The Sports Curmudgeon

NFL teams have reported to their Training Camps; just as a robin redbreast is seen as a harbinger of Spring, NFL Training Camps are a sign that football season is imminent.  So, let me spend some time today dealing with some football issues other than on field accomplishments/failures.

Reports say that the NFL and the NFLPA are having “serious discussions” related to expanding the schedule from 17 games to 18 games.  Just a few years ago when the schedule expanded from 16 games to 17 games, the vote by the union members to adopt the rule was by a razor-thin margin; many players said that the wear and tear on their bodies by adding a game to the regular season schedule would have deleterious effects when their playing days were over.

At the time, more players voted for expansion than against it probably looking at the expanded TV revenue that would come to the league and therefore would be added to the annual salary cap figures for the 32 teams.  I suspect there will be a similar balancing act in the minds of the players this time around.

The motivation for the owners to seek expansion is the same now as it was before; more games to offer to the various presentation platforms equates to more revenue flowing into the league and half of that added revenue (approximately) goes directly into the pockets of the owners.

So, how to accommodate differing perspectives here:

• If you add an 18^th game, get rid of one of the Exhibition Games.  That addresses the scheduling issues facing teams but not necessarily the “wear-and-tear” issue because most of the players who will make the various teams and play significant numbers of snaps in the regular season only make cameo appearances in Exhibition Games if the play in them at all.
• If you add an 18^th game, give each team 2 BYE Weeks during the regular season.  That would tend to stretch the complete NFL schedule and if there is a need to restrain it to the length that exists now, eliminate the “dead week” between the Conference Championship Games and the Super Bowl.  Otherwise, just start a week earlier than at present or kick the Super Bowl game one week later into February.
• In fact, if you add an 18^th game, I would be happy to see any or all of those accommodations above instituted by the league.

According to reports, when the NFLPA members ratified the expansion of the schedule from 16 games to 17 games, the owners agreed to increase the percentage of “national revenues” that would go to the players in the form of salary cap calculations.  That bump in the percentage going to players was from 47% to 48.5% of “national revenues”.  I would expect that the players would seek another uptick in their share of added revenue if these talks get down to serious negotiations.

Moving on …  People who cover Training Camps for the NFL have a difficult job in the sense that the sorts of things that they can write or talk about do not vary much from year to year or camp to camp.  One mainstay storyline at the time of the year is when Joe Flabeetz is under contract to a team, but Joe is not happy with his recompense and either wants a new contract or a trade to another team who is willing to give him a new contract.  This year, one of the players in this situation is Niners’ WR, Brandon Aiyuk.  He and the Niners have not been able to agree on a contract extension at a significantly higher salary nor have the Niners made any real attempt to trade Aiyuk.  He is not in a happy place about now.

Here is the contract situation.  As a first-round pick in 2020, Aiyuk is under contract this year as part of the fifth-year option that is part of every first-round pick’s “rookie contract”.  The finances involved in that option year are formulaic and this year Brandon Aiyuk would make $14.124 million to play WR for the Niners.  He thinks he deserves to be paid more than that because he believes he is comparable to some of the WRs in the league who have gotten deals well north of $20M per year. Brandon Aiyuk is indeed a very good WR; I don’t know if I agree that he is as good as some of the WRs who have set the new market cap for the position, but I agree he is underpaid.

Having said that, Brandon Aiyuk is under contract and that contract runs for one more year; if he wants to earn $14.124 million to play football, he will do it with the Niners unless the Niners choose to trade him or cut him.  That sounds harsh, but it is reality.  Brandon Aiyuk can fuss and fume until the Twelfth of Never, but Brandon Aiyuk cannot trade Brandon Aiyuk; only the Niners can trade him and if the Niners decide that they want/need him for the 2024 schedule, then that is where Aiyuk will have to play to make any money playing football.

The “good news” for Aiyuk is that if he plays for the Niners in 2024 – – banking about $785K per game for doing so – – and if he plays to a level that approximates his perception of his talents, then he will be an unrestricted free agent in 2025 – – OR – – the Niners will have to use the franchise tag on him meaning he will get paid a guaranteed salary comparable to the top WRs in the league which seems to be his objective.

I cannot see the Niners trading Aiyuk at this point; the Niners made it to the Super Bowl last year and hope to repeat that this year.  What most suggested trade offers include are future draft picks which could be fair compensation but of no use to the Niners in 2024.  If I am correct, then the best thing for Aiyuk to do is to swallow hard and play just as hard for the Niners in 2024 so that he does not paint himself as a malcontent which is not a way to increase his desirability around the league.  The only “good news” here is that people writing about Training Camp stuff will get a few more bites from the apple on this saga.

Finally, closing words today from H. L. Mencken:

“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.”

