Author: Jack

Sometime next week when I get all my notes in order and track down various stats, I will offer up my annual NFL Pre-Draft Analysis.  That is one of the rants I do here that takes a lot more time and energy than the typical “Daily Rant” and so I have begun the process of a strategic overview for the rant.  Something immediately came to mind as I began the process:

• I have fewer players “rated”/”noted” than in previous years.

So, my first reaction was to go and look at past NFL Drafts to try to explain that fact until I realized that there was no need to explain it.  To use a horribly hackneyed phrase, it is what it is.  However, it took me more than a moment to come to the conclusion above; and in that moment, I found a couple of interesting perspectives on previous NFL Drafts.

Most all NFL fans over the age of 50 think of the 1983 NFL Draft as a great one because of all the great QBs that were “up for grabs” then.  John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino all went in the first round of that Draft; no one can dismiss any of those picks as “wasted”.  However, in addition to those three highly visible QB picks, there were other early round picks that year that turned out to be outstanding”

• Jimbo Covert, OL, taken by the Bears in Round 1 is in the Hall of Fame
• Roger Craig, RB, taken by the Niners in Round 2 is in the Hall of Fame
• Eric Dickerson, RB, taken by the Rams in Round 1 is in the Hall of Fame
• Darrell Green, DB, taken by the Skins in Round 1 is in the Hall of Fame
• Bruce Matthews, OL, taken by the Oilers in Round 1 is in the Hall of Fame

            Lest I lose a ton of street cred in the curmudgeon community, I must point out three “less-than-fully-successful” QB draft picks in Round 1 in that same year:

1. Todd Blackledge – – Chiefs – – before both Kelly and Marino
2. Tony Eason – – Pats – – 12 picks before Marino
3. Ken O’Brien – – Jets – – 3 picks before Marino

This year’s Draft is not likely to produce that quantity of players of such a high caliber as did the 1983 Draft; it is the reason that so many people recall the Draft of 1983.  But I came across another NFL Draft that I had forgotten/overlooked over the years that was particularly advantageous for one specific team.  In the 1974 NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers acquired the following:

1. Lynn Swann, WR, in Round 1.  He is in the Hall of Fame.
2. Jack Lambert, LB, in Round 2.  He is in the Hall of Fame
3. John Stallworth, WR, in Round 4.  He is in the Hall of Fame.
4. Mike Webster, OL, in Round 5.  He is in the Hall of Fame.
5. Donnie Shell, DB, as an undrafted free agent.  He is in the Hall of Fame.

Before you ask, what happened to the Steelers’ pick in Round 3 that year; who was it and what was his football fate?

• The Steelers did not have a pick in Round 3, but they had two picks in Round 4.
• The “other pick” in Round 4 was Jimmy Allen, DB, who did not make the Hall of Fame but did play in the NFL for 8 seasons.

As I said, the Steelers’ 1974 Draft was special.

Moving on …  If you are thinking about venturing out to Denver sometime this summer and think a night watching the Rockies might be interesting, let me inform you about a culinary offering by the Rockies for this season.

• It is called The Glizilla.
• It is a 23-inch-long hot dog with any and all the trimmings you may want to put on that tube steak.
• It costs $45.
• It is suggested as a meal for two people.

Somehow, I don’t see two people eating this monstrosity as analogous to the famous scene from Lady and the Tramp where the two dogs are sharing a plate of spaghetti.  And what is the protocol if three people decide to share The Glizilla …???

Finally, here is an interesting conclusion drawn by actress, Lana Turner:

“A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.”

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

 

 

Recall back in December the sensational stories about Sherrone Moore which got him fired as the head football coach at Michigan.  Here is a quick reset:

• He was arrested based on an “incident” at the home of a Michigan athletic department staff member where it was alleged that he forcibly entered the home and threatened to kill the staff member with a kitchen knife.
• That confrontation happened just after Michigan fired Sherrone Moore for having an “inappropriate relationship” with that staff member.
• Charges here included home invasion (a felony), breaking and entering, trespassing, stalking and – – not sure where this came from – – “malicious use of a telecommunications device”.

That was then; this is now.  According to reports this morning, here is what has gone down since December 2025:

• Last month, there was a plea agreement where Sherrone Moore pleaded no-contest to the trespassing and “malicious use” charges, and the other charges would be dismissed.
• Now, the judge has sentenced Moore to a fine and 18 months’ probation to close out the criminal aspects of the case.

There is a lesson in this saga.  Allegations in high profile events/situations need to be processed thoughtfully and not purely emotionally.  Back in December, one could have deemed Sherrone Moore to be a crazed individual teetering on the edge of sanity and/or random violence.  And perhaps, there was a moment or two back in December when he was indeed at such a tipping point – – but that is not the situation now that time and rational processing of information have had a chance to obtain.

