Month: June 2025

With mandatory minicamp about to happen in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers reached the conclusion that he would – – indeed – – play one more season at QB in the league and decided that Pittsburgh would be his chosen venue.  In human history, only Hamlet ever had such a momentous choice to make; and yet, Hamlet made it in something less than 3 months of anguishing.  Perhaps you may think that this is the time to step back and consider Gerald Ford’s remark as he assumed the Presidency when Richard Nixon resigned:

“Our long national nightmare is over.”

Hopefully, that is the case – – but Rodgers and the team are reportedly still working on “details” for the contract.  Supposedly, the deal is for one year and $20M; there must be more to it than that; how long might it take to iron out all the other wrinkles?  So let the speculation begin; here are what seem to be three pluses for Rodgers and the Steelers:

1. Even at age 41, Aaron Rodgers is probably a better option as a starting QB than Mason Rudolph.  The Steelers seem to be better at QB today than they were yesterday.
2. Rodgers is not expected to resuscitate a moribund franchise.  The Steelers under Mike Tomlin have not had a losing season in 18 years.
3. The Steelers’ defense is a formidable unit; whatever “magic” Rodgers has left in his game, need not put 30 points on the board every week to be competitive.

With those pluses come three burdens:

1. Who will get the blame should the Steelers go 8-9-0 this year and post a losing record?  I suspect it will not be “team culture”.
2. What does the Steelers’ schedule portend?  Well, in addition to 4 challenging games against AFC North opponents, the Steelers will face all the teams in the NFC North this  year and three of those four teams made the playoffs last year.
3. How good is the Steelers’ OL?  Rodgers had to deal with a substandard OL last year with the Jets and the results were not awesome.  The Steelers’ OL is young and still in developmental mode.  Rodgers will be 42 during this year’s regular season; he and the rest of the team needs that unit to “reach its potential” now and not three years from now.

Moving on …  I mentioned recently that the UFL was not doing as well in its second year of existence.  Well, the UFL regular season is now over, and the playoffs are set to begin this weekend.  Here are the semi-final games on tap for Sunday:

• Michigan Panthers (6-4) vs Birmingham Stallions (7-3)   Game is on ABC
• DC Defenders (6-4) vs St. Louis Battlehawks (8-2)  Game is on FOX

The league must be hoping for some good news involving ratings this weekend because other data are not encouraging.

• Viewership for regular season games decreased by almost 20%.
• “Fannies in the seats” for regular season games decreased by 5%.
• As mentioned before,  attendance for the Memphis Showboats was a disaster; it was down more than 40% from 2024.
• Only the Michigan Panthers increased attendance in Year 2 as compared to Year 1.  However, the Panthers “improved attendance” only saw an average of 11,681 fans per game.

Naturally, there is no hint of gloom and doom from league officials as the second set of playoffs is about to kick off.  All the pronouncements from the league carry the message that the league is in it for the long haul and that the UFL will persevere.  I doubt that the numbers from 2025 represent a fatal blow for the league; I expect it to be back in 2026 – – but those TV numbers in particular need to reverse the trend from this year or the UFL will join the half-dozen other profession spring football leagues that went extinct over the last 40 years or so.

Switching gears …  Tyreese Haliburton hit another game-winning shot in the final seconds of Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night.  As a fan, it would be hard to ask for much more than the Pacers’ comeback and the final moments of that game.  And yet, I was underwhelmed.  I’m sorry, but the announcing team is just not up to the mark there.  Mike Breen was outstanding as usual last night on play-by-play, but let me venture into dangerous territory and suggest that:

• Doris Burke is the wrong person for that announcing team.  She may be a “glass-ceiling breaker” and a “role model for female sports broadcasters everywhere”, but she is just not that good.
• Richard Jefferson seems to have chosen the wrong character for the job.  The position does not need someone with comedic skills; this is a basketball game and not a comedy club; use your basketball expertise (which should be on display) and lose the stand-up comic manifestation.