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

 

 

Yesterday, I wrote about the growth in popularity of women’s sports.  Well, with increased popularity comes increased incentive to excel in almost any activity and women’s sports seems not to be immune,  The Canadian women’s soccer team had two of its coaching staff members sent home and their head coach will not be on the sidelines for the team’s first game against New Zealand after it was discovered that one of the coaching staff was flying a drone over the New Zealand practice session.

Oh, did I mention that the Canadian women’s soccer team won the Gold Medal in the 2020 games in Tokyo?

Moving on …  I ran across a report about someone I had not thought about for at least a year.  Whatever happened to Max Kellerman?  In a short reset, he was removed from his position as a “debate opponent” for Stephen A. Smith on ESPN’s First Take a couple of years ago but stayed with the ESPN Radio network as part of the morning drive time show and as the host of an afternoon show called This Just In …  About a year ago, he was let go when ESPN did a purge of radio personalities, and I lost track of Max Kellerman at that point.

As to what is he doing now, the answer is:

• Nothing.

Kellerman’s long time boxing co-announcer at ESPN – – Brian Kenny – – said that Kellerman is alive and well and is enjoying doing nothing.  Kellerman’s contract was such that when he was let go, he was let go with money still guaranteed to him on the deal.  So, he is getting paid and doing nothing.  Not a bad gig if you can get it.  So, what sort of compensation has he gotten since being asked to stay home about a year ago?

• Kellerman’s contract with ESPN was reported to be $5M per year and that contract will expire in late 2024.
• Not a bad “severance package” …

After reading this report about what Max Kellerman is doing, I wonder if he might be someone who would go to FS1 to work with whomever as an update to Undisputed if the rumors about Skip Bayless leaving that network sometime this summer are in fact true.  Kellerman has experience in the direct debate format with Stephen A. Smith on ESPN and he was the first host on ESPN’s Around the Horn program about 20 years ago.

I enjoy Kellerman because even when he takes a position that I think is bordering on outrageous, he does so without screaming and with some explanation as to why he thinks what he does.  There used to be a sports radio program here in the DC area hosted by a guy named Ken Beatrice.  He was a ‘know-it-all” who could – and did – annoy plenty of area sports fans.  However, his mantra was:

“I will give you my opinion; and then, I will give you the reasons why that is my opinion.  That is all you can ask of me or anyone else in my position.”

Yes, I know …  That is annoyingly arrogant.  At the same time Ken Beatrice was more right than wrong on that point.  Now Max Kellerman does the same thing without hitting you over the head with the magnanimity of his justification for taking an outrageous stance.

By the way, Kellerman has some history with FOX Sports.  After leaving Around the Horn, he hosted a program on FOX Sports that went head-to-head with Around the Horn where he was an active participant in the debates not just the one deciding on the score to give the debate participants.

Next up …  Here is one more baseball statistical oddity sent to me a couple weeks ago by #2 son:

• The MLB record for “Most Grand Slams in a Season” is 6.
• That record is shared by Don Mattingly (1987) and Travis Hafner (2006).
• Hafner hit 12 grand slams in his career between 2002 and 2013.
• Mattingly hit 6 grand slams in his career between 1982 and 1995; his entire “career Grand Slam output” came in the 1987 season.

Finally, I began today with the report about spying/cheating related to the women’s Olympic soccer competition; so, let me close with this from management “expert” Stephen Covey:

“The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.”

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

 

 

When it comes to a discussion of sports’ popularity, it is easy to point to the English Premier League and the FIFA World Cup and the NFL as hugely popular products.  For the Chiefs/Niners Super Bowl encounter, 123 million people tuned in at one point to the game.  It is also easy to see how the NFL can “poach” on other sports’ franchises and calendars:

• The Super Bowl now abuts “pitchers and catchers reporting” for MLB
• Regular season NFL games draw larger audiences than World Series games
• The NFL took on – and smothered – the NBA on Christmas Day the last two years

Those are easy things to spot; what is more subtle but just as real is the growing audience for women’s professional sports.  Not to worry, I am not about to fly off the handle and suggest that any women’s pro sporting event is about to challenge the NFL for audience superiority; nonetheless, women’s sports are growing rapidly:

• Interest in the US Women’s National Soccer Team has grown to the point that it equals – – and maybe even surpasses – – the interest in the US Men’s National Soccer Team.  That surge in popularity began, I believe, in 1999 when Brandi Chastain presented the sports bra seen around the world.  The trend continued upward as the US Women dominated the world stage for a while and it continues as the team now seeks to regain a similar global stature.
• Interest in the WNBA has exploded.  Forget the cold attendance stats and the TV ratings; those things exist and demonstrate clearly the assertion here.  More importantly, people are talking about the WNBA and newspaper columnists are writing about it routinely.  Those actions point to an interest level that simply was not there for women’s professional basketball even a year ago.

