Month: March 2024

The Romans called today the Ides of March.  In honor of a momentous event on this day in 44 BC, remember to enjoy a Caesar Salad with your dinner this evening…

The frenzy of NFL free agent signings has calmed down a bit since early this week, but over the past day or two there has been some potentially important player movement:

• Derrick Henry signed with the Ravens.  When you pair Henry with Lamar Jackson, the Ravens now have a certified “thunder and lightning” running game.  I think this signing is a big deal making a very good team (Ravens) even better.

[Aside: Having said that, the Ravens are approaching a team category similar to the Cowboys.  They are very good; they will win double-digit games every season; they then flub in the playoffs.  The Ravens need to “finish” a lot stronger than they have recently.]

• Aaron Jones was released by the Packers once the Packers signed Josh Jacobs as their featured running back.  Jones remained on the market for about an hour and a half before staying in the NFC North Division and signing with the Vikes.
• Gus Edwards signed with the Chargers.  In his career, he has averaged about 5 yards per carry and given the degree to which Jim Harbaugh’s teams tend to run the football, this could be an important addition for the Chargers.
• Jameis Winston signed with the Browns where he will be the backup to Deshaun Watson once Watson’s shoulder injury is completely healed.  This addition will allow the Browns another year to see if Dorian Thompson-Robinson can become an NFL QB.
• Tyrod Taylor signed with the Jets where he will backup Aaron Rodgers.  Taylor may not even need to relocate his family with this decision since he played for the Giants for the last two seasons.
• Drew Lock signed with the Giants seemingly to replace Taylor as the #2 QB on the depth chart.  The Giants also have Tommy DeVito under contract as a developmental project.
• Mason Rudolph signed with the Titans.  My guess is that he will be listed at #2 on the depth chart for QBs behind Will Levis but could compete for the starting job if Levis falters in his sophomore season.
• Sam Darnold signed with the Vikes presumably to replace Kirk Cousins who went to Atlanta.  I say “presumably” because the other two QBs on the Vikes’ roster now are Nick Mullens and Jaren Hall.  That is not a great “depth chart” for the Vikes at QB; it has all the depth of a parking lot puddle.
• Joe Flacco signed a one-year deal with the Colts for a guaranteed $4.5M with a total potential value with incentives of $9M.  This makes sense; the Colts need a backup since Gardner Minshew left for the Raiders and Flacco showed he could still play at a reasonable level in 2023.  However, at age 39, Joe Flacco is no one’s “QB of the future”.
• Irv Smith, Jr. signed with the Chiefs as a backup/insurance policy for Travis Kelce at Tight End.  Smith has been in the NFL for 4 years and has only produced modest stats in his days with the Vikes and then the Bengals.  However, it is never a “bad thing” for a pass catcher to be in a situation where Patrick Mahomes is the guy throwing the ball to you.
• Patrick Queen signed with the Steelers staying in the AFC North and adding a quality player to an already very good defensive unit.  Queen was a second team All-Pro last year and was selected for the Pro Bowl; he will only be 25 years old when the season starts, and he has started every game in his four-year NFL career.
• Calvin Ridley signed with the Titans to a 4-year contract worth up to $92M with $50M of that money guaranteed.  I mentioned above the Mason Rudolph signed with the Titans and might compete with will Levis for the starting job.  Whoever starts for the Titans will have two quality WRs to throw the ball at in Ridley and DeAndre Hopkins.

Those are the free agent signings that I think are worthy of mention at this time but there were also two trades this week that have interesting aspects:

• Joe Mixon was traded by the Bengals to the Texans in exchange for a 7^th round pick in this year’s Draft.  Obviously, this is a trade motivated by cap space and cap savings; Mixon was the featured RB for the Bengals over the past couple of seasons.
• Diontae Johnson – – WR Steelers – – was traded to the Panthers for CB Donte Jackson.  Johnson has been a mercurial presence in Pittsburgh; he has led the team in receiving yards and TDs in his time with the Steelers since being drafted in 2019.  At the same time reports said that he had confrontations with teammates over the years including Mitchell Trubisky and Minkah Fitzpatrick.  The Panthers get another pass-catcher for Bryce Young which was a serious team need and the Steelers get a serviceable CB which is important for the defense.  This could be one of those trades that benefits both sides.

Finally, today has been all about NFL players signing contracts and getting paid.  So, let me close with this note from Mae West along similar lines:

“Keep a diary and one day it will keep you.”

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

 

 

I try to keep politics out of these rants as much as possible, but sometimes the world of sports intersects the political arena even if only tangentially and temporarily.  Such is the case this morning because of the reports out there which say that presidential-hopeful, RFK, Jr. might be considering either Aaron Rodgers or Jesse “The Body” Ventura has his running mate for Vice President of the US.  Please take nothing here as an evaluation of this ticket and most certainly understand that I am not trying to influence your voting behavior in any way.