Moving on …  There are reports that a scheduling change in the world of horse racing may be in the offing.  According to the Sports Business Journal, (SBJ) the fact that the broadcast rights for the Preakness will expire after the running of the race in mid-May.  For as long as I can remember, the Preakness was run two weeks after the Kentucky Derby which is always run on the first Saturday in May.  With a new broadcast rights deal a change may come that would move the Preakness back a week, putting three weeks between it and the Derby.

According to SBJ, NBC has had the rights to the Preakness for several years but now that the deal is up, there is interest in acquiring those rights at Amazon, Netflix and FOX Sports.  It is not clear why having multiple bidders for those broadcast rights would change the race scheduling, so I can’t help you there.  The Maryland Jockey Club is responsible for getting a broadcast rights deal in place and it issued this statement:

“We are in the middle of media rights negotiations and have yet to meet with two potential partners. It is unfortunate that the story was written that way so that people believe that everything is settled.”

Translation:

• The Jockey Club is not happy that something has leaked from its negotiations so far.
• There is interest in moving the race date or that statement would be much stronger.

And if the Preakness moves back a week, what then might be the effect on the Belmont Stakes?  Currently, there are three weeks between the Preakness and the Belmont; might a Preakness move also cause the Belmont to move back a week?

Once again according to SBJ, FOX holds the rights to the Belmont through 2030 and if FOX also gets the Preakness rights, FOX would suggest moving the Belmont back a week keeping it three weeks after the Preakness but that other bidders might not be inclined to do so.

My first recollection of a Triple Crown race was in 1953 when Dark Star beat Native Dancer as a real longshot (25 to 1) in the Kentucky Derby.  That was when I learned about the Triple Crown schedule and its duration of five weeks in the Spring.  Actually, the time span for the event has been constant since the 1920s so the idea of a change in that scheduling is noteworthy even if it is not particularly important.

Thoroughbreds today are not bred to run lots of races and they are not bred to run races without rest periods.  I can recall a couple of times in the last few years when the winner of the Kentucky Derby chose not to try for the Triple Crown at all and simply skipped the Preakness entirely.  Probably, those choices by horse owners have something to do with the idea of extending the time between the Derby and the Preakness.

Finally, here is an observation from English author Samuel Butler:

“Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises.”

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

 

 

Davey Lopes died last week at the age of 80; reports had the cause of death as complications from Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s.  Lopes was a member of a LA Dodgers infield that basically played every day for more than 8 seasons; Lopes along with Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Bill Russell (No, not THAT Bill Russell.) were probably listed in India Ink on the Dodgers’ lineup card.  After a successful playing career, Lopes went on to extend his baseball presence as a coach and a manager.

Rest in peace, Davey Lopes.

Let me get back to the issue of NBA expansion – – which the owners voted to “explore” earlier this month.  I’ve already discussed the balance that owners need to strike between an immediate cash infusion of $300M – 500M versus having to split the revenue streams by 32 teams as opposed to 30 teams.  All those guys are good at figuring out business deals, so forget that for now.  Here is a serious question:

• What will expansion by 2 teams do to the entertainment product that the NBA markets to the networks and the public?

The recently concluded regular season set a new low for tanking teams; living in the DC area, let me say to everyone who lives elsewhere that the Washington Wizards were non-competitive and abjectly unwatchable from about the first week of December 2025.  Even when they put their best players on the court at the same time – – something that never happened in the latter part of the season – – the team was simply awful.  Looking around at the final standings, the playoff teams and the lottery teams were almost fully known by the All-Star break.  Yes, there were still questions about “Top 6” versus “Play-in teams”, but the twenty playoff teams and the ten lottery teams were clearly in different categories.

That alone devalues the entertainment product; couple that with teams not trying to be competitive and you have an entertainment product that is easy to avoid.  And that, folks, is almost as bad a situation as the revelation that the games have been fixed all along.

So, ask yourself a question or two:

• Since several teams shut down starters and replaced them with bench players or G-League call-ups, how will the expansion teams be sufficiently competitive as to be “entertaining”?
• With somewhere between 25% and 33% of the 30 extant NBA teams categorized as “uncompetitive” this year, is there really sufficient talent to sustain 32 teams?
• By adding two marginally talented teams that are almost certainly going to be “lottery teams”, might that induce the “tanking existing teams” to start their capitulation even earlier in the regular season?
• Since the two expansion franchises will almost assuredly be in Seattle and Las Vegas, that means there will be two more “highly attractive” locales for teams and how might that hurt the current “small market teams” when it comes to attracting free agents?

When the league voted to “explore” expansion, do you think those sorts of questions are going to get as much analysis as the issues that involve dollar signs?  I doubt it, but I think they deserve a lot of thoughtful consideration.

