Month: August 2018

T.S. Eliot said that April was the cruelest month.  I have no comment on that, but I do think that Friday is the cruelest day if one is writing sports essays Monday thru Friday every week.  The good stuff on the clipboard has already been used in the essays from Monday thru Thursday and – truth be told – Thursday night is not a typical time for great new revelations in the sports world.  In case anyone is reading this a few days hence, today is a Friday…

There is a story afoot today based on a report from the NY Post earlier this week.  According to the report, Chris Berman may be back in a “reduced role” with ESPN during the football season this year.  According to the report, all of the wrinkles have not been ironed out yet, but the idea supposedly is:

• Chris Berman would appear on some SportsCenter programs and other NFL-related programming starting this Fall.
• More importantly, he would be part of some of ESPN’s NFL Countdown programming between now and the end of the NFL regular season.

Berman is “semi-retired” and has already committed himself to certain events on weekends during this football season.  So, he is not out there as a free agent for ESPN to pick off the vine so to speak.  However, his return to ESPN in a visible role is important for a couple of reasons:

• NFL Countdown ratings tanked last year when Berman was no longer the “host”/” traffic cop” on the program.  Sam Ponder took Berman’s place and it is never a good career move to follow a legend in a job.  From what I saw, Sam Ponder did a good job – – but she is not Chris Berman and that fact alone cost her some viewers and some credibility.  With him back in a “part-time capacity”, Sam Ponder might get a boost as it may appear that he is handing the baton to her so to speak.
• NFL Countdown ratings dropped 12% last year as compared to the year before that. One need not be a “TV-genius- in waiting” to recognize that is not a good thing…

ESPN has undergone a lot of personnel turnover in the past couple of years and many of the choices for new “faces of the franchise” have hot worked out all that well.  Recently, ESPN seems to be working to mend fences with some of its popular alumni and to get them back on the air in spot roles.  If Berman comes back, he can join Keith Olbermann as part of the “old-timers’” reunion there.  Berman and Olbermann have a long history together going all the way back to the time when both had recently graduated from college.  It might be very interesting to see the two of then hosting SportsCenter and NFL Prime Time on some weekend this year.

As the NY Post said:

• Chris Berman may be back … back … back…

There is another angle to NFL news today that is far less uplifting than the idea of Chris Berman to the airwaves.  You must recall that the NFL settled the lawsuit against it regarding concussion injuries and their long-term effects regarding long-retired players.  That settlement was more than $700M.

Well, now it seems as if claims against his escrowed fund are coming in far more frequently and for far more money per claim than had been estimated.  Originally, the thought was that about $400B in claims would be paid out in the first decade after the settlement.  It turns out that just over $500 B has been “settled out” in terms of claims in the first 16 months wherein claims could be filed.  Here are two imperatives that face former NFL players who may or may not want to seek “protection” under these protocols:

• More than 6,000 former players have undergone the baseline assessment.
•  Former players become eligible for payment based on the development of certain specific conditions, without having to demonstrate a football-related cause.

I do not want to be a callous hard-ass here, but that second item listed above gives me great pause.  I am not saying that former NFL players have gamed the system or have found ways to “defraud it”, but it sure seems to me as if the recipe for major-league abuse and profiteering is not that difficult to ascertain.

There seems to be a new “buzz phrase” going around for athletes or coaches who asked about the techniques that players may need to employ in order to “achieve their potential”.  This is the sort of pabulum everyone has come to expect from interviews near to or just after NFL teams break camp and head back to their home digs.  That does not make it any more meaningful or interesting to listen to.  Anyhow, the latest “buzz-phrase” that far too many fresh recruits to basketball and football teams have been taught to use as their go-to source of wisdom is this one:

• Our team [The Fighting Annelids] overcame obstacles that would have given Hercules pause lo those many years ago.
• Nonetheless, we/they persevered.  So, let us hear from Coach Flabeetz on this matter.
• Thank you all.  The single most important thing that our student-athletes did during the trials and tribulations of this season is that they “stayed within themselves”.

Holy Checkmate, Batman …  What other choice might those student-athletes have had?  Astral projection to the gridiron on Saturday afternoon?  Well, Caped Crusader, maybe it would not have been worse when considering the outcomes…

Finally, here is an observation by Brad Rock of the Deseret News from back in the time this year when the ESPYs filled time on the airwaves:

“Danica Patrick tweaking LeBron James at the ESPYs: ‘When LeBron hosted, he made fun of me too.  I’d say we’re even.  J.R. Smith would say, ‘We’re up by one’.”

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

 

 

 

Every year when I look at the college football menu of games for a weekend, I often see what I call “Sacrificial Lamb Games”.  Those are the kind where a minor football school gets a million-dollar payday to travel to the stadium of a Top Ten school for a “football game”.  In reality, these are glorified scrimmages; and on one hand, I can understand the financial incentive for the people at Cupcake U to take the game.  On the other hand, I rarely see any benefit in terms of learning or personal growth for the “student-athletes” at Cupcake U who get their brains beat out for 60 minutes of football.

