College Basketball Season Has Begun

The college basketball season has begun, and fans will not have to wait a moment longer to see the first upset of a Pre-Season Top Ten team.  Tom Izzo and Michigan State were ranked #4 in the pre-season polls; they invited James Madison to come to East Lansing for an early season contest.  Sparty was favored by 16.5 points with Money Line odds of minus-1600 but JMU took the game to OT and won outright 79-76.  Yes, this was an upset that had to surprise Michigan St. fans and those who backed them at the betting window.  But I remembered that JMU was a good team last year, so I went to check the record:

• Last year was the first year that James Madison played Sun Belt Conference basketball.
• Their record in conference was 12-6 and their overall record was 22-11.
• The Sun Belt Conference is not the Big-10 but a team that wins 22 games is pretty good no matter what conference they are in.

Here are three telling stats that reveal how Michigan St. managed to lose this game:

• The five starters for the Spartans shot 0 for 17 from three-point range.
• Overall, Michigan St. shot 1 for 20 from three-point range and only 26 for 72 from the field (36.1%).
• From the foul line, Michigan St. was a measly 23 of 37 (62.2%).

Moving on …  Another sporting event began last weekend.  The first round of the Canadian Football League (CFL) playoffs took place.  In this first round, the results were pure chalk:

• In the East, Montreal (12-6 in regular season games) hosted Hamilton (8-10).  The Alouettes were 4.5-point favorites and easily won and covered by a score of 27-12.
• In the West, BC (12-6) was an 8-point favorite to beat Calgary (6-12) and managed to cover with a score of 41-30.
• Two teams had a BYE for the first round.  Those teams were Toronto in the East and Winnipeg in the West.

On Saturday afternoon, November 11^th, the Montreal Alouettes will visit the Toronto Argonauts to determine the Eastern Division representative in the Gray Cup game to be held in Hamilton on Sunday November 19^th.  Here are a couple things to know about this matchup:

• Toronto’s regular season home record this year was 9-0.  The Argonauts were 16-2 overall.
• These two teams have played 3 times in 2023 and Toronto has won all three games by a cumulative score of 97-57.
• Toronto is a 9.5-point favorite here with a Total Line at 50.5 points.

Later in the evening on November 11^th, the BC Lions will travel to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers; the winner will be the Western Division representative in the Gray Cup game.  Hers are a couple things to know about this game:

• Winnipeg’s regular season home record this year was 8-1.  The Blue Bombers were 14-4 overall.
• Winnipeg is the highest scoring team in the CFL averaging 33 points per game.
• These teams met twice in 2023 and Winnipeg won both games by a combined score of 84-40.
• The Blue Bombers are a 4.5-point favorite in the game with a Total Line set at 49.5 points.

Switching gears …  Bayern Munich is a team in the German Bundesliga – – the top level of soccer in Germany.  As of this morning, they are in second place in that league only two points behind the current leader, Leverkusen.  I mention this because I ran across a report that said that Bayern Munich chose not to renew a “sleeve sponsorship deal” with Qatar Airways.

• [Aside:  The first thing I had to do was to find out what a “sleeve sponsorship deal” was.  Turns out that Qatar Airways pays Bayern Munich 20-million euros a year for the right to have the name “Qatar Airways” printed on the tops of the sleeves of the players’ jerseys.]

The next thing that caught my attention in the report of this decision – – after I got past the idea that such a sponsorship could possibly be worth that much cash to the sponsor – – was that the report said this was a “victory for the fans”.  It did not make sense to me that fans would want the team to have less money to throw around on players and facilities, so I kept reading.  This decision by the club was in response to protests by fans who are also activists for international human rights and those fan-activists do not appreciate Qatar’s record along that dimension.

When/if I ever find a Bayern Munich game on TV, I will try to remember to look for the blank spot on the sleeves of the players’ jerseys – – or to look for what new sponsor the team acquired for that now-available real estate.

Finally, apropos of nothing, let me close here with two views of the opera:

“The opera … is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.”  [H. L. Mencken}

And …

“People are wrong when they say that opera isn’t what it used to be.  It is what it used to be.  That’s what’s wrong with it.”  [Noel Coward]

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