Just “Stuff” Today

Early in the MLB playoffs, I mentioned a Houston entrepreneur – – known as Mattress Mack – – who bet $10M on the Astros to win the World Series sometime before the end of the baseball regular season.  That winning bet will pay him a reported $75M and the Wall Street Journal says that is the largest legal wagering payoff on record.  The winner runs a furniture store in Houston and most of his payout will go to customers because he used his wager as a sales promotion:

• Customers who bought $3000 or more worth of furniture/mattresses/etc. from his store during a specified time will get all their money back now that the Astros won the Series.  In essence, those customers were betting on the Astros too.
• More than 18,000 people qualified for the refund so Mattress Mack is going to use most of his winnings paying out the refunds that were promised.

I have often mentioned here the “reader in Houston” who is a fountain of sports historical information and – – truth be told – – who is someone who has been known to place a wager now and then on a sporting event.  No, the “reader in Houston” is not Mattress Mack; but it came as no surprise at all to me when the “reader in Houston” told me that he and Mattress Mack were friends.

Next up … the FIFA World Cup is less than two weeks from its start and there is more news to report.  Recall that the authorities there have already warned people coming to Qatar for the games that public consumption or possession of alcohol is illegal in Qatar but that there will be “designated drinking areas” during the tournament.  Officials have warned fans coming for the games that they will be looking for people trying to smuggle alcohol into the country.

• Memo to World Cup fans:  Do not poke the bear; my sense is that these folks are very serious about this issue.  Does the name Brittney Griner mean anything to you?

But there is more.  Qatar has been sharply criticized by various human rights organizations over issues such as:

• Laws that discriminate against LGBTQ folks [Aside:  People who are in the LGBTQ community should read the Memo to World Cup fans above…]
• Dangerous and exploitative conditions for foreign workers who constructed tournament venues

Now, there are reports that the officials in Qatar are going to “compensate” certain fans to disseminate positive news and messages pertaining to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.  I have not found any reporting that states definitively how many fans will be “compensated” nor how much “compensation” they might receive for their positive postings, but reports do say that some of the fans who will be part of this effort come from European countries such as Belgium, France and Holland.  I did read one report that said the “compensation” would be in the form of reimbursed travel and lodging costs but did not find that level of specificity anywhere else.

There is an English word for painting a positive rosy picture by paying “reporters” to promulgate said positive rosy picture.  I believe that word is “propaganda”.  I am not saying here that one should automatically disbelieve any sort of “happy news” that comes from the FIFA World Cup games in Qatar, but I do think these reports should be an alert not to overreact to “positive news” and/or “negative news” that may originate from protest groups who may not be “compensated” for their “reporting” but who do have an axe to grind.

There is another soccer-related incident in motion this morning.  A former women’s soccer coach at Loyola-Marymount University has filed a wrongful termination suit against the school.  The coach alleges that she “encountered a split loyalty” from the players and the athletic staff from the time she was hired and that someone on the Athletic Department staff told the coach that he (the staff member) did not care if the women’s soccer team was successful or unsuccessful.  The lawsuit contains all the elements of suits of this genre including:

• Breach of contract
• Defamation
• Infliction of emotional distress
• Retaliation.

So, why is this matter interesting?  I was ready to send this report to the Recycle Bin until I read about the program at Loyola Marymount.  The coach was hired at the end of 2019.  In the abbreviated 2020 season the Lady Lions had a 1-7-1 record and the overall record for the team under the coach’s direction until she was fired in October 2021 was 1-26-1.  Do the math here…

Obviously, I have zero insight regarding the actions that resulted in the alleged injuries inflicted on the plaintiff here, but I am confident that I would not survive the voir dire process to be seated on the jury in this matter…

The other “coach firing” story of the moment is the Indy Colts firing Frank Reich after the Colts’ most recent loss.  Reich’s regular season record in Indy is 40-33-1 and it certainly seems to me that the reason fir his firing is that he has been unable to find wining ways with retread QBs.  Since taking over the job in 2018, Reich had Andrew Luck at QB for one season, but Luck retired at age 29 just before the 2019 season.  Since then, the Colts’ front office has been in a frenzy to replace Luck and here are the starting QBs they gave Reich to work with:

• Jacoby Brisset and Brian Hoyer in 2019
• Philip Rivers in 2020
• Carson Wentz in 2021
• Matt Ryan and Sam Ehlinger in 2022.

In addition to QB woes this year, the Colts have not had Jonathan Taylor at 100% for the whole season.  So, yes; the Colts are struggling, and their offense is woeful at best.  Nevertheless, I do not think that is entirely Frank Reich’s fault.  The Colts hand the job to Jeff Saturday as the interim coach.  Saturday was a Pro Bowl caliber player for the Colts; no one can deny his on-the-field credentials.  However, his coaching experience includes one entry; he was the head coach for Hebron Christian Academy.  I may not have NFL coaching credentials, but I am confident in saying that it is a big step up in complexity from Hebron Christian Academy to the NFL.

Bonne chance, Jeff Saturday.

Finally, since much of today’s rant dealt with the sport of soccer – – obliquely – – let me close with this definition from The Official Dictionary of Sarcasm:

“Football:  An English sport in which the fans could kick the ass of just any of the players.”

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