In the case of the WNBA, I think it is rather obvious that the arrival of Caitlan Clark and Angel Reese into the ranks of WNBA athletes as rivals from their collegiate confrontations has been a major spark in the increased popularity.  Some folks have already tried to draw analogies for Clark/Reese to the rivalry and the importance imparted to the NBA by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson back in the early 1980s.  I am not quite ready to go that far, but the Clark/Reese “angle” is a Godsend for the whole of the WNBA.  Let me provide an anecdote here:

Earlier this season the Washington Mystics had yet to win a game.  I believe they began the season at 0-11; they were awful, and no one cared about them and their misery.

• One night, Angel Reese and her Chicago Sky came to DC and the game had over 10,000 spectators despite the Mystics’ awfulness.  In years past, a crowd of 10,000 for a Mystics game was not necessarily commonplace unless the team was very good and looking for a playoff slot.  The Sky won the game and the Mystics remained winless.
• The next night, Caitlin Clark and her Indiana Fever came to DC and the game had over 20,000 spectators; it was a full house that came to see a winless team.  No, they did not; those fans came to see Caitlin Clark just as most of the 10,000 fans from the previous night came to see Angel Reese.  By the way, the Mystics lost again …

Yes, I know; anecdotes are not strong supporting arguments for an assertion by themselves, so let me offer this data point.  In a televised game featuring the Sky and the Fever, the audience measured 2.33 million viewers.  That was the largest audience for a WNBA game ever recorded.

One more point as offered up by Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“The difference: The Caitlin Clark Effect was in evidence again when the WNBA’s All-Star fan voting increased this year by almost 600 percent.”

Another women’s sport that is growing very rapidly and could get an exponential growth spurt is Flag Football.  According to data reported as Sportico.com, the number of girls between 6 and 12 years old playing Flag Football has increased by 200% since counting began.  In addition, ESPN – – with support from the NFL – – will present a new NFL Flag Championship tournament to be held in Canton OH.  There will be boy’s and girl’s competitions, and both are going to be televised “equally”.  The involvement of the NFL in an amateur girls’ sport is a big deal; the involvement of ESPN in an amateur girl’s sport is a big deal; both of those “big deals” would have been pie in the sky 5 years ago.  More evidence for the growing interest in women’s sports in the US …

Here is something to watch as interest in women’s sports expands.  There are at least two professional football leagues for women.  I am not talking about Lingerie Football where women compete in “less than full football attire”; I am talking about women playing football with the same sort of rules as do NFL players.  The two leagues that I know about are:

1. The Women’s Football Alliance – – in business since 2009
2. The Women’s National Football Conference – – in business since 2018

I wonder if interest in and coverage of those two leagues will grow like the way things have gone for the WNBA and women’s soccer.  After all, football is an extremely popular sport in the US – – more so that either basketball or soccer – – and these women are playing it according to “men’s rules”.  I will be interested to see if any of the current women’s sports luster adheres to these two professional football leagues.

Finally, since today has been about the emergence of women’s sports, let me close with this observation by humorist Dave Barry:

“The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion or ethnic background, is that we all believe we are above-average drivers.”

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

 

 

The Paris Olympics will open on Friday; the last time the Games were held in Paris was in 1924 – – 100 years ago.  The two sets of Games will bear little resemblance to each other once you get beyond the pomp and circumstance of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.  In fact, for the Opening Ceremony, only the grandeur will be the same because this year the athletes will be presented onboard barges on the Seine River and not in a land-based stadium.

I am not in Paris; for the moment I am in Alternative Curmudgeon Central in Pennsylvania.  I mention that to make sure no one thinks I am “covering” the Olympic Games; I will watch some events on TV and that is it.  And that declaration makes me wonder how much of the TV coverage that will be available to viewers here in the US will be presented live and in person and covered by people actually in France.  I won’t go so far as to say that NBC and its affiliates “owe it” to the viewers to disclose such information, but it sure would be nice to see some level of candor there.

Frankly, I am not really looking forward to very much from these Games and my nonchalance toward the Olympics is nothing new.  Please take a few moments to read this rant that I posted in March 2007 and this rant from April 2008.  My views about the organizers and about the events themselves have not changed much at all; in fact, the addition of these three new events reinforces my idea that none of the new events have anything at all to do with anything the Greeks did in ancient times or what Olympians did in Paris 100 years ago.  Each host country gets to “introduce” new events to the Games on a “trial basis”.  Here are the three “new Olympic events” for 2024:

• Breaking – – in the US we call this Breakdancing
• Kayak cross – – contestants maneuvering through an aquatic obstacle course
• Surfing – – being held in Tahiti which is a French protectorate not on the Seine River

I am evidently not the only person in the US whose enthusiasm for the Olympics has waned.  American TV ratings were down 25% for the Tokyo Games in 2020 as compared to the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.  [Aside:  The TV ratings for the Winter Games in 2022 were down more than 40 percent as compared to the Winter Games in 2018.]  I wonder which of those three new events will attract millions of new viewers to screens all over the US to rejuvenate interest in these games?