I only want to ask a couple of questions about the potential candidacy of Aaron Rodgers:

• If he is on the ticket, would he be a part-timer on the campaign trail and an NFL QB at the same time or would he ditch the NFL gig?
• If he ditched the NFL gig, where on a scale of 1 to 10 would the freak-out level of Jets’ fans be?
• If he stays with the Jets as their QB while on the ticket as well, how long until someone pins the nickname “Secret Service” on the Jets’ OL who would be charged with protecting Rodgers from those defenders seeking to do him harm?

Regarding the candidacy of Jesse Ventura, please try to imagine the Vice-Presidential debate among whoever the Republican nominee is, VP, Harris and Jesse Ventura.  Perhaps the perfect moderator for that event would be one of the aliens from the Xygork Nebula who are in residence at Area 51.

Moving on …  That political situation is a potential fiasco; out in California there is an actual fiasco.  Crypto.com Arena is the home venue for the LA Lakers, Clippers and Kings.  Outside that arena they have placed a bronze statue of Kobe Bryant in a pose that recalls Bryant’s 81-point game back in 2006.  The bronze casting is 19 feet tall and must weigh several tons.  What is the fiasco:

• There are about a half-dozen misspellings in the casting.

Arena officials declare that they will be corrected but correcting a bronze casting is not quite the same thing as correcting misspellings in a Microsoft Word document.  Moreover, there are two more Bryant statues to be cast and dedicated in the future.

• Memo to Arena Officials:  Retain the services of a proofreader for the other statues of Kobe Bryant scheduled to be erected there.  He/she will be a lot cheaper than “editing” the finished product.

Keeping the focus on LA and the Lakers for a moment, a friend sent me the following information related to LeBron James’ accomplishment of scoring 40,000 points in his career.  LeBron James came to the NBA in the 2003-2004 season as a 19-year-old straight out of high school; he is now 39 years old and is in the middle of his 21^st season in the NBA.  Here is the amazing consistency he has shown in his scoring according to the data sent to me by my friend:

• It took 368 games for James to score his first 10,000 points.
• It took 358 games for James to score his second 10,000 points.
• It took 381 games for James to score his third 10,000 points.
• It took 368 games for James to score his fourth 10,000 points.

Staying with basketball but at a level down from the NBA, there is the possibility of a new fall tournament for college basketball.  Plans call for staging an 8-team tournament in the Fall of 2024 at the MGM Arena in Las Vegas and if successful, to expand that tournament to 16 teams down the road.  There are loads of early season college basketball tournaments and showcase events; so, why is the addition of yet another one of them worth contemplating?  Here is the difference:

• This tournament will offer $1M in NIL money to each team in the tournament to be split among the players.
• The tournament winning team will get an additional $1M to divvy up.

I have no problem with this as a business model, but I once again ask rhetorically if this is the sort of outcome people envisioned and approved of when they began the quest for college athletes’ NIL rights.  The objective here is for the NIL money – – the $1M appearance fee plus the $1M prize money that goes to the winner – – will be divided by the coaches and the players “as they see fit”.  The only restriction is that the money must go to current players and not be used as recruiting enhancements for future players.

The tournament organizers will also provide for transit, room and board to and from Las Vegas for the event.  With those expenses taken care of, I don’t think too many teams would turn down such an invitation.  And once again, the rich will only get richer.

The organizers can only make money here by selling off the television or streaming rights to this event.  Those “TV folks” will pay up to have recognizable teams with large followings in the field such as Duke, UNC, Notre Dame, Kansas, Kentucky – – you get the idea.  The coaches and athletic directors at schools like UAB, Marist and/or Wyoming need not sit by their phones 24/7 to take any calls here.

Finally, since I mentioned proofreading above, let me close with a paraphrase of my eleventh-grade English teacher as she instructed us on the important steps in the preparation of our “Junior Theme”:

“Do not treat your final paper the way policemen have to treat people they arrest.  Those people are innocent until proven guilty.  Proofread your final paper with the attitude that it is guilty until you prove it innocent so that there are no misspellings, no grammatical errors, and no punctuation errors.”

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

 

 

I am not one who is easily offended.  However, I was offended by something in USA Today late last week.  Here is the online headline for a piece written by Lindsay Schnell:

• “Women’s basketball needs faces of the future to be Black.  Enter JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo”

The headline is not the problem – – but it hints at the problem that is coming.  Here are quotes from the article:

“With Caitlin Clark headed to the 2024 WNBA draft, where she’s projected No. 1 overall, Watkins, the nation’s second leading scorer this season behind Clark, is positioned to become the face of women’s basketball. She’ll be joined by Notre Dame point guard Hannah Hidalgo, the other favorite for freshman of the year.”

And …

“Not lost on any of the powerbrokers in the game: Both of these players are Black. And in a game built by Black women, it matters that the faces of the future look like the faces of the past.”

Let me be very clear; Caitlin Clark has probably gotten more exposure and coverage over the past year or so than all the rest of the women’s college basketball players combined.  That is a fact as is the fact that Cailin Clark is Caucasian.  And the recognition of those two facts does not justify the ridiculous conclusion drawn here that the “faces of the future” must be Black.

