Random Musings Today …

I and plenty of other basketball fans have said that the NBA regular season is too long and,  ideally, would be shortened save for the negative financial impact the trimming would have on team revenues.  The NBA itself recognizes that the season is too long because it tries to manufacture interest in its early season games with a concocted in-season tournament.

• Quick Quiz:  No Googling!!  Who won last year’s in-season tournament?

I bring up that old canard of “too long a season” to offer up a new criticism.

• The NBA Playoffs are also too long!

The NBA Playoffs began on April 15; they ended earlier this week; the Playoffs extended over more than two months.  By comparison:

• NFL Playoffs start in early January, and the Super Bowl is mid-February
• MLB Playoffs happen in October and may spill over into November by a day or two.
• The CFP starts just before Christmas and is over in the third week of January.
• March Madness fits into a 4-week calendar window.

So, I am now thinking that two things can be true at the same time.  The NBA regular season is too long AND the NBA Playoffs are similarly too long.  Before anyone accuses me of whistling in the wind, I realize neither the regular season nor the NBA Playoffs are going to be shortened.

Moving on …  There has been a low-level story about the Cincinnati Bengals playing out over the last year or so.  Here is the reset:

• The Bengals and the folks who own their stadium in Cincy have until June 30 to agree to a new lease or the Bengals can then exercise their first of five 2-year extensions to that lease.
• The Bengals want stadium upgrades, and they want the stadium owners to pay for the upgrades.  The Bengals point to upgrades worth $830M.
• Please note that the deadline for this is three days hence.

Yesterday, there was an announcement that the parties have reached a “preliminary agreement”.  The outline of that preliminary agreement would have:

• Upgrades of $470M with $120M of that total coming from the Bengals.
• Lease extension through the end of the 2036 season.
• Bengals get 5 each 2-year extensions as before meaning this deal might obtain until 2046.

This is a “preliminary deal” because the Hamilton (OH) Board of Commissioners has to ratify the deal and allocate the funding.  Reports say that path has been cleared, and the expectation is that the Bengals will be staying in their stadium in Cincy.  Actually, it would be interesting to see what might have happened should no “preliminary agreement” was possible.  If that had been the case, would the Bengals’ franchise itself have become a “free agent” in the sense that it could sign a deal somewhere else?

Staying with NFL news, the league has imposed a 10-game suspension on former Ravens’ kicker, Justin Tucker for violation of the NFL’s Personal Conduct Policy.  Tucker has been accused of improper conduct with massage therapists, and the league has investigated those allegations.  The Ravens released Tucker several weeks ago, so he is a free agent but cannot play for the first 10 weeks of the upcoming season.

The Washington Post reports this morning that Tucker will not appeal the suspension and that decision came from a meeting involving league officials, the NFLPA and Tucker’s representatives.  This action by the league does not resolve any other legal issues that exist between Tucker and the therapists who originally alleged his improper behavior(s).

Switching gears …  In MLB, Rays’ shortstop, Wander Franco, was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor in a court in the Dominican Republic.  The abuse happened several years ago when Franco was 21 and the minor child was 14 and according to the charges involved in this matter, Franco paid the girl’s mother.  [Aside:  It is not clear from reporting what the payments were for, but I cannot come up with any scenario where any payments would have been “innocent events”.]  The girl’s mother was also convicted of sexual abuse charges in the matter.

Franco’s sentence is 2 years suspended.  My understanding is that means he will not do jail time now, but the conviction stands and that might be a stumbling block for him to get a “work visa” to come to the US to play baseball for the Rays.  One of the conditions that allows officials to deny US visas is to have been involved in “crimes of moral turpitude”.  I am not an expert in evaluating visa requests, but the case that was just concluded certainly falls into the category of “moral turpitude” in my book.

Finally, I’ll close today with this from Oscar Wilde:

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.”

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