There is an adage that bad things happen in threes. If there is truth in that aphorism, then a few folks in the sports world need to be on guard. Here is the deal:
- About 6 months ago, the Executive Director of the NFLPA had to resign his position after an internal investigation revealed that he had used union funds to pay for at least one visit to a strip club. Not only a misappropriation of funds, but that was also skeezy behavior.
- Last week, the Executive Director of the MLBPA had to resign his position after an internal investigation revealed that some union funds were unaccounted for and that he had an “inappropriate relationship” with a union employee who was also his wife’s sister. Not only a potential misappropriation of funds, but that is also skeezy behavior squared.
So, if bad things happen in threes, the Executive Directors of the unions representing players in major American sports need to mind their “Ps” and “Qs” carefully. No one should want to be the third entry on that trend line …
Moving on … The Cincinnati men’s basketball team has a mediocre record so far this season; overall, the Bearcats are 15-12 with a 7-7 record in the Big 12; they have a winning streak going of 4 games. Why is that noteworthy, you ask?
- A couple of weeks ago, Cincy went to play K-State in Manhattan KS and won by 30 points. K-State coach, Jerome Tang, called out his players for “dogging it” and the AD fired Coach Tang.
- Last weekend, Cincy went to play Kansas in Lawrence, KS and won by 16 points outscoring the Jayhawks 48-34 in the second half. Kansas coach, Bill Self, could not have been happy about that result, but he made no derogatory comments after the game and remains the head basketball coach at Kansas.
- Here is my conclusion:
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- Cincy needs to find a way to play more games in the state of Kansas.
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Switching gears … Thinking about Bill Self as the basketball coach at Kansas reminds me of the stability that has surrounded that position over the years. These days, people like to point to the Pittsburgh Steelers as the paragon of coaching stability; the Steelers will have only their fourth coach since 1969 once the 2026 season kicks off in about 6 months. However, please recall these data:
- Kansas has been playing college basketball since 1898. The first coach there was Dr. James Naismith who is credited with inventing the game of basketball.
- In the 127 seasons since Dr. Naismith was the coach, Kansas has had a total of 8 head coaches.
- When considering long-tenured coaches, “Phog” Allen was the coach at Kansas for a total of 37 seasons – – broken into two stretches.
Perhaps, that is why the arena at the University of Kansas is called “Allen Fieldhouse” …
Allen Fieldhouse has a reputation as being one of the loudest and most difficult places for a visiting team to play at. The facility opened in 1955, and Kansas has won more than 90% of its games in that arena. Jay Bilas, who is one of ESPN’s most prominent college basketball analysts, does not adhere to the concept that Allen Fieldhouse as a facility has much to do with that winning record. As Bilas has said on at least two occasions that I have heard, the reason teams have such a problem winning at Allen Fieldhouse is that they always have to play Kansas when they go there.
Next up … ESPN announced a big change in their programming schedule recently. For years, ESPN has had a MLB game on Sunday nights, but the network opted out of its deal with MLB and will replace “Sunday Night Baseball” with “Women’s Sports Sunday” starting in June which will feature WNBA games and NWSL games. That seems to me to be an interesting calculation on the part of ESPN. Obviously, they will pay less for the rights to WNBA and NWSL games; the network’s costs will be reduced. I think it is also likely that the audience for “Women’s Sports Sundays” will be smaller than they were for MLB games probably leading to reduced revenues from advertisers.
Baseball fans need not go into mourning there. When ESPN dropped Sunday Night Baseball games, NBC picked up the rights and will air the games there and on Peacock. Here is the way the new schedule is going to open:
- On Peacock only, the first game will be March 29th featuring the Guardians at the Mariners.
- On NBC and Peacock simultaneously, the first game will be on April 12th featuring the Guardians at the Braves.
Finally, here is a piece of advice from Henny Youngman:
“If you’re going to do something tonight that you’ll be sorry for tomorrow morning, sleep late.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………
Jay Bilas could probably make a similar statement about Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, NC.