Do not take these next statements out of context.  I mean to say these things to demonstrate how outrageous Ms. Schnell’s assertion is here:

• The sport of golf was built by men such as Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.  For a while, Tiger Woods was the “face of golf” and it’s a good thing that his stardom has faced so that the new faces of golf look like the past.

Or how about this one …

• Women’s tennis grew in popularity on the shoulders of women such as Margaret Court Smith, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf.  Now that Venus Williams and Serena Williams have reached the twilight of their careers, women’s tennis can get back to its roots and have a white woman as the face of the sport.

If I offered either of those statements seriously – – or some others I might concoct as outrageous examples – – I would expect lots of readers here to jump to the comments section to call me out either as a racist or as someone who is absolutely out of touch with US society in 2024.  And yet, I have heard almost nothing about Lindsay Schnell’s assertions and comments.

I am offended this morning by her assertion(s) and by the lack of outrage that her comments evoked.  As I said, I am not one who is easily offended, but this one is over the edge.

Moving on …  Let me switch from women’s college basketball to men’s college basketball with the hope that no one will take that change as some sort of fealty to the patriarchy.  There is talk of expanding March Madness from the current 68 teams to 76 teams.  In the past, there have been suggestions to expand it to even larger fields.  I understand that more teams mean more games; and up to some unknown point: more games mean significantly increased revenues.  I also understand that “increased revenue” is the golden calf to be worshiped by every college athletic director.  So, I am resigned to the fact that March Madness will be expanded sooner rather than later.

However, just as paying college athletes with Name, Image, and Likeness money arrived with unanticipated consequences, so will NCAA tournament expansion.  I think the most immediate consequence will be the final death blow to the college basketball regular season which has been rendered almost meaningless by gross overexposure on TV and by the football-driven conference realignments.  The Tournament in March remains hugely popular but to accommodate a field of 76 teams, there will need to be 12 play-in games instead of the 4 play-in games we have today.

The fact is that play-in games do not draw TV audiences nearly to the extent that the main tournament games do; so expanding the tournament by 8 more of the low-drawing games is not going to increase revenues in direct proportion to the number of games on the air.

Moreover, increasing the number of teams and games in the tournament is going to exacerbate an existing problem.  The big conferences get the big money, and the little guys get less money.  Please do not delude yourself that the TV execs who bid for and buy the TV rights are going to pay top dollar to see the second or third place team from the Ohio Valley Conference duke it out with the champion of the America East Conference to see which one will get to be the 16^th seed in the bracket of 64.  [Aside:  Without peeking or Googling, name three teams from either the America East Conference or the Ohio Valley Conference.]

Expanding the tournament will require some sort of recognized names for those play-in games and “recognition” will be greater for the 8^th place finisher in the Big-10 than for the second-place finisher in the Patriot League.  You can file that under “Reality Bites”.

Finally, I’ll close today with this observation by George Bernard Shaw:

“The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is.”

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

 

 

Given the amount of NFL player movement yesterday, let me continue commentary on NFL free agency today.  Yesterday’s rumor about Kirk Cousins leaving Minnesota to sign on with Atlanta came true; his contract with the Falcons is for 4 years and a potential total of $180M with $100M guaranteed.  Let me summarize this move as objectively as I can:

• The Kirk Cousins who played for Washington and then Minnesota prior to his Achilles injury last year would be a huge upgrade at QB for the Falcons.
• Cousins will be 36 years old when the 2024 season starts and will be 10 months removed from his injury last year.
• Simple question here – – are the Falcons getting the pre-injury QB or something else?

Another free agent QB changed teams yesterday and this move might be seen as “returning to the fold”.  Jacoby Brisset signed on with the Pats where he began his NFL career as the #3 guy behind Tom Brady and Jimmy G.  Brisset’s deal is only for 1 year so my reading there is that the Pats will indeed be taking at QB with the third overall pick in the Draft next month.

The Raiders signed Gardner Minshew yesterday and this is an interesting move on their part.  Minshew was basically the starter for the Colts last year taking over after Anthony Richrdson’s injury early in the season.  He represents an upgrade over the Raiders’ starter from last year, Aidan O’Connell, but he is not exactly a “home-run signing”.  Minshew’s deal is for 2 years so I think the Raiders’ plan now is to draft a QB and use Minshew as the mentor and the transition piece to the draftee.  We shall see …

The Eagles lost RB D’Andre Swift to free agency and the Bears but “replaced” Swift at RB with Saquon Barkley.  In no way would I want to demean D’Andre Swift; he is an excellent RB; and at the same time, Saquon Barkley is possibly a tad better.

Another “running back “cha-cha” happened in Green Bay when the Packers signed Josh Jacobs and released Aaron Jones.  I don’t know if the Packers upgraded or downgraded much here but Jacobs is 4 years younger than Jones which is always something to consider regarding running backs.

Running back, Austin Eckler is changing time zones for next year.  He left the Chargers to sign on with the Commanders.  That should be a positive move for the Commanders.