The NBA since the days of “Bird and Magic” has marketed its star players not its teams or its champions.  The upshot is that the NBA is a star-driven entity and what the consuming public wants to see are those stars that have been marketed to them as “the thing to see”.  The NBA can expand all it wants; it can create a separate but equal league in Europe; it can merge with the Chinese Basketball Association if it wants.  None of those things will create a greater number of star players that can be marketed to the public the way the league has done it in the past.  “Star players” is a finite resource that is precious because it is a finite resource.

The absence of “star players” from a roster consigns the team to “lottery status”.  Just for giggles, go look up the box score for any game involving the Sacramento Kings and/or the Washington Wizards in March or April 2026.

• How many names in the box score do you even recognize?
• How many would you think about drafting for your fantasy team?
• It really is scary …

A goodly number of people will tune in to see the NBA Conference Finals and the NBA Finals, and the league will throw out its chest and point to those audience numbers to show how robust the product is.  Nonsense.  Those audiences tune in because they KNOW they will see good talent playing hard; those games are desirable entertainment for sports fans.  That is why a December game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Chicago Bulls gets a ho-hum reaction from the viewing public if it gets any reaction at all.

NBA expansion is not as simple as the financial analyses would lead you to believe…

Finally, since I mentioned the Washington Wizards today, let me close with this from President Kennedy:

“Somebody once said that Washington was a city of Northern charm and Southern efficiency.”

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

 

 

Let me do a reset on an event from last week that attracted a lot of coverage:

• The NY Post published pictures of Pats’ coach Mike Vrabel in a hot tub with NFL Inisder, Dianna Russini, at a “couples retreat” in Arizona.
• The pictures were supposedly taken by someone who is not a paparazzi nor is he/she associated with a professional photo agency.  The motivation for the “release” of the photos was a payment labeled as “four figures”.  Maybe all that is correct; maybe not.
• Internet hilarity ensued and too many people made this into a story of gargantuan proportion.

With the benefit of a weekend of hindsight, let me try to be rational about this.  I will dismiss entirely any conspiracy theory that has as part of its foundation that the pictures were deepfakes created by some AI routine.  That would be an assertion that needs a wealth of critical evidence not something that can merely be held up to be true and therefore something else must logically follow from it.  Moreover, any such thinking also would create a motivation dimension; who “ordered” the deepfake and why?

The pictures that I believe to be real ones are clearly out of the ordinary; Dianna Russini is employed by The Athletic which in turn is owned by the NY Times.  With that lineage, it is not outrageous to label her as a “sports journalist” and the common working model for “journalist” and “person covered by said journalist” does not include hob-knobbing in a hot tub.  Lest anyone jump to the conclusion that I assume there is/was more to the event than was revealed in the picture, let me make something very clear:

• I do not care for a moment if Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini have been playing “hide the sausage” in the past or the present or the future.  If in fact any putative such activity may exist, as long as it is consensual I don’t care.  I also don’t care if it is transactional.

The Athletic has an interesting situation before it.  Dianna Russini is someone who gets a lot of media attention on TV and on Sports Radio around the country based on her reporting in The Athletic and her reputation as an “insider”.  She is a valuable asset to The Athletic and I am not the least bit surprised that the folks in charge there have resisted so far, the knee-jerk calls for her to be fired for unprofessional behavior.

There was a situation that was sort of analogous to this one in Indiana a couple of years ago.  When Caitlin Clark was drafted by the Indiana Fever after her collegiate stardom, she arrived in town and there was a “Welcome to Indy” press event.  A columnist for the Indianapolis Star, attended that event and flashed a “heart sign” with his hands toward Clark and said something like – – this is a paraphrase from memory:

• Send one of these back to me and we will get along just fine.

The Internet went nuts over that one too.  That columnist was not fired; he was disciplined by the newspaper in that he was not allowed to cover Caitlin Clark or write about her; however, he remained in his columnist position with the paper.  [Aside: He is still with the Indy Star today several years after that clumsy exchange with Caitlin Clark.]

The Athletic will probably need to find some sort of discipline to effect in this matter but firing Dianna Russini seems overboard to me for the moment.  Firing her would make sense if and when the following set of events might happen:

• A major story involving the Pats breaks and Dianna Russini comes by some pertinent “inside information” completely independent of Mike Vrabel.
• People react negatively to her reporting with a memory of these photos by jumping to the salacious conclusion there.
• People then extend their negative feelings from Dianna Russini to The Athletic itself.
• If things ever get to that state of affairs …

Another “Internet aspect” of the hot tub incident has been an attempt somehow to connect it to the incident of Pats’ owner Robert Kraft and his dalliance in Florida with a massage provider who may indeed have provided a very specific massage technique.  Personally, I think those two things are as closely related as are the Loch Ness Monster and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.