Finally, these words from my favorite curmudgeon, H. L. Mencken:

“Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

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

 

 

I got an email yesterday from Gregg Drinnan, the former sports editor of the Kamloops Daily News, reminding me that the CFL regular season kicks off tonight when the Ottawa Redblacks hit the road to play the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Regina.  Both teams finished the 2024 regular season with records of 9-8-1; the Redblacks were unimpressive as a road team last year posting a road record of 2-7-0.

Here in the US, some CFL games will be shown on CBSSports Network, and all games can be livestreamed for free at CFL+.  If someone is a football junkie and if the UFL does not satisfy your cravings, the CFL offers an alternative football experience.  I have watched some CFL football for decades now and I still have to reset my thinking in the first possession or two as an adjustment to the rules about backs in motion on offense and about down and distance differences.

The defending Gray Cup Champions – – Toronto Argonauts – – will open on the road tomorrow night when they visit the Montreal Alouettes.  Last year, the Alouettes had the best regular season record in the CFL but were eliminated in the playoffs by the Argonauts.

Readers here know that I like to have fun with player names, and I have a favorite player name in the CFL.  BoLevi Mitchell is the starting QB for the Hamilton TigerCats; I always hoped he would get a shot in the NFL so fans could hold up signs that said:

• “I’m A BoLevier”  or “I BoLieve In BoLevi”

Too bad …  Thanks to Gregg Drinnan for the reminder.

Moving on …  The NHL Stanley Cup Finals began last night, and Game 1 merely provided an overtime game for fans.  The Edmonton Oilers came from behind to tie the game in regulation forcing the overtime and then won the game with a goal in the overtime period.  In the playoffs, the NHL uses a sudden death format unlike the OT rules that obtain during the regular season.  This overtime period almost went through the full 20 minutes before the Oilers scored the deciding goal on a power play.  It was a very entertaining contest.

Switching gears …  Taking a glance at the MLB standings in early June shows that several teams appear to be significantly improved in 2025 as compared to recent seasons:

• The Tigers lead the AL Central Division with a record of 41-22 (win percentage – .651).  For the record, the last time the Tigers had a win percentage this high for a full season was in 1934 when the team lost in the World Series to the Cards.  Last year, the Tigers finished with 86 wins and that was the first time the team was above .500 since 2016.
• The Cubs are on the upswing too.  As of this morning, the Cubs are 38-23 (win percentage = .623) and that puts the Cubs on pace to win 101 games in 2025.  If the Cubs manage to hit triple figures in wins, it would only be the fourth time the team accomplished that feat since 1900.
• The Giants have a record of 34-28 today (win percentage = .548).  That projects to 89 wins and if the Giants reach that level, it would be only the second time the team has won that many games in a season since 2012.

Of course, looking at the MLB standings also allows me to check on teams having disastrous seasons.

• The White Sox have the worst record in the American League at 19-43 (win percentage = .306).  The White Sox are on track to win only 50 games in 2025, which is an awful season.  Nonetheless it represents a significant improvement over the team record in 2024 which was 41-121.
• The A’s have a miserable 23-40 record (win percentage = .365).  In addition, the A’s have far and away the worst run differential in the AL at minus-128 runs.  The White Sox have a worse record than the A’s, yet, the Sox have “only” been outscored by 58 runs.
• The Pirates are a disappointing 23-39 today (win percentage = .371).  That puts the team on track to lose 102 games in 2025.  For the last two years, the Pirates had only lost 86 games in a season and the last time they lost more than 102 games was back in 2010 when they lost 105 games.
• The Rockies continue to be a hapless bunch; their record this morning is 12-50 (win percentage = .194).  If that continues to be the team “success rate”, their final record in 2025 will be 31-131 which would be 10 games worse than last year’s White Sox embarrassment.