I mention this because a reader sent me a note on Tuesday with a link to an article from Tulsa World Sports Extra.  According to this report – dated 7 August 2018 – the AD at Tulsa University has taken a pay cut and so has the head football coach and the head basketball coach.  These pay cuts have nothing to do with unfulfilled goals on the field or on the court; these pay cuts are caused by the finances in the athletic department.  Derrick Gragg is the AD at Tulsa; here is what he told Tulsa World:

“Basically, the budget reductions to me are a microcosm of what’s going on, not just at TU but across the country at a lot of different places.  We’re like a lot of other athletic departments — we’ve been asked to tighten our belt.

“We approached it with a combination of things. We did have some budget reductions. We did have some head-coaching salary reductions. My salary has been reduced the past three years. That’s the way we’ve dealt with some of that. You don’t want to negatively impact the student-athletes in any way.”

[For the record, Tulsa eliminated its golf team several years ago, so that sort of negatively impacted some of the student-athletes at the time.]

All that aside, this situation explains to me why a school like Tulsa might be more than willing to take a game or two against opponents where Tulsa has no chance to be competitive – – so long as there is a million-dollar payday attached to that shellacking.  Here is a link to the report I read in case you want more of the details.  The university officials say this is not a crisis – but it certainly sounds as if all is not peaches and cream in the athletic department.

Speaking of minor football endeavors, you may not have noticed that the Alliance of American Football (AAF) has scheduled its kick-off date for 9 February 2019.  That is correct, the AAF will play its first game(s) 6 days after the Super Bowl in Atlanta.  Do not be confused; this is not the same enterprise as Vince McMahon’s planned resurrection of the XFL; this is a totally separate venture and this one is populated and managed by people with long backgrounds in the NFL.  Bill Polian and Charlie Ebersol – son of former NBC sports maven Dick Ebersol – were heavily involved in getting things moving.  The AAF is not out to take on the NFL head on; its “vision” is that football fans suffer a let-down after the Super Bowl is over and they want to let those fans “extend their interest in football” beyond the first Sunday of February and into the Spring.

It is probably wrong to consider the AAF in the same way we think if minor league baseball leagues.  There is no plan for AAF teams to be aligned with NFL teams or to share players.  Maybe the better model to consider for the AAF is the NBA’s D-League.  Even that comparison has it flaws because many D-League teams are affiliated with specific NBA teams.  The idea behind the AAF is twofold:

1. Provide fans with quality football – not necessarily NFL quality football – at a time of the year when there is no other football for fans to consume.
2. Provide players who are not quite at the caliber of NFL players and give them a chance to develop their skills such that they may become competitive NFL-level players.

The NFL itself has tried to do something similar in the past but the World League of American Football and NFL Europe never made it.  It will be a challenge for the AAF; early on into their season, they will run into March Madness.

Here are the locations of the teams that will kick off the AAF:

• Atlanta
• Birmingham
• Memphis
• Orlando
• Phoenix
• Salt Lake City
• San Antonio
• San Diego

The AAF is going to try to “tailor” the personnel on the teams to local interest.  Bill Polian said that if Trent Richardson wants to play football again, he would hope to have him play for Birmingham in the AAF.  Steve Spurrier has already been lured out of retirement as the coach of the Orlando franchise.  Michael Vick in an offensive coordinator in the AAF; not surprisingly, he is with the Atlanta franchise.

There will be rules modifications in the AAF.  They will have a 30-second play clock (Chip Kelly would be happy with that.) and there will be no kickoffs or onside kicks.  The intent is to put a football game into a 2.5-hour time slot; if they can do that, the AAF will be attractive to TV execs.

Can the AAF make it?  Well, none of the previous “Spring Football” ideas survived for long – unless you count the USFL’s anti-trust win over the NFL in court as “survival”.  The difference here is that the AAF is not taking the NFL on as a competitor which most of the previous “Spring Football” entities sought to do.  Another difference is that the AAF is managed and populated with lots of NFL people which was not the case with many of the previous “Spring Football” enterprises.  The AAF is not a shoo-in to succeed, but it is worth following its ramp-up to kickoff next February.  The next set of “big events” for the AAF will come when the NFL cuts its camp rosters from 90 players down to 53 players; those cut downs could make 1184 football players who are at or close to “NFL-caliber” available to the AAF.  I expect a flurry of signings.

Finally, here is a question posed by Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times regarding one of the NFL Exhibition Games:

“Antonio Callaway turned a short pass into a 54-yard TD in the Browns’ exhibition opener, just days after the rookie receiver was pulled over and cited for marijuana possession.

“Just one question: If the cops can catch him, why can’t the New York Giants?”

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

 

 

As you know, I refuse to refer to NFL games in August as “Pre-Season Games” because I prefer to call them what they are.  They are Exhibition Games – or Faux Football if you prefer.  The fact that NFL teams would require me to buy two exhibition game tix as part of a season ticket package would demand that I find some other way to spend my entertainment dollars.  In this week’s Football Morning in America column at NBCSports.com, Peter King had this to say:

“How can people pay real money to see these games? I have covered this game for 34 years and said it 34 times. This game took 3 hours, 37 minutes to play, had 32 called penalties (26 accepted, for 265 yards), saw five turnovers, saw one pass from the two starting quarterbacks (Sam Bradford one, Philip Rivers zero), and showed a savior quarterback in Josh Rosen who’s got a lot of work to do. It generally bored us to tears.”