Here is my bottom line:

1. Even if the “hot tub encounter” is absolutely the full extent of the interaction there and if the encounter was part of an interview process for a major story release by Dianna Russini, it was unseemly at best and unabashedly unprofessional.
2. Any/All of Russini’s reporting on things involving the Pats will likely be given the “side-eye” by a large segment of football fandom.
3. How fans react to the rest of her “insider” reporting remains to be seen and – – I believe – – is the critical factor in her continuing to be considered a source of pertinent reporting.
4. As to Mike Vrabel, he had the Pats deep in the playoffs last season; as long as he does things like that with the team, he will weather this storm.

Finally, I close on a lighter note today with this from Rodney Dangerfield:

“I told my wife the truth. I told her I was seeing a psychiatrist. Then she told me the truth: that she was seeing a psychiatrist, two plumbers, and a bartender.”

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

 

 

Last week, I wrote about the Cleveland Browns starting construction on a new stadium in suburban Cleveland where the taxpayers are kicking in significant cash.  There is ongoing construction in the Buffalo area on a new stadium, and the Chiefs find themselves in the center of a bidding war to see which end of KC might house their new playpen.  Who knows when/if the Bears and the States of Illinois and Indiana will engage in a bidding war for the team locale?  I am always opposed to the idea of tax money being used for such purposes; and at the same time, I recognize that if merely one jurisdiction chooses to try to bribe a franchise to locate within its boundaries, then all of them need to be prepared to do the same to keep existing franchises in place.

I mention those situations because they almost look good compared to what is ongoing in Jax.  The existing stadium there – – EverBank Stadium – – will undergo renovation/upgrading to the tune of at least $1.4B before the inevitable overruns trickle in.  That is a lot of money poured into a 30+ year old field that only cost $120M to build in the first place.  Yes, today’s dollars are inflated as compared to the times when Jax built the field, but not to the tune of anything near $1.4B.

And this deal has holes in it despite any of the numbers or any of the purported upgrades that will come as a result of such lavish spending:

• The Jags are contractually bound to play at least one of their home games a year in Europe.
• Ergo, the field in Jax will be used one fewer time for every season where that commitment by the Jags’ team is still in effect.

I never believe in the peaches-and-cream projections by developers and planners for the massive economic benefits that stadiums bring to locales.  And in the case of Jax in 2026, any such projections need to be scaled back a bit simply because it will not be used nearly as often as it could be.  Work is underway on the upgrades and that construction work will render some of the seating in the stadium useless for this year.  In 2026, the Jags maximum attendance for a home game will be 42,500 fans.  Yes, that is only for one season, but still it represents about a 30% reduction in game-day revenue which is shared with the Jags’ opponents.  That cannot be fondly viewed upon by other teams …

But wait; there’s more …  In 2027, the Jags will surrender the entirety of their home field to the construction workers, and the Jags will play their home games in Orlando, FL.  The good folks in Orlando might conclude that they got a windfall here, except:

• The stadium in Orlando – – what used to be the Citrus Bowl – – will get a $400M facelift and the seating there will be increased from 60,000 to 65,000 in time for the Jags’ 2027 home schedule.
• Camping World Stadium – – the current name for the Citrus Bowl – – is the venue for several college bowl games each year and the annual HBCU rivalry game between Florida A&M and Bethune Cookman.

So, Orlando residents will spend $400M to increase the size and the look of a field that is used for maybe a half-dozen games a year.  The seating increase is less than 10% so unless the games there in the future sell out, there will be little or no increased game-day revenue for the stadium directors to count.

Let’s tally all this up:

• The folks in Jax will spend $1.4B and more and not get a full home Jags’ schedule for a while.
• The team and fans will be inconvenienced in the 2026 season by ongoing construction.
• The team will “leave town completely” for the 2027 season.
• The folks in Orlando will pony up about $400M to expand their seating by less than 10%.
• The Jags will be there for only one season – – assuming no construction disasters back in Jax – – and then Orlando will have to scrape to find ways to recoup that $400M.

Looking at that string of events, the public contributions to stadium construction in other cities in the league begin to look halfway reasonable.  It is not all that difficult to construct a positive narrative around other building projects:

• The Browns have been a fixture in Cleveland since the 1950s save for a short hiatus when the team decamped to relocate in Baltimore.
• The Bills are an original AFL franchise with a rabid fanbase.
• The Chiefs are an original AFL franchise with an equally rabid fanbase.

None of those sorts of “stories” apply to the Jags and/or their fans.  Remember, there were times when the team had to cover up seats in the upper deck so as to hide the meager attendance from TV audiences.  The Jags do not have any historical significance in the league as compared to the Browns, Bills or Chiefs – – and maybe the Bears are next?  The Jags only came into existence in 1995,

Finally, Phyllis Diller had it right:

“I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.”