When news came about these three running back signings – – in addition to Tony Pollard going to the Titans – – I was a bit surprised that Derrick Henry’s name did not come up.  I understand that there are lots of miles on those tires, but I still think Derrick Henry can play in the NFL.

The Eagles made another potentially important free agent move yesterday.  Edge rusher Hassan Reddick is unhappy in Philly and had been given permission to seek a trade.  Yesterday, the Eagles signed Bryce Huff who is a competent edge rusher and that seems to say that a trade for Reddick could be on the horizon.

The Packers also made a potentially significant defensive addition yesterday signing S Xavier McKinney away from the Giants.  McKinney is a solid defender and will only be 25 years old at the start of the 2024 season.

In terms of defensive line signings, the Seahawks re-signed Leonard Williams; the Niners signed Leonard Floyd and the Raiders added Christian Wilkins.  I think Williams and Wilkins make a lot of sense for their new teams; I am not sure that the Niners needed to sign a 32-year-old DE to add to their defense.  However, the Niners’ personnel moves in the past several years have been outstanding so I will reserve judgment there.

Interestingly, no team fell all over itself to sign Chase Young as a free agent yesterday.  The former overall #2 pick in the draft has certainly not played up to that level of expectation but he is still very young so some coach will take him in thinking that this new coach is just the guy to coax all that potential talent out into the open.  We shall see …

Switching gears and switching sports, the Boston Red Sox have a minor league prospect that they felt was good enough to send to the Arizona Fall League last season.  Infielder Brainer Bonaci is 21 years old, and he did not finish his stint in Arizona last year because he was “sent home” and placed on the restricted list for “violating the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy” in place for minor-league baseball.  Now comes news that Bonaci will miss all of the 2024 season stemming from whatever caused him to be “sent home” last Fall.  None of the particulars regarding the actions that led to this suspension from minor-league baseball have been released but I bring this up for this reason:

• Brainer Bonaci seems to have invited the nickname “No-Brainer”.

Finally, since I began today with a comment about the Atlanta Falcons making a potentially important free agency signing, let me close with these words about free agency from Falcons’ owner, Arthur Blank:

“My job when it comes to free agency, trades, is not to pick players, but support the personnel department and the coaching staff.  We have to have the financial resources to make things happen and that’s my job.”

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

 

 

The dynamic over the last couple of days – – to include news from this morning – – has been player movement in the NFL as free agency is about to begin in earnest.  There are lots of signing and releasing announcements but a few of them stand out.

Russell Wilson announced that he will sign with the Steelers on a 1-year deal for the veteran minimum salary of $1.2M.  The Steelers had signaled that they wanted to bring in some competition for Kenny Pickett at the QB position; if that was the goal, I suspect the Steelers have over-achieved.  Fear not for Russell Wilson’s bank account; the Broncos owe him $39M in guaranteed salary for 2024 even if he stayed home and watched games from his recliner.  By signing the minimum deal in Pittsburgh, the Broncos’ payments will be reduced to $37.8M with the Steelers’ salary making up the difference.

The Steelers made the playoffs last year and the Steelers have an elite defense plus a solid if not spectacular running game.  If Russell Wilson is an upgrade at QB – – which he surely appears to be – – how much better will the Steelers be in 2024 in what looks like the best division in the NFL?  I think the Steelers made a smart move for football and for financial reasons; I think Russell Wilson also made a smart move going to a team that made the playoffs last year where he should step in as the starter.

Another QB situation was solidified over the weekend as the Bucs re-signed Baker Mayfield to a 3-year contract worth up to $115M.  Mayfield played last year on a 1-year contract with a base value of $4M and led the team to the playoffs and to a playoff victory in the first round.  In the new contract the Bucs have guaranteed $50M as part of the deal.

I think the continuity this move brings to the Bucs is a positive for the team and even if you consider the full value of the contract, it works out to be less than $40M per year which is below market rate for a veteran starting QB on a playoff team.

As of the time I am writing this, the biggest QB free agency decision remains in play.  Kirk Cousins is a free agent and is coming off a season-ending Achilles injury suffered in Week 8 of last year.  All the reporting says that the Vikes and the Falcons are the two highest probability landing spots for Cousins.  I think he holds the keys to a whole series of moves and decisions related to the Draft and to free agency this year.  At least 8 teams need to upgrade the QB position and Cousins is a proven commodity – – albeit one returning from an injury.  If Cousins stays in Minnesota, those other teams need to adjust their thinking; if he signs with one of those other suitors, then the Vikes need to jump into the QB marketplace.  Wheels within wheels …

Over the weekend, the Jags solidified their backup QB position trading with the Pats for Mac Jones who was a first-round pick just 3 seasons ago.  People seem to have forgotten that Jones made the Pro Bowl in his rookie season because his productivity has regressed significantly over the past two seasons.  Nevertheless, the Jags have acquired a competent backup for Trevor Lawrence here at a discounted price; the Pats will receive a 6^th round pick in exchange for Jones.

The Pats have the overall #3 pick in the Draft in April.  If the Pats do not sign a QB in the free agency frenzy, the trading away of Mac Jones would signal that they are going to take a QB with that early draft pick.

