RIP Joe Schmidt

Joe Schmidt died last week at the age of 92.  He was a great middle linebacker for the Detroit Lions in the 1950s and early 60s; he was the starter on the Lions’ NFL championship team in 1957.  Later, he was the Lions’ head coach from 1967 to 1972 and despite taking over a ramshackle team to start, he compiled a winning record over his 5 seasons in Detroit.

Rest in peace, Joe Schmidt.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to watch my first NFL games of this year.  [Aside:  I do not count Exhibition Games in that statement because the players on the screen in Exhibition Games are not the ones who will play in the regular season.]  And so, it was my first time to hear Tom Brady as a color analyst on the Cowboys/Saints game.  My comments necessarily come from a very limited sample size and that sample is from the earliest stages of Brady’s development as a broadcaster.  Having said that, I think he was awful.

• A color analyst can adopt the position of an instructor.  In that role, he needs to be precise with his words and he must be sure to point out important things that the viewer might have missed due to the inexperience/naivete of the viewer.  Brady did virtually none of this.
• A color analyst can adopt the position of a cheerleader.  In that role, he needs to be enthusiastically over-the-top on just about any play that results in a loss of yardage, a gain of more than 10 yards, a turnover or a TD.  Brady evinced no enthusiasm at all during the telecast and needed his partners to try to draw comments out of him as the program went along.
• A color analyst can adopt the position of “Captain Obvious”.  This is not a performance to seek; but when one does adopt the role, it requires constant explanation of the same sorts of obvious things over and over again.  The only thing Brady did over and over again was to remain silent when there was room for a comment of any kind.

I am on record that I do not think this is Tom Brady’s calling in life simply because – – during his long playing career – – he never appeared to me to be comfortable standing behind a microphone and addressing folks present in person and present over the air.  Maybe that sentiment prejudiced my reaction to his performance yesterday; it is never easy to assign a measure to one’s prejudices, so I have to acknowledge my preconceived position as it relates to my assessment.  As they used to say in the car commercials, “Your mileage may vary …”

And speaking of the Saints/Cowboys game yesterday, did someone slip some Quaaludes into the Gatorade that the Cowboys’ defensive players were using?  The Saints scored a TD on their first 6 possessions in the game rolling up a total of 380 yards and 41 points in those 6 drives covering the first three quarters of the game.  Hidden by the horrible defensive performance might be another deficiency for the Cowboys:

• They do not run the ball well at all and they are not deep in the pass catching positions.
• Yesterday the Cowboys ran the ball 21 times for a total of 68 yards and 12 of those yards came on scrambles by Dak Prescott.  The basic running game produced 56 yards on 19 carries and – – as they say – – that won’t feed the bulldog.

I also got my first look at the trimmed down studio panel at CBS; gone are Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms; in their place is Matt Ryan.  I was always lukewarm about Esiason and Simms; I doubt that I will miss them very much.  Ryan was bright and perky on the program to the point that he appeared to be tense as opposed to relaxed.  Doing studio commentary is not like trying to cobble together an 80-yard game winning drive in the final minutes of a game; when Ryan gets comfortable and exhales regularly, I think he will be pretty good.

The “late game” yesterday afternoon in my viewing area was the Steelers/Broncos game.  The Steelers won 13-6 giving them a 2-0 record for the season despite the fact that they have scored only one TD in those two victories.  For the second week in a row, the Broncos leading rusher was QB, Bo Nix.  People like to talk about “sustainability” these days; that is not exactly “sustainable”.

Moving on …  Forget worrying about and trying to scope out the wildcard playoff races in MLB.  The results of those races will make themselves apparent very soon.  Instead focus your baseball attention on the Chicago White Sox and their potential record-setting in the area of futility and ineptitude.  As of this morning the team record is 35-115 with a dozen games left to play.  Here is the landscape for the White Sox should they achieve ineptitude immortality:

• Three teams in the modern era have lost 115 games in a season.  The White Sox are already at this level matching the 2018 Orioles and the 1935 Boston Braves.  [Aside:  The Braves did this in a season of 153 games; the White Sox have done it in 150 games – – and counting.]
• The Philadelphia A’s lost 117 games in 1916.  That team amassed all those losses in a total of 153 games; this year’s White Sox should surpass the total number of losses but might not do so in the next three games.
• The Tigers lost 119 games in 2003.  That team played a full 162 games in 2003.
• The Mets in 1962 (their expansion year) lost 120 games and did so in only 160 games.

To date in 2024, the White Sox are winning 23.3% of their games.  If they get hot for the final dozen games and break even in them, they will still eclipse the Mets level of ignominy by losing 121 games.  Here are the Sox opponents to come:

• Six games against the Angels – – three at home and three on the road
• Three games against the Padres – – on the road
• Three games against the Tigers – – on the road

Let the games begin …

Finally, having thought about the White Sox level of futility this year, let me close with this from George Carlin:

“Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.”

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