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

 

 

Last week, I wrote about Tiger Woods’ latest car accident and his arrest.  I have had some time to think about that situation and want to expand my remarks here.  Let me begin by saying a few basic tenets for what is to follow:

• I bear no animosity for Tiger Woods as a person.  I do think that he has behaved in ways that has created a public persona for himself that is less than admirable.
• I do not play golf; I cannot pretend to understand how he did what he did on a golf course.
• Tiger Woods’ prodigious physical and mental skills on golf courses allowed him to create a buffer between him and “everyday life” to a greater extent than for athletes in other sports.

For more than a decade, the sportswriters of America lavished nothing but paeans of praise on Tiger Woods and allowed Woods and his entourage to intimidate the coverage by threatening to withhold access to “Tiger Information” should someone step out of line.  And to protect said access, much of the coverage was fawning.  Hiding from the press except on “game days” on the tour, allowed Woods to acclimate to a life of seclusion with the absence of scrutiny.  By the way, I am not exonerating the TV coverage here; like the print media, the TV folks used Home on the Range as the backdrop song for most of their coverage too:

• Where seldom is heard a discouraging word …

And here we are in 2026 with what was formerly an outstanding athlete who has been involved in multiple car crashes, myriad examples of infidelity and signs of drug addiction.  All those people who did nothing but pump sunshine up his ass for all those years have not done him any favors.

What might it take for someone or some ones who have access to Tiger Woods to try at least to have him get real help?  Does he have to kill a person or two in his next car accident for that to be the impetus?  What is it in his behavior pattern(s) over the last 5-10 years that would lead anyone with access to him beyond the public persona to conclude that he is in a stable and safe place in his life?

Oh yeah; he got “treatment” for things in the past and emerged from those episodes “changed for the better”.  Going off to a private retreat where the only prerequisite for emerging as a certified recovered person is to pay the bill and lay low for a decent interval is not real and actual “recovery”.  I read that Woods’ attorney sought and received from the judge in this case that Woods be allowed to leave the country to get treatment abroad.  Question:

• If you or I had been arrested allegedly with prescription pain pills loose in our pockets in our third or fourth car accident, what are the chances we would have been granted that privilege?

And there lies the nugget of the problem.  Once again, Tiger Woods is going to be allowed to behave in a way that no one else would be allowed to behave even though his behavior(s) have been antisocial at the least and dangerous to others to be sure.  How is he supposed to learn that his behavior(s) need to change if there are no consequences for his malfeasance?

In an obviously prepared for him statement, Tiger Woods said:

“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in.”

And therein lies the heart of the problem; I doubt he knows and understands it at all.  Basically, Tiger Woods is a superannuated spoiled brat, and it was the golf media and a ton of fanboys that created that spoiled brat.  And none of them are stepping forward to try and make a change in his life – – a change that might save his life and perhaps another life or two down the line.  The “story” here is not that Woods will not be at Augusta this year for the Masters or that he has given up is role as Captain of the US Ryder Cup team.  The “story” here is that this man needs to fight with his inner demons and so far, the demons are well in command of the struggle.

Dan Jenkins said that when Woods was a young golfer dominating the Pro Tour, he asked for access to Woods for a long-form story in Sports Illustrated.  Woods’ “people” turned down the request saying to the effect that they did not need any Sports Illustrated coverage at the time.  Later after Woods’ first car crash – – the one where his then wife “rescued him” by wielding a nine-iron to the windshield of the car – – someone contacted Jennings and suggested he could meet with Tiger and do a story on their meeting.  Jenkins declined; at that point, he did not need Woods’ coverage just as Woods did not need Sports Illustrated coverage years before.

The current arrest/charges will dry up and blow away; Tiger Woods will be clean as a whistle the next time he sets foot in that judge’s courtroom; he will have a “diploma” from wherever his treatment facility is located outside the continental US.  And when he leaves that courtroom with some required public service time, I fear the clock will start ticking down to the next traffic incident where he might be found dead on the scene.  Sure, he is the master of his own fate – – but lots of others will be parties to that event should it occur.  I fear this will not end well.

Finally, this from Robert Downey Jr.:

“Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there.”

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

 

 

Congratulations to the University of Michigan as the 2026 NCAA men’s basketball champion.  Their win last night in the championship game was anything but a walkover, but the Wolverines prevailed in a grind it out game that ended in a 69-63 score.  I said earlier that Arizona and Michigan were the two best teams that I saw; I underrated UConn with that statement; the Huskies are an awfully good team also.