Let me throw out a hypothesis here.  Up until the early 1990s, the Winter Games and the Summer Games happened in the same year.  That changed for the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway when the Winter Games were placed halfway between two summer Game events.  Has the frequency of “Olympic Games” every two years removed some of the “specialness” associated with the Games?  I’ll leave it to sociologists to address that hypothesis, but it is the best I can come up with for now.

When the Olympics were revived in 1896 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, he envisioned the Olympics as an element of “humans coming together in peace and harmony.”  He predated the Age of Aquarius {Hat Tip to The Fifth Dimension here] to be sure, but his ideals were pretty much the same.  I don’t think that the history of the world in the 20^th Century was one of constant peace and harmony and the fact that both the US and the USSR boycotted Olympic Games as part of their diplomatic confrontations leads me to think that – – just maybe – – the Baron’s Utopian hopes are a bit out of reach.

So, what am I going to find interesting in these games?

• The men’s basketball event will be interesting to me for two reasons.  The first is that the NBA has lots of “foreign imported players” who are quite good and who are now going to play for their “native lands”.  The second reason is that the US men’s team was a 43.5-point favorite over South Sudan in a “warm-up game” and needed a basket with less than 20 seconds remaining to win that game 101-100.  For the record, South Sudanese players are not dominating the NBA and – in fact – there are no indoor basketball arenas in all of South Sudan.  Oh, and did I mention that the US and South Sudan are in the same Group in the basketball tournament and will have to play again …
• Simone Biles will compete in her third Olympic Games which is noteworthy by itself.  Gymnastics is a sport where competitors age very quickly.
• The US Women’s National soccer team was uncharacteristically bounced early from the Women’s World Cup Tournament two years ago.  They have a new coach and a bunch of new players; it will be interesting to see how they perform in these Games.
• The US Men’s National soccer team qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008 (Beijing).  Not a lot is expected from the team; as of this morning the odds on the US taking the Gold Medal in men’s soccer are +2500.

So, we are getting to the point where we can count down to the time when the cry will go out to “Let the Games begin!”  My response will be along the lines of “Meh!”

Finally, to make you feel as good as you can about the Paris Olympics, let me close with three observations by Baron Pierre de Coubertin:

“The Olympic Games are the quadrennial celebration of the springtime of humanity.”

And …

“May joy and good fellowship reign, and in this manner, may the Olympic Torch pursue its way through ages, increasing friendly understanding among nations, for the good of a humanity always more enthusiastic, more courageous and more pure.”

And …

“Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy found in effort, the educational value of a good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.”

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

 

 

As NFL teams are reporting to Training Camp, I want to take a moment and look at the CFL standings this morning because the CFL regular season is nearing the half-way mark.  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have dominated the West Division for the last 5 years.  Ignoring the 2020 season which was cancelled due to COVID, Winnipeg has won the West for four straight years with a combined regular season record of 51-17-0; the team has gone on in the playoffs to be the West representative in the Grey Cup game in each of those seasons.  It looks, however, as if 2024 is not the Blue Bombers’ year.

As of this morning, Winnipeg is in fourth place in the CFL West (there are 5 teams in that division) with a record of 2-5-0; only the Edmonton Elks have a worse record in the division at 0-6-0.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders lead the West today with a 5-1 record.

A potentially interesting situation exists in the East Division.  The defending Grey Cup champions – – Montreal Alouettes – – lead the East at 5-1-0; the Toronto Argonauts are in third place at 3-3-0.  However, the Argonauts will get their starting QB – – Chad Kelly – – back from suspension after the Argonauts’ eighth game and Kelly is the reigning league MVP.  The two teams have met twice so far this year and have split those two games; they will meet one more time on September 28^th; I think that could be a game to circle on the calendar.

Moving on …  Last week, I mentioned that George Blanda threw 42 INTs in a 14-game season back in AFL days and that the Houston Oilers went 11-3 despite all those INTs.  I can now expand on that comment thanks to a note from the “reader in Houston”:

“George has the NFL/AFL record for most INTs (6) in a game for a team that won:

“In the 1962 season opener, Houston was at the Bills. George finished the game 15–30 for 188 yards and a TD with six INTs, but the Oilers took the win that day with a final score of 28–23. One out of every five passes he made that day were intercepted.

“As a matter of fact, George also led the AFL in INTs in 1963-65 with 25, 27, and 30 respectively.”

Next up …  Another reader forwarded to me a posting on X.com by someone whose screen name is ‘Barry”.  Clearly, “Barry” is someone who enjoys over-analysis of the English language leading to concocted offensive phrases.  Here is the post from “Barry”:

“Reminder that the term “Home Run” is incredibly offensive to homeless people, people in wheelchairs and especially homeless people in wheelchairs.”

