games in his 21-year career in MLB and also had exactly 363 base hits in all those games.  That coincidence was sufficient to send me to baseball-reference.com to see if there was anything else that might stand out.  Here is what you might find if you peruse Spahn’s stats:

• He pitched in 21 seasons in MLB which is unusual to begin with.  Also, consider that he spent three years in the military in World War II and missed all the 1943-1945 seasons.
• For 19 consecutive seasons between 1947 and 1965, he started more than 30 games in each season.
• For 17 seasons between 1947 and 1963, he threw 245 innings or more in each season.
• Of his 363 wins over the course of his MLB career, he won 277 of those games after he was 30 years old.
• He started 665 games and completed 382 games.

They don’t make pitchers like Warren Spahn these days.

Switching gears …  The World Cup Finals are set; Argentina will play Spain for the championship next week.  As has been the case in several previous games, Argentina was behind on the scoreboard late in the game.  England led 1-0 with the clock running at 84 minutes until Argentina scored to tie the game.  Then in stoppage time – – about 7 minutes later – – Argentina scored again to pull out the win.  Argentina remains alive in its quest to win two consecutive FIFA World Cup championships.

Lionel Messi did not score in the game – – but he managed to assist both of Argentina’s goals that led to victory.  It will be interesting to see Messi and the Argentinians’ attack against the smothering Spanish defenders next week.

Finally, here is an interesting thought from Woody Allen:

“I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

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

 

 

They say that defense wins championships.  Well, Spain demonstrated why that just may be the case in this year’s FIFA World Cup.  Spain shut out France 2-0 in the game; and obviously, a team cannot lose a game if the ball never goes into their net.  However, there is more than that.  I would need to see a replay of the game to be certain of this next statement:

• I don’t think the Spanish goalkeeper needed to make a save that was even marginally difficult in the entire game.

The Spanish defense was a combination of swarming and smothering; the French team had plenty of time with the ball seeking to attack and get meaningful shots at the goal, but the attacks were rebuffed and all the attempted shots by the French were meager at best.  This defensive showing by the Spanish team is not unusual; so far in this year’s World Cup tournament:

• Spain has played 7 games and won them all.
• Spain has yielded only 1 goal in those 7 games (to Belgium last week)

Switching gears …  It appears that the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks will be sold for the record price of $9.61B pending the approval of the 32 NFL owners.  The purchasing group is fronted by Vinod Khosla who comes by his estimated worth of about $14B (according to Forbes) as one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems.  [Aside:  Sun Microsystems was acquired by Oracle about 15 years ago for $4.5B.]

The seller in this transaction is the estate of Paul Allen – – a co-founder of Microsoft.  In Paul Allen’s will, he specified that the Seahawks – – and the Portland Trailblazers of the NBA which he also owned – – would be sold and that almost all of the money generated from those sales would go to charities specified in his will and would be distributed to those charities by the Paul G. Allen Foundation.

Vinod Khosla is currently a minority owner of the San Francisco 49ers; obviously, one of the conditions for having this sale approved by the league owners is that he will divest himself of that ownership stake in the Niners.  I don’t know how one might go about seeking a buyer for such an asset; but somehow, I suspect that will be a minor hurdle to cross for M. Khosla.

The fact that the Seahawks are the reigning Super Bowl Champions obviously did not deflate the total amount of this transaction.  The sale price of $9.61B is not only a record price for an NFL franchise; it also represents a 59% increase over the previous high-water mark for an NFL franchise sale set by the Washington Commanders just two years ago at $6.05B.

Paul Allen acquired the Seahawks’ franchise in 1997 for $194M, which seems like  pittance today.  However, there was some intrigue associated with Allen’s purchase of the team.  The owner at the time was not from Seattle and wanted to transplant the team to Anaheim; one of his “problems” with Seattle had been the lack of a new stadium there; the Kingdome had gone past its sell-by date.

Paul Allen made one TV ad about his purchase intentions.  Two weeks before a referendum that would authorize a new stadium, he told the folks in Seattle, WA that he would buy the team and keep it in Seattle if and only if they voted to build the new stadium.  That was it; no fanfare and no hype; just a simple statement of the conditions underpinning his purchase decision.  Here is his “message” to the folks in Seattle:

“When I said yes to help save the Seahawks, I meant that I’d do my part in building something for the future, personally and financially. If you vote yes, I’ll do what it takes to make the new stadium and exhibition center a success. I stand by that commitment.

“But if you say no, that means no for me too, because I’m not going to do this without you. When I said that you’ll have the final say, I meant it. Together, we can leave something for future generations.”

Here is a link to an article from the Seattle Times back in 2013 that will give you the details and the maneuverings involved in Allen’s purchase of the team and its continued residence in Seattle.  I commend it to  your reading.

Finally, since much of today’s rant has been about large sums of money, I’ll close with this from J. Paul Getty who had a few bucks of his own:

“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.”

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I find the fifth coach on the list interesting:

• #5 is Dan Lanning

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

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

• Lane Kiffin is on the list at #7

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, here is an observation from George Burns:

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

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