Another trade from the weekend involved the Browns acquiring WR, Jerry Jeudy, from the Broncos in exchange for a 5^th round pick and a 6^th round pick.  Jeudy is an interesting situation:

• In the 2020 Draft, Jeudy was taken ahead of Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk.
• He has had some injuries, but even when healthy he has not looked anything like either of those two draft classmates.
• So, were the scouting reports seriously wrong – – or – – will Jeudy turn out to be a quality WR in a new system?

Actually, I think that this trade by the Browns puts a lot of pressure on Deshaun Watson coming back from his shoulder injury.  Watson now has Amari Cooper, David Njoku and Jerry Jeudy leading the pass catching corps in Cleveland plus a solid running game and a good defense.  So far, Watson has not torn it up in Cleveland; this year might just be a “put up or shut up” year for Deshaun Watson.

The NFL news about player movements and re-signings – – and even retirements – – from last weekend has been interesting and has made me think about potentially positive outcomes for players and for teams.  Not all the news from last weekend was nearly as positive and I offer as evidence this announcement:

• Jake Paul will fight Mike Tyson in July at AT&T stadium and that “event” will be shown on Netflix.

Mike Tyson is 57 years old; his last “fight” was an exhibition against Roy Jones, Jr. in 2020.  His last real fight was in 2005 and his last win in a real fight was in 2003.  I make the distinction between a “fight” and a real fight here because it is not clear that this bout will be sanctioned by the authorities in Texas meaning that it may or may not be considered a boxing match as opposed to a boxing exhibition.

My take on this is simple; the fact that this fight will take place under any sort of labelling or promoting demonstrates the demise of boxing as a sport.  Next up, the winner here can face a boxing kangaroo next or maybe a declawed bear.

Finally, Brad Dickson – – formerly with the Omaha World News – – put the Tyson/Paul fight into perfect perspective with this Tweet:

“Mike Tyson is going to fight Jake Paul. And I thought Biden Vs. Trump was depressing.”

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

 

 

The NFL Combine for 2024 is over; I believe it requires a few comments this morning.  Think for a moment what the Combine is.  It is a collective event where coaches, scouts and executives from any and all of the NFL teams can convene in one place and “evaluate” potential draft picks on the basis of the players’ performances in a scripted set of drills.  It is a practice session with a smidgen of “audition” stirred in; outside the realm of the people responsible for constructing NFL rosters, this “event” should be sufficiently arcane to be uninteresting.

Not so.  The marketing genius that is the NFL has turned this totally boring set of workouts into a TV event that people take time out of their workdays to watch and into an event that people will go and see “in the flesh”.  Let me be clear here; I probably watched a total of 5 minutes of the televised workouts from this year’s Combine and the NFL could not pay me to go and sit in the stands and watch even a half-day session of these workouts.  But I must be an atypical NFL fan because millions of viewers and attendees were in rapt attention to the proceedings.

I mention this because there were some draft prospects this year who refused to “play the game” in the normal way.  Every year, there are a few prospects who choose to skip the Combine altogether or who choose to defer showing off their skills at the Combine rather to showcase them at private individual workouts.  This year, more than a few players took that stance and the player that most folks believe will be the overall #1 pick took that “solitary status” to a new level:

• Not only did Caleb Williams choose not to participate in any of the scripted workout drills, he refused the medical exams provided for all the prospects.
• Williams’ reasoning here is that only one team will draft him and that he will be off the draft board early – – if not #1 – – so only a few teams will have the opportunity to draft him.
• Ergo, why do all 32 teams need to know about his height, weight, hand size, EKG, visual acuity, et. al?

In a way, he is absolutely right.  And at the same time, he just may be showing that he has a tad of the prima donna in him and that he does not believe that all the rules/norms apply to him.  Before you tell me that I am being overly harsh on this young man, let me remind you that even before the bowl season was over, people tied to Williams hinted that he might want an ownership stake in the club that takes him and that he might hold out if that was not included in the contract offer that came from the team that selected him.  [Aside:  I seriously doubt that he will get any “ownership equity” in the team that selects him, but we shall see …]

Other high prospects chose to skip much of the regimen of the Combine.

• Marvin Harrison Jr. did not take part in the broad jump; I guess he figures that teams have seen him catch passes in real games and do not need to know how far he can jump in a posture that is not closely related to pass catching.
• Malik Nabors also chose to sit out pass catching drills.
• Brock Bowers did not participate in the drills either.  But since Bowers suffered a leg injury during his last season at Georgia, he did partake of the medical evaluations.
• A couple other “top QB prospects” such as Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels did not “throw” in the Combine.  They will do so in private/solo workouts later in the Spring.  [Aside: Does it make you wonder about their self-confidence in their ability to be compared directly to other prospects doing the same drills on the same field on the same day?]

