The Sports Curmudgeon

It has been a little over a week since ESPN “chose to go in a different direction” and parted company with Ryan Clark and Cam Newton among others.  Even now, Clark and Newton continue to portray themselves as victims in that set of circumstances.

Cam Newton has said that he was always true to “the culture” when he was offering his comments and that faithfulness played a role in his departure.  When he references “the culture”, it is clear from context that he means “Black culture” and “Black people”.

Ryan Clark has voiced his own interpretation for the reasons he was fired and his interpretation has layers of intrigue and behind-the-scenes maneuvering that are far more subtle than Newton’s explanations.  Clark has asserted more than once that he was not “laid off” by ESPN but that he was “fired”.  That seems to me to be a distinction without a difference, but Clark has repeated that assertion more than once which means it is an important distinction to him and so I will accept his rendition of the situation.  Clark says that the network wanted to fire him but did not have any cause to do so; therefore, ESPN waited until it was time to announce layoffs and included him in that overall restructuring as a cover for what it wanted to do but could not justify.

Some reports have said that Stephen A. Smith had warned Clark as much as a year ago that Clark had rubbed one or more of the ESPN execs the wrong way and Smith supposedly encouraged Clark to meet with those who were speaking negatively about him.  I have not seen or heard Clark say that he took or rejected such advice from Smith, but he has said that office politics was a major factor in his separation from ESPN.

I bring this matter up again this morning because this story has legs.  This is not the first set of layoffs at ESPN or at some other major sports entity.  Usually, such events are like meteors in the night sky; they are the brightest attraction there is for a very brief moment – – and then it is back to normal without any streaks interfering with one’s contemplation of the constellations.  Not so here; this story keeps hanging around and I don’t know if that is because there is indeed some sort of nefarious overtone to the entire matter or if it is just because both Clark and Newton have platforms of their own to keep their names “out there”.  My position on this matter has not changed in the last week or so:

• I never liked Cam Newton as a commentator from the first time I saw him.  If I were an ESPN exec, I would never have hired him in the first place.  But of course, I am not now and never will be an ESPN exec… 
• Ryan Clark was not the best football analyst/commentator on ESPN, and he was certainly not the worst commentator at the network. 

And I suspect that we have not heard the last of this saga …

Moving on …  Two European countries with lofty national soccer aspirations have announced changes in the wake of their failure to win the recently contested FIFA World Cup.  First came Germany which did not make it to the Round of 16 in this year’s tournament; Germany fired coach, Julian Nagelsmann.  That was not a huge surprise; Nagelsmann had come under severe criticism after Germany’s ouster from the World Cup at the hands of Paraguay.  The Germans introduced Jurgen Klopp as the new coach/manager of the national team.  Klopp’s most recent coaching stop was with Liverpool in the English Premier League in 2024; at his introductory news conference, Klopp intimated that the German job would be his last in soccer:

“Jurgen Klopp has no career after the national team.  Ideally, this will be the highlight of my career, my life, my working life.  I will put everything into it that I possibly can.”

Not to be outdone, France made a change in the leadership of its national team too.  Zinedine Zidane – – maybe the best French soccer player ever? – – will take over the leadership of Les Bleus; this is his first coaching stint since he left the sidelines for Real Madrid back in 2021.  Zidane was given a 4-year contract for the job which makes sense since the next World Cup will not take place until 2030.

Finally, here is an interesting perspective from Henny Youngman:

“What’s the use of happiness? It can’t buy you money.”

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

The big news over the weekend was LeBron James choosing to sign with the Sixers.  In the last 48 hours I have read analyses of that choice that run along three lines:

1. What led LeBron James to this decision?
2. Are the Sixers the favorites to win the NBA Championship next season?
3. Here’s why the euphoria surrounding this signing is a bubble that will burst quickly.

Let me address those topics.  In the first case, I have no idea why LeBron James chose to sign with the Sixers and there are probably fewer than a half-dozen people on the planet who do.  When you read or hear someone making such pronouncements, check their mind-reading credentials carefully.  Here is what I think is undoubtedly true:

• It’s not about the money he will make in Philly.
• His deal is reported to be for 2 years and a total of $8M.
• That sounds like a lot of money to us normal folks, but according to Spotrac.com James’ basketball earnings to date total up to $581M.
• It’s not about the money.

Enough of that…

The Sixers had four solid starters prior to this decision – – assuming that Joel Embiid can remain relatively healthy.  That is not a trivial condition to put on the Sixers’ fortunes for next season; Embiid has missed two full seasons due to injury/rehab and has not played in 40 games in a regular season in any of the last 3 seasons.  When healthy and available, he has been the league MVP in the past; but that was only in one season out of ten.