I am more than happy to associate myself with Peter King’s commentary here…

President Trump continues to weigh in on the NFL’s “Anthem Situation”.  Obviously, he can say whatever he believes about the situation, but I have to say that I wish his commentaries were more helpful than they have been.  So far, they have exacerbated the situation rather than moved it toward a resolution.  And don’t get me started on the list of things that the President ought to be focused on before worrying about if people stand or sit or kneel during the National Anthem.  Having said that, I must correct the President on one point:

• At one point, President Trump said that the players make most of the money brought in by the NFL.
• According to the extant CBA, the players get 48.5% of the national football revenue while the owners get 51%.  [I think I have read the CBA correctly on this issue but if I am off, it is not by more than one percent.]
• There is no mathematical construct using real numbers whereby 48.5% of the national revenue amounts to “most of the money brought in”.  Player salaries are a large expense item for the teams but even in aggregate, those salaries do not amount to half – let alone most – of the money that rolls in.
• #NotFakeMath…

The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton is considering an alteration of its rules for eligibility.  In addition to the current hurdles a player must cross to be elected and inducted, the HoF is not considering having the potential inductees sign a letter of intent to attend the induction ceremonies. In the pantheon of bad ideas, they should put this one in the “Petty & Feckless Wing”.

Quite obviously, this potential new hurdle to getting into the HoF is a reaction to Terrell Owens’ boycott of this year’s ceremony.  I hope no one associated with the HoF or any of its voting members tries to pretend that there is any other reason for this idea to see the light of day.  And it is a bad idea on a minimum of 2 levels:

1. It will forever be known as the “T.O. Rule”.  And because it will have that name, it will focus attention in the future on the fact the T.O. stiffed the HoF and skipped the induction ceremony.  Is that what the folks who run the Hall of Fame really want to do?  Look, T.O. is an attention-slut.  The last thing any person or entity wants to do is to make T.O. the center of attention on a recurring basis.  It is like feeding donuts to Sally Struthers…
2. Potentially worse is what will the HoF do if a player signs the Letter of Intent and shows up for all the ceremonial stuff for a couple of days before the big event and then he and his presenter decide to walk out just as it is their turn to fill the air with verbiage.  Since T.O. has claimed the “no-show” version of showing up the HoF, the next unclaimed symbolic insult would be the “walk-out”.  Does the HoF want to encourage that?

Here is what I would do regarding T.O. after his “counter-ceremony” in Chattanooga.

• I would take the pedestal in the Hall on which his bust would sit and the plaque that would cite his accomplishments that got him elected to the Hall of Fame and leave them empty.  A small handwritten note might be taped to the vacancies saying that the player elected to be here in the Hall of Fame decided that he would prefer not to be part of the Hall of Fame.
• Then I would melt down the bust and the plaque and move on …

Let me focus your attention on some MLB attendance issues.  As of today, the Miami Marlins have the worst average attendance in MLB at 9,677 fans per game.  Frankly, I am not all that surprised here; the Marlins traded away just about every good player they had (except for JT Realmuto) and they could find a way to lose 100 games this year.  Add to that toxic mix the straight-up fact that Miami is not a great sports town unless one of its teams is in championship winning mode.

Second worst attendance in MLB is Tampa Bay.  The Rays have annual problems drawing fans for a variety of reasons and this year is no exception.  The Rays average 14,683 fans per game.  Once again, there is no shock at seeing the Rays at or near the bottom of the attendance standings.

Here is the surprise.  The team third from the bottom in average attendance (18,409 per game) is the Oakland A’s.  The A’s have been very low on this kind of list for the last decade or so, but this year the A’s are contending for the division title and for a wild-card slot in the playoffs.  And they still only draw flies.  What makes this even worse is that the A’s are drawing almost 1000 fewer fans per game this year than they did last year.

Finally, Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle had this to say about the Oakland Coliseum – – and it might explain in part the A’s attendance woes:

“There was a fire at the Coliseum, but a convenient sewage overflow put it out. “

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

 

 

We are approaching that time on the sports calendar when just about anything related to college or pro football dominates the newsfeed; and, to be sure, we have news in that quadrant of the sports cosmos today.  [I plan to spend plenty of time tomorrow on college football stuff.]  Nevertheless, this is still baseball season and we are getting to the point where the pennant races and playoff races are solidifying.  So, let’s take a look …

1. The American League is not particularly exciting for the moment.  It would not be surprising to see 2 AL teams win 100 or more games this year and it would not be surprising to see 3 other AL teams lose 100 or more games this year.  The AL is widely dispersed when it comes to the “haves” and “have nots” this year.
2. I am ready to call the Red Sox and the Indians as division champions.  With a tad less certainty, I will call the Astros the AL West champions.
3. The Yankees may win 100 games this year and be a wild-card team; the only real mystery left in the AL is who will be the AL West champ and which team will be the runner-up there to meet the Yankees in a 1-game playoff.
4. The National League is far more interesting.  No team is in a position where they are comfortably atop their division such that they can coast for a week or so.
5. There are 8 teams within 5 games of one another in the three divisions.  It looks as if those races will go down to the final week – at least – and maybe the final day of the season.  If forced to pick now, I will take the Dodgers, Cubs and Braves to win their divisions with the D-Backs and Brewers as the wild-cards.