So, I am sure that many of you wonder why any of this matters.  Well, it should matter in some degree to the NFL execs who have created and promoted this set of workouts to the point that the Combine is a “news event” with a broad following.  From their perspective, the failure of highly visible and potentially top draft picks opting out of participation does not enhance the TV product.  So, the question now turns back to the NFL:

• The Combine is an “invitation only event”.  Joe Flabeetz from Whatsamatta U cannot just show up; lace up the cleats and run a 40-yard dash.
• So, why do the keepers of the invitation list extend invitations to players who subsequently choose not to participate?  I am confident that there are plenty of guys like Joe Flabeetz out there who would be more than happy to show up and give it a go.

Next topic …  Mitchell Trubisky was a free agent until a bit earlier this week when he signed on with the Bills to backup Josh Allen.  I have said here before that “Backup QB” is an important part of team building even though the preference for any team is never having to use said backup QB.  But this signing of Trubisky made me wonder a bit and sent me to the stats:

• The Bears took Trubisky with the overall #2 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft; the team had to trade up to make that pick.
• After 4 years with the Bears, he had started 50 games, but the Bears did not pick up his fifth-year option despite one Pro Bowl season in 2018.
• He spent a year with the Bills appearing only in “garbage time”.
• He then spent two seasons with the Steelers that were unremarkable.
• As a starter, Trubisky’s record is above .500 but his TD/INT ratio is 72/48 or 3/2 and that is not good.

So, one might wonder why the Bills might want him as their “insurance policy” in case Josh Allen needs a game or two on the sidelines.  There are two modes that GMs can use for that position in roster building; they can get themselves a “fill-in starter” or they can use the position as a developmental position to create a future starter or a future trade asset.  Clearly, the Bills have chosen the former route.  It is pretty clear to me that Trubisky is the model for “plug-and-play-short-term-starter”; he is not likely ever to get a job in the NFL as “the franchise QB” despite his draft status in 2017.  And he seems to have an important personality characteristic for his role:

• He can tolerate being in the shadows and not in the spotlight.  And he has never brought drama or “off-field issues” to his locker room.

I think that is a large part of the reason that the Bills brought him back to Buffalo.

Finally, these closing words from author Joseph Heller:

“Success and failure are both difficult to endure.  Along with success come drugs, divorce, fornication, bullying, travel, medication, depression, neurosis and suicide.  With failure comes failure.”

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

 

 

The big news yesterday was the decision by the Denver Broncos to release Russell Wilson; and in so doing, the team will eat about $89M in dead cap money.  Without going into the minutiae of NFL salary cap mathematics, “dead cap money” means that there will be a charge against the salary cap for the Broncos allotted to a player who will not be on their team while the charge is in effect.  As I understand it, the Broncos will have to deal with these dead cap numbers:

• 2024 season = $35.4M
• 2025 season = $53.6M

When the Broncos traded for Wilson here is what they gave to the Seahawks:

• Two first round picks
• Two second round picks
• One fifth round pick
• A backup QB – – Drew Lock
• A tight end – – Noah Fant
• A defensive lineman – – Shelby Harris

That was back in 2022 which means that the Broncos have not had those assets for two seasons, have not made the playoffs with Wilson and now will have to construct their squads for 2024 and 2025 with significant dead cap charges on their books.  That trade is probably not as bad as the famous “Herschel Walker trade” back in the 1980s, but this one is still pretty awful.

So, where might Russell Wilson go to ply his trade later this year?  On the assumption that he wants a starting job and not a backup job, I think there are eight possibilities around the league:

1. Bucs:  If Baker Mayfield signs elsewhere, that leaves the Bucs with Kyle Trask and John Wolford.
2. Commanders:  If they sign Wilson, they can then consider trading the #2 pick in the draft for multiple picks that the team needs to patch more than a few holes in the roster.
3. Falcons:  Rumor has it that they want Kirk Cousins but if he re-signs with the Vikes or goes elsewhere, the Falcons would be in play here.  Russell Wilson is not the QB he was 5 years ago, but he is better than what the Falcons put on the field last season.
4. Giants:  What is the prognosis on Daniel Jones’ rehab and availability next season?
5. Raiders:  Wilson is an upgrade over what they have on the roster now plus it would put Wilson in the AFC West where he could face the Broncos twice a year…
6. Steelers:  Is Kenny Pickett “the guy”?  Is Mason Rudolph “the guy”?
7. Titans:  Is Will Levis “the guy”?  Ryan Tannehill is not “the guy”.
8. Vikes: If Kirk Cousins packs up and leaves town …

I have the Vikes on this list knowing that there are rumors out there that what the Vikes want to do if Kirk Cousins signs elsewhere is to trade up in the Draft to #3 (owned by the Pats as of now) to take a QB in this draft.  Supposedly, the Pats want three first round picks plus “other considerations” as a minimum for such an exchange.  That is a hefty price for any team to pay.

Switching gears …  “Mattress Mack” is back at it again.  Mack is the owner of Gallery Furniture in Houston, and he bets on local teams to win championships and uses that wager as a hedge against a major offer he makes to customers at his furniture store.  Mack bet $1M on the Houston Cougars to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship next month; he got +750 odds on the wager, so he stands to win $7.5M.  The deal he offers to furniture customers goes along these lines:

• Buy a certain amount of furniture over a defined period and pay for the purchase.
• Keep the receipts because if Houston wins the basketball tournament, your purchase price will be refunded.
• If Houston loses, some or all of Mack’s $1M losing bet will be covered by profits from the increased furniture sales generated by his promotion.

