Rest In Peace, Lou Carnesecca

Lou Carnesecca died over the weekend at the ripe old age of 99.  He was the basketball coach at St. John’s from 1965 to 1992 save for a three-year gap when he coached the Nets in the NBA.  His college record at St. John’s was 526-200 earning him a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.  Back in the 1980s. the Big East was dominant in college basketball and populated with excellent – – and colorful – – coaches including:

• Jim Boeheim – – Syracuse
• Jim Calhoun – – UConn
• PJ Carlesimo – – Seton Hall
• Rollie Massimino – – Villanova
• John Thompson – – Georgetown

“Looie”, as he came to be known, was an equal in that coaching fraternity.

Rest in peace, Lou Carnesecca …

Remember about a month ago that the Chicago Bears lost to the Washington Commanders on a last second Hail Mary pass and there was video of one of the Bears’ defenders waving to the crowd as the play was unfolding.  Well, that act of “disrespect to the game” must have significantly angered the football gods to the point that the gods have chosen to frustrate the Bears in the intervening weeks.  Consider:

• First week later:  Bears lost to a middling Cardinals’ team by 20 points.
• Second week later:  Bears lost – – at home – – to a not-very-good Pats’ team by a score of 19-3.  [Aside:  That offensive somnambulance got the Offensive Coordinator fired.]
• Third week later:  Bears lost to the Packers 20-19 when the Packers blocked a chip shot field goal in the final seconds of the game.
• Fourth week later:  Bears rallied from 11 points down in the final two minutes to force overtime – – and then lost to the Vikes in OT.
• Fifth week later:  Bears lost to the Lions by a field goal on Thanksgiving in a situation where they failed to snap the ball – – or call a timeout – – in the final 32 seconds of the game.  [Aside:  That time management blunder got the Head Coach fired.]

The Chicago Bears have been a team in the NFL since 1920; Matt Eberflus is the first head coach to be fired in mid-season in the history of the Chicago Bears.  If you did not see the timing blunder or have not read about it, let that historical fact give you an idea of how bad it was.  Also, let that five week stretch of football misfortune be a case study for players and/or teams that might be tempted to “disrespect the game”; the football gods are watching, and they can exact serious punishment for such offenses.

Moving on …  Over the past several years, NFL teams have tended to devalue the position of running back to a degree; the common wisdom was that one did not need to pay running backs big bucks nor spend high draft picks on that position.  So, in last year’s free agency period, three running backs moved on from the team that drafted them to another team.  Those three RBs were:

• Saquon Barkley – – leading the NFL in rushing
• Derrick Henry – – second in the NFL in rushing
• Josh Jacobs – – third in the NFL in rushing.

However, there is a much more interesting statistic concerning those three players.  Let us look at the team records for the teams that jettisoned those backs:

• Giants had Barkley; Giants are 2-10 this year.
• Titans had Henry; Titans are 3-9 this year.
• Raiders had Jacobs; Raiders are 2-10 this year.
• Combined, the teams that tossed these running backs aside are 7-29.

Now, just for giggles, I want to show you the team records for the teams that acquired these running backs on the free agent market:

• Eagles signed Barkley; Eagles are 10-2 this year
• Ravens signed Henry; Ravens are 8-5 this year
• Packers signed Jacobs; Packers are 9-3 this year.
• Combined, the teams that signed these running backs are 27-10.

Finally, since the Bears “disrespected the game” and plenty of teams “disrespected running backs”, let me close today with this quote from P. J. O’Rourke:

“The First Amendment only says, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.’ It can disrespect all it wants.”

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