Back – – But Not Quite As Planned …

The Scottish poet Robert Burns famously wrote:

“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men

Gang aft a-gley.”

Or – – more colloquially in 2023:

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Originally, my plan here was to return to the US on Tuesday, use Wednesday to recover from jet lag and do enough research to be able to do a rant on Thursday.  Well, Tuesday found my long-suffering wife and I in the maw of the airline mess and we spent the night in Newark NJ at a hotel near the airport that is politely described as “sketchy”.  We ditched our plane tickets because the best flight we could get was not scheduled until Friday (tomorrow) and took Amtrak home late yesterday afternoon.  So, no jet lag accommodation and no time for research.  So, here goes some stuff off the top of my head just from reading a few headlines …

Bob Huggins’ career seems to have ended in an act of self-immolation.  After being slapped on the wrist for some comments on the radio that were homophobic and religiously insensitive, Huggins was cited for DUI less than 2 months later.  Moreover, that was not the only DUI incident on his curriculum vitae; his first DUI incident cost him his job at Cincy.  But remember that Huggins is a coach who consistently got his teams into the NCAA Tournament there by earning lots of money and “attention” for his schools … so it is not impossible that he will resurface in the world of college basketball somewhere down the road.

I saw that Trevor Bauer’s name came back to the headlines just as we were leaving the country.  A woman in Arizona now alleges that he raped her and choked her unconscious back on 2020.  [Aside:  Given the rampant COVID-19 spread back in 2020, I hope they were both wearing masks during this incident – – if this incident occurred.]  Moreover, the woman alleges that at one point, Bauer held a steak knife to her throat – – presumably not as part of choking her unconscious.  Bauer has countersued the woman so my expectation is that this incident will phase into and out of the public realm over the next weeks and months.

#2 son sent along an item about the fact that no team in the NFC East has repeated as division champion since 2004.  And, he pointed out something else about the list of division champs since 2004 that I would have guessed improperly.  So, take this as a Quick Quiz:

• Allocate the 20 NFC East Division Championships among the four teams in the division.  How many championships belong to each team?  Answer below…

While I am in the mode of providing Quiz Questions, let me try another one here.  If an NFL team wins 11 games in a season, that is a good thing for the team.  It virtually guarantees a playoff slot, and it supports coaching staff stability.  So:

• Which NFL team has the longest drought without an 11-win season?  Answer below …

The Canadian Football League regular season began 3 weeks ago.  So far, the standings break down into three categories:

1. Three teams are undefeated
2. Three teams are winless
3. Three teams have records of either 2-1 or 1-2.

The BC Lions are one of the undefeated teams at 3-0.  The Lions have only allowed 21 points in those three games, which is impressive in the CFL where offense often dominates.  At the other end of the scale, you can find the Hamilton Tiger-Cats whose 0-3 record is dominated by the fact that the team has given up a total of 112 points (37.3 points per game).

The CFL East Division seems at the moment to be divided in to two “haves” and two “have-nots”.  The Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts are both undefeated.  Meanwhile the Ottawa Redblacks and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are winless.  But there are plenty of games left on the schedule before the CFL playoffs begin on the first weekend of November.

Here are the answers for the two Quiz Questions above…

Since 2004 …

• The Eagles have been NFC champs 7 times.
• The Cowboys have been NFC champs 6 times.
• The Giants have been NFC champs 3 times.
• The Skins/Football Team/Commanders have been NFC champs 3 times.

The team that has gone the longest without winning 11 games in a single season is the Washington “Franchise” depending on whatever name you want to give them here.  Their last winning season was in 1991 – – leading to a Super Bowl Championship that season.  Just for the record, the second longest drought belongs to the Jax Jags who have not won 11 games in a season since 2007.

Finally, here is a comment made by comedian, Chris Rock, back in 2003:

“You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America’s Cup, France is accusing the US of arrogance and Germany does not want to go to war.”

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