The 2018 Yankees suffer from being in the same division as the unbelievably successful Red Sox.  As of this weekend, the Yankees merely projected to win 99 games which in most seasons means a division crown.  Nonetheless, the Yankees find themselves almost 10 games out of the division race but comfortably in a wild-card seat.  The hope for a significant race in the AL East that might come down to the “final days” when the Yankees and Red Sox face each other in a 3-game series is this:

• The Yankees have a pillow-soft schedule between now and the middle of September.  They could go on an epic tear…
• The next 20 games for the Yankees are against teams with either a losing record for the season or a team that is 2 games over .500 for the season.  It is not unreasonable to expect the Yankees to go 14-6 against that competition.
• Then the Yankees have 6 games against the Mariners and the A’s.  Those teams are solid and strong this year; let’s give the Yankees a split there.
• After that 6-game competitive stretch, the Yankees then play 6 more “soft schedule games” before a 3-game set with the Red Sox.  Then it is 7 more games against the Orioles and Rays before the final 3-game set with the Red Sox.  For these 10 games, assign the Yankees 6 wins.
•             By my calculation, the Yankees could enter that final series with the Red Sox with 97 wins (conservatively).  So, it is possible the Yankees might win 100 games in 2018 and finish “up the track” in their division.  That does not happen very often…

Jayson Werth is not down with what he calls the “super nerds” in baseball.  To say that he thinks “Advanced Analytics” have gone too far in the game would be a monumental understatement.  If you Google “Jayson Werth baseball nerds”, you will find dozens of links that will lay out his position on this subject – – and other links that will take exception with his position.

In the extreme, I think Werth is correct.  Obviously, some managers overuse and overthink the data that is available to them during a game.  More malignantly, some managers might ignore reality and just look at “numbers” in key situations.  If there is an at-bat with runners on and the game on the line, I don’t really care what the numbers say; if Derek Jeter is the guy scheduled to come to the plate, it does not matter what guy you have on the bench with a better WAR or with a better average against the pitcher on the mound.  In that circumstance, you let Jeter hit and go with the result.

Scott Ostler of the SF Chronicle seems to have the same respect for advanced analytics that I have.  I think they have value for a manager, but I do not think they should be taken as gospel truths.  Here are some comments from Scott Ostler on that subject:

“Here’s a serious idea for a cool new baseball stat, because Lord knows we need more:  The size of the miss.  When a batter swings and misses, by how many inches did he miss?”

And …

“Also, why can’t we get a stat on which umpires are the most/least accurate at calling balls and strikes?  So fans can boo intelligently.”

Hey, I grew up going to baseball games in Philly (both the Phillies and the A’s) and the concept of “boo intelligently” is not something that immediately resonates with the core fans there.  But now that I am an educated and rational adult, I can get my arms around Professor Ostler’s concept.

Finally, here is another baseball commentary from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle on a totally different aspect of the game:

“The A’s are selling beer for $4.  So a family of five Oakland fans can drink for what one person pays at the Giants’ ballpark.  Caveat: the Giants’ $19.25 brewski is “craft” beer.  Meaning it was not brewed in the training-room whirlpool bath.

“Four bucks for a beer?  I’ll go even on days when there’s no game.”

Me too…

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

 

 

In a column last week in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot, Bob Molinaro offered up some career advice for enterprising young techies who want to get their foot in the door in the sports world”

“Sign of the times: In the wake of three big-leaguers expressing regrets for homophobic and racists tweets written as teenagers, it’s past time pro franchises – and perhaps colleges – hired somebody to do nothing but comb through every player’s social media and delete old, embarrassing messages. Wait and see: Tweet hunters will be the newest sports growth industry.”

I think Professor Molinaro is on to something here.  There are two trends in the US these days that contribute to the potential growth in this field:

1. Gotcha America:  In this milieu, one searches for and gets credit for finding a previously unseen flaw in a public figure and springing it on him/her in a very public setting
2. Aggrieved America:  In this milieu, everyone reserves for himself/herself a God-given right to be offended by anything even marginally untoward done by a public figure in his/her past or present. Moreover, inhabitants of Aggrieved America also declare their right to let everyone else know how mightily offended they are.

When someone finds an “offensive” Tweet or Facebook posting from long ago for a public figure, that becomes the confluence of Gotcha America and Aggrieved America and that leads to a maelstrom of misery for the offender.  It matters not how long ago the transgression was or if the transgression has been repeated as a continuing pattern.  In the maelstrom of misery, the only thing that is certain is that the offender must be vilified and shamed in the current moment for happenings in the past.  Sadly, this makes me believe that Molinaro’s idea for a new career field has legs.

Switching gears …  The NBA announced its Christmas Day games this week.  There will be 5 of them.  Anyone who has ever thought about the NBA for more than a millisecond knew what one of the games would be; so, the announcement of the 5-game menu had only 4 games that might have surprised anyone.