For the record, the Houston Cougars lead the Big-12 in basketball as of this morning with a conference record of 13-3 and an overall record of 26-3.  In a year with no dominant team on the national scene, the Cougars have a real shot at winning it all – – for themselves and for “Mattress Mack”.

While on the subject of wagering on sporting endeavors, the gambling industry generated $10,92B in profits for calendar year 2023 and registered a total handle of $119.8B for that same time period.  Those numbers also generated $14.4B in revenues for states where legal gambling exists meaning the States made more money than the operators.

Finally, some closing words today from Jacques Plante, former goaltender for the Montreal Canadiens:

“How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a big red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?

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

 

 

A seemingly minor kerfuffle surfaced late last week and over the weekend.  Someone asked Mecole Hardman – – the receiver of the game-winning TD pass in last month’s Super Bowl – – if in this year’s free agency, he might be going back to the Jets where he signed a deal last year.  Hardman’s time in NY was less than productive and he was traded by the Jets in mid-season back to the Chiefs where he had begun his career.  Hardman said he did not enjoy his time in NY and that he definitely would not consider an offer from the Jets this time around.

The reporting on that exchange between Hardman and a writer qualifies as a “Nothing-burger”.  But then someone on the Jets suggested that Hardman may have leaked the Jets’ game plans to the Eagles and the Chiefs while he was still in NYC.  [Aside: for the record, the Jets beat the Eagles and lost a close game to the Chiefs last season.]

And that assertion/allegation/accusation changes to entire ecosystem for this kerfuffle.  If the NFL is indeed as fixated on maintaining the integrity of its games – – as it should be since those games produce more than $20B in revenue annually- – , they need to get the unvarnished facts here and make those facts known.

Obviously, IF Mecole Hardman – or any player for any team in the NFL – deliberately gives away his team’s game plan to an opponent prior to that game, that player needs to be suspended for life from the NFL.  Such a behavior is about as bad as a player taking a bribe to throw a game; the NFL cannot tolerate it.  The “integrity of the games” is severely jeopardized by such behavior.

But I want to take this a step further.  Again, IF Mecole Hardman actually revealed the Jets’ game plan to someone associated with the Eagles and/or the Chiefs, the NFL needs to find out who those persons are and banish them too.  Receiving such information prior to a game against the Jets and not reporting the fact of receiving it makes the receiving party as culpable as the transmitting party to the assault on the “integrity of the games”.

There is an item posted at nbcsports.com/nfl/profootball/rumor-mill saying that Pro Football Talk had contacted the NFL and that the league had “no comment” even to the point that it would not acknowledge the existence of an investigation.  The folks at Pro Football Talk say the NFL should conduct such an investigation; I will go a few steps farther and say that the NFL absolutely must investigate here, and it needs to do so in the light of day.

I am not the least bit surprised that the NFL would prefer to sit back and see if this whole business dries up and blows away.  However, what is needed here is a real investigation done by an outside entity with a promise from the outset that all findings and evidence will be revealed to the public.  And if you and I never hear about such action(s), keep all of this in mind the next time the NFL worries about players or coaches or owners gambling at things like slot machines or casino table games or the like.

• Memo to NFL Execs and “The Commish”:  If you want people to take you seriously when you bloviate about the “integrity of the games”, you had better get to the bottom of this.  And you cannot get to the bottom of this by simply waving it off and saying that there is no problem at all here after conducting a sham “investigation” with no publication of findings.

The NFL Gambling Policy says that the sharing of “confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game or event” is a no-no.  Clearly a team’s game plan for an upcoming game is confidential and non-public.  So, even IF no one involved in the alleged exchanges of game plan information used that information to bet on the game(s), it is still a violation of league policy.

I have emphasized the word “IF” above because it is possible that the person on the Jets who made the initial statement that set this whole issue on a negative vector has nothing related to “evidence” of such a clandestine exchange.  In that case, it would behoove the NFL to close all this out with a simple declarative statement plus an admonition to players and coaches that such accusations are akin to killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

Moving on …  Don’t do this in India Ink but take a pencil and lightly circle the date March 27 on your calendar.  If you look at the NBA standings this morning, you may notice that the Washington Wizards and the Detroit Pistons both have records of 9-51.  There are still plenty – – maybe too many? – – games for these teams to play in the regular season but each team needs to win another game to avoid the ignominy of joining the Sixers as the most inept team in NBA history.  Recall back in the 70s that the Sixers completed a season with a 9-73 record.

Here is why you need to circle March 27 on your calendar:

• On that auspicious occasion, the Detroit Pistons will visit Washington DC to take on the Washington Wizards.
• Regardless of how bleakly both teams may play over the course of the final 22 games in this regular season, one of them WILL win at least their tenth game of the regular season and escape disgrace.