Adding LeBron James to that “core-four” – – even allowing for the fact that James is in his 40s already – – means that the Sixers will be successful far more often than not when everyone suits up for a game.  The net roster change for the Sixers over this offseason is stunning.  They subtracted Paul George and added Jaylen Brown, LeBron James and first-round pick LaBaron Phillion.  Meaning no disrespect at all for Paul George, that is an amazing roster upgrade over a period of a few weeks.

Having said all that, I am not ready to crown the Sixers as champs just  yet.  The moves look great on paper, but the games are played on hardwood floors and not on paper.  The NBA East has had a reawakening; there will be a lot of tightly contested games in the East this year:

• The Knicks are the reigning champs.
• The Celtics still have Jayson Tatum to lead them.
• The Heat added Giannis over the summer.
• The Raptors will finally get Kawai Leonard once the league finishes investigating the “legality” of Leonard’s contract with the Clippers.
• The Pacers, Pistons and Hawks are all solid teams.
• Given all that, I am hardly certain that the Sixers can make it to the NBA Finals where either the Thunder of the Spurs should be waiting …

As to the third type of analysis – – this is a euphoric bubble that will crash and burn long before the playoffs – – there is one element in that argument that I think is cogent.  It is a fact that there is only one basketball in use in any given game.  Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, Jaylen Brown and LeBron James are all at their best when they control the ball; this lineup will demand sharing the ball and it remains to be seen how that will be accommodated by this lineup.  The good news there is that James, Embiid and Brown are all 30+ years old and have a measure of maturity among them; “sharing” and “maturity” often go hand-in-hand.

And then, there is news this morning that the Memphis Grizzlies bought out the contract of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and that he is also signing with the Sixers for a veteran minimum contact of $4M per year.  Caldwell-Pope’s calling card these days is defense which – – again on paper – – would seem to fit nicely with the putative starting five for the Sixers.

Finally, I’ll close today with a snarky comment that a friend sent to me in an email yesterday:

“Fifteen years ago, LeBron ‘took his talents’ to Miami.

This year, LeBron takes his receding hairline to Philly.”

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

The staging of the FIFA World Cup at stadiums in the US demanded that all the venues be natural grass; FIFA rules do not allow for artificial turf.  So, stadiums in places like Seattle WA and East Rutherford NJ had to be “resurfaced” for those FIFA contests there.  That accommodation has created a debate.

• NFL players vastly prefer grass fields to artificial turf.  One poll had the players favoring real grass by more than three-to-one.  [Aside:  Richie Allen also disliked artificial turf and said that if a horse can’t eat it, he doesn’t want to play on it.]
• About half of the NFL stadium venues are natural grass.  Players have taken the resurfacing of fields for FIFA as a reason to call again for natural grass fields for NFL games.
• George Kittle was in attendance for the Spain/Argentina final game at Met Life Field and posted this on social media after the game:

“Grass looks great at MetLife! Can we keep it that way @NFL?? Would appreciate it thanks.”

At least some owners are opposed to natural grass fields – – and some of their objections have a kernel of logic at the core:

• Stadiums with roofs make maintenance of natural grass difficult.
• When the stadium is also used by other teams – – collegiate or high school – – those natural grass fields can become threadbare quickly.
• Some stadiums are located in geographical areas where natural grass is dormant for a significant portion of the NFL season – – think Foxboro or Chicago.

There is also a monetary basis for team and stadium owners’ reluctance here.  Some of the stadiums receive significant a significant revenue stream from outdoor concerts at various times of the year.  Some of them occur during the NFL season and – evidently – concert goers exert even more wear and tear on a natural grass surface than two NFL teams playing a game on a weekend.  Team and/or stadium owners do not want to have to re-sod fields too often; NFL teams want to play on surfaces where the sod has taken root with the soil below and does not come up in chunks during a game; teams and/or stadium owners do not want to forego that juicy concert revenue.  Hence the sticking point…

As is always the case, eventually, this matter should be negotiable.  We are nowhere near that stage yet; currently, each side is making its case in public for or against such a change.  So long as either side is issuing statements about the virtue of its position, the time has not come for a negotiated settlement.

This issue is one that is ripe for settlement; it all comes down to money.  The players say there are fewer injuries on grass; the owners say the injury data does not support that claim; blah! blah! blah! …  That sort of argument just keeps folks busy while the real calculus is being developed in camera.  Eventually, this will come down to basic arithmetic:

• The players get a fixed percentage of the NFL national revenue as player salary cap determinations.  This is not exact, but for the sake of argument here, assume the split is 50/50.
• So, if the owners are to incur an added cost to resurface and then to maintain grass fields everywhere, would the players accept a split of national revenues where they get 49.7% instead of 50%?
• How about 49.8%?