1. The Warriors versus the LeBrons – errr the Lakers:  Everyone saw that one coming.  By the way, given the rest of the Lakers’ roster for 2018/19, calling them the LA LeBrons makes plenty of sense.  It is about the only reason to pay attention to the team.
2. The Knicks versus the Bucks:  The NBA puts the Knicks on every year on Christmas Day.  I guess it is about getting fans in the NY market interested in tuning in because the Knicks are absolutely irrelevant.  Kristaps Porzingas will not be ready to play in December so who outside of NYC cares to see the rest of that roster?  OK, Giannis Antetokounmpo is always fun to watch – – but there could be opponents a lot more interesting.
3. The Jazz versus the Blazers:  This should be an interesting game; both teams made the playoffs last year and the Jazz made it to the second round.  Like Antetokounmpo, Donovan Mitchell is always fun to watch.
4. The Thunder versus the Rockets:  This game should be interesting and important; these are two of the best teams in the Western Conference.  Sadly, I think the storyline here will be Melo versus his old thunder teammates.  If you tune in, just ignore that meaningless storyline.  Melo was a non-entity in OKC last year and is not going to be a pivotal player in Houston this year; he has reached his sell-by date.
5. The Sixers versus the Celtics:  This should be a good game and an important game.  This year, these two teams can re-kindle an NBA rivalry from “way back when”.  It just might be that these are the two teams playing for the Eastern Conference championship next June now that LeBron has taken his talents to the Western Conference.

Data are in for the second month of legal sports wagering in Delaware.  Here is the bottom line:

• From 25 June through 29 July, wagers totaled approximately $8.2M and bettors collected $7.7M.
• Net profit for the sportsbooks and the State of Delaware was $461,226.
• Profit is split 50/50 between the State and the casinos.

The Arizona Cardinals seem to be taking their lead from baseball teams this year.  Often, I chronicle here some of the culinary catastrophes offered up at ballyards; this year the Cardinals have one for their football patrons.  Before revealing the “recipe” for this bad boy, the overview goes like this.  It is a hamburger-based dish that has 11 ingredients, weighs 7 pounds and costs $75.  Put on a bib and grab the Rolaids; here are the makings for The Gridiron Burger:

• 5 hamburger patties each weighing 1/3 of a pound
• 5 beef hotdogs – pay no attention to what parts of the cow are in there
• 5 brats – sausages not children
• 20 slices of American cheese – don’t want none of that foreign stuff
• 8 slices of bacon – seems light on the bacon, no?
• 8 chicken tenders – why not?
• 12 oz fries – just to be sure we have enough fat and carbs here
• Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles – – and – –
• “Tank Sauce” – whatever that might or might not be
• All of this is stacked in the middle of a 10-inch hamburger bun

This baby probably has the caloric content ingested by a family in Darfur in a week. But the Cardinals think the Gridiron Burger should present a challenge to their fans.  Anyone who can eat this entire thing in 60 minutes – by himself or herself – will get a free Arizona Cardinals jersey and will get his/her picture displayed on the stadium big screen.  Joey Chestnut,

• Come on down …!

Finally, since I started this rant with a comment by Bob Molinaro, let me close with another of his observations:

“Up North: Sure, Johnny Manziel threw four interceptions in his debut with the Montreal Alouettes, but that did give him an opportunity to make two tackles.”

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

 

 

When news broke yesterday that the NCAA would make changes in their rules about basketball players and how they made decisions regarding the NBA draft, I thought that the NCAA had been in communication with John Wooden from wherever John Wooden’s spirit may be in the cosmos.  One of Wooden’s favorite aphorisms was:

“It’s the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen.”

Starting now, the NCAA will allow “elite players” to sign with agents prior to the NBA Draft and will allow those players to return to school with their eligibility intact in the event that they are not selected in the NBA Draft.  Moreover, it appears that agents will be allowed to pay expenses for travel to the Draft for the players and their families.

Even though this is not the reform that I would have favored regarding college basketball, I have to give the NCAA credit for taking seriously the recommendations of the Blue-Ribbon Panel – chaired by Condoleezza Rice – and making changes to a system that was outdated and ineffective.  Even though I remain unconvinced that the FBI probe of college basketball is an appropriate use of Federal tax revenues, I do recognize that the combination of the NBA’s insistence on a player being a full year out of high school plus the NCAA’s antiquated ideas about amateur student-athletes has torn the fabric of college basketball apart.  The changes announced yesterday do not fix the problems once and for all, but they are a small step in the right direction and the NCAA needs a pat on the back today.

As Coach Wooden said, the “little details are vital.”  Here is a little detail that needs to be spelled out clearly:

• This change in eligibility status applies to “elite players”.  So … how does one select the “elite players” from the “rest of the herd”?

I will be shocked if this selection process is not assigned to a committee of sorts and committees bring together a bunch of people all of whom have agendas.

1. Will agents be allowed to be on that committee?  I hope not.
2. Will college coaches/ADs be allowed to be on that committee?  I hope not.
3. Will anyone associated with AAU basketball be allowed on that committee?  I hope not.
4. Will anyone associated with Nike, Adidas, UnderArmour, etc. be allowed in that committee?  I hope not.

So, who will be on that committee who brings knowledge and credibility to the table but not a glaring conflict of interest?  Identifying such a group will be a challenge but I have a nominee for the Chairman of the Elite Player Identification Committee:

• I nominate the former College Basketball Fan-in-Chief … President Barack Obama.
• The NCAA can fill in the rest of the seats at the table.

The folks who run the WNBA took a few days to arrive at the decision to call the game between the Las Vegas Asses and the Washington Mystics – – the one where the Asses pulled a no-show – – a forfeited game.  Had they done otherwise, they would have opened Pandora’s Box with regard to other teams deciding to pull similar stunts in the name of “health and safety” and they would have diminished the already tarnished image of the WNBA.  Here is a statement from Lisa Borders, the president of the WNBA:

“We worked extensively with both the Aces and Mystics to come up with a workable solution.  In the end, given the limited number of days remaining in the season and arena availability, we decided to delay the start of the game until 8 p.m.  to give the Aces as much time as possible between their arrival in Washington, D.C., and tipoff.

