The rants will take a break until May 9th for travel reasons. See everyone then.
Stay safe and stay well, everyone.
Don't Get Me Wrong, I Love Sports…
The rants will take a break until May 9th for travel reasons. See everyone then.
Stay safe and stay well, everyone.
Let me begin this annual feature with a reset for any new readers out there. I like college football, and I watch a lot of college football on TV. What I have come to do is to keep a notepad next to my seat as I watch games and to make notes about players I see who I believe can be drafted by NFL teams. There is nothing more to it than that:
Before focusing on specific positions and players eligible for this year’s Draft, I have an observation based on my “notepad scrawlings”:
So, with those caveats and observations out in the open, let me plow ahead and talk about:
Quarterbacks: Here is an overall observation; I do not think this Draft is top heavy with “Blue Chip/Five-Star QB Prospects”. I saw 8 QBs that I think could be drafted this year, but this is not like last year where there were at least 3 or 4 QBs that were clearly going to be picked high in the first round.
Moving on to the Running Backs:
Moving on to the Wide Receivers:
Moving on to the Tight Ends:
Given that NFL teams move offensive line prospects all around the interior OL positions, I do not differentiate among interior offensive line players. I will note if a guy looks really good as a center since that position requires a skill that the other positions do not, Anyway, here are my notes on Offensive Linemen:
Before leaving offensive linemen, let me deviate from the norm here. Back around Thanksgiving last year, I got an email from a former colleague who has retired to the Williamsburg, VA area and has become a follower of Division 1-AA William and Mary football. He knows that #1 son went to William and Mary and every once in a while, he sends me a note about the athletic program there. His note last Fall had this in it:
“Charles Grant is a gigantic offensive tackle for The Tribe [William and Mary] and he was invited to play in the Senior Bowl from this FCS program. You haven’t seen him here but you might see him in the Senior Bowl and think he is worth a mention when you talk about the draft next year.”
I did tune in to the Senior Bowl and I did look for Charles Grant, but I never saw him on the field. It turns out he did not go to the Senior Bowl, but I don’t know why. Here is information about him from tribeathletics.com:
Obviously, he did not play against the same level of opponent as did potential draftees from the Big-10 or the SEC. Nonetheless, Charles Grant was invited to the NFL Combine and the evaluation there says he “will eventually be an average starter” in the NFL. I will listen to hear his name on Day 3 of the Draft…
Moving over to the defensive side of the ball, I’ll start inside the defensive line with Defensive Tackles:
Moving outside to defensive ends – – or Edge players as is the current vernacular:
Next are the Linebackers:
Now for the Defensive Backs. Note, like with offensive linemen, I lump corner backs and safeties into one group because NFL coaches move them around to fit defensive schemes.
As for Placekickers and Punters, I have no notes to inform any comments here; so, I’ll just move on …
Finally, today’s rant has been all about the potential shown by these football players hoping to “move up” and to compete at the highest level of the sport. Right now, NFL coaches and GMs see these players as having “potential” but as not yet certain they can compete at the highest level. So, I’ll close today with these words from an athlete – – in a different sport to be sure – – who faced this same situation of potential, Muggsy Bogues:
“No one knows how big your potential is, how big your heart is, when you start.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Lee Corso announced his retirement yesterday; he has been an ESPN football analyst for the last 38 years; he will make his final appearance on College Game Day in Week 1 of the college football season. Prior to becoming an analyst in ESPN, Corso played college football at Florida State and coached at Northern Illinois. This should be a sad day for college football fans; Lee Corso was an icon of the sport much the same way that John Madden was an icon of NFL football on TV.
Someone pointed out to me about 10 years ago that Corso was the master of “product placement advertising”. He told me to watch Corso’s hands on College Game Day; when he was not reaching under the table to put on the headgear of his pick of the day, he was always holding a long yellow pencil and it turns out that he then had a job with the company that makes yellow #2 pencils. I checked it out; indeed, Corso had a pencil in his hand much of the time.