If there is a number on that percentage scale that becomes agreeable to both sides, this contretemps can dry up and blow away.  If not, it could become one of the laundry list of issues to be decided in the next CBA negotiations.  For the record, the current CBA between the NFL and the NFLPA runs through the end of the 2030 NFL season; neither side has an opt-out possibility, but the CBA can be re-opened by mutual consent.

So, if the players are willing to take a smaller cut of revenues as the determining factor for their salary cap and the owners believe that increased revenue for them will cover the costs associated with grass fields, the sides can re-open the CBA, agree to this issue and then re-close the CBA until 2031.  But so long as there is public positioning and posturing about the issue, nothing substantive is going on.

Finally, this from General George S. Patton:

“A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed at some indefinite time in the future.”

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

One “theme” for today might be cleaning out my clipboard file of notes about little things that happened over the past couple of weeks that I never got around to.  An alternate “theme” might be:

“Here’s some stuff for you to consider in case you missed it…”

Let me begin with the restart of the MLB season after the All-Star break.  The Washington Nationals seemed foreshadow that the second half of their season will be like the first; the Nats score a ton of runs and they also give up a ton of runs leading them to a record that hovers around .500.

• So, the Nats’ first game after the All-Star break was a win over the A’s by a score of 23-4 – – lots of runs scored.
• The second game after the All-Star break was a loss to the A’s by a score of 15-1 – – lots of runs given up.

Plus ҫa change, plus ҫa mệme chose …

Next up …  Middle distance runner, Josh Kerr, broke the record for the mile race.  That record of 3:43.13 had been held by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj since 1999.  Kerr broke that record by about a half-second setting the new record mile mark at 3:42.66.  In case your calculator batteries are dead, Kerr ran his race at an overall speed of about 16.2 miles per hour.  Kerr is of Scottish extraction and competes internationally for the UK.

I remember as a kid the big news that Roger Bannister had broken what was then considered to be a barrier to human endurance by “breaking the 4-mnute mile”.  Bannister ran his race in 3:59.4 more than 70 years ago.

Moving on …  LeVeon Bell is back in the news.  No, he is not considering a comeback in the NFL; his presence in the news this time involves his arrest in Ohio for being in arrears on child support payments.  According to the warrant that caused the arrest, Bell is behind in payments by a total of $112,522.89; that warrant came from a court in Michigan; presumably, Bell will be transferred to authorities in Michigan for resolution there.

Bell’s lawyer makes an interesting point in his assessment of this case.  He says that Bell is behind in payments because those payments were directed when he was still in the NFL and earning millions of dollars per year; but that in his retirement days, the monthly payments exceed his monthly income and have not been adjusted.

This is not the only legal/financial issue pending for Le Veon Bell.  He was accused in a civil suit by his cousin of sexually abusing her as a child.  Bell did not show up in court as required and the judge entered a default ruling that he owed the plaintiff $25M.  I am not an expert in searching legal databases, but I cannot find any reference that says Bell has paid off that judgment.  Bell’s representatives here say they will file a motion to reopen the matter and reverse that punitive judgment which leads me to believe that debt has not been paid.

Switching gears …  Andrew Marchand’s beat at The Athletic is to cover sports media; if you were looking for a word or phrase to describe his reporting, I would suggest “authoritative” or “on the mark”.  He is now reporting that ESPN has “cut ties” with Ryan Clark.  Clark is certainly not my favorite ESPN on-air presence; and just as certainly, he is not the worst on-air presence on the network.  In Marchand’s report about this parting of the ways, he also said that more cuts were coming at ESPN as part of reductions involved with Disney Corp which is the parent company of ESPN.

Subsequent to that report, Marchand said that Karl Ravech and Tom Pelissero were also laid off as part of this restructuring of the network.  Ravech has been with ESPN for more than 30 years; Pelissero is one of a corps of “NFL Insiders” the network features.  And the latest report says that more separations are coming to include:

• Cam Newton
• David Lloyd
• Bart Scott
• Charles Davis

Finally, this from comedian, Norm MacDonald:

“My dad had this thing – everyone in Canada wants to play hockey; that’s all they want to do. So when I was a kid, whenever we skated my dad would not let us on the ice without hockey sticks, because of this insane fear we would become figure skaters!”

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

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………