Well played, “Barry”.  I hope your note comes to the attention of Commissioner Manfred and that it causes him agita.

And speaking of MLB Commissioner Manfred, I found this comment in Bob Molinaro’s column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“Not so fast: MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is smart to hold off on robot umpires until at least 2026, until ‘technical issues surrounding the definition of the strike zone’ can be ironed out. Not, I’m guessing, that they can ever be ironed out to the satisfaction of every player.

“Wondering: Do robotic ball and strike calls generally favor hitters or pitchers?”

I don’t know if the “Ball/Strike Bots” will favor pitchers or hitters, but I suspect that the “Bots” will remove one of the more ridiculous aspects of the game.  Gone will be the days when the batter starts to argue balls and strikes with the umpire and that tete a tete leads to a fulmination by the manager at the umpire which involves kicking dirt all over home plate and ejection city.  There won’t be any person there to receive the fulmination; the player and or the manager would look pretty stupid arguing with invisible detectors and circuitry.  Personally, I will not miss that sort of silliness even a little bit.

Finally, words of wisdom from Mark Twain:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”

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

 

 

For years, I have criticized the golf media for its complete focus on Tiger Woods to the exclusion of just about everyone and everything else.  Yes, Woods was the best golfer on the planet 25 years ago and he held that position for about a dozen years.  Nevertheless, the golf media never got to the point where it could look away from Woods for even a moment and examine some of the other players on the Tour.  That syndrome continues today in a macabre dimension.

It has been a while since Tiger Woods dominated a significant golf event; he is 48 years old, and his body is breaking down to the point where he simply cannot do what he used to be able to do routinely.  This situation has nothing at all to do with any of the low points that Woods has experienced in his life away from the golf course; this situation has to do with aging and with his trying to heal from significant injuries.

This week, Tiger Woods teed off in the British Open at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland.  He did not make the cut; after the first two rounds his score was 14 over par and he was in 149^th place on the “leaderboard”.  For someone with his history, a departure of that sort should normally call for a tip of the cap and a few handshakes and a quick pivot to find another story involving the players remaining in the tournament.  But the golf media cannot wean itself off finding a “Tiger Woods angle” everywhere and anywhere.

One of the commentators – a former professional golfer – said this:

“You look at the eyes; you’ve got to think there’s quite a lot of painkillers being taken to cope with the pain, you know…”

Enough already.  Tiger Woods is no longer one of the best golfers on the planet.  When he does try to compete in golf tournaments, he is about an even money proposition to make the cut let alone to win the event outright.  One can revel in his fall from the pedestal if that is what brings joy; on the other hand, one can simply acknowledge the reality of the situation and take note of the times he does compete and the times he does not.  But the time has come for the golf media to heed the message in the writings of Omar Khayyam:

“The Moving Finger writes: and having writ, Moves on…”

Next up …  Caleb Williams signed his contract with the Chicago Bears this week; the contract is for $39M guaranteed over the first 4 years of his NFL career.  Basically, Williams signed the standard contract for an overall #1 Draft pick as a QB which means his whole negotiation process was extended in time and full of Sturm und Drang that resulted in – – normalcy.  Let’s review the bidding here:

• First, we heard from “sources in the know” that Williams did not want to play for the Bears and was going to go back to USC to live off NIL money and then wait to see who might take him next season.  Didn’t happen.
• Then, Williams was considering how to force the Bears to trade him if indeed they did choose him with the overall #1 pick.  John Elway and Eli Manning managed to make that happen; so, there was precedent.  Didn’t happen.
• For a while, the story was that Williams wanted a small equity stake in the team that drafted him.  Remember, all minority owners must be vetted and approved by 75% of the owners.  I doubt that many of them would want to open that house of horrors as they all get to negotiate those sorts oof terms with future draft picks and free agents.  Didn’t happen – – and never had a real chance of happening.
• The latest scoop on why the negotiations were dragging on focused on a demand by Williams that the Bears would not use the franchise tag on him when this rookie contract expired.  Didn’t happen.

All those stories were sourced to people in the know.  Well, it seems that they may have been “out of the know” to some extent.  Moreover, Caleb Williams may or may not have been a party to any or all those reports that never came to fruition.  The Bears believe that they have drafted the player who will fill a huge gap on the team; Williams arrives in Chicago with Heisman Trophy honors and a “Can’t Miss” label from loads of scouts and analysts.  What the Bears – – and Bears’ fans – – need most is for Williams to play to his anticipated level and not fail to meet expectations in a similar way that the stories about his contract demands never panned out.

Finally, Bob Newhart died yesterday at the age of 94.  I’ll close today with his words:

“All comedians are, in a way, anarchists. Our job is to make fun of the existing world.”