Corso’s headgear gimmick was so “off the wall” that it was entertaining, and people looked forward to that segment of the program. Unlike recent changes to the program, it never descended into rampant jackassery though it had the potential to do so.
Bonne chance, Lee Corso. The game of college football that you helped to grow and prosper is entering a new way of life. With your retirement, so are you.
With the departure of Corso from College Game Day the back-and-forth among the serious voices on the show will likely change a lot. Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso had a style of banter that was serious and light-hearted/breezy at the same time. I’m not sure that Herbstreit and Coach Saban can pull off that second characteristic of their interactions. That is not a knock on Saban at all; that is simply a recognition that change is coming to the program.
And since I brought up Coach Saban and the jackassery element that has seeped into the show:
I know that ESN pays its on-air talent well, but Coach Saban cannot possibly “need the money”.
Moving on … It was on March 12th when the NY Jets released Aaron Rodgers; that was more than 5 weeks ago. I am not surprised that he has slow-played his decision as to his playing status for 2025; that keeps his name in the headlines which is something that seems to be of great importance to Rodgers. Yesterday, he was on Pat McAfee’s program – one of his favorite outlets – and answered some questions that have been hanging fire at least since March 12th and for some folks since about the middle of the 2024 NFL season when the Jets up and fired both their coach and their GM.
In typical Rodgers’ fashion, some of his answers were maximally nuanced:
“I’m open to anything and attached to nothing. So yeah, retirement could still be a possibility. But right now, my focus is on … my personal life.”
There have been rumors about Rodgers signing with the Giants, the Vikings and the Steelers. Based on the NFL’s schedule rotation, the Steelers and the Jets will play each other in 2025; and that game will be in NY. Every sports radio talk show host is lighting candles in church and offering up prayers for Rodgers to sign on with the Steelers because that single event can fill up a dozen radio segments the day after the signing and multiple dozens of segments for the week leading up to that Steelers/Jets game.
Switching gears … With MLB fully engaged, fans at the ballpark will be challenged in 2025 to order up and consume some new culinary concoctions. Here is one awaiting Arizona D-Backs’ fans for 2025:
Finally, a question to ponder from Steven Wright:
“What’s another word for Thesaurus?”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
The Sacramento Kings lost a play-in game to the Dallas Mavericks last night. That is newsworthy only in the fact that it will be the Mavs and not the Kings taking part in the NBA Western Conference playoffs. What is different about that game is what happened after the game:
The Kings have hardly been a stalwart franchise in the NBA for the last decade or so, but someone there decided that the loss last night was at least equally due to roster construction as it was to coaching strategy and tactics. Have the Kings broken new ground here?
Moving on … The Atlanta Braves have to be pleased to see Sencer Strider back on the mound. Strider missed all of the 2024 season following elbow surgery and he had been working his way back in minor league games. He appeared in 3 games with the Gwinnett Stripers in the Triple-A International League; his performance there was very positive:
Yesterday, Strider made his first start for the Braves facing the Blue Jays. Although the Braves lost the game, Strider’s inaugural appearance was encouraging:
The Atlanta Braves are off to a miserable start in 2025; if they are going to right the ship and make a run at the division title, they are going to need to have Strider performing well for the rest of 2025 and to get Ronald Acuña, Jr. back from his ACL injury. Recent reports on Acuña’s status are promising. According to a report at SI.com Acuña has been cleared to take at bats but is not yet ready to run out of the batter’s box. He is “cleared to ramp up activities” and the hope is that he could be back in the Braves’ lineup “next month”.
Sticking with baseball and rehab assignments … Late last season, Dodgers’ starter Clayton Kershaw had to leave a game due to pain in his left big toe. He never returned to the mound for the rest of the season or for the playoffs and then had surgery on that toe and on his knee around Thanksgiving. Yesterday, Kershaw had a minor league rehab start for the Oklahoma City Comets of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League. Rehab from surgery is a series of small steps and Kershaw took a small first step yesterday with these stats:
According to a report in the LA Times, the Dodgers hope that Kershaw can be back in the big leagues in mid-to-late May. That timetable would give him four or five more rehab appearances in Oklahoma City. Kershaw has been with the Dodgers for his entire career dating back to 2008; his career accomplishments point him to the Hall of Fame soon after he retires:
Switching gears … Recently, I noted here that all was not well in the Kent St. football program. With Spring Practice about to begin, the school put head coach Kenni Burns on administrative leave with pay while it investigated some unspecified issues. I pointed out then that Burns’ two-year coaching record at Kent State (1-23) was not going to provide him with much cover during that investigation. Indeed, it did not.
