Some Of This And Some Of That …

I need to start with a bit of history this morning.  Harold Stassen unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for President nine times between 1948 and 1992.  He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Pennsylvania in the early 1950s and then for Mayor of Philadelphia in the late 50s.  That is an unusual career arc; most folks do not run for President before running for Mayor; it is almost the equivalent of a batter hitting a home run and running clockwise around the bases.

Recently, I came across a report of a college football player whose career seems to be modeled after Harold Stassen’s political career.  From 2018 through the end of the 2022 season, JT Daniels has played QB at the following schools:

1. USC
2. Georgia
3. West Virginia

Back around Christmas, JT Daniels used the NCAA Transfer Portal to jump to Rice University.  Meaning exactly no disrespect to Rice as an academic institution or as an athletic program, that is an unusual career arc for a player who was considered to be the overall #1 recruit coming out of high school about 6 years ago. Daniels has played in the PAC-12, the SEC and the Big-12 to date; next season he will lead the Rice Owls in the American Athletic Conference.  He brings these career stats with him to Rice:

• 6946 yards passing with 45 TDs and 25 INTs

Next up …  After an arbitrator reduced the two-year suspension given to Trevor Bauer, the LA Dodgers chose to release him and move on.  Bauer is a former Cy Young Award winner who signed a 3-year deal with the Dodgers worth $105M just before the start of Spring Training in 2021; he started 17 games with the Dodgers in that season before being placed on leave under the cloud of allegations of sexual assault.  Bauer is only 31 years old; under no reasonable circumstances would he be “on the market” this winter, and yet, there he is.

In sports, skill and talent dominate the thinking of coaches and GMs; Trevor Bauer is skilled and talented; the “optics” of a team signing him will be awful and simultaneously his addition to a team’s starting rotation should be a significant improvement.  It seems to me that the key question here is:

• Which team wants to bear up under the firestorm of criticism it will receive proximal to the announcement that the team just signed Trevor Bauer to a new contract thinking that it will dissipate once he begins to win games for the team?

Moving on …  The University of Texas had placed head basketball coach, Chris Beard on suspension due to an accusation by his fiancée that he assaulted her, choked her and bit her.  That seems quite reasonable given the circumstances.  Then, the University of Texas fired Chris Beard several weeks later – – after the fiancée recanted her accusation(s).  Here is part of her follow up statement:

“Chris has stated that he was acting in self-defense, and I do not refute that. I do not believe Chris was trying to intentionally harm me in any way.  It was never my intent to have him arrested or prosecuted.”

What I really need now to square this circle is for Paul Harvey to return to the world of the living so that he can give me The Rest of the Story …

Switching gears …  You may recall that the owner/operator of a furniture store in Houston known as Mattress Mac won over $70M betting on the Astros to win the World Series and used the winnings to pay off customers who bought furniture from him in a specific time frame as a sales promotion.  You may also recall that the “reader in Houston” who provides historical and statistical context to many issues here knows Mattress Mac and I received an email from the “reader in Houston” saying that Mac is up to his old tricks.  Here is the pertinent part of that email:

“This past week after TCU beat Michigan, Mattress Mack made another offer to customers.

“If TCU beats Georgia in the championship game and they purchase a mattress for $3,000 or more and receive delivery before game time, he will double their purchase price.

“To hedge this offer, Mack bet $1.5M with DraftKings at +370, one half million with Caesar’s at +400, and $130,000 with WynnBet at +380.

“He also bet TCU (+13) for $1M.

“If TCU wins outright, he’ll make almost $9M on wagers to pay off customers.

“If TCU loses, but covers, he’ll lose about $1.2M and if they lose and don’t cover, he’ll lose $3.13M.”

Mattress Mac seems to be channeling the king of sports promotions, Bill Veeck …

And before I finish today, let me remind you that this is the time of the year when you MUST take a moment and follow this link so that you can read Gene Collier’s annual column in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette awarding the Trite Trophy for 2022.  This is the 39^th year the award has been presented and all I can say is that 2022 was a vintage year…

Finally, let me close today with an observation by comedian, George Burns:

“Too bad all the people who know how to run the country are busy driving taxicabs and cutting hair.”

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