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

 

 

Joe “Jellybean” Bryant died earlier this week.  Despite having an eight-year career in the NBA along with a nine-year career playing basketball overseas in addition to a coaching career that spanned all or part of twenty-one seasons, Joe Bryant is best known as “Kobe Bryant’s father.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that he died of a “massive stroke”; Joe Bryant was 69 years old.

Rest in peace, Joe Bryant.

Earlier this week, I mentioned that Wilt Chamberlain had a game where he collected 55 rebounds, and that record has stood for more than 50 years.  As if on cue, I received an email from the “reader in Houston” expounding on rebounding stats in the NBA.  So let me present this augmentation of “rebounds in a single game” over the NBA’s history:

• The 25 highest rebound totals in a single game in NBA history range from 55 (by Wilt Chamberlain) to 39 (by Bill Russell).
• It is appropriate that those two men bracket the top-25 list here because Chamberlain and Russell accounted for 23 of the top 25 rebounding games in NBA history,
• Chamberlain’s name is on the list 14 times.
• Russell’s name is on the list 9 times.
• Nate Thurmond’s name is on the list once (42 rebounds in a game in 1965).
• Jerry Lucas’ name is on the list once (40 rebounds in a game in 1964).

Thanks to the “reader in Houston” for this info…

Moving on …  Rumors abound that Skip Bayless will be leaving FS1 – – and his show Undisputed – – sometime this summer.  The NY Post referred to this reporting as “bombshell news”; I don’t know that I would go that far.  However, it is fair to say that FS1 does not have anyone currently on the air who can step in immediately for Bayless and maintain any sort of “command presence” in that time slot.  Recognize that Undisputed does not draw nearly the audience that ESPN’s First Take commands, but the only other FS1 personality who could be a credible replacement is Colin Cowherd – – who already has a 3-hour program on FS1.  A long time ago, FS1 had Jason Whitlock and Marcellus Wiley on the air; those two could have been excellent replacements for Undisputed but both men are onto different pursuits these days.

Switching gears – – but staying with the general issue of sports commentators on TV …  I ran across this item from Bob Molinaro in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot:

“TV timeout: Now that Charles Barkley says he’ll retire from NBA broadcasts after next season, it’s an opportunity for one of the NFL networks or streaming services to think outside the box and make him the third man in the booth. Doesn’t matter how much Barkley knows about football — how much did Howard Cosell know? — he’s a worldwide personality with an audience.”

Indeed, that is “out of the box thinking” and I think it might just work.  If the personalities and the “chemistry” set up correctly in a three-man booth with Barkley joining two “certified football guys”, that might be very entertaining.  Barkley did a cameo on the Manningcast and was his normal jovial and extroverted self; I think this is a great idea and I wish I had been the one to think of it first.

Next up …  You all know the adage that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.  Well, here is another “statistical anomaly” that was in the communication from #2 son about sports oddities.

• Every football fan knows that it is a bad thing when your team’s QB throws multiple INTs in a game.
• Well, a QB named George Blanda played for the Houston Oilers in the AFL back in 1962.  He played and started all 14 games that season.
• The Oilers record in 1962 was 11-3.  The Oilers won the AFL East that year and lost in the AFL Championship Game to the Dallas Texans.
• Nevertheless, Blanda threw 42 INTs that year or 3 per game.
• In fact, Blanda attempted 418 passes that year meaning 10% of his pass attempts were intercepted.
• Wow!

Finally, let me close today with words of wisdom from Will rogers:

“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”

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

 

 

One of the fashionable musings of the moment is to ponder whether the current US Olympic men’s basketball team is equal to – – or even better than – – the Dream Team.  Frankly, I do not care enough about the outcome of such argumentation/analysis to bother with that question for more than a microsecond; but the fact that more than a couple commentators choose to spend time and energy on the subject reminds me that basketball has changed significantly over the years.  And, because the game has changed so significantly, people who focus on the current state of professional basketball may not fully appreciate “the way things were done” in the past.

Modern NBA fans know a few things about Wilt Chamberlain; obviously, his 100-point game against the Knicks in 1962 is familiar to just about every basketball fan.  However, there are other things to know about his game – – and his impact on the game – – that may be lost on current fans.

For example, in 1968 the LA Lakers journeyed to Philly to play the Sixers.  It was late in the season; both teams had excellent records at the time.  The Lakers record was 51-30 and the Sixers record was 61-19.  In that game and against an opponent clearly in the upper echelon of the NBA at the time, Chamberlain had this version of a Triple Double:

• 54 points – – 32 rebounds – – 14 assists
• He shot 24 of 29 from the field (there were no 3-point shots in the NBA then).
• He played all 48 minutes in that game, and he committed zero personal fouls.