Kent St. fired Kenni Burns last week after the investigation turned up “multiple violations of his contract, including how he used a personal credit card”. It is more than a bit late in the game for Kent St. to hire a new coach for the 2025 season so the former offensive coordinator, Mark Carney, will be the interim head coach as a coaching search develops over the next season. Carney has his work cut out for him; Kent St. was 0-12 last year; their defense won my “Brothel Defense Award” for giving up the most points per game in college football last year. Here is what the first half of the schedule looks like for 2025:
Finally, these words from Dave Barry:
“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
I think it’s time to check in on the UFL in its second season. The eight teams have played three games apiece; the regular season is 10 games in length and the post season adds another two weekends. When the UFL season ended last year, folks involved in the league could point to some positive signs for the fledgling spring football league.
On the surface, things are not looking quite as rosy as might have been predicted.
True, this is a part of the sporting calendar that provides stiff competition for the UFL. March Madness and the MLB Opening Day excitement surely took some of the air out of the UFL balloon. Now those things are in the past along with The Masters so perhaps the UFL can regain some of the eyeballs that it has “lost” so far in Season Two. We shall see …
One of the cornerstones of the NFL’s dominant place in US sports is the widespread interest in betting on NFL games. I do not get any sense that gambling on UFL games is taking hold and growing a fanbase motivated to focus attention on the product. This could be a long haul for the UFL.
Meanwhile, the NFL just chugs along generating revenue. According to a report in Sports Business Journal, the NFL’s revenue for its last fiscal year (ended in March 2025) was more than $23B. About 20 years ago, the NFL said its objective was to be a $25B a year business by the middle of this decade. It certainly looks as if they are on-target to meet that objective.
From reports in Sports Business Journal you might conclude that it would take an utter moron to own an NFL team and lose money. Consider these two numbers:
So, before a team sells its first game ticket and before it collects its first parking fee and before it sells local broadcast rights and before it gets a piece of the concessions, the owners have at least a surplus of almost $136M. Cue Sonny and Cher:
“And the beat goes on …”
It is the recognition of those sorts of revenues and costs that makes people like us stop and take a deep breath when team owners ask for – – and receive – – public subsidies for stadiums and practice facilities. I am not talking about government expenditures for things like roads around the stadium; I mean owners asking for the various levels of government to pay to build the facility itself. Right now, the focus of that sort of posturing and negotiating is in the State of Ohio where the Browns want to build a new facility in suburban Cleveland and the Bengals say they need an upgrade to their facility.
Without going into detail, the Browns would like about $600M in bonds from the State and another $600M in bonds from the County to cover about half of the cost of a new playpen. The Bengals say they need $380M from wherever the source for their needed renovations. Recently, those dealings got some ice water thrown on them when the Governor of Ohio – – Mike DeWine (R) – – said in a radio interview that he opposed such an expenditure. It’s never a good idea to ask for money from the State and to have the Governor oppose the idea but, in this case, it was a bit more pointed. That radio interview was aired right after the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill to authorize such a bond issue.
DeWine’s term as Governor runs through 2026; he is term-limited and must be replaced in January 2027. Perhaps we will see a classic game of “kick the can down the road” there so that the Browns and Bengals can try to coopt whoever is the new Governor of Ohio two years from now.
Finally, I think it is appropriate to close today with these words from Mark Twain:
“We have the best government that money can buy.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
I mentioned yesterday that Mike Budenholzer might be fired as coach of the Phoenx Suns after the team significantly underperformed expectations in 2024/25. Well, that happened overnight; and Budenholzer is now looking for work having an NBA Championship on his résumé. He coached the Bucks to the title in 2021. Meanwhile, the Suns will be hiring their third coach since May 2023 when they fired Monty Williams.