            I commented recently that I was surprised at the home attendance for the Rockies given their miserable state on the field.  Well, it must be the fans and/or the stadium in Denver that is the attraction because the Rockies are not a huge draw on the road.  Granted this week the Rockies were in Miami to play the less-than-sterling Marlins. But consider these data:

• June 4^:  Rockies 3 Marlins 2  Attendance = 6,251
• June 3:  Rockies 3 Marlins2  Attendance =  5,894
• June 2:  Rockies 6 Marlins 4  Attendance = 5,922

Yes, the Rockies swept the series in Miami and still post the record reported above.  Yes, those are the reported attendance figures and teams suffering at the gate have been known to inflate those embarrassing totals. And here is the kicker:

• The Marlins play in a stadium that seats 37,442 souls.
• If you add up the reported attendance for the three games between the Rockies and the Marlins, that combined attendance would represent one event at the stadium where the stands were only at 48% of capacity.

Finally, having begun today with comments on Canadian sports, let me close with this observation by actor Ryan Reynolds:

“I’m not a hockey fan, which is probably why I had to leave Canada in the first place.”

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

 

 

Yesterday’s rant was posted at 12:08 PM EDT.  In that rant, I said that lots of folks were suggesting that the Knicks should fire Tom Thibodeau despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals this year.

Later yesterday afternoon at about 3:00 PM, I was running an errand and turned on the car radio to see what the local sports radio folks were discussing.  Turns out they were dealing with “Breaking News” that indeed the Knicks had fired Tom Thibodeau.  I did not get it at 12:08 PM yesterday; I did not get it at about 3:00 PM yesterday; I still don’t get it.

The Knicks won 51 regular season games this year and won two playoff series.  Somehow, that performance has been deemed sufficiently below standard(s) that it deserves separation from the organization.  Really?  If that is the case, there should be about 25 NBA Head Coaches looking for work this week.

Thibodeau has been criticized for his very short bench in the playoffs this year.  Kenny Smith had the best line dealing with that issue when he said:

“Tom Thibodeau would not play nine players in a baseball game.”

Maybe that short bench led to fatigue which led to the losses?  If so, Thibodeau deserves blame.  However, that same team with his short bench proclivities did pretty well in the 82-game regular season and in the two playoff series that went before its elimination by the Pacers.

The statement by the team regarding the firing emphasized that the goal for the organization is to “win a championship for our fans”.  If there is even a shred of truth in those words, the higher-ups must be convinced that the Knicks team as constituted was indeed the best team in the NBA and should be in the Finals against the Thunder where the Knicks would emerge victorious.  I find that sort of thinking delusional; the Knicks are a very good team, but they are not nearly the best team in the NBA right now.

As is always the case, speculation about Thibodeau’s successor began about 10 nanoseconds after the announcement of the firing.  If you cruise around the Internet commentary this morning, the two names in the lead are Mike Malone – NBA Championship with the Nuggets in 2023 – and Jeff Van Gundy – a nostalgic rehiring situation.  We shall see …

As I said yesterday, the Knicks are a sub-standard defensive team not because of coaching but because of the roster construction.  Moreover, in the process of amassing this defensively-challenged roster, the team traded away three players and two draft picks to acquire Karl-Anthony Towns; that represents a lot of assets for a player whose only defensive credential is his height of 7-feet.  That roster needs a major tweak if in fact the idea of a “championship” is anything more than a fantasy in the minds of the Knicks’ braintrust.

Mentioning Jeff Van Gundy brings to mind a bone I want to pick with fans of the NY Knicks.  During the Eastern Conference Finals, far too many Knicks’ fans bitched and moaned about having Reggie Miller doing color commentating having been a star for the Pacers in his NBA career.  The assertion was that Miller was biased and intentionally derogatory in his comments about the Knicks and their performance.  As H. L. Mencken would proclaim at this point:

“Buncombe!”

First, I am not the least bit surprised that Reggie Miller would be inclined to favor the Pacers in any NBA game.  Having said that, I found none of his commentary to be wildly biased or derogatory in the least.  Reggie Miller is not the best color analyst in the basketball business, but he pretty much played it down the middle for that series.