Let me present the results of another game.  In 1960, the Celtics came to Philly to take on the Warriors – – before the Warriors went to SF and the Syracuse Nationals relocated to Philly to become the Sixers.  It was an early season game; the Celtics were 10-3 and the Warriors were 11-5.  Here is the Double Double Chamberlain recorded in that game:

• 34 points – – 55 rebounds
• He played all 48 minutes.
• His opponent that night was Bill Russell – – who also played all 48 minutes – – and Russell was and remains the best defensive basketball player I have ever seen.
• Those 55 rebounds in a game still stand as an NBA record almost 65 years later.

In those two examples, note that Chamberlain – – and Russell – – played full 48-minute games; that was not “routine” back in the day, but it happened more than occasionally.  There was no such thing as “load management”.  Consider this next statistical tidbit:

• For the entire 1961 NBA season, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 48.5 minutes per game.
• A regulation game is only 48 minutes; to achieve this, Chamberlain played in all those “regulation games” and then played the overtimes that happened to occur during the season.

So, the game has changed significantly and the only real purpose of trying to make comparisons over long stretches of time is to manufacture a debate that has no real significance.  None of the current US Olympic basketball players comes close to playing 48 minutes a game for a single playoff series let alone for a full NBA season.  If one of them even hinted that he might want to try to do such a thing, I suspect his agent would experience a catatonic state.  The same thing was true of the Dream Team; they were all great players, but none were “iron men”.  And the Dream Team was separated from the days of Russell and Chamberlain by about the same number of years as the current Olympians are separated from the Dream Team.

Switching gears …  There is an adage in MLB that says:

“When you go to a baseball game, you have a chance to see something you’ve never seen before.”

Let me give an example of that adage.  Suppose you had gone out to see the Boston Red Sox/Washington Senators game on 23 June 1917.  Here is what you would have witnessed:

• The Red Sox starting pitcher was Babe Ruth.  You have heard of him in a different context …
• He walked the leadoff hitter.
• That led to a dispute between Ruth and the homeplate umpire; Ruth punched the umpire and was ejected from the game.  [Duh!]
• That leadoff hitter on first base was thrown out trying to steal second.
• The “relief pitcher” for the Red Sox was Ernie Shore and he proceeded to retire the next 26 Senators in a row.

No, that was not a “perfect game” for Shore, but it was the first time a no-hit game was thrown by two or more pitchers on a team.  That baseball adage surely applied on that day.

Finally, here is a perspective on changing times that seems an appropriate way to close today; it comes from political scientist, Charles A. Murray:

“In 1960, it was still – no nostalgia here – an age when you could leave your door unlocked even in urban neighborhoods.”

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

 

 

Vic Seixas died last week at the age of 100.  In the 1950s and 60s, Seixas was one of the top tennis players in the world; he is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame; he won all four of the Grand Slam events in his career and was a multi-time doubles champion as well.  He played in the tennis era that preceded tiebreakers; sets went on until one player led by 2 games.  In that environment, Seixas – – at the age of 42 – – won a three-set match with this score:

• 32-34, 6-4, 10-8.

Rest in peace, Vic Seixas.

The other bit of tennis news today is that Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon for the second year in a row.  Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets to claim the title.  Alcaraz is 21 years old and has already won three of the four tennis Grand Slam events; only the Australian Open remains before he can claim a career grand slam.

Moving on …  The Olympic Flame arrived in Paris yesterday – – on Bastille Day of course – – and the Olympic Games will begin in less than two weeks.  There is an “Olympic memory” that always comes to my mind as the Summer Games get underway.  If you ask most folks what they recall about the Games in 1968 (Mexico City), the most common answer is the “Black Power salute” from the medal stand by US sprinters, Tommie Smith and John Carlos.  There was another outcome from those Games that I recall just as vividly.

Bob Beamon won the long jump in those 1968 Summer Games and set an Olympic and a World record in doing so.  What makes that memorable is that Beamon broke the existing World record by a whopping 22 inches.  That jump is still the Olympic record; it is no longer the World record, but it is the second longest jump in that event ever.

Switching gears …  As baseball takes a breather to put on its All-Star Game, the local nine in this area has a record of 44-53 which is pretty much in line with pre-season expectations for the club.  I recall in the off-season there was some buzz around the Nats’ signing of Joey Gallo; the narrative then was that he would provide veteran leadership to the young Nats’ team and that he would be a power-hitter in the middle of the lineup.

Gallo is indeed a baseball veteran; this is his 10^th year in MLB, and he must indeed be a valuable clubhouse asset because his on-field stats do not suggest that he is much of an asset there.  Consider:

• Gallo’s batting average this year in 46 games in .164.
• The last time Gallo posted a batting average over .200 was in 2019,
• This year, Gallo has struck out 71 times in 140 at-bats.  Yes, he has struck out more than half the time.
• As for “power in the middle of the lineup”, he has 5 homeruns and 11 RBIs in 46 games.