Let me give you some facts about the Suns’ recent coaches:
I am beginning to think that it might it be the case that “the problem” with the Phoenix Suns is centered elsewhere in the organization. You make the call …
Sticking with the NBA, the play-in round of the Playoffs starts tonight. The NBA now has 20 teams out of 30 that qualify for the Playoffs and, frankly, that is too many. Consider this data:
Theoretically, the next two nights should be dramatic in the NBA. The play-in round is single elimination; there should be energy and anticipation for these games. Well, if there is any such energy, I don’t sense it at all. In fact, I know I will not be watching both games in full tonight because I really do not care who wins and loses in this playoff round.
Moving on to MLB … The Rockies lost to the Dodgers last night by a score of 5-3. By scoring those 3 runs, the Rockies broke a scoreless streak of 31 innings which set a club record. While that sounds amazingly inept, it is not even close to the MLB record for consecutives scoreless innings; that record stands at 48 scoreless innings, and it was done by two teams:
The Colorado Rockies are off to a miserable start in 2025; their record of 3-13 is the worst in MLB – – even worse than the White Sox. Their run differential is minus-46; a negative figure is to be expected with a 3-13 overall record, but the Rockies are outpacing the other bottom dwellers in that category too. The next worst run differential belongs to the A’s at minus-24.
And this morning, the Rockies got another piece of bad news. Outfielder Kris Bryant was put on the IL with “lumbar degenerative disk disease”. I am not going to pretend to be an orthopedist, but that sounds extremely ominous. Bryant has been with the Rockies since signing on there as a free agent in 2022, but his time there has been spent on the Injured List more than it has on the field.
Kris Bryant is a former Rookie of the Year and a former NL MVP and a four-time All-Star. His future does not seem nearly as bright as his past …
In other baseball “news”, the NL West standings this morning have the Dodgers in third place which is odd because some had speculated that the Dodgers might go 162-0 this season with its star-studded lineup. Both the Padres and the Giants hold small leads over the Dodgers as of this morning and the Padres have an interesting twist to their record:
The Padres are scoring runs this year. As of today, the Padres run differential is +36 which is second in MLB to the Cubs who are at +37. Can the Padres – – and/or the Giants for that matter – – keep this up and make it a race in the NL West? There is still a whole lot of baseball to be played …
Finally, I’ll close today with this observation by Oscar Wilde:
“Some cause happiness everywhere they go, others wherever they go.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
The NBA regular season which began back in November of last year is over; the playoffs are set; frankly there are only two real surprises to me in the final standings:
So, let the playoffs begin … but before we focus on those events, allow me to present you with some data from a completely meaningless game last Friday between the Oklahoma City Thunder (best record in the league) and the Utah Jazz (worst record in the league). Per the box score in the Washington Post:
This was an NBA regular season with several head-scratching events. In fact, about the only NBA news that I shrugged off as “business as usual” was the fact that Joel Embiid and Kawhi Leonard were injured, and both missed a lot of games. Here are four of the “abnormalities” of the regular season in no particular order:
Given that it seems like winning games is not a good enough reason to retain coaches in the NBA anymore, might there be a coaching bloodbath in the near future?
There is at least one island of coaching stability in the NBA at the end of this regular season. The Trailblazers have extended the contract of coach, Chauncey Billups despite the fact that the Blazers missed the playoffs and had a 36-46 regular season record – – same as the Suns by the way.