Second, Knicks fans need to take a deep breath and think about what they are complaining about.

• Jeff Van Gundy coached the Knicks for 5 years; then he became an excellent color commentator for NBA games for more than a decade.  Van Gundy was never accused of being “biased for the Knicks” and Knicks’ fans never worried about that possibility.
• Mike Breen does NBA games with the Knicks on the court for the national telecasts and has done that for years.  Mike Breen also does the Knicks’ home games that are not nationally telecast.  Mike Breen is – in my opinion – the best NBA play-by-play guy on the air.  Knicks’ fans never suggest that he might be biased toward their team.

Finally, I shall close today with this advice from Judith Martin a/k/a “Miss Manners”:

“If you can’t be kind, at least be vague.”

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

 

 

The sports landscape has two significant events on tap for this week.  The Stanley Cup Finals begin tomorrow night in Edmonton where the Oilers host the defending champs – – Florida Panthers – – in a rematch of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals.  Both teams finished third in their division during the regular season.

• The Oilers eliminated the two teams that finished above them in the Pacific Division; the Panthers did the same in the Atlantic Division.
• The Oilers won 48 games in the regular season; the Panthers won 47 games in the regular season.
• Last year, these teams took 7 games to award the Stanley Cup to the Panthers.

You can find these games on TNT and/or truTV here in the US; if you need time to go looking for either network on your cable system, those are the same ones that do March Madness games in the early rounds.

And then, on Thursday night, the NBA Finals begin.  It will be the Pacers and the Thunder in this matchup.  The Pacers eliminated the Knicks in Indy over the weekend.  The Knicks were done in by a lack of defense; the Knicks have a very good offensive team but 50% of a basketball game is played on defense and the Knicks’ defense can only be labeled “inadequate”.

Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are quality offensive players; they are not always the most compatible assets on the court at the same time, but they present the opposing defense with plenty of agita.  I would say that Brunson is “average-at-best” as a defender; Towns is only one small step above AWOL in that category.  So, when the Knicks are threatening on offense with both players out there, they are also ripe for the picking on defense.

One other observation about the Knicks’ defense …  I wonder if Mikal Bridges has some sort of nagging injury that has not been trumpeted.  The reason I say that is that Bridges was a top-shelf defensive player just a couple of years ago and he was no more than an ordinary defensive presence when I saw him in this Eastern Conference Final series.

No sooner had the final whistle blown in Madison Square Garden but speculation started about the future of Head Coach Tom Thibideau in NY.  It seems that the NBA has taken up the chant of “What have you done for me lately?”  The Knicks went to the Conference Finals and some folks want Thibideeau axed; recall that the Nuggets fired Mike Malone just before the playoffs and all Malone did was win the NBA Championship with the Nuggets in 2023.

Much has been made of the “small town” nature of these NBA Finals.  Forget about stats on how many TV households there are in either Indy or OKC or both, here is a datum to ponder:

• I checked Expedia.com – – a wide-ranging website for finding plane tickets worldwide – – wanting to see how much a fan in either city would need to pay in order to fly to the site of their team’s “away games”.
• More interesting than the cost information, I found that Expedia.com could not find a direct flight between the two cities.  A fan of either team would have his/her choice of places to experience a layover, but for a non-stop experience, someone would have to invent Uber-Air Service between now and Thursday night.
• Oh, and in case you care, the one-way airfare from Indy to OKC with the layovers starts at $419 …

Switching gears …  The Houston Astros have a new culinary option available at the stadium this year; it is called The Daddy Mac Dog.  Here is what it contains:

• A footlong hot dog garnished with:
  • • BBQ beef brisket
    • Mac-and-cheese
    • Fried pickles

And for dessert, a roll of Tums …

Finally, an observation by comedian, Mitch Hedberg:

“My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.”