Next up …  It is patently obvious that NFL teams take a gamble when they draft a QB early in the first round; at least half those choices never live up to expectations.  In this year’s Draft, six of the top twelve picks were QBs and those rookies are just about to report to their first NFL Training Camp.  I think two of the intangible factors that lead to the “success” or the “failure” of young QBs are:

1. Coaching environment
2. Offensive system

A quarterback who was successful in college under a defensive-minded coach and system has a lot more to learn about becoming an NFL QB than a player who spent three years in a “pro-style offense”.  Now, when I look at the six QBs taken high in this year’s Draft, one of them seems to have a leg-up based on those two factors.  Look at the coaching environment surrounding JJ McCarthy:

• He spent his college career learning from Jim Harbaugh who was an NFL QB.
• His current head coach with the Vikes is Kevin O’Connell who bounced around the NFL as a backup QB for about 5 years.
• His offensive coordinator is Wes Phillips who was a QB in his playing days.
• His current QB coach is Josh McCown who has been involved with the NFL since McCown was drafted in 2002.

Regarding the Vikes’ offensive system, it would seem to be QB-friendly.  Last year, the Vikes lost starting QB, Kirk Cousins in Week 8 and had to start Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens for the second half of the season.  The Vikes did not make the playoffs, but they were still mathematically alive for a playoff slot in Week 18 of the season.

There will be a lot of focus on this crop of QBs taken in the first round of the 2024 Draft; I think the play and the development of JJ McCarthy will be the one I will find most interesting.

Finally, let me close with this observation by Quentin Crisp:

“An autobiography is an obituary in serial form with the last installment missing.”

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

 

 

Back in the 1960s, the US Supreme Court was dealing with the conflict between free expression and obscenity.  As part of his concurrence with a majority opinion, Justice Potter Stewart revealed his definition of hardcore pornography:

“I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description, and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that.”

The US Court of Appeals for the 3^rd Circuit (Philly) might have leaned a bit more heavily on Justice Stewart’s thinking this week.  A case was before the Court of Appeals that involves the status of college athletes as employees of the colleges for whom they play versus amateur student athletes.  According to a report in the Washington Post this morning, the Court said:

“… a test should be developed to differentiate between students who play college sports for fun and those whose effort ‘crosses the legal line into work’.”

Unfortunately, Justice Stewart is no longer an active member of the biosphere; he died about 40 years ago.  However, if he were alive, he might be able to look at various athletic situations involving colleges and college athletes and “know it when he sees it” regarding the question of playing for fun and “working.  Perhaps Justice Stewart’s thinking was too abstract, so let me offer another way to look at whether college football and basketball players are workers or just fun-loving kids:

• “If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it’s a duck.”

Or consider a variant on that logic as expounded by the noted philosopher, Groucho Marx:

• “He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot, but don’t let that fool you.  He really is an idiot.”

Moving on …  Dan Hurley signed a contract extension with UConn earlier this week.  After winning two consecutive national championships, that sort of reward is hardly in the category of “shocking news”.  However, looking at the deal does raise some questions:

• Hurley signed for 6 years and $50M.
• Hurley turned down a Lakers’ offer of 6 years and $70M.

It would appear either that Hurley likes his East Coast life a lot better than he thinks his LA life would be – – or – – he made the assessment that coaching the LA Lakers with LeBron James and Bronny James would involve a level of drama that he just does not need in his life.  Or maybe it is both factors plus the dead solid fact that the $50M he will get from UConn is beyond the level of “chump change”.

Switching gears …  When people report on NFL revenues, they often use the terminology of “National Revenue”.  That category of revenue includes:

• All NFL national media rights deals
• All league sponsorships and “corporate partners”
• All royalties from things like NFL Enterprises, NFL Films etc.

A recent report said that the “National Revenue” for the NFL last year was $13B; that is the revenue that is shared equally among the teams.  So, even if you account for the HFL Front Office skimming a couple hundred million off the top for its own usage, each owner will wind up in receipt of about $400M BEFORE the owner sold the first ticket or a fan bought its first $15 beer, or a car pulled into the stadium parking lot for $75 or … you get the idea.

Last year, the NFL’s salary cap, which is spelled out as a formula in the existing CBA, was $224.8M.  So, if you are wondering how or why an NFL franchise could possibly be worth $6B to a consortium of owners, just take a look at those figures.  Moreover, the way that the salary cap is defined in the CBA provides a measure of protection for the owners should a situation arise where “National Revenue” craters.  An NFL franchise is not exactly a license to print money, but it’s close.

Finally, I will close today with a couple other observations by Groucho Marx:

“Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.”

And …

“Why should I care about posterity?  What’s posterity ever done for me?”

And …

“I didn’t like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions – the curtain was up.”

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