Finally, since today has been mostly about coaching, I’ll close with this from Tom Landry – – the longtime coach of the Dallas Cowboys:
“Really, coaching is simplicity. It’s getting players to play better than they think that they can.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Yesterday, I marveled at a minor league baseball game where pitchers could not find home plate if you game them a radar; that game saw 32 batters reach base with a walk. Today, I want to report on another oddball happenstance in a minor league game. Today’s focus is on the Midwest League and a game between the Beloit Sky Carp and the Cedar Rapid Kernels. Emaarion Boyd is an outfielder for the Sky Carp; in yesterday’s game, Boyd stole 6 bases which is impressive by itself. What makes it just a tad unusual is this:
He was walked once, hit by a pitch in another at-bat and reached first on a fielder’s choice. On those three occasions, he stole second and third base. Boyd is 21 years old and has been in pro baseball for three seasons; in 2023 he played in 91 games for Clearwater in the Florida League and stole 56 bases there. Boyd is in the Marlins’ minor-league system for now and has appeared in 6 games for the Sky Carp this season with 7 stolen bases as of today.
Sticking with baseball … The Atlanta Braves have gotten off to a miserable start to the 2025 season; this morning they are dead last in the NL East with a 3-9 record. However, they did get a bit of good news yesterday in the performance of Spencer Strider in a rehab start. Strider had an alternative to Tommy John surgery last year to repair a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and last night was his third rehab start as he prepares to return to the Braves.
Last night, Strider threw 5 1/3 innings and struck out 13 batters in a Triple-A game between the Gwinnett Stripers and the Norfolk Tides. The Braves’ awful start can be attributed to their lack of offense; the Braves have scored a total of 38 runs in 12 games this year; only the woebegone White Sox have scored fewer runs (35 in 12 games). If Strider returns to the Braves’ rotation and pitches to his previous standard, that would be a blessing for the Braves as they wait for their bats to wake up.
Moving on … The oddsmakers had the NBA’s Phoenix Suns as one of the favorites to win the NBA Championship this year with futures odds at +650. As a point of reference, the co-favorites on the futures board were the Celtics and the Nuggets at odds of +450. Talk about underachieving, the Suns have been eliminated from the playoffs – – let alone the NBA Finals and will finish the season with a record below .500.
I think there are two components to this underachievement that could get less scrutiny than they deserve:
Switching gears – – but staying with basketball … JT Toppin was an important part of Texas Tech’s run to the Elite Eight in this year’s March Madness. Demonstrating how college athletics have changed over the past year or two, Toppin announced that he will not enter the NBA Draft this year and that he will not enter the Transfer Portal either. He will stay at Texas Tech for another year and will get an NIL deal that reports say will be worth $4M.
Toppin has played two years of college basketball so he has “eligibility” left – – whatever “eligibility” might mean these days. Just suppose Toppin really likes living and playing in Lubbock, TX; if he were to stay there next season and the one after that for $4M a year, what would be wrong with him continuing to play basketball for Texas Tech beyond that? The whole idea behind “eligibility” was to try to prevent colleges from amassing a set of “ringers” who were not students but were there as “hired hands” to win games. And that is exactly the situation now in college athletics and Toppin’s decision simply brings the details of such a deal out of the shadows and into the open.
Finally, in support of my suggestion that defense is part of winning basketball, let me close with this from Tom Glavine:
“There is no second baseman in the game who can turn the double play better than [Mark Lemke]. Why are people always looking for offense at that position? What’s more important is getting outs, and turning the double is a huge factor in getting outs.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
They say that when you go out to see a baseball game, there is always a chance you will see something you have never seen before. Well, that was certainly true for the 327 people who attended a Florida State League game between the Dunedin Blue Jays and the Jupiter Hammerheads. The final score was 19-5 in favor of the Jays but that is not the story by a long shot. Here is the deal:
Not only is that a Florida State League record; it is a record for all of full-season minor league baseball and it eclipses the MLB record for walks in a game by 3. In MLB, the Washington Senators had pitchers issue 19 bases on balls in a game in 1971. Let me give you a smattering of highlights from the box score of the Dunedin Blue Jays’ victory here:
Here is the stat I would want to know that will never appear in the box score:
Earlier this week, there was another unusual baseball happening.
The two schools had a double-header scheduled. When the two teams took the field in Game One, Lehman had a 42-game losing streak working. Lehman won the first game 7-6 and ended that losing streak.