”While not ideal, it was the best available solution to accommodate both our fans and the scheduling challenges. Since the Aces chose not to play, the result is a forfeit.”

The Asses and their coach, Bill Laimbeer, disagree with the decision to forfeit the game; here is what Laimbeer had to say:

“We are disappointed with the league’s decision, but our focus is now on winning as many games as we can in our drive for our first playoff appearance.”

I recognize that Laimbeer has no choice to say what he did there, but I hope he recognizes in his gut that the league had no other choice in the matter.

Speaking obliquely about pro leagues and their schedules, the NBA announced that it will play 2 games in Mexico City next season.  The Orlando Magic will be in both games that will take place in mid-December at the Mexico City Arena.

• Dec 13:  Magic vs. Chicago Bulls
• Dec 15:  Magic vs. Utah Jazz

Absent an Act of God like an earthquake, I am confident that the teams will show up and play those games despite any travel rigors they may encounter.

Finally, here is a comment from Greg Cote in the Miami Herald regarding Orlando:

“NFL announced the 2019 Pro Bowl would be returning to Orlando, and nobody cared.”

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

 

 

Everyone knows the adage:

“Tis a lesson you should heed:

Try, try, try again.

If at first you don’t succeed,

Try, try, try again.^”

Isaac Galloway clearly took that message to heart as a youngster.  Galloway played minor league baseball from 2008 to 2018 before he made his major league debut with the Miami Marlins a little over a week ago.  In the minors, Galloway played for 5 teams from the Greensboro Grasshoppers to the New Orleans Baby Cakes.  He was in 947 games and came to bat 3401 times.  His minor league batting average was .251.  Nonetheless, he got a call up to the Marlins this year and has gone 2 for 7 in his major league career.  About now, I suspect that the adage going through Isaac Galloway’s mind is:

“Good things come to him who waits…”

Over the past week or so, I have commented on Urban Meyer and Larry Fedora as two college football coaches who are in the news for the wrong reasons these days.  However, there is another college coach who deserves a bit of scrutiny.  Dan Mullen is the new guy at Florida; he did well at Mississippi St. and Florida called when it needed a coach.  Mullen proclaimed that he had a “no guns policy” for the team which sounds like a good idea to me.  Unfortunately, Mullen had to explain last week that his “no guns policy” was not quite what it sounded like.  When a Florida player was found at a traffic stop to have a loaded AR-15 in the back seat of the vehicle, here is how Mullen explained his “no guns policy”:

“What we do … is really to educate them on weapons, on having guns. Why would you have it? What’s the purpose of having it?”

Mullen emphasized that owning guns is perfectly legal in the US and that the player was not arrested because the weapon was not concealed, and it did not violate the open-carry laws in Florida.  He then added this to his explanation of the policy:

“It’s a no-weapons policy in certain situations of how to be educated to not have (issues).  No weapons, that’s easy to remember. If I write out all the different (scenarios) — no weapons in these situations or have a weapon for a hunting situation, if I’m doing this, I store it at this location, I keep it here, I have gun safety rules and knowledge — that’s not a quick catch to them to register in their mind. Does that make sense?”

Well coach, it does make sense – – unless you previously told the world that it was a “no guns policy”.  If it were actually a “no guns policy”, then there would be no need at all for any of the stuff that you say you are trying to do with your players.  Based on your clarification here, I would conclude that your “no guns policy” is in fact a “gun education policy” and those are two VERY different things.

As the first round of NFL Exhibition Games get underway this week, former Cowboys’ WR, Dez Bryant remains unsigned.  Some folks say that Father Time has eroded his skills to a point where he is not worth the baggage that he would bring to a locker room.  After all, he referred to one of his former Cowboys’ teammates as a “snake” recently implying that the “snake” was part of a cabal to convince Jerry Jones to cut Bryant from the team.  Let’s just agree that the accusation has not been conclusively proven to date.

I bring this up because this situation seems like the Colin Kaepernick situation to me.  Both players are out of work and it is not out of the question for me to recognize that both players would bring those “dreaded distractions” to any locker room they inhabit – – albeit the “Bryant distractions” would be very different from the “Kaepernick distractions”.  Notwithstanding that parallelism, I have not yet heard anyone say that Bryant is being “blackballed” from the NFL.  Maybe it’s just me, but I find that interesting…

Bob Molinaro asked an interesting question in the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot recently:

“Musical chairs: You think some of the Nationals’ failures this season – beyond injuries – might be the residue of having had five managers in eight years?”

I think there is another dimension to the problems the Nats face this year – and in recent years.  The revolving door of managers does not help the situation, but I believe the root of the problem is deeper than that.  I think that the Washington Nationals team – a team that is extremely gifted with physical talent – has been coddled for far too long.  The team’s highly talented players do not always “give full effort” [I am being polite here.] and the team as a whole does not excel in fundamental baseball.

• [Aside:  To be sure, there are exceptions.  Max Scherzer never dogs it.  When he takes the ball, he gives everything he has every time.  He is not the norm for this team.]