Finally, since much of today’s rant involves an issue potentially tied to the “integrity of the games” for the NFL, let me remind the NFL pooh-bahs that “integrity” is like “virginity”.

• One only gets to lose it once.

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

 

 

As the month of March arrives, one of the tasks facing many households is the dreaded Spring Cleaning.  If you looked in on Curmudgeon Central with its “files” masquerading as “piles” of papers, you might think that the best cleaning process would be a flame thrower – – and my long-suffering wife would likely agree.  However, my clipboard with notes about things to rant on in the future is in a state where cleaning it up is more like spiffing it up and could easily be accomplished by devoting two rants to that process.  So, I shall do a half-way Spring Cleaning on my clipboard today.

• [Aside:  It would be unmannerly of anyone to suggest that this is a half-assed cleaning as opposed to a half-way cleaning.  Just saying…]

First up is a local story of sorts.  The Washington Commanders have played their games in FedEx Field since 1999; the naming rights deal ran through 2026.  This week, the shipping company pulled out of that deal meaning new Commanders’ owner Josh Harris’ projections of team revenue for 2024 could come up $7.5M short – – unless a new deal comes along quickly.  According to a statement from the Commanders:

“We have already started the process of identifying our next stadium naming rights partner — a partner who will play a crucial role in ushering in the next era of not only Commanders’ football, but also a robust slate of top live events and concerts.”

I know nothing about the inner workings of either party here or how the decision to truncate the agreement came to be, but I will say that the stadium facility itself in Landover MD is not something I would want my name on.  In the late days of their existence, Shea Stadium, The Vet and RFK Stadium were – at the very best – eyesores.  FedEx Field had degraded to that status and was not/is not a jewel to be associated with one’s name.  Any new naming rights deal would have to include some transition rights to whatever new stadium the Commanders get because the most appropriate naming rights partner for the current facility would be Waste Management Inc.

Moving on … Fed Ex Field is not the only off-field aspect of the Commanders’ franchise that needs replacing; in the annual NFLPA survey of players regarding their working conditions, once again the Commanders finished dead last in the league.  Here is how the Washington Post summarized this situation:

“The survey included 11 categories: treatment of families, food/cafeteria, nutritionist/dietitian, locker room, training room, training staff, weight room, strength coaches, team travel, head coach and ownership.

“Among those categories, Washington’s locker room and training room ranked last. Only 26 percent of Commanders players who voted said they felt they had enough room for their lockers, and some cited multiple sewage leaks. Washington ranked 31st in treatment of families, training staff, team travel and head coach.”

 

If you thought that Josh Harris and his minority partners had a lot of work ahead of them to get the on-field product up to an acceptable level, add a new stadium and a total revamp of the team facilities/practices to that “To Do List”.

Next item …  I tuned in to see part of a Nats Spring Training game earlier this week and I want to go on record now with this statement:

• James Wood is 21 years old, and he is going to be a force majeure in MLB.

Wood is a huge human being; depending on where you look, he is listed as 6’5” or 6’ 7”.  Do not picture in your mind this young man as a tall string-bean; he is built like a tight end or a power forward.  He hit a home run in the game I watched that may not have come down yet but even more impressive to me is his approach to the game.  This was a meaningless Spring Training exhibition game and Wood was hustling and playing as if it were an elimination game in the playoffs.

The Nats acquired Wood – – along with CJ Abrams and Mackenzie Gore and a couple other guys – – in the trade that sent Juan Soto and Josh Bell to the Padres.  Soto is now with the Yankees and Bell is now with the Marlins.  I do not think it is premature to say that the Nats fleeced the Padres on that deal…

Switching gears …  About a month ago Old Dominion basketball coach, Jeff Jones, “stepped away” from the position following a heart attack.  That health event came on top of ongoing treatment Jones was receiving for prostate cancer.  Earlier this week, Jones announced his retirement.  Previously in his career, Jones was the coach at American University for 13 seasons.  I never met Jeff Jones, but every time I saw him interviewed – – in defeat or in victory – – he impressed me as genuinely gracious and civil.  Bob Molinaro covering sports for the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot saw Jones far more often and far more closely than I did and here is what Molinaro had to say about this retirement announcement:

“Old Dominion’s men’s basketball team has lost too many games over the past five years, but judging from the attendance at Chartway Arena, many of the staunchest fans haven’t abandoned the program. I’m guessing that this, in part, is because of Jeff Jones’ temperament and dogged professionalism. May his successor pick up that mantle while giving the diehards a brighter bottom line.”

Finally, let me close today with another cogent observation by Bob Molinaro:

“One way to stop entitled college kids from court-storming is to surround the floor with wire mesh, the way it was done 100 years ago, more to keep players out of the stands than anything else. It’s where the now-antiquated term “cagers” comes from. Of course, I’m being facetious. But equally ridiculous are the voices in media and elsewhere celebrating court-storming as a worthwhile student rite and a public relations win for schools. The enablers should be ready to own this in the event of a catastrophic injury.”  [Emphasis added…]

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