Yeshiva started the day with a 99-game losing streak and by losing the first game it moved into triple-digit territory without a win. However, in Game Two, Yeshiva finally emerged victorious by a score of 9-5. Losing streak #2 went down the drain …
Since Lehman was working on a 42-game losing streak that day, I have to assume that Lehman is not a college baseball powerhouse. Nevertheless, the third losing streak to be broken on that day involves Lehman’s dominance of Yeshiva over the years. Until that win in Game Two earlier this week, Yeshiva had never beaten Lehman in a baseball game. When Yeshiva won that second game, they ended an all-time 18-game losing streak to Lehman.
If ever there were a reason to storm a college baseball field, I think this would be it.
Last year, the White Sox lost 121 baseball games, and they have opened this year losing 9 of their first 11 games. In order to lose that many times, you would think that teams would need to invent ways to fend off victory. Well, the White Sox did that this week.
The Sox trailed the Guardians 3-1 in the ninth inning, but they had the bases loaded with two out. No, Casey did not strike out there; the Sox found a better way to lose. Miguel Vargas singled to left scoring the runner on third and the runner on second – – Mike Tauchmnan – – went steaming around third base intending to tie the score. And then Tauchman pulled up lame and was tagged as an easy third out. It seems that for the White Sox, when it rains, it pours.
Sticking with baseball – – but on a more positive note now – – the first two “Players of the Week” for 2025 have been named.
Finally, since today was about baseball, let me close with this from Tommy Lasorda:
“There are three types of baseball players: Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen and those who wonder what happens.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Presumably, this will be my final comment on this year’s March Madness. Yesterday, the following headline appeared at CBSSports.com:
The game averaged 18.1 million viewers and in the final minutes 21.1 million folks were watching. That average figure for audience size was up 22% as compared to last year and was the largest audience for a Final Game since 2019 (Virginia over Texas Tech). The presence of all four teams seeded at the top of their bracket probably increased the focus in the Final Four this year resulting in the “audience bump” on Monday night.
Moving on … Today looks like it will be a tale of two quarterbacks. The first one is Geno Smith of the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders traded a draft pick to acquire Smith from the Seahawks last month and the team has now given him an extension on his contract. Reports say that the extension will keep Smith under contract with the Raiders through the 2027 season for $85.5M and $65M of that total is guaranteed money. Personally, I think that is a lot of money devoted to a 35-year-old QB who is not a “Top Ten Guy” at the position. So, why the extension and the expense?
The Raiders are coming off a 2024 season with a record of 4-13-0. That team had several roster holes and QB was among them. Geno Smith may not be a great QB, but he is a competent starting QB which means that Raiders can devote attention to other roster deficiencies in the Draft and in considering other free agents.
The other quarterback today is Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson. Last week, the Browns’ owner, Jimmy Haslam said in an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the team “took a big swing and miss with Deshaun”. In case you do not remember, here is what the Browns traded away to the Texans to acquire Watson:
On top of that steep price, the Browns then gave Watson a 5-year contract worth $230M and they fully guaranteed the deal. The average annual salary of $46M was high at the time and the idea of fully guaranteeing the deal was considered to be outrageous by other owners. Oh, there was one other detail overhanging the whole transaction; Watson had been accused of sexual harassment/misconduct by a couple of dozen women and he faced discipline by the NFL that could have involved a year’s suspension.
So, that was the big swing. To understand the “miss” you have to see what the Browns got for their trouble.
Watson’s contract runs through the end of the 2026 season and the Browns owe him a little over $50M over the next two seasons – – fully guaranteed, remember. He will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2026 season; but absent a visitation by his Fairy Godmother, he should not expect any contract offers then that bear any resemblance to his current deal.
The Browns “took a big swing and a miss”; the Raiders did not take nearly such a big swing, but if they miss as badly as did the Browns, it could be a serious situation out there in the desert …
Finally, there is a line in Michael Lewis’ book, The Blind Side that seems pertinent here:
“When a star running back or wide receiver is injured, the coaches worry about their game plans. When a star quarterback gets hurt, the coaches worry about their jobs.
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………