A problem that has faced previous Nats’ managers is that they have allowed that sort of lackadaisical play to go unchecked and unpunished to the point that it happens more than weekly now for the team.  There has been no accountability and it sure looks to me as if the young – and very talented – players have come to believe that it is OK for them to hustle on those occasions when the spirit moves them to do so – – but sometimes the spirit stays in the clubhouse.

When I read Molinaro’s question, I sent him an e-mail telling him that I think what the Nats really need is an ass-kicker for a manager.  I told him that Billy Martin would be perfect – – except that Billy Martin is dead and therefore not available for interviews.  If I were the owner of the Nats, I would tell the GM to interview Ozzie Guillen for the job and after the interview to come and tell me why Ozzie would not be a good choice.  In case, that last sentence is not clear, I have a suspicion that part of the “coddling environment” for the team originates in the GM’s office.

Finally, here is a comment from Scott Ostler in the SF Chronicle:

“Former NFL running back Ricky Williams, who once took a break from smoking weed to swear to me that he was done smoking weed, is selling his own line of weed products, ‘Real Wellness by Ricky Williams.’  I hope it’s better than the line of baloney he used to sell.”

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

 

 

Yesterday, in reading Peter King’s column Football Morning in America, I ran across this statement:

“Cleveland had 11 first-round picks in the eight drafts between 2009 and 2016. None are left on the team.”

He mentioned this in the context of the recent trade that sent WR Corey Coleman from the Browns to the Bills for a 7^th round draft pick in 2020.  Coleman was indeed taken in the first round by the Browns; they used the pick they got from the Eagles when they let the Eagles move up to #2 in the draft to take Carson Wentz.  Just so there is no misunderstanding, getting a 7^th round pick two years from now for a player is roughly equivalent to getting a used kicking tee and an Egg McMuffin.

I know not to doubt Peter King when he makes a declaration of that sort, but I did have to go and see who the Browns’ first round picks were from 2009 to 2016.  I wondered if the guys were just players who did not work out for the Browns or if they washed out of the league.  So …

1. 2009:  Alex Mack played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Falcons.  He has been to the Pro Bowl 5 times
2. 2010:  Joe Haden played 7 years with the Browns; now with the Steelers.  He has been to the Pro Bowl twice.
3. 2011:  Phil Taylor played 4 years with the Browns until they released him.  He is out of the NFL.
4. 2012:  Brandon Weeden played 2 years with the Browns until they released him.  He is out of the NFL.
5. 2012:  Trent Richardson played 1 year with the Browns until they traded him to the Colts.  He is out of the NFL
6. 2013:  Barkevious Mingo played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is in the Seahawks’ camp this summer.
7. 2014:  Johnny Manziel played 2 years with the Browns.  He is now in the CFL
8. 2014:  Justin Gilbert played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now serving a 1-year suspension for violation of the NFL substance abuse policy.
9. 2015:  Cam Erving played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now with the Chiefs.
10. 2015:  Danny Shelton played 3 years with the Browns until they traded him.  He is now with the Pats.
11. 2016:  Corey Coleman played 2 years with the Browns until they traded him to the Bills a few days ago.

That is a monument to poor scouting that would be difficult to replicate in the modern era of football.  In fact, that span of ineptitude poses an interesting topic for debate/discussion:

Which draft was worse in terms of first round selections?

1. The 2014 draft that produced Manziel and Gilbert – – or – –
2. The 2012 draft that produced Weeden and Richardson.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is not an easy choice; they were both miserable.

Recall back at the ACC Media Day, UNC coach Larry Fedora ranted about how there was a war on football and that if football failed America would go down with it.  Let’s just say that I was not the only commentator to ridicule him for that level of hyperbole.  Well, Larry Fedora’s UNC team is back in the news and not in a good way.

UNC changed its shoe company this year and part of the deal was that Nike gave athletes specially designed Air Jordans; these were not going to be sold in stores or online.  Well, a bunch of the players turned around and sold those shoes and that is an NCAA violation.  So, UNC has suspended 13 players for anywhere between 1 and 4 games this season and the starting QB is one of the players on suspension.

UNC was 3-9 last year.  If the Tar Heels go 3-9 again this year and have to suffer through the ignominy of this sort of blockheadedness on the part of their “student-athletes”, Larry Fedora will no need to worry about any war on football; he will need to look for a job

• And isn’t it special that “The Heels” are in hot water for improperly selling shoes…?

Another college coach has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2018 season.  Jimmye Laycock has been the head football coach at William and Mary for 38 years; that makes him the Division I coach who has been in his job for the longest time.  William and Mary has won the Division I-AA championship twice in his tenure and his record going into this season is 245-189-2.  Laycock is also an alum of William and Mary.  My guess is that if he ran for mayor of Williamsburg, he would be a formidable candidate.

Bonne chance, Jimmye Laycock.

The Dallas Cowboys welcomed Randy Gregory to camp after he had been suspended by the NFL for a year due to substance abuse violations.  This is merely the latest in a series of suspensions for the same reason.  A couple of weeks ago, Jerry Jones said without any modifiers that if one of the Cowboys did not stand on the sidelines for the national anthem, that player would not play for the Cowboys.  So, a serial drug abuser is OK but …

Finally, Brad Rock had this observation in the Deseret News recently about the PAC-12 Media Day:

“Heisman candidate Bryce Love skipped the Pac-12’s media day, saying he was too involved in studies to attend.