Michigan coach Dusty May has been in that job for only two years, and he took over a team that had gone 8-24 in the season before he arrived.  Michigan’s cumulative record in the past two seasons is a stunning 64-13 with a Sweet 16 appearance last year and a national championship this year. May began his coaching career as a student manager at Indiana when Bob Knight was the coach there; he worked at a variety of jobs with AAU teams and small schools until he got a head coaching job at Florida Atlantic in 2018.  He was in that job for 6 seasons and never had a losing record.  In fact, he had FAU in the Final Four in 2023 which was the Cinderella story of the season.  It was that performance at FAU that got him the job at Michigan.  Dusty May is only 49 years old and should be a force majeure at Michigan for quite a while.

Yesterday, I wrote about an Executive Order aimed at “fixing” some of the problems with college sports today.  Michigan’s victory last night points to one of the things going on in college sports today that might be improved.  Let me be clear; nothing here is meant as a criticism of Michigan or its accomplishment; Michigan violated no rules that I can see in doing what they did.

The starting five players for Michigan last night were all transfer students; each one of them played somewhere else in college basketball last year.  Traditionally, that is a condition that could be seen as a stroke of genius for a professional team; traditionally, that is not the way collegiate sports were carried out.  I am not advocating for a return to the days when virtually no one transferred at all; but I do think some restrictions might improve the continuity of many college teams.

In other college basketball news, the UNC Tar Heels have hired a replacement for Hubert Davis as their head coach.  Michael Malone comes to Chapel Hill with NBA credentials as a championship winner there with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.  Malone’s exposure to college basketball is short; he was an assistant at several schools back in the 1990s before joining the Knicks’ staff in 2001.

If I assume that the reporting on this coaching search is accurate, UNC had a more difficult time reaching an agreement with a new hire than I would have expected.  North Carolina is a basketball blueblood; I thought they would answer calls from coaches’ agents along the lines of, “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.”  According to reporting, UNC made overtures to Tommy Lloyd (Arizona), Dusty May (Michigan), Nate Oats (Alabama), Ben McCollum (Iowa) and Scott Drew (Baylor) and all that interacting produced nothing tangible.

Well, actually all that did produce some tangible things; at least two of those coaches on the contact list got contract extensions at their current schools.  I call that “Cashing the Hubert Davis dividend check”; when Davis was fired it opened up a seat at the head table of college basketball coaching and coaches in solid jobs could use their dismissal of interest in that open job as leverage with their current employers.

Hiring a coach with NBA credentials as opposed to collegiate credentials deviates in two ways from UNC tradition.  This is – – as was announced at the outset of the coaching search – – an “out of the family hire” in Chapel Hill.  Michael Malone arrives with no ties and no history with the school; the last time the team had a head basketball coach “from the outside” was in the 1950s when Frank McGuire was the coach.  When McGuire left in 1961, UNC hired some guy named Dean Smith; for the next 64 years and the next four coaching hires, the head basketball coach at UNC has been someone from “in the family”.

Another way to look at Malone’s hiring at UNC is from a different perspective.  Last year, North Carolina hired a football coach with championship credentials at the pro level; this year, they have hired a basketball coach with championship credentials at the pro level.  Maybe this is a considered and thought-out strategy on the part of the folks who are driving the athletic bus in Chapel Hill.

Or maybe not …

Finally, consider this from author Curtis Tyrone Jones:

“It’s so hard to write a new story when you do everything by the book.”

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

 

 

Living in the DC area, one gets used to the infamous “Friday afternoon news dump” where the White House and/or the Congress blurts out a news item near the close of business on Friday in the hopes that lots of people will have gone into “weekend mode” at the time such that the controversy associated with the news is muted somewhat.  There was a news dump last Friday – – and it was different from most others because it involved sports.  The President of the United States signed an Executive Order described as being of “urgent national action to save college sports.”

I agree that college sports have become much more than “messy” over the last couple of years and that the NCAA is still feckless and useless in whatever it does to try to regularize what goes on there.  However, I never envisioned an Executive Order on the subject.  And yet, here we are …

Here are some of the features in the Executive Order:

• Eligibility for intercollegiate athletics will be limited to 5 years.  I like that provision; given all the waivers and set asides that have come into existence, some players are in their seventh and eighth year of “college sports”.
• The NIL collectives will come under Federal regulation.  Let me just say that “Federal regulation” is not universally successful nor productive; so, let me wait and see what that devolves to before I like it or dismiss it.
• Reinstatement of the “one-transfer rule” without sitting out a season.  I like that idea because it should limit the player being on five different teams in his “college” career.
• Grad-student transfers can be added on to a career if the player has completed a 4-year degree.  The NCAA should love that loophole because it will allow them to return to their glory days of the “student-athlete”.
• Colleges are to be “required” to fund Olympic sports and women’s sports.  That is clearly easier said than done, but I am not sure anyone is going to go on record in opposition to that requirement.