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

 

 

Last week, my mind meandered – fancifully – as I pondered ways to make the NBA a better TV entertainment product.  That prompted an email from “the reader in Houston” to this effect:

“I have to hand it to you that you always come up with some real good ideas/suggestions to make sports more entertaining whether for TV purposes or not (even if some may seem almost ludicrous), but as in most cases, money talks and the longer the NBA games and timeouts, the greater the advertising revenue, though I have to hand it to baseball, the pitch clock has done wonders to speed up the games.

“As far as your ideas for limits on three-point shots, I will be elected Pope before that ever comes to fruition, but keep on coming up with ideas. I love them, even if just for entertainment purposes.”

What more encouragement could I possibly ask for?  I dealt with the NBA last week, so my mind wandered to MLB over the weekend.  And so, today, you will get to read some more fanciful thoughts about how to make baseball more of an entertainment product.

At the outset, I must agree with “the reader in Houston” that MLB came a long way forward with the insertion of the pitch clock and the slightly larger bases to encourage base stealing.  There is a significant increase in the density of action on the field in MLB in 2025 than there was in 2019; the MLB mavens deserve kudos for those actions.  However, as  tribute to the concept of constant incremental improvements, let me offer the following.

• MLB needs to bite the bullet and expand by two teams to make MLB a 32-team league that can organize itself better than it is organized today.  Here are six potential expansion sites; my favorite two are in bold here:
  • • Montreal, Que
    • Nashville, TN
    • Portland, OR
    • Raleigh-Durham, NC
    • Salt Lake City, UT
    • Tidewater, VA
• Once the two new franchises are sold – – wherever they may be – – MLB needs to reorganize into 8 divisions with 4 teams in each division.  Moreover, those divisions need to be as geographically close-packed as possible; MLB needs more ”rivalry games” than it has today.  I am neither a Yankees’ fan nor a Red Sox fan; but I enjoy the rivalry; I am not a Cubs’ fan nor a Cardinals’ fan; but I enjoy the rivalry.  Importantly, proximity breeds rivalry …

So, here is a first cut at my 8 new divisions:

1. Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Blue Jays
2. Phillies, Orioles, Nats, Pirates
3. Tigers, Guardians, Reds, Twins
4. Brewers, Cubs, White Sox, Cards
5. Braves, Rays, Marlins, Raleigh-Durham
6. Astros, Rangers, Royals, Rockies
7. Mariners, A’s, D-Backs, Salt Lake City
8. Dodgers, Padres, Giants, Angels

As if all of the above is not sufficiently offbeat, now I want to suggest the highly improbable action of MLB contracting its regular season schedule.  My idea is to make the regular season 144 games for each team and for the playoffs to have no wild cards – – only the 8 division winners.  Cutting the regular season schedule allows for some if not all of the following:

• Start the season later when “winter” is less likely in various cities.
• End the season earlier when “winter” is less likely in various cities
• Make all playoff series – – in all three levels of the brackets – – 7 games in duration.

And here are the basics of the scheduling format:

• Each team plays its three division rivals 24 times – – 8 each three-game series.  That accounts for 72 games.
• Each team plays home and home series with each team in three other divisions; the selection of which other divisions would rotate as the NFL does.   That accounts for 72 more games.
• Voilâ!  There you have a 144-game regular season schedule …

In terms of “rivalries”, look at Division #1 and Division #4.  Each one has existing rivalries baked in already.  Then look at Division #8; virtually every intra-divisional game would be a rivalry game there.

I know; “the reader in Houston” will be elected Pope before any of my ideas get serious attention from Rob Manfred and his band of merry men.  But it is fun to let my mind wander – – off the leash – – for a little bit occasionally.

Finally, it seems appropriate to conclude today with a series of observations from thinkers deeper than I:

“It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable. To begin with, it usually seems unreasonable.”  Isaac Azimov

And …

“Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.”  George Bernard Shaw

And …

“There is one path in the world that none can walk but you. Where does it lead? Don’t ask, walk!”  Friedrich Nietzsche

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