“Ute fans are already telling him, ‘Don’t forget the Oct. 6 Stanford-Utah game will be during midterms’!”

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

 

 

In case you did not know, there is a WNBA team in Las Vegas – the Las Vegas Aces.  As far as I am concerned, from this point forward, they should be called the Las Vegas Asses.  The team pulled a no-show for a scheduled game against the Washington Mystics over the weekend because of travel problems.  You can understand a team not showing up to play a scheduled game in a situation where they cannot get to the venue; that was not the case here; the Las Vegas Asses were in DC.

The team took about 24 hours to get to Washington meaning they were in airports and on aircraft for a very long time, but they arrived in DC about 5 hours before the scheduled tip-off.  Instead of trying to make the best of things – and look to see if they could find a voodoo doll that would cast spells on the offending airline – they had a team meeting and called their union and decided to pull a no-show because of “health and safety reasons”.

To say that was a bush league stunt would be a compliment.  The WNBA is a minor league at best; it strives for attention and recognition – but not this kind of recognition.  Let me be clear; when I say the WNBA is a minor league I mean just that.  Minor league baseball teams play to equal or larger crowds; minor league hockey games draw crowds equivalent to what the WNBA draws.  Every time I read or hear one of the WNBA players talk about professionalism and how dedicated they are and how they should be seen as professional athletes, my answer will be:

• The Las Vegas Asses

Minor league baseball teams travel by bus from place to place.  Look at any minor league team schedule and you will see bus trips that cannot be comfortable for the team – – but they show up, grit their teeth and play the scheduled games.  And do not even begin to compare a delayed flight with the travel rigors encountered by minor league hockey players in Canada in the Western Hockey League or the Ontario Hockey League.

Having just mentioned Canadian sports, let me make an awkward transition here to the Canadian Football League where Johnny Manziel made a disastrous debut for the Montreal Alouettes last Friday night.  He threw 4 INTs in the first half – the first one coming on his first pass attempt – and the Alouettes lost the game by 41 points.  Ironically, the opponent was the team that just traded Manziel to the Alouettes earlier that week.  To be fair, Manziel had all of 4 practice sessions with his new team before hitting the field Friday night and that was his first live action football in more than a year.  Nonetheless, Johnny Football looked more like Johnny Faulty – – or even Johnny Fatal.

The only positive spin I can put on this would be that at the current exchange rate, 4 Canadian INTs only equals 3 American INTs.  That is the best I can do.  Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel turns out to be a gorilla with a flashlight.

The Urban Meyer Saga continues to evolve – but it is not getting any prettier.  Brad Rock covered Utah football for the Deseret News back when Urban Meyer was the coach there – before his time at Florida where he won a national championship.  He wrote a column for that paper last week about Meyer’s time at Utah and included comments from players who were on Meyer’s teams there.  This is the sort of historical perspective that I have not seen in any of the “national reporting” on the current mess.  Here is a link to Brad Rock’s column; I think it is well-written and deserves to be read in its entirety.

Over the weekend, lots of commentators on the Urban Meyer Saga expressed surprise that Meyer changed his story thereby “proving” that he lied to the media and the public at the Big-10 media fest to kick off the football season.  Calm down everyone; let me lay this out in simple declarative sentences for you:

• Football coaches lie.  They lie all the time.  They lie to recruits.  They lie to parents of recruits.  They lie to the press.  They lie about academic progress.  They lie about injuries.  They lie about player suspensions.  They lie about opponents’ strength.
• Lying is a critical skill for football coaches.  Truthful football coaches will not succeed.  Lying can become a way of life.

So … when Urban Meyer was asked a question at Big-10 media day about domestic abuse allegations against one of his coaches, he did what comes naturally to a successful football coach.  He lied.  That is not an admirable thing, but it is a totally understandable thing.  That is what football coaches do all the time.

In the media frenzy to pile on Urban Meyer, there seems to me to be an under-reported aspect to the story.

• The abuse victim says that Urban Meyer’s wife, Shelley, knew of the abuse incidents.  Assume that is absolutely true for a moment here…
• The reporting focus has been that if she knew, then Urban Meyer must have known also.  More than likely correct.  HOW-EVAH [/Stephen A. Smith]
• Shelley Meyer is a Registered Nurse and she is an Instructor of Clinical Practice at Ohio State.
• Two pillars of nursing ethics are non-malfeasance (doing no harm to the patient) and beneficence (doing the right thing for the patient).
• It would seem to me that Shelley Meyer had a professional obligation to report and act on her knowledge of abuse here AND that as an employee of THE Ohio State University, she had a responsibility to make all of this known.

Again, I want to be clear.  Neither Urban Meyer nor Shelley Meyer abused the victim here; neither is the source of her pain and suffering.  Nevertheless, given their positions and given their employer, they each had an obligation to alert others to the situation with the intention to prevent any further abusive situations.  Based on the reporting to date, it would appear that neither one of them discharged that responsibility in an efficient or effective manner.

Finally, here are two observations from sportswriters about the Urban Meyer Saga from over the weekend:

“Death Valley, Calif., recorded the hottest month on record, with an average of 108 degrees in July.

“Though Urban Meyer’s seat at Ohio State is already threatening to break it.”  [Dwight Perry, Seattle Times]

And …

“The only way Urban Meyer should be allowed to coach again is if he fires his wife.”  [Scott Ostler, SF Chronicle]

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