And the enforcement mechanism for failure to comply with this Order and/or relevant NCAA rules that are aligned with this order is an economic mechanism.  According to the Executive Order, the Feds can – – and presumably will – – “review federal government grants and contracts with schools” with an eye to cutting those funding sources if schools are not in compliance with the Executive Order.

So, having had a weekend to think about all this, here are a few first reactions:

• The schools, conferences and the NCAA should be happy to have this legal instrument in place as a starting point.
• I will be surprised if more than a month goes by without a legal challenge to the Executive Order brought by advocates for the players.
• This Executive Order might stir a few Congressthings out of their hibernation state and begin a process to codify something logical into law.  Yes, I recognize that I just used “Congress” and “logical” in the same sentence.  Hope springs eternal …

There will be public reaction to this Executive Order having exactly nothing to do with the content of the order and/or the possible benefits that might accrue to collegiate sports.  The fact is that the US is so politically divided today that the signature at the bottom of the Executive Order will frame the “debate” for too many folks:

• Option A:  If President Trump thinks this is the right way for college sports to exist in the US, then it must be the single best idea ever to spring into a human cranium.
• Option B:  If President Trump thinks this is the right way for college sports to exist in the US, then it must be corrupt, immoral and evil at its core and it must be expunged from human existence.

            And of course, the idea of an “Option C” where the Executive Order serves as the starting point for a set of reasoned negotiations to try to make things better becomes impossible due to the volume of the cries from proponents of both Options A and B above.  The Executive Order does not go into effect until August 2026; there is time for negotiation; there is time for Congress to find a way to agree on something that ought to be apolitical; there is time to ponder a new foundation for college sports in the US.  I wish I were more optimistic about the potential for the use of the time between now and August to be constructive.

Finally, this observation by Malcom X seems to be a good way to close out today’s rant:

“You’re not supposed to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or who says it.”

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

 

 

It’s time to clean up my clipboard, today.  None of the topics today are important but a couple are interesting.  The first one is the landing of Kirk Cousins in Las Vegas supposedly as the mentor for Fernando Mendoza who is expected to be the Raiders’ overall #1 pick in the Draft in a couple of weeks.  If the Raiders show patience and use Cousins as their QB for awhile and allow some sort of “mentoring relationship” to evolve, this could be a good deal for the team.  The only guaranteed money in the deal is reported to be $20M which is at the low end of “starting QB money”.

Kirk Cousins has been in the right place at the right time in his career.  His record labels him as “more than a journeyman” but “not a star” as a QB.  Notwithstanding that overall assessment, Spotrac.com says that Kirk Cousins has hauled in $321,692,254 in career earnings – – not counting the upcoming $20M from the Raiders.

Next on the odds and ends list …  The Cleveland Browns are in the process of building a new stadium that will be different from other NFL venues.  The bottom level of the facility will be 80 feet below ground level and the structure will stick out of the ground by 221 feet.  It is an indoor stadium which means the league will put a Super Bowl there once it is up and running and all the bugs have been worked out.

The cost is estimated to be $2.4B and the opening date is projected to be Week 1 of the 2029 regular season.  The facility is not in Cleveland proper; it is in a suburb of Cleveland called Brook Park about 20 miles from the current home field for the Browns.  The fact that it was outside the city limits was the source of legal and legislative strife that must have finally been resolved.  The new site cannot be too inconvenient for Clevelanders since it is adjacent to Cleveland’s airport.

It is not unusual for NFL teams to play home games in geographical places that do not match their common place names e.g.:

• Giants and Jets play in suburban NYC – – actually in NJ
• Rams play in Inglewood, CA
• Bills play in Orchard Park, NY
• Commanders play in Landover, MD – – for a while known as Raljon, MD
• Cowboys play in Arlington, TX
• Niners play in Santa Clara, CA – – an exurb of SF

            Moving on …  The NFL announced a deviation from tradition for the 2026 regular season schedule.  Normally, the regular season opens with the Super Bowl champ playing a home game on the Thursday after Labor Day.  Not so next season.  The NFL has scheduled a regular season game in Week 1 to be played in Melbourne, Australia and due to significant time zone issues, that game will happen on Thursday night here in the US.  [Aside:  The teams will kick off at 10:30 AM on Friday in Australian time.].  So, to minimize the deviation from tradition, the Seahawks will play the first game of the regular season at home on the Wednesday after Labor Day in 2026.

Not only will that game in Melbourne be the first regular season NFL game in Australia, but I think it is a strange choice of games by the league.  The Australia game will be the Niners versus the Rams.  I am not overly surprised that the league put good teams on the schedule there; as the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.  However, the Rams/Niners is a major rivalry in the NFL, and I am surprised that a game that would mean a lot to both fan bases will be taking place – figuratively – on the other side of the Earth.

Another tidbit …  The NY Post reported that Puka Nacua was allegedly involved in a drunken incident back on New Year’s Eve where he bit a woman.  In addition to the “bitee” filing a lawsuit against Nacua, she also sought a restraining order against him.  Naturally, his attorney downplayed the incident and also reported that Nacua has been in a holistic rehab facility for several weeks seeking to make himself a better person.

Obviously, I have no knowledge of the alleged incident, but I would offer the holistic rehabilitators this advice:

• Put Nacua in contact with any three random kindergarten teachers who have experience in convincing children not to bite the kid sitting next to them.  He’ll become a better person for it.

Finally, this from physicist Isaac Azimov:

“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

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

 

 

Some days, these rants write themselves.  The topics are obvious; my slant is clear; I have links to necessary data to support my assertions.  This is not one of those days; this is a new – – at least for me – – way for a rant to write itself.  For all practical purposes, I will turn today’s offering over to “the reader in Houston”.

You may recall that he previously told me that Mattress Mack’s promotional bet for March Madness this year would be on the final Four team closest to Houston, TX. If that happens, anyone who bought an expensive mattress from him during the promotion period would get a full refund.  Here is the update:

“As I previously wrote you, Mattress Mack is betting on the team closest to Houston of the Final Four for his annual NCAA mattress giveaway. Originally, his hope was that UH or another Texas team would make the Final Four. However, since no Texas team made it to the Final Four, he had to go out of state.

“Of the Final Four teams (Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, and UConn), I thought Arizona (+180) was closest to Houston, but upon further Google Map review, it turns out U. of Illinois (+470) is about 120 miles closer to here than UA.

“Based on Mack’s recent gambling history, if I was wagering, I would take UConn (ATS or SU) vs. Illinois on Saturday.”

Next  up …  You may recall that yesterday, I closed with a Mark Twain quip about April Fool’s Day.  I do not watch Jeopardy but “the reader in Houston” did last night.  That generated this email that arrived this morning:

“Final Jeopardy – Subject – The Calendar: Mark Twain wrote the quip that on this day of the year, ‘we are reminded of what we are on the other 364’.

“That was today’s ‘Final Jeopardy’.  One of the contestants who was way ahead with $58,800, bet $44,200, but wrote, ‘What is Labor Day?’  If he had read today’s Sports Curmudgeon blog, he would have been $88,400 richer before income taxes.”

What can I say?  Of course you should read these rants on a daily basis; this is one of the tangible benefits one may receive in doing so; for the rest of the days, you will simply enjoy the sublime harmony of the vibe here …  But wait, there’s more!

When I wrote about the sale of the Connecticut Sun and the impending relocation of the team, I mentioned that the Sun’s owners had a higher bid for the franchise but that it had been nixed by the league.  I did not understand how or why that happened, but it did.  Well, “the reader in Houston” is evidently on a first-name basis with the owner of the Houston Rockets and now the Connecticut Sun – – to be renamed the Houston Comets – – and sent along this explanation:

“The commissioner had previously identified Houston, not Boston, as the next city in line for a team, following the expansion process or by the purchase of the Sun, as the Mohegan Tribe was in beaucoup debt and needed cash badly. Since relocation decisions are made by the WNBA Board of Governors, not by individual teams or buyers, this allowed the Board to veto the proposed move of the Sun to Boston or possibly Hartford.

• “Til, as the Rockets owner, besides being in a powerful position and ‘blessed’ with a Midas touch, offered a strong ownership structure with the Toyota Center available. Also, Houston is a top-10 media market with a history of success in the WNBA, having hosted the league’s first dynasty with four straight championships.
• “Boston obviously has an NBA arena, but the WNBA was willing to pass on them with the expectation the city would be in line for an expansion team as early as 2031, as the league preferred to let Boston remain open for a potentially higher-priced, future expansion franchise in the area of $400M or above. The league viewed the Boston potential owners as ‘taking’ a market, rather than growing into one which Houston offered.
• “The Houston move also shows where the league is headed – away from independently owned franchises.”

“The new franchises, such as Golden State and now Toronto, and upcoming teams in Cleveland/Detroit/Philadelphia, are either owned by or strongly aligned with local NBA ownership groups.

“Independently owned teams like the Chicago Sky, Atlanta Dream, LV Aces, Dallas Wings, LA Sparks, Seattle Storm, and the Sun are the remaining fully independent clubs, though they face pressure as the league pivots to billionaire, often NBA-linked, owners.”

So, there you have it; a little information, a little entertainment and zero work on my part.  How better do you start a day?

Finally, to keep with the “Houston connection” for today, here is something from George Foreman:

“When I was a kid in Houston, we were so poor we couldn’t afford the last 2 letters, so we called ourselves po’.”

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